Members DarkCide Posted October 1, 2012 Members Share Posted October 1, 2012 These guitars are gorgeous and seem to go for pretty cheap. What's the general opinion on the DC400 and how come they don't fetch much on ebay? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 1001gear Posted October 1, 2012 Members Share Posted October 1, 2012 Carvin neck thrus I've had my hands on, admittedly only three or four of them, active electronics and all, deep breath, have all had trebly, jangly, not at all warm tone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bsman Posted October 1, 2012 Members Share Posted October 1, 2012 ....trebly, jangly, not at all warm tone. 10 million telecaster players can't be wrong... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 1001gear Posted October 1, 2012 Members Share Posted October 1, 2012 Ha! Teles rock. The DCs were just metallic - if that makes any sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bsman Posted October 1, 2012 Members Share Posted October 1, 2012 got ya'! The only neck-through Carvin I've ever played is the AE185, and since it's a semi, I think it's probably worlds different than one of their DC models. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DarkCide Posted October 1, 2012 Author Members Share Posted October 1, 2012 I'm mostly interested in the DC400. Tony Macalpine has been rocking Carvins forever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 1001gear Posted October 1, 2012 Members Share Posted October 1, 2012 Mcalpine and Holdsworth both seem to get great tone out of their Carvins. Still the DC 400 is that clangy machine I speak of. I believe it's the neck through construction. The guitar (and its Tele and LP counterparts) is apparently a neck with cosmetic wings. My theory anyway. If you can get to a Carvin store pick any DC off the wall and see. IMO It takes some pretty fat amplification to get them "rocking" properly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GCDEF Posted October 1, 2012 Members Share Posted October 1, 2012 I had the same active/piezo electronics in a DC127. They proved very unreliable for me. If you do go Carvin, I wouldn't go active. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bsman Posted October 1, 2012 Members Share Posted October 1, 2012 In some respects, I think that Carvins (and other neck-throughs) are the purest incarnation of Les Paul's original solid-body concept as incarnated in "the log" he constructed at some point in the late 30s-early 40s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 1001gear Posted October 1, 2012 Members Share Posted October 1, 2012 Could be - and I'm not versed in neck through design but picture a neck thru acoustic with narrow ineffective wings. The resonance has nowhere to uh, resonate. That's the impression I get from the DC series. I could be wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Virtual Pariah Posted October 1, 2012 Members Share Posted October 1, 2012 These guitars are gorgeous and seem to go for pretty cheap.What's the general opinion on the DC400 and how come they don't fetch much on ebay? FWIW most carvins don't resell well.Carvin, Jackson, and BC Rich have Neck Through builds and they do sound different than your regular set necks and or bolt ons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Blackface Posted October 1, 2012 Members Share Posted October 1, 2012 What is the difference between a DC127 and a DC400? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DarkCide Posted October 2, 2012 Author Members Share Posted October 2, 2012 127 comes with passive electronics and the 400 with active. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DarkCide Posted October 2, 2012 Author Members Share Posted October 2, 2012 I'm eyeing this DC400: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Carvin-DC400-/140859862483?_trksid=p5197.m1992&_trkparms=aid%3D111000%26algo%3DREC.CURRENT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D14%26meid%3D2460854182471704268%26pid%3D100015%26prg%3D1006%26rk%3D1%26sd%3D140859862483%26 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DarkCide Posted October 2, 2012 Author Members Share Posted October 2, 2012 I'm eyeing this DC400: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Carvin-DC400-/140859862483?_trksid=p5197.m1992&_trkparms=aid%3D111000%26algo%3DREC.CURRENT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D14%26meid%3D2460854182471704268%26pid%3D100015%26prg%3D1006%26rk%3D1%26sd%3D140859862483%26 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members PunkKitty Posted October 2, 2012 Members Share Posted October 2, 2012 I currently own 3 Carvins. 2 are SC90s that I currently have for sale. 1 is a koa DC127 (I think). The koa is the warmest sounding of the three. It's a nice thick sound. One SC90 has a set of Duncan Alnico 2 Pros in it. That's nice and warm sounding too. Not as warm as the 127. But still very warm. The other SC90 has a set of Carvin H22 pickups. These tend to be bright sounding. Not bad sounding. They sound awesome. They are just brighter sounding than the A2's. The 2 SC90s both have maple neck thru body with alder wings. So they are essentially similar guitars. Carvin necks are unequaled IMHO. They are slightly wide and relatively chunky. They fit my hands nicely. I really like them. FWIW, I'm selling the SC90s due to economics. I love those guitars. But I can only keep one. And I've wanted a koa Carvin since I was 16. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members PunkKitty Posted October 2, 2012 Members Share Posted October 2, 2012 I'm eyeing this DC400:http://www.ebay.com/itm/Carvin-DC400-/140859862483?_trksid=p5197.m1992&_trkparms=aid%3D111000%26algo%3DREC.CURRENT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D14%26meid%3D2460854182471704268%26pid%3D100015%26prg%3D1006%26rk%3D1%26sd%3D140859862483%26Beautiful. The C22 pickups are some of my favorite PAF types. They sound warm and open. And the active circuit gives you a lot of control. It's the same electronic setup as my 127. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DarkCide Posted October 2, 2012 Author Members Share Posted October 2, 2012 Beautiful. The C22 pickups are some of my favorite PAF types. They sound warm and open. And the active circuit gives you a lot of control. It's the same electronic setup as my 127. The ebay DC400 is 20 years old. Is the age of the guitar a concern for the electronics in that thing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members PunkKitty Posted October 2, 2012 Members Share Posted October 2, 2012 Not at all. And if the electronics are bad you can get a new active module from Carvin for $120 or just wire it without the active module. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Blackface Posted October 2, 2012 Members Share Posted October 2, 2012 So if I have a 127 with active electronics it's the same thing as a 400. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GCDEF Posted October 2, 2012 Members Share Posted October 2, 2012 The ebay DC400 is 20 years old. Is the age of the guitar a concern for the electronics in that thing? It may be. I'd be concerned about the neck stability too. I had one from around 1992 that had a really, really thin neck that was horrendously unstable. Shortly after I got mine that put graphite rods in them to strengthen them up some. More current models do away with the rods, but they're thicker necks and don't have the same problems. Of the two Carvins I had, a 1992 DC145 and a 2006 DC127 with active electronics, the 1992 neck was the worst neck I've ever encountered, and the active electronics gave me all kinds of problems. That guitar has both those features. It may be fine, but I'd be cautious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GCDEF Posted October 2, 2012 Members Share Posted October 2, 2012 So if I have a 127 with active electronics it's the same thing as a 400. I think you get some of the upgrades like the premium top, phase and split switches thrown in with the 400 too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Blackface Posted October 2, 2012 Members Share Posted October 2, 2012 I think you get some of the upgrades like the premium top, phase and split switches thrown in with the 400 too. Maybe things were different when I ordered mine. I have phase and split switches. A premium top was an option too, but I didn't want one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GCDEF Posted October 2, 2012 Members Share Posted October 2, 2012 Maybe things were different when I ordered mine. I have phase and split switches. A premium top was an option too, but I didn't want one. I always thought it was basically all the bells and whistles thrown in. Here's the current list from the web site. Standard Features:- Alder body and maple neck- Highest quality 4A flamed maple top- Matching 4A flamed maple headstock- 24K gold plated Carvin headstock logo- Sperzel locking tuners- 25" scale ebony fingerboard with abalone block inlays- 24 medium-jumbo frets- C22J & C22B classic humbuckers- Push/pull active/passive controls with passive master volume & tone and active master volume & cut/boost for bass & treble, 3-way pickup selector, 2 dual/single coil switches, phase switch- FT6 bridge standard; Bigsby vibrato, Floyd Rose tremolo, Wilkinson tremolo & M bridge available- Chrome hardware standard I think CarvinMuseum.com has old catalogs so anybody that was interested could find the specs 20 years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RaVenCAD Posted October 3, 2012 Members Share Posted October 3, 2012 So if I have a 127 with active electronics it's the same thing as a 400. No, you have a DC200. The DC400 is a DC200 with a flamed top and abalone inlays.. It goes kind of like this: DC127 - 2 humbuckers, passive electronics, no maple top.DC200 - 2 humbuckers, active electronics, no maple top.DC400 - 2 humbuckers, active electronics, flamed maple top. You can then add a quilted maple top to the DC400 and have a................. DC400 with a quilted maple top. Why they never made a DC600 or something, I'll never know. Physically, they're all almost identical though. I think I'd be a little leary of this Carvin, in part because of something GCDEF is saying. Back in the day, they had super thin necks with graphite rods. They soon learned that was a bad recipe. Necks were warping, people were bitching. They fattened the necks up, lost the rods and made a much better product. Buy a more recent Carvin. In fact, buy a Carvin CT. That's one damn spectacular guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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