Carr Amps

tomcaster, my requirements may be very different than yours, but Carr amps are superb. At my age I am a play at home guy but sometimes get together with other players to jam. Two such friends have sound insulated, studio type rooms with amps, a drum set, keyboards, small pa, etc. Such get together occasions are the only time I need a bit of volume. We still don't play at high volumes. I have tube amps, mainly Fender, and my go-to amp for years has been a Deluxe Reverb. It's a bit much for my needs now, and requires pedals to sound cranked or to the point of breakup at reasonable volumes. I tried a Carr Mercury and was blown away by both the touch sensitivity of it and the amazing range of tones you could achieve. It is a virtual Swiss army knife. The retail on these is perhaps $2,500-2,600. This for a small combo amp. I bought a pristine, used one for $1,500. Not cheap, but wow, and I have zero regrets. It pretty much does it all with no pedals. Part of the equation is that you can switch through a wide range of output amps. I can make it clean through Marshall-like (and everything in between) at a range of volumes due to the tone stack arrangements, from noodling at night at home to enough punch to cut through a mix with bass and a drummer and more. The build quality is art at the highest level. I will prune down my collection of guitars and amps as time goes on, but as long as I can play, this one is it. I have not played other Carr models, but I fully expect the entire line is the best of the best. Try one; you may very well agree. BTW, it sounds great with Strat/Tele single coils as well as humbuckers and P90s such as "soap bars". 

Thanks for that Jim. Sounds like we are at the same stage/page. Just sold a Lonestar and going in the opposite direction. My amp guy suggested this brand. I came across the Carr Skylark which has a built-in attenuator which is very appealing. I started looking a few months ago and used ones are hard to come by. That said I'm also surprised to see 10-year-old ones go for only $200-$300 less than new ones. That's a pretty good sign. Looking to buy a keeper and I think this is the right brand. Thanks for your time and info.

I’ve owned a Mercury ( prior version) and have tried the new one, and the Skylark. These are great amps.

They just had a huge price increase - 15-20% or so. New Mercury V is about $3400, depending on finish

I remember JAFO on the FDP had a Carr Mercury and he thought highly of it. Somehow, this thread brought him to mind.

I have several Fender amps. They do what they do very well. If you take the time to watch this demo video, you will experience just some of the versatility of this amp.
I don't know how Steve Carr works his magic, but this will give you an idea of what results. I am not aware of any Fender amp that does this range so well, and without pedals or an attenuator. None of the tones generated sound emulated. That's because they are not.
Worth the money? It is to me.

that's cool, given that I equate Fender with clean headroom and that nice tremelo/reverb, it doesn't sway me. but very cool!

I picked up a used but minty Carr Hammerhead Mk II head a little over a year ago. Paired it with a Two-Rock vertical 2x12 semi-open cab, and it became my no. 1 rig immediately. I tend to run overdriven and ride my guitar’s volume all the time and vary my touch. This thing does everything I need. Sparkly and chime-y through to controlled feedback. Because I’m lazy, a poster on another forum described it as “an EL34 amp with just two preamp tubes, a volume and master, a defeatable tone control and two click pots, Impact (tone) and Grip (gain). It's runs cathode biased, or pseudo class A, and puts out about 25 LOUD watts… The amp seems to be designed around those two unique controls, Impact and Grip. The Impact control goes from flat to bright to upper mid/high boosted (70's Brit) to all mid/high boosted (60's Brit).” A keeper.