GK Fusion 550 vs GK 1001RBii?

[Raggy]

Has anyone tried these two side by side. Would be interested in a comparison.

[Anarchyok]

Search - someone asked this same question not long ago!

[birminghambass]

I own them both. Taking them to my gig Saturday to A/B them. Will post my findings...

[rptrsn2]

Originally Posted by birminghambass

I own them both. Taking them to my gig Saturday to A/B them. Will post my findings...

waiting!

[Raggy]

Originally Posted by birminghambass

I own them both. Taking them to my gig Saturday to A/B them. Will post my findings...

Great, look forward to hearing your view.

[MIJ-VI]

Originally Posted by Raggy

Has anyone tried these two side by side. Would be interested in a comparison.

IIRC the 700RB-II and the Fusion 550 employ the same power amp.

[Alexander]

I found them to be more alike than not with that signature GK tone - loud, quick, articulate and punchy with hard hitting lows and slicing highs. The Fusion 550 had a touch of tube warmth that you could push to a creamy overdrive by pushing the gain, which I liked very much. I also absolutely HATED the motorized controls. Sounds like a great idea, but in practice, most of the knobs would adjust themselves every time I turned the amp on, which meant getting everything back to the way I liked it each time. Perhaps mine needed repair (bought it new), but it was a real PITA.

[Raggy]

Originally Posted by Alexander

Sounds like a great idea, but in practice, most of the knobs would adjust themselves every time I turned the amp on, which meant getting everything back to the way I liked it each time. Perhaps mine needed repair (bought it new), but it was a real PITA.

I can see that being a pain.

[tombowlus]

I own a Fusion 550, 700RB-II, 2001RB, MB500 and MB200 (hoping to add an MB Fusion to the collection shortly!). As you can tell, I have become quite addicted to GK!

Though I have not played the 1001RB-II, if I may extrapolate from the 700RB-II (and a bit from the 2001RB), by comparison, the Fusion 550 has more harmonic content, which makes the high end seem a bit more bright, clear and exciting. You can cop some of this via the 1001's Presence control, though. The low end on the Fusion 550 is also a bit bigger and more round, though the RB's have more going on in the midrange.

I have not had any problems with the motorized knobs on the Fusion 550, though I do wish that the head would either mute the output (or else turn the Output all the way down, and then ramp back up) when you switch channels.

I'd say it boils down to how you feel about the harmonic content which the tubes provide, and how you feel about the tone profile of the Fusion 550 (bigger lows, somewhat scooped mids, more exciting highs) relative to the 1001RB-II.

FWIW, you can read my Quick Look review of the Fusion 550 in issue #2, and Vic Serbe and Tom Lees' full review in issue #3.

Tom.

[lo-freq]

Originally Posted by birminghambass

I own them both. Taking them to my gig Saturday to A/B them. Will post my findings...

Yes...?

[birminghambass]

I think Tom's assessment is spot on. The Fusion was bigger in the lows, more "air" in the highs. It made the 1001 sound like the solid state amp that it is. The 1001 is a bit sterile, and a little quicker. I always put a Sansamp BDDI in front of the amps. The sansamp is a better match for the 1001 given it's clean, solid tone. In front of the Fusion the lows were too big while the mids didn't seem to cut through as much. Both amps were plenty loud in a hard rock setting. I didn't find any noticeable volume difference between the two (despite the difference in rating 500 vs. 700watts).