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edit: skip to page 2 to help me find something that will work with my budget and the fact that I'm using a VI the way one would use a regular bass.

Anyone have/had one?

SInce I play bass (VI) in two out of the three bands I play in now, I just don't see why I should not sell my AC30 and get some sort of bass combo instead. I know this thing isn't tube-based, but frankly, if it sounds good I don't give a shit if it's driven by a transgendered eskimo dwarf with daddy issues and a lazy eye. I've been looking at the Gallien-Krueger MB210-II. So, if you've played one or one of the other ones in the MB-series; what did you think of it? Can it take loud/fuzzy pedals well? Is running a guitar through it alright too? Can it be loud enough to use in a noise band or does the 10's not cut it? We're talking small to medium sized venues here.

Any other amps around the same price range I should rather be checking out?

I have the mb212-II but I'll chime in anyways

It fucking rocks! My sound comes from my pedalboard, so I need an amp that can handle anything I can throw at it. The Eq is easy to use, the di is ok, and i didn't pay for a bunch of extra features that I don't need or use. If I need to go bigger, I can chain out and buy the extension cab.

It's not a tube amp is the common critique but whatever. It weighs like 30 lbs. how much does an svt weight?

Nice, thanks! What about guitar? Have you tried playing one through it? Looking at the 1x12 now.

If GK hasn't changed the EQ points for their controls since the 90s then you should be able to copy a pretty "Ampeg-ish" tone. I haven't tried my RB for guitar, but I EQ it for bass the same way I would an Ampeg and get a very similar tone to my V-4. If EQ'd for guitar, should sound pretty good. The older RBs sound more natural than the MBs though so it might not be that pleasing. But I'd say GK is better than just about every body else in the solid state/class D micro bass amp game.

*reaches for wallet*

is nobody going to stop me?

Nope. GK is a good investment. If you're serious about using it for guitar as well as bass, give it a swing with a guit first if you can.

The only two places that carry them in Norway are online shops, so no chance of trying them. I'll try to work on some google magic and see what pops up as far as running a guitar through it. Might end up selling some pedals and keeping the AC30 after all.

The GKs I messed with about 10 to 15 years ago sounded good for the price. It had a little bit of that solid state staleness but not as bad as other solid states from the era.

My only real addition is that the few my friends had, the PCB traces did oxidize/deteriorate and eventually not work (which is weird because it was the desert). Easy fixes though. Low quality jacks too [but not the worst].

Personally, I think you are not going to get the cut in a mix with a gk solid state that you would with the ac30 in a live situation/practice. But that depends on a lot of other factors too. I started guitar with old bass combo...it was kinda dead sounding to me (maybe just too clean with the wrong eq...it was a long time ago). I use a sunn bass amp now and love it (but it tube)

I would keep the ac30. Or just build a cheap pa rack stup with found parts..you get more bang for your buck in the long run

Ah, figures. I *think* I've read somewhere that with a little EQ tweaking it was pretty easy to get a small GK combo to get a good guitar tone, I dunno if it was one of the older guitar models that they used to make though.

Always better to have two amps anyways.

I'd imagine the newer ones might have more durable leads/traces and PCBs but aside from needing to clean the jacks out in my 400RB every now and then after it has sat for a while I never have any other issues.

Voxes are open back treble monsters, GKs are very low mid strong like Ampeg but with a bit more contour in the upper mid range. Two totally different beasts that sit together well in a band mix.

Thanks a lot, duders. Plenty more for me to read up on then. I was actually looking at Ampegs in the first place, but something about the GK's caught my attention. I just found out I had a little more money in the bank, so it looks like the AC30 is staying. That way I can keep the GK where I practice (with all of my bands actually) and just have the AC30 at home for my own sonic pleasure and for the occasional gig where I play guitar.

A+

Yea, waltdogg knows his stuff and said it better haha. I love GKs. They were the cheap workhorse bass amps around here. I'm just thinking it might leave some longing for your AC30 if you swapped em is all. They kinda do have that Ampeg mid low tone to me (if I remember...everything has gotten so much cheaper lately in terms of new stuff...most people have ampegs around that I see when they would of had GKs in "my" era, haha).

My old bass player just collected old PA equipment and a 4x10 out of like dumpsters and firesales and bought a cheap second hand crown power amp. He just added preamps and stuff when he needed it. Sounded pretty good. Also added a mixer for noise and synth stuff...kinda nice all around (I think it was an ampeg 4x10, two channel bass preamp that I don't remember), some kind of 8 channel rack mixer, 800 watt crown PA, and a 1x15+tweeter PA speaker JBL)

I dunno, if all I had access to was a GK combo, I don't think I would be sad because I still got to play guitar and bass haha. There are jsut a ton of good amps out there that work well for both. I guess I also just don't know what is around over there, you know (and don't know if you can get sweet things like church scores, horder finds, etc)

But keeping the AC30 and getting a bass combo might be best.

personally I hate GK amps, I think they sound pretty sterile and boring and are hard to dial in. I'm not sure what options you have in that price range in norway.

We can get most stuff here (unless it's something extremely boutique). What would you recommend? Budget up to $5-600 I guess. Preferably something I can add more bang to down the line if needed.

I have an MB115. I like it enough for what I do. the weight is the best thing about it. I've heard some people have had issues with something in the circuit going bad and pretty much killing the amp, but I haven't had any issues with mine. Even after a couple of my friends borrowed it to take on tours. None of those bands were ever very loud though, so you may want to look for something else if you need loud volumes.
It keeps up well enough with a 30w 112 and a 50w 212 in my current band, but I've never tried to max it out.