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.
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...
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...
