I finally decided on Saturday that I was going to get another amp - a channel-switcher of some sort to replace the Mesa Nomad 55 that I'd sold earlier in the year, being somewhat impressed with that amp's versatility, but never found "my" sound.  Mostly, the clean channel was pretty lackluster, and the gain channels were noisy and lacked clarity.

Saw a local store had a couple of amps in stock that I'd liked to try out - a Fender Supersonic 60, a Carvin X100B, the Peavey 6505MH, and a Vox AC50CPH.  60W or less is what I was looking for, since I don't have any 100W-capable cabs at the moment.  So, Jakezor and I packed up a guitar and my Bogner 2x12 (WGS Reapers inside... stellar speakers, BTW).  Played the Vox first, and liked it, but wasn't really my "thing".  Played the Carvin and... wow.  The clean channel alone pretty much sold it.  The dirty channel I wasn't sure about, but I figured I'd be able to make something work.  Tried the 6505, and that was pretty fantastic, too, but like the Nomad, wasn't really what I was looking for.  Never bothered to try the Supersonic - I was pretty well sold on the Carvin as soon as plugging it in.  It's 4-ohm stable and switchable from 100W to 50W and 25W, which is a big kicker for me, too.

Pics or it's vaporware!


Not a bad score for $400 - we don't see them come through shops too often here, and when they do, they're sold post-haste.  Glad I nabbed one!  I do have to wonder how much play-time my other amps will get now, though!  They seem to be a love-it or hate-it deal, with little in between.  Guess I know which camp I'm in...

Congrats!

And if you're after a decent gain channel, it's a good thing you didn't get around to the Supersonic. I have one and it's distortion sucks, but I bought it for it's beautiful sounding clean channel anyway, so.....

Is the x100B it's own 'thing' or could it be compared to a known reference?  i.e. Mesa, Marshall, Fender, Trainwreck, D-style type?

I have a line on one somewhat locally about the same price and was pondering giving it a whirl...

Edit for clarity:  I'm aware the X100B is the Vai amp of choice late Zappa era and into Passion and Warfare.  I've read it's sound is JCM 800, or early Boogie or even Wreck style... curious to what you're hearing when you play yours.  I've yet to plug into an X100B myself.

Congrats OP!
I played my X-100B through most of the 90's. It started getting tired, and I down sized to smaller Fender amps, so the Carvin had been sitting in the closet for years. Just this past Saturday I loaded her up and dropped her off to a very well respected amp tech to be re-tubed and a cap job. Looking forward to getting her back and running her through my Marshall 4x12 again.
The clean channel has been compared to a Fender Twin, which is quite a compliment. I like it for the gain channel and run a TS-9 with it. I always got compliments on my tone with that set up.
Being able to run it at 25W is a huge plus too, but every once in a while I like to be reminded of what 100W sounds like! :)    
Have fun with it, great amp!

Thanks!  Having fun with it already.  I've been trying to dial it in for my Sensei 290 and my Ibanez hollow; this thing definitely favors my Sensei RA, but I've gotten some good sounds out of all 3.  When I got it home, it really didn't take me long to get a good '80s crunch out of it.



This is a tough one for me to answer.  There have been four revisions of the X100B, all of which I'm under the impression of having some pretty different voicing, depending on EL34 model, 6L6 model, etc.  The Series IV that I have has a switch to run either in.  The only thing all four hold in common seems to be the clean channel's remarkable tweakability and overwhelming headroom.  For cleans, it's definitely more Rivera-era Fender than Blackface/Blonde era to my ear, but that could just be the case of using modern ceramics with it instead of older, even more high-end-biased JBLs, Jensens, or Utahs.  You can dial in a lot more (believe it or not) "chime" than you can with any Fenders I've dealt with.  You can sail WAY into "ice pick" territory if you're careless with the Presence and 5-band.  

The biggest problem I'd found was most of the demos I'd find online featured Carvin's GT12 speakers.  These things add quite a bit of that high-frequency fizz/sizzle to pretty much anything played with more than very mild overdrive on.  I know, I have a single GT12 in a Carvin 1x12.  It's amongst my least-favorite speakers, period.  The Reaper is blissfully free of that top-end sizzle sound.  You *can* still get that sound by dialing the gain up past about 8 or so (so I don't!), but between 3 and 6, you're looking at some good JCM800-ish levels of gain.  Slightly different character - possibly because the EQ combinations between the TMB controls and the 5-band graphic can make different settings sound awfully disparate.  I'd say it's overall closest to the 800, and if you scoop them out a bunch, you can get a bit more on the Mark side of things, just without the very high gain levels without hitting that dreaded hiss range.  But again, it's a different voice/"character" of overdrive than what you end up with on a Marshall or a Mesa.  I'd put it thoroughly in the "its own thing" category.  This is really the part of the amp that people tend to despise or really like.  You'd really need to try one yourself if you're interested in them.

I'd forgotten to note, as well - the reverb (digital, I believe) is way good.  It's actually better than about 1/2 of the pan reverbs I've had on amps before!  Definitely better than the pan on my Nomad!  

Another amazing thing : These things are $800 brand new, free shipping, right now.  That's staggering for a fully-featured channel switching, US-built amp of any sort.

OP, what are the four mini toggles on the lower right hand side for?

From left to right:
1) Controls the footswitch's boost or mute function.
2) Gain boost - basically, it's whole-hog high-gain versus crunch/overdrive.  Still trying to figure out which I like better.
3) Channel switch
4) Bright switch - I tend to like this one, especially on the clean channel.

I didn't know you were seriously considering the 6505 mini, thought you tested it just to humor me.

This thing has a great clean channel with those WGS Reapers.  Good gain channel from what we tested in store (didn't get too loud to not annoy others) but there was just too much to tweak in the time frame.  After purchase we tried it with my EVM 12Ls in a Gflex cab and holy crap fat low end, no flub at all (tested with my guitar in drop C).  Sounds like Repeater found his sound after he got home.

Guess I have to buy that Windsor or VTM60 that is floating around then, huh?

Interesting. Mine doesn't have any of those. I suppose I have an older model.

Nice Amp!
http://carvinaudio.com/collections/x100b-tube-amplifier-series

The 6505MH was out of interest.  It was in the price range, and it sounded good!  Why not?

And yeah... you need that VTM, I think.   And the Windsor.

VTMs are great amps. My first amp was a VTM120, and I still have it, if that says anything.