Speaker cabinets are also built on-premises everything is made from seven-ply, 3/4″ poplar plywood, which the company prefers for its light weight, extreme strength, and good sound. It’s a 100-watt, four-channel system with optional 24-bit digital effects.
Flores said the Vai Legacy amp ( VG “Gear Reviews,” October ’99) has been so successful, sales of other Carvin amps have also been boosted.Īt the other end of Carvin’s amp offerings is a unique 12-volt battery-powered PA called the Showmate.
#Carvin guitars amps series
Other signature series artists include Alan Holdsworth (guitar) and Bunny Brunel (bass). Carvin no longer solicits endorsers per se, but has instituted a commendable signature series program that involves a participating artist in a long-term relationship with the company in the design, refinement, and production of a specific product. Other nostalgic cosmetics include oxblood grillecloth and vanilla-colored chicken-head knobs.įlores was particularly ebullient about another successful Carvin tube amp, the Steve Vai Legacy. “Vintage” guitar amps also feature a tube reverb circuit, and the series is covered in a unique tweed fabric with a maroon stripe. Carvin’s “Vintage” series differs from many other modern-day “retro vibe” amps in that the circuitry is actually a Carvin design from ’62. Tube amp production is centered around two distinct facets. Such doughnut-shaped items are normally found in high-end audio gear, according to Flores, and making their own versions of such parts enables Carvin to monitor production and provide their amps with efficient, low-noise transformers with output that’s right-on-the-money. Carvin makes solidstate and tube amps, the former using wave solder machines, as well as programmed machines that light up portions of a circuitboard in sequence, to guide workers installing specific parts.Īnother innovative in-house procedure is custom-winding of low-profile toroid transformers. The company also makes several hundred amps every month and during our visit was gearing up for new production innovations. We began our tour in Carvin’s amplifier department. Flores’ enthusiasm was evident as he proudly directed us through the clean, efficient factory (since the retail store displays finished products, we concluded there). Dave Flores, Carvin’s Director of Public Relations, our enthusiastic tour guide, has been with the company since 1980 but was using Carvin products in ’68, when he ordered a bass amp at the Escondido factory. One of Carvin’s five retail stores is located in the same building as the factory, but the company does have international distribution through retailers in other countries, which explains the surprise some folks experience when they see a Carvin display at a NAMM show.Ī small display of classic Carvin gear (including tube amps from ’53) greets a visitor to the retail store. VG recently visited the factory to check out the manufacturing techniques and products proffered by the special-order specialists.
The company moved to Covina in 1949, then to Escondido in ’67, and in ’95 it occupied a new 80,000 square-foot facility in San Diego. The history of Carvin has already been covered in VG‘s “The Different Strummer” ( VG, August ’92), and the growth of the Southern California manufacturer over the decades has resulted in several relocations of manufacturing facilities. Carvin’s against-the-grain manufacturing and marketing approach has been incongruous, and it has served the company well ever since founder Lowell Kiesel began building pickups in his Los Angeles garage in 1946. “Well, that’s okay…” some guitar enthusiasts might observe, “but some guitar factories are putting out that many guitars per day.”īut what if those 600 instruments per month are almost all custom-made? And what if the instruments and gear are sold directly to the retail customer (in the U.S.)? And what if the company has been successfully doing business in its own unique way for over a half-century? Imagine a company that builds 600 high-quality guitars and basses per month, with a normal backorder count of 700.
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