how do I beef up my GK MB115 combo?

[n4710n]

Hey TalkBass!

I used to come here all the time when I was a teenager! Looking forward to re-acclimating myself.

ANYWAY, I've had a GK MB115 for several months and though it's been pretty trusty in my life as a professional musician, I have a couple gripes with it--

-the grill rattles. A lot.
-The DI output is poorly designed so that you need a piece of plastic or something to remove the xlr.
-after three hours of playing it overheats/smells bad.
-after a handful of larger-room gigs, I could hear something in loose in the cabinet. The rattling got so bad, that I decided to take off the grill and see what the problem was. It turns out that the enclosure is so cheaply made that three of the wood screws that were holding the speaker in place had come out! All three were (luckily) the something that was loose inside the enclosure. I had to stick toothpicks in the screw holes and screw the suckers back in.

Though these are pretty big issues, I've grown attached to the little guy. It's light-weight and has a place in my heart. Which brings me to why I'm posting this--
I'm interested in somehow beefing up the amp. Is there a way I can increase the power of the amp? Would it sound better if I replaced the speaker with something nicer? And generally, are there any mods that would make this a better amp?

[fenderslaper]

I had a MB115 for one day. Sent it back after one use. As for making it somehow more powerful or louder, I don't think there is anything you can do short of buying a more powerful louder rig. Sorry...

[SurferJoe46]

You mean to tell me that GK puts the speakers in with wood screws? That's incredibly cheap.

The Acoustic gear that a lot of people rag about uses threaded NutSerts at least and the screws don't rely on wood-bacteria to hold them in.

Sheesh! No wonder I never liked --- and even less now --- anything by GK.

[vin*tone]

Extension speaker?

[Stinsok]

Can't do it with the MB115.

[will33]

Actually, I've never had a single problem screwing into wood on any of my diy stuff and it gets used, a lot. But, the wood is double thickness behind every screwhole and I drill the pilot holes smaller than you normally would, they grab and stay there. Threaded inserts are a good way to go if you use lockwashers, if you don't, they vibrate loose pretty easily.

Anyway, those mb combo's are built as cheaply as possible. There have been many, many complaints of vibrations, rattling etc. There's really nothing you can do to make it more powerful or louder. You can however kinda take the thing apart and put it together again just to make sure all the screws are there and tight. Rotate the speaker an inch or two and screw it down into some fresh wood. Put a little weather stripping or a slice of old bicycle innertube behind the grill edges and screw it down tight to stop the rattles. Again, move the screws over an inch and bite into some fresh wood. These are budget combo's, not top of the line stuff.

[Gearhead17]

I suggest trying some of the higher end GK gear and going from there. Making the MB115 louder and/or better is not going to be worth it.

[n4710n]

thanks for the comments! I may have to just bite the bullet and sell it/get a small markbass combo. I will add some bicycle tubing though. That sounds like a good idea!

[Joe Louvar]

Yeah, it sounds like your MB115 is trashed and time to be replaced.

[rpsands]

Could switch to a couple of the MBE115 speakers and use a different head.

[Stumbo]

Since you like your rig, possibly take it in to get it serviced. It sounds like it's overheating. Try running a fan on the amp at your next gig.

[TripleDouble]

Sounds like you've run the thing on the louder side of it's range and it's shaken itself to pieces. You could replace the current speaker with an 8 ohm speaker, install an external speaker jack, get an extension cab....oh nevermind, just fix it up, sell it, and get a higher quality louder, albeit heavier amp if long term durability is a concern. I have nothing but good things to say about the older, pre-class-D GK amps. For not much money you could find an old 800rb or maybe even a 700rbII and some kind of used 115 or even 215 and have a powerhouse amp that will last forever and in my opinion sound better for less money.

As an aside and minor rant, I think the number of problems that pop with all the micro amps (from many different manufacturers) is lame. There's almost an anticipation that these things are going to break, and will be rushed to market with design flaws (just send it back and Company X will fix it right up...I dont want to buy something to then have to immediately get it fixed), and be made cheaply. There's always an overheating problem, a puff of smoke, or a buzz, or a rattling, or something. This never used to happen with new gear. Wow I sound like a cranky old person talking about the good ole days, but it's the truth...

[Blankandson]

If you like the combo but just want more volumn buy a second one. You can connect the input of one to the input of the second and stack them. Probably the most you can do for another $400.