Guitar Amps

Many of Carvin Audio’s guitar amplifiers come equipped with a knob labeled Presence (such as Carvin Audio’s V3M, Legacy, and Belair, to name a few). Though the exact technical details of this mysterious knob may vary, its overall purpose generally remains the same- to add edge and brightness to your guitar tone and serve as an additional tone shaping tool. 

Headroom is a concept that is applicable to numerous different aspects of pro audio, from PA systems to loudspeakers to guitar and bass amplifiers. Each of these devices are intended to operate within a range- one that does not put stress on components or risk damage by operating too far out of the product’s capabilities. Headroom is the room you have above what you normally need or will need from your gear. Headroom is needed for both signal levels and output levels, but here we will be looking at output level.

The human ear naturally perceives midrange frequencies more prominently, and the guitar tends to sit naturally in that range. However, many factors in a live mix can make the guitar hard to hear for both the guitarists themselves and the audience, and it’s not always the guitarist’s fault. If your guitar is getting buried by your band, there are a few things you can try.

Swapping out a set of power amp tubes for another can change up your tone in a subtle but significant way. This article will highlight the basic tonal characteristics of common power tubes and help you find the right one for you. Please note that swapping out tubes is a process that is best left to an experienced amplifier technician- the amount of voltage present in tubes amplifiers can be lethal if they are not discharged correctly.

The entertainment business has always been a “no-excuse” industry. Ever since the phrase “the show must go on!” was first coined in the 1800s by the circus industry, it has been repeated by stage managers everywhere. Whether you make your living playing music or you are a weekend warrior for fun, a good trouble shooting approach will let you go on with the show. Second chances are hard to get, so you need to make that first shot work. Make sure you’ve prepared not only your music but also make sure your equipment is reliable and well-maintained. Unfortunately there is no way to predict when a bad connection or worse a failure will develop in your guitar system, but it is likely at some point you will turn up your guitar on stage and find there is no sound coming out. The good news is that by following a few simple steps, any musician can learn to quickly find which part of the system isn’t working and bypass it to keep the music going.

Reverb is a classic guitar effect that can breathe some new life into your guitar sound and add some nice dimension and depth. From shimmering surf guitar to shoegaze swells, reverb is undoubtedly a rock and roll mainstay. Used and loved by producers since the ’50s and ’60s, reverb was originally created in numerous ways. Bands could record in a highly reverberant echo chamber, a room acoustically tuned to provide natural reverberation. Spring reverb and plate reverb were also used, and they are basically what they sound like. Spring reverb utilizes the vibration of a metal spring to create reverb and plate reverb bounces the sound off of a metal plate. As time went on, digital reverb technology found its way into rackmount units and effects pedals. This allowed guitarists to take reverb on the go conveniently and custom tailor it to their liking onstage or in the studio.

Since their invention way back in the early 1900s, vacuum tubes have seen use in a wide variety of industries and applications, from old CRT televisions to computers to microwave ovens. When amplification was introduced to the music industry, tubes quickly became the cornerstone of countless genres. The sweet, singing sustain of a tube amp is synonymous with rock and roll, country, and blues, to name a few. Let’s take a basic look at these little devices that give our guitars such a big sound!

If you were to buy a new guitar amplifier tomorrow, what would be your primary consideration? For many musicians, it would be what gives them the tone they want. It may also be based on what their musical heroes use. And it's completely understandable- we all want gear that speaks to us, our audience and helps to shape our signature sound.

Whether you’re at the studio using your amp head as a preamp or jamming with headphones at home, it’s very important to know which circumstances require that you connect speakers to your amp. This article will break it down for you!

A live performance situation where gear is backlined or shared among performing bands is quite common. Inevitably you will run into a situation where you need to share an amplifier with another band on the bill, most likely the headliner, or the venue provides a rented setup for you to use. This may be arranged in order to reduce tear down time between bands, simplify the load in process, or accommodate a touring band.

When you decide to add effects to your guitar sound start by asking yourself “Do I want to change my sound? Or do I want to add something to my sound?”

Think about those old effects pedals that go between your guitar and the input of your amplifier. The signal goes from one pedal to the next in series. There is only one signal path from the guitar, through each of the pedals and on to the amplifier. On the other hand, when your engineer turns up the delay send on your guitar channel at the mixer, part of your sound is sent to the delay processor and then returned to the mixer but the main signal still runs dry [unaffected] through your channel, so you hear a mix of the two in the main speakers. Parallel effects systems allow you to blend your sound with the effect.

If you play guitar or bass a lot, chances are you go through a lot of strings. In a previous article we discussed how to know when it’s time for you to change strings. But what do you do with your old strings? While simply tossing them in the trash is the most straightforward option, there are numerous alternatives that are worth a try.