Carvin releases mini V3

[SirMyghin]

Fuck, I'm gonna have to get one of the heads. Might be getting rid of my HT-5H sooner that I thought.

Although 8 tubes is a little hard to justify for a head that will probably see most of its playtime in my bedroom.

Probably has to do with only reengineering what was necessary.

This is pretty cool, not sure I can justify one with a 10 W setting on my Mark though.

 

[Razzy]

Man, it goes up to 50 watts, it can do large shows as well as small ones. This would be sweet if you're sick of hauling around a 45 pound full size 100W tube head all the time.

I wasn't expecting something like this AT ALL, but I'm interested..

+1

I've got the regular, trusty 'ole, V3, and I've never NOT run it at the 50W setting. It's a loud mother fucking amp.

 

[kherman]

Looks like I'll be needing to stack another head on here.

Which won't be bad.
I've got 6l6's in the V3.
I'm going to put some EL34's in the X100b.

So an EL84 head would be nice for rounding out the Carvin collection.

 

[op1e]

Rack mountable, but no more midi? That kinda stinks.

 

[AvantGuardian]

I think I might need to pick up one of these. I'm curious to hear how loud this thing is in the 7 watt setting. It would be pretty sweet if I could get some good tones at bedroom volumes and also be able to gig with it.

 

[edsped]

7 watts is still pretty damn loud.

 

[AvantGuardian]

7 watts is still pretty damn loud.

Yeah. I have a 5 watt Epi Valve Jr and that thing rips if you crank it but still sounds nice and warm/tubey at low volumes. I've never tried a low wattage high gain tube amp though.

 

[potatohead]

Yeah. I have a 5 watt Epi Valve Jr and that thing rips if you crank it but still sounds nice and warm/tubey at low volumes. I've never tried a low wattage high gain tube amp though.

Well, it's got channel volume and master volume, so you can play with combination of pre/power amp volume to get a nice mix.

It seems most of the small tube "rock/metal" amps use 2xEL34's rather than 4xEL84's, but I guess there is a lot more to the sound than tubes alone. Will be nice to see a demo. With Carvins return policy I'll buy it and try it at home anyway.

 

[ZXIIIT]

The head kinda looks like a HD147

 

[robertkoa]

OK guys - what do you think about the 4 EL84s - they usually have less bottom end than the bigger tubes and saturate more quickly.

So how do you think it will sound if it's the same preamp as the V3 ?

You guys with the V3s - is the clean channel almost Fender Clean and can the drive with lower gain do the prettier Gilmour kind of stuff - even though on 7 string that's not what you probably play...................?

 

[robertkoa]

I think I might need to pick up one of these. I'm curious to hear how loud this thing is in the 7 watt setting. It would be pretty sweet if I could get some good tones at bedroom volumes and also be able to gig with it.

Well - it depends how good the Master Volume is - 7 watts especially high gain is very loud , but with the master on 1 or so there's a chance that the 7 watt setting will help at low volumes.


The trick I found years ago- weird but true is at VERY low tube power- you don't want a guitar speaker with a huge magnet- you want a stereo speaker with the tweeter disconnected that will still produce full bass and bandwidth at half a watt or so. Or a vintage type small magnet guitar speaker in a closed back cab.

Or Closed back stereo speaker with 8 or 10 inch driver no tweeter ( disconnect) and maybe disconnect midrange if a 3 way speaker. IF you get the right one they work great for very low volume.

 

[kherman]

OK guys - what do you think about the 4 EL84s - they usually have less bottom end than the bigger tubes and saturate more quickly.

So how do you think it will sound if it's the same preamp as the V3 ?

You guys with the V3s - is the clean channel almost Fender Clean and can the drive with lower gain do the prettier Gilmour kind of stuff - even though on 7 string that's not what you probably play...................?

The clean channel on the V3 is actually pretty good.
Not as sparkly as the X100b clean channel.
But, I still think cleaner than a Marshall or Mesa clean.



As for the dirt channel.
Watch this video.
Made by Carvin forumite, Bundy.


Demonstrates how well the dirty channel cleans up by just backing off your guitars volume knob.

 

[viesczy]

I completely WANT that little bad boy!

I was set to add to my collection the Randall 503H just for a "smaller" amp as I have a "need" for something more pedestrian than my 100 watt amps (and M123 is giving me a killer deal on it by beating the lower prices on AMS), but the versatility of the mini V3 sorta trumps that!

Either that or I just might score a Genz Benz tribal El D head from World Music's ebay account to go along with my El D 100 head and 60/30 combo!

DECISIONS!

Derek

 

[edsped]

I'm GASing for one of these so bad. I really hope it can handle high gain stuff without a problem. I also hope the price point is good, but I'm not TOO worried about that since we're talking about Carvin.

 

[jnukes2]

Whoa. I had a V3 combo for awhile... I wouldn't mind trying another now that I know how to EQ better. This looks pretty promising.

 

[kherman]

ToneKing demos V3m at NAMM.

 

[edsped]

Of course it had to be TTK.

 

[op1e]

We need an anti-TK. Someone with a djent background that can travel and give real demo's. Not "plank plunk twang oohhhh look I'm in drop D now tearin it up".
UUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[TemjinStrife]

We need an anti-TK. Someone with a djent background that can travel and give real demo's. Not "plank plunk twang oohhhh look I'm in drop D now tearin it up".
UUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sure. Just find one site *other* than this one that's interested in that genre, and you can pay someone to do it.

There are other styles out there, and while he's hardly a great player, he at least showcases some interesting gear.

 

[GuitaristOfHell]

If the price is right I'll sell so much shit for it.