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GK Combo Shootout...MB210 vs. MB212
- Thread starter tallboybass
- Start date
I also have to carry the PA and monitor systems as I am the singer so sadly I am not a once only carrier 
My experience:
I got the MB210 and totally loved it- it sounded like what I hear in headphones, with a big, solid sound. I pushed in the contour button and found the sound I wanted right away. But it was working hard at performance levels, with two guitar players (in a modern sort of blues band), one with with a H&K 2-12 and the other a Peavey 1-12 Fender deluxe type. So I swapped up for the MB212. It is much louder- I have the master on a little under 9:00, with boost at 1:00, gain at 11:00, everything else is more or less flat. The sound is a bit clearer than the 210, less solid, but fuller sounding- something in the low mids, I think. It is taller, a little heavier, and not as easy to move as the 210. The 210 I could pick up in one hand with my bass in the other and walk out. The 212 takes more effort, and is a bit clumsier to move, but no biggie for me. The guys in the band like the 212 more - one says it sounds bigger, and I agree. Clean and clear and loud.
And I suppose I could have gotten a 210 extension speaker cabinet to go under the 210 when I needed it, but my intent was to have a light amp I can move with one hand in one trip. Today I am going to work with the 212- when I got it I went straight to practice and didn't have time to tinker with the tone controls. Summary- while I love both amps, I think I will get what I want out of the 212, and I doubt I will be disappointed at all. Thanks GK....
I got the MB210 and totally loved it- it sounded like what I hear in headphones, with a big, solid sound. I pushed in the contour button and found the sound I wanted right away. But it was working hard at performance levels, with two guitar players (in a modern sort of blues band), one with with a H&K 2-12 and the other a Peavey 1-12 Fender deluxe type. So I swapped up for the MB212. It is much louder- I have the master on a little under 9:00, with boost at 1:00, gain at 11:00, everything else is more or less flat. The sound is a bit clearer than the 210, less solid, but fuller sounding- something in the low mids, I think. It is taller, a little heavier, and not as easy to move as the 210. The 210 I could pick up in one hand with my bass in the other and walk out. The 212 takes more effort, and is a bit clumsier to move, but no biggie for me. The guys in the band like the 212 more - one says it sounds bigger, and I agree. Clean and clear and loud.
And I suppose I could have gotten a 210 extension speaker cabinet to go under the 210 when I needed it, but my intent was to have a light amp I can move with one hand in one trip. Today I am going to work with the 212- when I got it I went straight to practice and didn't have time to tinker with the tone controls. Summary- while I love both amps, I think I will get what I want out of the 212, and I doubt I will be disappointed at all. Thanks GK....
butchblack
Life is short. Do good. Find and do what you love.
A post on another thread got me thinking about this question. The DI on the MB 210. If I were to blow a speaker in the cab is there a setting that would send a usable DI signal to the PA without sending one to the speakers. i.e. could you use the MB 210 as a DI only?
Also, I think on this thread some have talked about wiring a connector in to be able to use the cab with a separate amp in case of the amp dying at a gig. Has anyone done this yet? If so how and how'd it work?
Also, I think on this thread some have talked about wiring a connector in to be able to use the cab with a separate amp in case of the amp dying at a gig. Has anyone done this yet? If so how and how'd it work?
So I bit the bullet and sold off all my other gear to help with Christmas this year and ended up replacing it with an MB212 from Musician's Friend. The amp arrived around mid December and I noticed right away there was a rattle you could here from just carrying the amp around. So I got it home and fired her up and my first impressions were that the tone was great, really enjoyed it except a loud buzzing coming from the amp on almost every note, especially E's. I took the 4 screws holding the chassis off and had a look inside. The board with all the power gizmos had come off from the amp and was loose inside, hence the buzzing. I screwed the board back to the chassis (so i thought) put the amp back together and fired her up. Wow, this thing sounds great and about ten times better without the buzz. I just played it for a couple hours without stopping, it does really sound good. So I'm thinking everything is a go and take her to practice later in the week and the buzz is back, the board must have gotten jarred loose or something in transit but we needed to practice so I played it and ran through the PA as well (GK should have turned the DI jack as it's almost impossible to press the release tab with fingers alone). After trying to fix the amp once more during practice I determined it wasn't an issue with the screws coming un-threaded and I wasn't sure why the board wouldn't stay attached so I decided to consult GK. After sending a PM to Mr. Gallien here on Talkbass, I received a response within a few hours that Brian would take care of me after the weekend. Well he emailed me yesterday, got all my info and sent me a shipping label for the amp to go out today and he said they would send me a new amp out as soon as they had shipping confirmation via 2Day Air so I would have it in time for weekend gigs. That is some great service, on par with Genz Benz who in my opinion have set the standard for customer service in this industry. Kudos to GK for taking care of their customers no questions asked. I'm thinking/hoping the board issue with my amp was a fluke and I'll be gigging a MB212 for many years to come. After dragging separates, no matter how light to gigs, it's so easy with this combo to achieve the 1 trip load in! I'll post a gig review after this weekend providing the new amp gets here in time, but judging by Brian and Bob's commitment to their customers there should be no issue.
The guys @ GK really took care of me. Got my old amp shipped to them on their dime and shipped me the new amp once they had UPS confirmation the old MB212 had been picked up. They sent the new MB212 out UPS 2Day on their dime so I'd have it in time for a couple gigs this weekend. Amp was put together tighter than a drum and the tone was great. I'm really digging this amps tone, never thought I'd go for all solid-state but this ones a keeper, especially considering the value of the MB212. Thanks again GK!
I bought a MB 210 before Christmas after seeing all the reviews. I was "amped" to try it out, but a minute after I fired it up I noticed that the the front grill rattled on any "F" you played anywhere on the neck. I also noticed that at times, I would hear an arcing gong on in the back of the amp. The horn, as everyone else on this forum mentioned, did hiss like crazy as well. I like others, thought I wouldn't receive one that had issues, but no.
The MB210 was surprisingly powerful and had some good sound especially when slapping and pulling. The sound just cuts through cleanly with the the two tens. I did notice that it did struggle with the low end a bit at times and I can tell it was at it's limits. I play an Ibanez SR700 4 string bass so I would assume it might struggle somewhat with a 5th or 6th string. Since I was sending back the amp back to GC anyway I decided I would pay the difference and get the MB 212.
Well, I am blown away! in my opinion the MB 212 blows away the MB 210! First off the MB 212 I received is flawless no rattles etc. But that aside, the sound is so much better and the range of sound and tones you can get far exceed from what I could get out out of MB 210. So far I only have set the EQ's knobs on the amp to straight up and have been adjusting the EQ on the bass itself, and even with just doing that I was able to get some great tones. I can't wait to play with the EQ on the amp itself. I cant imagine what other sounds I can produce! To me the MB 212 is like a Mercedes Benz and the MB 210 is a Chevy. Both get you were your going but i feel the MB 212 is like like driving a luxury car with plenty of power. I never did get the chance to try the MB210 with an ext cab, but I did not want an extra cab to drag around anyway so the 500 watt MB212 is more than enough for me. It can get crazy loud and still be able to produce some good bottom end without distorting. There is some hissing on the horn but far less than there was on the MB210 and totally not objectionable on the MB 212. The MB212 cabinet is barely bigger then the MB210, I was actually shocked, how close in size it really was to the MB210. This was a pleasant surprise! A little heaver but not much more so.
I will say one thing I have noticed so far is that I havent been able to create the clear defined tone of the MB 210 when slapping and pulling. Yet. However, I haven't started to mess with the on amp EQ. I'm sure I can recreate it with some experimentation. I'm actually glad the MB 210 I was shipped had issues, I would have never gotten the chance to try the MB212. I just hope that the MB212 will keep sounding good and not develop any issues. Barring that, I am extremely pleased with the MB212.
The MB210 was surprisingly powerful and had some good sound especially when slapping and pulling. The sound just cuts through cleanly with the the two tens. I did notice that it did struggle with the low end a bit at times and I can tell it was at it's limits. I play an Ibanez SR700 4 string bass so I would assume it might struggle somewhat with a 5th or 6th string. Since I was sending back the amp back to GC anyway I decided I would pay the difference and get the MB 212.
Well, I am blown away! in my opinion the MB 212 blows away the MB 210! First off the MB 212 I received is flawless no rattles etc. But that aside, the sound is so much better and the range of sound and tones you can get far exceed from what I could get out out of MB 210. So far I only have set the EQ's knobs on the amp to straight up and have been adjusting the EQ on the bass itself, and even with just doing that I was able to get some great tones. I can't wait to play with the EQ on the amp itself. I cant imagine what other sounds I can produce! To me the MB 212 is like a Mercedes Benz and the MB 210 is a Chevy. Both get you were your going but i feel the MB 212 is like like driving a luxury car with plenty of power. I never did get the chance to try the MB210 with an ext cab, but I did not want an extra cab to drag around anyway so the 500 watt MB212 is more than enough for me. It can get crazy loud and still be able to produce some good bottom end without distorting. There is some hissing on the horn but far less than there was on the MB210 and totally not objectionable on the MB 212. The MB212 cabinet is barely bigger then the MB210, I was actually shocked, how close in size it really was to the MB210. This was a pleasant surprise! A little heaver but not much more so.I will say one thing I have noticed so far is that I havent been able to create the clear defined tone of the MB 210 when slapping and pulling. Yet. However, I haven't started to mess with the on amp EQ. I'm sure I can recreate it with some experimentation. I'm actually glad the MB 210 I was shipped had issues, I would have never gotten the chance to try the MB212. I just hope that the MB212 will keep sounding good and not develop any issues. Barring that, I am extremely pleased with the MB212.
Hey, Gary, I am considering one of these (MB212). How is yours holding up? Is it compatible with a L2K? Are you still happy?
Thanks, bro!
John
Thanks, bro!
John
- Apr 3, 2003
- 35,515
- 19,944
- Disclosures
- Editor-in-Chief, Bass Gear Magazine
Hey guess what? Now you can add a powered GK cab to your MB combo! The 4x10 and 2x12 are rated at 500 watts, and intended to pair up with the (new) MB410 and MB212 combos. And the 1x15 has a 200-watt amp and pairs up with the (new) MB115.
The newer versions of these combos have a balanced line out that is intended to connect to these powered cabs.
And yes, there is now a 500-watt 4x10 combo!
The newer versions of these combos have a balanced line out that is intended to connect to these powered cabs.
And yes, there is now a 500-watt 4x10 combo!
- Apr 3, 2003
- 35,515
- 19,944
- Disclosures
- Editor-in-Chief, Bass Gear Magazine
- Apr 3, 2003
- 35,515
- 19,944
- Disclosures
- Editor-in-Chief, Bass Gear Magazine
