This day in age there is so many different styles of guitar amps. From the pocket amps, small combo's, digital, modeling, hybrid, solid-state, tube, half stacks etc. Musicians have been really turning away from the 100 watt amp to smaller ''Lunch Box'' or micro amps. The smaller wattage amps allow the tube lover to get that warm buttery distortion or even high end gain at lower volumes for making the jam room, studio or even smaller stage a more pleasurable experience. Carvin is usually known for there custom guitars and basses but have been a secret for some of the biggest names in the business from tons of bands from the 80's with the XB100 line to a new generation with the V3 line. Today we are going to talk about the off shoot of the V3 line to the micro version the V3m guitar head.
Features
Channels:3
Power 50w/22w/7/ selectable
Impedance: 4/8/16 ohms selectable
Tubes: 4EL84, 4 12ax7
Lush reverb
Speaker Outputs: 2
Line Out (Cabinet voiced)
Effects Loop (Series)
Master Boost Control
Optional Footswitch: FS44L or FS22
Blue or Red Backlit LEDs (Selectable)
120 or 240 VAC 50-60 Hz (switch)
Dimensions: 15''Wide x 8.5'' Deep x 7'' High
Weight 19lbs
Made in San Diego California
Sound
Carvin really took what makes the original V3 line and pushed it further with the V3m. The amp might be small but you will not get anything small about the sound. Channel 3 is the clean channel on the amp with bright lush cleans that when dialed in right have a acoustic appeal to it. The cleans can also give you amazing ballad style and handles well if you are a musician that likes to add distortion pedals or choose to get your distortion from pedal boards. Channel 1 & 2 are the same but can be set up totally different. This really is the jack of all trades amps from the bright ballad style cleans to blues, classic rock, prog, rock, hard rock and even can push to make the metal players happy. With the three way toggle that goes from bright to soak on the clean channel and intense to thick on channel one and two it really allows you to dial in the sound that you are searching for. This is a well worthy tone machine for anything you want to do in or out of the studio.
My Opinion
Carvin has really put tons of time into the thinking of this amp from the small size that can be put into a rack with the optional rack mount for the musician on the go to the desk of the home studio. It is rare to find a 50 watt head for under 20lbs with this much under its hood. Three full functional channels that almost sound like three totally different amps when dialed in the right way. The amp loves effects and with the cabinet voice outs it makes using it in the studio a breeze. The master boost control really helps out the musician on stage that needs to get his leads on but does not want to have to get a volume pedal. The most awesome part is the optional pedal you can get from Carvin allows you to control the channels, reverb, boost all of it. I have had 12 lunch box or micro heads in my studio and none of them hold a candle to what this amp can do from the amazing amount of options and tonal variety. The part that is really impressive is this amp usually goes for under 600 bucks and is made in the USA!!!!! I can honestly say I use this amp in the studio, jam room and stage along with its older brother the original V3 (We will be talking about that monster amp soon also).
Contact: www.facebook.com/carvinguitarsofficial
http://www.carvinguitars.com
