Carr Amplifiers The Viceroy FAQ
Answers to frequently asked questions about the The Viceroy.
The General FAQ on the Support page addresses additional questions about tubes, speakers, purchasing a Carr amp, and more.
I don't know if I should I get a Viceroy or a Rambler.
It depends on several factors - What kind of music do you play? Do you play out in live situations or do you only play at home? Both amps are similar in some respects, but differ widely, too.
The Viceroy is small and loud at 7 or 33 watts. It's got loads of clean headroom and breaks up beautifully at higher volumes (think Mick Taylor, Billy Gibbons, Yardbirds-era Beck or Bluesbreakers-era Clapton). It also has a foot-switchable Mid-Boost for higher volume leads, a very nice reverb, and a Drive pot that subtly adds a little edge or grit to your primary tone. An inch and a half shorter than both the Rambler and the Mercury, it is our smallest amp in the 1x12 configuration. The Viceroy excels in all genres of music and is intended as a live amp; it might more amp than you need for strumming at home, especially with the Mid-Boost feature.
The Rambler is primarily a clean amp, but it has a great tone and handles pedals extremely well. It favors, in my opinion, Fender-type guitars, bringing out previously unheard depth and richness in single-coil pick-ups. The Rambler has limits to its headroom and the class A Cathode feel is a little more diffuse and yielding. It has a great reverb and tremolo built in. People that have never cared for tremolo find themselves seduced by it in the Rambler. The Rambler has a slightly warmer, softer clean tone that shimmers in crystalline fashion. It can be a great live amp or at home and is a favorite of blues players, jazzers, rockabillies, and country twangers.
What tubes are used in the Viceroy?
We refer to the tubes and their positions in the amp as V1, V2, etc. for preamp tubes and P1, P2, etc. for power tubes. The number indicates the position of the tube as counted from right to left when looking at the back of the amplifier. The right to left progression follows the circuit from input to output.
| P2 | P1 | V4 | V3 | V2 | V1 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Type | 6L6GC | 6L6GC | 12AX7 | 12AX7 | 12AT7 | 12AX7 |
| Manufacturer | Winged C | Winged C | Sovtek | Electro-Harmonix | Electro-Harmonix | Electro-Harmonix |
| Function | 1/2 Push-pull power stage | 1/2 Push-pull power stage | Phase inverter and drive | Reverb return and mix | Reverb send | Initial gain stage, post tone-stack recovery |
The Viceroy is a cathode bias (self bias) amp and as such does not require a bias adjustment when changing tubes. Please use well-matched pairs of power tubes for maximum clean power; however, the unique design of the Viceroy output section allows use of unmatched tube pairs as the amp tends to balance out tube differences. The Viceroy can only use pairs of 6L6, 5881, or 7581A power tubes.
Carr Amplifiers selects and tests the finest current production tubes specifically for each amplifier model. Caution should be used when buying replacement tubes from any dealer who does not have a return policy as all tubes can have problems (NOS tubes are susceptible to microphonics and failure too).