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Double Bass Have anyone tried the GK's (MBE)210 cabs?

M

MartinBorgen

Jun 21, 2010
402
1
Stockholm, Sweden, Europe
#1
So, im playing with the thought of getting either a MB210 combo, or an MB500 with a 210 cab, for greater flexibility.

I'm a little torn between the two, because as a poor student, the combo is attractive, but since i want to play bass guitar through the thing as well, I think a separate top and cab would be better in the long run, so i could use the same head but different cabs.

Have anyone tried the GK MB210 or MBE 210?
 
#4
Badong said:
I love my Neo 210. I use the kickback feature all the time and your getting a much better horn with the separate enclosures than with the combos.
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+1
Love mine too. Plus it can hold its own in a fairly loud band situation. It's one of the few 210's that can keep up (using my 5 and 6 strings) without farting out. I'm actually considering selling my neo 410 and going with another gk 210:)
 
#5
psykopatsak said:
Well, for price issues, im more inclined towards the MBE210, and i assume they have the same horns as the combos.

The kickback feature also seems golden, but almost twice the cost...

interesting though, what part of the DB sound use the horn?
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I haven't used a Neo 210 so can't compare, but the tweeter on the MB210 is noisy (hiss). Fortunately there is a button to turn the tweeter off, a feature I believe is also include on the MBE210.
 
#6
I can't say enough good things about the new inexpensive MB series of combos and cabs.

I have been using an MB115 combo for most of my upright bass gigs (classic country music and western swing, some slap, mostly pizz) - for the last year now and it has been ust great. It's very mid-present for a 15, loud, punchy, warm and articulate. I have used a variety of pickups with this amp, using an HPF-Pre in front. I have been able to get a good sound for many different rooms without PA support. Our band plays lower volume gigs, but louder than your average Jazz combo.

I just picked up a new 410MBE (41lbs! 800 watts!) cabinet to use with my GK BL600 head and have been trying it out at home for the last two days. It sounds phenomenal, the 4-10s have a super nice midrange clarity and gets louder than I will ever need. It is very compact for a 410 cab. I get to gig-test it on the 5th. I plan on using this setup for the louder outdoor and large room dancehalls where my MB115 isn't quite enough power. Unfortunately, the country honky tonks and dancehalls my band plays rarely have anything more than a vocal PA so I have to cover the room with my amp alone.

I have no experience with the MB210 - but I have read that it is overall the "boomiest" of the combos. This can be remedied of course by simpy backing off the bass knob or using the HPF on a preamp. The MB212 my friend has been using for the past year sounds great for upright and is tighter sounding than the MB210 combo.

GK is now releasing (finally!) the small 28lb MB112 (same 200 watts as the MB115) which I believe will become a very nice inexpensive choice for double bass players on a budget.
 
#7
Interesting that the 210 is 'boomier' than the 212... I've heard some others say that once you 'wear in' the 210, it gets real bassy.

I prefer a rather 'tight' sound (as most i believe?). I imagined the 210 to be tighter than the 212, since it's less mass (less inertia) in the cones. Then i know a local manufacturer whose 15" are tighter sounding than most amps, so i guess nothing can be taken for granted.
 
#8
psykopatsak said:
Interesting that the 210 is 'boomier' than the 212... I've heard some others say that once you 'wear in' the 210, it gets real bassy.

I prefer a rather 'tight' sound (as most i believe?). I imagined the 210 to be tighter than the 212, since it's less mass (less inertia) in the cones. Then i know a local manufacturer whose 15" are tighter sounding than most amps, so i guess nothing can be taken for granted.
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Yeah, that's what I imagined too before I got an MB210. Fortunately, my experience had been just as as Gearhead said ...the HPF-Pre takes care of any infrasonics from the pickup then rolling the bass EQ back to 10:00 produces a pretty clean tone in most rooms. I've read on the BG side that boominess in these amps is largely due to lack of any baffling. As soon as my warrantee is up I plan to line it with some foam mattress pad.

What I like about this combo besides the light weight is the 500W with extension cab (350W without) for the rare occasions I play BG. You could, of course, have the same thing with MBE cabs and separate MB500 amp. You'd get more flexibility and a few more amp features than the combos but also more $.
 
#9
shadygrove said:
Yeah, that's what I imagined too before I got an MB210. Fortunately, my experience had been just as as Gearhead said ...the HPF-Pre takes care of any infrasonics from the pickup then rolling the bass EQ back to 10:00 produces a pretty clean tone in most rooms. I've read on the BG side that boominess in these amps is largely due to lack of any baffling. As soon as my warrantee is up I plan to line it with some foam mattress pad.

What I like about this combo besides the light weight is the 500W with extension cab (350W without) for the rare occasions I play BG. You could, of course, have the same thing with MBE cabs and separate MB500 amp. You'd get more flexibility and a few more amp features than the combos but also more $.
Click to expand...

yeh, part of the problems with the MB210 combo is that you only want an extra MBE210 or maybe a MBE410 external cab, but with a separate speaker you can have whatever you want.
 

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