[ChinaCatMatt]

I have a dcm 200l and a Carvin ts100 tube power amp. I use the tube as main and the dcm as a backup. lots of options out there. fryette makes a 1u tube power amp I've been wanting to check out. Sla art power amps

[Darkstar860]

Theres a power amp (tube) that i saw that i almost bought just for shits n giggles. Was $250. Peavy 60/60 power amp. 6l6 powered. 60watts per side. But i didnt bite on it :-( Was a working unit too.

Have any of you guys tried or used this model power amp ?

[Bluelabel]

There are a few mosvalves on reverb right now

[lbpesq]

I had a rack for a while running an Alembic F-2B into a Mesa 50/50. Sounded great. The Mesa is an excellent power amp. It’s also heavy. I replaced it with a Carvin DCM200L. Also stereo, twice the wattage (100w per channel), one rack space, sounds great, and only 4 lbs). Sold the Mesa. Still a good choice if you don’t mind the weight.

Bill, tgo

[petcat]

I have a Fender SPA-3000 300W 1U amp in the midi rig.
Heavy. Gets the job done though.

And also, working on the NEW midi rig for future gigs with sounds that's big. Motif XS rack and Roland Strat. Will let you know how that goes as things come together. Could use Bob Bralove. Message me if you're him. Cheers!

[Searing75]

Don’t sweat it. Just be patient and get yourself a DCM200L. It is, in my opinion, the perfect all around option. I use an MC50 that I bought cheap, and refurbished nearly 10 years ago, but notice no real difference between it and the Carvin. An SMS pre with the DCM200L in a short depth rack……lightweight for days! Actually, I am currently using a Dumble Overdrive Special that I built, and it too, gets that sound.

[Darkstar860]

I know a lot of people who own the Carvin unit and love em. I tried one and i couldnt hear ANY difference between my ART and the Carvin. Both were awesome. But the Carvin weighs less indeed.

I would love to sit down and try out some other power amps. But its not like walking into a music store to try a standard guitar amp haha. Id have to bring my SMS and my Wolf or Bean etc and then where do i go? Guitar Center has jack shit for selection and thats it for places in my area. We should get some sort of Gear weekend for all us to get together every spring or summer or fall, something. We can all get together and try each others gear and all learn a LOT. Food for thought

But i know that some power amps with the SMS do NOT sound as good as either the Carvin or ART and its not the SMS fault, its the power amp. So you def need to pick the right unit that works with the SMS correctly. But hey if your not 100% chasing that Jerry tone and are just trying to get close, maybe some of these other power amps that I mentioned not liking, you may like.

If i had to replace my ART, id buy another haha. But if i spotted a Carvin before i ordered the ART, i would get the Carvin. Ive just had no reason not to replace this ART if it was stolen. Now if it fails on me live on the road or something and gives me that type of reason, well i would def be checking out the Carvin or another power amp over the ART for sure. But so far, so good and when i find something that works I stick to it. Used Twins for 20+ years, took surgery and medical issues for me to downsize to to the SMS setup i have now haha!! I loved my Twins.

With the ART tho (cant remember if i mentioned this before). Is the fans are known to be noisy and i dont think the Carvins have this issue. I bought a silent fan that moved more air and is quieter and the amp is silent now and never gets too warm (even cranked). The Carvin is a louder amp tho. The ART is 100watts per channel. So it may not be loud enough for some.

[lbpesq]

The Carvin employs a switchmode power supply. As a result, It doesn’t need a cooling fan.

While I was poking around for info on these power amps, I ran across this youtube video of an AB demo of the SMS running through a Carvin DCM200L vs. a McIntosh MC250. The guitar parts are all Grateful Dead licks. The McIntosh sounds slightly better to my ears, but likely not noticeable in a full band context. And certainly not noticeable enough to lug around the 36 lb. McIntosh over the 4 lb. Carvin, IMHO.

Bill, tgo

[BoogieMK2]

I got a used SLA-2 super cheap, sounds great. I bridge, which is silly, but turn the gain down so I won’t blow my 1x12. I like a Tone Tubby 40/40 with this and my Revelation preamp.

While I’m not going for a Jerry Tone, an amp you could bring to the edge of clipping at reasonable volume would be interesting. I get great dirt tones using pedals, but getting a power amp/speaker pushed tone would be nice at lower power. Unless I’m outside, I don’t play large enough places to push 50+ watts.

Our other guitar player used old tube PA amps. The front ends are possibly voiced for guitar, maybe not. You could find around 20 watts, flat response and drive it with your SMS or Rev and speakers of choice.

A flat response amp is important, in my opinion, when using an SMS type preamp. I have run my Rev into a couple of Boogies and a Quilter Super Block US. The SLA just sounds better.

[Chocol8]

The issue with the modern small and lightweight amps is they don't sound the same. Specifically, they are "too good" and have a very high damping factor so their frequency response stays very flat and is not influenced by the impedance curve of the speaker load.

A tube amp tends to have a low damping factor, so the speakers' impedance curve has a big influence on the frequency response of the amp. Some of the older SS amps have low to medium damping factors and hit somewhere in the middle. The MosValve and vintage McIntosh amps are in this category and that is why they sound different driving typical guitar speakers than even a very good class D like the Ice Power driven Seymour Duncan's.

[strumminsix]

The issue with the modern small and lightweight amps is they don't sound the same. Specifically, they are "too good" and have a very high damping factor so their frequency response stays very flat and is not influenced by the impedance curve of the speaker load.

A tube amp tends to have a low damping factor, so the speakers' impedance curve has a big influence on the frequency response of the amp. Some of the older SS amps have low to medium damping factors and hit somewhere in the middle. The MosValve and vintage McIntosh amps are in this category and that is why they sound different driving typical guitar speakers than even a very good class D like the Ice Power driven Seymour Duncan's.

Agree with the spirit of your post. I'm not educated enough to dig deeper!

I've not enjoyed any Class D amps in my rigs. While loving Class A amps.

Interesting article on this topic: https://www.ooberpad.com/blogs/audio-vi ... 2Dfidelity.

They say Macs are Class B but most say not the traditional Class B....

[lbpesq]

I just stumbled onto the relatively new Carvin LT2000. It’s a 1 unit power amp that can operate at 2 ohms and can be plugged in to just about any power supply in the world without an adapter and will self-regulate the power, even from a generator. Puts out 340 watts, but it’s not clear if this is per channel or in total. Another missing spec is weight. I looked all around and can’t finds any statement to how much this thing weighs. It does look interesting, though, and I and others around here love our 1 unit Carvin DCM200L power amps.

Bill, tgo