This review is gonna be long, but hopefully it'll be informative for those folks thinking of buying a Carvin bass.

I had been playing a Washburn XB-400, which was okay for a starter bass, but not much good for anything beyond that (although I gotta admit it's darn pretty, and has a great neck). I decided I wanted something with a Jazz bass sound, but I'm not a big fan of Fenders (nothing personal, they're just not me). I happened to stumble upon BP Mag's "4-string Shootout" article, and discovered that my Washburn was rated dead last (doh!), while the Carvin LB70 was rated number one. The Carvin seemed to fit the bill in other respects also - a good J-bass growl, quality construction and a cost about half that of an active Fender (the local music extortionist wants $1400+ for an American Statndard Jazz Deluxe). So, after much additional research (including reading one of the previous reviews slamming the LB70), I took a risk and ordered one. The list price was $649, but I added a classic sunburt finish w/matching headstock ($40), tung oiled neck ($60), rounded edges ($40), black hardware ($20) and straplocks ($10). I also upgraded the standard case to the cool retro tweed one (yes, I remember the '60's,$30). Delivery is $19.95, but unless you live in CA, there's no sales tax. The salesdude was nice enough, but not super knowledgable (e.g. he had to ask someone else about how a matching headstock with a tung-oiled neck would be painted - fyi, just the face of the headstock is painted). He did offer one cool thing though - since it would take up to two months to deliver the bass, he charged only 10% of the total cost to my credit card, with the balanced charged on the ship date (that way, I wasn't paying interest on a bass I didn't even HAVE yet). Then, I waited. And waited. Seven looong weeks. Actually, a few days after I ordered the bass, Carvin sent me a postcard with the expected ship date, and it was even shipped a day early (whee). So, three paragraphs later, here's the review...

First off, it's beautiful (and the case is indeed groovy, although it doesn't have much storage space). The finish is literally flawless. Wow. So far so good. Once I got a strap on it (it took me few minutes to figure out the *%^#*@ straplocks), I played it acoustic. Bright tone, and lots of sustain. The neck is a little wider than I expected, but quite shallow (15" radius). Now let's fire it up. With the new J99 pickups, Carvin has gone back to single coil, and they give a fantastic growl (I play finger-style, fyi), and don't hum unless you have one of them soloed (and stand next to my computer). The slap tone is to die for (my Washburn was totally useless for slap). Further fiddling (both active and passive) revealed no unusable tones, although the volume output was significantly less than the Washburn (which has mostly unusable tones). I dig the pull-up passive thing. Battery dead? No problem, pull up the volume knob and go passive. How cool. Some might find it a little bright, but I like that, and I play through a 15" cab, which helps bring out the bass (a 2X10 might not be beefy enough). The hardware is solid (and black!), and the tuners feel very tight (in a good way). Overall great sound and outstanding construction - EXACTLY what I was looking for.

Negatives? A couple. The wait REALLY SUCKED. Directions for the *%^#*@ straplocks would have been nice. Also, I went for the tung-oiled neck because my Washburn has a VERY smooth neck, and I've grown accustomed to it. The Carvin has a couple of teensy "rough" spots, but for the extra 60 bucks I expected it to be pretty much friction-free. I did have to adjust the truss rod a tad, but that's to be expected after it sat in UPS truck for four days (it was about a quarter-step flat too, but in tune with itself). I also had to give the knobs a twist with an allen wrench, but that was no biggie. The worst thing is my tendonitis is acting up, 'cause I won't put the friggin' thing down.

Bottom line: Carvin basses are clearly meant to compete with Fender (and have been for almost 50 years), not Alembic or Zon or whoever. So, I'm not going to compare it to a $2-3000 bass. But compared to a similarly equipped Fender, the Carvin wins hands down, at almost half the cost. And, with a 10-day trial period, you really can't go wrong.

Construction	100%
Playability	100%
Appearance	100%
Sound	100%
Value	100%
Cust. Service	100%
Overall	100%