GK biamp help

theres really only a few places it could go. on the back of the head and the back of the cab there are matching outlets for speaker/speakon cables.
in order to biamp the GK stuff, you need a special 4-pin speakon cable. every time i asked Guitar Center guys about this, I got a blank stare. I don't think that they stock 4-pin cables. so i looked online and found some. GK sells them, and there are people that make and sell them too. There are about a half million threads on this subject. do a search if you want a lot more information.
if they gave you a 2-pin speakon or a 1/4" speaker cable, make sure that you have the cab in 'full range' mode, since it won't work with the biamp feature anyway.

There are 4 wires in a GK Bi-amp cable. Two wires for the woofer which connect to the 1+ and 1- inside each speakon plug and two wires for the tweeter which connect to the 2+ and 2- of each plug.

Inside a speakon plug, right by the screw for each terminal, it is marked 1+, 1-, 2+ or 2-
You can't really go wrong. Just get two 4 pole speakon plugs and some 4 core speaker cable. Then match up the colours so that at each end the wires of matching terminals are the same.

Like, imagine your cable has 4 wires coloured White, black, red and blue....
You put:
the white wire to 1+ in each plug,
the black wire to 1- in each plug,
the red wire to 2+ in each plug and...
the blue wire to 2- in each plug.

Obviously, the colours of the wires in whatever cable you end up with might not be the same because I just picked 4 different colours as an example.

You might find that you have two red wires and two blue wires with one of each colour having a stripe on it for instance...


I hope this helps you!!

Wait, you bought a NEW cab and it didn't come with a pre-made GK speakon cable? It's supposed to.

With that being said, each speakon plug should be labeled with "+1", "-1", etc. where each terminal is. It's not hard as long as you make sure each wire begins and ends on the correct terminals (i.e., from +1 to +1, -1 to -1, etc.).

Even if you use a 2-pin Speakon cable (the typical standard for most cabs, wired +1/-1), you should be fine. You'd only miss out on the bi-amp controls the amp offers, and you'd have to control the tweeter from the back of the cab instead via its crossover dial.

Honestly, it's not a major loss unless you're a fan of tweeters.

MysticBoo said:

Wait, you bought a NEW cab and it didn't come with a pre-made GK speakon cable? It's supposed to.

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I bought both of my GK cabs new and neither one came with the GK cable. I had to buy them separately for £15 each. That works out to be about $30 each. Maybe only US dealers bundle them in...

MysticBoo said:

With that being said, each speakon plug should be labeled with "+1", "-1", etc. where each terminal is. It's not hard as long as you make sure each wire begins and ends on the correct terminals (i.e., from +1 to +1, -1 to -1, etc.).

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Ain't that exactly what I just said...? I think so!

MysticBoo said:

Even if you use a 2-pin Speakon cable (the typical standard for most cabs, wired +1/-1), you should be fine. You'd only miss out on the bi-amp controls the amp offers, and you'd have to control the tweeter from the back of the cab instead via its crossover dial.

Honestly, it's not a major loss unless you're a fan of tweeters.

Click to expand...

To be really honest, I don't use much tweeter *but* I do use it and as I like the gritty sound you can get from a GK amp, it sounds better to me if I use the special tweeter amp because the grit is added after the tweeter amp. If you run your cabs in full range, utilising the pad control on the back of your cabs, the grit (if you dial it in on the amp) also gets sent to the tweeter which in many people's opinion (including GK's), sounds utterly baaaaad.

Hence the whole reason for the Bi-amp facility. Like MysticBoo quite rightly says however, you don't have to use the bi-amp facility, or even have the tweeter in the circuit at all.

Femto said:

To be really honest, I don't use much tweeter *but* I do use it and as I like the gritty sound you can get from a GK amp, it sounds better to me if I use the special tweeter amp because the grit is added after the tweeter amp. If you run your cabs in full range, utilising the pad control on the back of your cabs, the grit (if you dial it in on the amp) also gets sent to the tweeter which in many people's opinion (including GK's), sounds utterly baaaaad.

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Agreed, which is why I love the bi-amp design on modern GK amps. A clean tweeter is a happy tweeter.

MysticBoo said:

Wait, you bought a NEW cab and it didn't come with a pre-made GK speakon cable? It's supposed to.

Click to expand...

Femto said:

I bought both of my GK cabs new and neither one came with the GK cable. I had to buy them separately for £15 each. That works out to be about $30 each. Maybe only US dealers bundle them in...

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Don't blame GK for this. Amp and guitar companies usually do throw in the necessary cables and gear to make their products work as advertised.
Some music stores will take this stuff out and sell 'em separately. Just another way to make extra money. :scowl:

ryco said:

Don't blame GK for this. Amp and guitar companies usually do throw in the necessary cables and gear to make their products work as advertised.

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Oh, I didn't blame GK. They've publicly said they include those cables with their cabs.

Back in the day, they used to distribute the cables with their heads, but then they changed their policy because it made more sense to distribute them with the cabs.

So, if he didn't get his cable, I'd turn my attention to the dealer...