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Fender Rumble Club

Anyone heard of the Gallien Krueger mb combos?
CD239608-6874-4B9B-8DD5-F54C83F51C0B.jpeg

I hear a lot saying they sound crisper and clearer. I heard them and... it pains me to say but they (slightly) are. It’s not a huge difference. U only really notice when u hear them side to side differences.
Who here in the club has tried the GKs and who still recons the rumbles are better?
I feel the rumbles are better cos they have more features at a cheaper price than the gk. The rumble has a punchier mid range, but the gk sounds a bit clearer. It has a better tone for slap. But for fingerstyle u can really use either one.
The gk is also same weight, and there 100 watt combo has a 1 10 speaker as opposed to rumbles 1 12 speaker, and is still slightly louder than the rumble.

I’m not bringing this up to put down the rumble, it is still my fav combo amp. I’m just wondering what other people think about this. I personally like the tone of the rumble more, even if it sounds slightly more muddy when heard back to front with the GK

Like I said, unless u play through these two amps back to front, its not a big difference though. The Fender still has great tone, and it definitely has value on its side for sure!

The rumble still seems to amaze people and rock their world and there is so much talk about them! Despite the Gallien Krueger’s slight advantages, I have heard very little about the GK mb combo compared to the stream of good reviews and happy customers the rumble has. So...

Who has tried the gk mb’s here and what are their thoughts?
 
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Anyone heard of the Gallien Krueger mb combos?
View attachment 3023715
I hear a lot saying they sound crisper and clearer. I heard them and... it pains me to say but they (slightly) are. It’s not a huge difference. U only really notice when u hear them side to side differences.
Who here in the club has tried the GKs and who still recons the rumbles are better?
I feel the rumbles are better cos they have more features at a cheaper price than the gk. The rumble has a punchier mid range, but the gk sounds a bit clearer. It has a better tone for slap. But for fingerstyle u can really use either one.
The gk is also same weight, and there 100 watt combo has a 1 10 speaker as opposed to rumbles 1 12 speaker, and is still slightly louder than the rumble.

I’m not bringing this up to put down the rumble, it is still my fav combo amp. I’m just wondering what other people think about this. I personally like the tone of the rumble more, even if it sounds slightly more muddy when heard back to front with the GK

Like I said, unless u play through these two amps back to front, its not a big difference though. The Fender still has great tone, and it definitely has value on its side for sure!

The rumble still seems to amaze people and rock their world and there is so much talk about them! Despite the Gallien Krueger’s slight advantages, I have heard very little about the GK mb combo compared to the stream of good reviews and happy customers the rumble has. So...

Who has tried the gk mb’s here and what are their thoughts?

I still love my rumble and despite its rival, the Gk mb, it surpasses a lot of amps I have tried, even a few in higher price ranges. I am yet to find an amp I like more than my rumble.
 
I’m not a fan of the GK tone myself. It just seems harsher to me. I take your point, but listening to these two back to back is a little akin to listening to your own bass with the tone control fully on and fully off back to back. Compared with the tone rolled completely off, of course it sounds «clearer» when it’s fully on, but it doesn’t really tell you anything useful. The point is how the bass sits in the mix, and how the tone suits the music you play. You can get usable tones out of most amps, so it makes sense to pick the amp which has the best combination of tone, features and price. For me, that’s the Rumble, but there are other good choices out there, and GK is one of them. YMM, as always, V.
 
The rumble has a punchier mid range,
^^^Bingo-Zingo!^^^ The signature Gallien-Krueger tone is sharply mid-scooped, while the signature Fender tone is mid rich. I remember when G-K 400RB's first came out, and along with SWR were all the rage during the 'hair band' 1980's. It's been a while since I've played through anything G-K. The new Stage 800 And Studio 40 Rumbles have the signature G-K tone nailed down tight, and it's called 'KGB'. You can easily and readily compare the differences between brands with a single digital device.
 
Agree and I get it! Almost all the gigs I do have PA support and I’ll admit, I’ll let the PA and monitors and FOH carry a lot of the load. The sound guy we use a lot has great sounding monitors and we also do in ears a lot. There are other times that I can’t really count on a sound guy and want to make sure I have enough stage rig in case the monitors aren’t that great. On top of that, my days of carrying a giant cab and tube head are long behind me.
The 100 will hold its own for smaller venues if your band is not of the loud variety; otherwise, you may want to consider a 200.
 
'63 blonde piggyback Bassmans

And it was tubes, too. IIRC, 50 watts through 2x12.
The first ever amplifier head was a Leo Fender innovation, called piggyback amps. The 1960 Showman was first, and the 1961 Bassman was second. These were also the very first Tolex covered amps & cabinets. They were blonde and had brown faces. The Bassman had the ivory 'wheel o' cheese' knobs that todays Rumbles sport.
 
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Anyone heard of the Gallien Krueger mb combos?
View attachment 3023715 Who has tried the gk mb’s here and what are their thoughts?
I actually have a GK MB212-ii combo that ive owned and gigged on since 2014, in addition my "main" rig is a Rumble 500 head and x2 210 cabinets. I have gigged alot with both and have them side by side in a jam room.
Summary: First one is NOT "better" than the other, just different....they sound how they look, Modern vs Classic.
GK: Is a bit snappier in the highs, mid scooped, deep "sonic" lows. Modern clean type of tone, pair well with a Jazz.
Rumble: Warmer, Low/Low-Mid forward, punchier low mids...nails the classic "Fender Bass" tone.

I switch back and forth between the two, but generally prefer the Rumble...with a passive Fender bass, its hard to beat
 
I still love my rumble and despite its rival, the Gk mb, it surpasses a lot of amps I have tried, even a few in higher price ranges. I am yet to find an amp I like more than my rumble.

FirewalZ basically nailed it. Especially the part about GK's sounding good with a Jazz. I bought my GK MB112 when all I had was a Jazz and I only played finger style. It felt perfect for that. The MB115 was too dry, and I used to hate 10's thanks to a friends Ashdown so despite liking the 210 I decided to save my money.

Paired with a pick/P Bass/SR I didn't like it at all. Not only did it always get lost in the mix but it just threw a veil over our entire sound. DI'd it sounded much clearer. Then when I started using effects, ODs and fuzz it just couldn't reproduce those sounds. I was basically just giving myself a blue/red light to look at. And seriously with the SR I could have unplugged my bass without even noticing.

Not to say GK makes bad amps, after all when I used mine in the right circumstances it was fantastic, and it lasted over 6 years without even a millisecond of faulter. I sold it to a youngin who played a Jazz with his fingers and had that same look I had playing it for the first time.

The Rumble has cured years of GASing for an Ampeg. Everything sounds good through the Rumble, everything sits in the mix, the EQ feels more usable, I love the OD and how inexpensive the footswitch was, it looks the part, and I can actually hear my effects through it. As long as my Rumble head is rumblin' I don't see me ever wanting another amp (except maybe a Studio 40 for home). More Rumble cabs though...;)