My review Aguilar AG500 vs GK 700rb-ii

[Tony Flow MMMM]

I'm reserving this thread for in depth review. I will add to it hopefully helping people who were looking for the same thing I was. Even though the ag500 has been discontinued.

Let me first day I have owned a DB750 and hate it, along with my orange 200d and tiny terror 500. Seems tubes just don't do it for me. I seem to like the GK sound.

So I purchased a AG500 today just to compare to my GK. set everything to noon and turned her on. Sounded great, very similar to my GK.

After a bit of A/Bing. I found the Gk hand a better low end (below A) for the style I was playing which was flea like heavy digging in. I found the aguilar to be quite boxy. After playing with the Eq I found rolling off the low Mids to about 10:30 (as seen in picture) made this amp sound near IDENTICAL to the GK.

So far this is my review I haven't done extensive styles of playing, but so far these amps sound nearly identical.

[Jaco who?]

Thanks for that, it's nice to see comparisons between equipment that isn't the flavor of the month. What cabs are you using, and does one or the other get along better with either an active or a passive bass?

[Tony Flow MMMM]

Ah, good point. Both using gk 410 neo. And it does seem the Aguilar prefers passive basses. But ill dive into that later.

[WingKL]

They might sound similar until you start hitting the rails on the GK, you'll find that classic GK growl/grunt which I can pretty much guarantee you won't be able to get with the AG500 and it's Tripath chip. Try increasing/max volume, no contour, 4 string position, low to no boost, max woofer and hit it.

[Tony Flow MMMM]

I have tried various sounds various gk amps and various basses and never found this elusive rail.

Shoukd I know if I found it?

[WingKL]

When it starts to sound a bit like this: Rocket Queen by Gun's n Roses. To hit the voltage rails in a GK amp you have to really turn it up, like my suggested setting - max woofer and volume. The smaller amps like the original 400RB will allow you to hit the rails at a lower volume than it's bigger brothers. With the 700RB you will get into earbleed territory if you have an efficient speaker set up, so take precautions to protect your hearing and make sure you have enough speakers so the power won't blow your cabs. I managed it with the Acme Low B2 I had at lower volumes because the speaker is so inefficient and I was pushing the excursion limits of the cabinet. When the growl happened I knew what the fuss was all about and felt like a rockstar.