Most RELIABLE Bass Head ???

[Muttleybass]

Had my GK 800rb for 31 years. Not a single hiccup.

 

[Munjibunga]

Just a side note - all mass-produced electro-mechanical devices have a failure rate, so anecdotal reports of failures are pretty much useless. The number of failures reported in an online forum will far exceed reports of units that have not failed, and you don't know how many of the units are in circulation.

 

[Pocket4]

I don't get reliability as the primary criterion for anything in today's market. I think the failure rate is razor thin for competitive products

 

[agedhorse]

I don't get reliability as the primary criterion for anything in today's market. I think the failure rate is razor thin for competitive products

I think this depends on which sector of the market, and that customer's tolerance for failure. There are an awful lot of <$99 practice amps being sold and I know the failure rate is MUCH higher than for say a $1000 bass amp. Why? Because the player buying a <$99 amp has much lower expectations.

 

[Pocket4]

Agreed. I was not considering the very lowest sector of the market, and buyer expectations play into tolerance as well.

 

[Brad T. Bass]

I see the Suggestion Traffic on my post has tapered off. Thank You ALL for your Input. I’ve noted a few standouts, in terms of praise. Looks like a few of them would be a great bet, even Secondhand. But I think the most telltale aspects of this thread, are some of the BIG BOX names that received NO mention at all.

As I said in my initial post, my old (Musicman 130 & Acoustic 301) Amps are still chugging along, tired, but reliably, I’ve just got the itch to play with a NEW toy.

Cheers

 

[Count Bassie]

Just a side note - all mass-produced electro-mechanical devices have a failure rate, so anecdotal reports of failures are pretty much useless. The number of failures reported in an online forum will far exceed reports of units that have not failed, and you don't know how many of the units are in circulation.

There's a good case for why this thread has some kind of value- when things go as they "should" you tend to not hear about it. It's a natural law... like the kid who didn't start speaking until he was 9, his first words being a complaint about the oatmeal one morning. Mom, surprised, said "Why haven't you ever spoken before??", to which the kid replied, "Everything's been fine up to now."

 

[dbase]

 

[Marko 1]

Shout out to Line-6.

Like them or not (I know there are lots of "nots" ), I haven't seen any negatives regarding durability.

One of my first amps bought cheap as they were being discontinued (yeah, I started bass late in life),

I've had others in the meantime, but I ended up still using these heads (note I added chicken head knobs as the original design SUCKED, and wooden face plates to match the old-school vibe of the knobs)

I have three of them now (they're extremely affordable on the used market) so I never have to gig another head for the duration unless I want to.

 

[SkylineFiver]

From what I understand, a GK 800RB has a storied history of reliability.

And the original 400RB that won’t die.

 

[JIO]

There's a good case for why this thread has some kind of value- when things go as they "should" you tend to not hear about it. It's a natural law... like the kid who didn't start speaking until he was 9, his first words being a complaint about the oatmeal one morning. Mom, surprised, said "Why haven't you ever spoken before??", to which the kid replied, "Everything's been fine up to now."

Yah, I agree - I just read through all 10 pages of this thread and someone early on said it would be a shorter list of amps people have had issues with than not having issues with. At least then if a certain amp kept popping up, you'd wonder about its reliability.

 

[LiptonJigglers]

There's a lot of love being shown for amps around 20 - 30 years old, so far.

 

[Count Bassie]

There's a lot of love being shown for amps around 20 - 30 years old, so far.

Seems to have been a good era.

 

[byacey]

I have used Traynor/Yorkville Sound products for many years and have gone through quite a lot of them. Only one failure to report (in 10 plus years) on a LS800P powered sub - the amp went out right after I got it; they overnighted me a replacement amp. I would have to say that this company offers very reliable products. Engineering can make a huge difference but I think tightly controlled manufacturing in-house like Yorkville Sound/Traynor does can also make a huge difference in reliability. I consider their products to be at the top of reliability.

Some companies farm their products out to be made in another country. I would say these can be reliable but also there can be problems due to the manufacturing process not being tightly controlled and not in-house as well as the education/skill/maturity level of the manufacturing force. In other words, products made by a untrained and less mature labor force may not be as reliable as products made by a trained more mature work force.

I also had really good results with the USA manufactured Peavey products. I did at one time work as an amp repair person and mostly with Peavey products. The company I worked for was the largest retailer in the state and sold a ton of product. I stayed busy but the sheer volume of product sold versus that to be repaired was an encouraging sign of great reliability.
Personally, I would love to see Peavey take a lesson from GK and return their manufacturing to in-house. I think if they did they could return to the level of greatness they once had in the marketplace. A not-so-small part of my desire to see this has nothing to do with reliability and everything to do with putting those people in Meridian back to work. At one time Peavey had a huge workforce of highly skilled people. I grew up an hour from their facility and visited the factory many times.

Maybe Yorkville has pulled up their socks lately, but they had more than a few engineering follies in past products. AP3000 was one of them.

 

[Marko 1]

There's a lot of love being shown for amps around 20 - 30 years old, so far.

A good ol' ~30-lb solid state, and nicely-priced on the used market.

 

[Passinwind]

There's a lot of love being shown for amps around 20 - 30 years old, so far.

10-15 years would be the earliest I'd even consider commenting on, if no or minimal problems have been observed. I saw a durability review yesterday on a cab that had only been to twenty gigs so far - really?

 

[KevInDaBassment]

Well...my GK 700RB-II is still holding up and I miss being in my 20s. Not much else I have to say concerning 2015

 

[NeonVomit]

Gotta say Mesa. My D800 is a tank, and is the most reliable piece of gear I own. Zero issues, heavy use, heavy travelling. I don't baby my gear but I don't abuse it either, it takes normal wear and tear and nothing I own has held up as well as that head.

 

[GreyBeard]

The most reliable amp I ever owned was a Sunn 200S. I replaced it with a Peavey Mark IV because I needed more power. It lasted over 20 years. The only amp I've ever had problems with was a Traynor YBA3.

 

[r_bnks]

GK800RB