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GK MB 200: Part Two

#183
In terms of hiss, it makes sense that you'd here more when you turned up treble and upper mids but what level is the gain set at? Since the gain is the only volume control, I'd expect to hear some hiss above 12:0 and even more if as you increase treble and upper mids.

For recording, you can take both pre and post eq from the DI jack. I'd try plugging it into a speaker as well.
 
#184
Would be good to find out from GK (assuming they would say) if there a correlation between the hiss that occurs and some and the change from China to US assembly. Or maybe they changed the design slightly. Otherwise, can't imagine there'd be much difference between a US assembled amp made from Chinese parts and a Chinese assembled amp made from Chinese parts. They're generally pretty good there at manufacturing electronic stuff ;)
 
#186
Britbonic said:
Since the gain is the only volume control, I'd expect to hear some hiss above 12:0...
Click to expand...

With the first one I had, the amount of hiss was completely unrelated to "gain." Other things unchanged, the hiss was the same if the gain control was at 0 or dimed.

I was wondering how/why the hiss was the with the gain control at 0. It kind of seems like there non-existent master is at max and the gain control really is gain. But DI works with the gain control at 0, so I don't know.
 
#187
Britbonic said:
In terms of hiss, it makes sense that you'd here more when you turned up treble and upper mids but what level is the gain set at? Since the gain is the only volume control, I'd expect to hear some hiss above 12:0 and even more if as you increase treble and upper mids.

For recording, you can take both pre and post eq from the DI jack. I'd try plugging it into a speaker as well.
Click to expand...

The hiss is audible even with gain at 0...just gets worse as knobs are turned up. It's just like the fella here that posted his on YouTube... (drpepper was that you?)
 
#188
dtotheatothevto said:
The hiss is audible even with gain at 0...just gets worse as knobs are turned up. It's just like the fella here that posted his on YouTube... (drpepper was that you?)
Click to expand...

Yep. The video is mine.

I really did wrestle some with what to try to accept in this situation. Aside from the hiss, I really do like this amp. I still follow it, and hoped that the USA assembly move would have made the difference.

The USA stickers covering "China" printed on the case...not fully sure what to make of that. I guess it's understandable that stock has to be moved, and how ever many cases that had China printed on them already have to go. It's not like they're going to just throw them away.

With regard to the hiss itself, obviously USA assembly isn't a definitive solution to the problem.
 
#189
my MB200 stopped hissing after 3 days of not using it
same thing, loud hiss at gain turned down, very loud hiss at max gain

depending on where i´m playing, some of it comes back, but nowhere close to what it was before ... chinese made
 
#193
Used my new MB200 for the first time at a gig tonight. It sounded great! Fairly large venue with a raised wooded stage. Only had the volume at around 9 o'clock. I did send it through the PA as well but honestly I could have done without the PA and still been fine. The guitarist in our band couldn't believe how much sound was coming out of such a small amp.
 
#194
Hooray for the MB200! In 40 years of playing I've never actually had an amp fail at a gig. For the last 10 years though, I've made a habit of having a backup. A few months ago I bought an MB200 for that purpose, because it fits into my gig bag pocket.

Last night at sound check, powered up my Streamliner, and no sound. Checked knobs and cables, then moved the speaker and input cords to the MB200. Played the entire night through it and it was fine. Really justifies the purchase.

Now to get the GB fixed. The lights were normal (no protect), but nothing was coming out. Sigh...
 
#195
That is exactly what I bought my MB200 for as my 1001RBII is in the shop. It worked great for my gig last night. You should have seen the look on the guitarist's face when I opened up a small laptop bag and pulled out the MB200. He thought there was no way an amp that small would put out enough volume to be usable for gigs. He was wrong! Not only was it plenty loud enough the tone was great too!
 
#197
On this hiss business, in case someone doesn't know already, the headphones/line out comes directly off the B&O power amp board, while the DI comes directly off the preamp board. So if you have a quiet DI but a noisy speaker/line/phones out, then that would seem to indicate a problem in the power amp board. In that case I'd suspect the output stage filter group: possibly one or more off-spec components. I'd expect GK would send those boards back to B&O as defective. A power amp board swap is a 15 minute job max. Four screws and a few plug-in connectors.
 

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