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Carvin V3 Head
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3-channel Full tube amplifier head
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Searched Carvin V3 Head in Reviews
Overlooked, Versatile, Priced Right 
| Sound |
I play a variety of guitars from Carvin, Ibanez, S8 with mild to hot pups. I usually play anything from blues to metal and this amp can cover it all very well.
3-channel amp
1&2 are both overdrive channels that can be set alike or totally different. Channel 3 is a clean channel but cranking the gain can give it a slightly "dirty" sound with the soak switch.
With all the different tone controls on this amp, a person could write a book on the possibilities of sounds available. The cleans are sparkly, clear and unique, not quite vintage Fender clean, but better than most high gain amps. I set channel 1 for a mid-heavy tone with the gain about 12 o'clock and I set channel 2 with the mids cut and the gain about 3 o'clock. This allows me to cover most 80's to modern metal acceptably.
I have swapped the stock GT tubes for JJ's 6L6es, my personal preference. This amp can cover most styles of music from clean to crunch to ultra-high gain. It is very responsive to string attack, as a tube amp should be, and I have had no issues with any pickup configuration from, single coils to SD Blackouts phase II.
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| Reliability |
This thing is built very solid and I would trust it as much as any amp with a similar configuration. I have had mine for two years and the only issue with it was my fault.
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| Customer Support |
During a tube swap, I apparently didn't have my speaker cabinet plugged in well and burned a power tube resistor. NEVER power on a tube amp without a speaker load. Even though it was my fault, Carvin repaired it under warranty.
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| Liked about it |
1)Versatile to say the least. The tone possibilities are immense.
2)You can achieve full gain on each channel without cranking the master volume. EQX on each channel gives an even wider frequency control. Overdrive channels have a 3-position switch to add more character to the gain structure. There is even a foot-switchable Master Control that can boost your gain another 9db plus adds even more tone shaping.
3)Has 2 effects loops series and parallel with an adjustable tail switch to allow natural decay of delays.
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| Didn't like |
1)At the time I purchased my V3, there was no lower wattage version available.
2)The plethora of tone options also means it may take several days, maybe longer to dial in your tone.
3)I was getting distorted overtones from my Boss DD-3 in the series effects loop, presumably from the high impedance inputs.
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| Overall satisfaction: |
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4.5 |
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If you're a Jemsite User, there is a good chance this amp is for you.
| Sound |
So let's face it, if you're on Jemsite, you're probably playing an Ibanez, or a Jackson Soloist/Fusion, or some other kind of super-strat or ESP. You're probably into Vai or Dream Theater or something else in the shred/progressive/otherwise intelligent rock category. That being said, this amp is definitely worth a look, and not just because of the very attractive price tag. I personally play the virtuoso stuff, the 80's rock and metal, and the lead stuff ranging from Petrucci to Rusty Cooley and all that. I find I've dialed in one setting on my knobs and left them there since. I have a sound, I know it and I use it. I'm not ashamed of that, in fact, most of the greatest players have a certain sort of sound you can pick out a few bent notes into a solo. That being said, this amp is still versatile. I think it does Rock very well, just as well as any of the most boutique amps I've ever played. Another review gave it a minus for not standing out as super unique. You know, like how you can tell a 5150 or a Triple Rec or a JCM just by hearing it, but this one has a strength and a weakness in that it's sort of a chameleon that just sounds good for most everything. So yes, if I heard a solo on a record, I probably couldn't pick out a V3 for being a V3, and I use one exclusively in my rig. But that's OK, you can tell it's me playing from my fingers. I don't need you to know it's a Mesa from how the notes are all just sort of running together.
Anyway, the amp has tons of gain, but just the right amount. Granted, you can back it off and it sounds great, it's really dynamic. But I like my guitar to be a super-responsive flamethrower, and this amp delivers without needing much else in the loops. I'm finding I like to use it with my guitars that are loaded with Dirty Fingers pickups, or Blackouts. It's great with both. Don't get me wrong, I can get great cleans out of it, and cool tones that are kind of like SRV or Jeff Beck, but that's just not the sound I record or gig with.
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| Reliability |
I gig with it. I'd be tempted to bring some kind of meaty solid state head just to keep in the car or the bus, just in case. Because you never know. But it's a little tank, it's as solid as a tube head can be. Hasn't let me down yet. And Carvin is great with their stuff. Speaking of which...
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| Customer Support |
I'm happy with Carvin, in sales and in support. I don't call a lot of companies for support, I used to be a pro guitar tech, and besides I'm a guy, so god knows I hate to ask anyone for help with anything. But these days we see how everything is getting to be cheapened and/or outsourced. Carvin seems to be one of the last holdouts who has their own support, and they actually care about you being satisfied. And that's good enough for me. By today's poor standards for service, they are a home run.
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| Liked about it |
-Price
-Tone (very customizable and nails it for rock and metal)
-The look, with the diamond plate. I wish I hadn't been first in line for one, now they have LED's inside that change color when you change channel. I'd love to step on high gain and have it get all red and angry.
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| Didn't like |
My diamond plate didn't come installed. I do custom guitar work, I can deal with it, but it's still not very pro. Also, the fit wasn't perfect either, it's still bowed a tiny bit in the middle. Something they would have fixed in the shop and not let go out half-assed like mine is now.
Otherwise it's a great head and I couldn't be happier. Onboard digital effects (good ones, not garbage like the first Spider Valve) would be a cool addition. They can't cost that much, it's probably a $100 integrated circuit. Maybe they could offer a V3FX or something down the road for a slightly higher price. I'd pay it.
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| Overall satisfaction: |
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4.5 |
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Very versatile Tube head with an appealing price.
| Sound |
When the Carvin V3 arrived at my house straight from Carvin I was not expecting what I got.
I ordered mine with Brown Saddle leather and A diamond plate faceplate (that I had to install). ALl of it came out to a grand total of just over $900 delivered.
The first two channels are voiced alike, but they can be tweaked and adjusted to be very independent. Personally I don't believe the similarity of the channels to be a drawback at all, it simply gives you the option of having 2 crunch channels, 2 lead sounds, or a mixture of both. Every channel has switches that act like frequency filters and eq cuts...very handy. Another feature that hasn't been mentioned yet is the unique "smart loops" function, put simply (you know how in a normal fx loop in any other head, you step on a stomp box for example and get the nice delay for your solo?, with smart loops when you step off the pedal the delay tails off instead of dissappearing abruptly)
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| Reliability |
Every carvin I have owned had excellent quality for price and except for tubes, rarely needed any work.
Carvin has an excellent return policy too.
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| Customer Support |
Carvin has been hit or miss when I called, but the email responses I have gotten about their guitars and amps have left me happy.
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| Liked about it |
-Massive bass
-Smart loops
-Price
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| Didn't like |
-Having to replace the front plate myself.
-Doesn't make you say "hey that's a V3" when you hear it.
-Stock tubes are kind of mild.
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| Overall satisfaction: |
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4.0 |
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Underrated Beast
| Sound |
The sounds you can get from this amp are amazing. It leaves you with lots of tone controls for each channel and a master section with mid-cut, presence and depth regulation. Each channel has 3 characteristics you can select with a switch and you can expand the 3-way EQ for each channel with the EQ-expand switch.
Hence dialing in sounds is not as easy like with more straight forward amps, but you can definately get lots and lots of sounds.
What I like most is that while you can get a huge range of sounds, the Carvin still has a little bit of that strange Vai'isch mids, that are so typical for a Carvin Amp. They only go away if you crank the mid-cut all the way. So sound character is also present.
Some say it is not a real 3-channel as the channels 1 and 2 are basically the same. However I use channel 1 as the high gain beast channel, which has some similarities to my Dual Rectifier and channel 2 as a crunchy channel. It definately gets the job done. The channel 3 clean channel can also go from twangy fender to a slight crunch with the flip of a switch.
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| Reliability |
No problems so far. I always wondered if the footswitch cable was up to the job, but so far it lasted months of gigging.
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| Customer Support |
It was purchased through Musik Schmidt in Germany, so I only have experience with their customer support, which is absolutely great.
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| Liked about it |
Very versatile amp.
Nice own character.
Can be customized (mine came with brown saddle leather)
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| Didn't like |
It is a bit hard to dial in sounds, because of the many possibilities.
Did not find other things.
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| Overall satisfaction: |
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5.0 |
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I was expecting more. A lot more.
| Sound |
I play only Ibanez guitars. I used an RG550 with stock pickups and an RG565 with a Fred in the bridge and a Fast Track II in the neck. Couldn't find a tone that worked for me at all. Clean tones were great, but I hardly ever use that channel. The overdrive channels were way too fizzy and lifeless. One thing that I liked is that it was extremely customizable. You can literally tweak everything about your sound on it. Whether or not you like the sounds coming out of it are another thing. I spent a lot of time tweaking everything
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| Reliability |
Seemed to be built pretty well.
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| Liked about it |
A lot of options
Great clean channel
Looks great
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| Didn't like |
Gain channels were really buzzy and lifeless
Lacks character
Again, I didn't like the gain channels. There's not really much else to dislike, but that is hands down the biggest factor when deciding if I like an amp or not. It has to sound good.
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| Overall satisfaction: |
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1.5 |
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internal use: spec82 spec621
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