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Gallien-Krueger MB2-500: Part II
- Thread starter Kelly Lee
- Start date
*Have had a couple of rehearsals with the MB2-500 and Neo 212 rig and have to say that I am thoroughly impressed. The tone and volume are everything that I wanted but could never get from my Eden WT-550 and two D112XLT cabs. The irony of it is that even though I got the input gain issue resolved I have to engage the 10 DB pad when playing it at home just to get it down to neighbor friendly volumes.
*I think a lot of the complaints that people have about GK, me included, is not undertstanding how they want you to set up the pre and master volumes for best results. Most amps want you to crank the pre as much as possible and then bring up the master as needed. It seems that with GK it is the other way around. So far I have found all the volume and tone I was looking for with the master at 12:00 and the pre at about 10:30. I started with the master at 3:00 (as per the manual) but could only get the pre up to about 9:00 before I was too loud. Did you hear that? I said too loud! I've never been too loud before. Even when running the WT-550 through an Ampeg 610. Dropped the master a little so I could raise the pre a little more. The tone cuts through the mix with that nice grind when I really dig in and plenty of volume with headroom to spare. And the best part is now I am in and out of the gig in one trip with only two pieces of gear. My gigbag with bass and head in it and my speaker cabinet.
*I think a lot of the complaints that people have about GK, me included, is not undertstanding how they want you to set up the pre and master volumes for best results. Most amps want you to crank the pre as much as possible and then bring up the master as needed. It seems that with GK it is the other way around. So far I have found all the volume and tone I was looking for with the master at 12:00 and the pre at about 10:30. I started with the master at 3:00 (as per the manual) but could only get the pre up to about 9:00 before I was too loud. Did you hear that? I said too loud! I've never been too loud before. Even when running the WT-550 through an Ampeg 610. Dropped the master a little so I could raise the pre a little more. The tone cuts through the mix with that nice grind when I really dig in and plenty of volume with headroom to spare. And the best part is now I am in and out of the gig in one trip with only two pieces of gear. My gigbag with bass and head in it and my speaker cabinet.
I've said this many times on these boards..... and when you throw the boost into the equation, it get's even hairier. Everything you want is probably in the GK gear.... all you have to do is get your gain structuring down, and eq'ing is pretty simple from there. No amount of eq'ing will take care of the shrill/brittle sound of the overdriven GK pre.
BTW, congrats on your rig!
Most amps I owned, played and/or tried work best with the preamp set around noon give or take and then master to your preferred volume. I'm not sure I'm understanding where your experience is "the other way around"...?
The GK's are just slightly different. Start with your master at noon, then bring up the pre to desired volume. I try to stay below 11 on mine (the pre starts to clip when higher), so once I'm there, I'll start to bring up the master (and come down on the boost).
Pretty sure that if your running at noon on the master and eleven on the pre, you're pretty much walking the liquor bottles off the shelf. You guys are loud.
Don't you get a lot of extra hiss when cranking the master? That has been my experience.
Are you talking about audible clipping of the preamp when you pass eleven? The clip light has nothing to do with the gain knob.
Yes, I'm talking about the preamp audibly clipping, not the input (which is the light). Like I said, I use the preamp gain to control my volume until I'm at 11. After that, I can hear the pre start to distort. Please don't let me mislead you.... I don't play the MB2, but the 700rbII. I only chimed in because of the statements made about the gain structure. I keep my input as maxed as possible..... I crank the gain on my EBS Multicomp until the clip light comes on, then I back it down a bit. That is probably the reason my head starts to distort past 11.... the input is so hot.
I'm sitting here thwappin' on my bass now as I browse the forums, and when I bypass the comp, the input is a lot lower, and I can crank the head up to 12:30 before any noticible distortion. I'm getting a lot less GK Growl as well. ...... as I bring down the boost, it's super clean. When I plug the comp back in and max out my input without clipping, I get huge growl with the boost at 3, and the master at 12. No hiss, but I keep the tweeter amp at 10 or less. I'm only running through the neo 112 now, and luckily there are no liqour bottles around... LOL. I would rattle pretty much everything not nailed or screwed down if it was my 212..... and with both, the roof might blow off!
Okay, that makes more sense to me. It also explains the way you set your gain structure with the amp. The Multicomp's gain knob is pretty much all boost - its got unity gain when turned almost all the way counter clockwise. So, like you said, you are already hitting the input of your GK's preamp pretty hard, which would account for why you have to keep the preamp gain low. But you said all that.
As far as hiss goes, I suspect the MB2-500 is a bit noisier than most other GK heads. That shouldn't scare anybody off, though. The hiss level is pretty much always low in relation to the volume the amp is pumping out. That little amp is loud. Frankly, I'm not sure what these guys are thinking when they're getting excited about other manufacturers releasing 800 and 900 watt versions of their 500 watt heads. That's cool and all, but, that's a lot of power.
The multicomp in tubeism mode is pretty sweet. I bet hitting a GK head with that could be pretty cool as well . I'll have to try that - I own both; I just haven't got there yet. Thanks for the tip!
As far as hiss goes, I suspect the MB2-500 is a bit noisier than most other GK heads. That shouldn't scare anybody off, though. The hiss level is pretty much always low in relation to the volume the amp is pumping out. That little amp is loud. Frankly, I'm not sure what these guys are thinking when they're getting excited about other manufacturers releasing 800 and 900 watt versions of their 500 watt heads. That's cool and all, but, that's a lot of power.
The multicomp in tubeism mode is pretty sweet. I bet hitting a GK head with that could be pretty cool as well . I'll have to try that - I own both; I just haven't got there yet. Thanks for the tip!
I swear they had the GK heads in mind when they built that multicomp.... especially in tubesim mode. I'm not real big on comps, but I tried the EBS in tubesim, and it has become an integral part of my rig. I love it!
not true, I've owned a 400B, 800RB, 700RBII, 1001RBII & MB2-500, all have the same amount of hiss,
(barely noticeable)
of course I turn my tweeter almost off
The hiss is definitely tweeter related. I need to dial the tweeters almost totally off on my Aguilar cabs to get rid of the hiss or dial the treble back to 9:00.
Duh. Of course the hiss is tweeter related. The frequencies of the hiss are above the crossover point of most cabs, so the hiss comes from the tweeter. Turn down the tweeter and you turn down the hiss. But you also turn down those frequencies in your overall tone.
But if you are comparing the amount of hiss coming from various GK heads by playing through cabs with the tweeters turned down, I'm not sure you can really compare the amount of hiss. Crank your tweeters, crank the master, set the eq flat, and set the preamp so all are the same volume. Then tell me if you still think the MB2-500 is no noisier than any other GK. It may be no different, but I'll bet its noisier.
I like my MB2-500, but it is noisier than my MarkBass LMII. It is noisier than my SVT-CL. And my AMP BH420. And my Super Redhead. And my Baby Blue when played through cabs with tweeters.
Still I like the amp. It sounds good. And I can make it quiet enough with the gain high and the master (comparatively) low. But this is contrary to how others have been saying to run it. The truth is, when adjusted in a more "traditional" way by setting the preamp level and then setting the master volume, by the time the hiss is really a problem, I'm WAY louder than I need to be anyway.
Gee, thanks for laying it out like I'm an idiot
Definitely a higher noise floor than my LMII or my Aguilar, but as has already been said, nothing really over the top relative to the volume.
Moot point wvbass...
If I cranked my tweeter which would never happen
all my GK amps are about as noisy as each other...
In my world, I agree I'm never loud enough for any amp (or cab) to be a problem
Hey jimmy rocket, at least you're a supporting member huh?
If I cranked my tweeter which would never happen
all my GK amps are about as noisy as each other...
In my world, I agree I'm never loud enough for any amp (or cab) to be a problem
Hey jimmy rocket, at least you're a supporting member huh?
I agree that it does have a pretty high noise floor, but the tone is great when playing so it really is only an issue in very quiet settings between songs (ie church). My M6 has what I would consider a pretty high noise floor and I thought it was going to be an issue as well, but normally there is a enough ambient noise from air conidtioning/heating units circulating air it is a moot point. I am using bergantino cabs with the tweeter down around 10-11ish and definetely don't want to throw the baby out with the bath water, so I'll just accept a little noise for the tone I want.
I bet the MB500 with the AE410 sounds cool... punchy and really grindy. The tweeter on the AE cabs seems to be crossed over a bit lower than most 410's, and seems to not extend quite up into the upper treble stratosphere, which should help reduce the hiss of a relatively noisy amp.
I played around with my mb2-500 last night, alternating between High Gain Low Master and Low Gain High Master. I couldn't notice a difference in noise / hiss either way, when adjusted to the same volume level.
I did notice a difference in tone. It was not a huge difference. With the Gain set high, there was a bit of "clank" to the tone that I didn't like. Dropping the gain and raising the master cured that.
I did notice a difference in tone. It was not a huge difference. With the Gain set high, there was a bit of "clank" to the tone that I didn't like. Dropping the gain and raising the master cured that.
