• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Gallien Krueger MB115 problem

8liter

8liter

Apr 30, 2009
393
340
#1
Hey people.

I never thought I would be typing this out, but I have a problem with my MB115 amp/combo.

I had a nice morning session and decided to do a little more playing about an hour ago. I had every thing plugged in from earlier, so nothing changed.

Anyway, I turned on the amp and immediately started hearing something that sounded like interference. I noticed the amp was almost intermittent with the noise, then I noticed the light ring around the power button was changing from blue to a pink color when it would glitch and make the interference type noise.

I checked everything and made sure I didn't have any loose cables, changed the battery in my bass and even changed the power supply point and the power supply cable.

The only thing left is the amp. I'm not sure where to start with a diagnosis. I am not familiar with working on amps/heads. Until today the combo has been flawless and has never gave me a single issue.

But this is just eating my nerves, I'm worried something might be wrong with the head and I can't play until I fix it :(

I did search and all I could come up with were threads about ordering a unit, how it plays, etc...Nothing specific to my issues.

I apologize in advance for any bad grammar or misuse of terms.

Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated. I have a small gig tomorrow night and a new (to me) bass on the way, so I need this thing back up and quick or else I will go nuts :atoz:

Edit: I can easily take a video of the light changing colors and the sound if it becomes necessary.
 
  • Like
Reactions: innssurrexxitt
#2
I had this same problem a few months back i owned the GK MB115 for a little over a year and after about 7 months in the head fried i also got the same color light from the power button it was not even letting out a little sound while struming the strings not one sound i never push the amp to its limit never once always at a decent level of play and suddenly went out on me i took i it to my local guitar shop and they said a lil chip fried cant remeber correctly but one peice was fried and they cant fix it like changing parts in and out basically if its fried u have to buy a whole new head which said it cost 300 dollars to replace from GK company its work great now but i had it under warrenty so they fixed it it sound good now but its only been like 4 months since they fixed it so far it working great but if you have it under warrenty then your clear send it to a certified GK shop and they will replace it for you. hope it help a little bit. :p
Jdbass
 
#3
Bachatero36 said:
I had this same problem a few months back i owned the GK MB115 for a little over a year and after about 7 months in the head fried i also got the same color light from the power button it was not even letting out a little sound while struming the strings not one sound i never push the amp to its limit never once always at a decent level of play and suddenly went out on me i took i it to my local guitar shop and they said a lil chip fried cant remeber correctly but one peice was fried and they cant fix it like changing parts in and out basically if its fried u have to buy a whole new head which said it cost 300 dollars to replace from GK company its work great now but i had it under warrenty so they fixed it it sound good now but its only been like 4 months since they fixed it so far it working great but if you have it under warrenty then your clear send it to a certified GK shop and they will replace it for you. hope it help a little bit. :p
Jdbass
Click to expand...

This is not what I wanted to hear :(. I've had this amp for just over a year now. The driving factor to purchase it came from all the comments about the quality :rollno: Don't take that the wrong way, this is the best sounding combo I have ever played. I absolutely love it, but for it to die on me in such a short time.....I'm less than happy.

Unfortunately, I live in the Florida Keys and there are very, very few shops around here and even less shops that I trust. I'll wait a few days to see if any else will chime in and give their ideas/perspective on this. I need to check my warranty as well.

The worst part....I have a gig tomorrow night. Looks like I will be dusting off my old Crate 50 watt:bawl:

That rig, compared to the noises the GK can make, is just....depressing.

Bump for more information.
 
#4
I agree with you its a great combo for its buck amazing combo but its seems odd that with just about a year both of our combo's went out just to ironic that around the same time of owning it it just gose out suddently very strange. I happen to live in NYC area so there are loads of guitar shops around here but most are not certified aproved by GK but i happen to find one they fixed it took them about 3 weeks to fix as they ship the head to the GK headquarters. It seems to have a higer output then the last head they replace thats for sure and its running great for now. But i heard that these combos since there digital they tend to flame out after a decent amount of hours played just from what i heard. I play latin music (bachata) we dnt have drums nor the guitar is insandly loud so i never have to push it hard into clipping it keeps up fine in small/medium sized gigs so its kinda strange on why mines fried on normal use? but yeah you should check if your still underwarrenty.
 
#5
Okay, more problems. The amp is, as described above, dead. The light is not a solid color and has no signal. I am......pissed, to say the least.

Luckily the warranty covers electronics for two years, so this should be a pretty clean cut fix. Being on a strict college budget I plan things thoroughly and shipping for this amp was not in the budget :spit: Hopefully it won't murder my wallet.

I still can't understand why there is a problem. The amp was never abused, over played, never had the gain more than half way up, never been near water or any thing wet, etc...I just don't understand.

But, oh well. Nothing I can do now but have it fixed and continue playing. Gigs for the next few weeks are canceled:bawl:
 
#6
I had to take my MB115 into the shop only a few weeks after getting it. The DI out wasn't getting a signal. I've not had any problems since (12 month or so), but the customer service hell that I endured put me on the 'no more GK' list. Hopefully you'll have better luck with your local shop.
 
#7
I have the same combo, did you notice whether your fan was working or not before the meltdown ? Mine has cut out and these amps heat up and overheat pretty quickly. I use mine as an extension cabinet now. Sounds great so not a total loss.
 
#9
I'm continuing this thread.

I just purchased the MB115 yesterday. I turned it on and there a number of problems.

First, the horn/tweeter makes a loud hissing noise when you turn it on.

Also, when you play low frequencies, there's a rattling sounds coming from the top right portion of the amp.

Also, when I plug in headphones, it's very, very distorted. They're high quality headphones.

Who do I contact? I contacted [email protected], but that was almost 20 hours ago and I haven't heard a response yet.
 
#11
squiresuzuki said:
Who do I contact? I contacted [email protected], but that was almost 20 hours ago and I haven't heard a response yet.
Click to expand...

Ya know... today is Sunday... 20 hours ago was Saturday... maybe the good folks at GK aren't working in the shop on weekends? If you don't hear back from them by noon Monday, just give them a call... works way better than email.
 
#13
I have to add to this thread. I bought a GK MB115 about 3 weeks ago and am just starting to have problems. I haven't even played the amp that much, maybe 50 hours total use or so since I've bought it. I'm getting really bad buzz when i turn the master volume at or past about 12 o clock or so. And like others have said, the horn now hisses terribly when I turn it on. These problems started yesterday, everything has been fine since then.

I've played my iPod through the amp quite a bit and have also played my electric tele through it a few times the past few days. I hope this didn't contribute to the problems! I don't see how it would since I've never had any problems playing electrics through a bass amp (plus the thing is made with an aux input so you think it would be fine handling higher frequencies)

I really concerned, I do not want to pay to ship this thing to get fixed.

EDIT: I went to use the amp today, magically the buzzing was gone. However the horn still hisses terribly. I usually have the horn off when playing so not a huge deal.
 
#14
I just bought a used MB 115 Tuesday from a kind of local GC. I have a little less than a month to return it, and at this point I feel like I will. I'm having a similar issue, the amp can put out some weird squeals and sounds now and then but the main concern is that it will cut out after awhile and the light will go pink/purple. I might pop the thing open and take a look, but based on what I've heard there's no way I'll be able to fix anything. For what I paid for the amp, I'm not going to have it repaired, so a return is probably the way I'll go.
 
#15
jrcorp said:
I might pop the thing open and take a look, but based on what I've heard there's no way I'll be able to fix anything. For what I paid for the amp, I'm not going to have it repaired, so a return is probably the way I'll go.
Click to expand...

Not trying to be rude but when you open up the amp have you any idea what to look for??

I'd not open the amp but I would certainly return it. You don't pay good money for a faulty amp!
 
#16
jrcorp said:
I just bought a used MB 115 Tuesday from a kind of local GC. I have a little less than a month to return it, and at this point I feel like I will. I'm having a similar issue, the amp can put out some weird squeals and sounds now and then but the main concern is that it will cut out after awhile and the light will go pink/purple. I might pop the thing open and take a look, but based on what I've heard there's no way I'll be able to fix anything. For what I paid for the amp, I'm not going to have it repaired, so a return is probably the way I'll go.
Click to expand...

Once the power light on one of my GK MB115s changed color and stopped working - I turned the amp off and plugged the power cord all the way in and turned the amp back on and the problem was solved. But I’ve never heard any weird squeals or etc - so yeah, if I was you I’d return the amp too.
 
#17
I've had my mb115 for a year now. I haven't had any issues whatsoever. I play with a couple friends at home in a spare bedroom. Me, drummer and 2 guitards. I usually play pretty loud (gain at noon, volume 9 ish, horn off). And still nothing like you guys have descibed. Is it possible there was a bad batch that came out?
 
#18
BassmanPaul said:
Not trying to be rude but when you open up the amp have you any idea what to look for??

I'd not open the amp but I would certainly return it. You don't pay good money for a faulty amp!
Click to expand...

I've worked on a few guitar amps and cleaned some too. I admit that I let curiosity get the best of me, but I figure it's worth even looking for anything that jumps at me as obviously wrong.

Joe Louvar said:
Once the power light on one of my GK MB115s changed color and stopped working - I turned the amp off and plugged the power cord all the way in and turned the amp back on and the problem was solved. But I’ve never heard any weird squeals or etc - so yeah, if I was you I’d return the amp too.
Click to expand...

I'll try what you mentioned the next time I play the amp. I figure I have some time, so who knows. I also noticed that my bass has some kind of grounding issues, if not other stuff going on. That will get fixed soon enough, but in the meantime it's tough to tell what's going on. It could even relate to the outlet that I plug into.

For the record, I did start pulling the amp chassis out to take a peek, and it looks so small and complicated that there's almost definitely no way I could do anything. If I feel confident enough, maybe I'll do it again. But damn that stuff is small - I guess part of it is the class D circuitry? It's taped in anyway, so I don't want to screw that up anymore.

I'm just keeping my hopes up because I don't have the budget for something comparable unless I find something else used. Thanks for the responses.
 
#19
I bought my MB115 in February of 2011 and so far (knock on wood) I haven't had any problems. But then, I really don't put thru heavy use either. I play at church once a month, rehearse with the band once a month and use it at home periodically. I really don't push it to the limit either. Gain is roughly at a 1:00 position, Boost is roughly around 12:00 with the Master at around 1:00-2:00. No problems with the tweeter because it's always off.

I hope my luck continues and I hope you get yours sorted out.
 
#20
I need advice. I really want to hold onto this if I could get it working. I called a local authorized service center and spoke to what seems like a reasonable guy. He said they charge $45 as a diagnostic fee/deposit, then $75/hr with the deposit applied.

I have a little experience working with my gear, so I wonder if spending the $45 or $75 would be worthwhile. I bought the amp for $150, so that would bring me up to $225. What if I went to GC and showed them what's wrong? I know they don't work on amps.

If I return the amp, I'll be looking for another on a budget.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back