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Aguilar vs GK

#21
inanimate_carb said:
Depends on what you’re looking for. As mentioned earlier, Aguilar amps have a baked-in vintage tonality that some players don’t care for. The GK sound is very modern and hi-fi, which another sector of players don’t like either.
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Well this is my point exactly. Thing is, I care for both honestly :)

I like warm sound for certain things as much as I like clean tone for reggae, fusion, perhaps rock in general and I even prefer the cleaner sound for jazz applications.

I am trying hard to convince myself to keep both but honestly I think it would just end up at one stack sitting in the corner. OTOH it is a nice brain reset once you get bored of the sound which we all know happens all the time. :)

Maybe my 810 stack should wait for a while, get myself a combo for small venues and later invest into an 810 stack but then again, which one? Definitely can't afford a gk 810 and aguilar 810 at the same time :/

Do I need 810? Only for 2% of my yearly gigs honestly. But I always wanted to experience the 810 thing and to have a stack like this at a gig or two just to enjoy the bass might lol :) If not for else, one 410 can be ready for transport while the other stays in the room for band rehearsals, well the options are many.

Edit: One of the things I absolutely LOVE about the 410RHB is the cab design offering the tilt option which is absolutely AWESOME and it honestly makes me wonder why in the hell are there no other cabs designed like this (except for some combos basically)!

Funny thing, I didn't even realize this until I already bought it and read an online manual explaining this. Always thought that the funny shape of this cab is to make it fit into corners more neatly but yeah, there you go :)
 
#22
It's cheaper to keep the Aggie. You probably won't get the $$$ out of it, and even if you do get $$$ out of it, you'll regret selling it and when you search for a replacement for it you won't find a deal in sight. Heck, it's paid for, right? Man, don't be too hasty.
 
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#23
bumperbass said:
It's cheaper to keep the Aggie. You probably won't get the $$$ out of it, and even if you do get $$$ out of it, you'll regret selling it and when you search for a replacement for it you won't find a deal in sight. Heck, it's paid for, right? Man, don't be too hasty.
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Well... I agree. But the reason also why I am considering getting rid of Aguilar is the absolute difficulty getting replacement parts for Aguilar in Europe. In that DB410, 3 of 4 speakers are creased and I've ordered 4 brand new replacement speakers from UK (gear4music). I ordered them last november, still waiting for them today, just got an email couple of weeks ago that the order has been delayed to march 2018 with no fixed date to boot.

GK is stocked in Thomann (germany) and when Thomann means business, Thomann means business :P

I am going to try them both with bands and see how they compare, where I enjoy most.

This vid has me going strong for GK though:



I mean, Roccos sound here is crazy good.
 
#24
The only idiotic part is thinking you may be an idiot for liking or wanting one over the other ;):thumbsup: You like what you like, and that's that.

Did you run out of space or money? Why does one have to go? You can hang onto them for a couple days/months/years until you're completely satisfied with your choice, then offload the other. Alternatively, you may not have to get rid of either, then you'll always have two separate tonal options.

The thing with the Rocco vid is, you're not Rocco Prestia, so you may not sound like that at all. It's best to base your decision on what you sound like, not someone else.
 
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#25
Sparkl said:
Maybe my 810 stack should wait for a while, get myself a combo for small venues and later invest into an 810 stack but then again, which one? Definitely can't afford a gk 810 and aguilar 810 at the same time :/

Do I need 810? Only for 2% of my yearly gigs honestly. But I always wanted to experience the 810 thing and to have a stack like this at a gig or two just to enjoy the bass might lol :) If not for else, one 410 can be ready for transport while the other stays in the room for band rehearsals, well the options are many.
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In 2018, I’d argue that the max you’d need for almost any gig these days is a 4x10. 8x10 cabs recall the days when PA systems sucked and amplification was heavy, expensive, and limited in sound quality. If you want the 8x10 experience only part of the time, it’s not worth the effort, unless you’re in one of the 34,653,532 sub-genres of obscenely loud Metal that’s out there now. :D

Most guys I see working these days are using a pair of 12”cabs like I do, a single 4x10 or 2x10, a combo, or a custom speaker box. The new school amp rigs are efficient and loud, and whatever they can’t cover is handled by the PA and monitors. Even that is a non-issue if inears are involved.

If I were you, I’d stick with the GK. You can use pedals and effects to cover vintage sounding tones with a modern sounding amp, but you can’t use those pedals and effects to add slice and definition to a vintage-voiced amp.
 
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#26
inanimate_carb said:
In 2018, I’d argue that the max you’d need for almost any gig these days is a 4x10. 8x10 cabs recall the days when PA systems sucked and amplification was heavy, expensive, and limited in sound quality. If you want the 8x10 experience only part of the time, it’s not worth the effort, unless you’re in one of the 34,653,532 sub-genres of obscenely loud Metal that’s out there now. :D

Most guys I see working these days are using a pair of 12”cabs like I do, a single 4x10 or 2x10, a combo, or a custom speaker box. The new school amp rigs are efficient and loud, and whatever they can’t cover is handled by the PA and monitors. Even that is a non-issue if inears are involved.

If I were you, I’d stick with the GK. You can use pedals and effects to cover vintage sounding tones with a modern sounding amp, but you can’t use those pedals and effects to add slice and definition to a vintage-voiced amp.
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Thanks for your answer!

Yeah I play in a crap load of bands spanning genres from A to Z yet I am free of any hard metal shenanigans :P
I agree though that a sansamp paired with 1001RB would probably do the trick. As I said, I am searching for the most versatile stack.

So yes, I totally agree with the 810 thing. If for nothing else, I would love to have this stacked in my room, if not for else just for fun. I am not seeking more power in an 810 stack btw, I still think that playing through a 810 is the perfect setup for a bass player. Loads of low end from the lower cab but still hearing good presence and definition from the upper cab (the surface is just perfect), so most of the times you are able to set a better sound and you actually don't have to crank the cab so loud so you can hear yourself. I still prefer to use my rigs as monitors as the stage monitoring usually sucks for bass sound anyways (unless you play some major gig with a solid PA agency covering it).

But yeah, with the 410RBH I guess getting another one can wait since the tilt option is probably going to solve the problem. Then I can focus on getting the combo. Was thinking of getting a GK MB210 or something like that. Should be plenty.
 
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#29
Sparkl said:
Well... I agree. But the reason also why I am considering getting rid of Aguilar is the absolute difficulty getting replacement parts for Aguilar in Europe. In that DB410, 3 of 4 speakers are creased and I've ordered 4 brand new replacement speakers from UK (gear4music). I ordered them last november, still waiting for them today, just got an email couple of weeks ago that the order has been delayed to march 2018 with no fixed date to boot.

GK is stocked in Thomann (germany) and when Thomann means business, Thomann means business :p

I am going to try them both with bands and see how they compare, where I enjoy most.

This vid has me going strong for GK though:



I mean, Roccos sound here is crazy good.
Click to expand...


Just to double dip, Rocco’s sound is about solid time and execution, high action, left hand muting, strong attack, and use of the passive tone control on the bass. It’s not sourced from a brand or type of amp. I’d bet the sound in the clip is mostly DI. I’ve seen him use no less than 5 different amp brands live over the last 25 years and I’ve heard board tapes that are bass DI only and he always sounds the same.
 
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#30
inanimate_carb said:
Just to double dip, Rocco’s sound is about solid time and execution, high action, left hand muting, strong attack, and use of the passive tone control on the bass. It’s not sourced from a brand or type of amp. I’d bet the sound in the clip is mostly DI. I’ve seen him use no less than 5 different amp brands live over the last 25 years and I’ve heard board tapes that are bass DI only and he always sounds the same.
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I know that, but I haven't been able to spot whether there is a mic on the cab or not in this particular video.
 
#34
voided3 said:
I don’t use the biamp feature as I don’t have any tweeter-equipped cabs wired with 4-Pin Speakon jacks, but woofer still acts as the master and I leave the tweeter control down all the way. The volume won’t correct a really hot active bass from overdriving the input stage of the amp as a gain control would on other amps typically, for example, but there is a active pad switch for that. The main idea behind it to me seems that you’d set your woofer and tweeter balance when biamped and use the volume as your master. I’ve found that setting the volume past noon with a passive bass can introduce unpleasant clipping so I set the volume around noon or below without pedals or at 9 ‘o clock when using my compressor and Tone Hammer, I set the boost around 10 ‘o clock to add some character and punch, and control my overall level with the woofer control.
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Not to take us all the way back, but just to expand on that post which I completely agree with, there are a few different stages in the GK that can clip - the input stage, that as @voided3 noted is only affected by signal level before the amp and pad, the preamp stage - this can clip too, so volume will be the way to prevent that stage from clipping (unless you want it to), and then the separate boost and master gain stages that have already been discussed.

The use case also noted above as to how volume can be used to simultaneously control both masters in bi-amp mode is a good one, but frankly IME even when using the bi-amp feature, I always still set the volume to where I liked it best, and then used both tweeter and woofer masters to adjust volume to taste. If not, and if you're relying on boost for a certain tone, you'll always be fiddling with the two because they're interactive. Less volume = more boost needed for the same level of boost coloration... and really then you're back to the same volume probably anyways.
 
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#38
Altough not big fan of GK i would suggest do not rush selling the RBH Cab. Those are very hard to find in good shape. DB cabs you will find them plenty for sale or trade (USA at least) And the RBH have good reputation. Heavy my guess. But worth giving a very detailed overview. Personally i like Aggie stuff better. Nicer round sound. GK just very trebly for my tastes. But may be your sound.
 
#39
Sparkl said:
I just bought a GK 410 RBH and GK 1001RB-II for almost a steal here in europe.
On the other side, I own an Aguilar AG500DC and Aguilar DB410.
One of them will have to go. I think it is time for the Aggie this time.

Am I an idiot?
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No, you are thinking right, I had that same Aggie head, but she was pushing a pair of DB112s , rock solid but I too re-homed them...I am a GK guy...always GK. Cant ever go wrong with GK.
 

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