+1 I would love to know if this MB2 head will be offered packaged with a GK cab before I pull the trigger on just the head by itself.
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
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 MB2-500
- Thread starter deekay911
- Start date
- Status
+1 I would love to know if this MB2 head will be offered packaged with a GK cab before I pull the trigger on just the head by itself.
tell me about it. i'm currently looking for a small rig. and i LOVE gk's and thought about trying out this little head and then looking for a small cab. but if gk is going to team it up with a little cab i might have found the amp to last me the rest of my life.
@rag:
Dear Mr. Gallien,
first of all I'm sorry for my english. I'm from Germany and it's been a long time since I went to school...
I'm a great fan of GK-Amps and play through them since January 1987. I guess I was one of the first to buy a 200MB in Germany, and I used it for more than 14 years. Other gear came, other gear left, but the 200MB still remained. Actually I play through the MB150 S 112 III.
I would really like to replace my reliable little combo with a MB2 112 Neo-Combo, because our Gigs get bigger and I need a bit more power on stage.
Is there any chance to get one in the near future?
I'll be very pleased if you can afford the time to post a short (positve?) answer.
+1001 on a compact GK combo to update the 200MB/MB150 concept for the new(ish) millenium!
..and +1 to your signature. I HATE green-bottle beer!
As I listen to the soundclips I posted... I'm really surprised at how subtle the changes are with adjustments to the boost and contour controls.
I had thought for a second that I was an idiot and left the DI set to pre, but upon checking this morning it is definitely in post. I hooked it back up to my rig and found that similar tweaks to the boost and contour controls yielded similarly subtle adjustments. This is definitely different than my 2001RB, especially in regads to the contour control.
I had thought for a second that I was an idiot and left the DI set to pre, but upon checking this morning it is definitely in post. I hooked it back up to my rig and found that similar tweaks to the boost and contour controls yielded similarly subtle adjustments. This is definitely different than my 2001RB, especially in regads to the contour control.
As I posted, the slap stuff sounds better to me with the contour off, which is kind of weird, as most contour knobs that I have ever turned are usually for the slappers. Might just be my ears, though.
My favorite was with the contour off and the boost at 50%. I'm going to try and get some live recordings from our practice session tonight... Hopefully I can post something tomorrow.
I don't put much merit in recordings for just this reason. You're never going to be able to capture and reproduce what you hear when using the amp.
I find the boost on the MB2-500 to be much more potent than the boost on the 1001RB-II, and I find that I hear the boost effect better from my amp than in your recordings.
It was nice of you to go through the effort of posting the recordings though.
I notice it more when I'm playing the amp through my Schroeder 410R than I do with the direct out, but it's still pretty darn subtle through the cab.
One cause of this might be that I had to set the gain very low when using the direct out as it was clipping my soundcard pretty heavily when I had it set where I normally would for use with a cab. The lack of gain on the front end might have yielded a less dramatic effect from the boost control. This does give me a bit of concern when I think about using the amp in a live situation where I'm DI'ing to a PA. I wonder if I'll end up having to run the gain super-low in that situation as well... I'll definitely find out soon enough!
Wait... does the Direct Out not have a Level control? It does have pre/post EQ, though... right?
no level control, but a Pre/post button and a ground lift button
I found that once the pre-gain was up past noon the boost function really kicked in and sounded nasty! (in a good way)
I found that once the pre-gain was up past noon the boost function really kicked in and sounded nasty! (in a good way)
Good question. I've been leaving the amp controls alone at gigs because I wasn't sure if gain/master adjustments woudl effect the level of the DI out. I always send DI Pre-EQ, but I'm not sure if the gain or master levels effect the DI level.
Anyone got the skinny on this?
Yeah, it's normal for the pre-gain to need to be turned up in order to get the best results with the Boost knob.
I've noticed that the biggest mistakes people make who are new to GK heads tend to involve the pre-gain (Input knob) and Boost settings. Some people will turn up the pre-gain to a bizarre degree and then complain of unpleasant distortion, and others barely turn it up and wonder why they're not getting much growl with the Boost knob. And then there are those who don't turn up the Boost knob at all and wonder why they can't get much volume...
I've noticed that the biggest mistakes people make who are new to GK heads tend to involve the pre-gain (Input knob) and Boost settings. Some people will turn up the pre-gain to a bizarre degree and then complain of unpleasant distortion, and others barely turn it up and wonder why they're not getting much growl with the Boost knob. And then there are those who don't turn up the Boost knob at all and wonder why they can't get much volume...
Master levels on pretty much any amp I can think of never affect the DI. I don't know of any exceptions.
And technically, none of the preamp controls should be involved either. The input gain stage (prior to the preamp) would be the only possible exception. But on all current GK heads that I've used, the DI has its own Level knob, independent of the preamp.
And yeah... I agree about the pros/cons of extra controls. But once you get the hang of it, it's hard to look at other brands the same way again.
I really do wish this thing had an independent level control for the DI. As it was I had to keep the gain super-low to keep from clipping my soundcard. The card in question is rather nice and designed for recording, so I was surprised to see it overdriven so easily by the MB2-500 at even modest gain settings. I'll have to experiment a bit more to find the best way to dial it in for use with the DI.
Yeah... I found myself skipping back and forward to try and catch each slap segment so I could get a back-back comparison. It becomes a lot more obvious then. I even considered capturing the track and slicing it up, but jumping around worked ok.
BTW, great fingerstyle tone, but totally awesome slap tone on that custom J!
actually mesa amps are wired this way (m-pulse). i believe the aggie 500 is as well. but i agree it's stupid. gk uses the gain knob to set the level for the di. i think they should have an attenuator as well. the signal that comes off of my 800 is quite hot even at 10 o'clock. also (correct me if i'm wrong) i believe the boost circuit is post di.
Not to derail, but there's a technical reason why they did it that way. It was a tonal choice, not just stupidity. The Walkabout is the same way, btw.
yeah i know the debate they had about the tonality of the di, however it disquallifies those amps for my particular needs. i don't think that i'm all by myself in feeling that that one feature makes that series of amps a pain in the a$$. too bad cause i think they sound great. i will modify my statement to say " for my gigging needs, it's stupid"...
now back to the gk thread
now back to the gk thread
- Status
