New Carstens Empire Demo

  • Thread starter Thread starter angelspade
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It sounds interesting but not for the money they’re asking. Big kudo’s that he threw in some Quicksand though. When he played Dirt era AIC, it sounded like someone had tried to make one amp to encapsulate the three that were mixed together to make the album tone. Someone on a diehard quest for the Dirt tone might find this amp worthwhile?
 
Really dig this demo format. Amp sounds good - a bit different than the other low mid heavy kings out there. Might have to pick one up.
 
@hellzington has had both and kept the Grace. He can tell you about it. I preferred the Grace too. The Empire had a lot of overlap with Diezels and Rectifiers, but is only one channel. Unfortunately I think most of his amps are too expensive for what you get feature-wise.
 
The empire I had was cool, but not crazy versatile- I don’t think the sound was especially unique the way I expected it to be, but it was basically just a good modern metal amp with no bells and whistles. At that price I’d say the Uber ultra is a lot more amp for the money and similarly good
 
Zach did a good job as usual. I always dig his demos. I have both a Grace and Empire. You can tell they’re made by the same set of ears so to speak, but they’re pretty different as well. Both amps are stripped down feature wise, but they each have more tones on tap than you’d expect with their negative feedback controls. Particularly the Grace, since it’s also incredibly responsive to guitar volume changes. The Empire also responds well to guitar volume changes, but that’s sort of the Grace’s bread and butter.

I think the Empire will appeal to guys who want a modern metal amp that has a large usable gain range with good dynamics, isn’t over-focused and/or narrow, and maintains a healthy amount of midrange openness. Between the response, depth, and bass knobs, you can dial in a nice bounce to the feel that is still tight. You can also go tighter, even without a boost; however, it does boost extremely well too. Another thing it does really well is it’s equally at home tracking fast thrash riffs and playing big distorted chords with string separation. It’s also not fussy with pickups - it sounds great with everything from lower output passives to hot actives.
 
If this amp was my child, I’d have a serious sit down conversation with them along the lines of, “Empire, you’ve disappointed your mother and father again. Despite our love you turned out wrong. Why can’t you be more like your older sister, Grace?”
 
pipboy90 said:
@hellzington has had both and kept the Grace. He can tell you about it. I preferred the Grace too. The Empire had a lot of overlap with Diezels and Rectifiers, but is only one channel. Unfortunately I think most of his amps are too expensive for what you get feature-wise.
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Yeah, I owned an Empire and still have my Grace. I greatly prefer the Grace. Like @fearhk213 said, the Grace is a chameleon of an amp that has everything to do with your choice of guitar and that guitar's volume knob. It's extremely responsive to different pickups, volume/tone settings, and different guitars altogether. I am 99.9% sure it's based on a Trainwreck Express with some SLO DNA. (See more in the video below.) It's just a ton of fun to play and I enjoy it every time I plug in.

The Empire is something different. It has a thicker, juicer midrange and is a bit darker. It didn't feel as punchy as the Grace and doesn't respond the same way to your guitar's volume knob. It "cleans up" like a traditional amp instead of "morphing" like the Grace. Overall a much smoother, darker, more polished sound. As far as features, I remember the sweep of the gain knob is a bit better than the Grace. The boost is nice but I felt like it sounded better with it on, so I'd view it more of a "gain cut" than a "gain boost." The Response knob on the Empire is much more impactful than on the Grace. The Edge control is interesting... Brian told me it is not a presence control; it's a high pass filter. Zach demos it well here. It's intended to restore brightness to the amp if you dial the Response up.

I ended up selling the Empire and keeping the Grace because the Grace was far more versatile and, I think, far more interesting of an amp. As @Yehuda pointed out, the Empire kind of only does one thing. If that's your thing, then cool; you'll love it. But it doesn't really do any cleans at all and I felt like the lower gain tones weren't as inspiring as the Grace. The Grace is simply a beautiful sounding amplifier. But then again, I really like that spitty, fizzy thing that Trainwrecks do. The Grace is like a more modern Trainwreck Express on steroids. So it's a fit for me. The Empire was cool, but I just felt like it was a bulldozer and I could get that kind of tone from my IIC+, Blueface VH4, or Naked; and all those amps are more versatile.
 
Oh, also, if anyone is considering a Grace, I would strongly consider the Grace Deux. I had a Grace Deux and unfortunately had to sell it but I really liked the 20w 6V6 power section. (Yet more evidence that it's a Trainwreck; Ken Fisher used to use lower power 6V6 output sections on some amps, too.) The Grace does sound best with the master opened up a little to get that 3D "Carstens signature sound," and the master on the Grace is just kind of medium, so a lower power option made a lot more sense. I also liked the 6V6 tubes because they relaxed the midrange a little over the EL34's. Both are cool just two different takes. Don't feel like you're buying a "mini" amp with the Deux; it's just a different take on the same circuit.
 
The Empire does sound really good. I dig it, but I think the Grace would be more my thing. A 50 watt Grace with loop would be just about tempting enough to sell almost everything I own and have that one amp.
 
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