Carvin MTS3212 manual Technical Design of the MTS3200, High Impedance Guitar Input, Tone Controls

CARVIN ENGINEERING DATA	MTS3200	GUITAR HEAD	OPERATING MANUAL
	MTS3212	COMBO GUITAR AMP

MTS3200

RECEIVING INSPECTION—read before getting started

INSPECT YOUR AMP FOR ANY DAMAGE which may have occurred during shipping. If any damage is found, please notify the shipping company and CARVIN immediately.

SAVE THE CARTON & ALL PACKING MATERIALS. In the event you have to re-ship your unit, always use the original carton and packing material. This will provide the best possible protec- tion during shipment. CARVIN and the shipping company are not liable for any damage caused by improper packing.

SAVE YOUR INVOICE. It will be required for warranty service if needed in the future. SHIPMENT SHORTAGE. If you find items missing, they may have been shipped separate-

ly. Please allow several days for the rest of your order to arrive before inquiring.

RECORD THE SERIAL NUMBER on the enclosed warranty card or below on this manual for your records. Keep your portion of the card and return the portion with your name and comments to us.

	FEATURES
MTS3212	CELESTION
	SPEAKERS

Congratulations on your purchase of the MTS3200 all tube amplifier. Carvin has been building tube guitar amplifiers since 1949. They have been used by top profes- sionals like; Frank Zappa, Steve Vai, Craig Chaquico, Allan Holdsworth, Larry Carlton, Chet Atkins and other great musicians. You will discover that these amplifiers repre- sent a significant sound improvement over conventional tube amplifiers. Spend time with your new MTS3200 head or your MTS3212 combo and get to know it’s many sounds.

TECHNICAL DESIGN OF THE MTS3200

The MTS3200 design criteria was to build an all-tube guitar amp that sounded better than anything else on the market. This meant that the MTS3200 was going to be total- ly new from the ground up and that it was going to be an all tube design with no IC’s or transistors.

HIGH IMPEDANCE GUITAR INPUT

Carvin has long known about the effects of miss-loading a guitar pickup which can cause high frequency loss. The MTS3200 guards against this loss with its ultra high input impedance. Also, we considered the capacitance of the average shielded guitar cable which can reduce the high frequency response of your guitar pickups. Unlike other amplifiers, we purposely avoided adding capacitance anywhere in the preamp to control high frequency oscillations. Instead, we controlled oscillations through careful component layout and lead placement allowing its shimmering highs to be reproduced.

CLEAN AND OVERDRIVE CHANNELS

The equalization of the clean and overdrive channel is designed to offer clarity to your instrument. Special mud-cutting circuits eliminate the unwanted sounds in the 500 to 700 Hz range which normally take away the tone definition of your instrument. You will also take notice of the clean channels PRESENCE switch which adds acoustic voicing to your instrument. This switch boosts only the guitars very high- est harmonics which are in the 10k Hz range instead of the normal 3K Hz of a bright switch. The PRESENCE control on the lead channel is designed to adjust the “edge” on your sound. It’s dynamic range allows for super-smooth sounds or an edge for

For your records, you may wish to record the following information.

Serial No._____________________ Invoice Date_______________

your lead channel to reach out.

DYNAMIC 5881 POWER TUBES

Your amp is equipped with 5881 power tubes because of their smooth distortion, responsive sound and reliability. The compression characteristics of these “soft clip” power tubes respond to the dynamic range of lead guitar playing. These tubes react even to the most subtle touch—if you play soft, the tubes remain clean and if you increase your attack they respond accordingly.

TONE CONTROLS

The T-Bridge passive BASS, MID and TREBLE tone controls offer a wide range of tone settings. Take full advantage by setting them where they sound best. Your sound may not be at center 5 on the dial. These controls will not affect or color your sound when set at extreme settings, nor do they interact with each other. The greater range of these controls comes from the high impedance 1 meg sealed pots (most guitar amps use 250k pots). The frequency of the bass control is set at 80 Hz while the mid control is set at 650 Hz. The treble control is set at a very high 11k Hz giv- ing the MTS3200 it’s dynamic highs.

REVERB

The FS22 footswith for the long tailed REVERB system in the MTS3200 switches only the reverb “send” leaving the tail of the reverb to decay naturally, the way it’s done in the studio. A special pre filter eliminates the spring “boing” normally heard in other systems giving it a “lush” sound. The all tube reverb system offers vibrant clarity with full depth reminiscent of the sixties tube amps. Guitar Player magazine rated this system as one of the best they have heard.

MODEL MTS3200 HEAD SPECS: MODEL MTS3212 COMBO SPECS:

RMS Power:	50 or 100 watts	Speakers:	2 Celestion G12T-75 speakers
Output Impedance:	4, 8 & 16Ω	RMS Power:	50 or 100 watts
Input Impedance:	100,000 ohms	Output Impedance:	4, 8 & 16Ω
Tone Controls:	BASS: 80Hz	Input Impedance:	100,000 ohms
Both Channels:	MID: 600-700Hz	Tone Controls:	BASS: 80Hz
	TREBLE: 11k Hz	Both Channels:	MID: 600-700Hz
Ch 1 Sensitivity:	1mV for clipping		TREBLE: 11k Hz
Ch 2 Sensitivity:	16mV for full output	Ch 1 Sensitivity:	1mV for clipping
Channels:	2—switching	Ch 2 Sensitivity:	16mV for full output
Voiced Line Out:	1.5 VAC @ 100 watts RMS	Channels:	2—switching
Preamp Tubes:	5—12AX7’s (dual stage)	Voiced Line Out:	1.5 VAC @ 100 watts RMS
Power Amp Tubes:	4—5881’s (power pentode)	Preamp Tubes:	5—12AX7’s (dual stage)
USA Model:	120VAC, 300VA	Power Amp Tubes:	4—5881’s (power pentode)
USA Fuse:	3A 250V slow blow, 5 x 20mm	USA Model:	120VAC, 300VA
Export Model:	230VAC, 300VA	USA Fuse:	3A 250V slow blow, 5 x 20mm
Export Fuse:	1.5A 250V slow blow, 5 x 20mm	Export Model:	230VAC, 300VA
Cabinet Size:	24.25W x 10.5H x 9.5”D	Export Fuse:	1.5A 250V slow blow, 5 x 20mm
Cabinet:	7-ply poplar wood	Cabinet Size:	26W x 10.25D x 17.5”H
Net Weight:	35 lbs	Cabinet:	7-ply poplar wood
Warranty:	One Year	Net Weight:	55 lbs
Options:	CV3200 cover, FS22 footswitch	Warranty:	One Year
		Options:	CV3212 cover, FS22 footswitch

76-32000B 07/05