« Terrifc Amp At Any Price Point »

The Carvin X100B Series IV amp is a terrific all-around amp that does everything well. While previous versions of the X-amp had some quirks, they got it right with the Series IV. Very loud amp, beautiful warm clean tone, very nice complex high gain lead tone, great features (reduced power 25/50/100 settings, +4/-10db loop settings for pedals and rack gear, tube switch on back for 6L6 or EL34 substitution, 5 band active EQ on top of passive tone stack, wonderful reverb, effectively a 3 channel amp with clean, crunch on clean, and lead. For the $400-$500-ish prices used these days, they are the best kept secret. I've owned Soldano SLOs, a Bogner Ecstasy, and many other really nice amps and can attest this amp doesn't take a back seat to any of them. Does it have Bogner tones....no (but its not worse, just different). But does the Carvin have great tones the Bogner cant do....yes. Every amp's tone is different and to be valued. No such thing as a tone being better than another amps tone. They are all just different. Believe me, this amp will blow your mind if you are a competent player. Very high quality tones and features in this unit. As with any amp (boutique names included), the type of cabinet and speakers you put an amp through can completely change the tone. This amp sounds great through either V30 or more balanced speakers like 70/80s or Legends. Love my X100B Series IV.