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GKers - some info from Gallien himself

#22
It's pronounced Gallien as G-Alien, and Krueger is Krooger...I also worked for a dealer in San Jose, I got to go to the factory and try out several of the prototype GK heads. Rich was super-duper-uber nice...He sold me a GK MB150E combo/B stock amp for a really really REALLY good price...I also got to get a bag for the combo for like cost. I would buy another one of those amps in a heartbeat, but I just wish that I could afford it.:hyper: :hyper: :hyper: :hyper: :hyper:
 
#24
Daniel Elliott said:
Gallien is actually pronounced with a lower case A like apple. Krueger is same as Freddie Krueger.

Richard Krueger was a mechanical engineer. Bob Gallien is the electrical engineer.
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My bad - back when GK were in San Jose, I went over a couple of times (yes, I worked for a dealer...) and I could have sworn Rich said it the other way, I guess I mis-heard him and I apologize forthwith!!!!
 
#27
I too thought the article was a little "look at ME and what I've done ----Me Me Me!!!"

When I saw the schematic for the 800RB I was struck by the similarity to a circuit I had been working on just before I came to Canada (1973). I was beginning to play with SS circuitry and had bought a couple of kits from somewhere or other (just can't remember where) in the UK. 70W output, I still have the PCB's somewhere.

His talk about totem pole output devices put me in mind of Daniel Meyer and South West Technical Products. He had a hugely powerful amp using a totem pole output stage but I can't remember the name ... maybe Tigersaurus? I know that I owe Dan a huge thank you for his series of "Tiger" amplifiers. I learned a lot from him, enough to design and build a 200W at 2 ohm stereo power amp in the mid seventies that was rack mountable. I still own this amp to this day. Dynaco also had an amp (400?) using the totem pole configuration.

His claim to have 'invented' the concept of an amp in a metal cabinet I also find interesting. The band I was with prior to my emigration (1973) supplied me with a VOX SS 100W amplifier to use. It was all metal and had quite a nice sound. I have stripped several Bogan tube amps for their transformers also all metal designs. So how did GK develop the concept??? Inquiring minds want to know!

I have no intention of decrying GK's contribution to bass amplification, even though I personally don't like them. I even own an 800RB bought in bits via Ebay to restore for fun. I do feel, however, that the man should credit his sources - it's the moral thing to do!

Paul
 
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#30
Bob Gallien designed his first amplifier the 226A in the mid-60's and and built the first 25 in '67. A 226 watt guitar amplifier was virtually unheard of in those days. In '71 the 300 watt at 2 ohms 600G and 600B went into production which was the first GK amp in a metal enclosure and the first to use the totem pole design. It was rackmount width with cast sideframe handles like rackmount test equipment from the era but not a standard rackmount height. Around '73 the power output was bumped up to 350 watts at 2 ohms. (Bob incorrectly mentions in the article that the 226A was the first with the totem pole output. He and I rechecked the schematics today.)

Bob was an engineer at HP at the time and got the idea to use the totem pole design and the rackmount design from the HP test equipment they were working on back then which he specifically states in the article.

The 200RB which came out in 1982 was the first GK amp that actually shipped with rackmount hardware.

The kit for the tigersaurus amp you mentioned was published in Radio Electronics in December 1973 and is not a musical instrument amp (no preamp). It was 250 watts at 4 ohms.
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The Dynaco Stereo 400 came out around 1972 and also was not a musical instrument amplifier.
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In Bob's own words, "If anyone else was producing musical instrument amplifiers in metal rackmountable chassis prior to 71, I wasn't aware of it."

The 600G amplifier also had footswitchable distortion channel and the preamp-in, poweramp-out (now referred to as an FX loop) jacks. Not sure if anyone else had those features prior to '71. Full blown guitar channel switching (seperate tone controls for each channel) was introduced around '75 with the 100G guitar amplifier.

GK History 101:bassist:
 
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#32
gfab333 said:
I think there may be a piece missing to the early history here. A company named GMT was the precursor Gallien Krueger. I'm not sure if both Bob and Richard were involved with GMT though.
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My 600B was labeled GMT 600B (made by Gallien-Krueger). GMT was like a model or line of GK amps. Loved that thing - till many years later it needed service one and they wouldn't fix it - supposedly didn't have the schematics, even though it had a lifetime warranty. I had it repaired once in 20+ years - had to ship it back to GK to get it fixed, but the 2nd time, no dice. So I tossed it and got an amp from another company. I realized it was tough to get darlingtons, but still was disappointed by that behavior.
 
#33
Cristo said:
Yeah, not all that important in the grand scheme of things, I was just curious since Krueger is on the amp, but otherwise not mentioned. It was one of those little bits of trivia that has ben bugging me since I bought the amp.
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Believe it or not, Richard Krueger was my geometry teacher sophomore year. From what I've gathered, he and Gallien had a bit of a falling out and that may be why he's not mentioned. His classroom is amazing; band memorabilia everywhere!
 

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