Carvin mods

[ricky]

I am curious if anyone out there has done any MTS Carvin mods. I love the Steve Vai tones. Dimarzio just turned me onto a set of the new Gravity Storm PUPS for my JEM and I thought it would be cool to try them through a Carvin Legacy or something. Is the Legacy a copy of something that is already being modded or is there some other reason that nobody has done one of those amps.
Just curious...
ricky
ps the gravity storms are SICK, btw.

 

[kurtisqpublic]

The Legacy was a take on Steve's SLO if I remember correctly. There are SLO mods out there and I would assume they would get you in the ball park.

 

[ricky]

I have a donor being sent to Rob as we speak and I was going to have him do the SL-OD100 mod on it. Are these clones of Soldanos? Is that what SLO implies?

 

[Rising Farce]

If memory serves, the Legacy was based on the Bogner Ecstasy's Red channel.

 

[wesarvin]

If memory serves, the Legacy was based on the Bogner Ecstasy's Red channel.

This makes more sense, as they used to look similar.

 

[ricky]

So I should be able to tweak my JF XTC using the red channel and get close? Vai also has a killer clean tone
If you are out there, Rob, what do you know about this kind of stuff? Would you think my XTC would get close or would the SL OD100 be a better bet?
I will have to try the XTC and JEM out together later when I can get them in the same place.

 

[Jaded Faith]

So I should be able to tweak my JF XTC using the red channel and get close? Vai also has a killer clean tone
If you are out there, Rob, what do you know about this kind of stuff? Would you think my XTC would get close or would the SL OD100 be a better bet?
I will have to try the XTC and JEM out together later when I can get them in the same place.

It's been YEARS since I played a Legacy last. My memory tells me it was a smooth XTC-like amp with great value for the money.

Looking at a schematic over coffee this morning, it's not all that close to either an XTC or SLO. The gain stages and tone stack are both unique. If I had to point to any modules in the current line I offer to get you in the ball park it would be the XTC on Blue with structure on or the SL-OD100.

 

[alowerdeep]

Carvin amps are top notch...sounds great and are very reliable...Ive owned a few....The Legacy has a tone similar to that of the XTC.....Ive often heard it referred to as the poor man's xtc.....dont know that I agree,I actually think it sound better...though it is a heck of alot less money.....

 

[Mike P]

Although I've never own a Legacy, I'm a huge fan. I've played through the 100 watt head for dozens of hours and found it to be a really cool unique high gainer and the clean channel totally captures Vai's clean tone.

The gain didn't sound or feel like an SLO to me. It was closer to an Ecstasy but different. It did share the same "tight", "glassy" vibe, which I dig.

I'm betting a modulized version would sell like hotcakes.

 

[nikki-k]

This is something I wish I had the time and parts to play with on a donor module. The Legacy uses a James Tonestack (basically a passive variant of a Baxandall Tonestack). I still own a Legacy head (original owner), though I have tried some things with mine (currently, a PPIMV based mod is the only change). I have never gone for a "Steve Vai tone" with it, or anyone else's tone. I switch between a quad of EL34s, 6L6s, and a mixed quad (two EL34s and two 6L6s).

Would love to make a module that would do Legacy clean and Legacy dirt.
http://soundcloud.com/otherwhere/carvin-legacy-01

 

[BigBrewtus]

I love the Carvin tones too. Would be killer to see a Legacy module.
Of course I still dream about a X100B module with a graffic eq! Okay,
so who ended up with the one off Ultra with the EQ?! :twisted:

 

[alowerdeep]

I guess it would be cool to see a module for it,but the reality of it is that you can typically finda used head for about the price of a modded module and I think I would rather just buy the head,or even spend the extra $100...unless for somereason I wanted to pair that tone with sometign out of the ordinary....kind of like having a BLue Voodoo module....great amps,but you can find them for like $250 used....

 

[Mike P]

I guess it would be cool to see a module for it,but the reality of it is that you can typically finda used head for about the price of a modded module and I think I would rather just buy the head,or even spend the extra $100...unless for somereason I wanted to pair that tone with sometign out of the ordinary....kind of like having a BLue Voodoo module....great amps,but you can find them for like $250 used....

For me, it's more convenience. It's so awesome just to be able to swap modules, as opposed to plug into a different amp altogether.

I'm not seeing that cheap on ebay. More like $525 plus shipping at the lowest. All I know is that I'd buy a Legacy clone module. It's a very cool, unique sound, IMO.

But I wouldn't buy the head.

 

[Oyster]

I always thought the Carven stuff was under rated. Would love a Mod. No where to put all the individual amps!

 

[The Rossness]

I guess it would be cool to see a module for it,but the reality of it is that you can typically finda used head for about the price of a modded module and I think I would rather just buy the head,or even spend the extra $100...unless for somereason I wanted to pair that tone with sometign out of the ordinary....kind of like having a BLue Voodoo module....great amps,but you can find them for like $250 used....

For me, it's more convenience. It's so awesome just to be able to swap modules, as opposed to plug into a different amp altogether.

I'm not seeing that cheap on ebay. More like $525 plus shipping at the lowest. All I know is that I'd buy a Legacy clone module. It's a very cool, unique sound, IMO.

But I wouldn't buy the head.

The new Legacy 3 is $930 w/ the footstitch. In all likley hood I'll probably get it next year. A module would be cool though. I'd love to see some crazy colored Vai faceplate.

 

[guitarzan]

That would be rad! Maybe something between a Mr. Scary and a XTC. You caould call it Vai-able.

 

[alowerdeep]

I guess it would be cool to see a module for it,but the reality of it is that you can typically finda used head for about the price of a modded module and I think I would rather just buy the head,or even spend the extra $100...unless for somereason I wanted to pair that tone with sometign out of the ordinary....kind of like having a BLue Voodoo module....great amps,but you can find them for like $250 used....

For me, it's more convenience. It's so awesome just to be able to swap modules, as opposed to plug into a different amp altogether.

I'm not seeing that cheap on ebay. More like $525 plus shipping at the lowest. All I know is that I'd buy a Legacy clone module. It's a very cool, unique sound, IMO.

But I wouldn't buy the head.

\

Ive seen some on craigslist for $300 recently,in fact,almost went and got one a few weeks ago,just talked myself out of it....the mods would be cool with someone that has a studio and space restrictions or maybe live if you wanted some extremely different tones at your disposal,but overall I would just prefer to spend $400-$500 on a head than to buy a module for close to that..to me that is what is appealing about these modules,you can get them for $300-$450,but they sound almost as good as the $2000 plus amps......but I guess that is another allure of the mts line,convenience without having to sacrafice too much tone.....

 

[Mike P]

Ive seen some on craigslist for $300 recently,in fact,almost went and got one a few weeks ago,just talked myself out of it....the mods would be cool with someone that has a studio and space restrictions or maybe live if you wanted some extremely different tones at your disposal,but overall I would just prefer to spend $400-$500 on a head than to buy a module for close to that..to me that is what is appealing about these modules,you can get them for $300-$450,but they sound almost as good as the $2000 plus amps......but I guess that is another allure of the mts line,convenience without having to sacrafice too much tone.....

$300? Wow, that would be hard to pass up...

 

[Whoopysnorp]

All else being equal (i.e. if the MTS mod REALLY DID sound as good as the real amp), and you could pick up the real amp used for roughly the same price as the module, I still might go with the module. More amps not only means more stuff in your life, but also more tubes you need to buy on a regular basis, more potential maintenance, etc.

On the other hand, I wouldn't sell an amp I already had to fund a purchase of the equivalent module unless I was gonna make at least $400 or $500 in profit on the deal.

 

[alowerdeep]

Ive seen some on craigslist for $300 recently,in fact,almost went and got one a few weeks ago,just talked myself out of it....the mods would be cool with someone that has a studio and space restrictions or maybe live if you wanted some extremely different tones at your disposal,but overall I would just prefer to spend $400-$500 on a head than to buy a module for close to that..to me that is what is appealing about these modules,you can get them for $300-$450,but they sound almost as good as the $2000 plus amps......but I guess that is another allure of the mts line,convenience without having to sacrafice too much tone.....

$300? Wow, that would be hard to pass up...

I know,it was about an hour or so from me....I see the Carvin's go cheap all the time, too...I bought a V3 a while back for $400...was a cool amp,should have kept it.....Ive seen the 2x12 combos as well in teh $400 range....