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Gallien-Krueger MB2-500: Part II

#181
I had an A00 version that also developed the distortion that people are talking about. GK was great about sending out a replacement very fast. I haven't had a problem with the new one yet, but I have hardly played thru it because not long after it arrived, I developed a compressed nerve in my left wrist (not carpal tunnel thankfully). So I'm hoping this problem doesn't happen again in the new amp, when I can get back to playing.

Since it seems that several of us have seen this problem and that GK has had amps back to look at, could Mr. Gallien give us an idea of what is going on here? (If he's still checking in here and not too consumed by NAMM, that is.)
 
#183
4 months since the original part 1 of this thread started. There are still problems with new heads being delivered. Not sure when the amp was released.

I mean no disrespect to the guys at GK who seem to work very hard, but I'm out on this one. I know this has turned into somewhat of a lovefest/owners group for this head so I may get some backlash for this but......

I wouldn't dare spend my money on one of these never mind take one of these out on a gig without a backup. It will take a long time for me to feel any different....

Sorry:crying:
 
#184
scottice said:
Hmmm, I'm waiting for a killer deal on some factory direct refurbs! hehe
Click to expand...

i'm not so sure that'll happen. i bought two new ones in october from music123. they were out. i got them in december. i'm not sure that mine is a refurb... but i'm not sure i'm the first owner either. i sold the other one recently and i'm pretty sure it was a refurb. you could tell the box had been opened and retaped. unless bob gets on here and tells me otherwise, i'm pretty sure these that people are sending back are being refurbished and put back into the mix. i could be wrong... and hope i am.
 
#186
i hope bob corrects me and tells me i'm wrong. and if i am... it won't be the first time. i wasn't that upset about it because i actually got them at a blem price because of a mixup at music123. so i'm good. who knows. maybe they were amps that were already boxed up waiting until they got enough of them to go out. then there were problems and they went from A00 to A02. they couldn't send out amps with known problems. so they opened them up, made the corrections and retaped them at the factory. i don't know. but earlier in the thread (or maybe the old one) someone posted that they could see where part of the old ID number had been taken off and the new one put on their new (never owned by them) amp. again, sorry if i shared a false assumption.
 
#190
peterpalmieri said:
4 months since the original part 1 of this thread started. There are still problems with new heads being delivered. Not sure when the amp was released.

I mean no disrespect to the guys at GK who seem to work very hard, but I'm out on this one. I know this has turned into somewhat of a lovefest/owners group for this head so I may get some backlash for this but......

I wouldn't dare spend my money on one of these never mind take one of these out on a gig without a backup. It will take a long time for me to feel any different....

Sorry:crying:
Click to expand...

I just got mines sent out today and was told by Brian that he would personally check the unit I will be getting. I've only used the mb2500 for band practice(which can run for over 4hours) and it worked without a hiccup.. so a 45min gig should be cake. Only problems I had were weird distortion from the headphone out at some times.


I really hope i don't run in to any real problems.... I am already hooked on these tiny amps... and sold my rack gear... Maybe I could save up some money in case i need to pick up an F1:hiding:
 
#191
I just got my second one delivered this afternoon. No disortion with the brief testing I did, headphone out, DI, cabinet out. The cab was at low level though. I can tell it is definitately better than my first one. However, I did notice if I engaged the ground lift to the IN position, I would get some distortion with headphones. None with the ground in the OUT position.

There is quite a bit of hiss with headphones when not playing. I noticed more hiss out my cab as well than my 1001RBII. Anyone else experience a fair amount of hiss when not playing with the master turned to 3 o'clock like they suggest?

As someone suggested above, these units that are working are a grey area between NEW and Refurbished. I can tell mine has the new A02 serial number sticker above an original, and I can tell the case has been opened. But I got a good deal from RMC when they had a Black Monday sale for existing customers after Thanksgiving, so I am a little more forgiving about the whole thing.

As a guy above pointed out, I am an avid GK user and when the thing has worked I liked the tone a lot, so I am being patient. So I will take it to practice tomorrow and see how this one does at volume. If there are any more issues, then I will probably just return it. I'll post how it goes.
 
#196
dean owens said:
i hope bob corrects me and tells me i'm wrong. and if i am... it won't be the first time. i wasn't that upset about it because i actually got them at a blem price because of a mixup at music123. so i'm good. who knows. maybe they were amps that were already boxed up waiting until they got enough of them to go out. then there were problems and they went from A00 to A02. they couldn't send out amps with known problems. so they opened them up, made the corrections and retaped them at the factory. i don't know. but earlier in the thread (or maybe the old one) someone posted that they could see where part of the old ID number had been taken off and the new one put on their new (never owned by them) amp. again, sorry if i shared a false assumption.
Click to expand...


We held back about 50 units to take care of first run issues fast. We have about 20 units left. All the held back units have been opened up and updated several times as we learned about the problems. Which were as followes:

1. We changed the voicing slightly.
2. We made an RFI mod.
3. We made the final RFI mod.

We have replaced a total of 30 units out of the first 500 shipped. The second run is shipping next week with all the mods and is mostly sold out.
 
#197
Just got my MB2-500 yesterday and played a gig out side last night with a GK 4x10. Wow! I originally had to borrow a Little Mark2 because my GK1001RB quit on me. The Mark was amazing but when I went to Guitar Center to buy one I ran into this MB2. Awesome tone, power, very small package. All good so far. I would highly recommend this amp, especially if you are a GK guy. Looking yo buy some neo GK cabs. Anything out there? Bill
 
#200
I took delivery of an MB2 from rmc this past week and the amp began distorting with signal going through it after I plugged in my pair of headphones with the speaker disconnected. Then both signals were quite distorted irrespective of output volume. I have been unable to speak to Brian or tech folks at either rmc or GK due to everbody being at NAMM. 'trying to decide whether to get a refund and wait for the corrected line to make it to rmc or to send it to GK for an update.

Any opinions?

thanks
 

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