Carvin DCM1000L vs. ART SLA-2

M

MotherSea

Experienced
These seem to be on paper the clearest options for using the Axe with a pair of passive Atomics; they both put out 200 W at 8 ohms. I just called Carvin to confirm the wattage ratings are RMS, just like the ART. Has anyone compared these? I'm interested to know if they really output the exact same amount or if one is a bit louder, and whether or not one has an advantage in coloration.
 
Or you could save yourself some money, weight, and 1 rack space and get a Carvin DCM200L.

I'm running the older Carvin DCM150 into a 2x12 and it has plenty of juice. Thinking of switching to the DCM200L to save some weight.
 
I can't say anything about Carvin, but I'm very happy with my ART SLA-2 which drives 2 cabs: 1 4x12" and one 2x12". Actually I've started debating whether I should change my setup by replacing the guitar cabs with 2 atomic passive speakers so that I can take advantage of the Axe's cab sims, but I wonder if it would feel the same way as it does with my current setup. My other option is to exchange my 2 guitar cabs with better ones (2 2x12". one with greenbacks and one with vintage 30s is what I have in mind)...
 
The Carvin DCM1000L has a ton of head room and super clean power.
It is a light amp too. I replace my Boogie stereo 50/50 tube power amp
with the Carvin. I used a friend's Art Sla-2, sounded great but not near
as much headroom as the Carvin...For $319 plus $30 in Shipping...you can't
go wrong. My rack is now 30 Lbs lighter..
 
Have the Art SLA2, Carvin DCM200L, and Matrix GT800FX.

Never cared for the Art, very dark (or at least the one I have) The Carvin is nice, certain times I found it a little limiting in power, but keep in mind this was stereo with an 8 ohm load which came out to 60 watts a side. And as I reflect back on that I may have not been running my patches optimal at the time. If running a single cab in bridged mono, yeah no problem at all. And I would take it over the ART any day.

I’m running a Matrix now as you can see in my signature, love it, but I still like my DCM200L.

John
 
Wow, this is an old thread. I am now using the Matrix with the Axe, and absolutely love it. I also have the DCM1540L which I use for bass. I opted for this one because it is class A/B and the 1000 is class D. It also matched up better with the bass cab I have in terms of wattage, and I figure it will be quite a versatile amp in the future if I want to power a PA with it, etc.
 
I was considering a 1540L myself for the same reasons over the 1000 but went for the Matrix the buzz was so heavy and I was in one of those WTF moments. Like I said no regrets.
 
JVCROX said:
The Carvin DCM1000L has a ton of head room and super clean power.
It is a light amp too. I replace my Boogie stereo 50/50 tube power amp
with the Carvin.
Click to expand...
@JVC: I'm thinking of doing the same thing. How would you compare the sound of the Carvin vs the Mesa? I know the Mesa colors the sound somewhat so I'm wondering what differences you heard.
 
6L6C said:
Have the Art SLA2, Carvin DCM200L, and Matrix GT800FX.

Never cared for the Art, very dark (or at least the one I have) The Carvin is nice, certain times I found it a little limiting in power, but keep in mind this was stereo with an 8 ohm load which came out to 60 watts a side. And as I reflect back on that I may have not been running my patches optimal at the time. If running a single cab in bridged mono, yeah no problem at all. And I would take it over the ART any day.

I’m running a Matrix now as you can see in my signature, love it, but I still like my DCM200L.

John
Click to expand...

Hey John, how does your DCM200L compare with the Matrix? I'm using a Mosvalve MV-962 right now and leave the power amp sims off. Are you able to use the power amp sims with either the DCM200L or Matrix?
 
yes you can. Its kind of the main reason for SS amps over valve ones i guess (that and no maint/valve replacement). That said I used amp sims with my VHT 2:50:2 as well so ?????
 
Just got my DCM200L today in the post. Holy crap this thing is light!!!! I am hopeful it meets my needs power wise cause this will save the back big time!!!
 
don't know if anyone else cares, but thought i'd give me 5min review of the Carvin DCM200L vs the ART SLA-2. I spent about 5 min on lunch playing through a speaker cab (carvin 4x12) and flipped back and forth between the ART and the Carvin. (my patches have been made for FRFR studio monitors and floor monitor, not for guitar cab, but since it was the same preset into each amp, it seems still fairly accurate)

In a VERY UNSCIENTIFIC study. I found that the Carvin seemed to have more clarity in the low end and a slightly more pronounced top end. And the ART was a little blurry sounding on the low end, of which it had more. I tried to get a fairly close volume level, and to do that I actually had to have the ART up a little higher on the dial than the Carvin, which seemed odd to me, since in bridged mode the carvin is 200w and the art was 560w. (so the knobs have different tapers for sure.)

I LOVE the fact it is only like 4 lbs. Holy crap is that sweet. Can't wait to rack it up this weekend after a few more tests to insure i do like the sound. (can't return after rack rash) I will say it'll have to sound like absolute shit for me to get rid of it. that 15lb difference in weight is AMAZING.

I played cleans, bluesy tones, dirty tones, 80's hair metal. Organ, string and violin(bad with the gtr cab, but still not too bad) and all of it sounded good. I was playing at higher than normal bedroom levels, but not ear pain levels, in a fairly small, pretty poorly treated room. (if it were at night, i would have had a knock on the apt door from a neighbor due to volume)

I'll probably update this thread one last time after i play the next 2 weekends. This weekend is solo practice at good volume to test tones at higher level, and next week is practice with a full band to test the volume out and mix as well (also will be first live use of my new EV ZX-1 speaker too)
 
Wake, you and I sound like clones of each other ;-)

I just got my 200L yesterday, racked it up today... (you know there are washers you can put between the screws and the unit to prevent rash).

So far, I like what I'm hearing. But, this was at bedroom volumes and I don't know how it'll sound when it's loud, or how it'll cut thru a mix yet. I also didn't directly compare w/ the Mesa yet. The test will be this weekend's gigs... I'm planning to bring the 50:50 but I'll switch out during soundcheck to compare the Carvin w/ the Mesa. If I like it then I'll keep it running and see how it performs. If I need to I can always do a little global eq on the GT8.

Of course, when I get the Axe I'll be starting from scratch with my tones so I'm pretty sure that from that point I'll be able to dial in what I want, as long as I like the overall tone and volume of the Carvin.
 
Update... well, it became clear in about 30 seconds at soundcheck last night that the 200L isn't going to be loud enough for my needs. I had the vol cranked all the way up and it wasn't very loud at all. It might be ok for a practice space, but not live. Then I reconnected my 50:50, and on low power (15 watts) with the amp on 6 and my guitar only on about 4 it was already as loud as the Carvin. I could bring a second cab, but the point was to save weight ;-) Sure, our soundman can boost me FOH as much as he needs, but if we ever play without him I'd be s.o.l. if I used the Carvin. I don't need a whole lot of volume, but this really doesn't cut it.

Too bad, I *really* liked how light my rack was. I might try the DCM1000L but since I have a 60w cab I can only run it at about 35% anyway so it probably won't be much louder than the 200. I wonder if the Matrix is louder when it's pushing 60w than a Carvin would be... ?
 
Matrix :) seriously. I know I love them - and have kind of become the "YouTube Poster Boy" as someone put it - but its a great amp. Its heavier than the 200 if I read your post right. that carvin is 4lb? the matrix is 3.7kg so nearer 8lb. Still much lighter than the Mesa - and a lot more power than the Carvin.

Its in a differnt price bracket mind, but IMO worth every penny if you want a 1U,light, SS power amp for the AFX.
 
Thanks Paul. I wouldn't mind the weight of the Matrix (it's a bit less than the Carvin 1000L)... my question is that since I can't turn it (or the Carvin) up beyond about 30% without risking blowing out my cab, I'm not sure if either would be any louder.

I had a great conversation w/ Matt @ Matrix a few weeks ago, great guy and the Matrix amps really do sound like a good solution, but obviously he can't tell in a phone call whether it will meet my volume needs. I thought I'd try the Carvin first because of the price and the weight. It sounded good but not enough volume. Well, I should say it sounded good by myself at home, but I didn't get to try it with the band this weekend because I didn't want to risk playing part of the show with it and having it not cut it.

Unfortunately I don't know enough about how amps work to understand why a 50w tube amp running at half-power is so much louder than a 60w SS amp running full out...
 
Its generally because the tube power amp isnt 50W. Its 50 CLEAN watts - but it doesnt stay clean - even if you think its running clean its actually compressing and distorting slightly. This makes it seem louder. someone posted that he put a meter against a valve and SS power amp. The Vale one sounded much louder but on the meter the SS one was louder. Strange thing.

TBH though, guitar speakers are also rated clean, and are usually capable of higher power handling than you think. The thing is the speaker itself will generate the same volume with the same power input. It has no way of knowing how that power is produced. Also you will hear if your over-exerting your speaker cone with too much power.

also the fact the 200L at full (which you had) will be out of its linear zone as well even if pushing its full rated watts - there is no headroom to go to.

Finally theres the input sensitivity. Thats the input needed for the amp to generate its max output. With the amp full - if you exceed this input the amp will clip. If however you dont feed it enough if will never generate its rated power. its quite possible the Carvin and your Mesa have different sensitivities (maybe not but its possible) and why the Carvin seemed quieter. Did you try pushing up the AFXs output (not the front panel, though that should be fully up when setting the gain - but the gain in the global OP) until the Carvin started to clip, then back off the gain a couple of db?

Its a one reason why the GT800 had its i/p sensitivity changed from the XT800. that was set at +4db (or around 1.2v) the VHT amp I was comparing it to had 2 levels. One at -10 and one at 0db 9the latter being 0.775v). This meant driving the Matrix with the same ip as the VHT didnt provide the full op (actually way off as I tended to use the -10db as well). The GT800 is 0db, so the same as the VHT at its highest sensitivity.

I think Yek did an A/B of the Matrix v the Atomic 50/50, and it was close volume wise with the Atomic just being louder (which shows how much apparent volume that compression/distortion can add). I kind of agree, as the VHT 2:50:2 I had COULD get louder than the GT too (though set to -10db i/p so the VHT was adding some tube distortion when at that volume) - but like yek foud, it was close.
 
So if I'm understanding you, a "50w" tube amp is really running more than that, and the 50 is still under the linear/clean threshold? (I'm sure I didn't phrase that too well ;-) And I do know that you can go over the rated power on most speakers but I don't want to push that too far... for example if I were to run the Matrix or Carvin 1000L at full power I'm sure my cabs wouldn't like it too much ;-)

No, I didn't have the time to start changing levels in my other gear because I already had levels set for the gig and didn't want to start messing around. I can't adjust anything in the AFX though, it was somewhere between Massachusetts and Illinois and won't be here till Friday... ;-). But I could turn up the output on my GT8, which I usually run about halfway, and I run my rack compressor at -10db, which has always worked well with the Mesa. But what I realized from your comments is to try the Carvin with the compressor at +4 and see what the level is. Unfortunately the Carvin only has "signal" and "clip" for level indicators so I can't really tell how much input I had... just that "signal" was lit. If +4 doesn't clip then that'll probably give me enough volume. Wish I'd thought of that and I'd had more time to test. It's also what I get for not having it in time for a practice where I could do some tweaking, but that's why I made sure to bring the Mesa and not only rely on a new piece of gear.

Thanks again for your help!
jb
 
paulmapp8306 said:
TBH though, guitar speakers are also rated clean, and are usually capable of higher power handling than you think.
Click to expand...

I was under the impression that any speakers power rating was based on the voice coils ability to handle heat over a given time period...no? I mean a watt is a watt right? and a thermal unit will be attached to it regardless.
 
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