After a few weeks with my Carvin Legacy III . . .

[cacheek]

. . . I still love it. I'm not a reviewer or anything. But, for anyone curious about it, here are my impressions after several weeks.

 

The main characteristic I like about the amp is that it sound very organic. The sound is open and warm, clean or driven, much like a Vox or SLO (without the high gain of the Soldano of course). It's not compressed, but it is very dynamic despite the warm.

 

As for the channels:

 

Channel 1: The clean is beautiful, bar none. I'm not big into the tight, tinny Fender clean. Don't get me wrong, it has its applications, but for general playing and what I hear in my head, I like the warmer, fatter cleans. That's what channel 1 gets you.

 

Channel 2: The "rhythm" channel, if you will, has that same fat quality to it. Now, about the drive, it's not high gain. I can get into tool territory with it, but the amp does not do brutal metal. I didn't want it for that. It does get great hard rock, classic rock, bluesy, fusion, progressive tones. Some complain that the drive is too smooth. I like though. The smoothness allows each note to pop and dynamics to be felt. It's a soulful drive, rather than a "I'm beating you in the face with this metal, brutal chainsaw" sound.

 

Channel 3: A bit more drive than channel 2 but not too much. I spend most of my time on channel 2. Channel 3 is usable for leads and kicks it up a notch.

 

Other features include a fairly dynamic Presence control, a good reverb (I do use reverb, but just a tad; the amp's onboard does the trick), and a boost function. The boost function is okay, but I don't use it. Between the three channels, I'm good.

 

Now, my other favorite thing about this amp, aside from the organic feel of the tone, is that it sounds great at low volumes. It has a switch to go from 100 to 50 to 15. I keep it on the 50 watt setting. To my ears, sounds just as good at 50 as it does at 100 and as 15.

 

So, just some thoughts. Again, not a professional. I don't see much at all about these amps. Since I received mine and I've had time to play (it's inspired me to play a lot more in fact), I thought some folks might want to hear an opinion.

[guitarbilly74]

yeah that's a great amp for sure, Carvin really got everything right on this one.

[cacheek]

Yes, I agree totally. It won't fit everyone's needs, but I think it's awesome. I don't plan on getting rid of this one.

[AdrianPOA]

I would love to try one. I already own a Carvin Legacy cab, which I think is just as good as a Mesa cab. The Legacy may not be a "brutal" amp, but I think it's more than perfectly capable of doing metal with the right tweaks, and maybe a good OD pedal in front. Hell, most of my favorite metal guitarists ( even the death metal guys I love) don't use a {censored} ton of gain anyway. "Chainsaw gain" is for guitarists with poor technique.

[peavey_impact]

I would love to try one. I already own a Carvin Legacy cab, which I think is just as good as a Mesa cab. The Legacy may not be a "brutal" amp, but I think it's more than perfectly capable of doing metal with the right tweaks, and maybe a good OD pedal in front. Hell, most of my favorite metal guitarists ( even the death metal guys I love) don't use a shit ton of gain anyway. "Chainsaw gain" is for guitarists with poor technique.

 

[AdrianPOA]

 

I play death metal with "pussy ass" Marshalls. How is what I said worthy of a facepalm?

[cacheek]

 

I play death metal with "{censored} ass" Marshalls. How is what I said worthy of a facepalm?

 

 

It wasn't. Some people are just closed-minded and don't respect others' opinions.

[sahlomonic]

 

. . . I still love it. I'm not a reviewer or anything. But, for anyone curious about it, here are my impressions after several weeks. The main characteristic I like about the amp is that it sound very organic. The sound is open and warm, clean or driven, much like a Vox or SLO (without the high gain of the Soldano of course). It's not compressed, but it is very dynamic despite the warm. As for the channels: Channel 1: The clean is beautiful, bar none. I'm not big into the tight, tinny Fender clean. Don't get me wrong, it has its applications, but for general playing and what I hear in my head, I like the warmer, fatter cleans. That's what channel 1 gets you. Channel 2: The "rhythm" channel, if you will, has that same fat quality to it. Now, about the drive, it's not high gain. I can get into tool territory with it, but the amp does not do brutal metal. I didn't want it for that. It does get great hard rock, classic rock, bluesy, fusion, progressive tones. Some complain that the drive is too smooth. I like though. The smoothness allows each note to pop and dynamics to be felt. It's a soulful drive, rather than a "I'm beating you in the face with this metal, brutal chainsaw" sound. Channel 3: A bit more drive than channel 2 but not too much. I spend most of my time on channel 2. Channel 3 is usable for leads and kicks it up a notch. Other features include a fairly dynamic Presence control, a good reverb (I do use reverb, but just a tad; the amp's onboard does the trick), and a boost function. The boost function is okay, but I don't use it. Between the three channels, I'm good. Now, my other favorite thing about this amp, aside from the organic feel of the tone, is that it sounds great at low volumes. It has a switch to go from 100 to 50 to 15. I keep it on the 50 watt setting. To my ears, sounds just as good at 50 as it does at 100 and as 15. So, just some thoughts. Again, not a professional. I don't see much at all about these amps. Since I received mine and I've had time to play (it's inspired me to play a lot more in fact), I thought some folks might want to hear an opinion.

 

 

Great mini-review. I read a lot of descriptive similarities with the Legacy III and a Bogner Ecstasy. Anybody compare the two?

[peavey_impact]

 

I play death metal with "{censored} ass" Marshalls. How is what I said worthy of a facepalm?

 

 

Because I owned an original Carvin Legacy halfstack and played it in my metal band for about 4 years, only because it was the only amp I had and couldn't afford anything else at the time. I made it work for me but the voicing just sucks for metal; I was incredibly disappointed with that amp and would never recommend it to any serious metal player.

 

A Marshall on the other hand works about 100x better for metal. The bright tight voicing of a Marshall makes them perfect for it, actually.

 

And gain has nothing to do with technique. If you need to max your gain to nail a certain sound then so be it. I personally use a {censored}load of gain in my metal band, and feel like I can hold my own as a guitarist.

[AdrianPOA]

 

Because I owned an original Carvin Legacy halfstack and played it in my metal band for about 4 years, only because it was the only amp I had and couldn't afford anything else at the time. I made it work for me but the voicing just sucks for metal; I was incredibly disappointed with that amp and would never recommend it to any serious metal player. A Marshall on the other hand works about 100x better for metal. The bright tight voicing of a Marshall makes them perfect for it, actually. And gain has nothing to do with technique. If you need to max your gain to nail a certain sound then so be it. I personally use a {censored}load of gain in my metal band, and feel like I can hold my own as a guitarist.

 

 

I don't know, man. The original Legacy has always kind of reminded me of a modded JCM 800 more or less. Not only that, Steve Vai has gotten some pretty chunky live tones out of them, even if they aren't "brutal."

 

Also, as my technique has improved over the years, I keep finding myself using less and less gain and pushing the power amp harder. My two cents.

[peavey_impact]

I don't know, man.

 

I noticed

 

And a Legacy literally sounds nothing like a JCM 800. Unless by modded you mean modded to sound like a flubby, tubby, mess.

 

I'm really not even trying to be dick (though I know i'm totally coming across as one), but have you actually even played a Legacy? Or a JCM 800 for that matter?

 

Its this sort of misinformation that made me fall for the amp in the first place back in my noobish amp days.

[AdrianPOA]

I noticed And a Legacy literally sounds nothing like a JCM 800. Unless by modded you mean modded to sound like a flubby, tubby, mess. I'm really not even trying to be dick (though I know i'm totally coming across as one), but have you actually even played a Legacy? Or a JCM 800 for that matter? Its this sort of misinformation that made me fall for the amp in the first place back in my noobish amp days.

 

I used to own a JCM 800. No, I have never owned a Legacy, but I tried the original Legacy amp when I bought the matching cab that came with it at GC for 300 bucks. I didn't have the need for the head, seeing as I already own a modded 900 and a JVM, but I could definitely hear some potential for some heavy tones if given the right tweaks/pedals.

 

You're entitled to your opinion as much as I am to my own.

[peavey_impact]

I actually think the Legacy is an awesome amp for nearly anything BUT metal. Well, actually with a fuzz pedal its great for stoner metal stuff

 

It's just tremendously lacking in clarity on the lead channel for my tastes. It was very reliable; never so much as blew a fuse on me.

[CaViTaTioN]

I actually think the Legacy is an awesome amp for nearly anything BUT metal. Well, actually with a fuzz pedal its great for stoner metal stuff It's just tremendously lacking in clarity on the lead channel for my tastes. It was very reliable; never so much as blew a fuse on me.

Even with a 10band in the loop and a boost out front? I have always wanted to try one in person but living in the midwest+horrible resale value of Carvins has always made that impossible. I bought an MTS once and absolutely hated it.

[peavey_impact]

 

Even with a 10band in the loop and a boost out front? I have always wanted to try one in person but living in the midwest+horrible resale value of Carvins has always made that impossible. I bought an MTS once and absolutely hated it.

 

 

I never really messed with and eq in the loop but the best metal tone i got with it was by using EMG's, switching to 6L6 tubes and Running a keeley sd-1 up front as a boost. Eventually I started usin an Engl e530 preamp in the fx return and that was MUCH better. But once I got my Deliverance I and everyone else that heard it

Agreed it was much better suited than the Legacy.

 

Sold it (at a huge loss) and never looked back

[rushtallica]

Hey, I remember how you were trying for a while to sell off your Laney to get another amp. I'm glad you found one you like so much.

[Kooolby]

I love my Carvin Legacy 3. Great lead buttery smooth tone. I have it set in stereo with a panning delay and it sounds fantastic.  Getting Steve Vais distortion pedal the Ibanez jemini goes hand in hand with this amp. After getting the jemini I recommended everyone with a legacy to get one and not look back. I agree the amp does not have a metal tone like my Marshall does. I’m having a hard time finding Vais bad horsie tone with this amp though but I think that heavy heavy tone can be found with the help of some other od and compression pedals. If Vai can do it on the legacy I’m sure I can figure it out with some tweaking of the amp.