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Why is the GK800RB so expensive?

#3
Gearhead43 said:
The GK800RB is an average of $200+ more than the newer & more powerful 700RB. What gives?

Also, the new MB2-500 is the same price as the 400RB right now. :eyebrow:

Going by MF prices, by the way.
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Hi Gearhead43.

It might be that the venerable 800RB uses some components which are not shared by GK's other more contemporary bass amps.
 
#6
Some of that extra cost goes to the salaries of the fulltime amp technicians that G-K has to keep on staff for all the inevitable repairs that amp will require. :)


gregwatts2008 said:
The 800RB is a bulletproof head
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Either you got very lucky with yours, or you're delusional. I worked in the service department of an NYC music rehearsal studio & equipment rental firm back in the late 1980s, and G-K 800RBs were constantly ********* the bed. Every single one required repeated & regular service. One of our 800RB heads had its power supply replaced 4 times in a 7 month period.
 
#7
Hoover said:
Some of that extra cost goes to the salaries of the fulltime amp technicians that G-K has to keep on staff for all the inevitable repairs that amp will require. :)




Either you got very lucky with yours, or you're delusional. I worked in the service department of an NYC music rehearsal studio & equipment rental firm back in the late 1980s, and G-K 800RBs were constantly ********* the bed. Every single one required repeated & regular service. One of our 800RB heads had its power supply replaced 4 times in a 7 month period.
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+1 ..but when it worked, it was awesome
 
#8
The 800 uses older construction methods/components which makes it more expensive to manufacture than the newer lineup.

The 800's are some of the most reliable amps out there - a lot of the failures had to do with people plugging two 8 ohm cabs into the high amp (or one 4 ohm), resulting in too low of a load - ie user error. GK went to a single jack for the high amp when they did an update to help keep folks from doing this (and since there aren't too many 16 ohm cabs out there). Other failures generally have to do with the large # of them on the road, in backlines, getting hammered day after day, year after year, which is going to cause a certain amount of failures in any amp; since there were a lot more of these in backlines than most other brands, folks may have misperception about reliability.
 
#11
My 800Rb has been killing it for 25 years - getting a little noisy in its old age - but nothing you can hear once you are Jamming. It was my rock for a lot years - been in hot clubs, trunk of my car in the Winter, smokey hot rehearsal rooms, in storage - out of storage, indoor and outdoor shows. It even vibrated off the top of one of my cabs at rehearsal - finshed the song - picked it up and put it back on top of the cabs - no issues and I have gotten every penny out of that Amp and more.
 
#12
Hoover said:
Some of that extra cost goes to the salaries of the fulltime amp technicians that G-K has to keep on staff for all the inevitable repairs that amp will require. :)




Either you got very lucky with yours, or you're delusional. I worked in the service department of an NYC music rehearsal studio & equipment rental firm back in the late 1980s, and G-K 800RBs were constantly ********* the bed. Every single one required repeated & regular service. One of our 800RB heads had its power supply replaced 4 times in a 7 month period.
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I owned two 800RB's for several years, just in case I needed a backup.
I never had any problems with either one of 'em and finally sold one last year. The other one is still going strong.
I use mine all the time, but I've never mis-matched the cabs or done any other stupid things with it.

No, I'm not delusional. Not particularly lucky, either. :)
 
#13
I bought mine used on ebay for 300 bucks and Im sure it has been running strong since the 80s or 90s.

Mine fell out of my bands uhaul on the freeway.

still going.

They are some of the best heads made in my opinion, there are definitely better sounding heads, but they have been no to be awsome for years now.

I like their tone better than any other RB head, and any ampeg
 
#14
Hoover said:
Some of that extra cost goes to the salaries of the fulltime amp technicians that G-K has to keep on staff for all the inevitable repairs that amp will require. :)




Either you got very lucky with yours, or you're delusional. I worked in the service department of an NYC music rehearsal studio & equipment rental firm back in the late 1980s, and G-K 800RBs were constantly ********* the bed. Every single one required repeated & regular service. One of our 800RB heads had its power supply replaced 4 times in a 7 month period.
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that is definitely not the consensus among people on here that own that head
 
#16
B-string said:
I wonder if he was just trolling? I can say he would be suprized how few repair techs are actually employed at G-K.
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As well, Invalid Link Removed, and IIRC, handles the warranty support/repairs for all of the new GK amps sold in Canada.

It is unlikely that Y. S. would've entered into this arrangement if there were any serious prospect of their repair techs having to work overtime.
 
#18
ToddGia said:
I;ve had an 800 rb for over 10 years and it has never givin me a problem . I think the used 800rb are the best value you can find .I see alot of them go for $350 used .
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man its so true. by the same token, i sold off my big rig and was down to absolute minimum funds for bass gear. i researched and ended up buying a 400rb for 170 including shipping. could not be happier.
 
#19
To be fair, I had heard a lot about GK's getting hot and seizing back when Hoover worked as a tech. Never saw it myself since I don't use GK, but knew quite a few bassists who told me about it, and it wasn't from plugging in the wrong load. But that was for a short period of time, and since then, you hardly ever hear anything bad about GK's reliability. Just this one bad spot in GK's history.
 
#20
It's a classic. I wonder what proportion of 800RBs are sold to touring acts and rental suppliers for whom the price is fairly irrelevant? If the rider says 800RB then that's what it has to be! Also it's an older design and therefore doesn't take advantage of the technological progress that probably allows the 700RB to be made more efficiently.

Alex
 

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