The ESP Guitar Company

i don't think marshalls are all that good, but i think pretty low of carvin.
i've never played a carvin amp as far as i remember, but i've know countless people who have owned them and i haven't yet found anyone who said they were happy, nor who kept the thing. that's all i know, which isn't much, but it's enough to influence my own purchase choices.

marshalls - i've owned and played thru some i like and some i didn't,
but i have yet to find one that is priced new in-line with what it's worth to me;
the new JVM head comes the closest in this regard.
i like their reissue heads (jcm800, jtm45, plexi 50watt ),
but again not enough for what they cost new.

I love my Splawn ProMod to death. I really don't need to look any further for the sound everyone associates as the "marshall" sound.

imo carvin sucks people in with the low price,
and marshall sucks people in with the brand name;

i say try everything else available.

Well it really depends what type of sound you want. I've played a few nice Marshall's but never settled on one. I tested the JVM combo but wasn't to excited about it... but then again what I think might differ then what you think. I've also played a Carvin Legacy but I only played the clean channel... which isn't much help. For the money I would of bought it for the cleans alone.

i say try everything else available.

+1

I own a Marshall AVT150 full stack. It is a reasonably good amp, the distortion is pretty good for metal but there are external effects that do a better job. Then again, the Marshall tradition is not so focused on the crushing death sound that I seek ... but its decent. It does not seem to be as loud as I hoped; after volume 7 or 8 the feedback gets so incredible without a noise gate. Any lower volume gets me drowned out with a drummer. Part of the problem is my cheap guitar and stock pups (MH100). I will revisit this issue soon when my MH400NT arrives. In retrospect, I wish I did NOT purchase the Marshall, for I am no longer in a band and its a ton of gear that does not get utilized very much in accordance with its capabilities.

I will say this; its heavy as hell and indestructible. the internal effects are awesome, like 10 different reverbs, chorus, flanger/phlanger/however you spell it, and an acoustic simulator that actually sounds pretty good when used with the neck pup on the guitar. Even on volumes .5-1, the ground shakes if the bass is turned up.

My mate recently got a JVM for his band and...Oh dear. I love that thing. True, it does have too much gain (both his OD channels have the gain on around 9 o'clock) but it really does sound sweet. I used to hate Marshalls, but recently I've grown to love that "Marshall sound".

I have owned a few marshalls over the years (my own tonal preferance at the time) and went to rack gear through the nineties. I have to say that when I decided to get rid of the rack gear and try to simplify. I tried the new marshalls and weighed the price against reliability. I saw the Carvin V3 and heard some clips, and decided to get one to try out and send it back if it sucked.

It didn't and I kept it. I am really pleased with it. A mesa, it isn't. Nor marshall. It has it's own sound and I like it. It's a great affordable amp with lots of features. I have used it onstage for shows at 5 to 6 on the master very regularly as well as practices for half a year now, and and it hasn't blown up so far!

Anyway, I have heard some godly guitar tone from what a lot of people would consider garbage gear. It's not necessarily what you use, it's in the way that you use it!