Any love for the Gallien Kreuger 250ML?

ICBM

ghosty999 said:

I can totally understand why people don't like them. They do one thing very well and nothing else. If you ever get the chance to open up the top, roll back the trim pots and you can get some great compressed clean tones out of it.

Unfortunately I have had the chance to open the tops of several of them, since they were not all that reliable either… although the bass ones were worse, possibly just because they usually got pushed too hard in an attempt to make them loud enough on stage. I never bothered fiddling with the trimmers though.

But I'm not a fan of compression either, so that probably wouldn't work for me anyway.

ghosty999 said:

Chorus is also quite unique sounding but the verb is.... meh

But I love reverb, and it is indeed meh, so that was another big problem. I don't think I liked the chorus either - it seemed to have an odd-shape modulation if I remember rightly, so it sounds quite artificial.

ghosty999

ICBM said:

ghosty999 said:

I can totally understand why people don't like them. They do one thing very well and nothing else. If you ever get the chance to open up the top, roll back the trim pots and you can get some great compressed clean tones out of it.

Unfortunately I have had the chance to open the tops of several of them, since they were not all that reliable either… although the bass ones were worse, possibly just because they usually got pushed too hard in an attempt to make them loud enough on stage. I never bothered fiddling with the trimmers though.

But I'm not a fan of compression either, so that probably wouldn't work for me anyway.

ghosty999 said:

Chorus is also quite unique sounding but the verb is.... meh

But I love reverb, and it is indeed meh, so that was another big problem. I don't think I liked the chorus either - it seemed to have an odd-shape modulation if I remember rightly, so it sounds quite artificial.

I've heard this is the case, mines been very reliable so far, taking it to practice tonight for a laugh, will run it stereo through 2 4x12s. The chorus is really stereo spaced, almost phasing at some points, yet again a one trick pony haha.

https://youtu.be/UJsl-bB7lmk?t=198
You can really hear that 250ml sound during this solo at 3:20 onward. 

ICBM

If I remember rightly the reliability problems with the 250MLs were mostly caused by running them into too low impedance cabinets and blowing the power transistors - I could be wrong but from memory they're 16-ohm only. If so, be sure to check that's what you're using.

RobDavies

bingefeller said:

RobDavies said:

I think Chuck Schuldiner used one on Death's Human tour...

I read that Chuck had a wall of Marshalls on some shows but his guitar tone was actually coming from a Gallien Kreuger amp, is that true?  

I can neither confirm nor deny that but it wouldn't surprise me if it was true.  

I believe Dan Spitz used to have the wall of Marshall image, too - whilst playing through a mic'd up Boogie MKIII combo. 

Cabicular

If you are in Berkley 2 the 4x12s are all set to 16 ohms anyway

ghosty999

Cabicular said:

If you are in Berkley 2 the 4x12s are all set to 16 ohms anyway

yeah it will be Berkley 2 if there is a 16 ohms stereo option on the cab Ill just go for that. Can't fit my entire rig in the MR2 hahaha

Cabicular

They don't like you using the stereo option (usually taped up) 
Im the only guitarist in LSI now so I use both 4x12s
if you do switch to stereo be a good citizen and switch back afterwards (or borrow another cab)

ghosty999

Cabicular said:

They don't like you using the stereo option (usually taped up) 
Im the only guitarist in LSI now so I use both 4x12s
if you do switch to stereo be a good citizen and switch back afterwards (or borrow another cab)

Yeah I always switch it back. My live EL84 20/20 is a dual mono block so run 2 cabs or 16ohm stereo in one. The GK should be the same. Should be interesting to try out tonight haha. I installed a kill switch for the speakers so the internal speakers can be turned off when running in cabs.

DanR

ghosty999 said:

Exactly how long are their arms 

ICBM

I had a look online at pics and it looks like the 250ML will take 8-ohm cabs, but only with the internal speakers turned off.

The stereo option on the cabs is 8 ohm per side so don't use that unless you turn the GK's speakers off. If you're using two cabs you need 16 ohm mono on each cab. (The right hand jack on a Marshall.)

I really dislike these switching panels, they're a recipe for confusion, unreliability and blowing amps...

And whatever you do, don't connect it to the same stereo cab with the cab switch set to mono, since that's the same as connecting the Ext jacks together.

BGG

I used to run mine through two Marshall 4x12's or two custom made 4x12's for Venom (along with a few more for show lol.
Sounded HUGE !!

ghosty999

And here it is! Sounded surprisingly thick for solid state but not much in the way of dynamics 

Cabicular

It's all fun and games until the drummer starts sadly
then you need the valve punch to get yiur message over
thats always my problem with solid state
they sound great on their own but I don't know how to integrate them into a band and subsequently I spend all night fighting between it being too loud or too quiet
Not saying that's the law it just doesn't work for me

ICBM

That can be a problem, yes. They often don't seem to compress and respond naturally like a valve amp.

I've had good results with older Peaveys, Marshall Valvestates and a few others though.

ghosty999

Agreed, it just doesn't cut the same, it sort of sat bloated and muddy in the live sound. The other guitarist running the tube marshall across the room had to keep turning down then up again as my sound kept getting lost. 

....but the cleans cut really well, huge stereo width with the chorus on. 

Agree on the Valvestate, I've got one and it's great! 

ghosty999

bingefeller said:

RobDavies said:

I think Chuck Schuldiner used one on Death's Human tour...

I read that Chuck had a wall of Marshalls on some shows but his guitar tone was actually coming from a Gallien Kreuger amp, is that true?  

This was true for Iron Maiden on the Somewhere In Time tour. I remember a friend of mine who went to that tour saying behind the marshalls there was 2 x 250MLs mic'd up "on stools". Then moved to the rack versions for Seventh Son. I'm sure it happened more than people thought haha.

ICBM said:

Not for me… I really wanted to like them at the time because they were The Future, but I could never get a sound I even vaguely liked out of one.

I also had the bass version, which sounded less awful but was completely useless in a band situation - it seemed really loud by itself at home, but on stage the sound came out about 6 inches and then disappeared.

I much prefer the Peavey and Marshall solid-state amps of the same era.

Totally can see why people aren't into them. It kinda does one thing really well and nothing else. If you ever get the chance, roll back the trip pots on the top and you can get great compressed cleans. The chorus is very unique, shame it wasn't available anywhere else. The reverb.... meh haha

ghosty999

bingefeller said:

RobDavies said:

I think Chuck Schuldiner used one on Death's Human tour...

I read that Chuck had a wall of Marshalls on some shows but his guitar tone was actually coming from a Gallien Kreuger amp, is that true?  

This was true for Iron Maiden on the Somewhere In Time tour. I remember a friend of mine who went to that tour saying behind the marshalls there was 2 x 250MLs mic'd up "on stools". Then moved to the rack versions for Seventh Son. I'm sure it happened more than people thought haha.

ICBM said:

Not for me… I really wanted to like them at the time because they were The Future, but I could never get a sound I even vaguely liked out of one.

I also had the bass version, which sounded less awful but was completely useless in a band situation - it seemed really loud by itself at home, but on stage the sound came out about 6 inches and then disappeared.

I much prefer the Peavey and Marshall solid-state amps of the same era.

Totally can see why people aren't into them. It kinda does one thing really well and nothing else. If you ever get the chance, roll back the trip pots on the top and you can get great compressed cleans. The chorus is very unique, shame it wasn't available anywhere else. The reverb.... meh haha