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GK800RB
- Thread starter nitrofix
- Start date
I'm a GK guy. I use a Legacy now cause it sounds great, small light. But for local gigs if it wasn't a hassle for transport, I'd use THAT if I had one.
Not to derail the thread, but how do you find the Legacy compares to RBs, tone wise?
A couple of these were bent - dunno their function, just assumed they were to direct air flow or something.
I bought a GK 800RB with broken power amps, removed these and installed an IcePower 700AS1 and a little pcb with a circuit to feed the 700AS1 symmetrical.
Works very fine, good rock amp with huge power now!
Passive cooled, Speakon installed. Super quiet, no hum and very little hiss.
Works very fine, good rock amp with huge power now!
Passive cooled, Speakon installed. Super quiet, no hum and very little hiss.
View attachment 7303078
A couple of these were bent - dunno their function, just assumed they were to direct air flow or something.
Those are heatsinks rather than fan vanes/baffles - they help cool the amp by significantly increasing the surface area from which heat can be radiated to the outside air. The components most likely to overheat are mounted to the back of the heatsinks, on the inside of the amp.
Having the fins oriented vertically might assist slightly in that convection will more easily move warm air upwards from them, compared to them being mounted horizontally, but that's a smaller part of how they work than the increased surface area (especially if the amp were mounted in a rack case which would limit air movement in the first place).
Cheers,
D.
The robustness of the amps from the good old days without the electronic hassle, hum, hiss and so on, can’t ask for more !
Those are aluminium heatsinks. So same as mine. They are just designed to wick the heat away from the final drive transistors. They are made like this to increase the surface area in contact with the surrounding air but take up a smaller amount of space than would be possible if it was all layed out flat. They are vertical so the air can move freely upward as it convects. There is no fan and this is known as passive cooling.View attachment 7303078
A couple of these were bent - dunno their function, just assumed they were to direct air flow or something.
I did use a desk type fan blowing directly on this, on a few occasions, when I was worried it might go up in smoke but, these things are tough and mine never let me down. The only issue I ever had was panel jacks needed to be removed, cleaned up and reseated to stop a hum.
I have a Legacy 500 and it sounds pretty damn close to the 800RB IMO. The midrange on the thing is so defined, detailed and punchy, it's pretty amazing, and that's without the Drive circuit. If you engage that and adjust the EQ accordingly you get into the "hittin" the rails" territory. Robert Gallien said he designed the Legacy 500 specifically as an update to the 800RB, to fill that void. I'm very happy with mine.
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Planet Boulder
Hey, this is a private residence...man
- Nov 10, 2001
- 4,014
- 65
- Disclosures
- I once had impure thoughts. Oh, and I pluck my ear hair.
Ditto for the Legacy 800 - same amp, just gets a little louder, keeps the “RB”-ness IMO.
I got the 500 vs the 800 because I got a great deal on it. So far, it's been plenty of power, but the 800 certainly would be a no-brainer if the price is right.
Well, there is a teeny bit of hiss when the Legacy's are on, but it's super minimal. I used mine in a very high end studio for a session with my 1x12 and it was no issue.
I just passed mine on to continue its musical journey. I easily put 400+ gigs on it and it never failed. Sold it to the Cornell U music dept. I'm sure they will enjoy it for a long time.
