Genzler Amplification Club

[PaulS]

Does the foot switch come with the 800+ or is it an add on?

 

[Joeykun]

Does the foot switch come with the 800+ or is it an add on?

It is an $89 accessory

 

[PaulS]

Thanks Joey

 

[Jeff Genzler]

Thank you for the reply, Jeff.

If money was no object I'd definitely go with 2 separate cabs but...yeah. How would you describe the low end presence between the 212 and 410? Also when you say more punch with the 410, is that a feel thing because of different drivers, or is there some more baked in/mid-forward frequencies happening in the 410? There's a great music shop about an hour from me that I'm going to call to see what Bass Array cabs they have in stock. Hopefully I'll get a chance to test drive several options.

I appreciate your input!

The LF of the BA2-212-3 is a little deeper and "rounder" as you might expect from the larger drivers. The punch of the BA2-410-3 comes from the grouping of the 4-10" drivers that hit you in the lows and low/mids kind of like a fist to the gut, so to speak. The 410 is not shy of any LF support but the 2x12" just feels a little more depth. Hope this helps.

 

[Jeff Genzler]

Exciting news on the 800+! Different topic, though.

I was on the GA website just now and I noticed that, on the ULV 2x10 and 2x12 cabs, the top two ports are standard round ones, and the bottom two are triangular.

The drivers would not appear to be in separate compartments, as the round ports are right where the separator panel would be. I'd think it's to keep the triangular ports at a reasonable size, given the dimensions of the cab. Also, the aesthetics of two more triangular ports in the top corners would be odd.


View attachment 7461123

All of the MG-ULV cabs are open internally --- no seperation for the 2 drivers. The shared space helps with the punch the 210 and 212 deliver. All models do offer additional porting behind the grilles, not just the triangular ports. This has allowed us to tune these smaller cabs to still offer great depth and LF extension. The MG-ULV-212T really sounds big for such a smaller, lighter cabinet design.

 

[John D Harris]

Exciting news on the 800+! Different topic, though.

I was on the GA website just now and I noticed that, on the ULV 2x10 and 2x12 cabs, the top two ports are standard round ones, and the bottom two are triangular.

The drivers would not appear to be in separate compartments, as the round ports are right where the separator panel would be. I'd think it's to keep the triangular ports at a reasonable size, given the dimensions of the cab. Also, the aesthetics of two more triangular ports in the top corners would be odd.


View attachment 7461123

I always liked the design of the GB NeoX-212T, but it probably would add extra weight, which the ULV were designed to avoid.

 

[tombowlus]

I recently received an 800+ in for review, but I wanted to share my first impressions with y'all. I was hoping to have band practice tonight and to be able to hear it in a band setting, but unfortunately, practice was cancelled tonight. I did spend some time playing through the three 800w Genzler heads, though, and here are my initial reaction thoughts.

The 800 seems to be a little bit more mid forward and very slightly on the woolly side in comparison to the 800+. Please bear in mind that in general, I consider the 800 to be a very well balanced and fairly neutral amp, so I am not saying it is excessively mid forward or woolly. Just that I noticed a bit of that in comparison to the 800+ when both amps have their controls set to noon.

By comparison, the Kinetix with all controls set to noon (switch set to Fat) has more clarity in the high end and a bigger low end than either the 800 or the 800+. In truth, the Kinetix sounds very refined with Gain, Volume, and all tone controls set to noon. With the switch set to Lean, it sounds definitely more like the 800+, though it still has a bit more brightness and excitement in the high-end. To an extent, with all controls on all amps set basically to noon, the 800+ sounds a bit like a middle ground between the 800 and the Kinetix.

Some additional random thoughts from my notes:

The variable high pass filter is just great and still still retains functional low end even at its highest setting.

Despite having just one knob to engage the Drive function on the 800+, you can still dial it in just fine using the pre-amp Gain and master Volume controls. To my ears, the drive on the 800+ is a bit improved from the 800 and it sounds thicker and richer and more natural, but we are not talking dramatic differences - but nevertheless audible differences. By engaging the boost and tweaking the Gain and Volume settings, the Kinetix can dial in a very excellent drive, which I do slightly prefer to that of the 800+. But again, it’s not a massive difference, which is pretty impressive for the 800+.

The real difference between all three of these heads is how you dial things in from a tone stack perspective. The Kinetix starts things off with the Lean/Fat/Thick switch and then gives you a straightforward five-band EQ. The 800 gives you the two Contour options, but with just one knob shared between the two, and then a three-band EQ with parametric meds. The 800+, in addition to the high pass filter, gives you separate knobs for each Contour curve and the ability to switch between the two, and then gives you a four-band EQ with semi-parametric low-mids and high-mids.

None of the amps give you center defense on any of the tone controls, but fortunately, all of the knobs are easy to see.

I could easily gig with any one of these as my primary gigging head. My MG-800 has been to the most gigs, by far, but the Kinetix totally won me over. The 800+ takes the rock-solid performance of the 800 and adds some undeniably useful and excellent features. But as I mentioned above, it also just sounds slightly different - slightly more "Hi Fi" - than the 800, which for me is a positive, but I can absolutely see some people preferring the native tone of the 800. Of course, with the tone controls on hand, you can dial in a bit more midrange fullness pretty easily on the 800+

Can't wait to dig in further, but wanted to share my initial thoughts with you all!

Keep up the great work, Jeff!

 

[MaxSpinrun]

Great info, thanks. Can’t wait for the deep dive.

 

[staccatogrowl]

I recently received an 800+ . . I did spend some time playing through the three 800w Genzler heads. .

The 800+ has an all-around feature set that makes great sense to me, including its tone profile between its sibling offerings. Although interested in some other brands, too, their power output gives me second thoughts when considering preserving the tone and life of my existing cabinets. The 800+ could be my plug and play solution, and I'm excited to try it.

 

[OldogNewTrick]

Offering this sneak peek just for our family here at the Genzler Amps club, please welcome to the family the new MG-800+.
Official launch tomorrow and shipping this week. View attachment 7459769

Congratulations on the Magellan 800+

ever since I used the component variant of this (Magellan Pre + 4 ONTF -> convection cooled power amp KME 450) I was waiting for this to appear in a new Magellan head. The switchable A B contours is what sold me on the Magellan pre.

 

[Jeff Genzler]

Congratulations on the Magellan 800+

ever since I used the component variant of this (Magellan Pre + 4 ONTF -> convection cooled power amp KME 450) I was waiting for this to appear in a new Magellan head. The switchable A B contours is what sold me on the Magellan pre.

@OldogNewTrick --- Thanks for your comments and pic of a great looking pedal kit. Yes, we have listed to users for some time now as they enjoyed the Magellan 800 and as we looked ahead to what the next generation could be. Thanks for the kind comments and hope you get a chance to check out the new MG-800+ soon.

 

[Jeff Genzler]

I recently received an 800+ in for review, but I wanted to share my first impressions with y'all. I was hoping to have band practice tonight and to be able to hear it in a band setting, but unfortunately, practice was cancelled tonight. I did spend some time playing through the three 800w Genzler heads, though, and here are my initial reaction thoughts.

View attachment 7461306

The 800 seems to be a little bit more mid forward and very slightly on the woolly side in comparison to the 800+. Please bear in mind that in general, I consider the 800 to be a very well balanced and fairly neutral amp, so I am not saying it is excessively mid forward or woolly. Just that I noticed a bit of that in comparison to the 800+ when both amps have their controls set to noon.

By comparison, the Kinetix with all controls set to noon (switch set to Fat) has more clarity in the high end and a bigger low end than either the 800 or the 800+. In truth, the Kinetix sounds very refined with Gain, Volume, and all tone controls set to noon. With the switch set to Lean, it sounds definitely more like the 800+, though it still has a bit more brightness and excitement in the high-end. To an extent, with all controls on all amps set basically to noon, the 800+ sounds a bit like a middle ground between the 800 and the Kinetix.

Some additional random thoughts from my notes:

The variable high pass filter is just great and still still retains functional low end even at its highest setting.

Despite having just one knob to engage the Drive function on the 800+, you can still dial it in just fine using the pre-amp Gain and master Volume controls. To my ears, the drive on the 800+ is a bit improved from the 800 and it sounds thicker and richer and more natural, but we are not talking dramatic differences - but nevertheless audible differences. By engaging the boost and tweaking the Gain and Volume settings, the Kinetix can dial in a very excellent drive, which I do slightly prefer to that of the 800+. But again, it’s not a massive difference, which is pretty impressive for the 800+.

The real difference between all three of these heads is how you dial things in from a tone stack perspective. The Kinetix starts things off with the Lean/Fat/Thick switch and then gives you a straightforward five-band EQ. The 800 gives you the two Contour options, but with just one knob shared between the two, and then a three-band EQ with parametric meds. The 800+, in addition to the high pass filter, gives you separate knobs for each Contour curve and the ability to switch between the two, and then gives you a four-band EQ with semi-parametric low-mids and high-mids.

None of the amps give you center defense on any of the tone controls, but fortunately, all of the knobs are easy to see.

I could easily gig with any one of these as my primary gigging head. My MG-800 has been to the most gigs, by far, but the Kinetix totally won me over. The 800+ takes the rock-solid performance of the 800 and adds some undeniably useful and excellent features. But as I mentioned above, it also just sounds slightly different - slightly more "Hi Fi" - than the 800, which for me is a positive, but I can absolutely see some people preferring the native tone of the 800. Of course, with the tone controls on hand, you can dial in a bit more midrange fullness pretty easily on the 800+

Can't wait to dig in further, but wanted to share my initial thoughts with you all!

Keep up the great work, Jeff!

@tombowlus ---- Thanks for the initial overview of the new MG-800+. I apprecate all of your comments. It is always a challenge to take a known entity and update it. While we wanted to keep this in the same general platform of the original, we're excited for the new features we included, after listening to many players and how they used the MG-800.
And some of the upgrades are more under the hood with new input circuitry and new ultra highgrade opamps, resulting more dynamic headroom, and ultra low noise floor. I think many of the upgrades will prove themselves as you get to take this out for a spin in higher volume, on stage settings.
As we developed this, our Beta testers did feel that the new design had that little more "something" that added to the musical playability and output.
Talk more soon.

 

[edwinhurwitz]

Amongst the Bass Array line is there a least colored version? Obviously slight differences exist between them, but in building my next rig I'm looking for the most even response to use with amp/cab modeling, plus the appropriate amount of output to cover any gig. That and off axis dispersion is huge for me given some of the stages I play on (the line array drivers are what led me to these cabs).

My hunch is a pair of 115's, but if the new 212 gets me most of the way there then one cab would be ideal. That said, I wouldn't be comfortable with less than 2 12's for big rooms. A while back someone posted an eq graph of the 112 which looked right on point across the spectrum. I'm using 5 string basses and routinely run an octaver in my band's music so low end extension is a significant factor. I know a lot of people are mixing and matching cabs nowadays so any personal experience is greatly appreciated, and I'm sure Jeff will chime in when he's able to.

Much thanks in advance.

I have a 15 and I find that it’s a bit less “hifi” than the 12s, only because the low end is so huge. After I got it, I realized that my pair of 12s does just fine. However, all three is pretty awesome!

 

[Maxi Funkl]

Love to see my Favorite Amplification Brand continues to strive, improve, and simply make me wish I had more funds.

 

[John D Harris]

The LF of the BA2-212-3 is a little deeper and "rounder" as you might expect from the larger drivers. The punch of the BA2-410-3 comes from the grouping of the 4-10" drivers that hit you in the lows and low/mids kind of like a fist to the gut, so to speak. The 410 is not shy of any LF support but the 2x12" just feels a little more depth. Hope this helps.

@Jeff Genzler - how would you compare the BA2-212-3 to a pairing of the BA2-210-3 with a BA2-115-3?

If a person were to stack those three cabs together - say 210 over 212 over 115, would that be overkill (surely, I jest - this is talkbass)?

I guess a BA2-410-3 on top of a BA2-212-3, would be pretty special as well!

 

[Luckydog]

Well poopie, I just got a Magellan 800 and this new 800+ has everything I'd want.

Me too. It is brand new in box and was bought for a backup so not used (I have another that I use). Sheesh.

 

[kringle77]

I have gigged a Magellan 800 exclusively since it came out and always begged Jeff to add a 2nd mid. He now has done that and added a hp filter. I just saw that it was available a few hours ago and literally 2 minutes later I ordered one. I am so damn excited! This amp and a compressor pedal is all I will need for a rig. I’m glad that a comp was not added, it’s too subjective of a feature. How has the overdrive circuit been modified?Thank you Jeff!

 

[Jeff Genzler]

I have gigged a Magellan 800 exclusively since it came out and always begged Jeff to add a 2nd mid. He now has done that and added a hp filter. I just saw that it was available a few hours ago and literally 2 minutes later I ordered one. I am so damn excited! This amp and a compressor pedal is all I will need for a rig. I’m glad that a comp was not added, it’s too subjective of a feature. How has the overdrive circuit been modified?Thank you Jeff!

Yes, we did think of you as we developed the new features of the MG-800+. And I really do like the 2 parametric mids and how the frequencies overlap. Thanks for your purchase.

 

[John D Harris]

I have gigged a Magellan 800 exclusively since it came out and always begged Jeff to add a 2nd mid. He now has done that and added a hp filter. I just saw that it was available a few hours ago and literally 2 minutes later I ordered one. I am so damn excited! This amp and a compressor pedal is all I will need for a rig. I’m glad that a comp was not added, it’s too subjective of a feature. How has the overdrive circuit been modified?Thank you Jeff!

They have a lot of expertise and experience from stuff like the "4 On The Floor" pedal, so I'm sure it will be tasty!

 

[Luckydog]

I have gigged a Magellan 800 exclusively since it came out and always begged Jeff to add a 2nd mid. He now has done that and added a hp filter. I just saw that it was available a few hours ago and literally 2 minutes later I ordered one. I am so damn excited! This amp and a compressor pedal is all I will need for a rig. I’m glad that a comp was not added, it’s too subjective of a feature. How has the overdrive circuit been modified?Thank you Jeff!

I read somewhere that Jeff indicated the original MG800 already has a built-in hpf. Dont recall the setting. Maybe 50?