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Gospel Instruments => Bass Guitar => Topic started by: IotaNet on August 16, 2011, 07:33:29 AM

Title: I need some Amp help
Post by: IotaNet on August 16, 2011, 07:33:29 AM

Brothers  -

I'm not an amp expert. At my church, we have a GK head, a 15" cab, and we play through the house so I never really had to care much about it but my situation has changed.

I just joined a group - a Gospel Quartet. A good group of very talented Brothers and I'm happy to be down with them. The instrumentation is a drummer, a guitarist, an organ/keyboard player plus the vocalists and me on bass. The key is that they gig a lot -- in a lot of different churches. You know what that means -- three things:

1) Playing in a bunch of churches over with potentially strange acoustics.
2) Playing in places where you don't know what the sound system is going to be like.
3) A lot of lifting/loading as well as playing in cramped quarters.

I know you know all about ALL of those.

I think it's time to upgrade my amp. Right now, my "gigging" amp is a Yorkville XM200 but I've only had to take it on the road a few times. It's really about 130 watts but you can get to a full 200 if you add an extension cab. It is quite loud but it also gets boomy. It's also heavy -- almost 70Lbs. At 50 years old, my back doesn't like all of that heavy lifting anymore. I'd like to move to something lighter and more powerful but truthfully, I don't have a lot of money to spend right now.

I have been looking at the GK lightweight stuff:

* MB210 ($599 / 33 lbs, 350 watts -- 500 with extension cab)
* MB212 ($699 / 37lbs, full 500 watts )

The reviews seem to be good and I love the transportability and weight. It would be great to get something like the Markbass high-powered stuff  but I don' t have a Grand to spend right now.

What is your take on the suitability of the GK rigs to perform in the venues I mentioned?

Title: Re: I need some Amp help
Post by: mjl422 on August 16, 2011, 01:57:45 PM

Are you looking for new or used?

You could probably get a Markbass LMII or a Genz Benz 6.0, used, for around $350 - $450.

An Avatar 210 runs about $400, new.

Together that would get you 500 watts and be very portable.

Title: Re: I need some Amp help
Post by: IotaNet on August 16, 2011, 07:24:09 PM

I had a credit at GC so I went ahead about bought the GK MB210. I can't believe how much sound this thing puts out while being so light.

We'll see this Sunday come gig time.  :-)

Title: Re: I need some Amp help
Post by: mjl422 on August 17, 2011, 09:58:05 AM

Cool, they get good reviews.  I hope it works out for you.