tell me what you think of the carvin BelAir 212

[fuzzylogic220 0]

Hey whats up tell me what you think of this amp. ...... if you havent heard it here are some clips

 

http://www.carvin.com/jamroom/rooms/BELAIR.html

 

I think it rocks, expecially for the price,. plus it has vintage 30's

[taken 0]

Great amp in my opinion. The clean channel is just amazing, and personally I really like the overdrive. I am interested to hear a modded belair though, apparently the mods are pretty good.

[fuzzylogic220 0]

bump

[tlbonehead 3]

Wretched,IMO. I've been around two of them and owned the head version.

[fuzzylogic220 0]

what is it that you think is so bad about them

[fuzzylogic220 0]

bump

[SFW 0]

The Beleair is ok, but I thought that the Vintage 33 smoked it though. The V33 is a 30 watt version of the same amp. To me the 33 had a larger sound.

 

The clean channel is very nice, I could not get it to break up. The "Soak" or dirty channel is in the vain of a JCM 800 on roids. I really miss that amp. You can find the Vintage 33s on eBay every now and then. I thing the dirty channel on the 33 has more gain on tap than the Beleair. YMMV...

[tlbonehead 3]

Originally posted by fuzzylogic220 what is it that you think is so bad about them

Mainly the tone and especially the reliability.

[musicdog400 0]

This was my first tube amp (I still have it). After owning it a while I heard a couple things in the sound I tried to improve.

 

One was a low mid range hump. An EQ in the loop really helps here.

 

The other was a kind a flubbliness or harshness I would sometimes hear in the distortion. So I changed the speakers from Weber C12Ns (I bought the amp used, these were not stock) to Eminence Legend V12s. They were a little warmer / darker and tamed it a bit.

 

The other thing I did was the stage I and II hasserl mods (see Belair / Nomad Mods ). Talking out the clipping diodes did smooth it a bit, and Richard's Mods revoice the tonestack and add some gain. These mods included adding a negative feedback adjust knob. Also I have a mostly closed back I made for more bass.

 

While these steps improved the sound, IMO they did not solve the problem. The problem IMO is that too much low frequency hits the tubes predistortion and causes a harsh blocking distortion. When I insert an EQ between guitar and amp to cut bass frequencies, then insert another EQ in the loop to boost them back up, the sound I don't like gos away and this is a great amp. It has great cleans, and on the soak channel, this amp is somewhere between a Vox and Marshall sound. With the hasserl mods and an EQ in the loop I have gotten nu metal sounds too.

 

Recently I was in the Carvin store playing a stock Belair. If I had it to do over again, I would probably just leave it stock and use the two EQ pedals. With the Belair (and with my Mesa F-50) EQs make a good amp great for me.

[atbear 0]

Originally posted by SFW The Beleair is ok, but I thought that the Vintage 33 smoked it though. The V33 is a 30 watt version of the same amp. To me the 33 had a larger sound. The clean channel is very nice, I could not get it to break up. The "Soak" or dirty channel is in the vain of a JCM 800 on roids. I really miss that amp. You can find the Vintage 33s on eBay every now and then. I thing the dirty channel on the 33 has more gain on tap than the Beleair. YMMV...

No, that's not true. The V33 and Belair aren't the same amp at all. The V33 is a larger version of the V16, which is completely different from the Belair, and it's smaller brother, the Nomad.

 

 

 

Belair's are good stock, but when they are modded (by hasserl on the Carvin BBS), they REALLY SMOKE.

[tlbonehead 3]

Originally posted by atbear No, that's not true. The V33 and Belair aren't the same amp at all. The V33 is a larger version of the V16, which is completely different from the Belair, and it's smaller brother, the Nomad. Belair's are good stock, but when they are modded (by hasserl on the Carvin BBS), they REALLY SMOKE.

But they have made the V33 a ,lot longer than the V16. And the one I remember was two channels just like the Nomad/Belair whereas the V16 is only one channel,right? If I recall correctly,the V33 just had a couple less features,no loop,etc.

[fuzzylogic220 0]

im just going on the clips that they have on their siet now. it sounds pretty rockin to me.

[stratton 0]

Originally posted by tlbonehead Wretched,IMO. I've been around two of them and owned the head version.

 

Wretched sums it up for me, too. When I was doing sound for a lot of bands, one of the guitar players used one in a blues rock band. Fizz and flub all night long.

 

At one point I asked him if he would mind if I worked on the tone a little as I wasn't happy with the sound coming off the stage. Amazingly, he said OK and let me play and tweak between sets.

 

I tried to get some balls out of it, reduced gain and treble, increased MV, everything. Eventually, I just put the knobs back where they were and told the guy it would work out alright.

 

Ken

[musicdog400 0]

FWIW I have never figured out how to record this amp well. I can never figure out how to mic it. When I record this amp now, I go Amp direct out -> Behringer Ultra-G cab sim -> soundcard.

 

Nevertheless, here are some clips of it with a mic.

 

Belair clips

[SFW 0]

Originally posted by atbear No, that's not true. The V33 and Belair aren't the same amp at all. The V33 is a larger version of the V16, which is completely different from the Belair, and it's smaller brother, the Nomad.

 

ahhh... ok.

 

I think you should do a little homework before you post.

[fuzzylogic220 0]

better deal? a new belair or a used legacy????????

[musicdog400 0]

Well they sound very different. I would vote Legacy.

[tlbonehead 3]

Originally posted by fuzzylogic220 better deal? a new belair or a used legacy????????

I can't imagine considering both of them. They are far different from each other.