Do You Like Carvin Amps?

[patlaw]

Someone posted on Facebook about the Peavey controversy subsequent to the company participating with The Undercover Boss television show. One of the comments in the discussion was that Carvin still makes its amps in the US. My question is, do you like repairing Carvin amps? How good are they under the hood? Are they well made? How easy is it to obtain schematics?

Here's a YouTube video of the Carvin amplifier factory:

This forum caused me to become a bigger fan of Peavey than I have been in the past because of the way they support their products. While the TV show doesn't change my opinion of the company, it does seem like they are struggling to stay in business. If that's true, it does give me pause.

[TomCarlos]

Ok... somehow I missed Peavey being on Under Cover Boss. Watching it now!

[olddawg]

I'm in San Diego near the factory. In general Carvins are considered the "Fat Chicks" of of the music world. They get the job done for less money, but you don't necessarily want to be seen with one, lol. That said I would say their guitar amps are guitar amps. I HATE their PA stuff, especially their boards. They sell rebranded transmitters and such. They make guitars but whether they are "good" is very subjective. They will make them to your specs. A lot of people complain about their factory service. If you bring them something 4 or 5 years old they won't even look at it, only try to sell you a newer replacement. That can be really annoying with large, expensive stuff.

[gui_tarzan]

Ok... somehow I missed Peavey being on Under Cover Boss. Watching it now!

I understand businesses need to do what is good for the company in order for them to stay in business, but doggone, I have lost a lot of respect for Peavey after watching that.

[Diablo]

A fellow at work had me do the Hasserl mods on his Vintage 16. The amp is very well built, compact and relatively easy to work on. The amp sounded great after the mods, so much so, that I went out and bought a used one for me. Another fellow at work tried it out, and he bought that one. Now, I'm looking to buy another one to mod.

to Hasserl for coming up with the mods.

[nsubulysses]

I understand businesses need to do what is good for the company in order for them to stay in business, but doggone, I have lost a lot of respect for Peavey after watching that.

agree completely. I can't believe they offered a better salary to that guy so he wouldn't quit and then they layed him off a couple months later.

[patlaw]

agree completely. I can't believe they offered a better salary to that guy so he wouldn't quit and then they layed him off a couple months later.

From what I've read, he's still working for the company.

[Leo_Gnardo]

I understand businesses need to do what is good for the company in order for them to stay in business, but doggone, I have lost a lot of respect for Peavey after watching that.

Looks like Peavey did a little face saving PR, fresh lipstick on the pig, but now Hartley's moving the whole kit & kaboodle to Peoples Republic of China. He's retirement age, got his fortune made, who cares if the company sinks or swims now. "I got mine!!! and the hell with you-all. Especially since you made me look like a fool on tee-vee." It's about bizness, no place for sentiment.

[Jazz P Bass]

Coming from the 'Garment Trade' as I have, I have seen this move to the PRC with industrial sewing machine manufacturers.
But there is a twist.
The largest manufactuer is Juki.
They have available for sale machines made in China (dirt cheap) & machines that are still made in Japan (at a premium).
Guess which one 'holds up' better?

You know if one manufacturer makes the Made In China move that the others will have to follow suit or starve.

[waspclothes]

Someone posted on Facebook about the Peavey controversy subsequent to the company participating with The Undercover Boss television show. One of the comments in the discussion was that Carvin still makes its amps in the US. My question is, do you like repairing Carvin amps? How good are they under the hood? Are they well made? How easy is it to obtain schematics?

Here's a YouTube video of the Carvin amplifier factory:

This forum caused me to become a bigger fan of Peavey than I have been in the past because of the way they support their products. While the TV show doesn't change my opinion of the company, it does seem like they are struggling to stay in business. If that's true, it does give me pause.

I've worked on only one Carvin and it was pretty easy to work on and I can't remember having any complaints of the build quality and components. Peavey on the other hand, especially after working on a handful of "Classic 30"'s are very badly designed and built. Why they decided to fold the circuit board into a taco is beyond me. I've designed several PCB's for large projects and I have a pretty decent understanding of what is good and what is bad practice. The taco circuit board = bad. Some of their stuff is fine though, it's really hit and miss depending on who designed the product and what the target price/profit was at that time.

The worst in my opinion so far is Trace-Elliot, who seem to have a habit of attaching very large components (capacitors, TO-220 regulators w/ heatsinks) to the PCB with solder only and no other mechanical fastening. So these components just fall off after a few bumpy car rides.

[überfuzz]

I've had 2 Carvin amps on my bench. One bas amp and one bell air, which is my own. My impression is that the quality of the covering work, components and circuitry was kind of meh. The hardware such as transformers, speakers however I like a lot. I still got the guitar amplifier with new cover and circuitry, but with the original transformers and speaker.

[Leo_Gnardo]

This forum caused me to become a bigger fan of Peavey than I have been in the past because of the way they support their products.

Missed this on the first read. I hope Peavey's product support continues, it's one thing that will help keep them going. Worry is, one day the "suits" will come to the conclusion that techs fixing old Peavey gear isn't helping them sell new gear. Then the party will be over.