Jbird
Kick Henry Jackassowski
Spent a bit of time A/B'ing both the EVH III mini and the Carvin set at 50w (since the EVH is a 50w amp).
I think I like the clean channel better in the Carvin, even though you can't get it to break up. It just sounds a bit better. Quieter too, with my Reverend Stu D Baker and it's p90s. Not much hum at all. The EVH hums quite a bit with the p90s. The EVH wins if you are going for a slight bit of break-up/gain, but the Carvin has reverb, which the EVH doesn't.
The high gain channel on both amps, I'm undecided…the EVH has a much more modern sound to it (6L6's) while the Carvin sounds more '80-ish (EL34's).
The Carvin has just a bit of fizziness to it if you crank the gain all the way to 10, with the extra gain switch toggled on. Also, if you crank the bass tone control all the way to 10 (if you are scooping your mids, for example) there is a bit of unwanted boominess. Back both of those knobs to around 8.5 or so and you are good to go. The Carvin's gain channel without the high gain switch toggled sounds really good even at 10 on the gain knob. And it's way easy to back down and get a good mild light rock tone.
The EVH sounds pretty good no matter where any of the knobs are set. It is a bright-sounding amp, so I usually have the presence mostly off, the treble knob set low and the bass knob set higher. You can crank the gain all the way to 10 and no fizz, but it sounds best with the gain at about 4 or 5 (out of 10), and that is plenty of gain even for the most brootal metal. The Carvin has to have the gain knob pretty well cranked to get into that territory, and is a darker amp. I think the tone knobs on the Carvin are much more interactive.
They are just very different sounding amps. I'll probably keep them both. If I was doing a gig and playing '80s rock & metal, AC/DC, Bryan Adams, Dio, Dokken, etc. I'd grab the Carvin. More modern metal/downtuned/7 & 8 string stuff, definitely the EVH. I know the EVH sounds great with pedals thru the clean channel, for pedal users. We had Baimun's pedal board thru it at the last Pragestock I went to. Not sure about the Carvin, as I don't own a bunch of pedals
I think I like the clean channel better in the Carvin, even though you can't get it to break up. It just sounds a bit better. Quieter too, with my Reverend Stu D Baker and it's p90s. Not much hum at all. The EVH hums quite a bit with the p90s. The EVH wins if you are going for a slight bit of break-up/gain, but the Carvin has reverb, which the EVH doesn't.
The high gain channel on both amps, I'm undecided…the EVH has a much more modern sound to it (6L6's) while the Carvin sounds more '80-ish (EL34's).
The Carvin has just a bit of fizziness to it if you crank the gain all the way to 10, with the extra gain switch toggled on. Also, if you crank the bass tone control all the way to 10 (if you are scooping your mids, for example) there is a bit of unwanted boominess. Back both of those knobs to around 8.5 or so and you are good to go. The Carvin's gain channel without the high gain switch toggled sounds really good even at 10 on the gain knob. And it's way easy to back down and get a good mild light rock tone.
The EVH sounds pretty good no matter where any of the knobs are set. It is a bright-sounding amp, so I usually have the presence mostly off, the treble knob set low and the bass knob set higher. You can crank the gain all the way to 10 and no fizz, but it sounds best with the gain at about 4 or 5 (out of 10), and that is plenty of gain even for the most brootal metal. The Carvin has to have the gain knob pretty well cranked to get into that territory, and is a darker amp. I think the tone knobs on the Carvin are much more interactive.
They are just very different sounding amps. I'll probably keep them both. If I was doing a gig and playing '80s rock & metal, AC/DC, Bryan Adams, Dio, Dokken, etc. I'd grab the Carvin. More modern metal/downtuned/7 & 8 string stuff, definitely the EVH. I know the EVH sounds great with pedals thru the clean channel, for pedal users. We had Baimun's pedal board thru it at the last Pragestock I went to. Not sure about the Carvin, as I don't own a bunch of pedals