Gallien Krueger MB Fusion - can you change the power supply?

[Bassman71]

Hey TB – after your advice.

Do you know how to reconfigure a North American MB Fusion power supply for the southern hemisphere?

The US models are configured for 120V 60Hz, whereas in NZ we need 240V, 50Hz. The MB Fusion does not come with a simple selector on the amp to let you self select the input voltage – evidently GK sell the unit pre-configured for different voltages in different countries.

So, the question is, does anyone know if it’s possible to change the input voltage on a US configured model? Is there an internal configuration (jumpers etc) that can simply be changed, or do you have to swap out the internal power supply? If you have to swap out, any ideas where you’d get the PSU from?

Why the question I hear you say?

A mate of mine is looking to buy an MB Fusion when he's in the States next. He can buy a unit for USD679 in the States. If he buys exactly the same unit in Australia / New Zealand, it will cost him close to USD1200. This is a ridiculous disparity given that the USD / AUD are almost equal at the moment. I’m normally a bit of an advocate for buying local and supporting our retailers, but close to twice the price on a lightweight unit that can’t cost very much to ship is too much to stomach for local loyalties. A 10% or 20% premium maybe, but not this much.

If he does buy in the US, his options are I guess to see if he can somehow change the input voltage (as above), or buy a step down transformer, but they’re also pretty pricey, and they’d also weigh more than the head itself, which kind of defeats the purpose of having a nice, lightweight Class D head.

So, any advice appreciated. I believe he’s also contacting GK direct, but TB advice would be much appreciated in the meantime…

[BassmanPaul]

This sort of question comes up fairly regularly. This amp would fall under the grey market category. IOW ii's not been through the supply chain set up in your country. As such the manufacturer is under no obligation to cover any warranty issues. I don't expect you'll receive a response from GK, others before you have not.

[odin70]

GK will treat you like **** if dare to say that you bought the amp in the US and brought it to NZ. I bought mine on a NY vaccation last summer and they dont even respond to my many emails. As i have stated before, i shall never ever spend a dime on that company again.

[bugsy]

I purchased a mb200 from the states to oz and it was a simple jumper change.
I am also thinking about the fusion550 and was told that is easily changed over as well by gk,

[Crazyeelboy]

Hey Bassman71 - did you resolve the issue? I am in the same boat.

[Bassman71]

Hey guys - thanks for the replies, much appreciated.

Hmm, interesting to hear your experience of GK customer service in these matters - the feedback I had heard previously was overwhelmingly positive, so an interesting take or two here.

Re the "grey market", I would suspect that the manufacturer is still obligated to deal with warranty claims, but perhaps not the in country distributor? I'd guess if someone bought a product in the US that they could make a warranty claim if they returned it through the dealer in the US. And my mate wouldn't be importing into the country - he'd be buying in market in the US while he's there.

This poses a larger question about whether you'd buy one of these units if you were doing some international touring - it'd seem to be a pretty poor choice if you needed to use it across borders, or indeed if you moved countries.

It's a shame the pricing between countries seems so far out of whack - like I said, I'd expect those of us down here to pay a little more with shipping and import duties, but not a much as seems to be the case.

Thanks guys, I'll pass the info on and let you know if my friend hears directly from GK. Or perhaps they'll chip in here?

[T-Bird]

Hi.

Originally Posted by Bassman71

Hmm, interesting to hear your experience of GK customer service in these matters - the feedback I had heard previously was overwhelmingly positive, so an interesting take or two here.

The CS they gave me a few years back was way, way more than I'd ever expected, or even hoped for.

BUT, that was a quite a few years back and since then I've heard a lot of negative talk about their CS. Shame, since even though I'm not a GK user, their reputation over here is great.

Originally Posted by Bassman71

Re the "grey market", I would suspect that the manufacturer is still obligated to deal with warranty claims, but perhaps not the in country distributor? I'd guess if someone bought a product in the US that they could make a warranty claim if they returned it through the dealer in the US. And my mate wouldn't be importing into the country - he'd be buying in market in the US while he's there.

You'd suspect incorrectly AFAIK.

Sure, it could be shipped to the country it was purchased from (with the customers expense) or someone could make the warranty claim, but in reality, not worth it in most cases.

Most, if not all, US manufacturers have a written disclaimer somewhere on their sales literature that states that the varranty is void if the equipment is used on a region it was not intended to. Unfortunately You have to either dig it up, squeeze it out of a sales rep, or to find it out the hard way.

Originally Posted by Bassman71

This poses a larger question about whether you'd buy one of these units if you were doing some international touring - it'd seem to be a pretty poor choice if you needed to use it across borders, or indeed if you moved countries.

I'd personally think twice before buying any piece of equipment that I'd possibly want to use in different wall voltage locations, unless the said equipment would work everywhere with only minor, non warranty voiding, modifications. IF I'd personally care that much about warranties in the first place .

IOW, an outside chassis voltage selector or an automatically sensing SMPS is my requirement for internationally used appliances.

Regards
Sam

[bugsy]

Originally Posted by Bassman71

Thanks guys, I'll pass the info on and let you know if my friend hears directly from GK. Or perhaps they'll chip in here?

I have already answered your question above

[Bassman71]

Thanks again guys for the responses - much appreciated.

Originally Posted by bugsy

I have already answered your question above

Gotcha - I did a google search which picks up "GK" and "MB" (why didn't I do this originally??) and looked for "voltage" as well, and sure enough, here's the answer (with pictures):

TB Link
Basschat Link

Thanks to all for your help, and to the guys who posted in the links above.