Is it hard to get good tone with AXEFX using Carvin Neck Thru all Koa guitars?

Poparad said:
Ah, I missed the neck profile part. Carvin doesn't do aftermarket pickup installation, even on request.
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Being that I just read another thread the other day regarding another Carvin guitar, it sounds like they do... It's an "off the menu" option.


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Huh... FWIW my understanding is that Carvin will install after-market pickups in guitars, but you've got to send them the pickups and it voids the 10-day warranty. It is true that there are some dudes who have problems with the electronic appointments in Carvin guitars, but hey man... there's a whole crap ton of guys playing them that don't seem to mind them at all.

If you've never played a Carvin and you're doing option 50s that will void the warranty, there are only a couple things to really consider.

1. Some people really like Carvins. Like... a lot... Some people don't. If you fall into the latter category, there is no returning the guitar. It's as simple as that.

2. Carvin, even though they are quality instruments that many people swear are the best instruments they've ever played, tend to take a pretty heavy hit on the used market when it comes to resale. So if you don't like your Carvin, you're going to lose a lot of money on trying to get rid of it. That is pretty much fact unless there's a HUGELY nice top, body woods, etc. Unless it's something that really stands out, people seemingly would rather just order from them straight across.
 
soon said:
I've read online where some people are saying that Carvin guitars sound cold, lifeless, sterile, mechanical.
I've read where some people say that neck thru combined with stainless frets/ebony fingerboard etc makes the guitars sound overly bright and thin. Lifeless.

I also read that neck thrus usually sound more bright & compressed due to most people use maple, which is why I'm going to use all Koa to try and avoid that issue.
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Although mine is a 92 DC200, (maple/ebony with poplar wings), I agree with this. It's always been a bright guitar which I thought were mainly the pickups and active electronics. Recently I stripped the finish, (metallic blue), and replaced the pickups and actives with just a volume, tone, and 3 way switch. I put a JB in the bridge and it sounded horrible. I have a tone zone in it now and it's better but still thin sounding. Tried a 59 in the neck and it was bad also. Ended up just sticking the Carvin pickup back in the neck. I have a Custom Custom I still want to try in the bridge and a APH1 for the neck. Always been the best playing guitar I've ever owned though. I don't know about Kao but I would probably go for Mahogany if I bought another one.
 
It's a great match for me!

As others have said, if it sounds good through a real amp it'll sound good through the AXE. I've used Carvin guitars since 1982. In order, I have a DN612 and a V220 from the 80's. A DC135 all Koa and AE185 with a koa top from the 90's (both are neck through the body), and I'll receive my SH575 later this week. Each of my guitars has differences (wood, pickups, design, etc.) but they are all versatile. I would feel comfortable playing any style of music with any of these guitars. And having an Axe FX means that you can find a number of amps that should give you the sound you want with that guitar.
 
I'd love to hear a demo of your DC135 all Koa neck thru with the axefx if you have any on youtube.

As for the wiring, I've read a lot of positive reviews from people on Gibson les paul forums that replace their stock wiring with stuff from these guys

BCS Guitars

I am just trying to not have a weak link.

I used to own a axe fx standard many years ago, a couple months after they first came out but sold it about 5 years ago, so I know the axe fx is great. I just want a guitar to get the most out of the new XL when I get it.
 
The stock wiring in a Carvin is top notch. IMO, it's a complete waste of time and money to rewire it, unless you're doing some completely different configuration with switches/knobs/etc.
 
I miss my DC127. Walnut body/neck (through, of course) with flamed maple top. I had Lace Alumitone pickups installed. So many people complain that they are lifeless pickups. I got great sounds with that guitar through my Axe FX. That's definitely not why I sold it. Their wiring jobs are great. I loved the shielding and proper grounding in my DC127. It was a quiet guitar even before the Alumitones. They also use metal ferrules in the screw holes (like for the backplate). That is a nice touch.

I've gone headless. (And am interested in getting a couple HH2s, actually.)

You can always use a Peq block before the amp too, if necessary. Lots of ways to sculpt tones in the Axe FX.
 
I'm pretty sure I still have a Carvin neck thru koa DC 200. Great guitar. I haven't played it in a while as it really needs a fret job. It's got the stock Carvin pups with active electronics and you could get a lot of good sounds out of it. It's got the pointy headstock too.
IMG_0001_zpsc5da3ee9.jpg
If I can find it I'll see if I can do a few clips for you.

BTW, I think it's easier to get good sounds out of the AXE than a tube amp.
 
randolfo said:
I'm pretty sure I still have a Carvin neck thru koa DC 200. Great guitar. I haven't played it in a while as it really needs a fret job. It's got the stock Carvin pups with active electronics and you could get a lot of good sounds out of it. It's got the pointy headstock too.
View attachment 21837
If I can find it I'll see if I can do a few clips for you.

BTW, I think it's easier to get good sounds out of the AXE than a tube amp.
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Randy - I think that's the definition of "too many guitars"... Or Alzheimer's ;)


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I got to get rid of some of them, but I just can't stand the thought of it. It's in the room with all the boxes, but I may have given it to my bro.
 
Poparad said:
Ah, I missed the neck profile part. Carvin doesn't do aftermarket pickup installation, even on request.
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Oh, I beg to differ: :mrgreen


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unix-guy said:
Being that I just read another thread the other day regarding another Carvin guitar, it sounds like they do... It's an "off the menu" option.
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Your probably referring to my thread:


http://forum.fractalaudio.com/lounge/86093-ngd-shes-beautiful-shes-going-back.html




To address soon's concerns, I'm guessing any comments he's read about Carvin guitars sounding sterile, cold, lifeless, etc...., were from people who didn't like the sound of their pickups and just blamed the guitar as a whole. As an owner of a DC127C for the last 14 years, I can tell you that it has sounded great going through everything I have used it with in that time, including my Axe-Fx 2. I'm not fond of Carvin's pickups either, so I replaced them long ago with a set of Dimarzios and was very happy with the sound of the guitar after that (for my new DC600C, since I already knew I didn't like Carvin's pickups and I am terrible at/hate soldering, I decided to just send the pickups listed in the pic above for them to install and save me the trouble).

I would say if the pickups you have chosen are a good match for the tone woods of the guitar, your Carvin should sound amazing. If it doesn't, I would rethink the pickup choice first and not automatically blame the guitar.
 
funny, I have had 2 carvin's. I will be totally honest they are/were beautiful, well made feel great, stay in tune, solid and flawless. But for the life of me I could not get my dc something (neck through strat shape, stainless, ebony, piezo etc). to sound good to me. It was thin, lifeless, didnt cut it for heavy/high gain. I dont know but I have like 19 electrics and it killed me but I sold one. I still have another. I blame mostly the stock pickups, but I threw in a few others, and still not great. I think it was a very nice guitar for crunch and clean.

I like ebony, stainless and neck through, but perhaps for feel more than sound. Ironically with all my ebony neck through guitars, I play mostly my Ibanez Premium, which is rosewood, not neck through and not stainless, and has stock pickups! so there ya go.

That being said, Im sure with the axefx you can get nearly any guitar to sound good, its just a question of versatility it may not sound good for EVERYTHING from clean to heavy, crunch, blues to death. I will also say some guitars and pickups are just so different than others, you may just have to create certain presets for certain guitars.
 
SYMPHX...

What you said is some of the reviews I've been reading.... and then I came across this guy...

Got Metal! E minor Progression played on Carvin spalted maple UltraV guitar. - YouTube

He seems like an OK player, and he's playing through a Carvin Legacy similar to Vai's...

And it's a Carvin guitar and nicely recorded.

But my god, that guitar tone kind of SUCKS.

It sounds like everything you just described, thin, mechanical, lifeless...

I don't know if that's a result of his pickups which I think are stock carvins or if it's just a poorly set amp or EQ.

But that tone is pretty god awful.

I've got old bootleg recordings of Randy Rhoads that were poorly recorded by fans in the audience that have extremely poor sound quality but yet the tone that does manage to come through sounds better than that guys garbage.

A lot of people say CC Deville sounded thin or bright, but he had the tone of a GOD on the Poison CDs compared to this mess.

His videos are some of the best recorded examples I have been able to find though that are Metal/Hard Rock styled, but that tone is what I am afraid of being stuck with if I get a Carvin.

I wish that Cliff would design a guitar to go with the Axe FX!!!!!

Everything Cliff touches seems to turn to Gold.

If Cliff made a guitar, I would probably buy it.
 
Getting a good tone from a half decent guitar into an Axe Fx is as easy as eating chips. If you struggle to get a bitchin' tone with 185 amps and hundreds of thousands of third party cabinet impulses, then you either need to play the drums and just accept that your life is completely invalid and you should just stick with internet porn.

;)

Just kidding, you'll get there, in the end. We all had this trouble to start with.
 
soon said:
I've read online where some people are saying that Carvin guitars sound cold, lifeless, sterile, mechanical.
I've read where some people say that neck thru combined with stainless frets/ebony fingerboard etc makes the guitars sound overly bright and thin. Lifeless.
Click to expand...

yes, but only when saturn gets in perfect constellation with venus and jupiter
and when the strings you are using are wound on a monday, wednesday or friday!

sorry, but you should not read that much, especially there where some people say...;)


i've had several guitars hooked up to the axe fx ii, cheap 200$ guitars and 3K custom axes
and i was able to get a great sound with ANY combination!

i have never tried a carvin but i've seen some factory tour videos and i was very pleased,
the quality seems top notch. a neck thru will sound "softer" than a bolt on and i highly doubt that the fret material
will change the sound in any way.

there's definitively too much "thinking" on your side. the most important part of a guitar is the "feel" anf how it plays,
EVERYTHING else can be dialed in and tweaked, especially with a powerful black box that offers thousands of options! ;)
 
soon said:
SYMPHX...
And it's a Carvin guitar and nicely recorded.
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this is definitively NOT nicely recorded,
all i hear is an overly roomy sound captured by a cheap camera mic ;)

sometimes i wonder if people do even understand what a good tone is and "where it comes from"
 
I've been building guitars for a long time, quite often out of exotic woods and with a wide variety of pickups. I have yet to put anything together that did not sound good through the Axe Fx.

The Axe is not a fixed quantity, like many amps are. For instance, you buy a JCM800, and its sound is going to be fairly predictable with a given range using a given speaker configuration. Same with a Vox AC30, or a Mesa Mark IV. With the Axe, you can have any of those as well as many others, and they can all be matched up with a wide variety of cabinets. So, it's not a one-trick pony. If you choose the amp model you're used to in real life and it doesn't sound "right", you can tweak the hell out of it or just pick a different amp or cab. The possibilities are nearly limitless.

It seems to me that if you like the look/feel of a particular guitar, you're all set. Nothing to worry about. You'll get your tone.
 
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