Carvin X100B and Harvey Milk

clockwork green · April 01, 2012, 10:48:06 PM

Been on a big Harvey Milk kick lately...so many good songs in so many different styles. Their tone is often really good...a nice mix of classic rock crisp and crunchy to huge and doomy...live was much the same. I've only seen a handful of bands use Carvin X100B's and they usually didn't sound very good but Harvey Milk made them sound damn good. Anybody use one? New or reissue? They're super cheap as far as tube amps and while I don't need another tube amp it's always fun to have more options.

Corey Y · April 01, 2012, 10:56:31 PM

I have an original one and I've played the reissues, they're great. I've sold off all my other tube heads and kept that one and my VTM120.

bitter · April 01, 2012, 11:22:40 PM

The poor reviews always kept me away. The big complaint was with the lead channel. As I recall, people didn't like the gain voicing.

clockwork green · April 02, 2012, 12:07:05 AM

Not that I can recall all the times I've seen them but most of the times I've seen them sound bad I think people were trying to turn them into cheap, nu-metal standins for Recto's. Maybe as a mid-gain amp they just do better.

bitter · April 02, 2012, 12:13:47 AM

Yeah, I think people ran them like the mark series. Keep the 3 band eq neutral and run the graphic in a V shape scoop.

Prolly wouldn't hurt to run preamp tubes that aren't super hot.

kirky · April 02, 2012, 12:48:06 AM

i think izzy stradlin used one in the early days of guns n roses....i remember seeing him in the ads back in the day....

rayinreverse · April 02, 2012, 11:18:09 AM

I had an X100B it was pretty awesome sounding on the clean side. The gain channel worked fine for me, but I mainly used a muff.

Corey Y · April 02, 2012, 12:50:38 PM

The clean channel works really great with pedals. The power scaling feature is also very useful. I don't like graphic EQ on guitar, so I never use it. Even though it's multi-channel I usually just dial in one tone and stick with it, but it's good at dialing in very different tones. The two different distortion characters are very different, the default one being very thick and almost fuzzy, then with the pull pot engaged it gets a lot tighter and more high gain sounding. I like the boosted lead channel for Heaven and Hell era Sabbath style tones and the regular distorted channel sound for more wild, wooly heavy rock and sludge type tones.

Hank · April 03, 2012, 10:04:13 AM

I'm sure Creston's superfuzz helps with the sound of them.

Blueberry Lazer · April 03, 2012, 10:59:33 AM

my friend bought an old one after we saw harvey milk 3 times in one year. they also make ones that are covered in carpet and stocked with El34s(i have heard good things about em too) but creston uses the old 6l6 version (so did Zappa). Creston dials most of his dirt in through the amp, keeps it set dirty and uses his guitar volume know to bring it down to 'clean' he uses the superfuzz to boost what is already heavy usually. his tone is always amazing but its mainly just his hands. first time i saw them was at scion fest and he used a rockerverb 1000 with an OCD pedal an it sounded the same Badass.

My friend bought his for $300 and it sounds good but dusty, he really needs to get it serviced.

definitely

bitter · April 03, 2012, 03:59:36 PM

Corey, what's the volume and headroom like for pedals on the 25w setting. I'm thinking for the price this could be a good option for bedroom amp/full size backup. Just need a suitable cab that's not too expensive or big for bedroom use.

Corey Y · April 03, 2012, 04:09:33 PM

I use mine at home on the 25W setting through a 2x12 and it's still got a fair amount of headroom on the clean channel. It ends up, like most low powered tube amps, getting a little bit louder up until a point and then just breaking up, but it will also break up without being shake the walls loud. I actually like the tone of the clean channel cranked until it breaks up, but you really can't get there on the higher power settings without it being insanely loud. I think it's a solid amp, period. It's got so many features, but they're all very different and useable. I don't have a footswitch and I don't use it as a multi-channel amp, I just use it as a swiss army knife for getting different tones. I had a Marshall TSL100 as my main amp for years and it was all bells and whistles, but only had one really good sounding setting.

bitter · April 03, 2012, 04:13:38 PM

mmm ok. I'm gonna keep that in mind. Thanks.

dogfood · April 07, 2012, 12:41:24 PM

An X100B el34 has been my main for a couple of years now. When I got it I rummaged through Pristak's 12a_7 tube collection and played around till I found the combo I liked. I think it has a 12au7 or some other lower gain tube in the third spot. Yes, the clean side takes pedals well, far better than the od channel. Yes, the clean channel sounds good-great even. I use the 25w setting a lot but it kills the greatness (headroom) that is a roaring 100 watts, no suprise really it's just how it goes. The 50 watt setting is pretty darn loud.

On the od channel, the trick is to dial down to the sound you want, I get a JMP Marshall sound. If you are an eleven across the knobs person you will not likely get what you are looking for. On that note, any amp dimed is a one trick pony. God, people are dim witted. Since few are capable of dialing down the gain the prices are ridiculously low on'm. Hey, more inexpensive great 100w tube amps for me!

blackkrosses · April 09, 2012, 01:16:28 AM

I had one of the 6L6 run 100 watters. I liked the gain channel. I liked the gain on the clean channel when it was cranked more but you had to get very, very loud. I never liked how it sounded when the wattage was cut down. 50 was ok, 25 was not. The 5-band was great to have. I yanked two power tubes and ran it that way for a while. Sold it. Wish I hadn't.

bitter · April 09, 2012, 01:22:42 AM

Quote from: blackkrosses on April 09, 2012, 01:16:28 AM
I never liked how it sounded when the wattage was cut down. 50 was ok, 25 was not. The 5-band was great to have. I yanked two power tubes and ran it that way for a while. Sold it. Wish I hadn't.

I can imagine cutting the wattage could create a problem for the gain channels, but did it negatively affect the cleans?

Corey Y · April 09, 2012, 11:50:10 AM

Using the 25W feature makes the regular Lead channel a little mushy, which can be kind of cool if you want it, similar to how a Laney AOR sounds. The boosted Lead channel sounds fine at any power setting to me. You can push the clean channel to a really nice medium gain breakup at that setting too, which personally I love. Otherwise for the Lead channel it does sound better to run it at 50W or full power, if you're using a lot of gain. If you actually want to use the Clean channel as a clean channel it sounds better at higher power, no surprise, there's of course more headroom that way. I use my Fender PRRI for cleans though, so I never really worry about that much.

bitter · April 09, 2012, 12:36:58 PM

Right on. I think I'll keep looking. Mostly interested in small bedroom/recording rigs that provide a clean base for pedals.

blackkrosses · April 21, 2012, 08:52:29 PM

Quote from: bitter on April 09, 2012, 01:22:42 AM
Quote from: blackkrosses on April 09, 2012, 01:16:28 AM
I never liked how it sounded when the wattage was cut down. 50 was ok, 25 was not. The 5-band was great to have. I yanked two power tubes and ran it that way for a while. Sold it. Wish I hadn't.

I can imagine cutting the wattage could create a problem for the gain channels, but did it negatively affect the cleans?

I didn't care for it on either channel. I'm not sure what the circuit actually did when you cut the power down but pulling two tubes and running 1/2 impedance sounded more natural. I hear the el34 x100b's have more gain but are thinner sounding. They also made an x60b with 2 6l6's which is what I will be looking out for if I ever want to replace the Carvin I sold.