GK MB212 Combo extreme EQ

gmarcus · #1 11-21-2011, 08:12 AM

I recently purchased a GK MB212 from Danyo here on TB. Great guy, great transaction. I brought the amp to practice and compared it to my GK 1001RBII through a 410MBE cabinet that I modified by adding some stuffing. The MB212 actually seemed to keep up volume wise, but it sounded really loose and unfocused compared to the 410.

So being a tinkerer I lined the MB212 with mattress topper foam. This cleaned up the sound a lot. It sounds more refined now with better focus in the mid range. Last night I brought it back to practice and very unscientifically I removed the 410MBE and put it in my car and put the MB212 where the 410 was. I didn't want to be constantly swapping between amps because we had some work to get done.

Well the combo sounded smoother in the midrange but still kind of boomy and unfocused in the bass. This time I couldn't just swap over to my main rig so I started twisting knobs. I got it dialed in pretty good. It now sounds very good in the mix. The surprising thing is how extreme the EQ is. I always play with the contour off. The big surprise was the bass. I had it turned down to ~8:00 this is almost all of the way down. The low mid was at about 1:00, the high mid was at 2:00 and treble at 12:00.

I play a 5 string P-bass with flats through a VT-Bass pedal which also had its Bass at ~11:00 which is close to flat on that pedal. The tone was solid, smooth and articulate. The B-string sounded great right down to the B. I'm actually really encouraged by this because when I gig, this amp won't have to work too hard to push out a lot of volume with the bass turned down so far.

I kind of wonder why GK voiced this amp to have so much deep bass with the knobs at 12:00. However it does clean up nicely when you turn the Bass down so maybe that was the intent.

We were recording the band for practice so I had a DI between the pedal board and the amp. The sound on the recording was very similar to what I heard in the room so very unscientifically I would say that in this particular room (which is kind of boomy), I found a reasonably flat EQ setting. I imagine a better room would not require me to turn the bass down so much.

will33 · #2 11-21-2011, 08:57 AM

Those things are voiced a little bass heavy but yes, the room is a lot of it. Get it in a different venue or outdoors and you'll likely find yourself putting at least some of that bass back in though maybe not all of it.

lowendblues · #3 11-21-2011, 01:22 PM

Its not just you,,I have an MB115 combo that is the same way. Very bass heavy. I run the bass control at about 9 O'clock

gmarcus · #4 11-22-2011, 04:32 AM

They must have voiced them so they sound good in guitar center with everything at noon. It does sound great with the bass turned down.

lowendblues · #5 11-22-2011, 04:50 AM

I've had several GK products, although not as extreme as the combo, I've always found them a little bass heavy.

Dont get me wrong,, GK is still my #1 choice a for dependable, no nonsense, great tone , all around killer amp. The EQ notch is a minor detail.

Their customer service is top notch as well....