Wow - Gallien-Krueger Krueger 250ML Little amp . Who had one

hollywoodrox · June 2023

Just combing through my old Guitar world magazines , saw one advertised what an amazing thing to own this would have been in 87 . Stereo , built in compressor stereo chorus & delay not very big trouble is it was about £500 quid which was quite a lot of bread then . Sort of an 80s spark 40 lol
all the effects you’d need , easy to carry & it could be put through a PA I think .
it looks awesome . Be interested to hear about your experiences if you owned one .

Was also looking at those Vesta pedals that had footswitches that look like synth drum pads

hollywoodrox · June 2023

One. Of my fave Tubers has done a video on one
https://youtu.be/MbBuJ8RGQmA

oh_pollo · June 2023

Loved these but never had one. Really surprised these haven't been re-released. Master Effects do a preamp pedal, the Seventh Son, but the few clips I can find don't sound that close to me.

ICBM · June 2023

I went to buy one with great enthusiasm when they first came out - the idea of a 100W solid-state amp you could lift with one hand really appealed to me.

It sounded *awful*.

I should probably re-appraise it with hindsight and say 'of its time'. I'd actually quite like to try another one and see if I could actually get anything useful out of it now, but apparently they have a problem with the speakers falling apart...

hollywoodrox · June 2023

Cheers guys, was very interesting for its time in such a compact package

ZenOvertone · June 2023

I had one, paid 750 IIRC in 1988, used to run it into a split Marshall 4x12, never used the (Pyle?0 6.5" internal speakers. Sound "of it's time", I loved Kings X so that got me close to that Ty Tabor sound. Yes, the speakers were prone to cone failure I heard.

JohnPerry · June 2023

I had one. The tone was ultra processed and thin and they were very very noisy.

Loved the portability.

hollywoodrox · June 2023

It’s a shame , I guess the Katana truly is the nearest thing to it

FelineGuitars · June 2023

I owned on in early 1988 but it didn't stay long as I just didn't love the tone enough , so I sold it , and bought the brand new at that time ADA MP1 which absolutely smoked it .

The early MP1s before they tried to up the gain for the thrash players had such a great tone, as @Kebabkid can attest as he alo had a very early one and it was so good.

BGG · June 2023

Gigged and rehearsed with one for about four years back in the day. Loved it at the time, ran it through two Marshall 4x10’s or two 4x12’s in stereo, sounded huge.

There were three little switches inside the lid, they could be tweaked for extra gain, I did mine and it sounded even better.

koneguitarist · June 2023

Used the bass version with 1x12 which was awesome, but like @ICBM says, speakers disintegrate.

CaseOfAce · June 2023

maltingsaudio · June 2023

I’ve owned two the 250 and Ml206, they were both awesome amps but the 206 had the edge. Did find them lacking with the small speakers but added a 12” extension cab (made by Peterson remember them? ) and it took the amp to another level

Danny1969 · June 2023

A mate in a band I was in used one into a 4 x 12 cab ... it had a lot of gain but sounded like a wasp in a jam jar. At the time distorted chorus was quite big in hair metal but I hated that sound.

Both of us got Fender Princeton Chorus amps which again were stereo, had loads of gain, plus chorus, limiter and reverb but in a bigger box

hollywoodrox · June 2023

maltingsaudio said:

I’ve owned two the 250 and Ml206, they were both awesome amps but the 206 had the edge. Did find them lacking with the small speakers but added a 12” extension cab (made by Peterson remember them? ) and it took the amp to another level

I once had a Peterson 100w

Corvus · June 2023

I had one, toured with it back in the day. Needed a cab to sound anything half-way good. Made for a good portable rig but never loved it and can't remember selling it, no desire to own one again.

allen · June 2023

I remember these so well from magazine articles. Every single magazine article in the 80s rated them as the best thing since sliced bread. At the time I seem to remember they were about £500 which was well beyond my means.

maltingsaudio · June 2023

Just remembered Lemmy used one in this famous sketch as it was all that was lying around, the amp itself appeared here https://www.guitar-auctions.co.uk/sale/184/507/Gary-Moore--Lemmy--GallienKrueger-250ML-2-x-5-combo-guitar-amplifier-made-in-USA-ser-no-16963-with-bracket-stand-mount--Recently-serviced-and-speakers-replaced-with-Pyle-Audio-5-speakers-The-original-ones-were-blown-by-Lemmy-during-the-French-and-Saunders-BBC-TV-sketch-httpswwwyoutubecomwatchvQeIxJzdPD0A--Graham-Lilley-states-Lemmy-arrived-in-the-studio-without-an-amp-and-nothing-had-been-provided-so-he-asked-Gary-what-he-was-using-and-Gary-said-a-small-Gallien-Kruger-combo-Lemmy-asked-where-did-he-get-it-Gary-pointed-at-me-and-said-I-had-brought-it-Lemmy-asked-if-he-could-use-it-also-and-Gary-said-that-we-should-have-a-spare-one-which-I-had-brought-as-well-Gary-said-Oh-let-him-use-it-whats-the-worse-that-can-happen-Lemmy-used-it-for-the-sketch-and-afterwards-I-discovered-that-he-had-blown-a-speaker-and-trashed-it-within-an-inch-of-its-life-oops--This-lot-is-subject-to-VAT-at-20-on-the-hammer-price

The sketch https://vimeo.com/167985315

hollywoodrox · June 2023

Wow I’ve seen that sketch a few times ,didn’t know they used those

Aidanspaghetti · June 2023

Weren't Maiden using them back around Somewhere in Time?

hollywoodrox · June 2023

Aidanspaghetti said:

Weren't Maiden using them back around Somewhere in Time?

I think I read something about that

Pabcrane · July 2023

I think Dave Gilmore used one of these sound the Momentary Lapse era. I'm sure I read that somewhere

digtheditch · July 2023

Iron Maiden used to feature in the GK adverts in Guitarist https://www.ebay.com/itm/285163024155

digtheditch · July 2023

Dave Gilmore had one in his collection which was also featured in Guitarist back in the day. Not sure what he used it on though. A picture is in this thread https://gearspace.com/board/so-many-guitars-so-little-time/868289-gallien-krueger-250ml-2.html

digitalkettle · July 2023

hollywoodrox said:

Aidanspaghetti said:

Weren't Maiden using them back around Somewhere in Time?

I think I read something about that

From the SiT liner notes...

Danny1969 · July 2023

digtheditch said:

Dave Gilmore had one in his collection which was also featured in Guitarist back in the day. Not sure what he used it on though. A picture is in this thread https://gearspace.com/board/so-many-guitars-so-little-time/868289-gallien-krueger-250ml-2.html

Used on AMLOR .... I can hear it on Sorrow

ICBM · July 2023

AKA "A Monumental Lack Of Roger"

jeztone2 · July 2023

I spent an afternoon with one in the 1980’s. Teenager me loved it.

newi123 · July 2023

I bought one in the early noughties - always wanted one and found one on ebay

Sure the internal 6 inch speakers were shot on mine, but it also came with a 1x12 GK cab

Def had a particular sound, great fun to play around with. Also used to carry it as a spare - bailed me out one night when my then new mesa f-50 combo died. Plugged the GK Into the mesa speaker and played the gig (albeit, sounding a bit more 80s than usual!)

Would love another, but suspect it would only be for novelty value.

marxski · July 2023

Didn’t someone fry an egg on one of these once?

steveh · July 2023

I had one in the mid noughties.
I remember three things about it:

1. Huge sound from a very tiny, portable box.
2. Sounded like a Rockman X100 on steroids +++. Hair metal 4ever.
3. Didn't sound like a valve amp (why would it?), which I why I sold it. A pro player mate bought it - used it for sessions.

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Wow - Gallien-Krueger Krueger 250ML Little amp . Who had one

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