New MB200 Arrives!!!

Tom Wolverton · Post by **Tom Wolverton** » 6 May 2011 9:53 am

Here's a clip of me running my lap steel thru the MB200. (warning: marginal video/audio quality).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZH0OXnEk-Es

The signal path is: old Kay lap steel with Lollar Chicago PU > Sarno Earth Drive > Goodrich VP > Wet Reverb > GK MB200 > PV BW 12" in a Fred Justice cabinet.

Not bad for a SS amp! and so darn lightweight.

Note: the lead guitarist, Jeff Houck is running thru an MB200 as well. (The Matchless is there as a backup, but he prefers the GK - that says quite a bit about the MB200)

Location: Pappy and Harriet's in Pioneertown, CA

Brad Sarno · Post by **Brad Sarno** » 6 May 2011 11:20 am

Fantastic Tom.

Thanks for sharing. Sounds real good!

Brad

Dave Harmonson · Post by **Dave Harmonson** » 6 May 2011 12:10 pm

Steve, I have a Little Red Hen gig coming up Tues the 17th, but I don't have a 15" cab. yet. I'm playing with Zoe at the Conor Byrne Fri. the 20th and will go with the MB200 and 12" box. Our volume is down low enough with Zoe I can get by with the small box. The 12" I have is 8 ohm as well so not getting all of the power. I'm hoping to have a 4 ohm 15" by the time we get to The Hen and give it a good up to volume run.

Tom Wolverton · Post by **Tom Wolverton** » 6 May 2011 12:16 pm

Dave -

I didn't find that much difference between 8 and 4 ohms. Maybe just one number diff. on the vol. knob. If the gig is as you describe, you should be fine with an 8-ohm speaker. I'm running 12" now, but I don't have really low C6 strings. (I think my lowest is a D bottom on E13th non-pedal tuning) For lap steel stuff, I think I like the 12" a bit better.

Dave Harmonson · Post by **Dave Harmonson** » 6 May 2011 12:35 pm

Tom, I'm pretty certain the 12" 8 ohm will be just right for my gigs with Zoe Muth. We don't play very loud and I don't do any C6 with her tunes. I was tempted to take it to a gig tonight, but it's with a louder band and I'll be on the C6 for a couple of tunes. Think I'll play it safe tonight and go with my Evans FET 500.
Should be fun tonight, opening for Wanda Jackson.

David Mason · Post by **David Mason** » 6 May 2011 6:20 pm

Hey Tom - what's your guitar player running besides the MB200? The steel sounds fine, but that's the easy part. I have been using a SWR SM500 stereo 500 watt bass head for a while as a "triple-threat" head, and I actually take the steel as a given - it's hardest to get a good lead guitar sound without changing speakers, which of course is contrary motion. A RP250 is a starting point, a Fulldrive Fulltone 2 into that is gettin' complicated again.

Also who's the blond tambourine player, I need to marry her? She looks just mean enough....

Tom Wolverton · Post by **Tom Wolverton** » 7 May 2011 10:17 pm

I'm not sure of the signal chain on that tele. A reverb pedal, a trem pedal and maybe a Keeley compressor. The blonde is a sweetie, by the way. : )

John Coffman · Post by **John Coffman** » 8 May 2011 8:35 am

Roger F. Thanks for the MB 500 info. I have a Stereo Steel pre amp and a TC Electronic M350 and was thining I might add another MB200 so I could have a good stereo sound and was wondering if any one hard tried this???? Worst case I would have a back up amp. Anybody want to buy a N112 about 1 year old??? Sightly used??

Chas. J. Wagner · Post by **Chas. J. Wagner** » 8 May 2011 9:00 am

Shipping in July. $699 street price...

MB 800
• 800 watts @ 4 ohms or 500 watts @ 8 ohms
• Discreet FET preamp
• Push activated Gain A/B and limiter defeat
• 10dB pad
• Four band active EQ w/variable contour
• Effects loop & tuner mute
• XLR out, pre/post EQ
• Defeatable limiter
• Two speakon outputs
• Headphone/line output
• 10.75x8.5x1.75
• 4.9 lbs.

http://www.gallien-krueger.com/preview2011.html

Jim Sliff · Post by **Jim Sliff** » 16 May 2011 12:31 pm

Boy, I guess I haven't been on the forum much lately.

I bought an MB112 combo a few months ago to save my back from my old bass rigs - and now I've sold everything except my SWR PB-200 head (out of pure nostalgia - and as my test-bench amp with a small cab) and the GK.

I didn't care about the lack of an ext speaker jack, as everyplace I play it either is large enough for or has direct-inject lines. With my '62 Jazz and '66 P Basses it sounds absolutely stunning (and Brad, I was wondering about the low-budget version of class-D operation myself until I played the bigger ones first. Gallien knows his stuff. No issues at all). I'm a self-admitted tone snob; I can tolerate mediocre playing with decent sound, but not the reverse.

So I got a stellar sounding 28 pound combo for bass (which is about half my gigs) - but I was really stunned by how well it worked for steel...and guitar...playing.

I don't play with the traditional clean tone - normally I use my 40-watt '64 Vibroverb - so I was surprised when both my 2-Alumitone Fender 400 and GFI Ultra sounded so good...and warm...through it. And with just a little nudge from one of my "dirt" pedals I could get just the right amount of controllable breakup for how I use my tube amps with steel and guitar.

I'll still use my 'verb (or smaller) amp(s) for steel and guitar most of the time, but if my back is giving me problems I'd have no qualms about taking the GK out to a steel or guitar gig.

Hmmm - seems to me I was one of the guys pushing bass amps as good steel amps 5-6 years ago, and most players disagreeing thinking the highs would be lacking.

Dale Hansen · Post by **Dale Hansen** » 16 May 2011 3:17 pm

From what I've been hearing, these little amps are really the 'cat's pajamas'. I'd to get one, or at least try one out sometime soon.

Tom, (Wolverton) I saw your clip, and enjoyed your band,...and the sound of your G.K.

I first heard about the MB-200 from a fella, here on the Forum, that recently asked me to build him a mounting system for his guitar. I just came up with a real nifty solution, but my client is on a family vacation in Branson, for two weeks, and won't be returning home until the 31st.

Yesterday, I made a couple of design changes and realized that I need a couple more measurements before I construct it.

Would anybody who owns an MB-200,..and a tape measure, be willing to help me out here?
If so, please drop me a line, or a PM, with your phone #, and a reasonable time to call. It should only take a couple of minutes of your time, and I'd be willing to compensate you for your act of mercy.

Thanks, DH

Roger Crawford · Post by **Roger Crawford** » 16 May 2011 3:21 pm

Dale, if you go to the GK web site, I believe the measurements are there.

Dale Hansen · Post by **Dale Hansen** » 16 May 2011 3:34 pm

Thanks Roger,
Unfortunately, they don't show the numbers that I need. I need a measurement on the spread of the feet. I've got the units spec's already though, thanks.

Steve English · Post by **Steve English** » 16 May 2011 8:19 pm

Dale

I've got pics for you. PM me your email and I'll send high-res pics in this format:

Dale Hansen · Post by **Dale Hansen** » 16 May 2011 9:06 pm

Thank you, Steve.
From your picture, I can see now that the scale on my 'drawing' is way off, and that the feet are staggered.
I thought about PM'ing you, but I didn't want to bother you, as it seemed that both of your MB200's were already mounted inside of speaker cabinets. (nice job,...btw)

What would be a huge help to me, would be to have the measurement of the space between the feet, front to rear, as shown below. I see that there is a bit of a taper on the actual feet, so If you could pull a tape at the base of the feet, next to the chassis, that would be terrific.
You don't need to be extremely accurate, a close guess from inside to inside will do just fine.

Thanks,
Your pal, Dale

(Btw, here's a trivial little 'fun fact' to end the day: I was Chuck & Terry Back's steel player for a few months, during the mid 80's. Chuck was concentrating on lead guitar, and singing, at the time.)

Dale Hansen · Post by **Dale Hansen** » 16 May 2011 9:23 pm

Steve, never mind.
You've done plenty enough with that single photo.
I used your photo, and your red ruler for scale, and pulled the measurement myself, using marks on a scrap of paper.
After guessing a little bit about the parallax of the photo angle, I came up with roughly 3-1/4".
(But, please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong...)

If it's ok with you, I'll post a photo of the finished mount system, here on this thread, when I get the remainder of it built, and outfitted tomorrow.

Thanks again, Dale

Tom Wolverton · Post by **Tom Wolverton** » 16 May 2011 9:50 pm

That new GK MB800 looks nice, but at 4.9 lbs, that's just too damn heavy. : )

Steve English · Post by **Steve English** » 17 May 2011 6:16 am

Here's one of the front feet:

Steve English · Post by **Steve English** » 17 May 2011 6:20 am

Dale,

Chuck's spoken highly of you many times...

Let me know if you need any more pics or measurements.

Steve English · Post by **Steve English** » 17 May 2011 6:22 am

That new GK MB800 looks nice, but at 4.9 lbs, that's just too damn heavy. : )

I agree! I'm not interested in breaking out the hand truck again!!

Steve Hotra · Post by **Steve Hotra** » 19 May 2011 9:01 am

Hello all;
I am looking for a solid state amp head and decided to get a MB 200 after reading all the comments. Pretty excited to see how this will work with all of my gear.

John Coffman · Post by **John Coffman** » 19 May 2011 10:07 am

Steve H. You will be surprised at the tone and power you will have with this little amp. I was on the fence about buying one. Not any more I sold both of my N112's. Good luck

Dave Harmonson · Post by **Dave Harmonson** » 19 May 2011 11:19 am

Got my MB200 a couple of weeks ago. Just got a Sica 15" from Ken Fox and a small cab yesterday. I'll be giving it the stage debut tonight. I've used it for a couple of gigs with a 12' Mesa box and it sounded great. I've got a little tote bag for the amp that fits into the cab tray. Nice little compact power house. I love it.

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 20 May 2011 2:14 am

I've been using my MB200 both with a SICA and the new Eminence neodymium speaker. It's almost a toss up between the speakers but the Eminence with it's "JBL/BW" sound is a tad better.

George Macdonald · Post by **George Macdonald** » 20 May 2011 5:48 am

I've been using an MB200 with a Tommy Huff cab and a 15" Sica. A couple of days ago I got a second cab from Tommy, [this one is black, the other brown], and put my Black Widow Neo in it. While either one sounds very good, the Black Widow is louder at the same settings and seams to be slightly higher fidelity to my ears. The cab with the Sica weighs 17 lbs and the cab with the BW is 23 lbs. I would be happy using either one, but will probably lean towars the BW. [Unless I get another MB200 and use both]

The Steel Guitar Forum

New MB200 Arrives!!!

getting dirty with the MB200 and the Sarno Earth Drive pedal

Mb 800

Would anybody be willing to offer a little help?

Mb 800

Mb200