Gallien Krueger Official Club, Pt 6

[ksandvik]

Combos are sometimes nice but you really get more mileage from a separate amp+cab(s) combination. If I would get a combo today I would get as light-weight as possible for practice and tiny volume gigs, like one of those Ibanez Promethean ones, mostly for the weight reason.

Otherwise an MBFusion 500 + 2x10 NEO cab might be a nice starting point, 8 ohm, and then you get another cab later if you need more volume. That or a 2x12 Neo cab to start with. I actually played last night a rig with an MBFusion plus two Aguilar 1x12 cabs which also sounded nice.

I have a 2x12 Neo + 2x10 Avatar cab from a past rig which I like as I could use one or both. But I'm again ducking for all the phase cancellation goths that might appear.

[scottfeldstein]

That 212 combo is a lot like the MB500 and Neo 212 cab that I have. Difference is, I can (and do) add a second cab to it: a 410. makes for a pretty earth shaking rig when I need it to.

[Warmuth]

Originally Posted by scottfeldstein

You got that to replace a 410? i'm not surprised you're thrilled with the result.

If I only knew then what I know now..... I didn't do any in depth research before I bought the 410. Looked like a ton of people still use and love them so I figured it was the way to go. Even when I bought this 412 I did not expect the difference to be as shocking as it is.

[Pedulla-Player]

Looks like it's time for Pt 7.

[B-string]

Originally Posted by Warmuth

I got a Neo 412 delivered today, couldn't pass up on the deal off of Amazon. WOW. My rig previously was a 1001Rbii on a GK 410 neo and I was never really satisfied overall with it. Great sounding cab and puts out some noise but I always wanted "more" from it.

5 seconds after firing it up the difference is startling. It handles the lows much much better and even at low volumes it's just a lot fuller. Seems like it'll be exactly what I was after. I wanted to go with the 2 by 212 setup but the 666.00 price of the 412 reeled me in and I've got a truck so hauling it to gigs isn't really much of a hassle.

Not going to miss that 410 one bit.

Originally Posted by Warmuth

If I only knew then what I know now..... I didn't do any in depth research before I bought the 410. Looked like a ton of people still use and love them so I figured it was the way to go. Even when I bought this 412 I did not expect the difference to be as shocking as it is.

You think it sound great now, give it 20 or so hours of use! IT GETS BETTER.

[Warmuth]

Originally Posted by B-string

You think it sound great now, give it 20 or so hours of use! IT GETS BETTER.

Can't wait for that then. My band thought I was crazy getting a new cab, they don't know whats about to hit them.

[scottfeldstein]

C'mon. Is "burn in" a real thing?

[B-string]

Originally Posted by Warmuth

Can't wait for that then. My band thought I was crazy getting a new cab, they don't know whats about to hit them.

My band also when I got mine, 1 1/2 minutes later.....no question about the purchase.

Originally Posted by scottfeldstein

C'mon. Is "burn in" a real thing?

Not "burn-in" so much as breaking in. And yes it is very real. A speaker is an electro-mechanical device.

[scottfeldstein]

It makes sense to me, but I've also heard (in the context of headphones) that burn-in (speakers changing sound after the first X hours of use) is basically not empirically true.

Not trying to start a religious war. Just wondering what the opinions are and I guess also whether anyone has any measurements to support the idea. I'd be really interested to know it was true.

[Vic]

Originally Posted by scottfeldstein

Not trying to start a religious war. Just wondering what the opinions are and I guess also whether anyone has any measurements to support the idea. I'd be really interested to know it was true.

Well, this is often debated here and never settled. Could mean we hear what we think we hear, could mean some cabs/speakers actually do benefit while maybe others no so much.

But one thing is true...

If you're trying something out, give it a good chunk of play before you finally decide you like it or not. If burn-in is true, at least for the product in question, then that'll take care of it. If not, then it's moot anyway.

Problem solved.

[ksandvik]

Some companies, like Avatar, do a default burning of speakers. There might be some truth to the cones changing after the initial 5+ hours of use or so.

[B-string]

Originally Posted by scottfeldstein

It makes sense to me, but I've also heard (in the context of headphones) that burn-in (speakers changing sound after the first X hours of use) is basically not empirically true.

Not trying to start a religious war. Just wondering what the opinions are and I guess also whether anyone has any measurements to support the idea. I'd be really interested to know it was true.

What would be a good test is a speaker measurement program. Run a new raw driver, give it a work out and retest.

The only recent data I have is a raw sub I picked out for my son. In new state I tested Fs and again after 8 hours @ about 75% Xlim, frequency was 25 Hz. New Fs was 31 Hz, after 8 hours and allowed to cool the advertised Fs of 28 Hz was the result.
The inner spider and outer surround compliance will normalize after use while other parameters remain as constants. IME

[petrus61]

I posted a query a while back in the Amps section about when people found their "break in" time on the Neo's. Wasn't very popular. Like maybe, one reply popular. It's a mystery of which only a select few seem to have the key. Still waiting for mine to "break in".

[Pedulla-Player]

I just ordered a MB Fusion 550 from Musicians Friend and got 12% off so it came to $835.12. I couldn't pass that up and with their return policy I thought it was worth the gamble. It didn't really say in the spec about Ohms / watts. Is the 550 watts at 4 Ohms? What are the watts at 8 Ohms?
My plans still are to trade my Uber410 in towards 2x112 GK Neo cabs. Has anyone run their Fusion 550 though 2x112 cabs? If you don't think this would be a good speaker combination with the 550 - What would you suggest. Due to my back surgery I need to lighten my speaker cab weight and still get good volume (and tone) when I need it.
Thanks in advance for your input!
P-P

[KJung]

Originally Posted by petrus61

I posted a query a while back in the Amps section about when people found their "break in" time on the Neo's. Wasn't very popular. Like maybe, one reply popular. It's a mystery of which only a select few seem to have the key. Still waiting for mine to "break in".

Most cabs don't change much in tone over time. Those that do (i..e., that have very tight surrounds and need those surrounds to loosen a bit to provide their full low end output), typically get a bit more 'balanced' sounding after a couple hours of playing. There is absolutely NO reason to do a formal 'break-in' of any cab with programmed music or 30hz sine waves or whatever. The key is to play the cab for at least a couple of hours before you decide if you dig it or not, since in some cases, the cab will sound just a bit more balanced and 'deep' after the first few hours of playing.

So, if for some reason you don't dig the GK115Neo cab(s) you have listed in your profile, it isn't because of break-in. Also, it isn't because the speaker happens to have a neo magnet. There is no 'neo' tone and there is no 12" tone or 15" tone (per your thread on not liking 12's). Every cab sounds different. Some 210's sound like subwoofers, and some 115 cabs sound like sealed 110's. It is all about the driver design, the tuning of the cab, and the tone goal of the designer.

[Tunaman]

GK NEO 115s rule with a nice warm tube amp like a Streamliner to tame them OR Shuttlemax 9.2 to get them aggressive but yet have the mid freq to take out or put in what you want.

COULDN"T BE HAPPIER!

And with this last post... I begin my Talkbass vacation! Adios for a while folks!

[Chef]

Pasta manyana; have a nice break!

[tombowlus]

Originally Posted by Pedulla-Player

I just ordered a MB Fusion 550 from Musicians Friend and got 12% off so it came to $835.12. I couldn't pass that up and with their return policy I thought it was worth the gamble. It didn't really say in the spec about Ohms / watts. Is the 550 watts at 4 Ohms? What are the watts at 8 Ohms?
My plans still are to trade my Uber410 in towards 2x112 GK Neo cabs. Has anyone run their Fusion 550 though 2x112 cabs? If you don't think this would be a good speaker combination with the 550 - What would you suggest. Due to my back surgery I need to lighten my speaker cab weight and still get good volume (and tone) when I need it.
Thanks in advance for your input!
P-P

Presuming that you are referring to the Fusion 550, and not the MB Fusion, when we tested the Fusion 550 back in issue #3, we measured 377w at 8-ohms and 568w at 4 ohms (5% THD, continuous). We were not reporting burst power at that point in time, but the Fusion 550 was one of the amps which prompted us to start reporting both continuous and burst power measurements. It has a lot of usable dynamic power. I'm not sure of the exact measurement, but I know that it was putting out more than 800w in burst power (and our test for burst power includes holding that power long enough to actually cover the spike of a "typical" bass note).

[petrus61]

Originally Posted by KJung

Most cabs don't change much in tone over time. Those that do (i..e., that have very tight surrounds and need those surrounds to loosen a bit to provide their full low end output), typically get a bit more 'balanced' sounding after a couple hours of playing. There is absolutely NO reason to do a formal 'break-in' of any cab with programmed music or 30hz sine waves or whatever. The key is to play the cab for at least a couple of hours before you decide if you dig it or not, since in some cases, the cab will sound just a bit more balanced and 'deep' after the first few hours of playing.

So, if for some reason you don't dig the GK115Neo cab(s) you have listed in your profile, it isn't because of break-in. Also, it isn't because the speaker happens to have a neo magnet. There is no 'neo' tone and there is no 12" tone or 15" tone (per your thread on not liking 12's). Every cab sounds different. Some 210's sound like subwoofers, and some 115 cabs sound like sealed 110's. It is all about the driver design, the tuning of the cab, and the tone goal of the designer.

Totally digging my Neo. My question was more to quantify what "breaking in" meant, if that can even be done. Can't say I have noticed a sweetening in tone since I first got my Neo up until now.

[KJung]

Originally Posted by petrus61

Totally digging my Neo. My question was more to quantify what "breaking in" meant, if that can even be done. Can't say I have noticed a sweetening in tone since I first got my Neo up until now.

I would doubt that the reasonably 'tight and bright' sounding GK Neo boxes change much over time, so you are good to go! Most cabs sound 'like they do' right out of the box. However, some cabs with very 'high mechanical spec drivers' (i.e., drivers that have a lot of 'pistoning' capability... xmax) that are capable of very deep low end won't reach their maximum low end response until a few hours of use, since those surrounds 'constrain' the movement of the speaker until they are 'broken in' a bit.

Again, for most 'midrange oriented' typical bass drivers like in the neo GK cabs, it is pretty much a non-issue.

Nice cab! I'm only familiar with the 12 versions, and they are impressive for the price (and actually impressive period)! I'm sure the 15 sounds great also.