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GK 1001-rb II HELP!

K

knucklesma

May 12, 2009
6
0
#1
I need some help, since no matter how I play with the amp, when I play with my band I cannot get the sound I want and all I hear is mud. I have tried a Sadowsky NYC 5 String, my old Warwick Corvette, String Ray 5, and now I will be using my G&L L-2500. No matter how I change the settings on my basses, I cannot get a good tone. I know everything comes with preferance, but if anybody uses a GK 1001-rb II, if you could take a picture of your settings and post it, that would help me out tons.

I know everybody has their own preferance in sound, but I'm just trying to make my amp not sound like mud. The speaker isn't blown and has been kept in perfect condition and never pushed to the limit.

btw - I use an Aguilar 212 cab.

Thanks
 
#3
Same thing was going on with my little rig. I found adjusting the pickups helped a lot- higher on the treble side, lower on the bass side, though this may not be your problem. +1 for starting out flat and going from there. Good luck!
 
#4
I'm assuming your talking about at fairly high stage volume this happens. I had a GK1001RB ll with a aggie GS212 same as you and no matter how clean I set my controls I did get too much grind at loud levels outdoors I wouldn't call it mud thought so you might have a different problem. Anyway I wound up trading it in for a Markbass F1 head and now can push out more clean volume.
Now all that said the key with the GK is to keep the preamp (gain) below 12 oclock and be stingy with the boost as well. try running the master at 2 oclock. Check your cabinet and make sure both speakers are working and back the horn off.
Let us know how you make out.
 
#5
GK 1001RBII user here as well as Aggie cabs but I use one or two 410 cabs. I can't imagine your setup sounding muddy other than you have not learned how the GK eq works. Try everything flat like stated above (which should give you alot of highs and mids) and back off the bass knob slowly. I also set my active basses flat when I start and adjust as needed per song. I have never heard any GK user especially a 700RBII or 1001RBII user sound muddy.
 
#6
First thing we need to do is decide what you are looking for -tone wise. I myself couldn't find the sound I was looking for with by Gk1001-210 combo. It had plenty of low end, but no midrange. Too much low end. It wasn't balanced. I didn't have any character. I was looking for the STP, Incubus type grind (megalomaniac bass solo sound). Tried it with 6 different basses. All sounded drastically different, but still not the presence I wanted. It was all boom or treble clank. I then built some BFM 10.5s, and realized that midrange was what I was missing. They use drivers that extend a little higher into the midrange, more like a PA cabinet. Then I started looking at drivers with those specs and using those exclusively. I can turn the grind off with EQ if I don't need it. It's great. But it might not be what you are looking for.
Wes
 
#7
I will probably be the first to say this but that amp sounds better through some speakers more than others, however I found that when using it through speakers that made the mids a bit murky (my experience with my old Mesa cab) a compressor fixed the problem.
 
#8
Thanks for all the responses!! I wont be around until monday to play it, but then I have 4 shows withing the next month and wany to make sure everything sounds better. The head just had more knobs than I was used to. I'll update everybody monday night.

Thanks!
 
#10
knucklesma said:
no matter how I play with the amp, when I play with my band I cannot get the sound I want and all I hear is mud. I have a String Ray 5.

I know everybody has their own preferance in sound, but I'm just trying to make my amp not sound like mud. I use an Aguilar 212 cab.
Thanks
Click to expand...

Although I have run my GK 1001RBII through my GS112 stack and found it do-able, I usually use my GK NEO 212 or Goliath III.

I will say that, at least for me, a GK head and Musicman bass = a great start. I set my amp gain between 9 & 10 o'clock everything flat, boost at noon and master between 9 or 10 o'clock. Then boost a touch of bass on the MM and I hear great tone. No mud. With the GS cab I might also use a touch of the MM mid. I find the Musicman mid more useful than most mid controls on my amps.

You have some very nice basses and IMO a great head and cab, there's got to be "your sound" in there somewhere.
In the GK manual there are some "suggested settings" that you could try as a starting point and tweak from there as well. Good Luck and let us know.
 
#12
The Gk, with the tone controls at noon, contour and presence off - is a mild scoop. To my ear, Aggie cabs are typically also scooped. I would keep the Contour & Precence OFF, cut the lows a tad to free up some mid's, adjust the hi's to taste - then re-assess understanding that at least my preference is cut, not boost when it comes to EQ. Boost - anywhere up to noon depending on how much grind you're looking for. That ought to get you in the neighborhood.

The other thing to keep in mind is that what it sounds like in the rehersal room is often quite differnet from the gig environment. Often I'm not real happy with my tone up close. My goal is that 25 to 40 feet away - I sound good! The audience after all is paying the bills ... to that end, I get as far away as I can during a sound check to get a snese of how I sound out front. Plugging into a floor tuner or smoething else at your feet and walking a 20' guitar cable out front can be instructive.
 
#13
My EQ is flat on the amp. Boost, highamp and woofer are at about 10 o'oclock. Pre-volume is never more than straight up. Presence up, contour off. I get all of my sounds on the fly from the EQ section of the bass. I actually dump some of the bass knob a little, depending on if I have house PA or not. Ironically, I couldn't EQ in enough mids and grind with the stock RBH cab. It's all a personal preference.
Wes
 
#14
Great thread!
I have a GK1001RB/210 and I'm a little confused when ppl are talking about the "master" volume.
Is this available on the 1001RB-II?
Or are they talkin' the "BiAmp Output" section (Boost/Tweeter/Woofer & tweet cut/ x-over switches)?

Thanx in advance for clearing that up. -Ryco
 

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