GK 800RD setting tips?

[adouglas]

I've just stumbled into a cool gig.

The organizers of the NY Marathon (Sunday, Nov. 1) have asked my band to play in Columbus Circle, near the finish line (gigspam in a separate post).

It's unpaid, but that's offset by the fact that all we need to do is show up with instruments and play.

The provided backline is a GK 800RD and one or two Hartke 4x10s.

I've got a Bongo 5H, or I might use the 5HHp if there's a good reason to.

Do any knuckleheads have experience with this amp? Any preferred settings/tips?

TIA...

 

[T Alan]

Nice rig. Start with it flat. Run it full range in series. Use the Bongo's onboard EQ.

 

[adouglas]

Thanks. What do you mean by "full range?"

I doubt I'll be able to choose how the cabinets are attached (series vs. parallel). I suspect it'll be 'get on stage, plug in and start playing NOW!'

 

[maddog]

He's talking about the biamp capability. You can run the amp powering the woofer and tweeter separately in the GK cabs.

This may help:

http://www.gallien-krueger.com/manuals/800rb.pdf

 

[b-unit]

keep the eq switches all turned off (out) as they tend to overly boost low or high end and kill the mids.

make sure the boost knob is turned all the way up. This gives you a much punchier tone and the famous GK growl.

Start with the four eq knobs set dead flat and consider boosting the low and high mid controls slightly. This also adds to the growl.

Run the input gain fairly hot as well to maximize punch. You will likely not have any issues with input gain clipping unless your bass is eq'd with a lot of boosted low end.

Run both cabs off the 300w side if they are both 8 ohm cabs. Dont use the 100w side unless its a single 8 ohm cab. the 300w side is amazingly punchy and powerful at 4 ohms and can power two cabs nicely.

i love this amp and had one for the better part of a decade and used it with various cabs. its one of the longest made production amps and has stuck around for good reason, Its killer!

 

[adouglas]

Thanks, all!