GBE750 review:
I'm sure it's a great amp for some, but definately not for me.
With either passive or active instruments, I can drive it into clip relatively easily. It's got huge power, but at least with this particular unit I'm unable to realise it's potential.
I confirmed with Jeff Genzler by phone that I was setting it up correctly:
The GBE750 has gain and volume for each channel. To set up each channel's limiter (like many amps) while hitting hard turn up the input gain til the o/l light starts to ping lightly, back off, then set channel volume and then master volume. Similar (and slightly more complicated by the addition of both channel and master volumes) to eden, swr, tfb, etc.
Plug in my passive 51 P, run thru the setup moves, play...great sound, but turn up either channel or master volume much, and the master clip starts lighting up and things get a little audibly crunchy. This is with the input limter set properly.
Same results with several other passive basses, even using the active setting with hot passive basses.
Initial tone is clean, fat and powerful in the FET section. The tube section is nice for a tube section as long as you don't drive it. Then it gets woolly and too distorted for me.
For an amp that is supposed to have 6db of head room once the clip light starts to flash, this was a disappointment to me. I had hoped this amp would have massive clean headroom. This proved not to be the case for me. I don't know if I had a bad unit, or what...??? Let me add that *I like clean tone,* and I do not use the tube drive on my Navigator at all for the same reason.
I ran thru all this with all eq set flat.
To help put my idea of "clean" in perspective, I find that my TFB420 delivers what I need in spades, even at very high volumes. I find that my Eden wt800B, and Eden Navigator/qsc-plx deliver suitably clean power for me as well-though each of these have their own unique "character."
I find I can achieve far more volume than I need with any of these, without them driving into audible clip.
Overall the GBE750 has a slammin' aggressive tone that I would call "more Music Man than Jazz Bass" when trying to put it in "bass analogy terms." This is an amp that will suit some folks needs very well (given it works better than the unit I had), but it was definately not my flavor, and definately not a great choice for doubling-which is of paramount importance to me.
Bummer, cause I really wanted to like the GBE750. It specs out great!
Lastly let me add that Jeff Genzler was great to work with thru this whole deal. We spent a lot of time talking about the amp and my needs prior to purchase, and he was very interested in hearing my problems and trying to resolve them.
chef
I'm sure it's a great amp for some, but definately not for me.
With either passive or active instruments, I can drive it into clip relatively easily. It's got huge power, but at least with this particular unit I'm unable to realise it's potential.
I confirmed with Jeff Genzler by phone that I was setting it up correctly:
The GBE750 has gain and volume for each channel. To set up each channel's limiter (like many amps) while hitting hard turn up the input gain til the o/l light starts to ping lightly, back off, then set channel volume and then master volume. Similar (and slightly more complicated by the addition of both channel and master volumes) to eden, swr, tfb, etc.
Plug in my passive 51 P, run thru the setup moves, play...great sound, but turn up either channel or master volume much, and the master clip starts lighting up and things get a little audibly crunchy. This is with the input limter set properly.
Same results with several other passive basses, even using the active setting with hot passive basses.
Initial tone is clean, fat and powerful in the FET section. The tube section is nice for a tube section as long as you don't drive it. Then it gets woolly and too distorted for me.
For an amp that is supposed to have 6db of head room once the clip light starts to flash, this was a disappointment to me. I had hoped this amp would have massive clean headroom. This proved not to be the case for me. I don't know if I had a bad unit, or what...??? Let me add that *I like clean tone,* and I do not use the tube drive on my Navigator at all for the same reason.
I ran thru all this with all eq set flat.
To help put my idea of "clean" in perspective, I find that my TFB420 delivers what I need in spades, even at very high volumes. I find that my Eden wt800B, and Eden Navigator/qsc-plx deliver suitably clean power for me as well-though each of these have their own unique "character."
I find I can achieve far more volume than I need with any of these, without them driving into audible clip.
Overall the GBE750 has a slammin' aggressive tone that I would call "more Music Man than Jazz Bass" when trying to put it in "bass analogy terms." This is an amp that will suit some folks needs very well (given it works better than the unit I had), but it was definately not my flavor, and definately not a great choice for doubling-which is of paramount importance to me.
Bummer, cause I really wanted to like the GBE750. It specs out great!
Lastly let me add that Jeff Genzler was great to work with thru this whole deal. We spent a lot of time talking about the amp and my needs prior to purchase, and he was very interested in hearing my problems and trying to resolve them.
chef
