September 15, 2016
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!
September 15, 2016
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.
September 09, 2016
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!
September 08, 2016
In response to our recent series about replacing tubes in your amplifier, we received the following question from a Carvin Audio enthusiast:
“Great article. I would like to see an article that describes how the power tubes are correctly biased. Ex: I own a Carvin Audio V3M head, but it uses Electro-Harmonix power tubes. If I want to use Sovtek EL84s what must the voltage for the output tubes be set at? Lastly, I hope Carvin Audio can develop a power amp with a self biasing output section like my Mesa Tremoverb had. All I had to do was select EL-34, 5881, or 6L6…It self adjusted to whatever power tubes I decided to use.”
August 29, 2016
One way you can affordably tailor your tube amplifier’s sound is by trying out different preamp tubes. This is possible because unlike power tubes which require expert bias adjustment, preamp tubes are self-biasing in the circuit. Because of this you can learn to swap out your amplifier’s preamp tubes in only minutes without specialized tools. What difference can changing your preamp tubes really make? Well, you can customize how much gain the stage has available, select a particular tube for the way it colors your equalization, the location of a high or low gain tube in the amp’s signal can change your distortion and tone character, and you can even choose a tube for more subtle features like ultra-low noise, durability or extra headroom. As it happens, quite a wide range of variations can be accomplished by replacing a part that usually costs less than $20.
August 23, 2016
When you bought your tube amplifier a major factor was probably how good it sounded! You worked it hard for a long time and made a lot of great music with it, and then one day you noticed it just didn’t seem as awesome as you remembered it sounding. Or perhaps you were playing and one of the tubes died, leaving you wondering what it would take to bring it back to life? Sooner or later, every tube amplifier aficionado will have to face the confusing task of choosing replacement tubes for their amp. Let’s look at how you can sort through the hype, get the great sounding tubes you need and avoid paying more than you have to for them.
July 14, 2016
The quest for tone can take you to many places, and when it comes to overdrive, the ideal tone may reside in a specific pedal, amp, or a combination of both. Experimentation is key, as is knowing the limitations of your equipment.
Many guitarists set their amp for a clean tone and use a pedal of choice to send the clean channel into overdrive. This simple, practical setup lets you kick on the grit of your choice when the song calls for it. This method lets you use your amp as a clean palette to sculpt your overdrive tone. While straightforward, this setup is not without its setbacks. Your clean channel and overdrive will share the same EQ settings, which may not be a big deal if your pedal has its own EQ controls. However, many popular overdrive pedals do not feature the same EQ versatility as amps (for instance, they may have only gain, volume, and tone controls) so the overall tweak ability between clean and dirty is somewhat limited. If you like the baked-in tone of the pedal a lot, then this setup may work well for you. In many multiple channel amplifiers the clean channel and the lead or dirty channel have very different gain stages, internal tone shaping and even EQ control circuits to produce the intended clean or dirty tone. Instead of driving your clean channel with your pedals, try using your dirty channel with the gain set a little lower. This will give you the better tone shaping and EQ controls for dirty sounds and a little more headroom to handle your pedal for more dynamics. Often pedals are tried with the same settings you would use to get the same level of dirty tone without the pedal and adding the unit creates mud, so you switch to the clean channel. Turn down your gain a little and try it again. Then you still have a clean channel to use and EQ for clean playing. The added bonus is a third slightly lower distortion with your dirty channel only.
Another popular way to achieve a rich, gritty overdrive is to crank the overdrive channel of a tube amp. This really gets your tubes working, which results in what many consider to be a more organic, dynamic distortion than what pedals can provide. However, many tube amps, especially high wattage amps, require more volume to reach the desired level of saturation than is practical. For this reason, many amps, like the Carvin Audio V3, have switchable wattage, so you can get a crunchy tone at a much lower volume.
Most modern dense distortion sounds are pre master preamp gain distortions. With pedals, these overdrives are not as smooth as an amp that is designed to be a hi-gain amp. This smoothness is usually from the high voltages and signal swing of the amplifiers as opposed to the pedal creating more dynamic and tone in the signal. Here you just have to try different combinations. Again lowering the input gain on the amp a little and using the pedal for the solo sustain edge can create more dynamics. The Carvin Audio V3, V3m and Legacy have two lead channels that are identical, so you can create a rhythm tone and a high gain and sustaining lead tone to switch between.
Legacy 3 100W 3 Channel All Tube Head
Side note: Remember when playing in the band you are just one of the instruments putting out sound. If you tweak your tone at home alone, you maybe unknowingly also filling for the rest of the band. A good solid tone needs to cut through the band, but it also needs to let the other sounds of the band be heard. With loads of distortion you will be a small non-distinctive buzz in the overall sound of the band, and with really fat low and high tone you will sonically fight with the rest of the band.
In many cases, it may be the exclusive use of a particular tube amp or pedal that will get you the perfect overdriven guitar sound that’s in your head. Killer tone can be the result of combining an amplifier’s natural tube breakup with a hot signal from an overdrive or distortion pedal, which can also act as a preamp or clean boost to further push and shape the overall tone. There are many shades in between clean and dirt to be explored. Feel free to take your time and experiment with all the different options available. If it sounds good to you, it is good!
June 21, 2016
An important decision you may have to make when considering a new guitar amp is whether you want a rackmount setup or a traditional guitar amplifier head or combo. You probably know the drill with guitar heads and combos (if not, catch up on your reading by clicking here).
May 19, 2016
Many tube guitar amplifiers on the market today come with a feature that can either switch or vary the maximum power output of the amplifier section. Simply put, this allows you to adjust the maximum output of the amplifier, making it higher or lower at the flick of the switch. If you have a tube amp with a lot of clean headroom and plenty of power for any gig, you may be wondering why you can’t just use the volume knob to get it to the level you want.
May 17, 2016
Watch The Tone King's outdoor demo and review of Carvin Audio's VX Series Birch Guitar Cabinets. He demos both the VX212S Slant 2 x 12 cabinet and the VX112 cabinet with a Carvin Audio V3M 50W Tube Amp, and explains the features and benefits of the VX Series and the different tuning options. Watch both videos below. Project the passion of your music with a USA Built VX Series Birch Guitar Cab.
April 26, 2016
A good solid footswitch is the unsung hero of a guitar or bass rig. While it may not be part of the glamorous backdrop of glowing power tubes and pilot lights upstage, adding a footswitch to your rig will help you take full advantage of the versatility of your Carvin Audio amplifier.
April 21, 2016
Many guitar players dream of standing in front of a massive audience at a sold out show, playing through a huge stack of tube amps. While countless guitarists have actually done this, it doesn’t make too much practical sense (sorry to burst your bubble!) Not that you shouldn’t have that dream, but even if you are playing in an arena, the soundman will mic up your amp and use a quality PA system like a Carvin Audio TRx 3000 Series system to make sure your guitar is heard everywhere in the venue. Whether you are playing in a small club or actually playing an arena, your guitar amp probably won't have to do the heavy lifting. Instead, your amp will provide stage volume and monitoring, and put out the tone that will be picked up by the mic and sent to the front of house. You don't necessarily need high wattage and lots of speakers to be heard.
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