Did a trio gig with this amp today. I totally love it! It sounded phat and perfect. So narrow that it can go back up against the wall and be heard perfectly. I so forgot about this wonderful amp. (with the Redeye out front it is perfectly Impedance balanced). plenty of volume for a guitar trio. Super clear but not thin. I always remember liking the sound of the 200MB better then the 150.
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Double Bass 1980's GK200 MB refurbish
- Thread starter flatback
- Start date
Interview with Bob Gallien. He has stated that they needed to up the power from the 200MB, and improve the EQ. He thinks his amps get better and better- what does he know???
https://www.cliffengel.com/interviews/gallien_krueger/
interesting what he says about the punchy-ness of the GK gear. It was so true yesterday. My GRAC has a "better" "bigger" tone with lots more of everything but it was SO easy to hear myself yesterday and the way the sound developed on stage so that I could make use of it was so excellent. I am stoked.
Yeah,Interview with Bob Gallien. He has stated that they needed to up the power from the 200MB, and improve the EQ. He thinks his amps get better and better- what does he know???
https://www.cliffengel.com/interviews/gallien_krueger/
Mr. Gallien is a brilliant electronic engineer and Amp Designer but he never hit lightning in a bottle again like he’d did with the 200MB and RCB. The MBS that Ron Carter is using in that picture is a perfectly fine amp that was built after the MBE which I unfortunately traded my 200MB for. The EQ voicing on the MBE was different. I sold mine within 2 months.
Sometimes, "improving" the EQ for EB has a counter effect on the sound it gets with a Double Bass.Interview with Bob Gallien. He has stated that they needed to up the power from the 200MB, and improve the EQ. He thinks his amps get better and better- what does he know???
https://www.cliffengel.com/interviews/gallien_krueger/
Not the same, the EQ sections on a 200MB is voiced differently than the MBE or the MBS.The MBS being the closest to the 200MB.
Way more boomy. Darker. My least favorite of all the Micro bass amps. I had the 200mb, a series 2 MB150 and a series 3.
I used my 200mb as my main amp in 95% of my gigs for at least the last 15 years. For me I always ended up using it plug and play. It paired so well with my main bass. For whatever reason my current instrument doesn't get along as well with it.
I sold my backup 200mb to my friend who owns a jazz club in the area and it's been the house amp for everyone. They probably will end up getting a larger amp at some point but it's been doing great! Just saw Scott Colley play on it and it sounded beautiful of course. On the house Kay C1 no less!
Scott Colley is a great player. I had the wonderful opportunity to hear him play live her in St.Louis with Billy Childs. Something I’ll always remember. The 200MB was the only combo amp I ever owned (until recently) that compared to the MI Series amps that Walter Woods built for me. Both of those amps are analog except. My guess is that the components they built the GK 200MB with are no longer available.
Man the Yamahiko AND the Wilson K1 sound great thru this amp ESPECIALLY with the Neutrik tone plug set to mellow. But really this amp has something very fine in the way it sits with other instruments.
There’s a shop selling a 200MB on Reverb.
They do electronic repair. Just FYI; I’m not affiliated.
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If anyone in SF Bay Area wants a 200MB for cheap, HMU.
Absolutely won't ship. Has very well-weathered shoulder bag.
I got it on TB around 2004, speaker dissolved first time I played thru it. :-/
Got it pro-refoamed with the correct Pyle kit. While apart, I applied clear silicone caulk or thin foam weatherstrip every metal to metal surface I could to minimize rattles.
Caulk was used only to seal, and dried before re-assembly.
About 10 years ago, front half of input jack snapped off - but input works OK (I double-wrap cord around handle, unless you yoink it, works fine).
I may have the front of jack but no promises.
I've used FX return with an external preamp.
Has transformer hum when plugged in (so did the one I got new in '90).
Other item to note - there's a distortion that occurs when running chorus, I actually like it!
Everything else behaves as expected.
Amp has always worked flawlessly, drives external speaker just fine.
Not really playing DB in recent years - loved it for that - but for bass guitar I always wish it had the Boost circuit, so looking to move it on.
Absolutely won't ship. Has very well-weathered shoulder bag.
I got it on TB around 2004, speaker dissolved first time I played thru it. :-/
Got it pro-refoamed with the correct Pyle kit. While apart, I applied clear silicone caulk or thin foam weatherstrip every metal to metal surface I could to minimize rattles.
Caulk was used only to seal, and dried before re-assembly.
About 10 years ago, front half of input jack snapped off - but input works OK (I double-wrap cord around handle, unless you yoink it, works fine).
I may have the front of jack but no promises.
I've used FX return with an external preamp.
Has transformer hum when plugged in (so did the one I got new in '90).
Other item to note - there's a distortion that occurs when running chorus, I actually like it!
Everything else behaves as expected.
Amp has always worked flawlessly, drives external speaker just fine.
Not really playing DB in recent years - loved it for that - but for bass guitar I always wish it had the Boost circuit, so looking to move it on.
I am absolutely loving this amp. Dang. I think I prefer it to my GR. Yes it hums, yes it rattles, but the sound that comes out when you are playing with other musicians, specifically the sound 'I hear' is killing. It looks killing sitting there at a gig...not too intrusive. I have plugged all my different preamps out in front to hear and honestly the only thing that in anyway improves the sound (and it can really be fantastic) is Fdeck's HPF. More then what an HPF does on a modern box, it seems like the efficiency it imparts to the speakers low end is very beneficial.
Thanks to Winston my man, I now have twin 200mb’s. My thought was that I would keep the amp for parts and use the speaker cab as an extension cab like I saw my old teacher Darek Oles do at his power trio gig. But Winston basically gifted me this fine perfectly excellent (in fact he did a great job of sealing the box AND it has very little initial hum like the other (I mean hum when the plug is plugged in but the amp is off) So naturally being that I almost always have two pickups on the bass…I just had to plug one pickup into each amp and separate them by a couple feet and WHOA! THAT is the phatist most punchy least feadback, SUPER loud but warm, petit footprint, did I say punchy, upright sound ever.
I could see using these two for PA less loud gigs. Would kill it...
And again huge thanks to Winston for hooking me up with this stellar amp.
I could see using these two for PA less loud gigs. Would kill it...
And again huge thanks to Winston for hooking me up with this stellar amp.
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Haha, you're welcome, and glad I can support your stereophonic explorations!!
I've gotten some great local deals here over the years, and was happy to pay it forward to a groovy dude like you.
You studied with Darek Oles! Great player! How cool
Alan Pasqua is a monster pianist and composer. That trio is the best. 200MB’s are unique amps so whatever floats your boat I guess. I’m good with my GR Bass AT Cube Acoustic. Gallien Krueger made a great amp.So I just spent some time A/B/C ing the GR acoustic cube and the GK200mb and the Grace Felix/MAS 18 and it is super apparent what I am hearing and liking from the 200MB: what it does better then boutique full range HIFI combos is it radiates it's sound so much faster and broader and more clearly to me standing right above it. It gets to my ear first and the sound is punchy so that I can respond to what I am hearing quicker (for me, the way I play, where I have the amp placed, places I play, etc) It cut THRU a quartet rehearsal the other day, in a group and room where I can get lost in the sonic complexity and volume, and still has a warm unbrittle sound. Using the Neutric Cap plug on the mellow setting cuts that overly live, too much finger noise sound, but does not obscure the clarity, sounds great. Someone ought to modernize this design and resell it because it DOES hum, rattle, and is 40 years old. But I find myself taking it to every gig now, which I didn't think was gunna happen.
Part of what you are hearing is probably the effect of a sealed cabinet; more punchy/transient (at the cost of some low end extension). Plus the presence of a large papercone transducer.
Ofcourse the circuitry also matters.
Ofcourse the circuitry also matters.
