This is a 1985 Carvin LB60 ('85 base price around $400). I obtained this bass in 1986 from the original owner. The additional options he chose when ordering this bass was all Koa (adding $150 to the base price), and a rare option; a Kahler bass tremolo system (an additional $150).

You might wonder what use there is for a tremolo on a bass. To be honest; Aside from using it to bend notes on chimed harmonics (a nice effect) there's not much use for it at all. What IS most important about this tremelo system is the amount of mass this bridge assembly has! It adds an incredible amount of sustain to this bass, just like adding a 2tek bridge to a conventional bass!

The construction of this bass is top-notch. The Koa neck has the feel of a P-bass, but is a little thinner in profile making it very comfortable to play, and it is very easy to make torsion rod adjustments, if needed. Perfect action is easily obtainable. The fretwork is high quality, and after 14 years of hard playing, the frets have a long way to go before needing work. The Koa neck and and two piece body are glued together. The all Koa look makes this bass as sharp looking as most high-end hard-crafted intstruments. This is a gorgeous bass that still maintains a conventional look.

The electronics are passive but this baby has more tonal variations than any active bass I have tried. This bass has 2 dual-coil stock humbuckers; a heavy-duty 3 position toggle pickup selector, a volume control and tone control plus a mini toggle for single/dual coil for each pickup, and a third mini toggle for phaseing both pickups. The electronics are perfectly shielded, that and the humbuckers make this the quietest bass I've ever heard! Useing both pickups in SINGLE coil mode with the front pickup volume slightly backed off gives this bass the exact sound as a Rickenbacker 4001 (I owned a '76 Rick and they sounded the same at this setting!). Running the bass the same way with both pickups in DUAL coil gives that same growl as a good 70's Jazz Bass. As you could imagine, running the front pickup by itself offers a warm, punchy P-bass sound. Useing the bridge pickup by itself and tweaking with the tone control and experimenting with single/dual coil settings, you can get some Stu Hamm type sounds.

The phase switch adds even more dramatic tonal variations: In the 'out' position (down) it throws both pickups out of phase to each other and creates a growly mid-range "boxy" tone which sounds a lot like the bass sound on the song "Who's Crying Now" by Journey. Added to all this are mono and stereo outputs. This thing simply has tons of tonal possibilties! A Carvin tech informed me that this bass' electronics can be easily upgraded from passive to active using Carvin's active bass module. That's nice to know, but frankly, I'm not gonna mess with this thing's tone. It's perfect as-is!

This has been my main axe for over 14 years, I've had lots of good basses come and go between then. This Carvin is a keeper!

The only complaint about this bass is about 10 years ago the brass nut fell off! It was probably worked free from the string tension changes from using the tremelo. I refasted it and have never had a problem with it again.

A measure of how good this bass sounds: The other day I was playing a live Rush CD (Exit Stage Left) and my daughter said "DAD! That sounds just like your bass!". Need I say more! Carvin discontinued this model around 1989 and has informed me that the Kahler option didn't sell well at all and mine is a one-of-a-kind rarity. In my opinion, if you can find one GRAB IT! (be sure you pay for it though!).

Construction	95%
(The brass nut came off once.)
Playability	100%
Appearance	100%
Sound	100%
(Tons of tonal possibilities!)
Value	100%
Cust. Service	100%
(These guys are good!)
Overall	99%