Carlsbro

I bought this amplifier at a closing down musical instrument store for € 150,00 on sale (retailprice € 390,00). Not being familiar with the Carlsbro brand I was pleasantly surprised trying the amplifier at home. Not only has it a nice classic look but it sounds far beyond my expectation. It has a pleasant clear and neutral sound. He does well with my Ibanez AF55-TF Jazz guitar, my ES-335 style, my telecaster and stratocaster style guitars as well as my electro-acoustic travel guitar and LP-style guitar. In a full month of usage it has become my favorite amp! I use this amplifier for jazz and blues. You can either plug the guitar right in or use it with a microphone. If you plug it right in with a cable you can use a microphone for singing. Given the power and maximum volume I would say the amp is suitable for practicing, rehearsing with a band and small live settings. I haven't found any cons of this amp all I can say is it's a shame Carlsbro doesn't have a bigger name recognition.

- What type of amplification (Tube,transistor,...)? All transistor. - How much power is delivered? 100 W RMS. - What connection types are there? Passive in, active in, and i think it has an FX loop on the back. Direct out & recording out also, i think. - What are the setting controls, effects?... Very comprehensive EQ!!! 2 band knobs and 9 band graphic EQ! Volume, gain, compressor setting, compressor on-off...compressor active LED... UTILIZATION - Is the general configuration/setup simple? Yes, no probs there. - Can you easily get a good sound? Yes, sounds good from the start. - Is the manual clear and sufficient?... Dunno, never looked at it. SOUNDS - Does it suit your style of music? Yes, fine for loads of styles. - With what guitar(s)/bass(es) or effect(s) do you use it? Yamaha active basses. - What kind of sound do you get out of it and with what settings ("clear", "heavy",....)? You can get pretty much anything out of this. OVERALL OPINION I compared this to various other amps, including the Fender 100W amp that was around at the time and the Fender was rubbish. This cost £280 back then and was by far the best quality for money i reckon. Sounded much clearer & punchy than the Fender or some other amps. Also compared to a Laney, and that was crap also. To try a bass combo, plug a keyboard into it: if the keyboard sounds crap, move on. A keyboard in this actually sounds quite ok! And there is no tweeter!

Always known Carlsbro to do cheaper sounding amps, I've been told they're no longer manufactured in Britain. This had promises of an alternative to a Vox AC15 or 'British Tweed Amp' - clean tone to classic rock breakup as gain reaches full. This was no lie. The amp has glassy smooth harmonics on all ends of the gain knob, the reverb works perfectly with the sound and the Celestion Greenback actually sounds really cool (I'm a V-Type or Vintage 30 person usually). For the price difference, the extra controls, fx loop and speaker extension factor. I'd say this thing is a good little find. It loves fx pedals too.

£100 secondhand brilliant amp two channels one clean. One with switched reverb, switched tremmolo and sustain channel. Built 1977 possibly the first Carlsbro transistor combo. 120W of power reliable. but its Heavy hence wheels fiited as standard. great quality of build for an amp built in 1977 only thing needed was a clean of the pots and two PSU capacitors. Good alternative to usual makes like Marshall or Fender out rocks similar priced new Marshalls This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

This is a pretty versatile Keyboard amp. The amp uses tube amplification and has several connections. The amp has three channels that can all run simultaneously. The first channel has an XLR input as well as a 1/4" instrument cable input, while the second and third channels both have just the 1/4" instrument cable input in. The amp delivers 80 watts of power. There really isn't much in the way of effects with this amp, but the KXR 100 does feature separate volume controls for each channel, a universal four-band eq (low, low mid, hi mid, and hi), as well as a universal reverb. There is also a master volume knob, as well as an effects loop. Rounding out the features are the headphone jack and the record out output (which uses A/V cable in/outs). UTILIZATION This amp is a great example of a transparent amplifier. That is, it really doesn't color the sound of the instrument you are using very much. This is only good in certain situations. For instance, using this amp for keyboards (it's original intent) is great because you probably wouldn't want an amp to color a keyboard sound very much. Some people like using it for vocals, and I would say that as long as a singer sounds really good acoustically (without any amplification) than they probably wouldn't sound that bad through this amp. Similarly, acoustic guitars also are reproduced rather faithfully through this amp, and their tones aren't colored much at all. I think though, that some people would want to run an electric bass or guitar through this amp, and that's where I'd have to diverge and say that this amp is a disappointment. Those instruments really need some type of amp or amp modeler to really color the sound, otherwise they end up sounding rather anemic and weak. OVERALL OPINION I think that for keyboard players who sing, this might be the greatest amp ever. However, for everybody else (guitarists and bassists) you'd probably be better off with an amp that is made for your specifications. I think that acoustic guitar players will be pretty divided on this one, it depends how much you want your guitar sound to be colored by an amplifier. I'd say keyboardists, though, should really look into it, it's a great colorless amplifier.