Carr Skylark Special Anyone?

[Texicaster]

I've been wraslin' with a '64 Princeton HW and looking at alternatives if I toss it back and since money spent it's less painful on the wallet!

Only one that intrigues me in the price range and size/wattage is the Carr Skylark Special. It appears they made some modifications this year so it has a separate Hiwatt tone stage as well as some other tweaks.

Oddly not finding too much besides "official" demo videos which one needs to be wary of.

I love living in such a remote location but it makes buying gear rather tricky as I can't do hands on and have to rely upon online resources....

So...anyone have hands on experience and possibly compare to '64 Princeton or other popular amps for a reference?

Thanks!

 

[gwjensen]

I don't know if this helps, but I had the original Skylark and ultimately found it too constricted and lacking presence, like the sound was coming from the back of the amp. Too polite and HiFi, somehow, not "alive" enough... It also got rave reviews, but it didn't do it for me...

Of course the new one has been modified quite a bit, so maybe thats not a good comparison... It's interesting that Carr chose to modify the Skylark... Maybe he thought it was lacking something and could be improved...

It hasn't been out that long, so not a lot of discussion or demos out there yet... Tough decision to spend that kind of money without being able to play it first... Hope whatever you decide works out...

 

[Texicaster]

I don't know if this helps, but I had the original Skylark and ultimately found it too constricted and lacking presence, like the sound was coming from the back of the amp. Too polite and HiFi, somehow, not "alive" enough... It also got rave reviews, but it didn't do it for me...

Of course the new one has been modified quite a bit, so maybe thats not a good comparison... It's interesting that Carr chose to modify the Skylark... Maybe he thought it was lacking something and could be improved...

It hasn't been out that long, so not a lot of discussion or demos out there yet... Tough decision to spend that kind of money without being able to play it first... Hope whatever you decide works out...

Thanks,

This is typical of some of the reviews I've read; it's too polite. Maybe a good jazz box....

 

[14strings]

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[14strings]

I've been wraslin' with a '64 Princeton HW and looking at alternatives if I toss it back and since money spent it's less painful on the wallet!

Only one that intrigues me in the price range and size/wattage is the Carr Skylark Special. It appears they made some modifications this year so it has a separate Hiwatt tone stage as well as some other tweaks.

Oddly not finding too much besides "official" demo videos which one needs to be wary of.

I love living in such a remote location but it makes buying gear rather tricky as I can't do hands on and have to rely upon online resources....

So...anyone have hands on experience and possibly compare to '64 Princeton or other popular amps for a reference?

Thanks!

I have never played a Skylark amp, but a friend of mine had one and said it was a little boxy sounding. though Bill Frisell sure makes it sound great over at The Fretboard Journal The aforementioned t Headstrong Santa Cruz has a bigger cabinet, which makes it sound less boxy. matter fact, it doesn’t sound boxy at all.

 

[gwjensen]

I have never played a Skylark amp, but a friend of mine had one and said it was a little boxy sounding. though Bill Frisell sure makes it sound great over at The Fretboard Journal The aforementioned t Headstrong Santa Cruz has a bigger cabinet, which makes it sound less boxy. matter fact, it doesn’t sound boxy at all.

The Skylark cab doesn't have a centimeter to spare and severely limits speaker swaps. I can't help but think that a bigger cabinet would've opened up the sound... I personally think thats what kept mine from projecting the sound out in a more dynamic way. Unless the new one has a bigger cabinet, that would be a limiting factor in my opinion even with the mods.

 

[spupilup]

You might want to look at Swart amps. I have a 5 watt that is incredible loud with a single 6L6 in it. Swart makes quite a number of higher wattage amps as well. Plus they’re also out of NC.

 

[naveed211]

Honestly the Skylark is one of the best amps I’ve ever played, definitely top 10, maybe top 5. Didn’t sound boxy at all to my ear, not stiff, very alive and dynamic and raw.

If anything I’ll say every Carr amp I’ve played has had a very specific midrange quality that I don’t find with Fender amps. They wouldn’t be my first choice for a blackface Fender style thing, loads of other amps do that better.

 

[sadfield]

Yes please, I'll DM my address.

 

[Texicaster]

You might want to look at Swart amps. I have a 5 watt that is incredible loud with a single 6L6 in it. Swart makes quite a number of higher wattage amps as well. Plus they’re also out of NC.

I've had a couple Swarts and I got bored with them. Hard to put my finger on what I didn't like but both were supplanted with my Champ in short order.

 

[gwjensen]

I've had a couple Swarts and I got bored with them. Hard to put my finger on what I didn't like but both were supplanted with my Champ in short order.

I love my Champ. People seem to love 'em or hate 'em, but no one would say they're boring...

 

[Texicaster]

I love my Champ. People seem to love 'em or hate 'em, but no one would say they're boring...

Yeah....I liked it better than the Swart...The Swart lacked character I guess. I'm keeping the Champ no matter what!

 

[Texicaster]

Honestly the Skylark is one of the best amps I’ve ever played, definitely top 10, maybe top 5. Didn’t sound boxy at all to my ear, not stiff, very alive and dynamic and raw.

If anything I’ll say every Carr amp I’ve played has had a very specific midrange quality that I don’t find with Fender amps. They wouldn’t be my first choice for a blackface Fender style thing, loads of other amps do that better.

Did you play the original or the new Special?

Skylark Special — Carr Amps

www.carramps.com

 

[naveed211]

Did you play the original or the new Special?

Skylark Special — Carr Amps

www.carramps.com

I’m guessing it was the original, this was a few years ago.

 

[Texicaster]

I’m guessing it was the original, this was a few years ago.

Yeah it's only a few months old. Ronquillo makes ANY amp sound great but here's he on the SS

 

[gwjensen]

Yeah it's only a few months old. Ronquillo makes ANY amp sound great but here's he on the SS

Ronquillo can make any amp sound good like you said, but it's not blowing me away either, and I didn't like a number of the Strat tones much at all... I guess I'm just not a Skylark fan...

 

[Texicaster]

Ronquillo can make any amp sound good like you said, but it's not blowing me away either, and I didn't like a number of the Strat tones much at all... I guess I'm just not a Skylark fan...

I dunno if RJ was the best to show it off as he just plays Hendrix inspired licks.

I think it has a nice balanced tone and all sorts of tones too! I mean...which don't you like?!

Hard to judge more than simple dynamic range in these demos. I watched all the videos on the '64 Princeton and none sounded like what I have.

 

[gwjensen]

I dunno if RJ was the best to show it off as he just plays Hendrix inspired licks.

I think it has a nice balanced tone and all sorts of tones too! I mean...which don't you like?!

Hard to judge more than simple dynamic range in these demos. I watched all the videos on the '64 Princeton and none sounded like what I have.

Some of the Strat tones that left me flat were between 4:20 and 9:30. I mean, they weren't bad, but just not great to my ears... It's hard to judge amps by demos... it's quite possible that I might like it better in person, but at the same time I felt I was hearing something in the mid-range that I didn't like in my Skylark with the Strat... I liked the demo better with the LP, but I only play Strats and Teles...

Very tough decision to make when you can't play it yourself... When I bought mine I had been so swayed by all the positive reviews and in retrospect wasn't very critical playing it in the noisy dealer environment. I do recall in the following days and weeks constantly tweaking the knobs trying to find something that wasn't three, or maybe trying to take something out that was... Hard to explain, but I learned since then that if I can't dial in an amp in a few minutes then it's not for me. There was no return policy, so I kept it for quite few months tryin to warm up to it, but it just turned out not to have the tones I wanted hear with my Fender guitars...

 

[Texicaster]

Some of the Strat tones that left me flat were between 4:20 and 9:30. I mean, they weren't bad, but just not great to my ears... It's hard to judge amps by demos... it's quite possible that I might like it better in person, but at the same time I felt I was hearing something in the mid-range that I didn't like in my Skylark with the Strat... I liked the demo better with the LP, but I only play Strats and Teles...

Very tough decision to make when you can't play it yourself... When I bought mine I had been so swayed by all the positive reviews and in retrospect wasn't very critical playing it in the noisy dealer environment. I do recall in the following days and weeks constantly tweaking the knobs trying to find something that wasn't three, or maybe trying to take something out that was... Hard to explain, but I learned since then that if I can't dial in an amp in a few minutes then it's not for me. There was no return policy, so I kept it for quite few months tryin to warm up to it, but it just turned out not to have the tones I wanted hear with my Fender guitars...

Plus he seemed to stay in neck pick up for the Strat demos....

It's easy to get excited about amps even in person! The thrill of the new can be a major factor! I'm vacillating wether to keep my '64 Princeton as I type. As you suggest if you can't easily find a tone that turns you on it's the wrong amp. But I'm already attached! :/

 

[gwjensen]

Plus he seemed to stay in neck pick up for the Strat demos....

It's easy to get excited about amps even in person! The thrill of the new can be a major factor! I'm vacillating wether to keep my '64 Princeton as I type. As you suggest if you can't easily find a tone that turns you on it's the wrong amp. But I'm already attached! :/

To give you an idea of where I'm coming from tonally, I really, really like the tweed Champ. With just 5 watts, an 8-inch speaker and only a volume knob, it's about as far removed from the Skylark as you can get, but its juicy, tactile and immediate, qualities I really like in an amp, which the Skylark didn't have. I also get that from my Little Walter 5e3 and I suspect I would like the HW 64 Princeton for similar reasons better than the Skylark, although I've never played one. I owned a PRRI about 10 years ago and thought it lacked dynamics, but I'm sure the HW 64 is a very different beast... Thats an amp I would really like to try someday.