Premier Rock Forum

I recently bought one of these guys after playing through The Austerity Program's GK 800RB at the BBQ. Since a number of EA posters have them, I thought it'd be nice to get some discussion going. What are some of your settings? Bi-amp or no bi-amp? Do's and Do nots, tone tips etc.

maybe we can talk about other GK amps. i'm planning on pulling the trigger on the 400rb.

llllllllllllllllllllllll wrote:Would running the line out of the Ampeg V-4b into the effects return of the GK give me that Ampeg sound without all the compression? I also have a Traynor TS-50b that I could use the 800rb with.A friend of mine destroyed his GK by running his V4b into the GK...although I'm not sure how he hooked it up.

fedaykin13 wrote:I have one and love it.Unfortunately my keyboard player is running through it now because she wasn't loud enough at practice.I really want it back. I'd get another if I saw a good deal.I'm trying to remember my settings....At the BBQ, were you playing through the GK direct or through the Rusty Box? You had a pretty nice bass tone.

Never EVER run that 8 ohm high section into a load less than 8 ohms. It will cook and the repair will cost more than the value of the amp.When I had one as my head, I used to run it biamped with a 1-15 and a 2-10. Then I got a 4-10, and running just the lows into the 1-15 and just the highs into the 4-10 was silly. So I began to run it mono with both cabs in the low section.I never could get a growly enough tone, so I usually ran a Sansamp GT-2 at all times.

Also, since I like distorted bass, I always want the soundguy to mic my cab. You know how annoyed sound-people get when they have to mic a biamped bass rig?I have a friend who used an 800 biamped with a 2-15 and 2-10 (Trad: it's Matt Chandler), and his tone always sounds really great.

Justin from Queens wrote:Hey, hold on a minute.I like the biamping alot. This gets run into a 4x10 and a 2x15. See, a 2-15 for the lows, and a 4-10 for the highs makes sense, but when I had a 1-15 and a 4-10, the 1-15 by itself could not carry the lows I wanted. If fact, the 1-15 had better highs than the 4-10.

Justin from Queens wrote:Ben A - I tell every sound person that they have to mic both cabinets. It helps that they don't have to worry about a drummer. I have had a bullshit problem with it exactly once, when we could hear through the monitors that the guy had set up two mics but was only running one. We stopped the show and I walked over to the bass rig. Then I positioned the working mic about 1/3 of the way between a 4x10 driver and one of the 2x15 drivers, about a foot or so off the cabinets. Went back to playing and our merch guy later claimed that it sounded as good as any night on the tour. Dude, just don't be a dick and set up another mic. I hate it when bands assume what they are hearing onstage is the same as what everyone else in the room is hearing.I can think of lots of situations where if I had a choice I wouldn't run bass low end through front stage wedges. Most of the time if a band is playing too loud (every band) and has way over sized bass amplification (every loud band) the bass spill all over the stage tends to be pretty tremendous. Combine that with a limited amount of headroom one typically has in the wedges and the typical demands for high levels of guitar and vocals and snare and vocals and more vocals please and oh, vocals, and you can see why I wouldn't want to eat up watts pushing extra bass bottom end through the wedges.Drummers get bass low end in their stack of course. Everyone else, not so much if I have the option not to.Of course, I wasn't at your show so I'm not making excuses for what was probably just a dick sound dude who wasn't paying attention, I'm just saying I can see how what you heard may have been a lot different than what those folks out there were hearing. I take a lot of care for bands when I mix them and want to present them with the best situation that gives them the tools they need to present their music in a way that sounds good to them and sounds good out front. When they presume the mix they are hearing onstage is identical to what's out front and try to correct what I'm doing for them out there based on it, it really kicks me in the balls. It's happened more times than I like to think about.

Justin from Queens wrote:endofanera wrote:It's happened more times than I like to think about.Your point makes sense and I won't argue it, but we were not getting any bass because that mic was off. I should be clear for anyone who cares about it to note that it wasn't just the stage monitors that were indicated this to us. Main point was that you can probably come up with a 1 mic solution to a bi-amped cab setup that's still passable if you absolutely must.= JustinThanks and I want to reiterate that I wasn't picking on your particular situation, just the painful memories it evoked in me. I also have enough experience with sound folks to know there are crazy, angry, incompetent, and lazy ones out there. Lots of them. Lots.And I know it gets no particular love around here, but DI for low end and mic for high end works as great for live sound as it does for recording bass.

I have one and love it.Unfortunately my keyboard player is running through it now because she wasn't loud enough at practice.I really want it back. I'd get another if I saw a good deal.I'm trying to remember my settings....