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Genzler Amplification Club

#6,781
Spupilup said:
I hate to derail the conversation but I have a quick question. I have a 12-3 coming in tomorrow. I am still waiting to find an 800 to drive it and wanted to fiddle around with the Ampeg head I have on hand. I don’t have a speakon cable and forgot to order one when I bought the cabinet. I can’t use the 1/4” parallel jack for connecting the Ampeg, can I? If not, I’ll have to get an inexpensive Neutrik adaptor from my local GC.

Thanks for the help. I’m excited to be a Genzler owner! My next purchase will be the 800, hopefully in the next week or two.
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@Spupilup --- if your Ampeg only has 1/4" output jacks you can use that and connect to the 1/4" jacks on the BA12-3 cab. The cabinet has both Speakon and 1/4" jacks. It's just our heads that have only Speakon connectors. So I think you're fine.
Let us know what you think once the cab arrives. Welcome aboard.
 
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#6,782
Thank you for fast response Jeff! I figured that was the case but wanted to make sure. As I had mentioned in our conversation, the 12-3 sounded so good there was no need for second guessing. ZZounds had a “warehouse reseal” for $100 off and that appealed to the cheapskate in me. Once I have the cabinet I know I won’t be able to wait long before I pull the trigger on the 800. It’ll probably happen before the end of the month.
 
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#6,785
I’ve been A/B’ing the MG800 with an old school GK 400rb. Make no mistake: I love the old RB series amps. They were the industry standard for NYC backlines “back in my day,” and I love their bombastic, splatty whack. A venerable amp, for sure, and one that I’ll always have around plugged into some 10’s just for giggles.
The MG800 just sounds “produced” as a turn-key product. Regardless of cab and setting, it sounds like it’s been smoothed out and touched up by a pro, but in a great way, not in an overproduced, squashed sort of way.
I’ve come to view “bedroom tone” and “in the mix tone” as mostly at odds with one another, with very little overlap on the Venn diagram. I’ve found that the MG800 manages to give me the thunder and slap of a satisfying bedroom sound, while still carrying enough midrange grind to stay present in a full band onslaught. Just so well done.
Sorry, morning musings before busy time at work:)
 
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#6,790
I finally got to use my Magellan 350 in rehearsal last night.

I didn't want to lug a cab from my music room down the stairs, so I used my Hartke Kickback 10 as a cab. The kickback stays in the garage and is my handy rehearsal amp. Because the kickback 10 has a bad habit of rolling backwards, I put the combo in one of the church chairs with the head sitting on top of it.

I also brought my brand-new G&L Tribute JB bass. It was the first time for me to try out both of these pieces of gear with my big band.

First impressions were.......where are my lows? I don't know if it was the aluminum cone, highly padded seat, the jazz bass, the fact that room was re-carpeted/painted since last rehearsal, or just sitting so close to the amp, but I felt like the lows were lacking. I cranked the bass and the low mids (150hz) to 3 o'clock. That helped. After the band started playing, I really started to dig the tone as in related to the group. I think the word "punchy" gets used way too much with bass gear, BUT every note was clear and had authority. The timbre was also quite exceptional.

When the night was over and I got used to EQ'ing the room, I really felt like the Magellan is going to be fantastic for me.
 
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#6,791
tubatodd said:
I finally got to use my Magellan 350 in rehearsal last night.

I used my Hartke Kickback 10 as a cab. The kickback stays in the garage and is my handy rehearsal amp. Because the kickback 10 has a bad habit of rolling backwards, I put the combo in one of the church chairs with the head sitting on top of it.

I also brought my brand-new G&L Tribute JB bass. It was the first time for me to try out both of these pieces of gear with my big band.

First impressions were.......where are my lows? I don't know if it was the aluminum cone, highly padded seat, the jazz bass, the fact that room was re-carpeted/painted since last rehearsal, or just sitting so close to the amp, but I felt like the lows were lacking. I cranked the bass and the low mids (150hz) to 3 o'clock. That helped. After the band started playing, I really started to dig the tone as in related to the group. I think the word "punchy" gets used way too much with bass gear, BUT every note was clear and had authority. The timbre was also quite exceptional.

When the night was over and I got used to EQ'ing the room, I really felt like the Magellan is going to be fantastic for me.
Click to expand...

I have a 350 as well as a G&L JB Tribute. My 10 is the Genzler (which I think has more lows than the Hartke) but I may be able speak to your situation. I notice a lack of lows with my G&L Tribute. They are very nice basses for the price, but they are a lesser bass. I just got a Sadowsky SPB-1 preamp/DI to use with my Tribute. It makes a huge difference. Beefs it up a lot. Better than trying to do it all with the amp. The G&L isn't a main bass for me. It was a gift from my wife and is a nice bass, just not a main player for me as I tend to play my Roscoes. I may try to find uses for it though as it now sounds a lot better than it used to.

I think it's more a case of inadequacies in the bass, and maybe the cab, and not the MG350. Even with my Genzler BA10-2 cab, great as it is, you can only expect so much low end from one driver and a small box.
 
#6,792
Oh this is kinda funny.
Also own a new G&L Tribute JB, was a Christmas gift from my wife as well.
I have only played with headphones so far, but I also was not wowed by the low end.
I also just bought a Sadowsky outboard preamp for it. Uncanny.
One thing else I did was put flats on it. I’m liking the tone now, combo of flats and more balls from the pre.
 
#6,794
Holdsg said:
Oh this is kinda funny.
Also own a new G&L Tribute JB, was a Christmas gift from my wife as well.
I have only played with headphones so far, but I also was not wowed by the low end.
I also just bought a Sadowsky outboard preamp for it. Uncanny.
One thing else I did was put flats on it. I’m liking the tone now, combo of flats and more balls from the pre.
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I had flats (TI Jazz) on mine as well. It helped.
When I got my Roscoe Classic P (another gift from my wife) last week I put the flats on it (think Pino) and the nickel rounds back on the G&L. Sounded better as the Sadowsky put some low end back in. Now I have the whole P bass with flats, jazz bass with rounds thing.
 
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#6,796
SteveC said:
I have a 350 as well as a G&L JB Tribute. My 10 is the Genzler (which I think has more lows than the Hartke) but I may be able speak to your situation. I notice a lack of lows with my G&L Tribute. They are very nice basses for the price, but they are a lesser bass. I just got a Sadowsky SPB-1 preamp/DI to use with my Tribute. It makes a huge difference. Beefs it up a lot. Better than trying to do it all with the amp. The G&L isn't a main bass for me. It was a gift from my wife and is a nice bass, just not a main player for me as I tend to play my Roscoes. I may try to find uses for it though as it now sounds a lot better than it used to.

I think it's more a case of inadequacies in the bass, and maybe the cab, and not the MG350. Even with my Genzler BA10-2 cab, great as it is, you can only expect so much low end from one driver and a small box.
Click to expand...
Yeah I think there were quite a few factors that played into my perceived lack of lows. I'm not concerned. Typically in rehearsals, I set the Hartke head flat (no shape circuit) and use a Sansamp V2 as the preamp. It can add plenty of booty.
 
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#6,797
Yeah, the G&L Tribute basses are really quite nice. Mine even has a nice grain in the maple board. The finish on the body is fantastic. I wish it were a pound lighter. It plays well, just missing a little in the pickups. I wish they were a standard size so they could be easily replaced. The Sadowsky Pre/DI really helps, and even turned off I think it adds something. If I were to use my JB o a gig, I'd use the Sadowsky for a DI and just turn it off when using my Roscoe and turn it on like a "clean boost" for the G&L.

Everything sounds good through the Genzler rig.
 
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#6,798
I've owned G&L JB and JB-2 basses (though now just an LB-100 "P"). I ended up wiring both J basses in series which added VERY noticeable fullness and low end throughout the frequency range. For me it was a great mod because they still had the J bite and growl, but with all the low end fullness typically (to my ears anyway) missing from a passive J bass.

The caveat to serial wiring the way i did it, was that the second volume knob became inactive. So, two functional knobs just like a P bass - volume and tone. And this scheme also sets both pickups to 100% so added benefit of humbucking, no noise.

EDIT: forgot to add - yes, everything sounds good through my Genzler rig (MG350/Tall12).
 
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#6,799
ahc said:
I never said the MG800 lacked mids. I did say I haven't tried one yet. I also said I would like to see a Streamliner-type amp with a tighter bottom and more mid capability. And... I was being semi-sarcastic regarding all the speculation about new product. For lack of an emoji I've apparently upset you. My apologies.
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I'm not upset. :) Just responding to 2 posts I listed since I do own both and can and have compared them. Carry on.
 
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