Carvin V3

Has anyone here heard/played one of these heads? In my search for a head, I have completely overlooked Carvin Gear until now. Supposedly they are as good as Mesa Boogies, with more features, and half the cost (Brand new its $1000). On paper it looks amazing (especially considering the price), and I love the programmable "Smart Loop" feature; but I want to know if there is a 'catch'. How good is the tone, and what Really are the capabilities?

take a Look here: http://www.carvin.com/products/single.php?ItemNumber=V3&CID=V3A

I'm also interested to hear opinions from people who own these.

heres an entertaining review of a v3 combo and a bunch of other amps on the Carvin forum

I just took a trip to the Carvin Factory and Showroom to try it out. Great features, I loved the expandable EQ. The Clean was nice- I especially liked the "soak" mode. The distortion was good but not great; It took me awhile to get a sound close to what i was looking for - but even then it really wasn't my cup of tea. The only problem with the distortion is that is sounds far too...plain... not bad- just nothing exciting about it; wasn't ballsy enough for me.

Just to clarify, I was looking for a modern metal/hi-gain amp. the V3 can definitely nail stuff from blues to classic rock/metal.

Great amp for the price though- and the EQ options are awesome; just didn't like it for heavier stuff.

couple dudes in my area use v3 full stacks and i think they sound pretty unimpressive. When i jammed through his it just felt like there was no meat to the sound and that i was just a week amp with a lot of lights haha