Will my GK MB150S cut it?

[Hammertime3]

I have a GK MB150S that I have had for a little over a year and want to use it for an outdoor gig (freebie) in October. I have ever played thru it outside, and my wife (musician) doesn't think this amp will do the job. We will be playing on a stage which in an old truck trailer with the front cut out, mostly old country with a few newer tunes thrown in. I'm using MIM Fender P bass which does a good job. Probably won't be more than 100 people there at any one time, and we're playing right in front of them. She thinks maybe I should spring for the extension cabinet (MBX112?) that goes with it, but I'd probably never use it again, no more than I play. No thrashing and banging around on stage like some of these big hats do..just simple country music played at a pleasing audible level.

What do you'all think?

Thanks for the feedback.

[JxBass]

I owned an MB150S and it's a great little combo. Great tone and tremendous engineering, packaging wise. I also owned the 12 lb extension cabinet. I agree with your wife - add the cabinet, increase wattage by 50% into 2x12s and you should be good to go.

[JxBass]

Plus, whenever your wife tells you to buy more gear why wouldn't you? That almost never happens

[jady]

I played one of these for years, if you have some walls to bounce the sound off of it works great but for outside you will need to push more air.

[Hammertime3]

Thanx..being a road trailer, it is only 8 feet deep with metal on three sides..entire front is cut away. Is this good or bad? This amp is as loud as I can stand it at half volume inside our music room, bass 3/4 open on the bass knob. Seems like it should have a lot left.

[laklandplayer]

If they have a PA system, line out into it for extra oomph.

[ghiadub]

Yeah, the cab can make a big difference. If you have a 4ohm cab, just defeat the internal speaker.

I have a 150s and it does not cut it outside. I can hear it but that is it. But it would really depend on how loud you are planning on playing.

[DWBass]

I owned one briefly. Nice little amp. You'll get a slight increase in volume by adding the ext. cab but only getting 50w more in doing so. If you are planning to do more outdoor work, I suggest using the money you'd pay for the extension cab and get a higher wattage (300w-400w) combo or mini-rig. If not, then go for the extension cab.

[62bass]

I own the 150S also. It's plenty loud indoors for playing with a guitarist and quiet drummer in a small room. But when I take it out on my front porch it disappears. The matching extension cab will help and probably do it for you if you can keep the volume at saner levels.

[JxBass]

I often used the extension cab at home. Not for extra volume, just for the nice, full tone. Heck, it's not like it takes up much extra space.

[62bass]

I own the 150S also. It's plenty loud indoors for playing with a guitarist and quiet drummer in a small room. But when I take it out on my front porch you can't hear it. The matching extension cab will help and probably do it for you if you can keep the volume at saner levels. I plugged in an 8 ohm 1x15" cabinet one time and it was really surprisingly loud and full, much better than with the matching extension. The matching extension cabinet is very low efficiency and quite small.

[Hammertime3]

Question...with so many "limitations" why is it so expensive? A friend of mine played one in a bluegrass band and made out fine,and I doubt he was running thru a PA. They played a host of outdoor gigs and he sounded alright to me...the bass, that is. It looks to me like they are overpriced for the service they provide, unless you intend to you them for a monitor and run thru the PA. Many bluegrassers use them for upright,but I never noticed whether or not they running thru the PA. I thought I was getting a "full service" amp, but it looks like I'm going to have to add to it to even play outdoors.

[ThudThudThud]

Originally Posted by JxBass

Plus, whenever your wife tells you to buy more gear why wouldn't you? That almost never happens

[DWBass]

Originally Posted by Hammertime3

Question...with it's "power limitations" why is it so expensive?

Fixed above!

Good question. I bought mine used here before the micro amp craze. I guess it's one of the original micro amps and it's built like a tank and has great features. Just not a lot of watts! That would be a GREAT amp if they at least doubled the wattage but I'm sure it would require adding a fan but still....

[harmendebresser]

I've used it on a couple of outdoor occasions (without an extension cab) & it works just fine!
Make sure you have something to place it on, like a flightcase on its side so you have it at or near ear level & you'll be surprised how direct & 'oomphy' the 12 inch speaker sounds.

[KJung]

Originally Posted by Hammertime3

Question...with so many "limitations" why is it so expensive? A friend of mine played one in a bluegrass band and made out fine,and I doubt he was running thru a PA. They played a host of outdoor gigs and he sounded alright to me...the bass, that is. It looks to me like they are overpriced for the service they provide, unless you intend to you them for a monitor and run thru the PA. Many bluegrassers use them for upright,but I never noticed whether or not they running thru the PA. I thought I was getting a "full service" amp, but it looks like I'm going to have to add to it to even play outdoors.

This little combo is a classic, and IMO worth every penny. Adding more power, given the incredibly small, sealed speaker box, would be a waste of time IMO. This combo is all about tight, midrange tone (loved by many DB players), the wonderful, slightly grindy GK voicing, and, at least in the 'e' version (I think that is what it is called), massive EQ, DI and patching options for running direct. It is all about portability and providing enough volume to do a typical jazz, folk, or bluegrass gig.

Regarding using it outside, I guess it depends on what 'outside' is. If that trailer is placed against a solid wall, and there are buildings and pavement all around (i.e., a street party type thing), and you aren't playing very loud and have a nice, punchy midrange tone, that combo will probably do fine, especially since it sounds like a one off type thing for the OP. If, on the other hand, that trailer is placed in an open field... not so much.

Given the extreme low end roll-off of that combo, it is AMAZING how loud that thing can get (i.e., the same logic with the low end allows a 15 watt guitar amp to keep up with a massive bass stack).

That being said, I would NOT recommend the little metal extension cab... really doesn't help you out that much. If you put a full range 112 with a tweeter, like the GK Neo 112, on the bottom of that combo, it KILLS... you get a bigger low end, more sizzly highs (if you want them), but that warm mid punch still comes through.


******** One warning on this... MANY of these combo's have the speaker wired backwards (how this can be, I never could figure it out... poor quality control at the manufacturing site or something). So, in a suprisingly high number of cases, if you connect an external speaker cab to the combo, you will have an out of phase situation... resulting in the amp losing most of its low end. It is a very simple fix (just switch the two speaker wires in either the cab or the combo. However, you DO NOT want to try the extension the morning of the gig for the first time. You won't notice it (and it doesn't even matter) when just using the combo alone, but it can create a mess with an extension cab.

[KJung]

PS Another thing that gets people into trouble with these very nice little combo's is the limiter control. That is a strange circuit, and is best left out of the system (turned off). However, if you do use it, I believe the maximum setting results in the minimum impact (it's been a while)... which is kind of counter intuitive. It really doesn't act like a typical power amp limiter, and IMO is a negative to the tone and performance of that amp at any setting. Just FYI and IMO/IME


For anyone perusing this thread who wants to hear one of these, I have a live clip of mine in a jazz guitar trio setting, with an SM57 mic'ing the cab, and a Music Man Stingray 5 string on my iComposition home page, which you can access through the 'homepage' link in my profile. Skip to the middle of the clip, since there is a long solo guitar intro. Nice little combo for that sort of context IMO!

[ric stave]

Originally Posted by 62bass

I own the 150S also. It's plenty loud indoors for playing with a guitarist and quiet drummer in a small room. But when I take it out on my front porch you can't hear it. The matching extension cab will help and probably do it for you if you can keep the volume at saner levels. I plugged in an 8 ohm 1x15" cabinet one time and it was really surprisingly loud and full, much better than with the matching extension. The matching extension cabinet is very low efficiency and quite small.

+1

I thought about getting the extension many times, but could never justify the cost, especially when this thing rocked hard through a Trace Elliot 1-15 or a 4-10 cab I borrowed/used at a rehearsal room.

Best bet is to run it through the front PA, but besides that, just borrow a 4-10 or 1-15 cab (if you can, and if you don't think you'll ever use it again).

As far as the limiter, I used mine a week weeks ago by itself for an outdoor show (and then run through the PA too) - when I popped on the chorus and the boost for a solo at one point, it shut down on me for a few seconds - not sure if it was a combination of the limiter not being set right or the boost being too much, or just a problem.

[Wes Whitmore]

It should make a fine personal bass monitor sitting next to you, line out to PA with subs.

[cnltb]

I'm just about to go out for a gig... using an mp150s and the mbx.
But this is not an outdoor gig, so quite a different situation.