This page about Carstens Amplification Empire is a stub. You can help improve it:

Carstens Amplification Empire

1 Critic Review

Find out who is using Carstens Empire

0 wishlisted

0 saved

Page last updated Jun 30, 2026

Pricing and availability

Store

Reviews

Price

^* Product prices and availability are updated by Equipboard every 24hrs and are subject to change. Equipboard may receive compensation for purchases made at participating retailers linked on this site. This compensation does not affect what products or prices are displayed, or the order of prices listed. For more information, please refer to our affiliate disclosure.

Description

Edit description

Designed to accommodate (but definitely not limited to) the needs of modern metal guitar players and those who utilize extended range guitars in their arsenal, the Carstens Empire amplifier began after a conversation between Brian Carstens and modern metal guitar pioneer, Misha Mansoor.

The tone is massive, bold and 3-dimensional, with an open, un-compressed, harmonically rich midrange and articulate voicing; hallmarks of the Carstens tone. With the gain set high you will experience singing high gain and beautiful long lasting sustain.

A single channel, 100W circuit, the Empire amplifier is capable of a remarkably wide variety of characteristics depending on the level of the amps Gain, Master Volume, the highly interactive tone controls and your guitar volume. Your Empire will sound fantastic even at bedroom volumes and will clean up exceptionably well by utilizing your guitar volume control and playing dynamics to clean up, or push the amp's beautiful tube overdrive.

Specs:

Completely handmade/hand-wired in the U.S.A by Brian Carstens

Custom cabinet handcrafted in the U.S.A

Specially designed, hand-wound Mercury Magnetics transformers

Optional tube buffered series FX Loop

All tube overdrive, no clipping diodes

Premium capacitors

High grade vacuum tubes selected for low noise and peak performance

Powder coated/silk screened, high quality aluminum chassis

Selectable 4/8/16Ω speaker outputs

Depth control for added punch

Negative feedback control for versatility and change of feel

Mercury Magnetics power cord

No printed circuit boards

100W

39 lbs

Tubes:

4 x E34L

4 x 12AX7

Controls:

Gain, Treble, Middle, Bass, Master Volume, Response, Edge, Depth, Gain Boost Switch

Product specs

Amp Type

tube

Videos

Add video

Zach Wish

Carstens Amplification - EMPIRE | 100W of Versatile Modern High Gain

Zach Wish

Carstens Amplification EMPIRE

El Dorado Guitars

CARSTENS AMPLIFICATION - EMPIRE - LOW TUNED DEMO!!!

Draven Noire

Reviews

Add review

Critic Reviews

How Brian Carstens made the only amp Billy Corgan ever loved | Guitar World

guitarworld.com

More feature profile than hard-nosed review, but the verdict is clear: Carstens’ amps are painted as obsessively voiced, unusually open-sounding high-gain machines with “air,” width and touch sensitivity that won over even Billy Corgan – who flatly says he’d never liked a high-gain amp before. The Empire gets a quick but flattering tag as a modern metal head built for extended-range guitars, with serious-player credibility via Misha Mansoor. The catch? Concrete criticism is thin, and Carstens’ single-channel, anti-channel-switching philosophy won’t suit players who want convenience, versatility or budget access. Even Carstens admits cheaper alternatives like the Laney Supergrace only approximate the real thing. Still, this piece treats the Empire and its stablemates as boutique, artist-approved amps for players who value feel and nuance over features.

positive

Full Review

Add review

Based on 0 Reviews and 0 Ratings

5 star

4 star

3 star

2 star

1 star