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Unimpressed with my GK

J

jjl5590

Inactive
Mar 28, 2008
406
0
London, UK
#1
Hiya,

I just bought a used GK 1001RB-II for £320, and it sounds exactly the same as my Warwick Profet 3.2 that I am currently using, although it is much louder.

I am disapointed there is no compressor on it. I also fail to understand why the clip light is before the gain, thats just silly.

My tuning is C-F-A#-D#. I cannot get any "GK Growl" using the boost knob, just an increase in volume. Maybe my tuning is too low?

Like I said, it sounds exactly like my Warwick amp, but its £400 more expensive!
 
#3
If distortion is what you're after, try turning the input level up past 12 o'clock. There are lot of discussions around here about how the 1001RBII might simply have too much headroom to sound "unclean", except if you do what I suggested.
No compressor? Maybe you could have checked the features before purchasing? Just a suggestion... :rolleyes:
 
#4
you should be happy that there's no compressor. all onboard compressors on amps, without fail, suck.

you folks will no doubt say, "but MY amp has a compressor and it's great so you're wrong, Jimmy." yeah? well go plug into a distressor or even a 160a and tell me your compressor's great.
 
#5
dougjwray said:
If distortion is what you're after, try turning the input level up past 12 o'clock. There are lot of discussions around here about how the 1001RBII might simply have too much headroom to sound "unclean", except if you do what I suggested.
No compressor? Maybe you could have checked the features before purchasing? Just a suggestion... :rolleyes:
Click to expand...


+1...


- georgestrings
 
#7
I personally don't understand why the clip light is only affected by the pad switch either. But if it is flashing when you really dig in you are fine. If its on all the time use the pad switch. Download the manual from www.gallien.com you obviously really need to read it to use that head properly. If with the input gain set properly and the master (woofer) control set to the volume you need the boost should be very active (and you will need to lower the woofer control to compensate). If it still sounds like your old amp then the problem is in your speaker cab or the bass you are using. All G-K amps use a high current reserve power supply, so including a compressor or limiter would be counter productive to the cost involved in making that high current reserve. Would you build a fast, powerful sports car and then attach an anchor permanently to the rear bumper to drag down the streets? :)
 
#8
dougjwray said:
If distortion is what you're after, try turning the input level up past 12 o'clock. There are lot of discussions around here about how the 1001RBII might simply have too much headroom to sound "unclean", except if you do what I suggested.
No compressor? Maybe you could have checked the features before purchasing? Just a suggestion... :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

I generally agree with the above. The 1001 is a great amp but it was too sterile for my tastes. It had the least amount of personality of any GK amp I have owned. But it is fricking loud! If that is the power range you are in try a 700RB-II or a Fusion 550. Both are less wattage but that is a positive not a negative to my ears.

+1 to B-string's comments.
 
#9
Are you using it with a Warwick cab?? I don't really think they match very well with GK imo.

Maybe you can buy a compressor pedal - you can also use it to boost your signal into the input volume (gain) on the left hand side of the amp while keeping the input volume below 12oclock, I don't know why but this should make it growl easily without the digital sounding distortion that cranking the input volume can bring, you might need to boost mids a little more, or just get something else that will add growl and add it too the mixture, I got a jazz bass and a pedal..

The lesser powered Gks growl more easily because you can crank them without becoming too loud.
 
#10
jjl5590 said:
Hiya,

I just bought a used GK 1001RB-II for £320, and it sounds exactly the same as my Warwick Profet 3.2 that I am currently using, although it is much louder.

I am disapointed there is no compressor on it. I also fail to understand why the clip light is before the gain, thats just silly.
Click to expand...
That's exactly where you want the clip light. You want to maximize your signal at the start of the signal chain to minimize hiss/noise, while being able to avoid clipping the input if you try to go too far.
My tuning is C-F-A#-D#. I cannot get any "GK Growl" using the boost knob, just an increase in volume. Maybe my tuning is too low?
Click to expand...
Maybe you're not paying attention to the clip light... If you're input volume is too low, you may not have enough gain in the boost knob to get any growl.

Regarding the compressor, if you have an effects loop in the amp, you can buy a great compressor for relatively cheap nowadays. Make sure you set the amp to only use the "wet" signal instead of merging the compressor output with the clean signal. You'll be way better off than an onboard compressor.

Also, you're tuning the bass wrong, supposed to be B E A D :p:hiding:

Randy
 
#12
Im still not positive on this, but the usual GK experienced users seem to all be on the same page. I believe much of the growl that you are looking for is in a certain frequency band. It's in the midrange, somewhere.
I have a GK1001RBII 2x10 combo, and a GK700RB with upgraded II preamp board. I have some B&C 10HPL64s loaded in the 1001, and the stock RBH speakers in the 700RB. WIth the same bass, I can't get any growl out of the RBH, but I can get a ton easly with the 1001. The B&Cs are wired parallel for a 4 ohm load, and the 700 is an 8 ohm. I don't even need much volume to get the growl. So if you ask me, you need a cab that reproduces the growl. Ironic that I can't get it out of RBH speakers, but who knows. I also can verify that a spector NS2A seems to produce a little nicer growl than the Warwick $$. Just my observation.

Wes
 
#13
The compressor in my warwick amp is great. Also, although it had a fan, it never ONCE came on even at 4ohms, because the amp never even got warm.

Just got home from practice with the GK, driving it at 8omhs you could have boiled water on it! it was practically steaming. The fan was on almost 100% of the time. I'm not sure what it means by variable-speed, but it seemed to me that it just spun at the same speed continuously...
 
#14
Oh no, that does not sound good, my one is always cool/slightly warm and I play loud into a power hungry cab, something might be wrong with it if it was that hot unless you have everything totally dimed which seems strange.

Has anybody else here had their GK get very hot?
 
#15
i run my GK 1001RBII at 4 ohms exclusively and i push it very hard (input=11:00, 5 string switch engaged, boost=12:00, master 3:00-5:00) and the fan is not on most of the time (only occasionally) and the amp just gets a little warmer than ambient temp, definitely not hot. maybe there's something wrong with yours?
 
#16
The casing itself wasnt too hot, but when I put my hand infront of the GK logo at the front (where the vent is) there was loads of hot air coming out of it. I'm just worried something in there is gonna get fried. The fan didnt seem to be doing too much...

I was using it for about 5 hours straight, but i didnt think I needed to give it any time to cool down?
 
#19
funny that people mention that they think that they sound 'sterile'. IME, i don't hear anything 'sterile' about mine.
IMO, it has alot of eq/tonal options and can go anywhere from warm & fluffy (or even scooped), to having midrange bark or even trebley bright. it also has a few gain options too.
i find that it seems to easily 'fit' into the mix with a band.
 
#20
Dude, you should have done your research on the amp before you bought there thing. Its easy enough to find the manual and check out all its features. I've owned the Warwick Pro Fet 5.1, and the GK 1001 RB2 is a far superior amp in almost every way.

Having seen many of your posts here, and on the Warwick forum, I'm guessing your a young guy still getting your head around what all the different bits of gear do. All I'm saying is, reading the manuals/tech specs from the websites for various bits of gear will do you no end of service!
 

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