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Gallien-Kreuger 700RB-II

Reviews

Recommended By	Average Price	Average Rating
92% of reviewers	$505.91	9.0

Description:

Low-480W@4ohm, 320W@8ohm, 1 kHz.
High-50W@8ohm, 5kHz.
Continuously Variable Speed Fan.
Ultra low noise S/N>90dB, Clip LED,
10dB Pad, Volume, Mute Switch and Mute LED.
5/4 String Bass, Adjustable Contour and Presence.
Bass Specific Series Four Band Active.
Boost, Tweeter Level w/ Hi-Cut Switch
and Woofer Level with Crossover Switch.
XLR, Ground Lift, Pre/Post Switch and
Level Control.
Send, Return and Tuner Out.
Two 1/4" and Two Bi-Amp Connectors.
16.5 lbs.
17.5"W x 3.5"H x 8"D

Author

teenagebass69
Registered User

Registered: June 2003
Location: Beverly Hills, CA
Posts: 92

Review Date: Fri March 19, 2004

Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: $600.00 | Rating: 10

Pros:	Great sound, lots of options, GREAT HEAD!
Cons:	NONE THAT IVE FOUND

This product is great. Its mildly heavy but it has a handle and its all worth it. There are many different options and the quality is great.

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"Bass was created so people could feel the music they were hearing"

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1tallbassguy
Registered User

Registered: November 2003
Location: Seabrook Texas
Posts: 55

Review Date: Sat March 27, 2004

Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: $599.00 | Rating: 9

Pros:	small size, very clean sound,
Cons:	none

I recently purchased this 700RBII, and the first thing I noticed after its small size etc., was the lack of buzz and the clean pure sound it has.
I have a Sunn 300T all tube amp and side-by-side this amp has a very different sound than the tube amp.
It also gets very loud with great low-end response with my Mesa Boogie 6x10 cabinet.
I am very pleased so far.

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Fender Roscoe Beck V
G&L SB1
Gallien Krueger 700RBII
Yorkville XC808
Ampeg SVT48HE

phlyphish23
Registered User

Registered: April 2004
Location: Chicago

Review Date: Mon May 3, 2004

Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: $599.00 | Rating: 9

Pros:	Great warm tones, biamp feature gives the growl without over driving the woofers. Simple controls. Played a large ballroom last Saturday with about 400 people and the Amp was on three all night long with minimal signal mixed into the PA.
Cons:	Bought a package head plus two cabinets. Amp came with only one 4-conductor speakon cable, had some difficulty finding a short cable that was correct for biamp operation. Customer support at G&K was useless, they acted as if I was trying to pull a fast

Super equipment, real pro line design and quality. Tremendous versatility, zero noise, can get warm tones to scrunchy, huge power output with great efficiency. This equipment has made me a better player. I can hear everything now, regardless of tone setting or competing sounds.

Lousy customer service from G&K and Musician\'s Friend, particularly regarding the lack of 4- conductor biamp cables. I finally found a guy in Detroit who makes them custom through E-bay.

Tyler Hole
Registered User

Registered: December 2002
Location: San Luis Obispo, California
Posts: 4291

Review Date: Tue December 7, 2004

Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: $420.00 | Rating: 10

Pros:	Very agressive, lots of tones, powerful
Cons:	None

I just got mine to replace a 1978 Peavey Mark III and so far it\'s doing its job. I\'ve ran through the EQ many times and have gotten lots of tones, so there is plenty of different genres and tones you can use this for. It\'s also very powerful which I am very pleased by!

Nedmundo

Registered User

Registered: January 2005
Location: Philadelphia
Posts: 4303

Review Date: Thu May 19, 2005

Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: $599.00 | Rating: 9

Pros:	Great, deep tone, lightweight and compact, useful controls
Cons:	If you want real tube warmth, look elsewhere

I bought mine a few months ago, and my previous generation 700RB is now my backup. I\'m posting largely to let you know that the improvement from the old model is more than a power increase -- this thing makes the 700RB sound like a practice amp. I thought the 700RB was good, but this is absolutely massive in comparison, and produces a much warmer, less \"sterile\" tone. It provides huge low end from the re-voiced EQ, and seemingly five times the volume. (That can\'t be true, but it feels like it.)

For my last gig, a hard rock show at a small/medium club, I couldn\'t bring my SWR Goliath III 4x10\" cabinet, and I used this with a GK Neo112. I was afraid I wouldn\'t get the necessary punch, but this delivered. With this head (and an Aphex Punch Factor compressor), I had almost as much punch with the 1x12\" as I used to get with the 700RB through the 4x10\". (This speaks well of the cab too.) And it was punch with warmth -- very satisfying. The soundman called it \"massive,\" and our vocalist thought it was the best bass tone I\'ve achieved. I can\'t wait to use it with the 4x10\".

And all of this comes in a compact, light package, which is important to me. I couldn\'t be much more satisfied with its performance; I really wasn\'t expecting such an improvement from the 700RB. I should note that this is my second one; I returned the first because the tuner mute button failed. No biggie as far as I\'m concerned.

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Jimmie Vaughan: [Y]ou're always trying to get that extra thing to put you over the top..., right? Instead of gear, I've found a cool pair of shoes works just as good.

capnsandwich

Registered User

Registered: July 2006
Location: Sunbury, Ohio
Posts: 7537

Review Date: Tue July 18, 2006

Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: $600.00 | Rating: 10

Pros:	so many tonal features, great sound, plenty of low-end tone without sounding muddy and still the brightness and clarity you need for an amp to have.
Cons:	kinda heavy for it's compact size, or maybe i'm just a wuss.

i was skeptical at first when i needed a new head. i was using an ampeg B2R, which is also a nice amp. i loved the tonal properties of the ampeg, since i'm more of a smooth player. when it was time to get a new one, i tried out swr, ampeg, and even a peavy. they all had their unique sounds with their unique pros and cons. then i came upon the 700rbII. it had some really nice tonal features, like the low end boost for 5 strings and the separate boost features to where you can boost the woofers or the horns as you need them. i was afraid, at first, because i thought i'd lose the heavy low end of the ampeg, but this had it and some. so far, so good. i think i'm in love.

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Me
Bridge Construction
Soul Atoma

Quote:

Originally Posted by john turner

i banned chuck norris.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jmattbassplaya

Personally, I'll never be satisfied until they make a computer that prints bacon. That's exactly what I want.

Earwigger

I'm a Roland man now.

Registered: August 2005
Location: Cleveland, Ohio
Posts: 1973

Review Date: Thu November 16, 2006

Would you recommend the product? No | Price you paid?: $399.00 | Rating: 6

Pros:	Power, multiple contouring options
Cons:	Poor build quality, uneven EQ response

Good: This head is small and powerful. It's relatively inexpensive and delivers a good amount of bass power for a moderate price. The Boost knob is versatile, and the options (when they work) for tone shaping are vast.

Bad: This section is rather large, unfortunately, so I'll break it up into subsections.

Sound - The sound with all the options flat is transparent. There's very little coloration to your tone and it amplifies the sound well. The problem lies with the EQ. The EQ does not boost or cut equally across the board - the bass boost with go crazy with a slight nudge and the treble will as well, while the midrange boosts don't seem to do much without a quarter turn, and a 4-band EQ is a bit akward to use in the first place, as most EQs are odd-numbered and cover more useful frequencies. The contouring knobs appear to have different functions, but both dial in a midrange cut with a bass boost and treble boost, which the RB-700-II does NOT need. The treble response in general is harsh and when boosted is obnoxious. The 5-string and 4-string voicing options are also akward and don't do a great job of balancing either bass option. I run my 5 string with the 4-string setting, as the 5-string setting makes the B string sound ridiculously loud and booming compared to the other strings. I run my 4-string using the 5-string setting as it gives a wider EQ range and more pleasing sound. I do NOT reccomend using a 5-string with this head.
Quality - The -15db LED burned out on my first gig. The knob for the volume bent from what was a minor ding. The rubber feet wore off and 2 of them are gone because of poor quality rubber. The balanced Line Out failed on my 6th gig, giving nothing but static to the sound guy. I did gig this out a lot, and it still works, so I suppose it isn't a complete quality failure, but the parts could have been a lot better.

I wouldn't reccomend this head. It was the best availible to me at the time and I wasn't super pleased with it when I bought it, but I thought I could "dial in" something that would work. Unfortunately I could not. I now use a Hartke VXL preamp to get my tone and just use the head as a power amp of sorts. The "Boost" knob gives a bit of growl when at about 30%, which is nice.

This head isn't terrible, but it isn't great by a long shot. It's super hi-fi and for funk players, it would be ideal. For fingerstyle players like myself, it is the wrong tool for the job.

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Gear: Warwick $$ NT Bubinga 5-string -> Roland D-Bass 210 -> Roland D-Bass 115x
I am RDSR's and Halcyon Days' bassist. Check em out! || Ohio Bassist #77

degroove
Registered User

Registered: June 2002
Location: Wilmington, DE
Posts: 231

Review Date: Thu December 21, 2006

Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: $400.00 | Rating: 9

Pros:	Portability, Tone Controls, Power
Cons:	None

I am a bassist with 10+ years of experience and have played Ampeg, Ashdown, and now GK heads. I love the way you can get anything from a Dubby reggae tone to a Flea slap tone. Rock, Blues, Jazz, Funk, no problem. I love the clarity of the amp, especially for its size (fits in a 2-space effect case) and weighs only 16 lbs!! The construction is solids. The power is more than enough and I play with tube guitarists and a loud rock and roll drummer in a small basement. My prior Amp, Ashdown EVO 500, was comparable in volume, but GK dusted it in the EQ area, the way it cuts through a mix, and ease of use. I use it with a Eden 210 T and Eden 115 XLT cabinet and its heavenly. I used to do runs that got buried in the mix, but now they cut through even a lower volumes. For the Price to Quality ratio, this think is king.\

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USA Lakland Joe Osbourne 4, Geddy Lee Jazz, Breedlove Atlas Studio BJ 350 4ABG, GK MB112, Eden WT 550, Eden 210T, Eden 115 XLT,

LoveThatBass
Registered User

Registered: June 2004
Location: Dallas/Ft. Worth Texas
Posts: 1361

Review Date: Fri February 9, 2007

Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: $599.95 | Rating: 9

Pros:	Excellent tone, seems built well, 2 year warranty, decent headroom, 2 speakons as well as 2 1/4" speaker jacks, Balanced output for direct connection to recorder or PA., Bi amp capability,
Cons:	Must be careful to use the 4 conductor speakon cable with a GK amp or an amp with tweeter directly connected to the speakon's +2 and -2 terminals and the woofer to the +1 and -1 terminals. Other than that, none really so far.

Feb 9th, 2007 10:19 PM Edit Profile Print Topic Search Topic

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I traded an SWR 350X in for this amp. It is quiet, the controls are very responsive as it uses active electronic tone shaping circuits. The low end is incredible and distinct while displaying smooth highs and very controllable low and high mids. There is much to like about this amp. Many features and packs a good size "Whallop" for its relatively small size. It is 480 watts RMS with Bi Amp capability for providing a separate 50 watts directly to the tweeter without the need for an external passive crossover. It can drive two standard cabs by using (2) two conductor speakon jacks or (2) 1/4" speaker jacks. It can also be driven in Biamp mode by using 4 conductor speakon cables and a cab with separate woofer and tweeter circuits. The only downside to this is the fact you can damage the amp by connecting the 4 conductor speakon cable into a standard cab where the woofer and tweeter are connected together.
You can mute the output of the amp at the touch of a button for tuning or just to take a break. There is a 10khz cutout button for the tweeter that eliminates nearly all the hiss and gives the tweeter more warmth which is similar to a regular speaker. I personally like the smooth glassiness of the tweeter with the 10khz cutout disabled putting the full range to the tweeter. There is a contour and presence controls that really let you tailor your sound along with the standard Bass, Treble, low mid, and high mid. In addition there is a balanced output for direct recording or connecting to a PA system and speaker short circuit and overload protection.
This amp really makes a bass with round wounds stand out in front and I am very happy with it's purchase. My two Avatar B115H cabs have never sounded so good. It has added a whole new dimension to my sound. It is like stepping out of a Ford Focus (which I have also) and stepping into maybe a Lexus. In fact it made my SWR sound flat and dull by comparison. At present I have rewired one of my Avatar cabs to a separate direct driven horn without the passive crossover so I can compare with the other cab using standard hookup and passive crossover.

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Gallien-Kruger Club member #7, Squier Classic Vibe bass club #74, Avatar Owners Club #271, Fender Jazz bass club #687

Oreomeister365

Registered User

Registered: May 2004
Location: State college, PA
Posts: 1057

Review Date: Fri March 9, 2007

Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: $500.00 | Rating: 9

Pros:	Extremely versatile, easy to use, plenty of tone shaping options, clear
Cons:	powerful, but starts to distort earlier than I think it should, bi-amp works with GK-cabs only

I got this because It's clear on the low end and retains its tone up to high volumes. My last combo peavey was excessively boomy, this was a breath of fresh air. The lows were powerful, as punchy as I wanted them to be, and retained all the qualities of a low without sounding boomy. It is consistent through to its highs, the highs are crisp but not thin, the mids are powerful and contribute to the crunchy but smooth sort of a tome I go for (hard to describe...think Tool).

Features: The Equalizer gives a absolutely huge range of tones. It can make up for just about anything your bass lacks. I set my tone controls flat except for a pinch of hi-mid and my bass is at 3 o'clock (my lows were a tad lacking through a 410 otherwise). The contour scoops the mids for highs and lows; I'm not a real big fan of it, especially when this head has so much else, but the point is that it's there for those who do like it. The presence rather excellently increases the brightness of your tone without making anything thinner; I've gotten to the point where its really the only knob I need to touch in a live setting for going back and forth from a smoother to a more bright but solid tone. The boost feature is a little hard to figure out. It adds growl in in the sense that it adds thickness. I was a little lacking in lows, and rather than directly boost the lows too high I used this and it makes my tone sound fuller. Has an effects loop, and other little nifty features which I haven't been able to fully appreciate yet.

Sound: The sounds I get from this is amazing. It captures a very clean pure sound, very little coloring, so the sound you hear is what you'd want to hear. All flat it was a little lacking in lows, but that was easily fixed with the EQ. It gets loud, but not quite as loud as I hoped for without distorting. My boost is at roughly 2 o clock, master woofer at full on, then input volume around 10 o'clock, and thats a little below my max before distorting. I daresay its a million time clearer than my peavey at this volume, but it can't go much further without distorting despite 180 more watts. Although perhaps the input volume has a direct effect on the thickness the boost sends, reducing the boost while raising the volume here may work to counter the unnatrual distortion. Otherwise, this amp is amazing.

My other gripe is that without some custom wiring it won't bi-amp to two non GK cabs, which is rather annoying honestly. I was hoping to get a 212 to go with the current 410 later but as the cabs are not GK, it won't work. I love their heads, I'd just rather have different brand cabs.

Overall its a great head. I imagine if I were to upgrade I'd just go for the next steps up, 1001 and 2001's.

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I max out all knobs to get the largest tone possible.

BillMason

Registered User

Registered: March 2007
Location: Halifax, Nova Scotia!!
Posts: 4110

Review Date: Tue September 11, 2007

Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: $435.00 | Rating: 9

Pros:	Variety of tone, smooth & clean to dirty and growly
Cons:	None?

Great head!

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Canadian Club #1!
Black and Maple Club #118
P-Bass Club #418
Fender MIA Club member #179

tbwilson
Registered User

Registered: December 2006
Location: concord NH area
Posts: 315

Review Date: Tue October 30, 2007

Would you recommend the product? No | Price you paid?: $500.00 | Rating: 7

Pros:	Good doun on low volumes
Cons:	distorts on high levels

it sounds nice on low levels but you crank the woofer which is the master volume it gets really gritty i would almost recommend a power amp set up for just a little bit more.

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GK Club Member #308 l I'm not very good at spelling or making sense btw.
myspace.com/washeranddryher

ZonGuy
Registered User

Registered: September 2007
Posts: 662

Review Date: Fri November 30, 2007

Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: $475.00 | Rating: 9

Pros:	Light, Clean, Versatile, very powerful
Cons:

I have owned one for 4 months and am very pleased. Generally using a Warwick Thumb 5 or a Fender Jazz for anything from musicals to jazz to blues. Plug it into Aguilar GS-210 and a SWR 15" Bassic Black speaker.

My other main amp is a SWR Super Redhead, but that has gotten too heavy to be carrying around.

The GK is very powerful, havent really gotten above 4 on the volume knob yet.

Doesn't have the warmth of an Ashdown tube, but it's also not $1500.

I like it a lot.

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There is no "BEST" bass player, bass, amp, effect or whatever. It's only your personal preference.

Tommy Lotus

Registered User

Registered: October 2005
Location: Chicago
Posts: 68

Review Date: Tue February 26, 2008

Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: $600.00 | Rating: 10

Pros:	Light & Powerful
Cons:	Position of cooling fan

I traded in my Ampeg B2-R for the GK 700 RB-II. Now the B2-R sounded great but I was looking for a change in sound. I purchased a GK 2-12 Neodynium cab from a friend when my David Eden 4-10 cab was stolen. So I wanted the proper amp for the cab. So I get the GK set-up and the high end blowed. There was no highs what so ever! That's because I needed a special 4 wire speak-on instead of the standard 2 wire. The 4 wire speak-on comes standard with the cab but not with the amp. So I track down my buddy to get the 4 wire and wow what a difference! The tone is very accurate. I play hip-hop, jazz, r&b, gospel and a little rock and this amp handles it all. I'm thinking of adding a 1-15 or another 2-12 for bigger venues.

My only gripe is the cooling fan on top of the unit makes it hard to mount in a rack case. Don't want it to over heat during a show.

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Tommy Lotus

Keep'in It Funky One Note At A Time!
www.mrlotusonbass.com

paganjack

Regal User

Registered: December 2007
Location: Orange County, CA
Posts: 1856

Review Date: Wed April 16, 2008

Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: $600.00 | Rating: 9

Pros:	Wide range of tones
Cons:	Feedback when distortion/OD is used with boost

I took a big step up from a cheap practice amp to this head, paired with a GK Neo 112 cab. Wow.
The variety of tones you can get with this is great. Using the 4-wire speakon cable to use biamping is totally worth the extra expense. Being able to control the woofer and tweeter separately is a lot of fun and it improves clarity.
The equalizer really does a great job of controlling pitch volume without compressing or distorting or anything. I like the boost knob pretty well, although when I try and use distortion through my GT6-B, it tends to make it feedback really hard, which i don't like. That is my only complaint about this amp. Lowering the boost and pumping the woofer/master counteracts this well enough.

All in all, I'm super happy with this buy.

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Jack Payne: Solo Artist
Sorizon

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