Carr Imperial

Rich Gibson · Post by **Rich Gibson** » 17 Apr 2003 1:52 pm

Carr Imperial has 4 6L6's and is available in a 1 15 combo.Looks interesting. Anybody ever try one?
Thanks

Gino Iorfida · Post by **Gino Iorfida** » 17 Apr 2003 2:05 pm

Rich,
Hey another fellow Pittsburgher here! Anyways. Never tried the Carr, I can say the following. 1) Carr's are known to be incredible quality wise, and have good tone, HOWEVER, my guess on the imperial, is that it was designed for blues 6 stringers in mind, which means, 'sag', compression, all the things that give a nice warm blues overdrive, however, I think would KILL a good steel tone. I would say for a GREAT steel tone, you want a class AB, or better yet, a class B power amp design, with solid state rectifier (mo' tighter bass

, a LOT of power supply filtration (think HIFI now, not the low filtration that make blues amps sing). and a low gain, high headroom preamp, oh yea, a god solid tight phase inverter.... all the things that rockers and blues players would say makes the amp sound 'sterile, lifeless and harsh when overdriven'
With that said, however, I think the Imperial would probably be a KILLER guitar amp... don't know how good it would be for steel, though

Cartwright Thompson · Post by **Cartwright Thompson** » 17 Apr 2003 3:34 pm

Hey Rich,
I've got a Carr Rambler, which is the little brother to the Imperial (half the power). I love it. It has more clean headroom than should be possible for an amp with only 28 watts. Many people, upon hearing it for the first time, tell me that it is the best sounding amp that they've ever heard.
I think that the Imperial might be absolutely perfect for steel, even with a loud drummer.
You know how great a 70 watt Showman sounds...

Bobby Lee · Post by **Bobby Lee** » 17 Apr 2003 3:36 pm

Here's a link.. I was sort of surprised to read that it's only 60 watts with four 6L6's. I guess Class A comes at a price.

They don't mention a rectifier tube, so I suppose it has diodes in the power supply. That's good.

Sure is expensive!

------------------
<small><img align=right src="http://b0b.com/b0b.gif" width="64" height="64">Bobby Lee - email: quasar@b0b.com - gigs - CDs
Sierra Session 12 (E9), Williams 400X (Emaj9, D6), Sierra Olympic 12 (C6add9), Sierra Laptop 8 (D13), Fender Stringmaster (E13, A6),
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Gino Iorfida · Post by **Gino Iorfida** » 17 Apr 2003 3:55 pm

Probably not true 'class a' but with cathode bias, it's quite possible, I'm wondering if it's not single ended as opposed to push pull... if so that would be about right, since a 6l6 would be good for about 12-15 watts single ended depending on the tube...

Rich Gibson · Post by **Rich Gibson** » 17 Apr 2003 6:32 pm

Thanks for the info guys.Hey Cartwright you stringmaster mogul.Do you use the rambler for steel?You are correct the Showman with the 6550's is happening.I recently had the treble caps replaced with silver micas and it mellowed out the high end very nicely.I left the normal channel alone for 6 string.
So why look at more amps...I can't help myself.
Bob your right it is pricey but I got a qoute on the 100 watt Standel steel amp last week-Holy snikeys!!!

John Macy · Post by **John Macy** » 17 Apr 2003 9:22 pm

I just got back to the hotel from a session where the guitar player (Chris Leuzinger) had a Rambler and it sounded wonderful. He brings a whole slew of amps, but I think this was my fave.