GK Fusion 800S and GK Legacy 800 Comparison
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- čas přidán 22. 08. 2024
- The Fusion S Series Heads are GK’s brand new Class D Model heads with a tube preamp. The rich warmth of tubes combined with the quick, punchy power section that GK bass amps are known for is an experience like no other. These high powered heads incorporate three 12ax7 tubes in the preamp, including one dedicated to the overdrive channel, making it GK’s first ever tube driven overdrive channel. Illuminated knobs add an extra level of sophistication and design by not only making it easier to dial in your tone on stage and but adding a beautiful stage presence as well. Each illuminated knob is also push activated, with additional voicing filters and tonal characteristics built in.
The Legacy Series represents fifty years of design, innovation and industry experience at Gallien-Krueger. Bob Gallien remains at the helm of the company, still working in the lab daily, as he did in the beginning, to create the best sounding, most versatile, and reliable professional bass gear available.Because the Legacy Series shares the same designer as the 800RB, it shares the same DNA and the same level of innovation, with a more evolved feature set and construction concept.
The introduction of the 800RB in 1980 cemented Gallien-Krueger as a leader in Solid State bass amplification, with its signature growl, clarity, power, and features that were ahead of its time. The new Legacy Series of heads captures that same aesthetic while adding something all its own. From clean, clear, biting tones, to saturated overdrive, the Legacy series has it all. Coming in 500, 800, and 1200 watt class D models, The Legacy Heads are ready for the biggest stages, the smallest living rooms, and everything in between.
To improve performance and reliability, the Legacy Series uses a unique interconnection system that eliminates problems that can develop over time from constant vibration and temperature extremes that gear is subjected to with heavy use. Using circuitboards with gold plated connectors, rather than cables with standard tin connectors, this type of construction delivers a more pure, reliable sound. Features include GK's classic 4 band EQ, Overdrive complete with tone shaping, additional voicing filters such as "Bump", "Contour", and "Presence", Balanced DI with Pre and Post EQ, an Effects Loop, Aux and Headphone connections, and Load capacity selection, to deliver optimum power into 2, 2.7, 4 and 8ohm cabinet configurations.
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Wanted to say thanks everyone for checking out the Demo! I appreciate your patience and your kindness! If there is other GK gear you are interested in let me know in the comments and we will see if GK wants to work together again!
Take care my friends and stay Low!
The GK Plex pedal, im new to your channel and idk if you already have a video from it
@@enriquekikzdelapazbichain1126 hi! Thanks for subscribing! We would love to demo the Plex! Contact GK and let em know and we will do our best to reach out to them as well! Thanks again fellow Low Lifer and Welcome!
I'll take the Legacy for the tone on that low B. Outside of that, the MTD is beautiful and the X- Men tee was the icing on the cake. Well done!
I just got my GK Fusion 2 x 12 combo (800 watt) two days ago and I am loving it!! I did not read the manual, first. Guilty!! 🤣
That’s the one I want!!! Listen man... TRIM. KNOB!!! Triiiiiimmmmm KNOOOOOOOBBBB 🤣🤣🤣
@@Therealchuckbailey I appreciate all the content so far with the Fusion. There are not many videos showcasing this "bad boy", but I liked what i seen so far.... enough to take the plunge. Not regretting it!!!! 🤘👊🤘
I received my legacy 800 on the 3rd of February and I did the same thing. Turned the trim up to 11 and adjusted volume control. I thought, “I’m not impressed. The sound isn’t thick and I’m pushing the volume more than I would’ve ever imagined for an 800.” Only when I then opened the manual did I realize I was doing it wrong. After adjusting the trim and lowering the volume, it was a complete turnaround. Thick, punchy, all the nuances I wanted and the low mid is at the perfect frequency whereas my Markbass has a low mid that sounds honky. Also, I think the overdrive is phenomenal. I A/B’d it with an SVT and the overdrive when digging in sounded very very close (edge barely on, overdrive at 10, level adjusted so it doesn’t have a noticeable volume jump when switching on). This is my first GK amp and I absolutely love it.
Awesome!!!!
Ok im having the same issue. What exactly did u do?
@@Brookzplayzmuzic make sure to put the trim up to somewhere between 3 o’ clock to maxed out. If it’s clipping then back it off slowly until it stops clipping. (Most of my basses will let me run the trim maxed out but my fender professional has to be at 3 o clock). If you need more bottom, turn on the bump switch. I like my overdrive at 11 o clock with edge all the way off and level at noon.
@@Brookzplayzmuzic Also remember that since the trim will be so hot, you’ll want to start running the master at about 9 o clock. The master will be your overall volume control. You shouldn’t touch the trim once it’s set
Oh I know what you mean with the MB low mid honk. Sansamp hitting the front of it soon sorted that and a few other issues out. Just brought a TC BQ500 as a backup, off to adjust the gain on that in a similar way to the trim knob on the GKs.
WOAH, wasn't expecting to hear an ultra dank cover of Satan's Fall by Mercyful Fate in the intro.
Thanks for the review.
To my ears the Fusion 800s had a warmer, fuller sound, almost SVT like, probably because of the tube circuitry.
They’re super similar but I here a more punchy controlled and sculpted bottom end on the fusion with a more defined high end on the legacy
When you play with a pick through a GK, you get that really cool Justin Chancellor cricket-chirp growl (idk how else to describe it) You can hear a little bit of it with fingerstyle attack, but it's a lot stronger when you pick.
I get that. Go back and try that same attack with the pick with the trim knob setting suggestions. Which amp do you have? Let me know what you think man!
The Trim knob set correctly makes a huge difference , I love my GK amps,
I have a Fusion 550 with 4x12 GK Neo's & an MB800 with GK CX 210 cab, I have checked out both the Fusion S & Legacy heads at my local music store they're killer !
Thanks for the informative video.
Thanks for watching!
Still running my Fusion 550, through the neo 212 myself lol still debating picking up one of these
This is the tone I’ve been chasing for years! I never messed with GK amps much but I need something a little bigger than my Peavey Max 208 for gigs, now I’m convinced I need a GK.
Legacy or Fusion?
@@gpasc I ended up buying an MB 115. I’m thinking about getting one of the powered extension cabs in the future but for now, it gets the job done.
Absolutely love GK. Had the 700rb and wish I still had it. Played it through 410 CX cab and had an amazing sound. Just ordered their GK Neo 4x12 cab and can't wait to jam on it!!! Should be here any day now. Have Mesa Boogie Subway d800+ going on top. Am so excited. Also will be getting another GK head just have not decided whether I want Legacy or Fusion. Keep up the great videos. You guys are awesome🤘🤓 Wow after watching 3 times I do believe I'll get the GK Fusion head. IMHO I think it has a fuller warmer sound than the Legacy. They both sound awesome. Thank you guys.🤘😁
"DON"T TOUCH THE TRIM! "
-Earl from Squidbillys
I’m getting lost in the top on that MTD. Stunning!
You ain't the only one
Thanks man! It’s my baby!
I love the sound of the overdrive on the Legacy. I will probably look into getting the 500 watt version sometime.
Excellent video. Been thinking about picking one of these up. My first real bass amp was a 800RB from around 92. Lasted forever.
I am very much looking at GK for next rig. Great to see/hear this!
You guy's rock!! Thanks for being honest !! One hell of a review!!
Hey thanks man!
Nicely done! I hope you guys didn't get slammed too bad. Loved the "Spoonman"-Best wishes-Brent
Nah man were good! They were very nice about everything! Hey thanks man!!
Damn, that email from GK must have been venomous to warrant such apologia.
Not at all! They were very thorough and wanted to make sure we understood that you get the most out of these amps by utilizing the controls correctly! They were actually very kind and said they really liked our approaches to the previous videos but saw comments counterproductive to the gears representation because we didn’t have some of the settings correct. I appreciate that and I have even more respect for them. They took notes and watched the videos multiple times and read everyone’s comments to really reinforce what we were trying to accomplish. It’s only fitting we take that feedback and make a 3rd video with this new data!
Proof bass players are simple people lol.
For real though, sounds great.
That’s the nicest way I’ve heard it out lol
I am Hells simple 🤣🤣🤣
Your humbleness is huge, well done 👍❤️
I love GK and have used them exclusively for almost 20yrs, but they do have a history of confusing labels for their knobs dating back to when “woofer” was the master volume for the RB series lol
Awesome comparison. \m/ I like gk amps. I’ve been using these amps for years. Personally I like the legacy 800 for its clarity and punch. Both amps sound excellent for metal. You can’t really go wrong with gk amps.
I sent back a Peavey mini max without reading the book and I couldnt get a good tone out of it. I guess I'll read books from now on
Damn, they both sound really awesome... the Legacy has exactly the sound I've been looking for. Thanks a lot for the great comparison... will definitely read the manual once I have it and pay attention to the trim knob 😁
Have the 800s - will try the lower trim setting! Thanks for the great video!
How do you like it? Ive got an aguilar 750... do you think the lows are on par?
Super review! The fusion S has definitely more low end and sounds rounder. It is 300€ more than the legacy but i'm sure i'll regret not to have bought the fusion...
I'm giving serious consideration to replacing my dead Fender Bassman 1200 Pro with with the Fusion 1200 or the Legacy 1200. The main question I'm asking myself is if I want to really deal with the tubes in the Fusion. It sounds great but I'm kind of over tubes. Plus I've been using a GK Backline 600 and really dig it. It just doesn't have enough power.
I really appreciate the time you took to do a direct comparison between the amps. Decision.....decisions....
So I picked up the Fusion 1200 S. I'm really digging it so far. My only real complaint at this point is that I wish it had the switches on it like the Legacy does instead of the Push Button knobs. Its a little too easy to accidentally increase/decrease the settings on the knob, especially the Volume when muting/unmuting. I also play active and passive basses so kind of wish it just had a push button for Trim instead of the knob. But that is really just kind of minor stuff.
I had my GK rig go down during a busy summer of gigging so I quickly replaced it w/ a less expensive Hartke LH500 head. No disrespect to Hartke...but it just made me realize how superior GK is in bass world. GK owns it IMO. I know they are proud of the Fusion series but the legacy is modeled after the RB series and is about as good as it comes.
Awesome video! Absolutely hilarious! And also very tutorial. Thank you. Keep up the great work.🤘😁
Need an honest opinion please: My early 1980's GK800RB (through 4x10 and 2x10 Hartke - Will Lee's rig). it was the best amp I ever ran. Currently running either a Genzler MG800 or EA iAMP Classic (Lee Sklar's recommendation) and they are pushing either Genzler stack (BA 15-3 under a 210 cab), or Barefaced Six10T, or twin stacked Barefaced BB3s. I have a couple of Mike's MTD USA so i know exactly what the bass you are using sounds like. My current workhorses are Sadowsky NYC 4-24s... So, the question: The Legacy seems to sound very much like the GK800RB, the Fusion seems to offer 800RB with a touch of that SVT growl? Does the Fusion have that same bottom end punch and fullness? Oh, and yeah, who the eff runs a rig without checking max signal available first (walking the trim up or back to find the point of breakup) - too low and you aren't tasking the amp to its specs and full potential, too high and the amp will look at you like "why do you hate me?"
Hi. Good review. But, we all need to adjust input signal. Wether it's called The Trim or Gain (+ active/passive switch). So, isn't it The Trim knob and The Gain (with an Active/Passive switch) more or less The same Thing?
These sound absolutely incredible.
This explains why most the early reviews I saw of these amps sounded less than awesome. I love my 700RB and the first wave of you tube clips turned me off to them.
Now I'm wanting that Fusion 800S.
My wallet curses you sir while my G.A.S. says yeeaaa baby! We need this.
Go with the GAS! None of us make
It out alive man! Might as well sound good all the way to Bass Valhalla!!! Thanks for watching my friend!
well the Satan's Fall riff certainly woke me up and got my attention 😁
Isn't setting the trim knob literally the same on every other amp?
Mercyful Fate for the win. Nice. Bring me the blood of the new born child!
Great, great video, as usual. I wonder how much effort must be put into making these comparisons. And it is really helpful, especially in a era where it's easier to buy online, though in hindsight you don't get to test or compare the goods. And you did this for us.!Thank you very much. And kudos for that exchanging of info with the manufacturer. Superb!
By the way, based on this comparisson I'm going for the juicer tone of the Fusion, as I'm planning to buy one of these beasts soon.
Thank you so much! That really makes my day man!
@@danielbatista449 oooooh good call!
I need that shirt!! They probably don’t have my size though maybe I should trim the shirt!😂😂
*Trim Triggered*
The only thing not trim is me 🤣🤣🤣🤦🏻♂️🤷🏻♂️
Trim knob adjusted or not, it still sounds like it's got a cold and suffering a blocked nose or at the opposite end, the low end sounded muffled and washed out..
I like my New GK 800 Legacy and GK 500 Watt Cab at home playing by myself. And playing with one of the bands in a garage with cement floor. But the other band I play with. Has a Carpeted flor and Walls. And was very dead sounding while playing with the band. I raised it on a crate off the carpet. And that seemed to help a bit. But high end still lacks the push like I get with the E & A strings. They sound great. Anyways I’m still working either sound in our studio. A lot of ringing. The mics seem to really pick up the bass and messes up the sound. I’ll try mic filters on each mic next.
New on this channel, started to watch the back catalog. Im also a looking to buy my first 4 string bass, total beginner, and narrowed it down to Warwick Rockbass Streamer or the Spector Legend Standard. Looking to learn the basics and learn my way up to noodling my fav metal songs. I figured those two basses are similar in quality, but which one would the bass channel recommend ? :) Nice videos, CHEERS!
The one that FEELS good to you! Both brands are time tested and make great stuff. Very different too in both construction and electronics. If you’ve played both and like both it’s beat to check off those boxes yourself! You’re not gonna go wrong with either tbh but definitely play them if you haven’t and go from there. All I can say is be prepared to be a little frustrated in the beginning. You won’t be Cliff Burton in a say lol just remember to have fun!
@@Therealchuckbailey thx for the reply thou this is gonna be an online purchase, cant compare, also sort of an impulse one as I just kinda recently decided to learn the instrument. The only basses i can actually try where i live are Ibanez, and didnt like any of their body shapes... obviously it's something that's not important for some, but i gotta also like the instrument visually. Cheers!
@@metallixro aesthetics are very important! You won’t play it if you don’t like looking at it lol
Well let’s go a little further. What music are you inspired by? What bassists have you heard that you like how they sound? Warwick Rock bass have passive MEC Vintage Humbucker pickups
active 2-band electronics
controls for Volume / Volume / Tone the Spector Legend has P-J passive pickups
Active 2-band EQ
Big difference in sound from buckers to PJ
What are you going for?
@@Therealchuckbailey metal! Wanna be able to work my way up to noodling bass lines from my fav songs. Also big fan of Peter Steele! But i dont want to get ahead of myself, gotta go thru the pain of being a beginner.
@@metallixro honest man both are great! Personally I prefer the PJ pups but that’s me
I only wish he had said Trim Knob more often.
🤣🤣🤣 💫 I’ll try to be more cognizant of that next time hahaha
I cannot emphasize this enough, it is paramount, as the bass player, to pay attention to the trim! 😅
Thank you for not slapping and noodling
The MB had a tube pre? My combo does not, nor the MBP cabinet
You also messed up by playing the chorus riff to Spoonman in 4/4! 😯🥺🤪🤣
Got to keep the copyright police off our back somehow!
It was intentional so the Yootubes police don’t get me! Good ear man!
Mercyful Fate! 🤘🏻💀🤘🏻
Can you guys do a demo of the Earthquaker Warden?
Tell earthquaker to @ me lol I love their stuff
at no point in this demo is the low mid knob of either amp turned up past noon, do GK's not have nice sounding low mids or was this a mild tonal oversight ?
i know its 'their sound' but it does seem odd that as soon as GK is mentioned everyones idea of a 'mid-foward' tone is "only scooping 1 band of mids", even on the GK tone stack you're not able to boost either low or high mids (250hz/1k) but more than 6db while every other aspect of the eq works on a 10db throw. additionally, out of the either 3 or 4 supplimentary tone shaping controls, none of them are able to boost any form of mid content, and only the hicut featured on the 800S has the ability to make the mids perceivably more present.
Have you compared these amps to the dark glass or the mesa subway line? I'm in the market, I'm looking for the mesa carbine slam with tight lows and crisp highs, but in a class d format
Interesting I got a fusion s 800, I've tried with 2 active basses and my extremely hot motherbucker equiped guitar and I can't get that clip light to show even on max unless I really crankup the EQ up on my bass.
Great!
Picks vary from 50 cents to about 100$ a piece, now a days all sorts of fancy picks ;)
Mistakes means we are humans.
Really?! They can be that expensive?! Wth why 😂
@@Therealchuckbailey Besides the semi precious stones and the rest. Check those out!!!
chicken picks and dragon heart picks.
Are you playing through the orange cabs? What drivers are in them? Thx
Sj
….and even with the correct trim setting you somehow managed to make these amps sound even worse in this demo.
All differences I hear here (more fatness and punch) relates to compression, this video could easely be a demo about tube's smooth compression capabilities.
I don't think there is any sound gear that doesn't recomend you leveling their input first... and also compensate output to get a fair comparision.
Which amp do you prefer?
I have a question about the Fusion that someone who has the amp probably knows: the knob switches.... when engaging one does it make the knob a new knob that sweeps the switchable function while retaining the setting of the first function, and you select which function is being swept with the push-switch? Or is the rotation of the knob always the main feature, and the push-switch is simply an on/off switch for the 2nd function.. like the toggles do on the Legacy (and original RBs from the 80s-90s... which I had and dearly miss)?
The knob switch is just on/off.
Pardon the ignorance, but what bass is that in the beginning?
I just got my legacy 800 and am running it through a GK neo 410 - even with everything at zero (trim, eq, master, od off) I still get what I would describe as a “white noise” sound coming through the speakers. Turning the mute on stops it but that the only way to make it silent. GK customer service claims this is normal, but the other three completely dead quiet GK heads disagree. Has anyone else had this issue? It sounds great but I can’t get passed that low hissing noise.
Edit: this happens with or without a bass plugged in and the head is plugged into a Furman power conditioner. I’ve also tried multiple outlets in my house.
There’s a video out there I believe on the Sweetwater channel where Bob from GK said it was a challenge marrying the new Class D technology with their pre amps..don’t know if the noise has anything to do with this.
Great sounds. Stop taking up time with your second guesses, new guy. Get on the level.
Very constructive. Thanks!
Hey Everyone! Thanks again for watching! if you want us to get some more GK Gear on here Tag them on CZcams, Facebook, IG, Twitter, Smoke Signals, Snail Mail... get at them! tell them you want The Bass Channel to get some more GK Goodness on here! We appreciate you guys and thank you again!
What cabs did u use .?
Yes, people mix trim with gain.
ha ha, great video man… well done
I like the legacy better
Yea? Admittedly I liked the fusion first better but the Legacy really grew on me! Why do you like the Legacy better?
SPOONMAN, MAKE IT 4/4 WITH YOUR HAND
What did you do, crank all knobs to 10 on the bass?
All click....click click click...not to mention, brand new strings???
What bass player has brand new strings that's not a daily studio pro or on tour???
Absolutely right. At the price bass strings are, I buy them out of necessity.
@@bertrandmajorik6589 its a poor representation of tone in this vid, as it's not realistic for most players....and if you aren't good enough to squeeze good tone out of a GK with well worn strings, then..
A. You're not as good or seasoned as you think you are...
B. See A
No I didn’t crank all the knobs... I’m slow but not dumb lol of you watch the other videos you can see we didn’t have the trim knob set correctly and some of the voicings engaged that can be countered by each other. Kind of cancel themselves out to a point. I don’t remember if these strings are new. I don’t think they were lol. No gigs so 🤷🏻♂️
@@williamlowe7718 Absolutely right!!
It does not represent our reality, the hard working musicians. But I'm a vintage amp freak, a Fender BXR 1992 and a Peavey MINX 110 1992. Both offer a very different voice that i enjoy very much.
P.S. I use 90% alcohol to clean my cobalt strings and i keep my stainless dirty, for a darker tone.....
That's not how it works with bass.. start hot and trim to occasional limiter engagement. This is pretty basic stuff, and is usually notated in manuals etc. I mean it's good that you explained it, but yeah... it's how its done. Think of how the bass works, it pushes sound back into the pocket
Not lost!
Prefer the legacy :)
Since when bassist ever read the manual 🤣
They come with those??
Only after shit goes sideways...then begrudgingly, cuz you know we would figure it out eventually anyways....
I SAID THE SAME THING HAHAHA 🤷🏻♂️
Ha, out of guitarist, drummer, bassist, and singer I would think that the bassist would be most likely to read a manual. I always read manuals and instructions first. Drives my wife and kids crazy! And I've watched tons of reviews on yt as well where mistakes like this happen. Good on them for apologizing. If you are going to reveiw a product reading the manual should be the first thing you do.
There was a review on this channel a while back of a zoom multieffects that had a similar issue. I can't remember the specifics, but a lot of commenters pointed out the errors and the review was eventually taken down.
I’m gonna take a guess and say I’m not alone in NOT knowing which head was which. You could have had a little graphic stating which was the S and which one wasn’t. The alternating of highlighting wasn’t enough. I wanna say the one on top, whichever that was, sounded a bit warmer.
Dude you don't need to talk about the trim knob for 10 minutes WTF?
I think it’s a bit (for the lack of a better term) pathetic that they should ‘force’ certain settings or this or that just because they invented the dang thing. If it sounds good, it’s good. Despite the science behind it, sound and tone will always be subjective.
I’m a GK fan, but I don’t see Darkglass (current amp I’m using) dictating the rules on us.
Not a dictation so much as a suggestion to get the most out of the amp. They weren’t forcing so much as explaining that certain settings can clash with each other and if the trim knob isn’t set correctly you never get the true capabilities out of the amp! Yes sound and tone are subjective but if you had the info to make both of those better with little to no effort at all wouldn’t you want to do that?
@@Therealchuckbailey gotcha. Nonetheless, i’m still a GK fan and I’m looking at their new Neo IV cabs to pair with my Microtubes 500V2. Might check out the Legacy, too.
Cheers Chuck, love your hosting more than Nick or Chris haha
@@jaxonvictoria4345 hahahaha hey man nothing wrong with that setup at all! I love both companies mucho! Thanks again for watching my man! Cheers!
Darkglass is already brainwashing us all, since they low-key promotes that djent-like settings/artist since 6 years.
@@LSapio because it was an untapped market 6 years ago. Today they pretty much are in a monopoly in that subgenre. I have a Darkglass amp but I play anything from Dua Lipa to Rush to Lamb of God. Very versatile.
What’s a pic? I play bass…..
Too much waffle...
Merciful Fate : Melissa - Satan’s Fall
Fusionの方が旨味とコクがあるな。
I made the same mistake
you’re not chuck bailey
Ummm... yea I am.
@@Therealchuckbailey idk that’s kinda sus where’s the real church bailey
@@Gubgubgoober how do I know you’re the real Thomas Stockwell???
@@Therealchuckbailey you got me there, who was the guy in the active pickup video than? i though that was chuck bailey
@@Gubgubgoober that’s Chris Caccamise. He’s the Main man of The Bass Channel
This guy obnoxiously talks too much good grief