Carvin Mixers

[ckdhaven]

Anyone own a Carvin mixer?

What can you tell me good or bad? Quality, functionality etc...

I need a bigger board and these seem reasonably priced....

[GCDEF]

I've had two, well really four C1644P mixers. I have mixed opinions.

The first one they sold me was at a time when they were transitioning from a shared monitor send for mon 2/3 so you could route the signal to one or the other, but not both. I was very clear when I ordered that I wanted the model with an individual send for each monitor. They sent me the old style anyway. Had to send that back for a refund and order the new one. The whole exchange process was more of a pain than it needed to me.

The replacement they sent was fine. I used it for a few years. It developed intermittent problems with a board that wasn't seated properly. Fortunately I had a friend that could fix it. The only other option would have been to send it back to Carvin for a $260 flat rate repair. Eventually I sold it and went to an A&H.

After a while, I missed it and got another one. This time, the board wasn't seated properly in its case, so it was impossible to actually plug the speakers in to it. Customer service couldn't care less about the problem or that I had an urgent need for it in a few days. My only option was to order and pay for the new one, and return the old one for a refund. They wouldn't even pay for upgraded shipping, even though they'd sent me a defective unit.

The boards are pretty decent for what you get. A couple of things that bother me about them, the monitor sends are pre-eq, so any eq tweaks on the channel strips don't affect the monitors. It's almost impossible to run effects without clipping the effects input. Sounds okay, but the constant clip light is annoying. You're very limited on being able to send effects to monitors.

The second board I kept had to be repaired twice. Once the power supply blew, but it was running on a generator, so I'll give Carvin a pass on that one. The second time, something was wrong with one of the power amps cutting out. Local guy repaired it for $180. Carvin wanted their flat rate of I think it was $260. Also, Carvin seems to have a problem with parts and repairs for older models. If it's not in production, you may have a problem getting it fixed.

All in all, you get a pretty good feature set for the money. Some people complain about having so many controls on a small format mixer and it being hard to get to them individually. That didn't bother me though.

I've owned a number of Carvin products, including mixers, speakers and guitars, and I don't think I'll buy from them again. Years ago they offered good value for the money. These days, there's just so much more competition than there used to be, that they're not the value they used to be.

[ckdhaven]

GCDEF>>>Thanks for taking the time to write all of this out for me,,,

You have convinced me to "keep shopping.."

[GCDEF]

Originally Posted by ckdhaven

GCDEF>>>Thanks for taking the time to write all of this out for me,,,

You have convinced me to "keep shopping.."

I'm not specifically saying don't get a Carvin, just don't think you're getting more than you really are. They're really good at making you think you're getting pro level gear at DJ level prices. Their stuff is well priced for what you get, but quality wise it's probably sort of between Behringer and Peavey/Yamaha, etc.

Allen & Heath is the brand most people recommend. We're using a Yamaha board in my current band, and that seems decent too.

[ckdhaven]

Any chance the Yamaha is the MG series? I have been looking at the MG32/14..

[GCDEF]

It's not mine and I'm not sure what it is exactly. It's not that big though. Looking at pictures, I think it's an MG206C

[buddaman71]

never once even touched a Carvin mixer that didn't fail in some way at some time.

I think the Yamaha MG series are very hard to beat in the economy-price range, but there are lots of pretty good mixers out there.

[modulusman]

I had a carvin 1644 for awhile. It was OK but nothing special and problem free. At the time I bought it I was looking for a 16 channel mixer with built in effects and capable of 4 monitor mixes. Carvin was the only thing i could find. Since then Peavey came out with the fx series which is a better bang for the buck IMO.

[fisticuffs]

Carvin always reeks of Peavey to me. They do a ton of different things good and none of them great. There is nothing at all special about Carvin PA product. Other brands more dedicated to a particular focus be it mixers, amps, or speakers all put more R&D effort into making those things better. Carvin makes a middle of the road everything.

[loudboy]

The way to go for PA stuff is to get professional level stuff, used. It costs about the same as new junk, and it will outperform in every way.

Sound companies are always replacing/upgrading stuff, so it's really easy to find.

32 channels is a lot of inputs, what type of band are you running?

[Floyd Eye]

I very much like their guitars and basses. Great necks. I am using a Carvin 1000 watt bass head and by itself I don't really care for it. I run a Sans Amp in front of it though, so it kills. Preamp blew a few years ago anyway. So I am less then impressed with their electronic offerings. When I finally kill this tank of a bass head I won't be replacing it with another Carvin and I wouldn't purchase any of their PA stuff except possibly some speakers. Except that their speakers really aren't all that reasonably priced are they?

[rokpunk]

Originally Posted by loudboy

32 channels is a lot of inputs, what type of band are you running?

32 is the minimum amount of channels that i'd suggest buying, unless you are buying a mixer for a duo or something tiny like that. by the time you bring back your effects on channels, and add a pair or two channels for cd/ipod playback, you are down to about 24 useable inputs. most typical rock bands end up being 20 - 24 inputs, or more. a 32 channel board mates well with a 24 channel snake, since inputs such as cd/ipod playback and effects channels don't need to travel through your snake. i'd rather have unused channels than to not have enough channels. ymmv.

[walterw]

plenty of club/bar rock bands do just fine with 16 channels.

i'm using an older mixwix, and that's with a band using 4 in-ear mixes, hi-hat mics, sequencing, the whole thing.

[loudboy]

Originally Posted by rokpunk

32 is the minimum amount of channels that i'd suggest buying, unless you are buying a mixer for a duo or something tiny like that. by the time you bring back your effects on channels, and add a pair or two channels for cd/ipod playback, you are down to about 24 useable inputs. most typical rock bands end up being 20 - 24 inputs, or more. a 32 channel board mates well with a 24 channel snake, since inputs such as cd/ipod playback and effects channels don't need to travel through your snake. i'd rather have unused channels than to not have enough channels. ymmv.

This depends on the size of the gig, IMHO. We definitely live in different worlds...

I used to do my 6-piece Top 40 band w/a Mackie 1202 and it was perfect for 100-200 small clubs.

3 Vox
Gtr
Kbd
Bass
Kick, from a triggered D4, thru an Aux return

1 monitor mix, Vox only

I use an Ashly 508 now, and have no trouble doing a 4-5 piece rack band, in a small club. Loud, clean and balanced.

12"HF/18" front-loaded subs and 4 wedges.

I'm talking about places where there wouldn't even be enough room to set up a 32 Ch mixer and all the associated stuff. There's a forgotten market segment down there... <g>

[rokpunk]

Originally Posted by walterw

hi-hat mics,

how many mics are ya putting on the damn high hats?!?