LeftyBassist.com

The online home for southpaw bassists.
It is currently March 28th, 2024, 6:22 am




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 6 posts ] 
Author Message
 Post subject: Carvin B4
PostPosted: March 31st, 2012, 9:05 am 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: January 9th, 2009, 1:34 am
Posts: 2153
Location: The Netherlands
With the money Ian paid me after I made him believe I won an ATK305 for him on eBay ( ;) ) I bought a Carvin B4 on the British bass forum Basschat.co.uk for the very attractive price of 230 Pounds. This is the predecessor of the current B40 model, and with prices starting at about $400 was the most basic model Carvin had on offer, with simple passive electronics and a bolt-on neck. The B4 did not yet have a sculpted heel for easier upper fret access, and still came with a Hipshot bridge instead of the new Carvin bridge.

The original owner ordered this bass with a few custom options:
- 2+2 headstock instead of the standard and rather dull looking 4-in-line headstock;
- tung oil finished birdseye maple neck and fingerboard (very modest, not all-out in your face birdseye);
- black hardware;
- HB-2 humbucker with coilsplit in the bridge position instead of two J-99 singlecoils with standard VVT controls.

The body is made of alder and, whether by order or by accident, happens to be a beautiful piece of lightly flamed alder.

The pictures are taken by the previous owner.

Image

Carvin is known for making excellent, well-made and highly customizable instruments at a friendly price and even though this B4 was their entry model, it's definitely no exception! Beautiful woods, nice tight neck pocket, great finish job, and the neck feels supersmooth. The fret job is excellent too, and there are no sharp ends whatsoever. The hardware consists of an aluminium Hipshot style B bridge, 'Carvin'-branded sealed tuners that do their job well and accurately, and a graphite nut. The pots are very disappointing and behave more like on-off switches than as pots. But they can easily be replaced.

On to the really interesting bit, and the bit that actually made me want this bass: the pickup configuration. For me, this bass is a bit of an experiment. I have always been intrigued by basses with a JM pickup configuration like Laklands, EBMM Stingray HS's and Sandberg California JM's but have never been able to find any lefthanded basses I could try. This Carvin was offered relatively cheap so it seemed well worth the shot and if I don't like it I can always sell it again without any loss!

The combination of a singlecoil and a splittable humbucker, to me, has always seemed to be just about the ultimate in versatility. You get your Stingray type tones, and your Jazz Bass type tones, and many in-between tones. At least, that's what I always thought. After my first week of playing this Carvin and putting this assumption to the test, I was proven somewhat wrong.

First of all, this B4 hits the Stingray tone almost spot-on! The humbucker is in exactly the right spot (on most HS-basses the humbucker is closer to the bridge) and even though this Carvin is passive and therefore has no preamp that colours the tone like the one in a Stingray does, it really almost nails it!
However, it is almost impossible to make this bass sound anything like a Jazz Bass. No matter how you set the controls, the B4 still holds a crisp top end to its tone that you won't find in a Jazz Bass, and when split, the humbucker still retains much of the Stingray character (when split, the coil closest to the bridge is deactivated). Even when you play the neck singlecoil stand-alone it won't sound like a Jazz Bass would in that position: the Carvin is brighter, with less bottom and less output.

So am I disappointed? Not quite!
This bass sounds like a Stingray with lots of extra tonal options. Split the humbucker and you get more growl and less of that typical Stingray midrange scoop, which is great for fingerstyle funk. Roll in the neck pickup and you get more warmth and bottom end to the tone while retaining that typical Stingray character. With both pickups activated, split the humbucker for a tone all of its own: mellower, but still clear and bright.

Overall, this is a great instrument that offers great value! It could do with some better pots (to make even more in-between tones available) but other than that the quality is excellent and even with the crappy pots installed, this bass offers an incredible range of tones! Now I want a 5-string too...

Image Image Image Image

_________________
My Facebook-profile


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: Carvin B4
PostPosted: March 31st, 2012, 10:29 am 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: March 14th, 2008, 10:57 am
Posts: 2865
Nice review Jeroen.

I have always been intrigued by Carvins, but like many people I have not bought one due to the crappy resale values, and seeiming difficulty in moving them even at rock bottom prices.

If you end up keeping the bass, have you thought of swapping the neck pup for something more traditional sounding?
Perhaps the circuitry could also be rewired so that the bridge pup is not in the circuit at all when the neck pup is solo'ed.


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: Carvin B4
PostPosted: March 31st, 2012, 2:55 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: November 26th, 2008, 6:14 am
Posts: 3619
Location: Oahu, Hawaii
Very funny Jeroen, very funny...... :o :lol: Sweet looking bass, and the combination of the Maple neck against the natural color of the Alder body looks nice! Is the Maple neck standard on the B4? I wonder if the Maple neck is part of the reason why you're not getting the high-end smoothness you're looking for...

_________________
R&B Stretch Bass, Walter Woods 1000w Green-Light Stereo Amp, AccuGroove El Whappo and TR112, assorted axes, amps, cabs...
http://www.myspace.com/thestrangershawaii


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: Carvin B4
PostPosted: April 1st, 2012, 5:41 am 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: January 9th, 2009, 1:34 am
Posts: 2153
Location: The Netherlands
Yes, I have always been intrigued by Carvin too. Luckily here in Europe their resale value is slightly better, because they're so uncommon here. Years ago they used to have a dealer here in the Netherlands (it was actually called Carvin Music Store!), but it went bankrupt and was closed somewhere in 2002.

I haven't yet thought of replacing the neck pickup, for now I will just replace the pots for better ones and see what difference that makes. It's almost impossible now to really fine-tune the blend of the two pickups because the pot sweep (the range where they actually do something) is limited to about 1/10th of the pot rotation :P

I don't think a different fingerboard wood would have made much difference. I'm a real maple guy, 8 of my 11 basses have maple fingerboards, including my '75 Jazz Bass reissue (which I used as a reference to compare the neck pickup of the Carvin to - ash body and all-maple neck) and an Ellio Martina Forza 5-string (very Jazz Bass-like but with a bit beefier, almost soapbar-like pickups. Ash body and maple/purpleheart neck with maple board) and those can sound very warm and sweet with that combination of woods.

Image

Image

_________________
My Facebook-profile


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: Carvin B4
PostPosted: April 1st, 2012, 8:34 am 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: March 11th, 2012, 10:04 am
Posts: 147
Location: Midlands, UK
That's a sweet-lookin' Jazz. CIJ, I assume? At some point I want to replace my Mexican Jazz with a USA one.

_________________
Mike - Militant Left-hander


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: Carvin B4
PostPosted: April 1st, 2012, 9:08 am 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: January 9th, 2009, 1:34 am
Posts: 2153
Location: The Netherlands
Yes, that's a CIJ JB75-US from 2003 :)
More here: viewtopic.php?f=16&t=1439

_________________
My Facebook-profile


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 6 posts ] 


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 8 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  
Powered by phpBB © 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group  
Design By Poker Bandits