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GK 800RB Speaker outs question

LeftyLB70P

LeftyLB70P

May 4, 2005
227
9
54
Athens, Ga.
www.myspace.com
#1
Just bought a used head and I am kind of confused about the speaker out options. The upper 2 are 100W into 8Ohms and the lower 2 are 300 into 4Ohms. I have multiple cabinets and actually use a dual amp setup (GK 1001RBII into a 4x10w/horn and this into a 2x10w/horn). I just got the amp last night and ran it from 1 of the lower speaker outs (the 2x10 is 4ohms). It sounded great and I am happy but I am curious and want to know "all the options".


Those with experience with this head please give input.

thanks
 
#2
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here's a start. Great amp.

You can run the 100 watt section as full range, not just in biamp mode. So for example you could run an 8 ohm 2-10 cab from that and run a 4 ohm 4-10 cab with the 300 watt section for a total of 400 watts into 6-10s.
 
#3
dhsierra1 said:
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

here's a start. Great amp.

You can run the 100 watt section as full range, not just in biamp mode. So for example you could run an 8 ohm 2-10 cab from that and run a 4 ohm 4-10 cab with the 300 watt section for a total of 400 watts into 6-10s.
Click to expand...

+1

OP, remember the high amp is 8ohm minimum, don't forget that.

The 800rb is better suited to real biamping than the rest of the GK line with the 50watt tweeter amps. The crossover tops out at 1khz which is too low for any tweeter and 100watt high amp could easily toast most any tweeter anyway.
 
#4
Both amps work when set to full range. You can add more cabs to the high amp if you want by making up a series cable for it. It's 60 watts @ 16 ohms.

Don't be discouraged by the low power numbers. Due to some filtering of sub-lows and a high current reserve, they play incredibly strong for 200-400 watts.
 
#5
perfect - that's exactly what I was looking for. I had already found the manual but there is a line that states "never to connect the 2 Outputs together" (not word for word) that led to my confusion. Not worried at all by the numbers either - this thing is a beast! Lower volume would have been fine but I was stunned at just how powerful it is.

to...much...power.... :)
thanks for the input.
 
#6
LeftyLB70P said:
perfect - that's exactly what I was looking for. I had already found the manual but there is a line that states "never to connect the 2 Outputs together" (not word for word) that led to my confusion. Not worried at all by the numbers either - this thing is a beast! Lower volume would have been fine but I was stunned at just how powerful it is.

to...much...power.... :)
thanks for the input.
Click to expand...

Yes, make sure the speaker outs aren't crossing paths in anyway, like having cabs daisy-chained and connected to both amps or something. You can run the two amp outs to two separate cabs, or as many as impedance will allow.

Enjoy, I love mine. I run it with a pair of 12's on the low amp and a spearate 6 on the high amp with the crossover around 800-1k. Sounds great and plenty strong.



398D3D15-orig.jpg
 
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#7
I've been playing my 800 RB for decades. It sounds great bi-amped w/a 210 for highs & 115 for lows, or a 410 for lows, or a 410 stand alone full range, or 115 stand alone full range. There are plenty more expensive amps to be had, but my trusty old GK is still serving well after 20 years and I bought it quite used back then. I recently bought a newer, lighter, quieter running, more powerful head but I think I'm just going to use the new one as a back-up. The old GK just has a wonderful sound, and that's what matters.
 
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#11
LeftyLB70P said:
Just bought a used head and I am kind of confused about the speaker out options. The upper 2 are 100W into 8Ohms and the lower 2 are 300 into 4Ohms. I have multiple cabinets and actually use a dual amp setup (GK 1001RBII into a 4x10w/horn and this into a 2x10w/horn). I just got the amp last night and ran it from 1 of the lower speaker outs (the 2x10 is 4ohms). It sounded great and I am happy but I am curious and want to know "all the options".


Those with experience with this head please give input.

thanks
Click to expand...
I ran mine in biamp mode and had to reverse the banana plug on one of my cabinets to avoid cancellation at the crossover frequency. I used a Ramsa WSA200 (12 w/horn) and Bag End S15. I didn't get a lot of lows out of this rig, but I could hear every nuance of every note.
 
#12
My 800RB is in a rack case, and with my gk412 neo I found no use for the biamp function, so to avoid plugging into the 100 watt section I put a piece of tape over the jack in back,I read enough horror stories about blowing it with a 4ohm load.
 
#13
will33 said:
Yes, make sure the speaker outs aren't crossing paths in anyway, like having cabs daisy-chained and connected to both amps or something. You can run the two amp outs to two separate cabs, or as many as impedance will allow.

Enjoy, I love mine. I run it with a pair of 12's on the low amp and a spearate 6 on the high amp with the crossover around 800-1k. Sounds great and plenty strong.



View attachment 1902712
Click to expand...
Ok. I'm a little late to this conversation but what kind of cabinet is that? Or cabinets? Is the 6" seperate from the 12"s? Is that a stereo cabinet? I'm thinking of building one like it. Fascinating!!
 

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