Gallien-Krueger MB2-500

[Kro]

Alright, so as you guys know I mentioned that I had racked this thing up with my wireless. I finally got a hold of a camera so... behold!

I love it so much... and the best part is, the entire thing in total weighs only just over what my 700RB weighed on its own!

 

[tombowlus]

Alright, so as you guys know I mentioned that I had racked this thing up with my wireless. I finally got a hold of a camera so... behold!

I love it so much... and the best part is, the entire thing in total weighs only just over what my 700RB weighed on its own!

Nice! So, are those the official GK rack ears?

Tom.

 

[Wilbyman]

While I typically disapprove of racking 3lb. amps, that looks very slick. I also see the wisdom of racking it with the wireless. Nice work!

W

 

[Kro]

Nice! So, are those the official GK rack ears?

Nope, not the official ones which are rumored to be the same color as the MB2 itself.

If you remember, a while back, I made the comment that the Markbass F1 and MB2 had very similar dimensions - and that I was curious if the rack ears for the F1 would work well with the MB2. I was partially correct. I made use of the center/back holes to secure the MB2 and then reinforced it with Velcro tape on the bottom just to be safe.

I think it worked out pretty well.

 

[jnewmark]

Alright, so as you guys know I mentioned that I had racked this thing up with my wireless. I finally got a hold of a camera so... behold!

I love it so much... and the best part is, the entire thing in total weighs only just over what my 700RB weighed on its own!

So now that you have had it for awhile, how does it compare to the 700?

 

[jshilgebass]

I've been using my MB2-500 for a while now, and I am loving what it does for my sound (and my back).

So far I haven't had any issues with too much bass, radio interference, lights not lighting up correctly, or ANY of the problems others have been having with their units. All that just sounds like an example of "first-production-run-of-a-new-product" glitches, and/or one's personal likes/dislikes. The fact that GK is willing to fix/upgrade these various hiccups shows what a good company does to fix these first run problems. And for those who can't warm up to this little box, there's nothing wrong with feeling that way.

The majority of my amps and combos happen to be made by Gallien-Krueger, and there are some who say I might be biased. Not so; I have Ashdown, Trace-Elliot, SWR, Acoustic Image and Genz-Benz heads in my possession, and they do get used it some way or another. I am going the light head/amp route these days, so in addition to my GB Shuttle 6.0 and the MB2-500 I plan on picking up a Mark Bass LM-II when I am able to. I like having options (a la Tom Bowlus ) and I go by what sounds/feels/works well for my (many and varied) music situations.

I do slightly (very slightly! ) prefer my 1001RB-II, but I would not hesitate to use it's new little brother in virtually any situation.

A few posts back shows the picture of the MB2-500 rack mount with the X-wire wireless. At the moment I do the same setup...rackless. Hey, it works for me...



Joe Hilgeman

 

[Assumer]

Plugged mine up for the first time today. Great sound, love it, but....radio interference. I can't use it at church with radio coming through. I guess it is going back..

 

[jokerjkny]

Hey Joker, was it the new Hartke 8x10 (hyperdrive) or the more traditional one?

this one:

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this rehearsal hall loves their hartke gear.

 

[Assumer]

Plugged mine up for the first time today. Great sound, love it, but....radio interference. I can't use it at church with radio coming through. I guess it is going back..

Just an update, GK as usual is taking care of the issue. Sounds like it is something small. I was really wanting to keep the amp since it sounds so nice. Thanks GK

 

[rag]

Just got the MB2-500 yesterday; review shortly.

I have a couple of questions for users.

I'm trying to get used to the GK layout of EQ pots (they're opposite of other amps, their treble is on the left and bass on the right; a minor issue)

However, the manual says to "set the master volume at 3 o'clock and turn the INPUT volume knob to desired output level"

The INPUT volume is the GAIN knob, right?

This is opposite of what one normally does with a amp.
You usually set the gain until a clip light comes on, then you back it off slightly and use the MASTER volume to control output.

Is this just a GK thing? Or am I reading the manual incorrectly?

Regards,

Mike

If the clip iight flashes too much put in the pad. The gain does not control clipping.

 

[jokerjkny]

If the clip iight flashes too much put in the pad. The gain does not control clipping.

yea,

but it does seem like the gain does get more hairier as you turn it up. my sadowsky's onboard pre just slams the poor thing.

 

[coolrunner989]

yea,

but it does seem like the gain does get more hairier as you turn it up. my sadowsky's onboard pre just slams the poor thing.

the gain controls the gain going into the EQ section - cranking it (or feeding it a high input signal) results in overdriving the SS pre - that's what you're hearing. It's the same on all GK heads as far as I know, which is why I keep my input level on my GK1001 below noon with my passive Geddy Lee and playing style (fairly hard fingerstyle) because I dont like the sound that I get at higher levels.

 

[lindseyp]

If the clip iight flashes too much put in the pad. The gain does not control clipping.

I had an RFI problem, not unusual in itself, this is how I fixed it (scroll down the page). Plan on cranking up at a couple of rehearsals this week to see (hear) what happens. I can stick this thing in the main pocket of my Fender gig bag!

 

[Vic]

I had an RFI problem, not unusual in itself, this is how I fixed it (scroll down the page). Plan on cranking up at a couple of rehearsals this week to see (hear) what happens. I can stick this thing in the main pocket of my Fender gig bag!

What are you going to clip it onto?

 

[lindseyp]

The instrument cable. Right behind the plug. I got the idea from Yamaha which supplied four larger RFI filters with the BBT-500H. Wish I knew where I put them, they clamp onto your cable like this:

They are removable, so you can place them on any cable you wish. I'm using two, one may work for you. Or more, if needed.

 

[zac2944]

The instrument cable. Right behind the plug. I got the idea from Yamaha which supplied four larger RFI filters with the BBT-500H. Wish I knew where I put them, they clamp onto your cable like this:


They are removable, so you can place them on any cable you wish. I'm using two, one may work for you. Or more, if needed.

These devices are known as a "ferrite choke". They come in many forms, but the snap-on bead type are very popular because they are easy to use. I have one that is shaped like a small doughnut (torroid). Every time I coil my instrument cable through the ferrite torroid, it cuts out more and more RF; just like adding more beads. It is a great thing to keep in the gig bag.

Like an inductor in a crossover, the ferrite choke blocks or attenuates high frequencies. In this case you want to roll off radio frequencies(RF), which are well above human hearing limits (20kHz), and leave all the information coming from your bass untouched. If you've ever seen an inductor on the crossover inside a bass cab you'll notice that they are usually nothing more than a coil of wire. Sometimes they have an iron core, but usually they are just air core inductors. The core material and the number of winding effects how the inductor works. Think of the cable and bead as a coil with less than one winding.

There is also another way to get rid of RFI in a device by using a capacitor to "shunt" or sort of redirect the RF to ground before it can be rectified by the amp.

I would think that an amp would have some sort of choke or shunt built in to deal with any RFI problems. Who knows? Maybe RAQ can comment on this.

I'm not an electrical engineer, so this is all just stuff I've read and fooled around with. I'm sure someone better qualified could give a much better explanation of how all this RFI stuff works.

 

[deekay911]

What confuses me is why one head would be more susceptible to RFI than another...if the issue can be cured by a choke on the cable. I A/B the MB2 against my Shuttle with bass and cable the same, and the radio bleedthrough with the MB2 is LOUD, whilst completely silent with the Shuttle. Seems there must be someway of handling this through the input section of the amp....

 

[zac2944]

What confuses me is why one head would be more susceptible to RFI than another...if the issue can be sured by a choke on the cable. I A/B the MB2 against my Shuttle with bass and cable the same, and the radio bleedthrough with the MB2 is LOUD, whilst completely silent with the Shuttle. Seems there must be someway of handling this through the input section of the amp....

My guess would be that there is a fault or defect in the MB2 that you have. Have you tried returning it for a new one?

I had an old Carvin RSP preamp that would rectify RF. None of my other amps did it, just that one Carvin and only in certain locations.

 

[Vic]

I'm using two, one may work for you. Or more, if needed.

So I infer from this that it definitely solves the problem for you, right?

 

[deekay911]

My guess would be that there is a fault or defect in the MB2 that you have. Have you tried returning it for a new one?

I had an old Carvin RSP preamp that would rectify RF. None of my other amps did it, just that one Carvin and only in certain locations.

My unit is on the way back to GK at Bob's suggestion, to have the EQ upgrade done, and also to investigate the RFI.