Karnivore vs V30

[OldGtrGuy]

Break in is a good point. V30 are by far my favorite speakers, I've had a couple Scumback that I would also rank up there.

The Karnivore might be flavor of the week but I dont think they will be. I've heard various clips, they sound better than V30 in every video I've heard apart from one which I want to say was Killertone iirc.

To me these seem like a "fixed" V30. V30 without that one horrible frequency that everyone knows. The video posted above from the other John Browne comes with his free IR pack, spent a lot of time with them over the weekend. Maybe not a true comparison to the V30 IR I use but I do like the Karnivore IR better. It took a minute to get used to, way more present, a little more scratchy or gritty but after a few tweaks I think they're giving me the best recorded sounds I've had.

Definitely plan to check these speakers out once the hype dies off and they're readily available.

 

[TheGreatGreen]

Break in is a good point. V30 are by far my favorite speakers, I've had a couple Scumback that I would also rank up there.

The Karnivore might be flavor of the week but I dont think they will be. I've heard various clips, they sound better than V30 in every video I've heard apart from one which I want to say was Killertone iirc.

To me these seem like a "fixed" V30. V30 without that one horrible frequency that everyone knows. The video posted above from the other John Browne comes with his free IR pack, spent a lot of time with them over the weekend. Maybe not a true comparison to the V30 IR I use but I do like the Karnivore IR better. It took a minute to get used to, way more present, a little more scratchy or gritty but after a few tweaks I think they're giving me the best recorded sounds I've had.

Definitely plan to check these speakers out once the hype dies off and they're readily available.

I don't think these are flavor of the week either. Every other flavor of the week speaker I've heard is basically just another speaker that sounds ok but in a different way than the V30, usually just slightly worse but different enough to be interesting, that also has its own equally obnoxious peak or notch somewhere other than where the V30's obnoxious peaks sit. In every single comparison I've heard, the Karnivore flat out sounds like a bigger, wider, less peaky, idealized V30, just better in every way. I don't think that's something that will just fade out in a month or two.

To be honest the worst thing I've noticed about the Karnivore is that it looks really stupid and kitschy, like something you'd see at a Spencer's Gifts store for edgelord teenagers or whatever. But it's going inside a cabinet and you'll never see it so who cares. But I do think that aesthetic could make other serious non-metal guitarists look past it even though as The Other John Brown's video showed, it's also great for cleans and mid gain stuff too.

 

[Klauth]

The reviews on YT are premature since the speakers require extensive (at LEAST 50 hours) break-in.

YT is all about selling the latest greatest... get rich quick, fads and scams.

 

[dave74]

I'd like to hear these compared straight-up to a k100 of the same ohms.

 

[anomaly]

Dasani.

Uh dude, bad choice, I heard they source that shit from the Nile river... Which as you know is full of dead bodies and the souls of dead pharoes (sp.)

 

[anomaly]

I wonder if it’s something that will improve with speaker break in? I don’t hear anything outlandish myself with other amp run throughs but I do worry how it will change after full break in.

Possibly, but it would take quite a while I'd say.

 

[anomaly]

Guess we'll see. To my ear the DV77 was good, but was too much like a V30, if slightly improved. Fane F70 walloped 'em both in my opinion.

The dv77 sounds like a V30 with a blanket on it IMO. Too dark.

 

[anomaly]

I hear the same fizz in the presence I hear in T75s.

Ya it's kinda similar. You know certain amps have that characteristic as well, like I hear it in some Bogner amps.

 

[JDs Couch]

The Karnivore sounds killer.

 

[TheGreatGreen]

Found an example of this speaker doing a Rock tone.



I know it's not being compared against anything so there's limited info you can get from this video but still, it sounds fantastic.

 

[thegame]

The dv77 sounds like a V30 with a blanket on it IMO. Too dark.

C’mon man, don’t be a wet blanket to all these enthusiastic Karnivore owners!

 

[EyesOfTheSouth!]

Guess my ears suck. I prefer the V30 in everything I’ve heard.

The speaker below goes unnoticed for the slightly “different” V30 vibe. I have one paired with a UK V30 in a Splawn 2x12. Might actually be my favorite speaker for high gain.

 

[glpg80]

Found an example of this speaker doing a Rock tone.



I know it's not being compared against anything so there's limited info you can get from this video but still, it sounds fantastic.

Definitely way more on the aggressive side, so much so in fact, that I don’t think the crunch and rock tones were rock level at all. I mean that’s a rhythm tone still on some pretty aggressive progressive metal albums. Just hit it with a boost and it’s over the top even for that.

I like this speaker but as others have already tried, they don’t do well mixed with other speakers apparently. I think I want a quad of them in a straight cab, a quad of G12H30’s for another straight cab, and keep a slant of 25W greenbacks for reference.

 

[OldGtrGuy]

I don't think these are flavor of the week either. Every other flavor of the week speaker I've heard is basically just another speaker that sounds ok but in a different way than the V30, usually just slightly worse but different enough to be interesting, that also has its own equally obnoxious peak or notch somewhere other than where the V30's obnoxious peaks sit. In every single comparison I've heard, the Karnivore flat out sounds like a bigger, wider, less peaky, idealized V30, just better in every way. I don't think that's something that will just fade out in a month or two.

To be honest the worst thing I've noticed about the Karnivore is that it looks really stupid and kitschy, like something you'd see at a Spencer's Gifts store for edgelord teenagers or whatever. But it's going inside a cabinet and you'll never see it so who cares. But I do think that aesthetic could make other serious non-metal guitarists look past it even though as The Other John Brown's video showed, it's also great for cleans and mid gain stuff too.

You're not wrong. Im very interested in these either way, I'm sure ill snag a quad when I can.

 

[Music&Chaos]

did you know that human’s taste like sweet lobster

False. It has been reported by multiple practitioners that the smell and taste is the same as that of swine.

 

[boltzthrower]

Oh don’t get me goin’ on “long lobster”.

 

[anomaly]

Guess my ears suck. I prefer the V30 in everything I’ve heard.

The speaker below goes unnoticed for the slightly “different” V30 vibe. I have one paired with a UK V30 in a Splawn 2x12. Might actually be my favorite speaker for high gain.

View attachment 417867

You can tell all the clips were dialed in for the Karnivore, and then they just switch over. When dialing in to a V30 you're gonna want less mids and probably less presence, but ya my ears tend to prefer the V30's as well. Lot of V30 hate these days.

 

[D-Rock]

I think it's essentially a metal mixer's or producer's wet dream speaker. Made by a producer with mixing in mind. Both Kohle and Ola said the speaker already adjusts all the freqs they would normally do for V30s in post.
I personally don't like or want "polite" or dark speakers. Even some UK V30s are even to smooth sounding for me. My worry is that the Karnivore will get that way with more break in time.

 

[TheGreatGreen]

I think it's essentially a metal mixer's or producer's wet dream speaker. Made by a producer with mixing in mind. Both Kohle and Ola said the speaker already adjusts all the freqs they would normally do for V30s in post.
I personally don't like or want "polite" or dark speakers. Even some UK V30s are even to smooth sounding for me. My worry is that the Karnivore will get that way with more break in time.

Funny enough, from everything I've listened to, speaker break-in doesn't really seem to work as intuitively as people think. One would assume that breaking in speakers makes them darker over time, but every test I've heard that was somewhat thorough (100+ hours of cranking at least) doesn't really show that getting darker is guaranteed. What happens seems to be that all the most represented frequencies tend to get more exaggerated over time as things loosen up and get more pliable in the frequencies where it's vibrated the most. Basically the damping from the speaker's natural stiffness reduces as things loosen up. Some speakers even get brighter. Some speakers stay mostly the same but get their most resonant mid frequencies shifted around a bit, etc.

If a speaker is darker than everything else, chances are it started life being somewhat dark already. If a speaker starts out too bright or harsh, breaking it in won't necessarily mellow it.

 

[Dimebag11]

Wonder how these compare to creamback 65s