Genzler Amplification Club

[Jamvan]

I’m concerned a problem is arising with my new Kinetix amp. While it worked great the one gig I was able to use it, I’ve had three gigs in a row get cancelled and I’m worried it’s because it’s just so amazing, the people can’t handle that much bass goodness! Ha!

I’m going through withdrawal!

 

[Sid the Kid]

That tone is too hot.

 

[edwinhurwitz]

So I've decided to go with a BA 12 series 2 to match up with my two BA 10-S-2 cabs. I already ordered another Rattlesnake speaker cable should be here in a few days and I'll order the BA 12 next week. The question now is should I get a slanted cab or straight? Sometimes I'll be using the BA 12 all by itself but at other times along with either one BA 10 or 2 BA 10's. I'll be using a Kinetix, not a MG350 that has a bracket to hold the amp. Will the Kinetix be alright at such a steep angle when using all three cabs if I get the slanted BA 12 or should I play it safe and get the straight version?

I would get the straight version.

A little spinoff abot the mg350. I’m very happy with my MG 350 in fact I have two (one for backup) but the other day I played through a vintage GK rig and forgot about that killer grind that goes so well with my flatwound P bass.I had that Tom Petty live tone. I like the clean tone I have but wondering if I can come close or only the 800 can do that. These days of low stage volume I just don’t need 800 watts and the expense. Welcome any thoughts.

Check out the Genzler 4 on the Floor.

 

[Holdsg]

could you send some of that Texas rain to NV/CA please?

 

[MaxSpinrun]

I’m concerned a problem is arising with my new Kinetix amp. While it worked great the one gig I was able to use it, I’ve had three gigs in a row get cancelled and I’m worried it’s because it’s just so amazing, the people can’t handle that much bass goodness! Ha!

I’m going through withdrawal!

View attachment 5491708

Is that your typical settings?

 

[Jamvan]

Is that your typical settings?

Generally. That was right after I unboxed it. EQ is now boosted a bit in the low mids but the gain has stayed right in the 11 o’clock vicinity with the switch set to fat. Works well with my aggressive finger style.

 

[MaxSpinrun]

I’m hoping to pull the trigger soon. I was thinking along those same lines, thinking this amp will give that little extra I am looking for in response, when I dig in.

 

[denton57]

Got mine! Only had a few minutes with it before leaving town but it sounded fantastic. Can’t wait to play with the gain and volume. I’m fingerstyle and like to dig in.

 

[Dan Robbins]

Finally got a rig picture. Series 2
BA-410-3 and BA-15-3 with Kinetix 800. Totally floored by this setup! I found it took some getting used to the gain settings. I was getting some tube distortion—which is cool—but I generally like a clean tone, and now with some tube character

I took this picture at the beginning of the gig— I like it to be pretty clean, so you can see the gain is up around 10 and I eventually reduced it to maybe 9:30. The volume next to that looks like I had about 1 o’clock, but I ended up reducing to about 11 o’clock, and the basic tone/gain was more what I’m after. I ended up boosting a fair amount of mids, high mids and treble— I think I eventually dialed back the mid knob. Our drummer is kind of loud so I use some earplugs and I imagine it was even more cutting without the plugs. I like an aggressive funk/rock bass tone for this band, and I play a lot of chords and leads, so I need the higher strings and pitches to shine through.

When I’m indoors, I find that the 4 x 10 covers it really well if it’s a live room and I need to cut more. Awesome full range sound. I often kick it back just a bit for better projection and more present mids and highs.

Outdoors I’ll add the 15 for the extra low end boom, especially with the lowest notes and drop A drop tuned on my 6 string. Definitely adds more weight and air to the bottom end, but not sounding slow. It also sounds surprisingly great as a standalone cab.

I do prefer using both cabs together whenever possible because it sounds just so complementary to my ears, but indoors I’ll just use the 4 x 10 a lot to save myself the cartage.

There’s something more “heavy” and weighty to the feel of the Kinetix vs the Magellan 800. I have the Magellan Pre pedal so I’ll probably sell the Magellan 800 (AND my Mesa WD-800) just to consolidate some gear…the pedal sounds great plugged into the Aux In on the Kinetix. Honestly, I had been digging the Mesa WD-800 more than the Magellan 800 for the upright, but now the Kinetix sounds just as good, especially on the Lean setting. I love having the simpler well chosen five bands of EQ instead of the endless tweaking I ended up doing on the WD-800. And, I was always craving one more band on the Magellan 800.

I feel that I can grow into this rig for years to come!

 

[Holdsg]

I would agree that the sweet spot (to my ears) for gain on the Kinetix is about 10 o'clock.
Except for Immigrant Song, then it goes to 2 or 3 o'clock.

 

[Moonskunk]

That's an awesome set up. Your shown settings are nearly identical to mine other than my low mids are cut to about 11 o'clock. When I first got the amp I pretty much left the mid knob alone and mostly adjusted the low mids and high mids but I'm finding there's a lot of secret sauce in that mid knob. With the mid set to about 3 o'clock and the other settings as you have them and with a slight cut in low mids, boost and fat setting I can get a near Steinway piano sound with my Fender Pro 2 P bass. As you said it sounds weighty. You would never guess all that weightiness is coming out of two BA 10 's. My two other amps which may be up for sale soon sound great, but a bit lean in comparison. My BA 12 series 2 cab should be here next week. I'm anxious to hear what kind of depth it adds to my 2 BA 10's which already sounds great.

 

[Djadja]

That's an awesome set up. Your shown settings are nearly identical to mine other than my low mids are cut to about 11 o'clock. When I first got the amp I pretty much left the mid knob alone and mostly adjusted the low mids and high mids but I'm finding there's a lot of secret sauce in that mid knob. With the mid set to about 3 o'clock and the other settings as you have them and with a slight cut in low mids, boost and fat setting I can get a near Steinway piano sound with my Fender Pro 2 P bass. As you said it sounds weighty. You would never guess all that weightiness is coming out of two BA 10 's. My two other amps which may be up for sale soon sound great, but a bit lean in comparison. My BA 12 series 2 cab should be here next week. I'm anxious to hear what kind of depth it adds to my 2 BA 10's which already sounds great.

I may have missed the answer to this and apologize if I did… curious, did you decide on straight or slanted? And what contributed to the decision?

 

[Moonskunk]

I may have missed the answer to this and apologize if I did… curious, did you decide on straight or slanted? And what contributed to the decision?

It hasn't been ordered yet (get paid next week) so if someone can sway me in another direction I'm still open, but I'm pretty set on the slanted 12. The reason being I may use the cab all by itself sometimes or with just one BA 10. I also noticed it's a few pounds lighter than the straight version, less cabinet volume. Whether or not this is a good thing or has a slight negative impact on sound or sounds just the same as the straight version I don't know, but would surely like to know. When I stack all 3 cabs I may use the hockey puck or wash machine vibration pads under the top BA 10 or run my speaker wires thru the cab handle. I at one time even considered the BA 15 as the third cab. As I said, nothing has been ordered yet so if anyone has anything to say about that or even going with all BA 10's now would be a great time. Thanks for everyone's input.

 

[Dan Robbins]

It hasn't been ordered yet (get paid next week) so if someone can sway me in another direction I'm still open, but I'm pretty set on the slanted 12. The reason being I may use the cab all by itself sometimes or with just one BA 10. I also noticed it's a few pounds lighter than the straight version, less cabinet volume. Whether or not this is a good thing or has a slight negative impact on sound or sounds just the same as the straight version I don't know, but would surely like to know. When I stack all 3 cabs I may use the hockey puck or wash machine vibration pads under the top BA 10 or run my speaker wires thru the cab handle. I at one time even considered the BA 15 as the third cab. As I said, nothing has been ordered yet so if anyone has anything to say about that or even going with all BA 10's now would be a great time. Thanks for everyone's input.

I had the slanted 12 series one and I thought it had plenty of low end. From what I gather, it will have a little bit tighter bottom than the straight (which I never tried) and I think if you’re gonna use it alone sometimes that’s a good idea to go slanted.

I ended up selling it because I was so floored by the series 2 BA 110, and it was sort of a middle of the road size I didn’t need anymore. I enjoyed it for a while combined with a BA 10, but I preferred two of the newer series 2 BA tens over the series 2 BA10 with the older slanted BA 12. Hope that makes sense.

While I enjoyed the extra low end from the 10/12 combination, overall I preferred two of the series two BA tens— it was more punchy to my ears. I mostly sold it because when I need to go larger scale I’ll use my 410, or 15 or blah blah blah. The 12 just ended up being a size I didn’t need anymore, but I thought as a standalone it was really incredible.

Also, I tried combining the 110 with the 15 and didn’t like it as much as the 10 with the 12.

To sum up, I think you’ll be super happy with the slanted 12

 

[John D Harris]

My BA2 115-3 arrived the other day. Sadly, I have been so sick I couldn't even mess with it. Just got it out last night and hope to give it a good test run with the BA2 210-3. I have decided I am going to keep my NC210T around as it is a really cool cab. I'll bring it along as extra support for outdoor gigs and may still bring it to a gig every now and then with the 210-3 as they do sound great together. It will get use playing at home so I don't have to set up my full rig. That can be a bit much in the house. I wanted to get the BA2 115-3 as I love the 10s but was missing just a bit of umph in the bottom. And the 115-3/210-3 stack seems like such a great pairing. How could Jeff, Nate, and so many others be wrong?

Soon I'll probably look for a small amp for use at home. Maybe a MG 350 if the price was right, but still, I don't know that I even need that much at home for fooling about. Any you folks have any other recs for a small little amp that works well with the NC210T?

How about one of these?
Phil Jones Bass BP-200 200-watt Bass Amplifier Head

 

[Joeykun]

I find the Gain & Volume around 10:00 with the boost activated kicks this amp into high gear!

 

[David A. Davis]

Throwing that boost switch is like hitting the switch for a shot of nitrous.

 

[Dan Robbins]

Throwing that boost switch is like hitting the switch for a shot of nitrous.

yeah, I did a festival gig playing upright in a string band on the first gig with the Kinetix. I was still on the learning curve – I had the boost on and the gain higher than it really should’ve been for that style. When I dug in for solos, it was like overdrive on the upright! Kind of awesome if a bit surprising lol. I’ve since tamed it down for better control, but it was kind of cool and I just smiled and went with it at the big show!

 

[McFarlin]

Is the "boost" any different from the active/passive switches found on other amps?

 

[David A. Davis]

Is the "boost" any different from the active/passive switches found on other amps?

Totally different in my opinion. I run active basses and do not hesitate to run the boost.