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 400RB Bass Amplifier Review

Howdy!

I did not really need this amplifier, but recently picked it up in a Craiglist package deal with yet another amplifier and speaker cabinet. I had forgotten what a great amplifier the Gallien-Krueger 400RB is.

Gallien-Krueger 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 first iteration of the 400RB was introduced in 1982 as a scaled-down version of their 800RB amplifier.

These amplifiers were hugely popular back in the day, and I still see them regularly at gigs. They are reliable, loud and sound pretty nice.

This 400RB amplifier weighs in around 15 pounds, and measures approximately 17.5" wide by 4" high by 9.5" deep. You can mount it in a standard size rack if you replace the amplifier end caps with rack ears. For its weight the power output is good, with 200 watts at 4 ohms.

The 400RB is a classic-looking amp, with a crinkly-finished metal case. There is a handle mounted to one end of the case in case you decide not to go with a rack case. The front is uncluttered, with a neat line of controls. There is one ¼” input jack (a 10db cut switch is included) and a volume control. Tone controls include 3 filter switches (low cut, mid cut and high boost), and a 4-band equalizer. On the output side there is also an adjustable footswitch-controllable boost circuit with its own input jack and a master volume knob.

The back of the case is very simple with a direct out, an effects loop and two ¼” speaker outs.

I opened this one up to see what was inside. The wiring is tidy and nicely routed, and there is a huge transformer. Gallien-Krueger eschewed a cooling fan and went with a great big heat sink on the back of the chassis instead.

Through my Ampeg cabinet (with an EV 115L) or my Genz 12-inch cabinets the 400RB amplifier is amazingly loud for 200 watts. It has a very smooth tone and has a lot of character that I do not usually associate with older solid-state amplifiers. It also has great lows and low-mids. I had planned to sell it, but have kept it around because it has a different tone than my Genz or Ampeg amplifiers.

In nice condition, Gallien Krueger 400RB bass amplifier sell for $150 to $200, but you should keep in mind that there were some changes to these amplifiers over the years, and they do not all have the same features. The one that I have is a Series I amplifier that was built in 1989.

The original Series I amplifiers required a footswitch for the boost function to work and had a permanently attached power cord.

The Series II was the same amplifier, except the boost worked without a footswitch (a footswitch could still be used, though), and it had a detachable IEC power cord.

The Series III was a new design with increased power output as well as new features including: variable voicing filters for contour and presence, a tuning mute switch, a cooling fan and an XLR balanced direct out. These amplifiers put out 240 watts at 4 ohms.

Series IV was the final production version of the 400RB with the same features as Series III and 280 watts of output at 4 ohms.

They are all good amplifiers, but I prefer the sound of the Series I best. Try one out if you get a chance!

Mahalo!

Memory Lane: Gallien-Krueger 250ML

Hi there!

For its size, the Gallien-Krueger 250ML has to be the loudest combo amplifiers I ever owned. And it is small: 13” wide by 9” tall by 6“ deep and weighing in at only 22 pounds.

It seems like yesterday, but these amplifiers were introduced in the 1980s and were a huge hit because of their small size and high output (100 watts). They came with two 6.5-inch Pyle speakers in their aluminum cases, but also have two 16-ohm outputs if more macho speaker cabinets were needed. They

Though these amps have plenty of features, they are not a total knob farm. There are inputs on the front for the instrument, a footswitch and headphones (yay!). There were also A and B channels, as well as master volume and gain controls, and a four band EQ. For good measure GK also included kind of useless non-adjustable echo and reverb ON/OFF switches.

On the back there is a lot less going on, with extension cabinet outs, an effects loop and a direct out socket.

Gallien-Krueger got Alex Lifeson of Rush to endorse the 250ML, and that was enough to get me to buy one back in 1989 (or so). BTW, musical instrument manufacturers should pay attention to the trends and market their wares better, including getting them to top performers. It really does work…

Anyway, it was a fun amplifier for me. The 250ML had a ton of power and could destroy my hearing, and never broke down on me (or overheated and shut down). But it was kind of a one-trick pony. I only liked its clean sound channel, and the tone was way too sharp when using the internal speakers at higher volume levels.

I eventually sold it because I never needed the kind of volume potential it had, and craved the warm sound of tubes that it could never provide. I believe I replaced it with a Fender Champ, and have most always had some sort of Champ variant ever since.

Mahalo!