Gallien-Krueger 2001RB Bass Amplifier Head Review

Aloha!

It does not come up very often, but sometimes you need a bass amp with just a little more oompf. When that time comes, one amplifier to consider should be the big boss Gallien-Krueger 2001RB. This thing is a monster!

Gallien-Krueger has been building quality solid-state amplifiers in the United States since the company was started by a pair of Hewlett Packard engineers over 40 years ago. They have become the biggest bass amplifier manufacturer out there on the back of their RB series of bass amplifiers, which were introduced back in the early 1980s. Their products and customer service are very well regarded in the music industry.

The pinnacle of their solid-state bass amplifiers is the rack-mountable 2001RB. This unit measures 19 x 5.25 x 12 inches, which equate to 3 rack spaces. It weighs in at around 42 ½ pounds, which is not too terrible when compared to my SVT. This is an unavoidable comparison, which will surely come up again. It certainly makes it the heaviest solid-state head I have ever used.

It heavy because there is a huge power supply and four amplifiers inside of that pretty case. These include two for the low end with 540 watts each at 2 ohms (or 1080 watts bridged at 4 ohms) and 2 high-end amps with 50 watts each at 8 ohms. You can power up to 4 cabinets with this thing! That is a ton of power, and there are two continuously variable speed fans inside to help keep things cool (and to make the amplifier last longer).

There is plenty of stuff going on the front of this amplifier. There is an input stage, two sets of channel controls, voicing filters, an EQ and an output stage.

The input stage includes a the ¼-inch input jack, a -10dB pad switch, a pre-input clip LED, tuning mute switch and a channel select switch.

The channel controls are set up with channel A for clean and channel B for overdrive. You will see that channel A has a Level control, while channel B gets four knobs. These include: Level, Gain, Edge (overlapping treble) and Bottom (overlapping bass). By overlapping, I mean in addition to the 4-band equalizer and voicing filters that both channels share. By the way, the channels are switched via a button on the front of the amp or with a foot switch.

Tone controls include an active four-band equalizer, and two voicing filters: contour (flat to +2dB @ 50Hz,-10dB @ 500Hz, +3dB @ 7KHz) and presence (flat to +9dB @ 10KHz). There is also a 5-string bass switch that adds 10dB at 20Hz.

The output section consists of a Boost knob, which add in the traditional Gallien-Krueger growl, as well Tweeter and Woofer volume controls. There is also a tweeter hi-cut b switch (above 10KHz) and a Woofer crossover switch (above 5KHz).

The back of the amplifier is where you will find the four Neutrik Speakon and four 1/4" speaker output jacks, and a switch to select dual mono or bridge modes. The right side speakers have their own level control knob. There is also an adjustable direct out with a pre/post switch and a ground lift. There is also plenty of other good stuff, including an effects loop, a footswitch jack, a tuner out, remote trigger in and out, and chain in and out. The remote trigger and the chaining jacks are used if you want to connect a bunch of 2001RB amplifiers together. The idea of this scares me, frankly.

I tested the G-K 2001RB out with my Stingray, an assortment of passive and active Precision and Jazz basses and even my Kala U-Bass. This amplifier is a powerhouse, yet still has all of the Gallien-Krueger tones that I have been using over the past 25 years. The clean G-K tone is there in spades, but this is not a one-trick pony. It can distort out for rock, play smooth for jazz and blues, and can pop like a mofo for funk. The 5-string switch really boosts the low end, maybe even too much. The filters and channel switching work flawlessly and it will do most anything you want it to do. Except for sounding like an SVT, that is. The tube warmth is missing, but if you are playing at the insane volume levels this thing is designed for, warmth is a pipe dream.

As far as output, this amplifier can put our more volume than any single amplifier I have ever played. I tried it out with everything from a single 15-inch speaker to a pair of 8-10 cabinets and the 2001RB made the most out of all of them. I do not think there is a speaker cabinet out there that this amplifier will not be able to drive to its fullest.

That being said, I need to editorialize and throw in my 2 cents worth as a sound guy. If somebody showed up for a gig I was running with one of these amps and a truckload of cabinets, I would not be terribly happy. Things like this almost always lead to volume creep. The bass player is too loud, so the guitarists turn up their amps, and the bass player adds more volume. All the while I am cranking the vocals and drums up to match, and soon the audience is holding their ears and having a terrible time. If you need your bass sound to go that huge you should probably be going through the PA…

Anyway, everybody will disregard my advice, and that is ok because the Gallien-Krueger 2001RB is certainly a top-notch amplifier. It sounds great, has versatile outputs and relatively simple controls, and is can be terrifyingly loud. There is not really much out there to compete with it, especially at its street price of $1299 (MSRP $1856). If you need this much output, it is totally worth every penny!

p.s. Don’t forget that GK includes a 2-year warranty and has the world’s best customer service.

Mahalo!

Gallien Krueger Fusion 550 Amplifier Review

Howdy!

It seems like every bass amplifier manufacturer out there is making a hybrid amplifier, which would be a unit with a tube pre-amplifier and a solid state power amplifier. Gallien Krueger is no exception, and I recently had the opportunity to try out their Fusion 550 bass head, and I thought I would pass along my thoughts.

Gallien Krueger is one of the biggest bass amplifiers manufacturers out there. The company was started by a couple of HP engineers back in the early 1970s and became one of the most popular bass amplifier manufacturers in the world. They were pioneers in lightweight high-power solid state amplification. Their products and customer service are very well regarded in the music industry.

With their solid-state background, I guess it is not too surprising that the Fusion 550 is the first bass amplifier that GK ever built with an all-tube preamplifier. The engineers did not skimp on the six-stage pre-amp that includes three 12AX7 tubes, which accounts for why this amp is so much bigger than its competitors. This is a full-sized head, measuring 19 x 5.25 x 9.75 inches (3 rack spaces tall), and it weighs in at a stout 27.5 pounds. This a bit less than the monstrous GK 2001RB, and is nothing compared to an SVT, but it is significantly more than a Genz Shuttle.

The solid-state (class G) power amp section is lifted from the Gallien Krueger 1001RB-II, and it is rated for a total output of 550 watts (500 watts at 4 at ohms for the main amp and 50 watts at 8 ohms for the horn amp).

The Fusion 550 is a fairly simple amplifier, as far as the controls on the front go. There is a single input with an active/passive switch, a channel switch and a gain potentiometer. Tone controls include a four-band equalizer, an adjustable mid contour control, as well as bright and deep filter switches. The output controls both parts of the bi-amp system. After setting the horn level, when the master volume control is changed the, the ratio between the woofer and horn stays the same. Oh yes, and there is a mute switch too.

The back of the amplifier is where you will find the Neutrik Speakon and 1/4" speaker output jacks as well as an adjustable direct out with a pre/post switch. There is also plenty of other good stuff, including a ground lift, an effects loop, a tuner out, and the footswitch input jack.

As I said earlier, this appears to be a fairly simple amplifier, and there are certainly not enough knobs for a two-channel amplifier. That is because GK has equipped this amplifier with footswitch-actuated motorized gain, master, and horn level controls. Yes, that means that when you hit the footswitch for the second channel the knobs move by themselves. Spooky, and I do not think I have seen this feature on a bass amp before.

I have played the Fusion 550 with my Stingray 4, Stingray 5 and a passive P bass through my Ampeg 810 cabinet and also though a pair of GK 410 cabinets. I do not use a separate horn, so I left that control at zero. The volume is impressive, but not in the same league at the 2001RB, and it did not seem any louder than my SVT. Then again, how much do you really need? If you are going that huge you will probably end up going through the PA anyway…

I am able to get a lot of different tones, foremost of which is the usual clean GK tone, which is a good thing. But there is a lot more to than that on tap. Such as a truly gnarly overdrive tone that is punchy and rich and rivals what I can get out of my Ampegs (almost). But I must note that I had trouble getting much of any overdrive with the active switch ON, which is not too surprising, I guess.

Getting a good tone is not hard, as the folks over at GK put a lot of through into the EQ section. This amp may have the best sounding mids I have run into. The contour knob is switchable to be centered at either 500Hz or 800Hz and it works very well for fine-tuning my tone. Also, the Deep and Bright switches are well-positioned and actually have a positive effect on the tone, unlike similar switches on almost every other amplifier out there.

The motorized channel-switching turns out to be a non-event. The knobs move pretty quickly, and I did not have any problems with them. I am a Luddite at heart, so they scare me a little, but Gallien Krueger has been around the block a few times so I am sure they put some miles on these amps before they started up the assembly line.

So the Fusion 550 is a winner in my book. Although it is heavier than its hybrid competition, it sounds great, has simple controls, and is loud enough for most gigging situations. It is also reasonably price compared to its competition, with a list price of $1356 and a street price of $949. BTW, I saw them on Amazon.com a few weeks ago for $700, so keep your eyes peeled for deals before you buy.

Mahalo!

Memory Lane: Gallien-Krueger 800RB Amplifier

Hello!

Last month we looked at my first bass amplifier, the Peavey TNT 150. The Peavey satisfied my wants for awhile, but eventually had to have something prettier and louder. Inspired by what I saw on late night TV, I decided on the Gallien-Krueger 800RB.

Gallien-Krueger was started by a couple of HP engineers back in the early 1970s and has become one of the most popular bass amplifier manufacturers in the world. They were pioneers in lightweight high-power solid state amplification.

The 800RB was introduced in the 1982, and delivers on both the lightweight and high-power fronts.

This amplifier weighs in around 23 pounds, and measures approximately 17.5" wide by 5.25" high by 9.5" deep. So yes, you can mount this amplifier in a standard size rack if you replace remove the little rubber feet and replace the amplifier end caps with rack ears.

The power output is impressive, with two amplifier outputs: 300 watts at 4 ohms for the low side and 100 watts at 8 ohms for the high side. Compared to GK’s newer designs (not to mention Genz Benz or Markbass) this might not seem super-bitchin’ , but 25 years ago it sure was.

The 800RB is a clean-looking amp, with a crinkly-finished metal case. This is common today, but was unusual in the 1970s when amplifiers were made of plywood and fabric. There is a handle mounted to one end of the case in case you decide not to go with a rack case.

I popped mine open when I had it (curiosity, I guess) to see what was in there. The wiring was tidy and nicely routed, and there was a huge transformer. And no cooling fan. Gallien-Krueger went with a great big heat sink on the back of the case instead. If you really crank the amp you could grill hot dogs on the cooling fins.

The front is uncluttered, with a neat line of controls. There is one ¼” input jack (a 10db cut switch is included) and a master volume knob. Tone controls include 3 filter switches (low cut, mid cut and high boost), and a 4-band equalizer. There is also an adjustable footswitch-controllable boost circuit, and lastly there are the crossover and level controls for the two amplifier circuits.

The back of the 800RB is very simple with a direct out, and effects loop and ¼” speaker outs – 1 for the high circuit and two for the low circuit.

I used this amplifier for years and never had any trouble with it. The rest of my rig was a Hartke 115XL and either a 201XL or 410 XL, and I always had more volume available if I needed it. The tone was even, although it never was the warmest bass sound I ever heard.

I eventually downsized my rig and went to a SWR Super Redhead combo. The 800RB and Hartke cabinets were sold off in the aftermath.

When writing this, I did a little looking around on the internet and was shocked to find that GK is still selling this exact same amplifier. That means that you can buy the dream amplifier of your youth, and still get a 2-year warranty.

The list price for the Gallien-Krueger 800RB is $1142, with a street price of $790. If I remember correctly, this is just a little more than what I paid for this amplifier over 20 years ago.

Mahalo!