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Gallien Krueger MB500

#41
#42
derylgallant said:
Well I officially love it ... Going to shell out and buy it tomorrow . The upright sound with my Realist and Biesele is quite good and definitely a useable sound ... Can't wait to try it live ...

with fretless it really cuts ... My "Portrait of Tracy" has never sounded so good !!

With the pbass I knocked a picture off my wall .. Whoops ... Thumping low end but still clear .

The boost channel I'm still not 100% sold on but it's not a deal breaker in the end .

The only thing that is puzzling me is ... What do I do with the head when I use the cab in tilt back mode?

I asked GK and they said they'd just put the head on the floor . No thank you!

Anyone else have this config have an opinion?
Click to expand...

If the cab is carpeted, remove the feet from the head, use velcro. I did that with my old EA Micro. I ran it on the side of the cab and sat on the cab some gigs. That was an old rat fur covered 1x15...

I just snagged a 200 to go with my 500. I had TB'er SingleMalt Who is a pro carpenter amongst other things build me up a 1x10 combo cab for it. The cab is based on a Mojo Sonic cab I bought for acoustic gigs a year ago. I liked the MB2-500 and that cab as a setup with acoustic bass guitar and with my other piezo basses a lot. I get the new combo this week. SM is going to build an additional 1x10 extension cab for me as well.

As I am in the PA almost all the time with my vocal trio, less is often more for me when it comes to a stage rig/monitor.
 
#43
4Mal said:
If the cab is carpeted, remove the feet from the head, use velcro. I did that with my old EA Micro. I ran it on the side of the cab and sat on the cab some gigs. That was an old rat fur covered 1x15...
Click to expand...

Sorry I forgot to repost here... I found a cheap and easy solution and I started a post specifically about the tiltback...

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f15/gallien-krueger-mb500-mb200-neo210-tiltback-864161/

You can see the pictures of what I did there...

I also started a thread re: a case for the MB500 ... I ended up making my own case using a binder... have a look

https://plus.google.com/photos/105664729346804117947/albums/5722135705851854737
 
#44
I've had my MB500 for about a month now and have used it for many rehearsals and a few gigs. So far I'm lovin' this thing. The boost control is actually one of the reasons I went with the MB500. I find it very useful and the footswitch is a handy feature to have.

Honkertonk said:
Thanks for the responses.
Can anyone recommend a speaker cab to go with the MB500?
Click to expand...

I'm looking into GK cabs as well. It seems the MBE cabs were at least designed to go along with the MB heads, sticking with the light and very portable aspect and the fact that they are not bi-ampable. That being said, I have tried out some of the NEO cabinets, specifically the 2x12 and 1x15. Both sounded great but I came away leaning towards the 2x12, although I could see myself with a pair of 1x15s. Didn't get a chance to try out any of the NEO 4x10s or 2x10s. The 2x12 just seemed to have a very balanced sound.

I tried out the MBE cabinets and they sounded good but I wasn't really paying too much attention to the cabinet at the time (was more focused on the amp) but I plan on a more thorough demo in the near future. Price and weight are very appealing aspects for these cabs.
 
#45
How do these heads calm down? IME GK is notorious for that biting, modern tone. I'm in the markey for a small, inexpensive, yet versatile head. Can this little guy do a warmer more traditional sound? I'm using a Hartke 3500 now and I have the tube pre cranked, love the sound but it's a beast to lug around.
 
#46
autodidact said:
How do these heads calm down? IME GK is notorious for that biting, modern tone. I'm in the markey for a small, inexpensive, yet versatile head. Can this little guy do a warmer more traditional sound? I'm using a Hartke 3500 now and I have the tube pre cranked, love the sound but it's a beast to lug around.
Click to expand...

Get the MB Fusion, or get a pedal (SansAmp, Tone Hammer, M80, etc.) to deliver your tubey breakup.
 
#47
...or you can simply ease back the treble and/or engage the "contour" a bit and/or lower the high mids and/or pluck near the neck etc etc. It is inherently a very "present" head, but has plenty of eq on tap to sculpt the tone.
 
#48
scottfeldstein said:
Get the MB Fusion, or get a pedal (SansAmp, Tone Hammer, M80, etc.) to deliver your tubey breakup.
Click to expand...

Its not the breakup I'm concerned with its just the warmth. I know when I was shopping around I tried a 1001RB and couldn't tame it for the life of me, I've got plenty of pedals for the other stuff :smug:
 
#49
lomo said:
...or you can simply ease back the treble and/or engage the "contour" a bit and/or lower the high mids and/or pluck near the neck etc etc. It is inherently a very "present" head, but has plenty of eq on tap to sculpt the tone.
Click to expand...

Alright cool, I figured qith a little EQing and technique I could give it a shot. I'm just cautious of the one trick pony gear, glad to hear this is a little more versatile.
 
#50
Concerning the reliability of the MB500, I ordered one "brand-new" this week and received it yesterday.

When I unpacked the amp-head I noticed that it looked used. A few minor scratch marks on the top and defined fingerprints (not mine!) on the casing. Then I saw that the front face-plate was slightly warped, only by a couple of millimetres or so, but it looked as if the amp had been dropped.

I tried it out nevertheless to hear what the amp sounds like. Great GK grinding sound I must say. Although I didn't like the "Boost" channel as it sounded pretty awful to my ears. After a little more playing and experimenting with different settings, I then realised that one of the LED indicator lights was not working.

As I was unhappy with the condition of the amp I sent it back today to the dealer for a full refund. So I’m not sure whether to take my chances and buy another GK MB500, or consider another amp.

Just unlucky on this occasion I suppose!
 
#52
Honkertonk said:
As I was unhappy with the condition of the amp I sent it back today to the dealer for a full refund. So I’m not sure whether to take my chances and buy another GK MB500, or consider another amp.
Click to expand...

Seems to me what you want to evaluate is whether you should go with another dealer instead of another amp. Gallien-Krueger didn't ship you a used and malfunctioning unit, they did. If you like the amp, get another one--from someone else.
 
#54
Having read questions in this thread and others about reliability of this and the earlier MB2-500 I called GK today and spoke to Brian who informed me that the MB500 is now made again in the USA. I plan to order one myself and this along with the two year warranty is reassuring along with a multitude of positive recent comments.
 
#55
autodidact said:
Its not the breakup I'm concerned with its just the warmth. I know when I was shopping around I tried a 1001RB and couldn't tame it for the life of me, I've got plenty of pedals for the other stuff :smug:
Click to expand...

I've been using GK for many years, and had the exact same result with the 1001RBII. I now use either a Fusion or a MB500 and have no trouble warming it up. Is it the warmest amp out there, nope, but it's GK, and that does it for me.
 
#56
All - I wanted to share my MB500 experience and a hopefully helpful suggestion. I love the MB500, using it with an Epifini 4x10 cab. I have experienced two problems with it:

1. Be careful if you ever see the "overload" light flicker on the -10db input button (when you don't have it depressed and are using a hot active pickup bass). It doesn't do this on my musicman stingray 5 active pickup bass but I have seen it happen when used by other active bases and I don't think GK shunts the overload, so you could blow the preamp;

2. Twice I had intermittent distortion and low output levels. I traced it to the cable in the centre of the small board (the one that connects to the controls) that runs back to the power amp. I think its like a 8 or 12 pin connector (white, rectangular). Even after cleaning and reseating, the problem happened again some weeks later. It's due to vibration working the connector loose just enough to create problems but not completely fail. Solution: small dab of white glue from a hobby glue gun on the outside of the connector on each end (you could chip it off if you needed to remove the cable later) plus I now place piece of acoustic foam (1.5" I believe) between my cabinet and the amp head when the MB500 is sitting on top of the cabinet. This stops the vibration in the amp. You can put a beer on that foam, play at concert levels and the liquid won't show any signs of vibration...great stuff for $15 at any foam shop (but make sure you ask for acoustic foam).

I have never had a problem since and love love love the amp head.

- Adrian.
 
#57
Hey all,

I'm new here. I have an MB500 head that gets played through the Neo 2x10 cab. I bought it about five years ago for my son who had formed a band in HS. He's in college now and doesn't have time to play. I'm a multi-instrumentalist that got picked up by an original material classic rock/70's style punk band about a year ago. I had sold my amp and cabs a couple of years ago as I was playing direct through the PA in most instances. So my son lent me his MB500 and Neo 2x10 cab. Lately, I've been hearing a noise from the fan motor in the head coming through the speaker cabinet. I have some experience in tube amp and stomp box home builds. I surmise that there may be a filter cap somewhere in the circuit. Has anyone else had this problem, and if so, what did it turn out to be? I understand the principles of what and why a Class D topology amp works, but I have almost no hands-on experience in the guts of one. Is this something that I can remedy on my own or do I have to have a tech service this? How much am I looking at dollar wise if I have to take it in? He's eventually going to want this back and I've raised him that if you borrow something, you return it in the same or better shape than you received it in and there is no way that I'm going to play the hypocrite. Any help will be greatly appreciated.
 
#59
B-String,

The same frequency hum that the fan motor audibly creates, if one listens closely with the ear right next to the head, can be heard emanating from the speakers. When the fan motor spools up on start, the same characteristic sound can be heard coming from the speakers, albeit with an "electronic" character. The same is heard while the fan motor is running and the same spooling down noise when the
motor shuts down. The cooling fan motor does not run the entire time that the amp is on. It only comes on when the amp is under load and is generating heat and the internal temperature is high enough for the relay to close and power up the motor. When the motor is running is the only time that the noise is present. The same sound at the same frequency that one heard from the motor acoustically is being reproduced at the speakers. It's not real loud, but it's annoying and it shouldn't be there. It doesn't matter too much what the volume or gain is set at except to say that when the amp is turned up the noise does get louder. The ground lift switch does nothing to help and the noise is present irrespective of venue. It makes no difference if the effects loop is being used or not. It really sounds like there's a bad filter matrix that is allowing the current that runs the motor to bleed over into the audio signal.
 
#60
It is possible the fan itself is defective. The fan is a DC unit running on variable voltage a bad winding could be causing the noise. I haven't heard of this before so just a possibility. Email [email protected] or [email protected] (I think daniel is still there) for some trouble shooting help. See if you can get noise in the speakers by tapping on the amp case. It could be microphonic from a poor connection on an interconnect cable, sensitive cap or resistor (a tap test carefully with a wooden orange stick may pinpoint).
 
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