I have one that I bought used in 1989 with a Hartke 410 XL Cabinet. For over 19 years I played 4-6 nights a week plus the other years somewhere between 100-140 gigs a year. I had the amp re-capped once. I use it on all my bigger gigs. Soundtechs love it. I love it. Band members don't complain either.lol Best piece of gear I ever bought!
Great video, man! The 800rb is hands down one of the best amps. There’s a reason why it was even re-issued some years back with essentially no changes to the original design. It’s a boat anchor in terms of weight, especially if rack-mounted, but the amp is super dependable and sounds amazing. I’ve always kept one around. In fact, I’ve got two at the moment.
The Gallien Kruger 800RB was my bass amp in the 80s after I sold my Ampeg SVT Stack. Back then the 800RB with two Mesa-Boogie 15 cabinets was the "lightweight" solution compared to the Ampeg stack. It was indeed a great working horse, and the Gallien Kruger 800RB had a growl no other bass head had. Today I have scaled down again to its little brother the original 400RB. The same amp more or less with "only" 200 Watts, that are very loud and strong, and no bi-amping and no DI-out.
I bought the 400RB Quite some years ago I play Double Bass and Bass gtr, I was always struggling to make my double bass not have that honky boxy sound the amp has the two middle rotary controls which I cut and so it sounds great now.
I own the 400RB probably a late 80s. Have owned it since i was 18 in like 2009. Sounds amazing. Supposedly 150w @8ohms but sounds pretty loud through a Warwick 4x8 and Laney 1x15 Celestion cabs. I don’t know if the 200 watts in the 80s was actually more than 200 watts today.
I also play a GK, a small combo though, the MB 210. And I love it! Thanks for the demo, it shows really well what's possible with these! Also nice demo of the tube-like overdrive from the boost, sounds really great with your setup! An often forgotten unique feature of all GK amps, even the most basic ones, is their incredible parallel, variable-Q EQ. We could hear in your demo, when you were turning the single bands to their extreme values, it never sounded bad, which would have happened with pretty much any other EQ. That's because the GK boosts with a low Q value (wide frequency range) and cuts with a high Q (narrow frequency range). So boosts don't sound nasal and honky, and cuts don't sound thin. And the fact that it's parallel means that the bands don't influence each other.
After using class D amps and having two die on me I managed to get a GK 400RB, got it home and plugged it into a GK 2 x 12 neo cab and was blown away, got to say I am very impressed with this amp so much so I went and hunted down a second and now also have a GK 800RB, these two can take care of all my needs, it is a no nonsense amp that does exactly what it says on the box would not hesitate to recommend them to anyone.
I started playing bass in 1979. You know what ? I don't think I knew many players that did not play a GK...I owned the GK 400RB and the 800RB. Bob Gallien kinda just nailed the sound...
I love your videos, I have 10 bass amps heads and my favorite is the Gallien Kruger 800RB, it is excelent: it has its own rocker tone and I know why everybody wants it.
The Line 6 Helix comes with a model of this amp, called the ‘G Cougar 800.’ While I can’t say it accurately models the real deal, it’s one of my favorite bass amp algorithms by Line 6. Which is the reason I’m here… searching for actual sound samples and user set ups. Just FYI and thanks for the video, some nice tone info here 👍🏽
Great video… while I have a verity of bass amps (‘71 Ampeg, Aguilar Tonehammer 500, EBS Reidmar 750, etc…) I’ve always come back to my GK 800RB’s… They are truly my favorite, most versatile amps… I recently bought two of the GK 800 Legacy amps… They’re great… Just not the OG 800’s… Thankful to have a couple… Thanks for giving my favorite amp some love!
GK is still my dream clean tone. I recently got a Headrush MX5 and FRFR108 so I can be more mobile, but my favorite clean I’ve gotten is the GK Amplifikation Lite. Someday I’d love to save up for one of the new Legacy 500 heads with a 2x10 cab…
This was my first bass amp when I was in high school in the 1990's. It was the best and most reliable bass amp I ever had. I bought it at a discount because it was damaged from being dropped during a break in theft at a local guitar shop. The heatsink was bent and the side was scratched up and dinged. Despite that, the GK never failed me.
I'd like to make one small correction to the video, correct me if I misinterpreted what I read: When bi-amping is not engaged, the hi Master acts as a volume knob for the 100 watt power section, and sends a full range signal out of the 100 watt output. I use this to get the rails sound at a lower volume. Although I have an early 00's model, and maybe it functions differently than the horizontal switch models. I love the video otherwise, and I love this amp.
Did you just say this head is heavy and clunky??? It felt feather weight when I traded my 92lb SVT head in for one of these in the late '80s! Epic amp. Super light to handle(imho), lots of headroom, and even a decent distorted sound could be dialed in for Jack Bruce type tones.
Ive tried over a dozen high end amps, tube and solid state, from companies like mesa, ampeg, ebs, bergantino, darkglass and the 1080 watt 2001rb blows them all away in terms of tone, volume and immediacy. The only one that is close is a rare Laney Nexus tube but the GK still wins.
Thanks for this. I have an 82-83 first Gen. I run mine through 2 neo 15s or I run bi amped in an American 8x10. Best Amp ever no pedals necessary. Unless you want your boost on a switch. Which they do! I use my aby box. I'm d.o.smith in the Gk community. If ya want to see my gk wall.
18-19 y/o me would have been Uber jealous! I always wanted a GK amp. That or a Mesa Boogie. Instead, all I could afford was an inexpensive Peavy head and 1x12 cab.
I got an expensive PEAVEY. The PEAVEY VBA-MA. The Michael Anthony amp. Man this thing just sounds amazing ! - I emptied my bank account to get it last year. It sounds insane man !
Yo, good video. I agree with you that there aren't a lot of good demos of this amp on YT. I've had this amp for about 10 years and it's been great and reliable. I bought it used and I believe it's a 90s model, only thing I've had to do is clean the pots occasionally. I feel like even after all these years I am still learning about the different tones I can get out of it, yet it still has an unmistakable sound. One of the things I think is interesting is it gets the reputation of being "clean" and "sterile" but as you show in this vid if you have a hot enough bass and turn up the gain and boost knob high enough you can get some pretty nice and responsive overdrive out of it. Maybe not as good as a high end pedal, but definitely usable for me and fun to play with. The gain, boost, and master levels all seem to have a subtle effect on the tone, but the amp sounds best to me when cranked, haha. Nice vintage Acoustic rig btw!
300 lo 100 hi, played this sucker back in the mid 80's. Also played 2 Marshall Valve state full stacks mid 90's. GK, my first amp and still my favorite.
Lol I've been using that same amp head and the same bass for 28 years. Haven't used it since the pandemic. Think I'll pull her out of the closet now. I have a 1982 G&L L1000 bass and it sounds amazing with the amp. I run a 4x10 and 15 bottom. Thanks for the video
I've been using GKs since the mid-70s, when they were called GMT Gallien-Krueger. To this day I have 5x GMT 300Bs, the predecessor to the RBs. (300Bs were 150w. They also made 600Bs/300w.) I never had an 800RB, but I do have a 400RB, a 200B and several others, including the 200G guitar amp you mentioned. I have never heard of any GK being tube.
Speaking of bi-amping, the early models didn't have that, but they made stereo power amps that did. Here's a video I found demo'ing a 300B. ruclips.net/video/6KOcw69NDEo/видео.html
I have one that I bought used in 1989 with a Hartke 410 XL Cabinet. For over 19 years I played 4-6 nights a week plus the other years somewhere between 100-140 gigs a year. I had the amp re-capped once. I use it on all my bigger gigs. Soundtechs love it. I love it. Band members don't complain either.lol Best piece of gear I ever bought!
Great video, man!
The 800rb is hands down one of the best amps. There’s a reason why it was even re-issued some years back with essentially no changes to the original design. It’s a boat anchor in terms of weight, especially if rack-mounted, but the amp is super dependable and sounds amazing. I’ve always kept one around. In fact, I’ve got two at the moment.
I actually nabbed one of these at a goodwill the other day for $20.50. It works still!
J Louis
The Gallien Kruger 800RB was my bass amp in the 80s after I sold my Ampeg SVT Stack. Back then the 800RB with two Mesa-Boogie 15 cabinets was the "lightweight" solution compared to the Ampeg stack. It was indeed a great working horse, and the Gallien Kruger 800RB had a growl no other bass head had. Today I have scaled down again to its little brother the original 400RB. The same amp more or less with "only" 200 Watts, that are very loud and strong, and no bi-amping and no DI-out.
I bought the 400RB Quite some years ago I play Double Bass and Bass gtr, I was always struggling to make my double bass not have that honky boxy sound the amp has the two middle rotary controls which I cut and so it sounds great now.
I own the 400RB probably a late 80s. Have owned it since i was 18 in like 2009. Sounds amazing. Supposedly 150w @8ohms but sounds pretty loud through a Warwick 4x8 and Laney 1x15 Celestion cabs. I don’t know if the 200 watts in the 80s was actually more than 200 watts today.
Ya mon! Bass through Mesa Boogie cabs. THALL
I've had mine since 1982 with 4x10 and 1x15 hartke stack in bi-amp mode. Never had any issues. Can't ask for more.
I also play a GK, a small combo though, the MB 210. And I love it! Thanks for the demo, it shows really well what's possible with these! Also nice demo of the tube-like overdrive from the boost, sounds really great with your setup!
An often forgotten unique feature of all GK amps, even the most basic ones, is their incredible parallel, variable-Q EQ. We could hear in your demo, when you were turning the single bands to their extreme values, it never sounded bad, which would have happened with pretty much any other EQ. That's because the GK boosts with a low Q value (wide frequency range) and cuts with a high Q (narrow frequency range). So boosts don't sound nasal and honky, and cuts don't sound thin. And the fact that it's parallel means that the bands don't influence each other.
After using class D amps and having two die on me I managed to get a GK 400RB, got it home and plugged it into a GK 2 x 12 neo cab and was blown away, got to say I am very impressed with this amp so much so I went and hunted down a second and now also have a GK 800RB, these two can take care of all my needs, it is a no nonsense amp that does exactly what it says on the box would not hesitate to recommend them to anyone.
I bought a GK 400RB as i was impressed by a pro Double Bas players sound who took the trouble to show me his set up after a Gig. love GK Gear.
I started playing bass in 1979. You know what ? I don't think I knew many players that did not play a GK...I owned the GK 400RB and the 800RB. Bob Gallien kinda just nailed the sound...
I love your videos, I have 10 bass amps heads and my favorite is the Gallien Kruger 800RB, it is excelent: it has its own rocker tone and I know why everybody wants it.
thank you!
The Line 6 Helix comes with a model of this amp, called the ‘G Cougar 800.’ While I can’t say it accurately models the real deal, it’s one of my favorite bass amp algorithms by Line 6. Which is the reason I’m here… searching for actual sound samples and user set ups. Just FYI and thanks for the video, some nice tone info here 👍🏽
Great video… while I have a verity of bass amps (‘71 Ampeg, Aguilar Tonehammer 500, EBS Reidmar 750, etc…) I’ve always come back to my GK 800RB’s… They are truly my favorite, most versatile amps… I recently bought two of the GK 800 Legacy amps… They’re great… Just not the OG 800’s… Thankful to have a couple… Thanks for giving my favorite amp some love!
That contour button was an instant "Flea's 90s tone" for me
I've had mine for over twenty years, been repaired a few times but love it.
GK is still my dream clean tone. I recently got a Headrush MX5 and FRFR108 so I can be more mobile, but my favorite clean I’ve gotten is the GK Amplifikation Lite. Someday I’d love to save up for one of the new Legacy 500 heads with a 2x10 cab…
This was my first bass amp when I was in high school in the 1990's. It was the best and most reliable bass amp I ever had. I bought it at a discount because it was damaged from being dropped during a break in theft at a local guitar shop. The heatsink was bent and the side was scratched up and dinged. Despite that, the GK never failed me.
I'd like to make one small correction to the video, correct me if I misinterpreted what I read: When bi-amping is not engaged, the hi Master acts as a volume knob for the 100 watt power section, and sends a full range signal out of the 100 watt output. I use this to get the rails sound at a lower volume. Although I have an early 00's model, and maybe it functions differently than the horizontal switch models. I love the video otherwise, and I love this amp.
You could be right. I’ve never used the bi amp feature or use the 100 watt amp
Did you just say this head is heavy and clunky??? It felt feather weight when I traded my 92lb SVT head in for one of these in the late '80s! Epic amp. Super light to handle(imho), lots of headroom, and even a decent distorted sound could be dialed in for Jack Bruce type tones.
Ive tried over a dozen high end amps, tube and solid state, from companies like mesa, ampeg, ebs, bergantino, darkglass and the 1080 watt 2001rb blows them all away in terms of tone, volume and immediacy.
The only one that is close is a rare Laney Nexus tube but the GK still wins.
Thanks for this. I have an 82-83 first Gen. I run mine through 2 neo 15s or I run bi amped in an American 8x10. Best Amp ever no pedals necessary. Unless you want your boost on a switch. Which they do! I use my aby box. I'm d.o.smith in the Gk community. If ya want to see my gk wall.
18-19 y/o me would have been Uber jealous! I always wanted a GK amp. That or a Mesa Boogie. Instead, all I could afford was an inexpensive Peavy head and 1x12 cab.
I’ve never owned a mesa but a 400+ is def on my list
I got an expensive PEAVEY. The PEAVEY VBA-MA. The Michael Anthony amp. Man this thing just sounds amazing ! - I emptied my bank account to get it last year. It sounds insane man !
Yo, good video. I agree with you that there aren't a lot of good demos of this amp on YT. I've had this amp for about 10 years and it's been great and reliable. I bought it used and I believe it's a 90s model, only thing I've had to do is clean the pots occasionally. I feel like even after all these years I am still learning about the different tones I can get out of it, yet it still has an unmistakable sound. One of the things I think is interesting is it gets the reputation of being "clean" and "sterile" but as you show in this vid if you have a hot enough bass and turn up the gain and boost knob high enough you can get some pretty nice and responsive overdrive out of it. Maybe not as good as a high end pedal, but definitely usable for me and fun to play with. The gain, boost, and master levels all seem to have a subtle effect on the tone, but the amp sounds best to me when cranked, haha. Nice vintage Acoustic rig btw!
300 lo 100 hi, played this sucker back in the mid 80's. Also played 2 Marshall Valve state full stacks mid 90's. GK, my first amp and still my favorite.
Holy crap, my first “real” amp was a 700rb that also got stolen!
best bass amp ever built. If GK were to bring it back they'd sell out fast, until then I'll keep mine.
It's also really fucking sad how much equipment gets stolen at gigs.
I fried one on stage once in 1997, in Norman OK. I miss that beautiful bastard.
Oh Flea was the only one credited for the bi amp feature.
Oh wow. I didn’t know that
Lol I've been using that same amp head and the same bass for 28 years. Haven't used it since the pandemic. Think I'll pull her out of the closet now. I have a 1982 G&L L1000 bass and it sounds amazing with the amp. I run a 4x10 and 15 bottom. Thanks for the video
I've been using GKs since the mid-70s, when they were called GMT Gallien-Krueger. To this day I have 5x GMT 300Bs, the predecessor to the RBs. (300Bs were 150w. They also made 600Bs/300w.) I never had an 800RB, but I do have a 400RB, a 200B and several others, including the 200G guitar amp you mentioned. I have never heard of any GK being tube.
Sweet collection! Those older GKs are very cool.
Speaking of bi-amping, the early models didn't have that, but they made stereo power amps that did.
Here's a video I found demo'ing a 300B. ruclips.net/video/6KOcw69NDEo/видео.html
They did make some tube amps. But they really don't sound any different.
Are difference in 800rb with red signal light and green light?
I had one. It sounded great, just too low in power.
How does it compare to the 700rbii?
800rb has the tone and the look. 700rbII has the headroom and the features. 700rbII can get close to the 800 sound with some EQ
@@boobooshreds the tone, is all I needed to hear. That is all matters with a di.
Anyone use it as a guitar amp?
What's crackin everybody ? I'M NO CRACK HEAD ! WTF ? What's bassin everybody......