JPJ Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 After another upstairs gig it really is time for me to admit defeat and put the SM1500 out to grass. Looking at alternative high power bass heads and the Carvin looks like it ticks all the boxes having near identicle feature set but at only a quarter of the weight. Anybody using this amp or any of the other BX series heads? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
funky8884 Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 I have a BX1600 paired with a BB2. Loads of volume. I havnt gigged it yet but can't wait. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mykesbass Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 I've got the baby of the family, the BX500 and love it! Can't imagine how loud the bigger ones must be. Great warm, clean sound, easy to find your right tone and loads of control to tweak from gig to gig. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
molan Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 We've sold a few of these and they seem to be well liked by their owners (I've certainly not seen one up for sale used anywhere which is usually a good sign). Lots of power if you are happy to run bridged into a 4 ohm load. Into a pair of 'regular' 8 ohm cabs they put out about 325w per channel. Not sure if we'll be getting any more in though. We've discontinued Carvin basses and strings now following a change in their company structure and looks like we'll only hold minimal stocks of the smaller BX700's in the future Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Count Bassy Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 I've got a BX700, which I bought here second hand. I've since bought a MarkBass LMIII (also second hand from here), which I far prefer. I put a review of the BX700 in the reviews forum, but briefly: Pretty loud, masses of tonal options, built in compressor, BUT I still struggled to get a sound I was happy with out of it - and the valve preamp makes (to my ear) no discernible difference. YMMV. By contrast the LMIII has more limited controls (and no compressor) but, with everything pretty flat, sounds just right to me. [size=4](both amps running into a Vanderkley 112MNT)[/size] Hope this helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPJ Posted February 9, 2015 Author Share Posted February 9, 2015 [quote name='Count Bassy' timestamp='1423435616' post='2684831'] I've got a BX700, which I bought here second hand. I've since bought a MarkBass LMIII (also second hand from here), which I far prefer. I put a review of the BX700 in the reviews forum, but briefly: Pretty loud, masses of tonal options, built in compressor, BUT I still struggled to get a sound I was happy with out of it - and the valve preamp makes (to my ear) no discernible difference. YMMV. By contrast the LMIII has more limited controls (and no compressor) but, with everything pretty flat, sounds just right to me. (both amps running into a Vanderkley 112MNT) Hope this helps. [/quote] Thanks for that, yes it helps! I've been reading some reviews over on Talkbass and they say pretty much the same thing. Perhaps I'm being a little hasty here, the back pain wasn't nearly as bad yesterday as I was expecting following Saturday nights load in/out so the SM1500 lives to fight another day Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tm486 Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 (edited) I've got a BX500 which I'm really happy with. It's very light and more than loud enough for me. It's a very clean amp and you would struggle to get any overdrive without an external pedal if this matters to you. As Count Bassy has said, I can't really notice any difference with the tube in or out. I picked mine up second hand and can't fault it for the price. When I bought it it was meant as a temporary amp, but it's certainly staying for now. I've only used it twice live without PA, but it easily filled the venue, albeit fairly small. Edited February 9, 2015 by tm486 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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