Lightweight rig arrived!

[ThomBassmonkey]

I've talked about it on other threads, but my new "light" rig is actually properly ordered now and should (all things going well) be with me Monday! Wewt.

If you've missed my other posts on it, I've ordered a Gallien Krueger MB Fusion and 2 NEO212s. Not exactly a small rig, but saves me lumping around my 2001RB-II and 410RBHs, which is stupidly awkward and heavy, even only taking one for practices and smaller gigs. I'll still be using "the big rig" for big gigs, but it's going to be heaven to have something lighter.

Roll on Monday!

Edited April 18, 2011 by ThomBassmonkey

[stingrayPete1977]

Which 2x12s did you go for?

[ThomBassmonkey]

The GK NEO series 2x12s.

Specs:

Neo 212-II
• 8 ohms (also available in 4, but I'm getting 2 8s)
• 600 watts
• 23.5x24.5x16.5
• 50.5 lbs.

[stingrayPete1977]

I'm sure it will be sweet mate I'm not familiar with the GK ones but the specs look the same as my neox T's so I bet it will be well tasty.

[ThomBassmonkey]

Yeah, I spent the whole LBGS playing with the MB Heads and Neo cabs. Like I've said elsewhere, I was expecting them to be good for what they are, but only compromises on what the artist series stuff (that I use at the moment) is. I was totally blown away, I must've spent 50% of the weekend playing an MB200 through a Neo212 which is pretty good going for a 200w head over the din at the show.

I told GK straight away I'd be getting another rig from them, and here we are.

[Merton]

Nice one! Loving my MB200, can't wait to gig it

[ThomBassmonkey]

Let me know how it goes, Merton. I'm probably gonna be picking one up at some point as a small backup I can put in my bag and forget about for emergencies so it'd be good to know how they go in a proper gig. Like I say, it did well at the LBGS but obviously it's not the same.

[obbm]

[quote name='Merton' post='1199845' date='Apr 14 2011, 07:58 PM']Nice one! Loving my MB200, can't wait to gig it [/quote]

I'll be interested to hear the results.

[Merton]

[quote name='obbm' post='1199850' date='Apr 14 2011, 08:01 PM']I'll be interested to hear the results.[/quote]
I'll let you know, it'l not be til 15th May tho
If you want to have a play with it (er, the MB200...) you're more than welcome

[Musicman20]

Did you get to try the MB212? Im wondering what the catch is?!! Seriously cheap.

[ThomBassmonkey]

I've only had a go on one of the combos and I [i]think[/i] it was the MB210. It sounded great though, again it was at the show but it was audible while everything else was going on and it sounded fine as far as I could tell (couldn't really hear the tone properly).

One thing I found out at the show was the MB combos don't actually use the same pre/power as the MB heads, I couldn't tell you offhand exactly what the difference is but I overheard one of the guys from Polar telling someone else. I'd imagine it's very similar, maybe missing an option or two though, he might just have meant that it's not a removable head though.

The only negative I've heard about the MB combos (since they resolved some reliability issues a while back) is that they're not braced or have baffling so they can get a bit boomy if you EQ badly. But apart from that they punch well above their price, so adding a bit of padding and/or bracing should sort that out if you feel confident with that kind of thing. If not, they're still brilliant amps for the money from what I've heard. I also heard something a while ago about the extension speaker jack being wired oddly, can't remember the specifics though but from what I saw it was an easy fix (if GK haven't rectified it themselves).

To be honest, I've only properly spent time with the RB and MB heads, RBH cabs and to an extent the NEO cabs. I've read up about the rest and had a quick play with the Fusion 550 and MB210 but I've not spent time using and abusing them.

Edited April 14, 2011 by ThomBassmonkey

[stingrayPete1977]

I would be surprised if you don't come over to the dark side for most gigs from now on, I can't imagine taking a heavy amp anywhere again.

[ThomBassmonkey]

Shouldn't that be the light side? Light? Geddit? Oh dear...

The light rig will be used for most gigs. I do a lot of driving to gigs in my Fiesta, I can't get my RB/RBH stack in (head and one cab fits, just about) and since usually at best I have to get over to the other guys' houses before we car share, it means loading and unloading on my own. The Neo212s weigh half as much as my RBH cabs and the MB Fusion is 4.5lbs compared to 46.5 (not including my rack case and tuner) so I can definitely see them getting the majority of the use.

We're on tour over the next few weeks, so it might see some heavy use straight away if I take that instead of my RB/RBH rig. I'm really looking forward to trying them out in anger without Clutterbutt drilling a hole with his Warwick-beating into the back of my head from 2 meters away.

[Musicman20]

I reckon Id have to play one before buying one (MB combos). The deal just seems TOO good, something has to give.

[ThomBassmonkey]

You should do it. Or take advantage of the distance selling laws where you have a certain amount of days to return it if you don't like it. I don't think you'd be disappointed.

[stingrayPete1977]

Strangely I was tempted for a GK RB head and some form of matching cabs when I bought the Genz but once I tried a few class D's I was hooked. I would be straight DI with no fx if the venue needed more and with your 2 2x12's I can't see you needing more , wanting maybe but not needing. I'm hooked on 2x12's now regardless of the amp type

[ThomBassmonkey]

Yeah, I can't imagine it ever running out of steam either.

The good thing about the RB series is that NEOs and RBH cabs are both "matching", they're both bi-amp compatable so if I fancied using my 2001 but with the lighter cabs, I'd still have all the benefits. The MB Fusion head doesn't have bi-amping, but it's only one switch to flick on the back of the cabs. There's a video of Norm Stockton online somewhere and his preferred rig is a 1001RB-II head into a NEO212.

When you say straight DI, do you mean before your head? I could never do that now, I use distortion that I rely on my heads for, the MB Fusion's got two independent gain structures (basically two channels with a shared EQ, still footswitchable) so it'll be DI out from that too, same as with my 2001.

[stingrayPete1977]

Yep straight out guy me, I use my Genz DI if it's our PA and might have a bit of something from the Genz valve to give a little flavour but for distortion and other crazy sounds they come from pedals (rarely used in my current bands) before the DI.

[ThomBassmonkey]

Ah, fair play. With the GK having a pretty unique sound and me pretty much being in tonal nirvana with my Sandberg and RB/RBH rig, I prefer to keep as much of that as possibly by using the DI on the head. It's great quality DI out anyway so no problems there.

I kinda started looking at distortion pedals when I was using my 700RB, but it wasn't important enough to bother me that I never found one I liked. I was on the verge of going out of my way to try out a Blowtorch and similar when GK offered me the endorsement. After I got my 2001RB with OD built in though, I use it all the time. It's not vital to our sound, but it does add something when the guitar is soloing (we don't have a 2nd guitarist), adding a little meat to my tone.

[stingrayPete1977]

I'm not a hi fi kinda guy but cleaner rather than gritty, Rays are a bit gritty anyway remember especially the five. I like the look of the new GB Streamliner but from the clips I have heard for me personally just the one pre amp valve in the shuttle range is enough. For all the bickering none of the class D heads are bad IMO I could gig permanently with any but Mark Bass are my least favourite choice at the moment, People that say they are not muddy should a b one with the Genz IMO, Partly the cabs but there is still a bit of wool in the heads if you ask me and to someone who likes super clear they are miles off. Great if that's the sound you want just like Ashdown I have no issue at all but they both have that tone which I can't enjoy personally

Edited April 15, 2011 by stingrayPete1977

[ThomBassmonkey]

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' post='1201096' date='Apr 15 2011, 07:32 PM']I'm not a hi fi kinda guy but cleaner rather than gritty, Rays are a bit gritty anyway remember especially the five. I like the look of the new GB Streamliner but from the clips I have heard for me personally just the one pre amp valve in the shuttle range is enough. For all the bickering none of the class D heads are bad IMO I could gig permanently with any but Mark Bass are my least favourite choice at the moment, People that say they are not muddy should a b one with the Genz IMO, Partly the cabs but there is still a bit of wool in the heads if you ask me and to someone who likes super clear they are miles off. Great if that's the sound you want just like Ashdown I have no issue at all but they both have that tone which I can't enjoy personally [/quote]

Personally I hate Ashdown. I've never played one that I've enjoyed. They never seem to have definition in a mix. If they were being used on root notes to fill out the sound, then they do their job, but as soon as you start doing other stuff, they're mud. I used a half stack at a rehearsal room the other day and I actually deliberately played the wrong note from time to time and it was barely noticable. I find Markbass has a similar sound to Ashdown but better clarity. I've never sat down and played one properly though, though I've heard enough to know they're not for me. Genz are super clean amps. I've played a couple and they sound lovely, I've said before, if I was doing solo bass stuff, I'd probably be looking at GB, I like GKs in the mix though.

Grit is good though to my tastes. Like I say, we only have one guitarist and the grit fills out the sound when he's soloing and gives me the growl to cut through and have good definition when playing runs etc through his chords.

I do want to try a good ray through my rig. A ray through GK amps is tried and tested and a brilliant sound from other people I've heard doing it, but I've only played one ray through a GK rig and it was a 4 string with HORRIBLE volume drop on the G and D strings (G was barely audible). Growl and more growl, if I wasn't so hooked on my Sandberg, I'd have made more of an effort to find a ray in the last week or two.

[stingrayPete1977]

Sounds like we are on the same page mate, I had to tidy up my playing when i ditched my ABM evo for the GB rig. All Rays can be sorted and most are good anyway, I have 3 that are all fine. My pre EB through your big GK rig would be awesome I'm certain of it.

[ThomBassmonkey]

Yeah, I was probably just unlucky with that ray, it wasn't mine so there was nothing I could do with it anyway. I would love to try a properly set up ray through my rig, but I love my Sandbergs. Hopefully getting a H/H Sandberg next week, I know they're not quite MMs, but I'm expecting the MM pups to be obscene.

[stingrayPete1977]

The HH Sandy should be a belter!

[ThomBassmonkey]

Yay, it arrived. I've had a quick play which has confirmed that one cab is easily enough to gig with. It sounds good, it's more hi-fi than my big rig but I've only had a few minutes of front room time with it so far, so I've not had a chance to properly EQ it in a mix and play with it.

I'm amazed by how light it is! I managed to strain my shoulders lifting around my big rig on Saturday but still easily managed to lift both of these cabs on top of my 410RBHs for storage. It's not just that they're lighter but because of the port positions, they're narrower too which makes them far more managable.

Piccies!

Full frontal, bass there for perspective. It's not exactly a small rig, it's definitely much more managable than my big rig though!


It's bum, the same GK control plates as on my 410RBHs on these NEO212s.


Another frontal with a bit of an angle, showing the depth of the cabs.


The head. This is voodoo! 500w, 3 valves in the pre-amp, so many controls they couldn't fit them all on the front and some are on top (though still simple to use), 2 seperate gain structures that are footswitchable, 4.5lbs and available for less than £600...