Carvin active

[BlobWeird]

Hey guys Im thinkin about buyin a Carvin custom and I have one question left before deciding.

http://www.carvin.com/products/guitar.p ... ber=DC400W

Thats the one I plan on getting. But the whole active electronics thing is what worries me. Do you guys think ill be satisfied with it? I play mostly grateful dead and I definitely want Jerrys sound out of it. And if it wont be good then do you know if they customize enough to the point where I can take out all the active stuff and slap in some humbuckers and a single coil?

[squire758]

dude thats a really nice guitar. but since it has those other knobs on it for the active electronics, id probably leave all that stuff in there. my other guitar player has an SG with active duncans and it sounds great. mayube you should get it, try it for awhile, and if you really dont like it try swappin in some '57s or somethin but from the way that thing looks i imagine it plays quite well. good choice by the way, ive never really seen anything by carvin except the same old strat copies

[BlobWeird]

Well I could always switch out pickups but then id have the battery compartment still in the back of the guitar which would serve no purpose from there on ya know? So I wanna hear some opinions on how it might sound as is and if I should try to get it customized to hum/hum/single. Id like to make it hum/hum/hum/single but i dont think they do that

[waldo041]

every carvin i have touched seemed to be put together really well. and i would bet that the pickup system is pretty top notch.

as far as the hum/hum/hum/single. that is a rare bird.

but,

if you were to pull the active unit out and went passive with 3 humbuckers. you could utilize those 3 switches for series/parallel/single coil switch for each humbucker. throw a unity gain buffer in there MINUS the effects loop, and you could utilize that battery compartment and run cables as long as you like. i say minus the fx loop because you would need to ADD another jack to it. also with the 4 pot's you could have individual tone pots and a volume or ask to drop one and share the neck/bridge. another thing and this only my opinion. but i like the fender 5 way or 3 way type of lever, rather then a rotary switch.

hope this helps.

peace,
waldo

[BlobWeird]

Waldo thx for your input. Anyone else use active pickups? Yeah I like the 5way selector much more. You think they could set it up that way for me?

[gr8fulbluz]

Hi Blob,
I have a Carvin DC127fa with the active electrics only. I believe the DC 400W has a push pull pot for active/passive on the volume knob.
Also look at maybe getting a DC127 and optioning it up to a 400, that is what I did. For example a dc127 with a walnut top and 5 peice neck at 50% off the option would be cheaper.
Mine is the base 127 model with a flamed top, abalone blocks, fishman bridge, coil splitters, swamp ash body and such. Mine is an early 2003 model. It plays very easily.
Things I wish I had gotten. An engraved truss rod cover, I could still do it myself if I was careful. A Hotter bridge Pickup, I have the old C22t, the dont come with that anymore they have the hotter C22B, I got to get one of those. It is a great guitar, but I dont know so much, it is my only electric at the moment nuthing to compare it to.


Here is a wonderful resource. .http://forums.carvinmuseum.com/
The people are most friendly for being a non Deadhead community ;), ask any question. They have more info than I could provide. And you will get honest advice uncensored advide. A great many of the members are giging players. FWIW, there is a good mix of guitarists there from more metal or shreder types to blues and classic rock types. For example, the guitarist from Barefoot Sunrise is a member and plays a DC145 a hum single Hum setup. they are from Delhi, NY and play a bunch of GD.

Lemme know if I can answer any question.

a pic
another picure

[gr8fulbluz]

Yeah I like the 5way selector much more. You think they could set it up that way for me?

The switch is a three way for the humbuckers. On mine the fishman pickup in the bridge can be blended with the knob from all humbucker to all fishman. It also has 2 jacks if ya wanted to split the fishman output to an acoustic amp. Or not, the primary jack will out put from all pickups. I just use the one jack.

[BlobWeird]

Hey thanks for the input. Im gonna have to check out those forums. As for gettin another model thats not gonna happen lol. Im dyin for that model.

[gr8fulbluz]

It took me almost a year to make up my mind. The neck thru guitars have so many options it was hard for me to figure it all out. But I do luv the Tung oil neck!
For fun, I looked at the instock and found This Walnut M bridge one, OMG sweet! click on the pic
Best thing to do is to call and ask because some options are not listed in the catalog or on the web site. if ya are thinking of an extra pickup, a third one.
there are some Hum single Hum DC145s too you might get the 400 optioned out like...here..
There is also some Walnuts in the 127 gallery scrol thru..here..

Just Ideas, dont let me confuse the issue, you already picked a winner!

[BlobWeird]

Am I able to ask them to put in a third pickup on the DC400W on there? The picture they have posted of it only has 2 active pickups. So what do you think? I wouldnt mind a single in there with the pickups it has now.