Carvin XV-112E info

[firemedic]

New amp: Carvin XV-112E. 4-6L6GC output. The owner says some other amp guy told him it was OK to just pop in 4-EL34s. Which he did. Kind of a red flag.

He dropped off the amp 2 months ago or more & I don't remember off the top of my head what he said was the problem. The Delta Blues has kept me tied up for a couple of weeks....

My question is, does anyone here have experience with these Carvins? Can you do that with this iron?

[firemedic]

The answer is NO. I'm getting a heater voltage of 5.8VDC withe EL34s in. No bueno.

[alerich]

I had a Carvin X100B head which I think is the same basic amplifier. It was biased from the factory for EL34 tubes but having said that I can't think of a single amp with fixed bias where 6L6 and EL34 would be a hot swap. Mine had no switch for multiple bias options. I would have had to swap a resistor to rebias for 6L6.

[stratele52]

For EL34 use,  socket need a jumper between pins 1 and 8  Check that

6L6 have a internal jumper. Amp builder don't need to solder one on the socket if amp use only 6L6

[HotBluePlates]

New amp: Carvin XV-112E. 4-6L6GC output. The owner says some other amp guy told him it was OK to just pop in 4-EL34s.

...

My question is, does anyone here have experience with these Carvins? Can you do that with this iron?

Ask Carvin.

I could only find a schematic for the XV-112 (not 112E). That schematic indicates 4x EL34's, but doesn't show connection for pin 1. It does indicate 6vac for the tube heaters. So even this doesn't seem to be a match.

... I don't remember off the top of my head what he said was the problem. ...

Might want to ask. And save yourself a headache by getting him to demonstrate the problem.

[stratele52]

XV112  ( not E ) here

www.el34world.com/charts/Schematics/files/carvin/CARVIN_X-AMP.pdf

Manual ;
www.carvinguitars.com/manuals/X-AMP.pdf

[alerich]

The head I had was an odd beast. The clean channel - which was almost entirely solid state - sounded really good. The OD channel - which was all tube - was only meh. I bought it for chump change on Craigslist and sold it for the same on CL a few months later.

[firemedic]

He says it stopped working altogether. It worked for me & sounded pretty good, albeit w/ scratchy pots. I cleaned & lubed the pots then checked the heater voltage, found it low. I pulled 2 output tubes and the voltage went back up to 6.5vac. The chassis is well labeled, and specifies 6L6GCs. Bada bing.

I told him to find 4 6L6s that he likes & get back with me-I don't have a matched quad laying around. Other than that, I think we're all done here.

[alerich]

The early X amps were 6L6. They later switched to EL34. The transitional amps like the one I had were silk screened on the chassis for 6L6 but factory labeled for EL34. That's over 2 amps additional heater current. He's lucky he didn't pooch the 6.3VAC secondary.