Why Steve Vai 'Wasn't a Big Fan of the Marshall Sound'.How Carvin Made His 'Favorite' Amp

Bruce Sokolovic said:
Signature gear is just another way for builders and artists to make money. Vai deserves it, but often times this kind of stuff doesnt work for me. My white Jem and GMC universe are 2 examples. He makes them sound amazing, but they’re just not really for me tonally. IMO buy what sounds good to YOU, let Vai be Vai, thats why we love him. We are not him, we are us!
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I bought one of the emerald Majesty Petrucci guitars and when I opened the case it was one of the, if not theeee most beautiful guitar I've ever seen, even still. After I spent some time with it, we just didn't gel - didn't feel right on, like it sat differently on me than any other guitar I played so I sent it back. Definitely great guitars that can do literally everything, but not for me. I thought when I ordered it I would never need to buy another guitar again.
 
Promit said:
I had a Legacy 3 and I noted two things. First, that like many amps it has its own opinions about how to be dialed in properly and can end up sounding weird if you don't get the knobs right. Second, it came to life with the kind of hot bright pickups that Vai favors that can also sound weird on their own. I never really warmed up to the amp for my use, but it totally makes sense to me how those elements work together for him.
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I had a very similar experience with the Dimebucker pickup recently. Often maligned, but when you poost the %#@% out of the mids with multiple EQs before the amp like he did the pickup is larger and fuller sounding than the Bill Lawrence ones are. But straight into an amp, the Bill Lawnrence is a much nicer sound to work with.

Goes to show sometimes people throw wierd gear at weird gear to make their sound work, which doesn't always work when you pair it with your normal gear.

Jaallen610 said:
He recently blew two of his Legacy amps onstage at the first G3 show. Its on you tube. You could tell he was upset, but kept his cool.

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What was he using the Fractal for there I wonder?
 
Another "this is what I love about Fractal gear and this forum" moment;

This thread reminds me that we have two versions of the Carvin Legacy in the AXE-FX III.

There are also some Carvin Legacy IR's in the Factory 2 bank.

A quick search online and I come across some suggested settings for the amp.

I also realised we have a Morley Wah modelled and tweaked it a little to move it in the direction of a Morley Bad Horsie Wah.

I remember that for a gift of tone we got some legit Steve Vai chorus, flange, delay, multi delay and pitch shift blocks so they all go in too.

And before you know it I have another awesome sounding preset.
 
The two amps are Legend 100 and Legend 100 II which are mentioned in the first post of the thread.

Legend 100 - Carvin Legacy VL100 (Lead channel)
Legend 100 II - Carvin Legacy VL300 (channel 3)

For the cabs we have Legacy Cab - 118 — 2x12 SV LEGEND Mix — Carvin Legacy 2x12, closed back, with two V30s

And;
Based on a Carvin Vai Legacy closed-back cab with V30 speakers. Source: Cab Pack 10 - Universal Noise Storage Vol. 2
46 — 2x12 Leggy 57 B — FAS
47 — 2x12 Leggy 57 — FAS
48 — 2x12 Leggy 121 B — FAS
49 — 2x12 Leggy 121 C — FAS
50 — 2x12 Leggy 121 D — FAS
51 — 2x12 Leggy 121 — FAS
52 — 2x12 Leggy 160 B — FAS
53 — 2x12 Leggy 160 C — FAS
54 — 2x12 Leggy 160 D — FAS
55 — 2x12 Leggy 160 — FAS
56 — 2x12 Leggy 4047 B — FAS
57 — 2x12 Leggy 4047 C — FAS
58 — 2x12 Leggy 4047 D — FAS
59 — 2x12 Leggy 4047 — FAS
 
knwlnd said:
The two amps are Legend 100 and Legend 100 II which are mentioned in the first post of the thread.

Legend 100 - Carvin Legacy VL100 (Lead channel)
Legend 100 II - Carvin Legacy VL300 (channel 3)

For the cabs we have Legacy Cab - 118 — 2x12 SV LEGEND Mix — Carvin Legacy 2x12, closed back, with two V30s

And;
Based on a Carvin Vai Legacy closed-back cab with V30 speakers. Source: Cab Pack 10 - Universal Noise Storage Vol. 2
46 — 2x12 Leggy 57 B — FAS
47 — 2x12 Leggy 57 — FAS
48 — 2x12 Leggy 121 B — FAS
49 — 2x12 Leggy 121 C — FAS
50 — 2x12 Leggy 121 D — FAS
51 — 2x12 Leggy 121 — FAS
52 — 2x12 Leggy 160 B — FAS
53 — 2x12 Leggy 160 C — FAS
54 — 2x12 Leggy 160 D — FAS
55 — 2x12 Leggy 160 — FAS
56 — 2x12 Leggy 4047 B — FAS
57 — 2x12 Leggy 4047 C — FAS
58 — 2x12 Leggy 4047 D — FAS
59 — 2x12 Leggy 4047 — FAS
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NO 4 x12 cabs? Some of the best cabs they had were filled with british 100s not celestian IMO.. still have 6 of them myself
 
I’m afraid I can only point you to what’s in the device.

Third party vendors may have other options for you to purchase.

Edit - Or even better you could make some IR’s of your collection and share them with the community.
 
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Reaperman said:
NO 4 x12 cabs? Some of the best cabs they had were filled with british 100s not celestian IMO.. still have 6 of them myself
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The old Carvin British speakers were manufactured by Eminence and they do sound very good. Originally Carvin was going to load the Legacy cabs with Celestion greenbacks but they opted for V30s due to the higher wattage rating.
 
Ocnor said:
The old Carvin British speakers were manufactured by Eminence and they do sound very good. Originally Carvin was going to load the Legacy cabs with Celestion greenbacks but they opted for V30s due to the higher wattage rating.
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Would be awsome to"stumble on" an IR for them.. or come even close to the sound.
 
Legend 100 is probably my favorite model in the Axe, particularly for leads. Interestingly, I also have a Vai Synergy preamp module that I usually run through a Fryette PS100. The lead channel sounds very similar to the Fractal Legend 100 model.
 
Not purposely being a contrarian, but plenty of guitar greats have used Marshalls and didn’t have an “ice-pick-in-the-forehead” tone.

I can totally understand, if SV’s preference was for Carvin, and their strong motivation to supply him with amps. It’s his individual decision, and it certainly worked for him. It shouldn’t be a reflection on Marshall.

For me personally, I don’t have an affinity for printed circuit board “tube” amps, regardless of the company. That’s because I enjoy making amps and playing around inside the ones I bought over the years.

Regardless, I love my Fractal Audio stuff! I can tweak to my heart’s content. I can have over two hundred amps onstage. FA’s product and customer support sets such a high standard, it can’t be touched by anyone else.
 
True story - I gave my Legacy I to Cliff back when they were at the OG location. As a pure thank you.
It was a unique amp, at least of the amps I've played. Thick, smooth, a bit dark.
I've always felt like it never left me b/c I still use the model in the Fractal, which I suspect was/is partly that VL.
 
For what Vai does, his tone is incredible. His gain tones have a harmonic complexity and softness or grease that you really don't hear anywhere else, not "tight" at all in the traditional sense but still clear, it's very signature to Vai. I'd say his tone with the Carvins and his own Synergy module is even greasier than the Bogner stuff.

If I was doing albums upon albums that entirely featured lead guitar as the primary driver of basically everything, that has to stand out and sound good completely on its own and backed by a band, I'd probably go for a sound like that too.

Also that tone in a live setting sounds awesome.
 
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