la bam

Its 3U high, but it feels good at that height, doesnt feel as if it should be smaller. It also balances out, as gk do 1u amps too, so you still get 2 amps in a 4u case.

Youd love it!

I got chance to open this up this afternoon. Firstly, it very very very loud!! Very loud. I didn't get anywhere near half volume. Now, what I really liked was the difference between the tone at volume. Immediately the valve response is there anywhere over 9oclock. What's great though, is if you dont want the valve response, you can just turn the gain down to 9 o'clock or under, turn the volume up and it's super clean. This amp really is musical. The strings pretty much sing, rather than just give off bass notes. It's very valve like in tone. I dont mean dirty tones, but that lovely bright warm sound. It's also very fast. I know it sounds daft, but it's super instant response which takes some getting used to. I had a good 3 hours play with this, both on it's own and with backing tracks, and its lovely. Really warm and musical. Theres also limitless tone shaping possibilities. From solid slap funk, to warm 60s tones and everything inbetween. Even full on drive. The power delivery is solid and authoritative. The big thing I can say about this amp is that every amp ive ever had, every one, made me sound the same. Quite dullish and warm. I could never ever get any warm bright mids in no matter what. Well, this amp gives that in heaps. Loads of it. The fact its 2 channel as well, means I've set up a great sound and can have it with the tone uber clean and punchy, then with the valves breaking up on the other channel. Great day testing this.

The same tour, but at Maine road, manchester. You could hear it in Oldham.

Only used at very very quiet volumes, but early impressions: 1. Its superbly well built. No cutting corners on any material etc. 2. The motorised dials, just feel like ordinary ones youd find on any amp, and work great. It's a great thing to watch them revert back to the last settings. 3. The array of sounds is brilliant. It really is supremely versatile.l, with a fair bit of experimentation. The really beauty is the contour dial and contour frequency switch which when used in conjunction with each other help change the voicing of the amps natural characteristics, a great touch. The deep switch adds lovely real low end and high switch a nice brightness. 4. Power delivery is frankly astonishing. Real hit you in the guts stuff. I've never had this on any other amp, but I have the volume dial only just on, the gain only just on and the actual bass volume only just on. If I then turn any of them up a smidge I can 'feel' the bass and the moving air. Cant wait to give this a run out at volume soon!

I've had basses go down, three times. Only once at a gig, but a quick swap and everything resumed in 10 seconds. Once I broke a string at a gig in a covers band. It was 20 years ago, never happened before or since. Wasnt even particularly an energetic song. Quick swap, job done. Once, one cheap bass I'd bought just gave up in the house noodling. Some wiring inside had come loose. Basses can go easily. Jack inputs can sometimes be brittle and break due to constant plugging and unplugging. Mine went down (albeit at practice) it was a yamaha bb424x. Again, it could fall off a stand, you could drop it, it could get damaged in transit, punters, clumsy band members...

Worth remembering - it's not all about the main amp failing. You could trip on the way in. A band member could drop it carrying it in. A band member could trip over it. Someone could spill a drink over it. You could pull it off the cab, if a lightweight class d. A drunk punter could throw beer over it. It could get damaged by somebody putting other gear over it when setting up. The power could fail in the venue and trip it. Theres loads of reasons you may end up needing a spare amp, not just the amp failing of it's own accord. Each to their own of how you get round it.

Thanks. I've got the fusion 550 now, came today. Sounds flippin loud and authoritative!! Theres plenty of concern out there about the motorised dials (and I probably agree) but pretty much zero cases of them failing. I have a mb800 in reserve just in case. The tone shaping is pretty great on this already!

DI ing into the pa isnt as easy to do as you might think. If you're unlucky, yes your foh will be fine, but you may not be able to hear yourself at all. And playing like that isnt an easy thing to do, when all you can hear is drums, guitar and vocal. Then theres the fact that others cant hear you and how do they get their cues off you? Yes, if you use in ears or have great monitoring it can work, but it wont work for everyone. DI is a great get out of jail card, but unless your confident it will work just take a cheap 300w class d for backup. Theres millions around second hand for next to nothing.

Always back up. Cables, speakons, amp head, bass guitar, tuner. You only need one thing to fail once and you'll never leave anything to chance again.

Hi all, Has anyone any experience with the gallien krueger Fusion 550? (the solid state one).

It really does growl! And the salmon pink is definitely orange!

Turns out after confirmation from the bass centre this is one of their John Entwistle tribute Frankenstein basses. Love it.

The advantage for me of much lighter amps, isnt that I can carry a 3kg head, but I can rack 2 of them and a tuner and a wireless system, all pre wired and secure in a lightweight and rack and all of that comes in around 15kg. No setting up, no faff. No forgetting or losing anything.

I love rackmount stuff. I find it a lot easier than smaller separates. Dont have to worry about forgetting anything. Everything is there, bolted in and pre wired. One plug and one Speakon and I'm good to go. I found the separates, micro heads etc much more time consuming, having to take individual things out of cases, add plug leads, extensions, cables, connect to tuners etc. Then having to remember not to lose anything packing up. Plus the vertical arrangement makes it pretty limitless for adding items.

Really are good arent they? I always set mine at vol only just one, then when I get a good tone I put volume at 10 o'clock and it absolutely shines. Also the valve break up is affected by both the mids dial, and the tone control on your bass. I find it amazing how you can be playing along nicely then you put a little run in (or octaves) and they absolutely come through perfect. I find it's also a completely different sound at headphone volume and through an amp with the same settings, so it takes a bit of adjusting to how you are set up.

A half rack norm, would be manageable and nice now. I like my rackmount stuff, a half rack size (and half rack cases) for amps, wireless, tuners, preamp etc would be great.

I'd love to think theres at least one bass that I'd never sell, but regardless how much I love them or say I'll never sell them - I always do! Just looking at my current collection (about 7) I didnt have any of them this time last year. But I did have a bass I'd said I'd never sell - a black and gold fender precision fsr midnight. Gees, I shouldnt have sold that, it was a work of art, but hey ho. I kinda like the idea I'm not gonna be devastated if I have to sell one.