Is anyone familiar with the carvin acoustic amps?

http://carvinaudio.com/collections/acoustic-series

Bunch of people here that use the Carvin AG100d.



All good reviews. Carvins are pretty solid.

That looks promising. Carvin stuff was always reasonable too because of the direct marketing thing. A few years ago a friend of mine had a Carvin Cyclops which had prolly the best combination of speakers,tweeters etc I've seen or heard in a single cabinet a 15", two 8" and a tweeter. Nicely designed and ported. Discontinued now it was originally a bass rig and interestingly you could change the amp out since it was simply a 2 space rack mount built into the top of the unit. The head was stereo tho and could also be configured to bi-amp the cabinet in mono. So you could find an old Cyclops, use as-is with a state of the art pedal board or put something new in the rack that had more multi-input capabilities into it like this new one does and it would slay in a grand way. It's not a small amp however. You'd need wheels on it...You see them REAL cheap on Craigslist and such every once in a while.

Have you ever checked out the Fender Acoustasonic amps?

I have, but they only have two inputs. I'm really hoping for something with three - two for the stick and one for a mic. Problem is I'm trying to keep the total price to $550-$650, and still get great sound as well as expandability. So, currently, I'm trying to decide which way to go between several amps with three inputs (with or without Pre-amps before it depending on needed or not).

Leading contenders right now
- Fishman Loudbox Artist ~$575 (love to get the performer version but at $800, it pretty much out of my pricerange right now) http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/LoudboxArt
- I'm told the loud box doesn't need pre-amps, sounds great, loud enough for small gigs, and has an out channel that could tie into a PA system for larger venues. It seems like the most versatile option, and so leads my list.

- Roland BA 330 - $600
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/BA330

- Roland Cube Street Ex ~$500
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/CubeStEX

- Peavey KB 3 $300
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/KB3
- It says in has instrument inputs, but I was told I'd be better off with pre-amps with it? With this amp I could get them and be within my budget though. http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/PlatinumStage

- Carvin Acoustic AG. The 200 is $425, and the 300 is $510
http://carvinaudio.com/collections/acoustic-series
- But after reading their specs it looks like I probably would need a pre-amp on these at some time, the instrument impedance is >500kOhm, not exactly the recommended >1MOhm I've seen recommended. Any one have a different experience?

I/O can always be a pain and then add to the mix the impedance mismatches on some units etc..

Just throwing this out there because I've spent a lot of time thinking about rigs, just something I like to do.

What about a different approach like simple "small factor Mixer" and Powered speaker?

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/pro-audi ... th-effects

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/pro-audi ... tt=powered speaker&index=2

I'm open to something like this, just don't know much about it. Looking at the input impedance, it looks like I would need a pre-amp before the mixer. Adds $250-300, which puts it at the very top end to slightly outside my budget.

Or a buffer/DI. That would work also since mixers often have dedicated EQ sections for each channel

The fishman platinum stage says it's a DI, but it's got EQ adjustments... Do you have a recommendation for the buffer/DI?

You really shouldn't need a secondary preamp/buffer if you're using a mixer that has mic preamps. I used to use a simple mixer with mic preamps before running into my Keyboard amp when I played Stick at church and that was actually in that video I posted about "4 Days in San Jose". As long as you're not running directly into "line level" you should be fine?

Only thing is I did use mic adapters so I could take advantage of the preamps fully. Unless your mixer has those wonderful 2 way inputs where you can plug in a standard 1/4 jack in the middle. If not a simple adapter like this is what I used.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/cable-ad ... r?rNtt=1/4 to xlr&index=4#productDetail