The GK Growl

I am invited to a factory tour today at Gallien Krueger in Stockton CA. They are producing some of the finest bass amps uninterrupted on American soil in California and not in some Chinese labor camp. Carlos Santana used their amps. My birthday present will be a GK Legacy 210 amp, courtesy of my husband who comes with me on the tour today. I will bring my axe and do some testing to hear the famous GK growl. Anybody here having recommendations or experience with GK? Please let me know.

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I owned an 800 RB that those amps are based on. I’m sure it will be fantastic and last you a lifetime.

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Back in the days it was GK, Trace Elliots, or Hartke amps. They were all good. I just picked one.

I have/ had the legacy 212 combo, highly not recommended for home use. It’s an awesome amp but it’s huge and freakishly loud, :joy: get the 110 or 112. I switched flag and started flying Genzler’s. It’s now at my Gig’s sponsor and use as a backup. The price shot up quite a bit, especially when I got an awesome deal on it.

The 210 is very nice. I’ve come to love the 10” with their faster and tighter tone and satisfying thumps. It would be loud but you’d love it.

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800 RB wow, Santana had that too.

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Praying for my neighbors LOL They are good sports. I couldn’t find the GK Legacy 210 at any retailer to try it out. Even Sweetwater has a backlog until November to order it. I am not buying a 1000 Dollar plus amp without trying it out. I am glad the GK team invited me today.

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Yep. That’s pretty cool.

Have you had a chance to try other amps? I’m not trying to change your mind. Just that it would be better to go into it with an idea of what sounds you want to get out of it.

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I love the G-K sound. If I were to get another bass amp it would probably be a used Backline as they are cheap but good and have the old RB-like sound.

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Yes, I tried a Marshal at Guitar Center. That was also on my preferred list. I liked the vintage look and the price. It was on sale. I also tried a Fender Rumble and did not care for it. My granddaughter loves it and uses it. Then of course there is my old Donner 500 amp which is NOT bad for low budget. I like my bass to sound vintage, lows turned up, mods and highs turned down and less treble, no contour. I could get that with the Donner to some extend. I fell in love today with the GK legacy 210. I never heard my Ibanez sounding so smooth. I bought it and because it was my birthday present they gave me a $600 discount. lol The tour was great. I saw Santana’s amp from the original series, the one he used at Woodstock, and they let me peek into the new prototypes to be revealed in Anaheim at the amp show, was not allowed to record in that room of course. The folks there were extremely nice. Learned a lot about amps. I will put a little clip from the GK factory tour on my youtube channel and once done, will post the link here. And here is the link: https://youtu.be/e0Rd4xEhBWk?si=Iy1HHDjPVC4oLy8Z

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Another thing that has always tempted me is this kit, which is the preamp circuit from an RB:

https://www.musikding.de/Growling-Krizzly-Deluxe-kit

@terb built one!

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Wow! That’s a great deal!

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Nice!! congrats. The 210 sounds awesome and the $600 birthday gift (discount) is just fantastic too.

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Hallo Silvia,

Thanks for the video of the factory tour! Interesting stuff and so nice of them to show you around. I expected a group tour and it was just a personal favor for you! So cool!

Cheers,
Antonio

PS: GrĂĽĂźe aus dem Rheinland!

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Thx, danke schoen [donkey chain]. Sprichst Du deutsch? Ich bin aus dem Allgaeu aber schon seit 23 Jahren in Silicon Valley, CA. I continue English as it is more polite to those who read this thread. Yes, it was very nice of them. It is not a big company. I was surprised that they even invited us. I could not film in the prototype area aka Bob Gallien’s office which looks like my husband’s garage - full of gadgets. My husband wanted to stay there forever. LOL. Bob’s son Forest was there, too. Really good people making great products. I love my GK amp, not so sure about my neighbors, I practice during Elvis hours LOL.

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Ah! That’s how you say it, :rofl:

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