Carvin Ts 100 poweramp

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Symphonyofdream

Member
I've had a couple carvin products and thought they are amazing for the price and i like the company. how does this poweramp stack up against other higher priced poweramps? (VHT, Mesa ect) does it at least blow away any SS poweramp?
 
I've been using a TS100 for the last 4 or so years. It sounds great, it gets loud (don't let 50 watts per channel fool you, it's plenty loud for any club type gig), doesn't seem to color the sound much, but it's heavy.

I recently ordered one of their lightweight power amps and took the TS100 out of my rack a few days ago. Unfortunately the lightweight amp was damaged/defective and blew up (sparks, smoke, and blew the circuit breaker) as soon as I turned it on. So for our last practice, I ran through a massive Crown power amp and didn't get the impression the Crown beast was capable of getting as loud as my TS100. I don't know the rating on the Crown, but it's a big, extremely heavy, 3 rack space thing...

Anyway, the TS100 is a nice amp, I would definitely recommend it, but make sure you're ready to lug it around. In spite of my new DOA amp, I'm going to continue to try the Carvin lightweight amps since their customer support is so good. If it weren't for the weight, I wouldn't hesitate to keep using the TS100 though.
 
I figured it wouldn't be too heavy compared to the mesa boogie 2.90 ect? That's why i'd want the a 50 watt instead of some of the more expensive 100 watt ones from other companies. plus i never see myself needing more then 50 watts.
 
I purchased a used TS100 that had one side that didn't work... and now our 2nd guitarist uses it with his POD X3 Live and I can tell you that it has a good volume (and actually made his POD X3 sound much better with both the presence and output dimed) but I can easily drown him out with my Peavey PV1500 at 4ohm without even trying... So, for a decently loud "band" I can say that unless you have that sucker maxed it's a bit difficult to be heard at 50 watts.
 
What i don't get is why would anyone ever need more then 50 watts? Every decent sized show i've been to has guitars mic'ed. IS it just for stage volume? Seems 50 watts would be enough for that unless you were playing huge places. Or is it mainly for headroom? not wanting to get close to max volume for purest sound
 
I got my TS100 new and it is very LOUD!!! It is very transparent until you get up around 70%-75% and even then I think it is just working the speakers so hard that the speakers are coloring the tone not the amp. I run mine stereo 50 watts. Tried a 2:Ninety to go with my Triaxis and it was WAY TOO MUCH FOR ME tried a 2:Fifty and a 20/20 then got the TS100; the only one I have is the TS100.
 
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Spoons said:
I got my TS100 new and it is very LOUD!!! It is very transparent until you get up around 70%-75% and even then I think it is just working the speakers so hard that the speakers are coloring the tone not the amp. I run mine stereo 50 watts. Tried a 2:Ninety to go with my Triaxis and it was WAY TOO MUCH FOR ME tried a 2:Fifty and a 20/20 then got the TS100; the only one I have is the TS100.
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Nice, how did it compare to the mesa 2:50?

Triaxis is a amazing preamp, how do you like your axe-fx compared to the triaxis assuming you have a axe-fx
 
Spoons said:
I got my TS100 new and it is very LOUD!!! It is very transparent until you get up around 70%-75% and even then I think it is just working the speakers so hard that the speakers are coloring the tone not the amp. I run mine stereo 50 watts. Tried a 2:Ninety to go with my Triaxis and it was WAY TOO MUCH FOR ME tried a 2:Fifty and a 20/20 then got the TS100; the only one I have is the TS100.
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What are you running it into? I was powering a 300 watt 4x12 cab at the time...
 
Guys, it weighs 25 pounds... I'm almost positive it's the lightest tube power amp ever made for guitar use. I strongly disagree with what most people here consider heavy.

That said, it's a really transparent, clean, clear source of power. Much less color than most tube power amps so it sounds good even with cab sims on IMO. Great choice for the Axe-FX if you ask me!
 
FrostByte said:
Guys, it weighs 25 pounds... I'm almost positive it's the lightest tube power amp ever made for guitar use. I strongly disagree with what most people here consider heavy.

That said, it's a really transparent, clean, clear source of power. Much less color than most tube power amps so it sounds good even with cab sims on IMO. Great choice for the Axe-FX if you ask me!
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did you mean poweramp sims? or do guy use cab sims also through a poweramp cab setup? and yeah 25 pounds is really light for a tube poweramp. seems like a great product. do you think it's loud enough for most situations?
 
6L6C said:
Which one did you go for??

John
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Went with the DCM 1540L. Oh, and within about 5 hours of calling customer service about my problem, they shipped a new one out. The customer support guy told me to expect a 7-10 day turnaround once they got the busted amp, but I guess he changed his mind.

The TS100 may very well be the lightest tube poweramp out there. Hell, it's much lighter than several of the SS poweramps I've used (admittedly, significant less wattage tho). I was just suggesting that there are options out there that are easier on your back, since the general consensus seems to be that you don't need tube amplification to make the Axe Fx sound good.

I may have been exaggerating about the weight because I've finally gone from a monster rack to something I can lift with one arm. The 6U rack I've been using to lug my TS100, Axe Fx, and power conditioner finally got to me. I replaced it with a 5U rack that's a bit shorter, and with the 1540L in there instead of the TS100, it's a breeze to move around.
 
Symphonyofdream said:
did you mean poweramp sims? or do guy use cab sims also through a poweramp cab setup? and yeah 25 pounds is really light for a tube poweramp. seems like a great product. do you think it's loud enough for most situations?
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Basically, by the time you're playing venues where it's not loud enough, you'll have roadies carrying all your amps. It's plenty loud into a stereo cab with 8ohms on each side.
 
Symphonyofdream said:
did you mean poweramp sims? or do guy use cab sims also through a poweramp cab setup? and yeah 25 pounds is really light for a tube poweramp. seems like a great product. do you think it's loud enough for most situations?
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Good call :) yes, I meant power amp sims.


NaturalScience said:
Basically, by the time you're playing venues where it's not loud enough, you'll have roadies carrying all your amps. It's plenty loud into a stereo cab with 8ohms on each side.
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Pretty much. Very loud.
 
Not a fractal user yet, but I got a TS100 for my old PODX3 as well as a Rocktron Velocity 300 for backup, and the Rocktron is much much louder. That said, I think Carvin biased the unit pretty cold, so I don't think it was a fair comparison. With a more suitable bias, I'm inclined to believe that like any tube guitar amp, it can get loud as crap. Also, it came with EL34s but I think 6L6s might be more suitable for modeling applications.

As far as sound goes, it's great. It definitely has that more EL34 glassy/brittle type of sound compared with the Rocktron, but that's what makes EL34s what they are. It made my PODX3 sound great and it's a neutral sound, so it gives you the flexibility you need. I can't wait to try it out when I get a fractal.
 
NaturalScience said:
Went with the DCM 1540L.
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I’m really interested in your view on the 1540 compared to your TS100. Reason being as you can see in my signature I have a DCM200L and I like it allot but find it slightly underpowered and its big brother (the 1540) would take of that no problem, but I am also real curios about the TS100. I still prefer a tube power amp when running real cabs.
 
Will definitely let you know what I find. I missed the UPS man last night. Hopefully I catch him tonight and get to test this thing out soon!
 
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