Carlsbro Amps

57Deluxe

I'm just glad that I do not have to feel intimidated by Carlsboro amps anymore. In 70s they were all most teens could afford or aspire to and they weren't all that either. The ss anps actually don't help your playing as they have a very One-D sound that is teeth shatteringly loud usually. There were in every guitar shop and catalog... second hand shop... piano and trumpet shop... garage...

Vaernima

57Deluxe said:

I'm just glad that I do not have to feel intimidated by Carlsboro amps anymore. In 70s they were all most teens could afford or aspire to and they weren't all that either. The ss anps actually don't help your playing as they have a very One-D sound that is teeth shatteringly loud usually. There were in every guitar shop and catalog... second hand shop... piano and trumpet shop... garage...

And they still haunt a lot of practice rooms today......

Although given the fact I have their VAC15 Classic and it's actually quite nice....I'd like to think they've matured and improved.

As for the 70's...there probably wasn't as much choice as there is now. Being fair those days seemed like a heyday for amp manufacturers. Now days the market looks like a real bar fight.

Given the age of that amp, DLM, I would say it qualifies....vintage doesn't necessarily mean good - just...vintage.

mellowsun

I think this is the Carlsbro amp I used to have

richh

Memories...

I had a Hornet as my first proper amp many, many years ago!  I don't have very fond recollections of it, but it did have parametric EQ, which I didn't really have a clue how to operate.

Interestingly, I saw in one of the Bill Nelson photos that he also had a Booker V12M valve amp.  I had one of them, that was quite an interesting amp.  Good overdriven sounds, but a bit of a one trick pony.  The real issue for me was the stage volume.  Theoretically it would have been great miked up, but in reality I often need more volume, and clean headroom especially was a challenge.

DrJazzTap

I remember one of the first bands I played in, I had a Supertramp and the other guitarist had a Carlsboro GLX. Always thought his amp sounded better than mine :P

viz

Deijavoo said:

My one of those red ones got nicked out of my mate's car. I walked past Cash Convertors 3 months later and there it was. Got it back a couple months later too.

Wow, nice one! (What feeling did you get when you saw it again?)

Drew_TNBD

I've got this:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/630473/101_FUJI/Carlsbro/DSC_0079.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/630473/101_FUJI/Carlsbro/DSC_0080.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/630473/101_FUJI/Carlsbro/DSC_0081.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/630473/101_FUJI/Carlsbro/DSC_0082.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/630473/101_FUJI/Carlsbro/DSC_0083.JPG

I don't really know much about it. 60's Carlsbro PA head. One of twelve made, something like that. Has these huge C-Core transformers in it. It's a bit of a beast and is the first valve amp I ever bought. I've toyed with selling it in the past, but it's actually pretty cool as a clean platform for pedals. You can do some interesting wet/dry stuff with it as well, coz of the 4 channels.

bingefeller

57Deluxe said:

I had a mid aged student end last year mad on the Shadows(!) and who had inherited an SG and a C'boro Stingray 30 combo and had no idea how to best dial it or the guitar.. From my memory of the 70s I didn't hold out much hope for anything worthwhile, but it was quite a nice sounding ss amp. Even the dirt wasn't totally unusable and it did pack a punch. I think it frightened the life out of him when I opened it up with his SG... he stopped coming after that! In fairness, he was hospitalised so maybe that had something to do with it...!

http://mlb-s2-p.mlstatic.com/amplificador-carlsbro-stingray-lead-30w-17822-MLB20144565416_082014-F.jpg

The front of this reminds me of the peavey transtube amps.

mike257

I grew up seeing them as cheapy solid state horrors, but a couple of years ago I got an original 70s Carlsbro 50 Top and it was glorious. Only moved it on because a 50w non master volume tone monster wasn't really suitable for the function gigs that increasingly filled my diary. It sounded mighty and rattled the windows. The stuff from that era is well worth a look.

ICBM

Drew_fx said:

I've got this:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/630473/101_FUJI/Carlsbro/DSC_0079.JPG

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/630473/101_FUJI/Carlsbro/DSC_0081.JPG

I don't really know much about it. 60's Carlsbro PA head. One of twelve made, something like that. Has these huge C-Core transformers in it. It's a bit of a beast and is the first valve amp I ever bought. I've toyed with selling it in the past, but it's actually pretty cool as a clean platform for pedals. You can do some interesting wet/dry stuff with it as well, coz of the 4 channels.

It looks possibly like it was made by Orange/Matamp! Just as that Orange Reverb Twin looks suspiciously like it was made by Carlsbro…

I don't know enough about the history of Carlsbro's actual production to know if that's a genuine possibility, ie did they contract stuff out and/or share factories with other companies.

rossyamaha

It makes me sad to see what Carlsbro have become. I'm very close to the original brand and people who were behind it. Stuart Mercer started it and apparently he was a fantastic guy. He employed my father in law in the very early days to run the retail side of the business. It says a lot when there are still guys using the gear and it's working flawlessly 60 odd years on. Very well made albeit not the most GAS inducing products.

What makes me sad is that the story behind Carlsbro is a really great one and not that different to Marshall or Peavey. There is no mention of Stuart, the founder for crying out loud, or anything about the history of the brand on the website. That makes no sense to me. It just seems to have all got lost and forgotten about.

Drew_TNBD

ICBM said:

Drew_fx said:

I've got this:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/630473/101_FUJI/Carlsbro/DSC_0079.JPG

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/630473/101_FUJI/Carlsbro/DSC_0081.JPG

I don't really know much about it. 60's Carlsbro PA head. One of twelve made, something like that. Has these huge C-Core transformers in it. It's a bit of a beast and is the first valve amp I ever bought. I've toyed with selling it in the past, but it's actually pretty cool as a clean platform for pedals. You can do some interesting wet/dry stuff with it as well, coz of the 4 channels.

It looks possibly like it was made by Orange/Matamp! Just as that Orange Reverb Twin looks suspiciously like it was made by Carlsbro…

I don't know enough about the history of Carlsbro's actual production to know if that's a genuine possibility, ie did they contract stuff out and/or share factories with other companies.

I don't know much about it to be honest. I bought it from Jonboyrob (I think that was his username?) on Musicradar. He did know a bunch about it, but I don't recall. He never mentioned any Orange or Matamp possibilities though.

I'd quite like to know more about it actually. It's a good amp.

p90fool

57Deluxe;709357" said:

I'm just glad that I do not have to feel intimidated by Carlsboro amps anymore. In 70s they were all most teens could afford or aspire to and they weren't all that either. The ss anps actually don't help your playing as they have a very One-D sound that is teeth shatteringly loud usually. There were in every guitar shop and catalog... second hand shop... piano and trumpet shop... garage...

I feel the same really. I was aware of and once tried one of their valve heads, but found it very punchy and unforgiving.

The omnipresent (and ugly) solid state stuff just totally passed me by in the 70s and 80s tbh, there just never seemed any point in it when you could always pick up a Marshall head for a couple of gigs' pay.

Nerine

When I think Carlsbro, I think:

Pub, speakers on rusty tripod stands. blues or general shite, too much reverb, poor vocal sound, ear fatigue.

ICBM

Sadly true. That's probably what the current owners are trying to distance themselves from by not mentioning the history at all.

They were thought of in the same way as Laney were back then - Laney have managed to recover some of their reputation, partly because they had one very famous early user and a few lesser ones - Carlsbro didn't really. The only one I can really think of is Bill Nelson, and he was never a really big name.

Phil_aka_Pip

ICBM said:

 The only one I can really think of is Bill Nelson, and he was never a really big name.

but he's a superb musician though

JackGriffiths

I have a '74 Carlsbro 100 Top. Haven't played it in ages as I don't really have much use for a non-master 100w head at the minute but the thing sounds incredible. I bought it in rough shape and it's still running superbly. The cleans are amazing, Hiwatt-esque from what I can remember. Will have to fire it up again and post some more info!

StageStruck

One of my local rehearsal rooms had a 50-Top reissue head, think they were manufactured around the early 2000s. It was a very good amp, worked very well with pedals as I recall. From what I remember they were fairly cheap at the time for a full valve amp, probably cheaper than the likes of the Laney G-50 that it would have been pitched against and much cheaper than the likes of the Marshall 50w reissues that were being manufactured around that time. One problem was that Carlsbro amps became quite difficult to find in shops around the time of their decline. It also conincided with the rise of Line6 and the likes breaking into the affordable house/practice amp with their modelling amps. Carlsbro had released a host of pretty basic solid state amps that just looked old hat compared to the all singing, all dancing modern modelling amps.

Vaernima

Carlsbro is all made and controlled from China (did a little scratching around for this info) under the umbrella of Soundking.
I think that's probably all the difference.
Like Marshall and Blackstar, etc....all function with head offices in UK and contract manufacturers to work for them.

While if your company is owned by the Chinese manufacturer you're going to get a different design/sound culture in your products, well, I guess so....

Those 50Tops do sound cool. I think they've reissued it now. Under the label of EVO50 - I think Guitar Interactive did a terribly recorded review. Made the amp sound like it was recorded under blankets in a snotty teenager's room.

But it has two master volumes. Which is pretty cool I think.

Laney have definitely pulled their socks up. Especially with their bluesy amps - and to get Ben Howard, Tommy Iommi on board.
I tried their VC Range while I was trying the Carlsbro VAC15 Classic....both sounded quite compatible. It was obvs the price that made me take the latter.

Hypervibe

This is the second one I have owned,Carlsbro GLX150C 


https://youtu.be/1S2k3TUUkDk