Re: [GEAR] A few questions
Posted by: Ray_Uehara <Ray_Uehara@...>
>I've been doing some web-surfing and happened across the Carvin.com
>website. Does anyone know anything about their sound gear (mixing
>consoles and power amps)? Are they any good? They seem to be priced
>really low, and my feeling is "If something seems too good to be true, it
>probably is".
Carvin is my main bass, and I've purchased and used a number of Carvin PA
gear. I'd say, to a certain extent, you get what you pay for. Most sound
consultants (i.e. like those on ChurchSoundCheck) will give major 'thumbs
down' on Carvin gear, saying that the quality isn't as good as other
brands, and that you can get better gear for similar $$. In the past when
I've looked at their spec charts, I'd have to agree, the specs aren't that
impressive.
However, if you need something that just works, but do not require every
last watt or the quietest noise floor, then do give Carvin a look. In my
old church in California, we upgraded our entire sound system with nearly
all Carvin gear. The old "system" was a Radio Shack joke, and our budget
was scraping the bottom of the barrel. Since the church didn't have air
conditioning and sat at the sidewalk of a noisy city street, a quiet noise
floor on the gear wasn't an issue when you can clearly hear every passing
car. We did have one amp die an early death under warranty - a 45 minute
drive to a factory store, put it on the counter saying "It died." Sales
guy just glanced at it and said, "grab one from over there", and we were
out the door in minutes flat. I've picked up a couple of their smaller
amps over the years to drive monitor systems or background music without
any problems.
-- Ray