Anyone used the Gallien-Krueger 250ML Series II?

[neilli]

I did a search and found a thread from a couple of years ago, which basically says that they sound very 80's (not a bad thing!), they get hot and the speakers suck.

So apart from that, has anyone here has used one, and if so, what are your thoughts?... I know Iron Maiden used them for Seventh Son which I love, but I have no idea if that tone came from other outboard gear, eq at the studio or whatever.

Basically, do they sound like a shitty little transistor shoebox amp?

[jgcable]

Its a monster of an amp and can run a full stack of cabinets in stereo with no problem at all for live use. If you really want to know what it sounds like.. listen to Rush's Moving Pictures album. Alex Lifeson actually used one live.

[slo100]

Very Rockman-ish compressed solid state tone. That said, I like it and it is a cool change of pace. Definitely straight outta the 80's. Two channel with built-in compressor, chorus, and reverb that can be switched in and out.

I think Maiden first used them on Somewhere in Time. If you look closely in the Wasted Years video there is one sitting on top of a Marshall cabinet. Those clips were taken from rehearsals. I think Moving Pictures predated the 250ML but definitely later Rush...Alex was a big endorser. I am off on my Rush lore...LOL.

I have one with both speakers blown and just need to recone the suckers. I do miss having it! This is common with the combo model as the surrounds deteriorate and physically disintegrate. Be sure to check this. The voice coils are usually spared but reconing or replacement is necessary. Some owners have replaced the speakers with high output car stereo speakers (I have never tried this).

As all ML users know, the top can be popped off of them to access a number of micro-pots on the board which control gain and the compression and chorus effects. These are fun to experiment with, as well. From the factory the amps were set for smooth overdrive but can be tweaked to full-on distortion.

[Rupe]

Very Rockman-ish compressed solid state tone.

That pretty much sums it up. IMO they are a bit more dynamic than a Rockman but still very "80's" sounding in a good way. Nothing warm sounding about them, but they are still cool and have their own thing going. They are also capable of some cool, pristine Robbie Blunt type clean tones.

[clifffclaven]

Very Rockman-ish compressed solid state tone. That said, I like it and it is a cool change of pace. Definitely straight outta the 80's. Two channel with built-in compressor, chorus, and reverb that can be switched in and out.

I think Maiden first used them on Somewhere in Time. If you look closely in the Wasted Years video there is one sitting on top of a Marshall cabinet. Those clips were taken from rehearsals. I think Moving Pictures predated the 250ML but definitely later Rush...Alex was a big endorser. I am off on my Rush lore...LOL.

I have one with both speakers blown and just need to recone the suckers. I do miss having it! This is common with the combo model as the surrounds deteriorate and physically disintegrate. Be sure to check this. The voice coils are usually spared but reconing or replacement is necessary. Some owners have replaced the speakers with high output car stereo speakers (I have never tried this).

As all ML users know, the top can be popped off of them to access a number of micro-pots on the board which control gain and the compression and chorus effects. These are fun to experiment with, as well. From the factory the amps were set for smooth overdrive but can be tweaked to full-on distortion.

+1 on pretty much everything here. I used one for about 8 years in an 80s-90s rock cover band. chorus on it sucked, waaaay too washed out. I used it with a les paul and a ge7/wah/midiverb setup, sounded great for then.

[OnlineStageGear]

I got one. I did the surround re-cone on the speakers. I got the kit for both speakers for $12. Like everyone said, it is a very 80's amp.

[slo100]

How much would you charge to do my speakers?

This is not something I know how to do. Nor do I want to learn, LOL!

Thanks
Bret

[Learn Guitars]

I had one for years in the late 80's. Had it in the repair shop about every two months replacing pieces due to overheating issues.

[jgcable]

I had one for years in the late 80's. Had it in the repair shop about every two months replacing pieces due to overheating issues.

Yep.. when you get a bad one.. its REALLY bad. I also had bad luck with a few GK bass heads. Overheating. We used to take the covers off and run them open.

[horns666]

Yep.. when you get a bad one.. its REALLY bad. I also had bad luck with a few GK bass heads. Overheating. We used to take the covers off and run them open.

Yep, I blew a GK800 bass head..they sound decent but fuggums.

That was the only bass amp I had problems with.

[charvelguy]

I've had one since the early 90's and I used to gig with it and a rack of stuff quite a bit. The comparisonto a Rockman is mostly in the compressed stereo chorus, which is really what makes these things sound really full. I ran mine into a Marshall 1960, '73 basket weave split off for 2x12 stereo (2x12 + 2x12 in same cab) The clean is much like a rack preamp like an ADA, still a little raspy and not a 'true' shimmer clean. Rockmans always had a great clean I thought but the GK's always took alot of tweaking to get a matched vol balance between a dirty and clean tone even for a two channel amp.

For basic jams and auditions as well as low volume practices where you don't want to take up alot of space...it was cool. There are alot more options out there now for what would fulfill a similar purpose though. If you can get it for free or cheap (like a 100) might be worth a buck to you.

[rstites]

Its a monster of an amp and can run a full stack of cabinets in stereo with no problem at all for live use. If you really want to know what it sounds like.. listen to Rush's Moving Pictures album. Alex Lifeson actually used one live.

Moving Pictures is almost all Marshall and sounds like it: 50 W open back Marshalls though. It also predates GK amps by several years. Alex did use the GK's live (not sure about in the studio), but it was mid-80s at some point. I'm pretty sure he was using Dean's when I saw them for the Power Windows tour (not sure whether they were tube or solid state though), so I'd guess it was sometime after that. Maybe he had the GK's up there too.

I concur with the other opinions here. The GKs were decent amps, but sound very solid state and are pretty sterile without some chorus or reverb on them. They also were notorious for reliability issues.

[VoiceX3]

Since the cover band retired, my GK has been my main amp. I actually get a really nice tone out of it with an overdrive in front of it, but the best thing I can tell you that aside from tweaking the trimpots on the board is instead of reconing the stock speakers or replacing them with the stock PYLE 6 1/2 inch speakers, get in touch with eminence. They make drop in replacement speakers that bring that amp to a life they were NEVER capable of! Great amp.

[///MK]

I had one back in the early 80s' (1983 I think) and it"blew up" on me i was not even a teenager then so my mom threw it out. Didn't sound too bad while it worked.