What's a gramma pad???
I always thought it was an Incontinence aid for an elderly lady? ..... guess I got that one wrong..
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GK Combo Shootout...MB210 vs. MB212
- Thread starter tallboybass
- Start date
I always thought it was an Incontinence aid for an elderly lady? ..... guess I got that one wrong..
Huh, very interesting... according to the GK website, they're actually going to make a 410MBE that is 40lbs. It's rated at 800 watts and 4 or 8 ohms.
Now, somebody before had said that a 410 with a high wattage handling would not sound good with the MB210 combo.
Bob Gallien himself said that the MBE cabs are designed to go with the MB heads AND combos. Anybody have any thoughts on this?
Would I be better to get the 400 watt handling 8 ohm 410mbx or the 800 watt handling 8 ohm 410MBE (which is also 30 lbs lighter)?
Now, somebody before had said that a 410 with a high wattage handling would not sound good with the MB210 combo.
Bob Gallien himself said that the MBE cabs are designed to go with the MB heads AND combos. Anybody have any thoughts on this?
Would I be better to get the 400 watt handling 8 ohm 410mbx or the 800 watt handling 8 ohm 410MBE (which is also 30 lbs lighter)?
Quadzilla
Supporting Member
I've had my MB212 to many, many gigs and the thing just kills! Light, loud, defined, etc. Could not be more happy!
Thanks to the OP for starting this thread. Choosing between the MB210 and MB212 is the exact decision I need to make so I'm all ears.
Comparisons of the MB210+extension cab to the MB212 would also be good.
Comparisons of the MB210+extension cab to the MB212 would also be good.
Quadzilla
Supporting Member
One thing to point out, some basses do better with the MB212 than others. I find that my MM Sabre, Bongo, G&L L2000, etc excel and sound great with this amp. I had a Peavey USA Millennium JJ and it did not sound good at all on this amp (IMHO).
butchblack
Life is short. Do good. Find and do what you love.
Brought my MB 210 to a jam Monday, the guys in the house band wanted to hear and see it. So I got to hear it from the audience, it sounded great. A guitarist I play with occasionally commented that the bass sounded full but with enough punch to cut through. And everyone was amazed how light it was.
butchblack
Life is short. Do good. Find and do what you love.
At the jam the house bassist played a Fender J that sounded killer with it. I don't know how he has his bass set up though.
I agree with your recommendation. I've played around a lot with the settings over the 6 months I've had this MB210. At first I had the bass set at 12:00 but now back it off to around 10:30 after it broke in well. I only change the low-mid, hi-mid, boost and pickup/tone settings on my bass. Both my Jazz and Ibanez have maple fretboards and my technique isn't the greatest so I roll back the highs a little to deal with finger/fretting noise. These are my settings...
Bass @ 10:30
Lo-mid @ 1:00-2:00
Hi-mid @ 11:00-11:30
Treble @ 11:30
Boost @ 11:00-12:00
Contour OFF; Horn OFF (always!); Limiter ON
The MB210 is so light it floats on air anyway. Does that count as isolation? Seriously this looks like something I could use on the wooden stage I'm playing on weekly.
just set it on a blanket? I'm thinkin there's got to be a cheaper way to accomplish the same goal
Had mine on a slick marble floor....I was playing and then I noticed it was much quieter. It had actually spun around and was facing the drummer!! After that I started bringing some non-skid padding to put under it. Then later, the Gramma to raise it up closer to my ears.
You're welcome! I couldn't find much in the way of comparisons when I was looking so here it is!
There is a little bit of talk about the MB210 + Ext. cab vs. MB212 back there somewhere. What would you like to know?
HEY wait a minute!!!! Is this some kind of TRICK....are you trying to get this thread BACK ON TOPIC?!!
Nice try.
Yeah, when you think about using it the rest of your career, it's not too expensive. I got mine for about $30, but that was a while ago.
funny story:
So today I was playing in the studio with my super loud classic rock influenced band. The very same with whom I blew out my cab the last time we were playing.
When I walked in there, I was stoked because what should I find but an Ampeg SVT-4 5 ton cab. Excellent! Exactly what I wanted: a chance to hook up my combo to a 410 cab. Sure enough, the cab wasn't working at all. I was pretty worried because this time the guitar player had an even bigger and nicer stack than last time.
I plugged my active bass into the passive input and had the master volume at about 12:00 (believe me, it was LOUD). It was still on top of the Ampeg cab so every time I played an A or lower it was like having a personal fan as I got blasted with a gust of wind. Let me say this... this guy can push some air!
All of a sudden, two songs into the rehearsal, after we stop playing, I'm fiddling around on my bass and what do I hear but rattling. My heart stops for a minute. It was very similar to the rattling I was hearing inside the horn of my other cab. As I put my ear to the amp I realized that I was 80% sure the rattling was not in the speakers.
I moved the MB210 off of the Ampeg cab and sure enough I found that one of the screws that holds the amp itself to the unit had come completely off (1 or 2 turns from being completely off). It was on the right side of the amp (if you're looking at the speaker) which was consequently the bottom of the amp when it was lying sideways on the Ampeg cab.
I was hugely relieved because there was nothing at all wrong with my amp. But also had a good laugh that the thing unscrewed itself. I found several loose screws actually throughout the cab once I had a screwdriver in hand to put the screw that had come out back in place.
**If you guys haven't yet, you might want to take a screwdriver to all those screws and just make sure it's all tight. Probably a good idea to do this every so often**
In terms of sound. This thing was keeping up with no problem with my guitarist's 4x10 stack. It was a lot more powerful than I imagined that it would be to be perfectly honest. Tonight was definitely the loudest I've asked it to go and the most effects, playing intensity, and aggressive popping and slapping I've thrown at it since getting it and it passed with flying colors.
Even more in love with it than before! I really don't think I'm even going to keep thinking about getting 410 to go with it. The 210MBE will be more than enough to serve as a companion to this amp.
So today I was playing in the studio with my super loud classic rock influenced band. The very same with whom I blew out my cab the last time we were playing.
When I walked in there, I was stoked because what should I find but an Ampeg SVT-4 5 ton cab. Excellent! Exactly what I wanted: a chance to hook up my combo to a 410 cab. Sure enough, the cab wasn't working at all. I was pretty worried because this time the guitar player had an even bigger and nicer stack than last time.
I plugged my active bass into the passive input and had the master volume at about 12:00 (believe me, it was LOUD). It was still on top of the Ampeg cab so every time I played an A or lower it was like having a personal fan as I got blasted with a gust of wind. Let me say this... this guy can push some air!
All of a sudden, two songs into the rehearsal, after we stop playing, I'm fiddling around on my bass and what do I hear but rattling. My heart stops for a minute. It was very similar to the rattling I was hearing inside the horn of my other cab. As I put my ear to the amp I realized that I was 80% sure the rattling was not in the speakers.
I moved the MB210 off of the Ampeg cab and sure enough I found that one of the screws that holds the amp itself to the unit had come completely off (1 or 2 turns from being completely off). It was on the right side of the amp (if you're looking at the speaker) which was consequently the bottom of the amp when it was lying sideways on the Ampeg cab.
I was hugely relieved because there was nothing at all wrong with my amp. But also had a good laugh that the thing unscrewed itself. I found several loose screws actually throughout the cab once I had a screwdriver in hand to put the screw that had come out back in place.
**If you guys haven't yet, you might want to take a screwdriver to all those screws and just make sure it's all tight. Probably a good idea to do this every so often**
In terms of sound. This thing was keeping up with no problem with my guitarist's 4x10 stack. It was a lot more powerful than I imagined that it would be to be perfectly honest. Tonight was definitely the loudest I've asked it to go and the most effects, playing intensity, and aggressive popping and slapping I've thrown at it since getting it and it passed with flying colors.
Even more in love with it than before! I really don't think I'm even going to keep thinking about getting 410 to go with it. The 210MBE will be more than enough to serve as a companion to this amp.
- Apr 3, 2003
- 35,515
- 19,944
- Disclosures
- Editor-in-Chief, Bass Gear Magazine
IME/IMHO, it is worth it. Trust me, the vibration isolation provided by the GRAMMA pad is superior to that offered by a blanket.
I will say this, though. In some venues, on some stages, with some rigs, I find that using a GRAMMA pad results in an audible benefit (usually in reducing unwanted tones/noise, etc.) and/or enhanced stability (keeps the rig from wobbling on really bad stages). In other venues, on other stages, and with other rigs, there may be no apparent benefits.
Another use for the GRAMMA pad which is almost universally beneficial is placing it in between the cab and an all-tube head. If you run an all-tube head on top of a cab, unless the head has internal vibration dampening devices (like an SVT), you can send a lot of vibrations through those tubes, and this is rarely a good thing...
IME/IMHO, of course, and YMMV.
Tom.
IME/IMHO, it is worth it. Trust me, the vibration isolation provided by the GRAMMA pad is superior to that offered by a blanket.
I will say this, though. In some venues, on some stages, with some rigs, I find that using a GRAMMA pad results in an audible benefit (usually in reducing unwanted tones/noise, etc.) and/or enhanced stability (keeps the rig from wobbling on really bad stages). In other venues, on other stages, and with other rigs, there may be no apparent benefits.
Another use for the GRAMMA pad which is almost universally beneficial is placing it in between the cab and an all-tube head. If you run an all-tube head on top of a cab, unless the head has internal vibration dampening devices (like an SVT), you can send a lot of vibrations through those tubes, and this is rarely a good thing...
IME/IMHO, of course, and YMMV.
Tom.
What is the construction of the GRAMMA?
- Apr 3, 2003
- 35,515
- 19,944
- Disclosures
- Editor-in-Chief, Bass Gear Magazine
It's MDF board covered in carpet, riding on two very dense foam "rails" with acoustical foam between the rails.
