GK mb800 settings

[joel406]

Lets hear it fellow TB'ers.

Those of you who run the Gallien Krueger MB800(Not the fusion). Full bodied punch you in the gut tone. What settings are you using. I took mine to practice last night and spent the majority of my time adjusting my tone. I'm looking for a clean punchy tone as close to John Paul Jones as I can get. I'm running through 2 8ohm 410 cabs. Both are rated at 800watts. I want to fill the room with J-bass. And I should be able to.

So..

Anybody got some setting suggestions?

 

[Dave W]

Contour off
Input Gain: 12:00 or as needed
Bass: 12:00
Lo Mid: 2:00
Hi Mid: 1:30/2:30
Treble: 12:00
Master: As needed

You could also run the B channel with the Boost around 1:00...

 

[joel406]

Contour off
Input Gain: 12:00 or as needed
Bass: 12:00
Lo Mid: 2:00
Hi Mid: 1:30/2:30
Treble: 12:00
Master: As needed

You could also run the B channel with the Boost around 1:00...

You set the contour off. I guess you mean set all the way "counter clockwise?

 

[4Mal]

This is completely dependent on the cab (s) and bass... And of course the room.

The settings mentioned above would absolutely suck for my 44-01 and MB-500 driving a fEarful 12.6 ... I often go bass 1:00, low mid 10:00, hi mid @ noon, treble in the 11:00 to 9:00 range. I rarely if ever turn the contour up.

 

[joel406]

This is completely dependent on the cab (s) and bass... And of course the room.

The settings mentioned above would absolutely suck for my 44-01 and MB-500 driving a fEarful 12.6 ... I often go bass 1:00, low mid 10:00, hi mid @ noon, treble in the 11:00 to 9:00 range. I rarely if ever turn the contour up.

Limiter on or off?

 

[4Mal]

Limiter is always off in my rig...
Not blowing my horn but... I used to be a compressor limiter guy. I tried many, many ... I think I ended up feeling that a Demeter, ever so slightly on was the best. And then there was none... I realized that not much good comes from them ON STAGE. I evened out my picking technique (thumb, finger style, flat pick - everything but slap... I suck at slap) and that is when I began to really play with dynamics... IMO - Dynamics is best left in your hands and not to a box...

I double as sound guy and bass player. I do sound for my band and do other bands and small festivals as well. I put drums and bass into a sub group and often use mild compression and limiting on that group. Not always but... It can provide a bit of polish to the rhythm section that improves a mix. It can also destroy it so as always, EARS are everything. Also as always, with compression or limiting, if you notice it, you've gone too far...

Compression as a guitar effect is another thing. Very useful if tastefully applied...

Limiting exists in my FOH for sure. It's baked into the amps I use (EV, Crest, QSC) Those amps were sized / selected to go into limiting before drivers start to shred... That is about economics as opposed to tone though...

 

[Interceptor]

I run a MB 500 at contour off, treble at 10:00, upper mids at 12:00 to 11:00, low mids at 1:00 and bass at 11:00. No boost.

Like Mal said, it is all dependent on cabinets and bass. I run a Sadowsky J style bass with a little bass boost on the bass, and have been using Ampeg SVT210AV cabinets live as of late. I'm super happy with that tone.

 

[Jim Carr]

Today for gospel rehearsal I used an active Valenti 35" scale 5er with Sadowsky electronics and soap bars (pickup balance 50/50, VTC 100% open, treble 0% boost, bass ~15% boost, volume ~80%), played finger-style near bridge.

First in line from the bass, I had an EBS multi-comp compressor on "active" in with "multi-band" compression selected. Gain and Compression knobs were set to about noon. This was feeding an Fdeck v3 HPF set to ~40Hz with medium gain, and this finally went into the little (but mighty) MB800 passive pre-amp in.

The cabinet was a single 8 ohm Ron Anchak-built fEARful 15/6/1 with the tweeter dialed down. This was a medium size rehearsal studio with heavy amounts of acoustic treatment, carpet, moving blankets on the walls, couches, low acoustic ceiling, padded door, etc. Ensemble was guitar, bass, drums, and five vocalists using a modest Peavey PA head with 4 JBL floor monitors—no mains.

MB800 settings
Input gain A: 10:30
Input gain B: off
Contour: off
Treble: off
Hi-Mid: 11:00
Low-Mid: 1:00
Bass: 2:00
Level B: off
Limiter: off
Volume: 11:30 or so

Sound: Massive huge grunting growling modern gospel-style low end.

 

[Dave W]

You set the contour off. I guess you mean set all the way "counter clockwise?

Yes.

 

[HMZ]

I just ordered a GK MB800 and I realized it doesn't have a ground lift. We play at a couple of places where I always need to use the ground life on what ever amp I'm using. Has anyone had a problem with this?

 

[beaglesandbass]

I just ordered a GK MB800 and I realized it doesn't have a ground lift. We play at a couple of places where I always need to use the ground life on what ever amp I'm using. Has anyone had a problem with this?

No, I have have, as for my settings, I will post later on when I get home!