Carvin X100B Head mods

S

singtall

New member
i have an old Carvin X100B III that i would like to have modded. i don't want to spend a fortune on a head that ain't worth much, so i need some advice. is this head worth modding? i like the clean channel, but the distortion channel has some nasal midrange crap going on that i can't remove with any eq. i'd be willing to gut that channel and start over if need be. i tried the only mod i could find on the internet, which was basically replacing three resistors that changed the gain some...but it didn't help the nasal grind issue.

i'd like to get some "brown sound" if possibly.

who do you guys recommend to do good work? i contacted a guy who makes and modifies heads and i await his email, but if he's too busy...i'd like to have some options. no offence to any amp builders or modders here, i am new to this forum and don't really know who the major players are yet. i looked around at a couple websites of guys who mod this head, but the prices are not worth it for this old head.

in an ideal world, i would like to pay someone to design a mod for this head, and i'll do the work. any takers?
 
JerryP on here. Owns FJA mods and does stellar work! Seriously though, you can't go wrong witah any of the guys that have been or will be mentioned here!
 
i heard back from one guy who said that model head is crap shoot to get good tone. he suggested replacing the tubes, which i already did. his final advice: sell it.

luckily, i also got an email from BFG and he had some great mod ideas. i will be doing some mods following his advice, and if i get some more money to spend i'll send him the head for further refinement.
 
i have a marshall JMD:1 head now, and a couple other odd pieces of gear, so i'm shooting for a slightly different tone with this head. the clean channel is nice, but the gain is a little on the nasty side. looking at the schematics, it looks like they borrowed from Mesa....but didn't finish the circuit. i'm gonna see if i can add some tonestacks to get into the MKIIc territory with this head. they have the 5 band eq, but they didn't add in any tone circuits to tweak the front in like Mesa did.
 
i have to say...Brian at BFG is the man and he knows his stuff. very cool guy to deal with.

i did a couple things he suggested and the amp is sounding better already. got parts on the way to complete some more mods. will post some clips when it's all done.
 
singtall":1p20xo19 said:
i have to say...Brian at BFG is the man and he knows his stuff. very cool guy to deal with.

i did a couple things he suggested and the amp is sounding better already. got parts on the way to complete some more mods. will post some clips when it's all done.
Click to expand...
You're welcome. :D
 
BFG mod update....

i changed out a few parts Brian suggested and man what a different sounding head i have on my hands! i still have two mods left to complete, but i'm waiting on the parts to come in (a day or two more). what i got so far is a JCM800 hot rodded crunch channel, with a boost....instead of that nasty nasal foul distortion the amp had before. i tell ya, the man worked some serious voodoo on this amp to get that tone happening.

the last two mods effect gain (increase it) and clean it up a little more. where the hot rod mod was total garbage before, the amp now cleans up ala EVH when the guitar volume is rolled back. the tone isn't a total EVH redo, but more of a Bogner Jerry Cantrell "would" tone. i actually had more of a EVH type crunch, but undid that one mod because i thought it was a step too close to EVH. with the Cantrell tone the graphic is still very useful, with the EVH tone the graphic is really not needed...ever, but it limits the tone of the amp to a brighter crunch...sometimes a little darker crunch is cool to have, and with the graphic eq i can always bring up the highs if i want the EVH thing going.

stay tuned for more info and a video to follow.
 
another interesting tone i just found with this mod; i got the Jake E Lee "high wire" tone without using the graphic eq. sick!
 
Brian at BFG was extremely helpful with amp mod suggestions, and cooler still....he said i could share the mods here with you guys. i have to say, the mods turned that nasal midrange compressed turd sounding head into something closer to a Bogner Ecstasy 101B crunch channel meets a Marshall JCM800.

here is a list of the mods i did:

trujeque mod - changes gain structure slightly

R2 - change to 1.5k
R6 - change to 4.7k
R7 - CHANGE TO 180K


BFG mod - changes gain and tone/feel

C2 - .68uf or 1uf
C5 - lift on leg
C8 - lift 1 leg
R3 - change to 100K and parallel with 2000pf
C7 - lift leg going towards V2 and insert a 470K resistor with a 470pf cap in parallel
R1 - change to 220k


*optional BFG mods

1) C36 - lift leg to get a Bogner Ecstasy 101B crunch channel type distortion. less gain, but tighter feel. will need to use a pedal to get lead gain higher.

2) R12/C15 - is a fixed presence, try lifting one end to see how you like it in or out of the circuit. lifting leg adds lots more presense/highs.



i did all mods and decided to leave the 2 optional mods off for now:

1) because i don't have a distortion pedal to push the lead gain harder. i may go back to this one though.

2) i didn't need that much presence, so i wouldn't use this one.

 
singtall":4d6sses2 said:
Brian at BFG was extremely helpful with amp mod suggestions, and cooler still....he said i could share the mods here with you guys. i have to say, the mods turned that nasal midrange compressed turd sounding head into something closer to a Bogner Ecstasy 101B crunch channel meets a Marshall JCM800.

here is a list of the mods i did:

trujeque mod - changes gain structure slightly

R2 - change to 1.5k
R6 - change to 4.7k
R7 - CHANGE TO 180K


BFG mod - changes gain and tone/feel

C2 - .68uf or 1uf
C5 - lift on leg
C8 - lift 1 leg
R3 - change to 100K and parallel with 2000pf
C7 - lift leg going towards V2 and insert a 470K resistor with a 470pf cap in parallel
R1 - change to 220k


*optional BFG mods

1) C36 - lift leg to get a Bogner Ecstasy 101B crunch channel type distortion. less gain, but tighter feel. will need to use a pedal to get lead gain higher.

2) R12/C15 - is a fixed presence, try lifting one end to see how you like it in or out of the circuit. lifting leg adds lots more presense/highs.



i did all mods and decided to leave the 2 optional mods off for now:

1) because i don't have a distortion pedal to push the lead gain harder. i may go back to this one though.

2) i didn't need that much presence, so i wouldn't use this one.

Sounds interesting, how about a clip. Is it a keeper now?
Click to expand...
 
Brian is the most awesome dude. His mods are top notch and among the very best. Like everyone has mentioned he wants you to be blown away when you recieve your amp. Send your amps his way and you will not regret it one bit. Dude is fucking amazing...
 
I'd sell it and get a more marshallesque amp for modding
a peavey vtm is a great and cheap option
just needs a little more low end and gain than in its stock form
it even comes with a stock Jose saturation switch
 
i did an A/B/C test between the Carvin, Marshall JMD:1 head, and a Blackstar HT-5 head and i'm loving the Carvin. honestly, the Carvin was a boat anchor before i modded it...only the clean channel was good. the Blackstar head was my standard of measurement for distortion, but the clean channel was not happening at all for me. the Marshall is a good hybrid; super clean, distortion and high gain....plus effects. but the Marshall always felt a little too slick, like an optimized tube with no weird harmonics....but the weird harmonics (snarf) is what i like. so in the end my thoughts are:

Blackstar HT-5 for fun, in-the-bedroom jamming.
Marshall JMD:1 for most versatile with effects included. honestly, i could do just about any gig tomorrow with this head.
Carvin X100BFG mod for most satisfying tube sound at any volume. this thing just oozes harmonics.

i haven't tried it against the Soho preamp yet, but even the Soho doesn't have that amount of harmonics...but it does have more gain than anyone could want.
 
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