Heart of a Worshipper International Expounded Upon

The SX200 came in a Carvin box that was made specifically for the amp. It was well protected and arrived in perfect condition. The first thing I noticed was that the SX200 was quite easy to pull out of the box for a 2 x 12” guitar amp. One look at the website revealed that it only weighs 49 lbs. That is darn light for a big combo. It doesn’t feel much different to carry than a large 1 x 12” combo such as the Behringer LX-112 V-Ampire. It is fairly light because Carvin does not use particle board for the amps frame.

Construction was immaculate. Tight and clean with no problems anywhere. Very nice! No gaps, tears, or rips in the black material the amp was wrapped in . There are nice metal protectors on each corner, and rubber feet on the bottom. This a cleanly constructed amp. Period. The actual face of the amp was screwed to the housing well, and also had no noticeable gaps or areas of inconsistency. This speaks to the incredible quality control that Carvin has.

Features

This amp has more features than a basic amp, but not as much internal effects flexibility as your typical modeling amp such as a Line 6, Fender, or Behringer. There two footswitch selectable channels. One for distortion and one for clean. I ordered the optional FS-22 Footswitch for the added convenience of channel/effects switching without having to walk up to the amp. I can't imagine playing a gig and having to walk up to the amp to make it change channels or effects.  The pedal comes with a nice long cord, and was an additional $30.00 direct from Carvin.

The thing that is great about the way they designed the SX200 is that the channels really can be two independent channels. Meaning you can plug one thing into channel 1, and another thing into channel 2. It took me a while to figure how I could use this to my advantage other than using channel 2 with a vocal mic., but then it dawned on me that I could run my stereo effects pedal into the SX200’s two channels with the proper stereo cable, and get a nice stereo image even from my floor pedal! This isn’t possible on the majority of combo amps on the market today because they do not have stereo effect returns or inputs. Most are also not true dual channel amps. Way to go Carvin. For me this feature alone made the amp worth the purchase.

The SX200 does have built in effects with up to 256 internal combinations. The effects are controlled by three knobs. One for the actual effect type, one for the rate, and one for the level. The effects themselves sound decent for this price point, but the interface is a bit lacking. You can turn the dial to get say a nice chorus effect with some reverb if the knob is in the proper position, but if you want to combine effects that aren’t next to each other on the knob, then you are out of luck. A nice feature is that there is a separate reverb switch in addition to the effects knob effects, if you just want to have reverb only like a regular old combo amp. To Carvin’s credit, the effects are footswitch able on and off, and the amplifier remembers your effects setting when you switch between the two channels. The problem here is, that only leaves you a few options for effects, because there are no savable presets. The amp remembers the effects settings when you change channels, but can only remember each channel's real time setting and that’s it. If you want to go from a distorted chorus/reverb, then to a clean, then to a distorted flanged delayed mess in an instant, then this amp won’t do it. Better use floor pedals.

I found the effects very useful though, when I combined outboard effects pedals with the internal effects. All of the sudden I had a few options on top of my floor effects to choose from; and I was able to create layered delays, choruses, and reverbs by using the outboard floor pedals and the amp's internal effects combined. That is a pretty neat feature and it makes the amp's effects section make more sense in this age of decent sounding $70.00 floor pedal multi effects.

On the back jack panel, Carvin has supplied a useful set of inputs and outputs. The usual effects send and return are there for outboard effects, along with a headphone out, the footswitch jack, a voiced line out that is designed to sound like the amp is mic'd, and a second speaker jack for using an extension cabinet such as a 4x12". Another great feature is the ability to adjust the Ohm rating with the switch for various cabinet types. Excellent and useful. Missing are midi jacks which would have been useful for using an external pedal to control the effects. At least one of the competition's amplifiers (Behringer) include midi support even in this price range and yes even for their 2 x 12" competing model. This is an area that I wish all manufacturers of any kind of modeling/emulation amp with effects would address. Behringer is the only company I know of that includes midi in even their lower priced solid state amps.  But aside from the lack of midi support, all in all this is a great feature set on the Carvin SX200, and the Behringer is not made in the U.S.A. :)

Sound/Tone

After pulling it out of the box and examining it, I immediately rushed into my testing area with the SX200 and plugged it in with a Fender Telecaster Custom HH guitar to test it. The FS-22 footswitch that I ordered with it (optional) plugged in to the back. The footswitch has 2 buttons. One for channel switching and one for turning the effects on and off. I turned everything to what I normally would on a small combo amp, with the channel e.q. knobs at about 5 for each low mid and high on both channels. For the first part of testing, I just left the on board effects unit off.

At first, I had the volume knobs turned to 5 also, but I learned very quickly that this was no average combo. 5 on the volume knob was waaaaay too loud for me. The windows and floors were rattling, and I feared I would cause something to crack or break in my studio! I’m telling you the SX200 has some kick to it. In my studio room, ¾ was more than enough volume for regular playing, and in an apartment a player would be hard pressed to run it even that loud without offending the neighbors! I'm talking the 3/4 before 1 on the dial. In normal playing with a band, the Carvin would easily be suitable for small-large gigs with it's sound pushing capabilities. I had a 60 watt Tech 21 Trademark 60 Combo, and a Behringer 100 watt LX-112 with stereo extension cabinet next to the Carvin for comparison. Neither of the other amps came even close to the pure volume of the Carvin.

Loudness is one thing, and tone is another. Of course tone is a very much disputed thing in the area guitar amps. Some die hard tube amp fans would never admit that a solid state amp could ever have real tone. I love tube tone, but I believe in technology and using it's conveniences, and that a digital amp can be made to get really close with the right set of ears and hands at the controls. The main thing I hate about tube amps is their weight! Otherwise they are great except for the maintenance required. What we have in the SX200 is Carvin's tube emulation circuit. Much has been made of how close this amp really is to real tube tone, and some artists even endorse and prefer the SX200. I tested the amp in a comparison to a very nice Genz Benz Tube Works Tube Tone pedal with a 12ax7 tube in it. It was an interesting comparison to play the amp with a tube pedal, and then with it's own distortion. I have to say that the Carvin was very close to the tube pedal, and I would not even use the pedal at a gig instead of the Carvin's own distortion. It very close in the way it responded, and just the overall tone. The tube pedal had just a bit more warmth, but less dynamics than the Carvin's own distortion. I know an amp with all tube construction and a gaggle of tubes would sound better than a tube pedal, but I've tried and owned both, and a good tube pedal does a lot to bring a solid state amp into the realm of tube amp tone.

The Carvin's clean channel sounds very, very good. If you are a mostly clean player, the SX200 may be a good choice because both channels can be used for clean sounds and they both do a nice job. With the active e.q. on each channel, and the internal effects you have a pretty nice clean amp with some expanded options. This amp excels with single coil pickups, and of course if you feel like a little blues, you can always crank up the drive knob a little. If the drive is up just a little, the amp responds much like a nice tube amp with picking. Picked lightly - nice and clean. Picked a bit harder - you get a bit if distortion. Sweet.