Gallien-Krueger MB800 800W Ultralight Bass Amp Head 

Comments about Gallien-Krueger MB800 800W Ultralight Bass Amp Head:

SIMPLY IT IS THE BEST THING THAT I HAVE BOUGHT IN Years.

Comments about Gallien-Krueger MB800 800W Ultralight Bass Amp Head:

For optimum performance use the GK 4-conductor Speakon
cable into a GK 410MBE 4 ohm cab. And with a Rock & Roller RR12 cart,
you make one (1) trip from the van to the stage.

Comments about Gallien-Krueger MB800 800W Ultralight Bass Amp Head:

If it was rack mounted and weighed 50lb, this thing would still be impressive. Just heavy enough to not dance around on top of my cabs.

Massive low end, easily sculpted w/4 band EQ. Huge punch and headroom, benches at over 1000 watts, and never gets hot. Doesn't cut out when slammed hard, like some micros (cough Ampeg cough). Fans run occasionally when the amp is idle, but don't intrude on the gig, even during acoustic sets. Lighted knobs are a nice touch on a dark stage.

Typical G-K "grind" with controls at noon, but nix the contour, back the treble off a bunch, push hi and lo mids slightly and roll off a hint of bass, and it's ruler-flat. The King Of Clean, less wooly and fizzy compared to the 700RB and 1001RB. Hi-fi in a good way, yet it can still do fat, old-school studio tones.

G-K should get more credit for the discrete-component FET preamp in this one. Sounds less solid-state than the MB200 and MB500, and for the first time in years, I don't miss a tube front end. About the only thing it doesn't cover, is tube distortion. Lots of pedals for that, of course.

DI isn't quite at plush-sounding as my Genz Benz Streamliner 900, but still excellent. I was skeptical of the auto ground lift at first, but it works well in halls with noisy AC.

It would be nice if the construction screamed quality like my Genz, but in decades of playing out, no-one has ever asked to fondle my amp, so what does it matter?

Comments about Gallien-Krueger MB800 800W Ultralight Bass Amp Head:

This is an incredible sounding LOUD amp and the small size makes it super easy to transport. I have not noticed the fans being excessively loud as some reviewers have noted. The only problem honestly with the amp is there is NO ground lift switch for the XLR out. The manual says there is one and even has a picture describing it's function but the amp doesn't have it. If you're plugging into a PA you will typically need a ground lift switch for the XLR out or you will get buzz. Other than that this head is very nice. Sounds just as loud as the GK 1001-RBII but MUCH lighter.

Comments about Gallien-Krueger MB800 800W Ultralight Bass Amp Head:

I have appreciated the tone and versatility/quality of Gallien Krueger gear for many years. I was very disappointed in the MB800. The faceplate was molded weird and had flaws I would not expect from a QC'd product sold to customers. After turning the amp on, I heard loud whining from ceiling fans in the room. Basically the amp is not well sheilded and picked up any noisy electical device near it. Finally, it was warm in the room and the fans kicked in to cool the amp. They were VERY noisy to the point where I would have trouble hold a telephone conversation in the same room. I do not believe this amp was defective and therefore the issues were all weaknessess in the design (challenges of making a Class D amp). I would look elsewhere, possible Mark Bass and see if they have similar issues with their gear. It's comparably priced, so it's an alternative I am looking at.

Comments about Gallien-Krueger MB800 800W Ultralight Bass Amp Head:

Wow, just as I read in earlier reviews, this micro amp has stronger bass and overall power output than my previously used GK 1001. Still getting used to it. It is a very nice piece and saves 13 lbs in my rig!

Comments about Gallien-Krueger MB800 800W Ultralight Bass Amp Head:

This is the amp that I have been waiting for for twenty years. It is almost impossible to get a bad sound out of it. It brings other gear to life that I had pretty much written off as not sounding good. It is so effing LOUD, too. I could play any gig with this amp. It sounds louder than both my Ampeg SVT 4pro and my Ampeg SVT 2pro. Those are both great heads, but they are heavy and take quite a bit of fiddling to get good sounds out of. This head is not like that. Plug it in, set the EQs to noon and go to town. You will need to tweak the eq and contour a bit as you play, but not much. remember GK uses an active EQ that is very sensitive- if you crank the bass, cut all the mids, and boost the treble, it's gonna sound crappy. I wish I'd had this amp all through my playing career my back would be so much better for it. Buy this amp. You will not regret it.
This thing doesn't have a ton of features. No built in compressor or effects or antything, but like most of GKs products, it doesn't need them.
This thing feels pretty well made, but it does only weigh 5 lbs. So I think if you treat it like any other electronic device (like a laptop or a tablet), it ought to be fine. But don't think of it as another cabinet or big solid-state head to be chucked in the back of a truck. It isn't designed like that and probably wouldn't hold up to that type of treatment.
This is a PHENOMENAL value. It is easily the loudest, cleanest head I have every played through. I could have bought 2 for what I paid for my ampegs head and still had money left over!

Comments about Gallien-Krueger MB800 800W Ultralight Bass Amp Head:

I bought the Gallien-Krueger MB800 to be a replacement for a great amp (a Euphonic Audio iAmp 500) that seemed to be stressed when I was playing some particularly loud gigs. The EA started to do this thing where it would just go silent for a few seconds when I was playing very loud (think full round earth-shaking bass outdoors). Having your sound disappear suddenly can be kind of disconcerting. So, I figured I needed a backup for the loud times.

I have not gigged yet with the MB800 but I can tell you that it sounds great. The EA has really fabulous tone, and is totally silent when you aren't playing (no hum, no buzzing) - so my standards are pretty high. The MB800 met the challenge - buzzless, hummless, great tone. I have cranked it up at home (into a Euphonic Audio NL-210, imo the world's greatest speaker) and it sings - LOUDLY!

I have one beef with this amp: when its fan turns on, it is not quiet. It is actually fairly loud. To be fair, in any kind of a loud environment - a bar for example - you would probably never notice it. Also, it does not turn on until the amp heats up. But, after an hour of the amp sitting doing nothing the fan turns on for maybe five minutes and it is quite audible in a quiet space. I am planning to keep using the EA amp for gigs where silence matters and the MB800 for gigs where it doesn't.

Comments about Gallien-Krueger MB800 800W Ultralight Bass Amp Head:

Overall, I like it so far, and only the test of time will tell. I was using an OLD Marshall amp from 85, for 13 YEARS takeing it in to the shop 1 time in that period, 5.5 years ago! So thats the real test!!! Road time! We took a break from shows after winning the battle of the bands in Santa Cruz, to focus and record our 4th studio album, and its allmost done! Back to touring next year!! Lets see how it pans out... Hope this helped.

Fish
3upFront
Just got this little guy and holy crap, its got some power behind it!!! Super light weight too. 800 watts is plenty for a touring musician like myself. I have a decible level meter in my rackmount setup, and the line out works great for that, and it doubles for a headphone out, sweet. Mute switch=+!!! clip/-10db switch=+, if you flip it to clip, theres a cool l.e.d. that flickers and intensifies with the power of your playing, and if your like me, and beat the heck out of your bass and expect a proper response from your amp its very useful, you get the full power and little to no distortion depending on the quality of your speakers, if you flip it to -10db, you can crank the amp up to 11 and it wont muddy up. I play with my master at "3oclock" and gain at "9oclock", so I get the absolute cleanest sound and tone and most power going in, with out distorting or hurting the amp. The second chanel is nice, and gets growly, but for my taste its not like a true distortion pedal, but very useful for when you need a clean boost, or a little bit of fuzz on your clean signal, and comes with the foot switch. You need to get speakon cables to run the wires to your cab, depending on the type of input you have on the speaker cab, you need speakon to speakon or to 1/4". The only reason for a 9/10 is because it dosant have a level knob for the DI, but theres a post/pre, and the manual made it sound like one option dosant effect the output volume, just stage, but im not sure yet, because I just got it last night and practiced on it for 2.5 hours, but after our first show coming up on the 6th of Jan, we shall see if it goes to a 10! I play through an older marshall 2x15 cab and it sounds FAT and FAST! I bet it would sound great with 8x10 or both together! I prefer 2x15 vs 8x10, I just need to upgrade the speakers so they can handle 1000 watts, these are rated 600watts @ 4ohm. I play a gibson thunderbird as well, talk about fat tone!!
So far so good, seems to be sturdy. Bummed that "its designed in USA and built in China".
Right in the middle as far as $$$ to WEIGHT to Power! my big thing is light weight.

In MY opinion tubes are over-rated, and mainly, have to be replaced, and when your on the road, and money is tight, and people drive like crap, thats not an option.