Last Updated by D.Jones (littlebrother)
11/04/2003 06:22 PM -0500
Gear Review

Carvin AG100D Acoustic Guitar Amp

with MP3 SOUND CLIPS BELOW

I received my new Carvin amp today. The ordering process was easy on the web site. The tracking and estimated delivery time was perfect and I received everything in one shipment right on time. I ordered it last Monday and it arrived 1 week later UPS ground. It was packed well and the foot pedal and cover came in a separate box. The first thing I noticed was that the amp is not as big and bulky as I expected. It feels very solid and well built but it wont break my back or my wallet. The entire order was $ 494.00 dollars and that included shipping, a slip cover and a two button foot-pedal for the effects. I did not have to pay sales tax over the internet so that helped too. The green tolex cover is pretty nice looking and the construction appears very precise and rugged. First impressions are good.

The very first thing I did was haul it up to my upstairs office like the Grinch running with a new Christmas gift. I noticed Carvin shipped it with all the volume controls turned down. That's a smart idea. I plugged my new Larrivee L-05ME acoustic guitar equipped with the latest B-Band A6 UST/AST pickup system into channel-1. I adjusted all of the EQ and other controls to a flat middle setting. I then adjusted my onboard guitar preamp controls to flat EQ, 50/50 UST/AST, and mid volume. I powered up the amp and after a 1-2 second delay it came on. I slowly raised the volume and I was not prepared for the realistic and natural sound to come so easily but I was pleasantly surprised. The Carvin is making my guitar actually sound better ! Within seconds I had the effects knobs figured out and added a little reverb with effects 1. Wow ! I am even happier. Now I added some highs and bass and added a little sparkle and I have a better acoustic sound than I have ever had before. A huge sigh of relief and I can already tell this amp is a possible keeper. Carvin has a 10 day or so trial period so if I change my mind I can send it back. I was careful not to damage the shipping boxes.

Now time to go over all of the features and test a few things. See what she can do. If it sounds this good in a carpeted office at home I know it will only get better. I learned years ago you cannot gauge the volume of an amp in your home. It's a great way to blow speakers and horns and develop rattles if you constantly tweak and adjust amps at home expecting them to sound like a small club. Especially in carpeted bedrooms or home office. If I can get a good sound at home I know it will sound even better live in a club with harder surfaces.

The amp has a nice closed back and recessed rear panel with a nice clean look. The handles, corner hardware, and feet are all made of rubber and metal and not plastic like many amps today. The green tolex is thick and rugged feeling and should handle alot of abuse. The front grill is metal and feels rigid and strong. It is equipped with a powerful 12" speaker and a tweeter horn for great bass and treble response for accurate acoustic, vocals, bass. The cabinet is also ported on the bottom right. It measures about 22" high, 12" deep and 17" wide and weighs in at 33 lbs. This means your old weak back won't be hurting the next day.

The bottom has sturdy rubber feet and a mounting hole for a speaker stand. This is a nice feature and the light weight of this amplifier makes it ideal for use with a speaker stand in situations that call for it.

The front panel knobs are made of plastic like every amplifier made today. I don't exactly love this feature but I have learned the hard way that even Mesa Boogie and the finest amp makers use the same plastic knobs and shafts. This cuts down on static but the real reason they all do it is cost savings and we all know it. The good thing about the Carvin amp is they protect the knobs by overlapping the front panel so you can't knock them all going through a doorway entering a gig. They do, however, notch the upper lip to make it easier to see the controls while on stage. I don't want the controls on the rear or down the side like many mfg.

Rear Panel
The rear panel is simple and recessed. The chassis for the amp is aluminum as you can see. The jacks are high quality metal jacks clearly labeled. foot pedal, effects send and return, stereo line out/headphones, main speaker out and extension speaker out. Clean solid construction with plenty of cooling vents. You can add a second monitor or speaker cabinet such as a 12" or 15" model for increased volume and bass response. Most other brands also do not provide a headset jack for the larger wattage models like this one does. You can also feed the line output into a larger PA system and use this as your on stage monitor for large shows. Very versatile.

Tweeter Saver
There is a tweeter pad control to prevent over driving the tweeter in the main cabinet. This can be used to balance out the tweeters when using an external cabinet in combination with the main. One thing you don't want to experience is a blown tweeter in a live performance. You never realize how much midrange and treble come from that horn until you lose it. This is a NICE feature. Little touches like this make a difference.

Rear Panel
The rear panel power accepts 90-250 Volts AC power at 50 or 60 hz. This means you can play this amp worldwide. You might need to purchase the electrical cord for Europe if you need one. The blades on the plug are rotated 90 degrees. (If I remember correctly). I love this jack on the rear since any PC computer power cord will work !

Front panel controls CH1 and CH2
The channel 1 is intended for an acoustic guitar and provides ample control over tone and effects. As you can see you have a LO control for bass level. The mid is controlled with two knobs, the first selects the center freq such as 1K and then the gain adjusts the level of mids. The high control is on the right. There are two buttons for boosting mids and highs with the touch of a button. The effects knob works in a funny way. You adjust it left or right depending on which effect you want to hear. You can apply effects 1 or 2 or a mixture of both to channel 1. This feature was hard to find and only added in the newer Carvin AG100D amps. Channel 2 is designed primarily for bass guitar or another instrument. The main difference for channel 2 is the mids are controlled by the main EQ and all you have are the LO and MID boost buttons. The effects level works the same but is moved up and right. The jacks are made of metal and not plastic.

Front panel controls CH1 and CH2
Channel 3 is intended for vocals but you could also use it to mic instruments. It also has a stereo TAPE/CD input which might come in handy.

You have 2 independent effects processors EFF1 and EFF2. Each channel 1-3 can select either EFF1 or EFF2. The middle position selects OFF. Under EFF1 and EFF2 the controls are simple. Top knob selects the type of effect, the parameter knob selects from a back of various examples of each effect. The bottom knob is the dry wet mix. The thought of having to purchase and carry additional effects was not an option for me. There is an external effects loop on the rear that can be used if you ever do need it.

Equalizer
I didn't even need to tweak this EQ to get a good guitar sound but I was happy that I have 5 bands to work with. It seems that I have more than enough control over the overall sound as well as each channel. I recommend getting the vocal channel 3 sounding perfect before moving on to the guitar since the guitar has more midrange and other controls to work with.

Master Volume
Located on the right side away from all other controls for ease of use and is beneath the green power led so it will be easy to find on stage during a performance. I can see someone accidentally poking that power switch too. That would suck. I haven't had to max out the volume in my tests with vocals and guitar so I am very encouraged so far.

Foot Pedal
Regardless of those labels on the pedal. The left button enables and disables EFF1. The right one, you guessed it, adjusts EFF2. Little red leds illuminate on the amp front panel so you can see the on/off status while on stage.

Slip cover
The cover fits nice and has a neat flap that lays underneath the handle. It also has a little place to insert a luggage name tag.

SOUND TEST

My first test of any piece of gear is always the worse case scenario. I hate to read reviews where the person adjusts a million knobs or uses external preamps you and I could never afford. In my opinion that skews the entire test for the average reader. If the basic sound is good it can always be improved.

The settings on my guitar are almost flat and very vanilla. Much more control and adjustments could have been performed.

MP3 SOUND SAMPLE #1 - Guitar with flat onboard settings connected directly into the AG100D with flat settings and no EQ. SM58 microphone placed several feet in front of the amplifier and recorded. I have not added any bass or treble on the guitar or amplifier. Not optimal conditions.

MP3 SOUND SAMPLE #2 - The raw guitar signal recorded into a line-in on a Mackie mixer board with flat EQ settings. This will give you an idea of the improvement in tone the AG100D made.

MP3 SOUND SAMPLE #3 - Guitar CH1 and vocals CH3 with minimal adjustments and no EQ. I used a Bruel and Kjaer type 4007 Phantom P48 microphone to record this sample because it is a very flat and accurate microphone. I positioned the mic about 5 feet in front of the amp. Then I isolated myself with my guitar and my SM-58 vocal mic away from the amplifier and p48 mic and made a crude recording. I wanted to test how easy and quickly I could get a decent sound out of this amp without any heavy handed adjustments.

See more about this GUITAR ? (click)

MP3 SOUND SAMPLE #4 -Now I spent more time adjusting the amp and put it on a stand to get it off the floor. I used an EV BK1 microphone for vocals then I got the vocals sounding good on CH-3, then proceeded to get a good guitar sound on CH-1. This test is the result of about 10-15 minutes of fine tuning. Much better results. Below you can see the settings I came up with for both Tests #3 and #4. I had to remove some mids with the main EQ to get the vocals sounding like I wanted then I added those mids back into the guitar with the CH1 controls.

Front panel settings for SOUND SAMPLE 3

Front panel settings for SOUND SAMPLE 4 (much more fine tuned)

SUMMARY OF MY REVIEW

First impressions are good and she might be a keeper. The main reasons this model clinched the deal for me were...

Size, weight, convenience, low cost and easy to replace.
100 watts of power and optional external speaker cabinet.
12" speaker instead of 8" or 10" which gives me more bottom end thump.
A real tweeter horn for the highs needed to produce good highs for vocals and acoustic instruments.
Controls on the top front where I can see them and access them on-stage.
Dual effects processors with independent controls for each channel.
5 Band EQ and the added tonal controls on CH1.
Headphone jack and line out which many amps did not have in the larger models.
The metal jacks, hardware, plywood cab with aluminum chassis, rugged.
Fits on standard speaker stand
Can use line out for PA system or headphones, studio.
One year warranty and Carvin is known for good customer service.

Final Note:
I burned 50 dollars worth of gasoline and demonstrated almost every acoustic amp available before I ordered the Carvin and I can honestly say they did their homework on this one. It hasn't fully proven itself yet but it appears to fit the needs of the average working acoustic musician. You could use it for a small acoustic group but that might be better served with a small PA system. The AG100D is perfect for a solo musician with vocals and maybe one other instrument. It might also work well for picnics or gatherings for announcements and other uses where a large PA is not practical. .

END of review. I will try to improve and make corrections as needed