I just bought the Carvin. Only played it through my Studio 15 so far as to not wake the neighbors. It still has the same tonal characteristics that I liked through the Peavey Classic 50. The fretboard is ebony - I should have known from the sound as it has the ebony punch to it, but it looked very rosewood from the light in the store.
I really dig the pickups in it. Definitely Carvin pickups, from the looks of them they are the default stock pickups in a DC127, the C22N/C22B. My favorite tone from it is a fusion tone with a bit of preamp side gain sort of like Tony Mcalpine or someone but it has nice harmonics and does it all for me. And the coil taps on this guitar are useful for me - usually I find a tapped humbucker to be too thin and too bright to be used without adjusting amp settings, but with the coil tapped or without there is a very good balance. What I like so far is to play with the neck pickups coil tapped and the bridge pup with both coils so both pickups have the same audible volume and highs and I can untap the neck pickup to solo on!
For comparison I played it alongside a Jackson and ESP both which were selling for over three times the new price of this DC127. Each appeared to have 10s where the Carvin was setup for 8s and rediculously low action. I found the Jackson and ESP to have more lows and a tighter sound and perhaps more sustain due to the mahogany / mahogany with maple top bodies as opposed to alder but I think the DC127 was much better overall. It was very apparent that neither guitar would ever have action twice as high as the Carvin and not buzz like mad and possibly skip a fret etc.
The action is rediculously low. I got a set of 9s which I will set it up for soon, but I will probably raise the action a hair just because it is so insanely low that it's a little bit too easy to play. Then again, it is a fixed bridge so I don't need to raise action so I can pull up on the trem...
Due to the small market over here, they marked the price down from $460 to $425 further. The sale tag had fallen on the floor so I never even saw it. I cannot believe I got a guitar this good for $425 (or $460). They also had the original neck pickup casing pieces (the previous owner put on tan ones but kept the originals too) so I can choose from tan and black... life is full of important choices
Last time I played a Carvin was over 10 years ago to the best of my recollection. I don't remember liking it nearly this much, but I do remember almost buying it because it was a good value. And of course my musicial tastes have changed so much since then as well.