Jamison Posted February 4 Share Posted February 4 (edited) Hi, I run a Orange AD200 and also have a Laney Digbeth and GK Legacy 800. I always loved the punch of these GK's back in the 80's with a pbass, but I have to say I am really struggling with the tone on active basses and even on passive to a lesser extent. Its so clanky and trebly its really hard to control. I find using my pedal board with this is a whole other project on its own and then each bass (active especially) with their different nuances, is making this a long term project. Ready to sell it. Any advice out there? I bought it for the light weight, power and punch and have been dialing it warm tube sounds with my vmt dg pedal but this clank is killing me. If i turn the trebles and presences down it really tampers with the tone, not in a good way. Laney is pretty cool, 0 head room on these and after speaking to them that is kind of the point apparently, saturation, but personally with these I think they should have considered a lot more headroom Quality kit though for the price. Edited February 4 by Jamison Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Japhet Posted February 4 Share Posted February 4 Isn't the 'clank' baked into GK amps? Only one I ever had was a Fusion 500 (with valve preamp) and that sounded fine but it's not really a GK sounding amp. I'd flog it if I were you and buy something that doesn't require so much effort. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spyder Posted February 4 Share Posted February 4 Unfortunately I sold mine.... I also couldn't get on with the continuous clank. Drove me mad. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassmanPaul Posted February 4 Share Posted February 4 GK make excellent amplifiers but they are not for everyone. We all have preferences to how we sound. If the GK isn't doing it for you move on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassmanPaul Posted February 4 Share Posted February 4 (edited) This thread got me to reminiscing about my journey with amplification. #1 - VOX AC50 with its 18" Foundation speaker cabinet. The cabinet was not equipped with handles so I had to add them. The whole set up was very poor so I rebuilt the amp with two channels. it was much better but I wanted more!! LOL #2 - Epiphone Constellation with its matching 15" speaker cabinet. The original driver had blown and was replaced with a Wharfdale 15". Was a good amplifier. #3- Fender Bassman with its 2x12 cabinet. It was horrible. I returned it the next day. They had sold the Epiphone but I left the Bassman anyway. #4 - now needing an amp I owned a Leak TL50 power amp that I paid five quid for. I built a tube pre-amp to drive. it. The amp had that convenient Octal socket for a pre-amp so I used that for power. #5 In Toronto - I used a Sansui 50W per channel stereo receiver. I plugged into the microphone input. I'd set it up at the gig and tuned in some music while we finished set up. #6 - I built a 150W tube amp with parts I brought with me from the UK. #7 - Getting into transistors I built a 200W per channel power amp. It worked first time!! Yea!! I built a solid state pre-amp to drive it and the whole rig was wonderful. I still have all the units that comprised the amp. #8 - Now I use a 2KW capable class D power amp. I designed a tube pre-amp to drive it and it sounds great. Mounted in a four space SKB rack case I can lift it with just two fingers. #9 - Sort of. I bought an Ampeg B15NF with its matching 15" speaker box. It needed some love so I recapped it and put new tubes into it. I fund that the amp was not happy with modern 6L6GCs and I traced the problem to the 270K resistors feeding the bias supply to the output tubes. Reading the RCA tube manual it specified 100K resistors maximum for this service. I installed 100K and the amp was happy. The next problem that arose was flash over in the GZ34 rectifier tube when coming off standby. A fellow bass player on TalkBass @beans-on-toast suggested preceeding the rectifier plates with a silicon diode each. The modification worked and the amp is now happy. As am I and the B15 is my practice amp and will never leave me. LOL Sorry for the long winded post but I just couldn't stop writing. Edited February 4 by BassmanPaul Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fretmeister Posted February 4 Share Posted February 4 GK=Clank. I think that is their USP really. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2elliot Posted February 4 Share Posted February 4 Sell it. I had the same issue so sold it pretty quickly. I now own a Fusion 550 which I think is a better sounding amp, it fits my requirements with not a lot of fiddling about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassAdder60 Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 I had a Legacy 800 and used Ashdown cabs and a PBass I didn’t like the very mid forward tone that I couldn’t lose It was just too much Try the Genzler Magellan 800 as it’s amazing in comparison Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joel406 Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 Having owned the Legacy 800. Fusion 800 and 1200. And being a lifelong GK user. The latest line GK has is a terrible disappointment. I fought with all of them and lost every time. Sold all of it. I am now living happily with the current Mesa Subway system. Their 212 and 410 cabs are truly the best in the business. Their D-800+ was my sweet spot. And yes I did own the TT-800 and the WD-800. Both fine amps. Just not for me. I also recomend the current Epifani offering. The UL901. Crazy good tone through the Subway cabs. While I keep a stock of these amps and cabs on hand for when needed. I always chose amp less for live gigs. The Quad Cortex blows it all away. Quality IEMS beat any cab. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fretmeister Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 3 minutes ago, joel406 said: Quality IEMS beat any cab. Unless your band doesn't use or need a PA. Bit stuck then! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joel406 Posted February 6 Share Posted February 6 9 hours ago, fretmeister said: Unless your band doesn't use or need a PA. Bit stuck then! Then... You mean.. When it's not a band? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minininjarob Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 On 05/02/2024 at 16:27, joel406 said: Having owned the Legacy 800. Fusion 800 and 1200. And being a lifelong GK user. The latest line GK has is a terrible disappointment. I fought with all of them and lost every time. Sold all of it. I am now living happily with the current Mesa Subway system. Their 212 and 410 cabs are truly the best in the business. Their D-800+ was my sweet spot. And yes I did own the TT-800 and the WD-800. Both fine amps. Just not for me. I also recomend the current Epifani offering. The UL901. Crazy good tone through the Subway cabs. While I keep a stock of these amps and cabs on hand for when needed. I always chose amp less for live gigs. The Quad Cortex blows it all away. Quality IEMS beat any cab. Which one of the older GK amps would you recommend? I see a lot of RB400s around similar. Love the GK sound in my MB112 combo and don’t mind an older heavier head. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minininjarob Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 On 05/02/2024 at 16:31, fretmeister said: Unless your band doesn't use or need a PA. Bit stuck then! Exactly. My first ever band has a promise of 2 places we can play. Neither of them have PA beyond a vocal mic (and we aren’t sure about that tbh) so we are going to be taking our amps to use!! IEMs no use when you have no PA and more importantly you can’t afford them. 😂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cetera Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 18 hours ago, Minininjarob said: Which one of the older GK amps would you recommend? I see a lot of RB400s around similar. Love the GK sound in my MB112 combo and don’t mind an older heavier head. Original GK400RB and 800RB heads are the mutts nuts. Best amps ever imho... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chienmortbb Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 On 05/02/2024 at 16:27, joel406 said: Their 212 and 410 cabs are truly the best in the business A bold statement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minininjarob Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 2 hours ago, cetera said: Original GK400RB and 800RB heads are the mutts nuts. Best amps ever imho... I have been looking at 400rb’s, my favourite bassist used one! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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