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GK 212MBE/4 4ohms burnt out in 30 Sec.

Y

YMTJ

Mar 16, 2013
5
0
#1
I just got 9 months old, hardly being used, mint condition GK 212MBE and GK 1001RB II. Before I buy, I tried it with more than bedroom volume levels to make sure everything works fine. It did sound great.

I took to my band practice all excited, but within 30 seconds of playing (I'm not lying, didn't even finish the intro of song.) with rock band practice level of volume, however, it wasn't even turned half way up, cabinet started smelling burnt rubber. One of the speakers was burnt out. Very embarrassing.

I called the GK customer service next day, and he kept telling me "I overpowered the cabinet" as if I cranked the amp all the way up to kill it. But like I mentioned before, it wasn't even turned half way up, and didn't even lasted a minute. He was only defensive about his product, and responsibility was all on end-users.

I think that was a defective speaker to begin with, and attitude of GK's customer rep really made me mad. I even started assuming that they are hiding some known issues about their speakers that they don't want to disclose (or recall) to the public. Only one thing I'm for sure is I'll NEVER ever buy any products from GK ever again!!!! Horrible product and horrible after-care. Definitely WORTHLESS!!!

Did anyone have the similar experience with GK's cabinet?
 
#2
YMTJ said:
I think that was a defective speaker to begin with, and attitude of GK's customer rep really made me mad. I even started assuming that they are hiding some known issues about their speakers that they don't want to disclose (or recall) to the public.
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Which happened first?? If some one came in my shop assuming (insert conspiracy theory here) Id tell em get off my lawn too.

Sorry about your cab though
 
#3
A cab rated @ 600w does not mean it can take 600 watts. That is the THERMAL rating at which the voice coil will melt (usually when fed a 1Khz signal). Depending on how much low end EQ you use, the real world mechanical limits are about 1/2 the thermal limit.

Also, "knob position" mean nothing. Most amps are already putting their full output at around 1/2 volume knob based upon how you EQ.

Could very well have overpowered the cab.
 
#9
YMTJ said:
I guess that's vice versa. Lower watts head with higher watts cabinet is more likely to cause problem.
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The output of the head and the power rating of the cab are a zero issue here. Probably just a bad driver. It happens unfortunately. You would have heard serious 'farting' LONG before you would run into thermal issues with that head's output and that cab.
 
#10
Lowactnsatsfctn said:
Which happened first?? If some one came in my shop assuming (insert conspiracy theory here) Id tell em get off my lawn too.

Sorry about your cab though
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He was defensive from the get go as he was telling me to get one more cabinet to get louder. I thought this cab was good enough for shows at small clubs, like they advertise about how "powerful" and "loud" it can get.
 
#11
YMTJ said:
I guess that's vice versa. Lower watts head with higher watts cabinet is more likely to cause problem.
Click to expand...

Yes way off base.

The 1001RB II can produce well over 700 watts on attack into a 4 ohm cab. Your cab was only rated for 600 watts thermal. Yes knob position can mean very little.
Why did you think a 4 ohm cab was safe? I have the NEO212 which uses the same 12" speakers but is 8 ohm. with the Fusion 550 I have not had any trouble at all.

Try being courteous and contact [email protected]. Most all people get above industry standard service from G-K.
 
#14
Vince Klortho said:
IF the cabinet was truly overpowered then why did only one speaker blow and not both ? They both received the same amount of power didn't they ?

In other words, I think the GK person is all wet.
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I have seen Eden 410 cabs blow one or two drivers pretty regular. Why did the other continue to work okay?
It is possible one speaker was defective, attitude when taking to a manufacturer is everything when you do have a problem is the big point here. IMHO
 
#16
B-string said:
Yes way off base.

The 1001RB II can produce well over 700 watts on attack into a 4 ohm cab. Your cab was only rated for 600 watts thermal. Yes knob position can mean very little.
Why did you think a 4 ohm cab was safe? I have the NEO212 which uses the same 12" speakers but is 8 ohm. with the Fusion 550 I have not had any trouble at all.

Try being courteous and contact [email protected]. Most all people get above industry standard service from G-K.
Click to expand...
Back of the 1001RB II says;
Speaker Loads/ 700W Amp (Woofer/Master)
One or Two 8 Ohm Cabinets
or One 4 Ohm Cabinet

8ohm or 4 ohm, which one is more durable or resists more against power load from the amp???

I wish I didn't have any problems like you.
 
#18
An 8ohm version of the same cab will 'resist' damage somewhat better in a sense, because it has a higher resistance and thus less current can flow from the amp, all other things being equal.
Doesn't really matter though, because as Ken said, you really should have heard the death cries from the speaker long before it actually blew. So exactly what happened here is a bit of a mystery, although that amp is more than capable of damaging your cab.
And yes, it's entirely possible to blow one speaker and not the other. For example I once blew a speaker in a 4x10 cab. Just one of the 10's. The others were fine.
 
#20
Typically it seems that one may be a little weaker doing the canary in a coal mine thing.

Half way up can get real loud. How many boxes did you have in front of this 700 watt amp? Was there any distortion which would indicate a more complex wave form?

I've always been impressed favorably with GK gear.


Bass_Pounder said:
So every multi speaker blown cab you have ever seen or heard about blew out all of the speakers :confused:
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