Carr Mercury of Carr Rambler?

[thinline01]

Hi,

I am on the market for a new amp and I am considering buying a Carr to replace my amp.

In terms of price/clean sound quality, my last amp was really satisfying: a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe with Jensen and THD Yellow Jackets EL 84. While this configuration was really really satisfying in terms of clean sound, but there was a HUGE drawback: this amp was too loud for me. I hate playing with volume/gain/master knobs between 0.65 and 0.95 ... so that I keep high quality relationships with my neighbours and my ears.

Anyway, I am considering buying a Carr that can deliver high quality clean sounds at low volume. It doesn't matter if I am able to really crank the amp at low volume, I can add pedals if necessary.

Last but not least, I would like to get an amp allowing me to play from Jeff Buckley clean sounds to blues (e.g., BB King, KWS, SRV) and jazz/blues, stuffs (e.g., SRV - rivera paradise, lenny). I have a Strat Am Deluxe, a Tele Thinline and a BluesHawk Little Lucille.

Knowing that, you would go for which one Carr Mercury or Rambler?

Please let me know which Carr amp/non Carr amp you would recommend and why !

I was also looking at the Bruno Cow Tipper 22 ... but really expensive

Thanks a million for your help in my tone quest!

T

[Fusionshred]

Of those two the Rambler sounds more Fendery to me than the Mercory, which sounds more voxy. That's a generalization, but if you want more of a Fender clean (or SRV tones), I think the Rambler is the way to go. YMMV

[JingleJungle]

I LOVE my Rambler.
I've installed KT66s for a slightly fatter sound, but I definitely dig it in it's regular version too.
The tone section is VERY flexible...you can't get any "wrong" tones out of it.
In my own setup I'm running it with the mids between 3 and 5'o'clock, with just a tad of lows and highs, with the volume jacked anywhere between 1 and 3 o'clock. This gives me a lot of tube amp distortion (I'm keeping things quiet with a MASS attenuator) - not necessarily what you're looking for, I know.

In your case I would recommend bringing up the mids to taste and then adjust the highs and lastly the lows. Bring up the volume to wherever it sounds right. The Rambler takes pedals beautifully. A friend of mine took my Rambler apart and was amazed by the size of the Solen Fast caps - he says they're responsible for that very extended frequency range and for the very fast but musical transients.

As you can imagine, I'm a very happy camper

JJ

[tcaron]

I bought a used Carr Rambler from Willcutt guitars for about $800 less than new and I love the tone. Nice and clean with a lot of deep bottom.
You can dial in or out as much bottom end as you want. I recently saw a Rambler go for about $1350.00 on ebay. A real steal. Also has an incredible reverb and tremolo.

Get a used Rambler and order an Ethos pedal for $395.00. Then your all set for less that the cost of a new Rambler.

I've a PRS McCarty, Guild Bluesbird and American Strat that I use with it and love the sound.

[mrMix]

I recently picked up a Mercury from a fellow TGP'r. I'm quite pleased with the clean tone and use an Eternity to add some OD while maintaining the use of the tone controls and the reverb (quite nice too). Jazz, Blues for sure - I'm using an ES335 and a Suhr Classic and haven't found a bad sound.

[jmadill]

If you are NOT going to gig, or if you do gig, you WILL be able to mic the amp if you do, I'd say go for the Mercury. 8 watts is not quite enough, in my opinion.

The Rambler has great cleans, but you'll need a pedal to add grit/gain.

Suggestion: Consider also the Carr Vincent. It is based upon the Rambler, but with a "Drive" control and footswitch to add "Boost."

-jm

[thinline01]

Thanks for your answers so far!

[photoguy]

I had the opportunity to spend a week with both a Mercury and a Rambler trying to decide which one to keep. To my ears, they both had that classic Carr sound. I don't think you could make a mistake with either for great clean tones.

In the end, I think the Rambler had a very slight edge in sound, but I kept the Mercury as it seemed slightly more home friendly. And FWIW, Steve Carr gigs with his.

[thinline01]

Well, I am assuming I can get high quality high sound at low volume with the Rambler.

I've been told the Mercury is not a clean amp - even at low volume, you have a subtle crunch - is that true?

Thanks

T

[teleman1]

Tadu, that is wrong information. There is absolutely no problem getting clean at low volumes

[photoguy]

In my experience, both the Rambler and Mercury sound great at low volumes.

[esoteric pete]

Originally Posted by tomsalvojazz

Of those two the Rambler sounds more Fendery to me than the Mercory, which sounds more voxy.

while the rambler comment is right on, i strongly disagree with you about the merc being "voxy"....its not anywhere near vox sounding..you might wanna hear one again...

i have both and they are lifers.

[photoguy]

They are more similar than they are different...part of the reason I had a hard time deciding which one to keep!

[thinline01]

My only concern is that I can only buy one... prices are so high in Europe.

A Mercury costs 2500 euros... which makes 3535 USD!!!

Needless to say I am looking for a nice second hand outside Europe ;-)

[esoteric pete]

keep lookin man! good lucxk on your search...these are both great amps...