New Gallien Krueger Legacy heads

[dave_bass5]

49 minutes ago, cetera said:

 

Congrats on the purchase! I use mine through a 600W 4ohm Genz Benz Neox 2x12 and my Master Volume barely creeps above 9 - 10am!

Thanks. I wish the 500 was actually 500watts in to 4ohms, im sure that would be more than loud enough for any of my gigs. Still, nice to know i wont be drowned out by my drummer. Hoping there will be enough of a (good) difference between this and the MB800 to warrant it. Still, ive got two rehearsals and a gig within the first 30 days so the option to return it is there.

Does anyone know were the HPF is set? I know it has one but havent seen the Freq mentioned

Edited January 30, 2020 by dave_bass5

[cetera]

4 minutes ago, dave_bass5 said:

Hoping there will be enough of a (good) difference between this and the MB800 to warrant it.

 

I have never owned an MB head (I only have original 400RB & 800RB heads) but I like the ability to flick the drive switch and add a little 'grit'. In fact I find I have it on permanently just to add a little harmonic 'edge' to my tone....

Enjoy!

[dave_bass5]

10 minutes ago, cetera said:

 

I have never owned an MB head (I only have original 400RB & 800RB heads) but I like the ability to flick the drive switch and add a little 'grit'. In fact I find I have it on permanently just to add a little harmonic 'edge' to my tone....

Enjoy!

Yes, thats a cool feature that i do use with my MB800. Its cool that my Helix Effects can control this as well. Having the ability to not change the tone but to have it go louder with a bit more dirt is a good feature. Looking forward to having more control over the second channel using the Edge knob.

[dave_bass5]

Just had a quick low level play at home. Really like the tone. More lively than my MB800. not as bright as i feared which is good.

I did think the hiss was a bit louder than my other heads, Even without a signal. i guess it wont be heard with a band. Might be because i had the input trim right up (with no clipping light on). 

I have realised its not going to fit any of my bags, at least not liek my other heads. I can just get it in a couple, but no room for my Helix and cables. 

All in all very happy. 

[Al Krow]

Wot no pic of the new rig?! 

[dave_bass5]

5 hours ago, Al Krow said:

Wot no pic of the new rig?! 

😂

[Merton]

1 minute ago, dave_bass5 said:

😂

Classy. Love it

[fretmeister]

26 minutes ago, dave_bass5 said:

😂

How loud are the amp fans?

Would you hear it next to a single clarinet for example?

 

ta

[dave_bass5]

33 minutes ago, fretmeister said:

How loud are the amp fans?

Would you hear it next to a single clarinet for example?

 

ta

I never hear them at all, and i did put my ear close up. I was at such a low volume setting though that I’m pretty sure they were either off, or only working at very low speed. The hiss was quite noticeable though. The amp was only on 1 on the master. Ill have another listen at rehearsals on Tuesday. I can say that the MB800 has very loud fans, but I guess with such a cramped enclosed i can understand it’s needed. This was just in my quiet living room though. 

[dave_bass5]

1 hour ago, Merton said:

Classy. Love it

Thanks. I did think the amp looked quite boring at first, but it fits in well with the Berg’s look. 

[Al Krow]

2 hours ago, dave_bass5 said:

Thanks. I did think the amp looked quite boring at first, but it fits in well with the Berg’s look. 

Wot, u saying the Berg is boring?! 

😁

[dave_bass5]

21 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Wot, u saying the Berg is boring?! 

😁

Yeah, its just a wooden box after all. 😳

[fretmeister]

4 hours ago, dave_bass5 said:

I never hear them at all, and i did put my ear close up. I was at such a low volume setting though that I’m pretty sure they were either off, or only working at very low speed. The hiss was quite noticeable though. The amp was only on 1 on the master. Ill have another listen at rehearsals on Tuesday. I can say that the MB800 has very loud fans, but I guess with such a cramped enclosed i can understand it’s needed. This was just in my quiet living room though. 

I don’t have any tweeters so should be ok for hiss!

[dave_bass5]

8 hours ago, fretmeister said:

I don’t have any tweeters so should be ok for hiss!

Could still hear it with the tweeter off, but it’s not really a problem, it was just more noticeable in a quite room than my other heads. Just backing the gain off made a difference. Not sure why GK advice having  it all the way up, although if my P bass cant trigger the overload LED without really hammering it I dont  think its as powerful as on some heads so must be at the optimum setting I suppose. You do get a lovely very mild breakup. More added harmonics rather than dirt. 

Edited February 2, 2020 by dave_bass5

[cetera]

I have my input trim around noon (with an active Spector). No huge hiss present... and a beautiful bold tone. if I want a little more gain/grit then the overdrive channel is my friend :)

[dave_bass5]

On 03/02/2020 at 12:59, cetera said:

I have my input trim around noon (with an active Spector). No huge hiss present... and a beautiful bold tone. if I want a little more gain/grit then the overdrive channel is my friend

Ive gone back and forth between my MB800 and L800, and the hiss seems to be about the same, and ive never worried about the MB800 at gigs. In a dead quite room its always going to be noticeable, but tomorrow night will be its first outing. If i find it a problem ill get it changed, but im pretty sure its normal. Even at this volume its a very powerful tone. With the Trim almost on max (as suggested) the volume is so loud all i can do is to turn the master until i can hear something, and then have to stop there. Love the Bump switch. I think ill have that on most of the time. The OD channel is very nice.

With the master on 0 on both heads the hiss is the same so im sure all is working as expected..

Its strange how GK suggest using the two heads quite differently.

Ive read that quite a few people say GK's sound a bit ugly on their own, but fit so well in a band mix. Ive always found that, but the L800 seems to sound a bit nicer compared to my MB800 at home.

Edited February 4, 2020 by dave_bass5

[dave_bass5]

On 03/02/2020 at 12:59, cetera said:

I have my input trim around noon (with an active Spector). No huge hiss present... and a beautiful bold tone. if I want a little more gain/grit then the overdrive channel is my friend

What i found last night is i have ot push the Trim quite high to get the OD to work properly. I backed it off to noon, and the hiss reduced, but i couldn't get more than a very mild dirt from the OD section, even with the Drive all the way up. This wouldn't even be noticeable with the band playing. I put the Trim back to about 5 o'clock and the dirt came back. I think its going to need a bit of fine tuning tonight.

Tonight will be the first time in months, maybe years, that im going with just bass/amp/cab. No effects at all.

[Al Krow]

6 minutes ago, dave_bass5 said:

Tonight will be the first time in months, maybe years, that im going with just bass/amp/cab. No effects at all.

Wot no pedal crutches or stabilisers to stop you falling off? Careful you don't do yourself an injury 😁

[dave_bass5]

8 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Wot no pedal crutches or stabilisers to stop you falling off? Careful you don't do yourself an injury 😁

i was tempted to take the Q/Strip, but i want to see, or rather hear, what the naked rig sounds like first. Pretty sure i wont need a pre amp pedal either lol. The only effect i really need is boost/OD, an di have that in the amp.

[dave_bass5]

Very happy with the L800. Tonight’s rehearsal went very well. Took me a few songs to get used to the gritty tone, but once i did i could hear the heft and power. I think its going to work out well. 

One issue though. When i plugged a cable in to the footswtich jack the output level dropped for the non OD tone. I could turn the OD on and off fine, and the OD channel sounded great, but turning that off using the footswitch resulted in a noticeably lower output than if i turned the OD off using the switch on the amp. This made the footswitch unusable. 

[Al Krow]

6 hours ago, dave_bass5 said:

Very happy with the L800. Tonight’s rehearsal went very well. Took me a few songs to get used to the gritty tone, but once i did i could hear the heft and power. I think its going to work out well. 

One issue though. When i plugged a cable in to the footswtich jack the output level dropped for the non OD tone. I could turn the OD on and off fine, and the OD channel sounded great, but turning that off using the footswitch resulted in a noticeably lower output than if i turned the OD off using the switch on the amp. This mSeeade the footswitch unusable. 

Seems to me that if you're using the footswitch then you need to increase the volume on your clean for balance, and then just use your footswitch and don't jump between switching on the amp and using the footswitch?

But agree that's an annoying quirk and seems weird. 

[dave_bass5]

1 hour ago, Al Krow said:

Seems to me that if you're using the footswitch then you need to increase the volume on your clean for balance, and then just use your footswitch and don't jump between switching on the amp and using the footswitch?

But agree that's an annoying quirk and seems weird. 

There is no clean channel as such, thats the main input and master knobs. Agree i could just lower the OD level, and that’s what i tried last night, but the knob went from noon down to about 10 o’clock, and the master was over noon to get it to match the level i was using before the footswtich. Quite a drop. 

I can live with manually changing the channels, i only really need the OD for a couple of songs and its on all the time for those but I’m going to get it swapped tomorrow, just to confirm its normal or not. 

[dave_bass5]

Bit frustrating. I spoke to Andertons and they arranged a swap over. New one just arrived and has black marks all the way along the front, and round the knobs. Also two large scratches on the bottom. I suspect it left GK like this as the box was sealed. Ill take it home tonight and test the footswitch to see if its the same, but its getting collected tomorrow anyway. Not paying that much for a cosmetically damaged amp. The footswitch issue i can live with if its a common one.

I have ordered one from G4M, which should be here tomorrow. Any issues with this one and im giving up.

Up to this point thats 5 GK products that ive had issues with. If tomorrows doesn't go well that will make 6.

Edited February 6, 2020 by dave_bass5

[dave_bass5]

Quick update, the head I’m sending back tomorrow is working as excepted. No volume loss when the footswitch is in. Cant fault it other than the shoddy condition it arrived in. Fingers crossed the one arriving tomorrow is ‘the one’. If not, ill give up. 

I really do put GK at the bottom of the ladder as far as QC goes, and thats not just music gear. 

EDIT: oh, and today’s one has less hiss. 

Edited February 6, 2020 by dave_bass5

[dave_bass5]

Friday update: 3rd head arrived. A couple of small marks on the base, nothing im going to worry about. Real test will be tonight. Need to check DI as well as my MB800 arrived with a non working DI.

Feeling positive....