Recently we talked to James Russell of Arkansas-based Black Suit Karma about his Yamaha bass. His answers so good we decided to double dip and talk to him about his Carvin DCM1000 power amp. His answers were so much better than my questions that I decided to run this as a verbatim Q&A.

Tell me why, in general, you use the Carvin?

I actually began using the Carvin power amps after playing bass in a touring band that used a full Carvin PA system for our shows. I was good friends with the soundguy and we'd mess around at sound check by running my bass signal out of my preamp and into the Carvins that were powering the subs (4 dual-18" sub cabinets) and just rattle the whole club for a while.

As time went on, I was really impressed with the reliability of these power amps as they produced extremely high volumes but with great clarity. I was also working in a repair shop at the time and brought one in for the amp tech to use as a benchmark to use against another power amp that had been giving him trouble. He tested it down below 2 ohms (he practically dead-shorted it) and the Carvin never faltered. That pretty much secured my faith in these amps.

Specifically with the DCM1000, do you feel they are best for the bass? I have recently talked to folks about preamps that are great for the bass and less good for anything else. What makes them good for the bass?

What makes these power amps good for bass is that they have large reserves of clean power and a very good slew rate. As a bass player, this means that there is always enough power with fast response to keep the low end tight and punchy when I need it -- great for when you want solid string attack all the way down to low B! Plus the highs are never harsh or tinny, a lot of times when you try chording on bass or playing high on the neck it loses the timbre of the instrument or the end result is just mud in the mix, but with this setup my tone always sound like a bass guitar.

Tell me about the chain in which the Carvin is situated? (The whys and wherefores and all that).

My current full signal chain is EMG active pickups -> Boss TU2 pedal -> Bass POD preamp -> BBE 482i Sonic Maximizer -> Passive DI (parallel out) -> Carvin DCM1000 -> twin 400 watt 4 ohm 2x10" cabinets (both run by one DCM amp) and a single 800 watt 8 ohm 18" cabinet (powered by a separate DCM with the same signal).

I've been known to run bi- or tri- amped systems with this configuration by adding distortion, wah and other effects to one chain sent to the upper 10's cabinet, an EBS Octabass pedal to the 18's signal path, and keeping the other 10's chain clean to preserve the main bass sound, but I don't do that as much anymore . . . sound-guys hate devoting three channels all to bass (plus they get lost on which one is mic'd and which is direct)! Depending on the size of the venue I'll bring either one or two tens cabinets and if it's a large enough stage I bring the whole rig.

Tell me about any drawbacks and how you get around those.

The only drawback I have ever found with the Carvins is that their limiters take themselves WAY too seriously! In the grand scheme I am sure they've saved me a small fortune in blown speakers, but there is no middle ground with them. You clip it too much and the amp just shuts down. To accommodate this, I keep all my levels set to where I'm running at maximum input levels without any clipping, that way I know once I turn my bass up to full the rest of the chain is ready to go.

What is the best single thing about these power amps?

The best thing about these amps is how quiet they are. They don't color the sound, they don't alter it in any way -- they just make it louder! I'm a stickler for the fact that my signal has to be silent unless I touch a string, and my entire rig is set up to accommodate this preference. I've scared folks off the stage when they thought my rig was powered down then I suddenly hit a low note and they get slammed with a wall of air from the ports in the 10's cabinets.

Having that kind of control over outside sounds ensures that when I am playing, I don't have to wonder where something came from -- I hear all my mistakes and being able to hear them allows me to address them and become a better player. No sense in striving for clarity in your playing if you're gonna use an amp that makes your bass tone sound like an elephant that spent a bad night in Taco Bell.