The Carvin Cabs with the old HE12 speakers are the best. I have 2 4-12 cabs and a 2-12 cab. I bought my old Carvin stack in 1988. The only amp cab i will never let go. The HE12 sounds awesome with the old Carvin X100 head.
this is the kinda content that sets you apart. you know some obscure 80s cab isn't going to get clicks... but you still made the time for it because it might help somebody down the road. i really appreciate the work you do. and for me, i love oversized 2x12s. a little lighter... you can hit the speakers harder... and they usually have a bigger bottom end than their 4x12 siblings
Every carvin cab I owned was just awesome. 412 and 212. Both the carpeted British series. I wish I didn’t have to sell them. Hopefully will find another one some day
Old Carvin cabs are great. I have an old carpeted 212V in mint condition with their 100w British Series speakers in it and it sounds fantastic. The speakers are very similar to V30s but with smoother mids. Hope to find a twin for it someday for a 80s stereo rig.
I’ve been taking risks on guitar center used gear as well. Picked up a nice Jackson dk2m and schecter Jeff loomis that way. It’s nice for people looking for stuff that isn’t made anymore
That's the great thing with used GC gear, there is zero risk, because you can return it for pretty much any reason. Great way to be able to try out guitars and if you don't gel with it, you can just return it and get your money back.
I'll order from GC over Reverb any day! I found a Fender 2x12 cab from the 80's for only $95. I replaced the stock speakers with Eminence CV-75's and couldn't be happier. The Carvin sounds sick! 🤘
This cab sounds like it would blend really well with a v30 loaded cab. I understand most v30 cabs still sound different from each other but this cab doesn't seem to sound overly familiar. That leads me to believe it would be a nice flavor mixed into tones we hear more frequently.
I picked up a 412 Slant Carvin with a metal grill from a pawn shop. 191 after tax. Came loaded with the British Series and metal handles. Same tolex as what you displayed. I love the thing
I have a 1986 4x12 with HE speakers. Loved it with my X-60 combo back in my band days. Now I play a Legacy II and it is missing something in the mids. Like you said, finding info on the HE speakers is near impossible with the Carvin forums gone. Thanks to this vid and the comments, I'm going to try swapping two of the speakers for Vintage 30s.
Carvin in its heyday made some very good equipment including very well made custom guitars and basses. I had their premier bass bi-amped system with a 1x18 bottom and 4x10 + horn top. Custom made lefty bass. The bass played and sounded as good/better as a P or jazz bass with qualities of both and more tonal control. The amp had crushing lows with above and beyond mids and highs. Their guitar amps were better quality than many brands at the time. Some day they will be revered as a "Park" is to a "Marshall". Your cab is a prime example of how we used it for the dark heavy pushing air tones from our 50 to 100watters. Just like with Marshalls/HiWatts we bass players knew we needed at least 2 to 3 times the watts to keep up. 1000 watts is only twice as loud as 100 watts...not ten times as some think. Low frequencies need more power for the same output. Now Mesa's and other high output bass rigs use SS power over tubes. Besides being a matter of expense, bass players want and need as much clean power and headroom possible. The Carvin "R 1000" was a formidable beast of a bass amp. I have played 3 ampeg svt's and a v-4 and b15 [was great sounding] for years. None which stand up to the Carvin R 1000. The "Bel-Air" was a great guitar amp combo. Just a little history from your "uncle al".
I still run my 1990 Carvin X-50B with matching 4x12 cab. I wish I could find more. A lot of people don't like the carpet or whatever they used on it, but I actually like it, it's different, never gave me any issues. I'd love to find a cab like that.
I scored a Mesa Boogie Half Back vertical 2x12 with the EVM12L on the bottom and a Black shadow up top for $250.00 and it is the best sounding cab I have ever played through.
I have a Carvin 4x12 I bought new in 1988,was my first real piece of equipment.They are rock solid with a massive sound,mine has the British series 100 watt speakers.Lots of bottom end!The only thing I don't like is the speakers are a little too close together so speaker swaps are a p.i.t.a,some mounting holes don't line up properly because of the wood frame that the metal grille mounts to.Other than that they are great.Very heavy cabs!
I collect Carvin gear and I saw this cab listed and am glad you got it. Carvin gear is very under the radar and very low priced. I have a lot of Carvin Eminence speakers and you are dead right about pairing the amp to the speaker. Finding the right speaker amp combo is the fun of tone chasing.
I've been using one of the Carvin 412 '80s cabs with tolex and larger metal grate front grill for the last 15 or so years. I got rid of the horrible Celestion g12 70 speakers and put in v30's and ev12L's, and it sounds massive -- and it's definitely a heavy cab. 😁
I’ve always been a fan of Carvin’s stuff except for the British Series speakers in a used 2 x 12 cabinet I had a few years ago. I ended up selling the cabinet with an X100-B Series IV I had. The GT12 Carvin speakers are really good, though. They also made some really good guitars for a relatively affordable price compared to other USA-made brands.
I buy used gear from guitar center all the time, never had an issue thankfully. I have returned things because I didn't like them and wanted to exchange for something else, but never because they were broken or not as advertised. They have used Pearl Export drum kits all day for like 300 bucks, I bought two black kits with different tom sizes and made a double bass kit.
Hey Kyle, wassup my belligerent friend? I hope you are capturing IRs of all these obscure cabs while have have it all set up, it would make for an interesting IR pack and I would buy it. When I make mine I actually utilize the power section of my Peavey 5150 in as neutral setting as I can, I found they sound maybe a bit more natural.
I have 3 Carvin shop guitars , including what appears to be now rare , DC400 and two Kiesels … the kiesels are great but the Carvin are a league of their own. This is similar to cabs used by Steve Vai
Nice sleeper cab! Back in the 80s, I had a Peavey VTM120 with a Peavey 4x12 that was about 1.5x the size of a normal 4x12 with casters on it. Massive low end out of it. It was ALMOST as heavy as the VTM120 head. Great rig though.
It Looks like the oversized vertical Mesa 2X12 cab with the metal grills and older Mesa logo . Any way Carvin makes very good cabs . The older made Carvin cabs are well built Solid tanks .
I'd love to see more videos of lesser known cabs. The Carvin V212 sounds great! It would have helped to have videos like this when I was switching back to the head/cab setup when I branched out from my Peavey 5150 combo. I got a (Smallbox?) Carvin 212 as my first cab in 8 years because it was cheap, but it just did not work for metal. I tried it with different heads and speakers, but it was just too small. The construction and dimensions really do make a gigantic difference. That's also why I liked your little "tour" of the inside! Great video!
they rock! My cousin uses one as his work horse and he gets wild tones, he's crazy haha but if you're curiouse ruclips.net/video/lmkQLkEpo08/видео.html CC is English
Call this the icy-hot episode.. I thought only us guys over 50 had trouble getting up.. lol.. does sound good.. amazing what some auto store vinyl roof cleaner works wonders on tolex.. have a peavey bandit 65 from 82 that looked like it sat in a cattle farm manure pile and now looks brand new.. maybe lose the internal insulation would work better?
Weird, man… I’ve been trolling the GC website for used (or, cheap new) 2x12 cabs for a couple weeks now, and boom… here comes a KB vid on that very topic. It’s not the first time something like that has happened with me and your channel. We’re definitely seeing a turn of the tide recently, all over RUclips and elsewhere, towards recognizing the massive importance of speakers and cabs. More content like this, random cabs for short $$, is just what the Dr ordered. How about a vid about 1x12 cabs?
Seems like most front loaded cabs I play through are usually a little brighter, which I’m not the biggest fan of. I own a front loaded one that’s ok, but I usually prefer rear loaded, & ported 2x12’s…..🤷🏼♂️
Have you tried any Laney stuff? Just picked up a Laney VH100R.....this thing is a monster! The OD channel has JCM 800 vibes with a really nice clean channel (irrelevant, I know). Blows my DSL 100 out of the water.
A fused cabinet being connected to a tube amp seems like a disaster waiting to happen. The fuse isn't likely to blow, but if it did, you've got an unloaded tube amp...
The legacy 4x12 is the ultimate cab sleeper. 1. It's front mounted 2. It's part of Ulrich Wilde's goto IR's, meaning this is one of the best sounding cabs out there. 3. I stupidly gutted one and took just the speakers with a V1 Legacy head for $500. That tells you how much they're "worth" Criminally under-rated cab getting destroyed by idiots like me!
yo for real! My cousin records all his music with a Legacy VL 100 4x12 combo, greenbacks I think he gets so many tones it's insane! he's a mad man though haha ruclips.net/video/lmkQLkEpo08/видео.html CC is English
A fuse on a guitar cab! How strange. Probably useful if you're using high wattage solidstate power amps, might save speakers if you try to push too much like if you're using a 500 watt ss power amp with a 100 watt cab... fine until you're consistently pushing more than 100 watts, and a solidstate power amp is (typically) fine with an open load. But since you're using tube amps, I would definitely bypass the fuse if you open it up. If you push it hard enough to blow that fuse, you then have a cranked tube amp with no load, and thats bad news. Your amps are worth more than some 80's carvin speakers. Also, fun demo, I love seeing demos of old weird stuff.
eminence speakers just have this.... it's not a hiss. but their midrange sounds like a cat hissing. this unpleasant stiffness around like 1k or so. they are such a cool compliment to a v30 in a mix though. killswitch engage used a vht fat bottom with their mesa on those 2 middle records and it's an untouchable sound. but on it's own. ouch.
Carvin seemed to make some nice gear but just couldn't get it out there. Reasonably priced stuff made in the USA that sounds good should've been a n easy sell.
Carvin is so under rated! the 4 12 greenback legacy cab they made is the best!
I have one of those carvin 4×12 400 watt grey carpet cabs. Its been a work horse for me for years.
Nice man! I need to try one
The Carvin Cabs with the old HE12 speakers are the best. I have 2 4-12 cabs and a 2-12 cab. I bought my old Carvin stack in 1988. The only amp cab i will never let go. The HE12 sounds awesome with the old Carvin X100 head.
Man- those Carvin cabs (both the 212 and 412)….. with those Carvin British style speakers 🔊….. huge sleepers!
this is the kinda content that sets you apart. you know some obscure 80s cab isn't going to get clicks... but you still made the time for it because it might help somebody down the road. i really appreciate the work you do. and for me, i love oversized 2x12s. a little lighter... you can hit the speakers harder... and they usually have a bigger bottom end than their 4x12 siblings
Every carvin cab I owned was just awesome. 412 and 212. Both the carpeted British series. I wish I didn’t have to sell them. Hopefully will find another one some day
Old Carvin cabs are great. I have an old carpeted 212V in mint condition with their 100w British Series speakers in it and it sounds fantastic. The speakers are very similar to V30s but with smoother mids. Hope to find a twin for it someday for a 80s stereo rig.
I had this exact same can model.. and I loved it , I got it for 200 ,it had a gt75 and a v30 in it ...I miss it still .. had to sell.
I’ve been taking risks on guitar center used gear as well. Picked up a nice Jackson dk2m and schecter Jeff loomis that way. It’s nice for people looking for stuff that isn’t made anymore
That's the great thing with used GC gear, there is zero risk, because you can return it for pretty much any reason. Great way to be able to try out guitars and if you don't gel with it, you can just return it and get your money back.
I'll order from GC over Reverb any day! I found a Fender 2x12 cab from the 80's for only $95. I replaced the stock speakers with Eminence CV-75's and couldn't be happier. The Carvin sounds sick! 🤘
Every speaker cab should have a fuse in my opinion! Saves the speaker in case of a catastrophic amp failure
I had the 4x12 model, it came with Celestion GT75 speakers. Sounded great!
This cab sounds like it would blend really well with a v30 loaded cab. I understand most v30 cabs still sound different from each other but this cab doesn't seem to sound overly familiar. That leads me to believe it would be a nice flavor mixed into tones we hear more frequently.
I picked up a 412 Slant Carvin with a metal grill from a pawn shop. 191 after tax. Came loaded with the British Series and metal handles. Same tolex as what you displayed. I love the thing
I have a 1986 4x12 with HE speakers. Loved it with my X-60 combo back in my band days. Now I play a Legacy II and it is missing something in the mids. Like you said, finding info on the HE speakers is near impossible with the Carvin forums gone. Thanks to this vid and the comments, I'm going to try swapping two of the speakers for Vintage 30s.
How'd it turn out?
@@ericsalinas1839 Haven't done it yet.
Carvin in its heyday made some very good equipment including very well made custom guitars and basses. I had their premier bass bi-amped system with a 1x18 bottom and 4x10 + horn top. Custom made lefty bass. The bass played and sounded as good/better as a P or jazz bass with qualities of both and more tonal control. The amp had crushing lows with above and beyond mids and highs. Their guitar amps were better quality than many brands at the time. Some day they will be revered as a "Park" is to a "Marshall". Your cab is a prime example of how we used it for the dark heavy pushing air tones from our 50 to 100watters. Just like with Marshalls/HiWatts we bass players knew we needed at least 2 to 3 times the watts to keep up. 1000 watts is only twice as loud as 100 watts...not ten times as some think. Low frequencies need more power for the same output. Now Mesa's and other high output bass rigs use SS power over tubes. Besides being a matter of expense, bass players want and need as much clean power and headroom possible. The Carvin "R 1000" was a formidable beast of a bass amp. I have played 3 ampeg svt's and a v-4 and b15 [was great sounding] for years. None which stand up to the Carvin R 1000. The "Bel-Air" was a great guitar amp combo. Just a little history from your "uncle al".
I still run my 1990 Carvin X-50B with matching 4x12 cab. I wish I could find more. A lot of people don't like the carpet or whatever they used on it, but I actually like it, it's different, never gave me any issues. I'd love to find a cab like that.
Massive sound, super punchy low range. Cool stuff.
Exactly the sort of content I like. I’m always wondering about the budget cabs that appear in the GC used section. Thanks!
I scored a Mesa Boogie Half Back vertical 2x12 with the EVM12L on the bottom and a Black shadow up top for $250.00 and it is the best sounding cab I have ever played through.
I just got a pair of those same cabs. Not a open back top but once I seal it, I feel I will dig it much more. Glad you like yours!
I have a Carvin 4x12 I bought new in 1988,was my first real piece of equipment.They are rock solid with a massive sound,mine has the British series 100 watt speakers.Lots of bottom end!The only thing I don't like is the speakers are a little too close together so speaker swaps are a p.i.t.a,some mounting holes don't line up properly because of the wood frame that the metal grille mounts to.Other than that they are great.Very heavy cabs!
Engl uses 14 ply Marine birch cabinets. I love the XXXL 4X12. Simply Brutal !!
I just bought a 2x12 carvin cabinet with no speakers I put 2 v30 can't believe how great it sounds
I collect Carvin gear and I saw this cab listed and am glad you got it. Carvin gear is very under the radar and very low priced. I have a lot of Carvin Eminence speakers and you are dead right about pairing the amp to the speaker. Finding the right speaker amp combo is the fun of tone chasing.
yo thats awesome that you collect Carvin Gear! they are the most under rated US music company IMO
i love this kind of videos ... the obscure pieces of gear
I've been using one of the Carvin 412 '80s cabs with tolex and larger metal grate front grill for the last 15 or so years. I got rid of the horrible Celestion g12 70 speakers and put in v30's and ev12L's, and it sounds massive -- and it's definitely a heavy cab. 😁
i have the same cab in a 412 carvin one awesome sounding cab has the same metal grille as yours
My knees have hurt after making videos as well 😞
That's a sweet cab. Oversized and vertical is my ideal for a 2x12
I’ve always been a fan of Carvin’s stuff except for the British Series speakers in a used 2 x 12 cabinet I had a few years ago. I ended up selling the cabinet with an X100-B Series IV I had. The GT12 Carvin speakers are really good, though. They also made some really good guitars for a relatively affordable price compared to other USA-made brands.
The carpeted cabs from the 90s were the stuff.
I had a Carvin SX 400 amp head with the fuzzy cover..it was solid state but rocked bigtime ! Glad to see this video.
Good to see affordable heads like the DSL20HR. You should use it more frequently on videos :)
He made a long review of it
I buy used gear from guitar center all the time, never had an issue thankfully. I have returned things because I didn't like them and wanted to exchange for something else, but never because they were broken or not as advertised. They have used Pearl Export drum kits all day for like 300 bucks, I bought two black kits with different tom sizes and made a double bass kit.
I just got one!!!!!! LITERALLY.........
DOPE
Nice touch to show inside the cab to see the construction 👍
I like obscure stuff. More please dude, great video!
Look under the "Carvin" on the handle,(you may have to scratch paint) bet it says "Randall" ;)
Oh and the speakers are rebranded Eminence
Love carvin. Still rocking an x100B. Those speakers were probably made by Eminence at least the later stuff was
Hey Kyle, wassup my belligerent friend? I hope you are capturing IRs of all these obscure cabs while have have it all set up, it would make for an interesting IR pack and I would buy it. When I make mine I actually utilize the power section of my Peavey 5150 in as neutral setting as I can, I found they sound maybe a bit more natural.
I have 3 Carvin shop guitars , including what appears to be now rare , DC400 and two Kiesels … the kiesels are great but the Carvin are a league of their own. This is similar to cabs used by Steve Vai
the Vai Cabs are amazing!
Nice sleeper cab!
Back in the 80s, I had a Peavey VTM120 with a Peavey 4x12 that was about 1.5x the size of a normal 4x12 with casters on it. Massive low end out of it. It was ALMOST as heavy as the VTM120 head. Great rig though.
I just bought myself a Carvin 412v30, I'm here to join the Carvin gang before everyone buys them all.
It Looks like the oversized vertical Mesa 2X12 cab with the metal grills and older Mesa logo . Any way Carvin makes very good cabs . The older made Carvin cabs are well built
Solid tanks .
The Marshall really woke that cab up. 👍
Carvin made awesome stuff
Ya know, the old solid state SX series amps were pretty rad sounding. The SX50 1x12 combo I played was actually impressive.
I'd love to see more videos of lesser known cabs. The Carvin V212 sounds great! It would have helped to have videos like this when I was switching back to the head/cab setup when I branched out from my Peavey 5150 combo. I got a (Smallbox?) Carvin 212 as my first cab in 8 years because it was cheap, but it just did not work for metal. I tried it with different heads and speakers, but it was just too small. The construction and dimensions really do make a gigantic difference. That's also why I liked your little "tour" of the inside! Great video!
Like this mini deep dive
Ive always wanted to play one of those Steve Via amps.
they rock! My cousin uses one as his work horse and he gets wild tones, he's crazy haha but if you're curiouse ruclips.net/video/lmkQLkEpo08/видео.html CC is English
My knees hurt right now watching this.
Thanks bro I really look forward to these
Call this the icy-hot episode.. I thought only us guys over 50 had trouble getting up.. lol.. does sound good.. amazing what some auto store vinyl roof cleaner works wonders on tolex.. have a peavey bandit 65 from 82 that looked like it sat in a cattle farm manure pile and now looks brand new.. maybe lose the internal insulation would work better?
Peavey had a vertical 212 too. I'd love to find one for my Triumph 60 head.
$149 that super cheap for badass cabinet! nice review kyle
Weird, man… I’ve been trolling the GC website for used (or, cheap new) 2x12 cabs for a couple weeks now, and boom… here comes a KB vid on that very topic. It’s not the first time something like that has happened with me and your channel.
We’re definitely seeing a turn of the tide recently, all over RUclips and elsewhere, towards recognizing the massive importance of speakers and cabs. More content like this, random cabs for short $$, is just what the Dr ordered. How about a vid about 1x12 cabs?
Appreciate your vids brother. Love your energy and attitude. Great playing and info as well. Much gratitude. Keep it rockin brother man.
Seems like most front loaded cabs I play through are usually a little brighter, which I’m not the biggest fan of. I own a front loaded one that’s ok, but I usually prefer rear loaded, & ported 2x12’s…..🤷🏼♂️
Can you pair this cab with your Deliverance or Pittbull?
I have a strong feeling it will be awesome! 😎
I personally feel like it would be too empty in the mids, but that's just me.
Have you tried any Laney stuff? Just picked up a Laney VH100R.....this thing is a monster! The OD channel has JCM 800 vibes with a really nice clean channel (irrelevant, I know). Blows my DSL 100 out of the water.
I have a Peavey Robert Randolph 2x12 with custom voiced Eminence speakers that I think sounds good. You should try to find one and try it out.
Did you ever make a video on the V3?
Haha, nice, those are the two amps I currently own 😄
Cab sounds pretty sweet
Carvin has always made great stuff....mail order just.limited their market
First video where I have noticed the image stabilization. Image gets a little wonky when you are up close.
I think Izzy Stradlin used something similar when recording Appetite For Destruction. You might be onto something.
Interesting!
I found one of these locally with UK V30's for $200
I wanna hear this with some good V30's in it.
Eminence were the speaker manufacturer for Carvin.
A fused cabinet being connected to a tube amp seems like a disaster waiting to happen. The fuse isn't likely to blow, but if it did, you've got an unloaded tube amp...
That honestly never crossed my mind but you have a great point
My buddy has a Carvin 4x12 with the grey carpet stuff around it. Not sure what speakers it has.
IF it's stock, the British Seiris 75 watt speakers
Any thoughts on d.v mark cabs
The legacy 4x12 is the ultimate cab sleeper.
1. It's front mounted
2. It's part of Ulrich Wilde's goto IR's, meaning this is one of the best sounding cabs out there.
3. I stupidly gutted one and took just the speakers with a V1 Legacy head for $500. That tells you how much they're "worth"
Criminally under-rated cab getting destroyed by idiots like me!
yo for real! My cousin records all his music with a Legacy VL 100 4x12 combo, greenbacks I think he gets so many tones it's insane! he's a mad man though haha ruclips.net/video/lmkQLkEpo08/видео.html CC is English
A fuse on a guitar cab! How strange. Probably useful if you're using high wattage solidstate power amps, might save speakers if you try to push too much like if you're using a 500 watt ss power amp with a 100 watt cab... fine until you're consistently pushing more than 100 watts, and a solidstate power amp is (typically) fine with an open load.
But since you're using tube amps, I would definitely bypass the fuse if you open it up. If you push it hard enough to blow that fuse, you then have a cranked tube amp with no load, and thats bad news. Your amps are worth more than some 80's carvin speakers.
Also, fun demo, I love seeing demos of old weird stuff.
I think the marshall dsl sounds better than the evh stealth
Typically, any 3/4" plywood is 7 ply. 5/8" is often 5-6 ply, 1/2" is 3-5 ply.
bro please don't blow up my spot i have been buying these for years.... come on....
Can’t stop thinking about your knees now.
So I guess we will see you using it at at a gig?
eminence speakers just have this.... it's not a hiss. but their midrange sounds like a cat hissing. this unpleasant stiffness around like 1k or so. they are such a cool compliment to a v30 in a mix though. killswitch engage used a vht fat bottom with their mesa on those 2 middle records and it's an untouchable sound. but on it's own. ouch.
prices after this video ^^^
That me be a pro audio speaker cabinet
I think very dark...or scooped or like you said fairly dark
Carvin seemed to make some nice gear but just couldn't get it out there. Reasonably priced stuff made in the USA that sounds good should've been a n easy sell.
Vertical... why not? I never tried those.
Was cheap til etdh raised prices
The Marshall sounds so much better than the evh with this cab.
O
Mmm
L
Yep oo
it sounds like a T75.. not for me... meh