My New GK MB500 is DOA

tkonbass · #1 12-19-2012, 08:42 PM

Well after over 25 years of playing through GK, I finally had a serious problem with a piece of their equipment.

I received my brand new MB500 from RMC Audio on Monday. I finally had a chance to try it out this afternoon. It “worked” for all of 30 seconds. I hooked it up to my 210 cab, plugged in the SR4, powered it on, and immediately there was a noticeable hiss. This was with the gain and both masters at zero and the horn at-2dB. As I began to address the treble knob to see if it would cut the hiss, suddenly there was no sound other than a steady buzzing. Not a bass sound with some buzzing, just buzzing. Oddly enough, if I depressed the mute button the buzzing got even louder.

I tried three different speaker cables and two cabinets, bass plugged in or not, same results. Ugh. I am very disappointed.

I contacted GK customer service who recommended I talk to RMC since it was DOA. RMC was helpful and said they will take care of getting it replaced through GK and just to sit tight until I hear back from them or GK tomorrow. Fingers crossed this all goes smoothly and quickly.

I like RMC and have dealt with them before and obviously I am a fan of GK so my main reason for posting this is just to vent a little of my frustration at not getting to work out my new purchase.

Anyone else have this particular failure right out of the box?

B-string · #2 12-19-2012, 08:48 PM

Not so far. Have with other consumer electronics, but not with MI equipment.........yet.

JimmyM · #3 12-19-2012, 09:33 PM

Once in a while it's your turn in the barrel.

2milehighspike · #4 12-20-2012, 06:14 PM

Knock on wood but all my GK gear has been bullitproof, I know it sucks BIG time to be stoked on getting a new peice of gear , only to have it fail when you get it,but you will get it sorted out, GK customer service is the best in the biz, hang in there!

tkonbass · #5 12-20-2012, 06:48 PM

Thanks. Yep it sucks but I didn't stress over it too much since I have my 700RB and knew from speaking with GK and RMC it would be taken care of.

GK has already stepped up and sent a return label for the bad unit and have notified me this afternoon that the replacement is shipping out tomorrow.

Kudos to the guys at RMC Audio also. As soon as I notified them of the issue they took it over and got everything arranged with GK.

IPYF · #6 12-20-2012, 07:25 PM

I've had rotten luck with my GK gear.

I smoked a GK RBX 15" cab twice in four weeks. Wasn't my bad either time. First time it was a rubbing voice coil that killed the driver. Got it back 2 weeks later and the guys at the shop hadn't aligned the driver properly so it did exactly the same thing over. After that I just decided that the Mojo wasn't right between me and that cab (even though the second time was just a bit of bad luck) and I got my money back.

I also blew the input cap in my 1001 in its first year of operation. The guys at the shop had no idea how that would have happened. They said that they'd never seen anything like it and that the only thing that could have done it was a power surge. I'm in my second year with it now and I lost a fuse back in September so it had to go in again.

The best thing is though that based on the service of the GK warranty team here in Melbourne (I won't name them but you can figure it out easy with google) I would never consider moving away from GK gear.

When the head went in with a blown fuse the guy at the service centre tested the amp at full slam for 48 hours before he let me have it back. We had a long conversation on the phone about the problem and he explained to me that the reason he had tested it for so long was because even though it was just a basic problem, he didn't like not knowing why it had happened and wanted to check absolutely everything. I totally admire that.

It's frustrating though here on TB sometimes because most people with GK gear never have a single issue and their rig runs for years and years rain or shine. This is probably because 99% of the gear they make is absolutely flawless. So at the time when I wanted advice with regard to the cab and why it might be dying, it really sucked because 9/10 people immediately responded with stuff like "you definitely popped it. Don't you DARE blame GK when you drove it too hard!" etc.

GK stuff can die, and it can be their bad. But it doesn't happen very often and I think I might just have had some hard luck. The customer service in Australia is unsurpassed though..

Jerry Ziarko · #7 12-20-2012, 07:40 PM

I guess I'm one of the lucky ones. GK user since mid 80's, (4 different GK's) and not a single issue. This is through thousands of gigs!!

steve_rolfeca · #8 12-20-2012, 07:45 PM

Never owned anything G-K before my (Chinese) MB800, but it has been a peach. Not a lick of trouble all summer, despite a heavy gigging schedule. Runs cool, doesn't crap out when driven hard, like another brand of American micros that shall remain nameless...

BassmanPaul · #9 12-20-2012, 07:46 PM

Infant mortality. Happens to every manufacturer sometimes.

bound'n'blocked · #10 12-21-2012, 08:26 AM

The only time I ever had a problem with any GK gear was when the 800RB I was using died just before I started a gig one night. I had hooked everything up as usual and had been soundchecking and just as we started, it kinda just went away. I thought at first it was the speaker cable, so I swapped it out with no luck. Next I tried just checking to see if the FOH guy was getting signal. Nope. I figured the head was dead, but the power light was still on. I finally went on with the gig and played thru the wedges with my sansamp. Turns out it was the effects loop. It had closed and wasnt letting the signal pass so it was like the amp was dead. Had I known, I would have just plugged a cable from the send to return and gone on. Had a peavey guitar amp that did the same thing and I just kept a short patch cable in the FX loop all the time.

Only time GK ever let me down...

BnB

tkonbass · #11 01-05-2013, 08:53 AM

Just wanted to follow up in case this comes up in a search.

GK came through in spectacular fashion as expected. Within 24 hours of notifying RMC Audio of the problem, I had a call from Jason at GK. He took my info, immediately sent out a replacement unit and had the shipping department provide me with a return label for the bad unit. I received the new unit two business days later.

The new MB500 sounds great and is performing flawlessly. Thanks to Jason at GK and Mark at RMC for all of the help getting this rectified.

MysticMichael · #12 01-05-2013, 09:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tkonbass

Anyone else have this particular failure right out of the box?

Not that exact failure, no. But something quite similar.

I received an MB500 from RMC Audio in 2011. When I turned it on, all the lights on the unit lit up - but no sound. Nothing.

Tried several times, checked & rechecked all my connections, etc. Still nothing.

Got in touch with RMC, who were quite helpful in facilitating an exchange for a new amp, straight from GK. The new one has given me no problems whatsoever.

MM

**mjac28** · #13 01-05-2013, 09:13 AM

I hope it all goes well keep us updated.

SilkyStrings · #14 01-05-2013, 10:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tkonbass

Just wanted to follow up in case this comes up in a search.

GK came through in spectacular fashion as expected. Within 24 hours of notifying RMC Audio of the problem, I had a call from Jason at GK. He took my info, immediately sent out a replacement unit and had the shipping department provide me with a return label for the bad unit. I received the new unit two business days later.

The new MB500 sounds great and is performing flawlessly. Thanks to Jason at GK and Mark at RMC for all of the help getting this rectified.

Man that's great. This exactly what should have happened to me when I had a squealing issue with a new MBFusion last year. If GK had done this for me I be sporting an MBFusion on my gigs and singing GK's praises.

shoot-r · #15 01-06-2013, 11:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tkonbass

Well after over 25 years of playing through GK, I finally had a serious problem with a piece of their equipment.

Same here.....

Bought my G.K.800 new in 1984.

Never a problem from it.

Alittle over a year ago I jumped on the micro amp band wagon. Tried a bunch out, and the "only" micro that tickled my ears was the G.K. MB2-500.

My MB2-500 gave up the fight on our first set at our news years eve job. (Unuseable, distorted, muffled sound. Amp seem to go to full output and stay there, gain knob has no effect.)

Thankfully that old/dependable 800 was near!!!!!