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New Genz Benz Rig

#21
mettec said:
Cool! You won't be dissappointed.

I actually had a fellow bassist come up and sit in on a couple songs last night and he was amazed how incredible my rig sounded. This is from a guy who has been a Ampeg 8x10 & SVT Classic user almost all his playing life and told me at one time that nothing sounds as good as Ampeg for hard rock. Now he said that he is going to look into GB.
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I have been playing around with it for a couple hours now, and am really liking it so far. It took me hardly any time at all to get a killer slap sound dialed in on the FET channel, and a great fingerstyle sound on the tube channel. The EQ seems very usable on it.

This cabinet and head seem to work very well together. I am very happy so far.:)
 
#23
Ryan Lunneborg said:
I have been playing around with it for a couple hours now, and am really liking it so far. It took me hardly any time at all to get a killer slap sound dialed in on the FET channel, and a great fingerstyle sound on the tube channel. The EQ seems very usable on it.

This cabinet and head seem to work very well together. I am very happy so far.:)
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I have both channels on with the L.F. Extend and H.F. Attack engaged. All my Eq settings are almost flat and with the added GB Neox 212 I can make the earth move. Slap sound is also great at the same settings. Hope you enjoy!
 
#24
The thing i REALLY love about the GBE amps are, 1. LOADS of clean clean CLEAN bass tone even at high volumes and 2. Awesome active EQ which ='s heaps of tone shaping. Add to that, these amps are well priced in Australia, the GBE600 is priced only a little more than a Hartke H4000!

Awesome peice of gear Genz-Benz :bassist:
 
#25
I won't have a chance to really crank it in a band setting for a while yet. Taking a bit of time off from gigging right now.

But even at low volumes, I am really impressed with how this setup is sounding. It really makes my Roscoes shine.:)
 
#26
Another question:

When I set my gain for each channel, I had to crank the gain almost all the way on the FET channel to get the red light to barely flicker when I play hard. Is this normal? The tube channel had to be turned up quite high too, but not as high as the FET channel. And I don't have the active switch engaged.
 
#27
Ryan Lunneborg said:
Another question:

When I set my gain for each channel, I had to crank the gain almost all the way on the FET channel to get the red light to barely flicker when I play hard. Is this normal? The tube channel had to be turned up quite high too, but not as high as the FET channel. And I don't have the active switch engaged.
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What kind of bass & pickups?

There's a lot of make-up gain in the rest of the amp due to the active eq and tone shaping filters so having high input gain is not as critical as on some other brands/models.

Roger (hasbeen) may also be able to give you a point of reference since he has experience with many different basses. Heck, he probably has one of what you play just laying around;)
 
#28
agedhorse said:
What kind of bass & pickups?

There's a lot of make-up gain in the rest of the amp due to the active eq and tone shaping filters so having high input gain is not as critical as on some other brands/models.

Roger (hasbeen) may also be able to give you a point of reference since he has experience with many different basses. Heck, he probably has one of what you play just laying around;)
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Should have been more specific: I use Roscoe basses with Bartolini pickups and active electronics.

It doesn't seem to be a problem, as it sounds just fine. I am just not used to having to turn up the gain that high to get the light to come on.
 
#29
Like agedhorse said, the red light coming on has to do with many, many things.

Even with your active roscoe- how is the bass eq'd? where is the volume on the bass? how is the amp eq'd? How hard do you hit the strings?

I've been around bassists for well over thirty years and it amazes me how soft some bassists hit their strings. If I didn't learn to control my levels, my dynamic peaks would make soundmen/engineers shoot themselves or shoot me. Where approrpriate for the sake of expression in a song, I can hit the back end of any amp I've ever played. My normal "cruising" right hand technique can hit the front end.

If you play with your right hand somewhere over the neck pup, you are probably a "softer" hitter.

If your eq settings on the amp are towards flat, this can cause your situation too.

Lastly, it isn't that important a deal- we only suggest the light come on for the best signal to noise ratio.
 
#30
hasbeen said:
Like agedhorse said, the red light coming on has to do with many, many things.

Even with your active roscoe- how is the bass eq'd? where is the volume on the bass? how is the amp eq'd? How hard do you hit the strings?

I've been around bassists for well over thirty years and it amazes me how soft some bassists hit their strings. If I didn't learn to control my levels, my dynamic peaks would make soundmen/engineers shoot themselves or shoot me. Where approrpriate for the sake of expression in a song, I can hit the back end of any amp I've ever played. My normal "cruising" right hand technique can hit the front end.

If you play with your right hand somewhere over the neck pup, you are probably a "softer" hitter.

If your eq settings on the amp are towards flat, this can cause your situation too.

Lastly, it isn't that important a deal- we only suggest the light come on for the best signal to noise ratio.
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It isn't something that I was really worried about. I was just wondering if it was normal, that's all. I took most all those factors you mentioned into consideration--and tried different variations of all of the above as well. I have been doing this long enough to know what factors in here, I am not a newbie.:)

On a seperate note, I will add that this amp was up against some "heavy hitters" in the field of bass amps when I was shopping around for the past months. In my search, I have played an Eden WT-800b/D410XLT, SWR SM-900/Goliath III, a GK 1001rbII/410RBH, Ampeg SVT6 Pro/PR410HLF, to name a few. Plus, it is replacing an Ampeg SVT4 Pro/SVT410HLF rig. So, this wasn't just an impulse buy--I tried everything I could plug my bass into. And I walked away with, what I thought, gave me the sounds I wanted, had the most usable features for the money, and just basically gave me everything I was looking for.

(OK, so I actually just bought it for the cool blue LED's, but that long speech sounded better;) )
 
#32
Eric Cioe said:
Why only matching amps?
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Why not??:D

Actually, I am quite anal about that--if a manufacturer makes both, and both sound good together, that is what I want. I either want an Ampeg rig, or an Eden rig, or an SWR rig, etc. etc.

I have tried different variations, as well. For instance, the store I bought the Genz Benz stuff from is also an Ampeg dealer. So, when trying out the head, I got to run it through both the GB cab, and an SVT410HLF cab, like I had. I also hooked an SVT4 Pro head up to both cabs, so I had a pretty good idea of what changes each made. And for what my tastes are now, the GB/GB combination sounded the best, to my ears. They also carry Ashdown, but Ashdown has just never done it for me, so I didn't bother looking into that again.

One problem (for me) with mixing and matching would be this: what if I were to have picked up, say, and Eden 410XLT cabinet, and then, say, an SWR SM-900 head, without being able to try them together first?? I might like the Eden cab with an Eden head, and the SWR head with the SWR cab, but what if, after getting the two together, they just didn't work well together?? I have to travel to find some of this stuff, and not all dealers carry all brands, so I don't have the opportunity most times to mix and match.

Bottom line is this: I found what I was looking for, so I bought it.:)
 
#34
I totally agree with Ryan. If I buy an amp from a certain manufactuer I also buy the cabs from the same manufactuer (if they have one). It makes more sense because the the cabs are tuned to their amps so you get the best out of both. I bought my GBE750 first and ran it with my SWR Megoliath cab and it still sounded like my SWR SM-900 head. Now that I bought the 410T and Neox 212 GB cabs it is a night and day difference from the SWR gear. This combo has more punch, clarity, loudness, and pure earth shaking low end that it makes my Megoliath sound well.... nothing like it. Hasbeen said that many people think it is like a GK on steroids. I personally think it is more then that. I encourage anyone that can have the opprotunity to try a GBE and 410T or/and Neox 212 to do so. GB Rocks.
 
#35
mettec said:
I totally agree with Ryan. If I buy an amp from a certain manufactuer I also buy the cabs from the same manufactuer (if they have one). It makes more sense because the the cabs are tuned to their amps so you get the best out of both. I bought my GBE750 first and ran it with my SWR Megoliath cab and it still sounded like my SWR SM-900 head. Now that I bought the 410T and Neox 212 GB cabs it is a night and day difference from the SWR gear. This combo has more punch, clarity, loudness, and pure earth shaking low end that it makes my Megoliath sound well.... nothing like it. Hasbeen said that many people think it is like a GK on steroids. I personally think it is more then that. I encourage anyone that can have the opprotunity to try a GBE and 410T or/and Neox 212 to do so. GB Rocks.
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thanks for the kind words. GK on steroids- I throw that out there when people ask because it is a reference I've seen a lot. I'm reluctant to put my description in because we know tone is subjective and also I don't want to be in a position to favor ours over the competition......Jeff, Andy and I have many friends at the competition. Jeff has even desinged cabinets for some of them.
 
#36
mettec said:
It makes more sense because the the cabs are tuned to their amps so you get the best out of both.
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I don't think think that this is at all true, IME. Some cabinets sound better with different heads. Whether or not they happen to be made by the same manufacturer is a shot in the dark, as far as I'm concerned.

EDIT: I'm going to make a new post about this, so as not to steal Ryan's new rig's thunder.
 
#37
agedhorse said:
What kind of bass & pickups?

There's a lot of make-up gain in the rest of the amp due to the active eq and tone shaping filters so having high input gain is not as critical as on some other brands/models.

Roger (hasbeen) may also be able to give you a point of reference since he has experience with many different basses. Heck, he probably has one of what you play just laying around;)
Click to expand...

Actually I don't have one of those. :D I'm going the "other way" with basses these days- vintage Fenders or boutique "Fender type".

In the 1980's I wanted everything hi-fi and compressed. Today I find I want my bass to sound like a ah, umm......bass. ;)

Except for fretless.....all bets are off. Still like "fancy" basses for fretless. ;)
 
#38
Another thing that affects the input overload point is your playing style. If you slap hard, the preamp must have additional headroom built in, which can make the knob position seem higher for less agressive playing styles.

Additionally, a lot of eq cut can do the same thing, since the input clip LED monitors the level out of the eq stage as well.
 
#39
I'd say the 750. I would guess it will be more than enough into that 4X10. It takes 10 times the power to double your volume, so I don't think you'll gain that much going with the 1200.

Save some weight, space, back ache and money.
 
#40
agedhorse said:
Another thing that affects the input overload point is your playing style. If you slap hard, the preamp must have additional headroom built in, which can make the knob position seem higher for less agressive playing styles.

Additionally, a lot of eq cut can do the same thing, since the input clip LED monitors the level out of the eq stage as well.
Click to expand...

oh, so you don't read my posts either. That's it, I'm outta here. :crying:
 

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