Unburdened
Well-Known Member
Hello Everyone at SSO!
While my collection grows ever larger, I finally remembered to put together a NGD post for my latest acquisition.
The free agent in question: a Carvin ST4000. 200W of solid state power packed into a somewhat compact headshell. The head itself is certainly smaller than any of my full sized heads, but a bit too large to call a true lunchbox head. This particular amp is from 1972. The Carvin Museum has the following description:
"Carvin offered a pair of new heads in 1972, the ST4000 and the ST2400, which replaced the "L" models from 1971. These were both dual-channel heads, with high and low inputs, master volume, vari-tone selector (which produced 1 solid-state tone and 3 tube-type tones), bass, treble, sustain, vibrato and reverb controls. The 200W ST4000 sold for $299.99, and the 110W ST2400 sold for $229.95."
Some pictures are attached (sorry for the potato quality, I have a flip phone and no camera as it stands), as I had never seen one of these before I came across it.
Pros:
-Wonderfully smooth clean channel with seemingly endless headroom. The 200W really provide an excellent clean ceiling.
-Lots of tonal variety. Between the two channels, you can get any clean to moderate gain tone you want. The head does not approach the high gain behemoths we see today, but it has a great crunch tone and a very smooth distortion depending on the vari-tone setting.
-Very usable vibrato and reverb effects. The reverb is splashy, warm, and full. The vibrato has a unique feel and playing with both the reverb and vibrato on reminds me of an older Miyazaki film; otherworldly, somehow both new yet familiar, and full of interesting character(s).
Cons:
-Holy (#*$ing loud. It is at bedroom volume with the volume knob on ZERO for the distortion channel. Turning it up above zero instantly enters 'too loud' territory, with the volume knob being incredibly sensitive.
For $200, I even got a bargain on the 1972 price
Let me know if you have any questions!
While my collection grows ever larger, I finally remembered to put together a NGD post for my latest acquisition.
The free agent in question: a Carvin ST4000. 200W of solid state power packed into a somewhat compact headshell. The head itself is certainly smaller than any of my full sized heads, but a bit too large to call a true lunchbox head. This particular amp is from 1972. The Carvin Museum has the following description:
"Carvin offered a pair of new heads in 1972, the ST4000 and the ST2400, which replaced the "L" models from 1971. These were both dual-channel heads, with high and low inputs, master volume, vari-tone selector (which produced 1 solid-state tone and 3 tube-type tones), bass, treble, sustain, vibrato and reverb controls. The 200W ST4000 sold for $299.99, and the 110W ST2400 sold for $229.95."
Some pictures are attached (sorry for the potato quality, I have a flip phone and no camera as it stands), as I had never seen one of these before I came across it.
Pros:
-Wonderfully smooth clean channel with seemingly endless headroom. The 200W really provide an excellent clean ceiling.
-Lots of tonal variety. Between the two channels, you can get any clean to moderate gain tone you want. The head does not approach the high gain behemoths we see today, but it has a great crunch tone and a very smooth distortion depending on the vari-tone setting.
-Very usable vibrato and reverb effects. The reverb is splashy, warm, and full. The vibrato has a unique feel and playing with both the reverb and vibrato on reminds me of an older Miyazaki film; otherworldly, somehow both new yet familiar, and full of interesting character(s).
Cons:
-Holy (#*$ing loud. It is at bedroom volume with the volume knob on ZERO for the distortion channel. Turning it up above zero instantly enters 'too loud' territory, with the volume knob being incredibly sensitive.
For $200, I even got a bargain on the 1972 price
Let me know if you have any questions!
