carvin x100b - marshall?

[bunghole]

I've heard those old carvin x amps do a good hot rodded marshall tone, though i've noticed the ones in the early 80s were 6L6 and the late 80s were EL34

does the 6L6 version still provide a good marshally sound? I know marshalls are EL34 amps for the most part, though it seems some of the old 80s amps that supposedly are marshall-esque are 6L6 amps - the carvins, peavey butcher/vtm

now, I don't need it to sound just like a marshall, I'm just saying that general kind of tone

 

[RockStarNick]

Ah, yes. That was my first real amp. A Carvin X100B Grey Carpet fuzzy half stack, w EL34s!

Marshally? I guess you could say it's a hot, british like tone. But much stiffer sounding. The clean channel is absolutely impossible to get any breakup on. It's like a Twin - it just stays clean clean clean, and that's it.
The Drive Channel was decent, but pretty focused, to the point of seeming one-dimensional at times.

It's been a while, but I know that I sold the X100B to get a marshall, then sold the marshall to get a Bogner...

 

[MARK1970]

I have a X100B and i am the original owner. It is a great amp and the cleans are exactly like described. Mine is not the carpet. I have one of the first series with El34s with vinyl. My chassis is marked for 6L6s, but Carvin continued to use the olsd chassis and put El34 stickers over the painted 6L6. It caught me by surprise one day when I looked back there and thought my amp used 2 typse of tubes. I still use this amp today and it has been well over 20 years. This is a really good amp and does do the hot rodded Marshall. I wonder how the re-issues are.

 

[muudrock]

Ah, yes. That was my first real amp. A Carvin X100B Grey Carpet fuzzy half stack, w EL34s!

Marshally? I guess you could say it's a hot, british like tone. But much stiffer sounding. The clean channel is absolutely impossible to get any breakup on. It's like a Twin - it just stays clean clean clean, and that's it.
The Drive Channel was decent, but pretty focused, to the point of seeming one-dimensional at times.

It's been a while, but I know that I sold the X100B to get a marshall, then sold the marshall to get a Bogner...

No way! Mine too. Actually it was the first 1/2 stack I ever owned. I did like that amp. The clean channel was incredible and the drive channel wasn't very bad. With a TS or DS-1 in front of it, that amp was very versatile. The tone controls were active so i think that might have contributed to guys not getting good sounds out of them. They were very sensitive.
I still have my old vinyl covered head in storage. Sold the carpet covered version. These actually make very good power amps as well. The graphic EQ and active tone controls were wired in after the FX return so you could really tweak your preamp.

Mark, I've only heard the reissue once and it is close. Sounds a little more refined than the original and seemed to have a touch more gain on the drive/boost channel. Still a good head though.

 

[Vrad]

Ah, yes. That was my first real amp. A Carvin X100B Grey Carpet fuzzy half stack, w EL34s!

Marshally? I guess you could say it's a hot, british like tone. But much stiffer sounding. The clean channel is absolutely impossible to get any breakup on. It's like a Twin - it just stays clean clean clean, and that's it.
The Drive Channel was decent, but pretty focused, to the point of seeming one-dimensional at times.

It's been a while, but I know that I sold the X100B to get a marshall, then sold the marshall to get a Bogner...

LOL! I followed in exactly the same way!
X100B -> TSL100 -> Bogner XTC Classic

 

[rupe]

One of my best friends in high school got the half stack in around '83/'84. He pushed it with a DS1 and was able to nail Mathias Jabs' tone from LAFS. Cool amps IMO if you dial them in well.

 

[1big1]

i've got an early 6l6 version x 60b. it does cleans very well.. but the drive channel is a bit too compressed for me.. so i use a ds-1 into the high gain input on the clean channel when i need to add dirt. lots of range in the active eq.. so a little tweaking goes a long way.
i've been running a rocktron pro gap preamp into the low gain input and effects through the loop as of late. sounds pretty good to me. i could gig with that rig for sure.

 

[droptrd]

I am the original owner of a grey fuzzy X100B. Its Marshall-ish. But it definately has its own vibe and sound to it. Great amp.