The Wait Is Over: Gallien-Krueger’s RB Legacy 1001 and 2001 Are Now Shipping
After unveiling the series last year, Gallien-Krueger has announced that the 1001 and 2001 RB Legacy bass heads are now shipping. The analog amps are the result of five years of design work, 20 revisions, and thousands of hours of testing.
“It has been quite the journey to get here, so we want to thank everyone for their patience,” GK shares. “We can’t wait for you to plug in, we promise it will have been worth the wait!”
Founder and president Bob Gallien designed the RB Legacy series with a unique aspect. The RB Legacy 1001 and 2001 are equipped with Class H power amplifiers that use two power supplies: one for lower output levels and one for higher output levels.
“These amps are designed to be played loud and with this configuration, it not only improves reliability, but allows you to play hard into the rails (maximum output) without overheating the amplifier or worrying about your tone giving out, a problem with many bass amplifiers,” the company explains. “Most amps start to run out of juice as they reach their maximum output, but the RB Legacy delivers almost twice the current required to develop full power. So, you can keep control over the speaker cone, even in extreme conditions.” Having extra headroom lets your tone stay powerful and defined even at high volumes.
The models differ in their power output. The 1001 RB runs 300 watts RMS at 8 ohms, 400 watts at 4 ohms, 600 watts at 2 ohms, and up to 1,000 watts burst at 2 ohms. The 2001 RB has two amp sections that can be bridged for or used as dual mono. The dual mono power ratings are the same as the 1001, but the bridged power can deliver 1,200 watts RMS at 4 ohms and up to 2,000 watts burst.
Of course, power is not the only design aspect. The RB Legacy amps have three voicing filters (Bump, Contour, and Presence), an active EQ, a drive section, and a boost. New features include an adjustable limiter, cabinet simulation, and a studio headphone amp.
Hear Forest Gallien put the RB Legacy through its paces with a variety of sounds.
“We demo the versatility of the new RB Legacy heads through a live demo covering different music genres, while using a wide array of basses,” he writes. “We cover everything from Metal to Country, using a Jazz Bass, Precision (P-Bass), Active Zon Bass, and a Michial Tobias 5-String Kingston Bass. We adjusted the EQ and Boost settings to best serve every bass and backing track, aiming to demonstrate how different tones might sound in your own band.”
The Gallien-Krueger RB Legacy bass amps are available now with prices of $1,599 for the 1001 and $2,199 for the 2001.
Gallien-Krueger RB Legacy Bass Head Photos:
Gallien-Krueger RB Legacy Bass Head Features:
| 1001RB Power: | 300 W RMS @ 8ohms, 400 W RMS @ 4ohms, 600 W RMS @ 2 ohms, 700 W burst @ 4 ohms, 1000 W @ 2ohms |
| 2001 RB Power: | Bridged Power: 800 W RMS @ 8 ohms, 1200 W RMS @ 4ohms, 2000 watts burst @ 4 ohms; Dual Mono Power:: 300 W RMS @ 8ohms per channel, 400 W RMS @ 4 ohms per channel, 600 W RMS @ 2 ohms per channel, 700 W burst @ 4 ohms, 1000 W burst @ 2 ohms per channel |
| Preamp: | Solid State |
| Power Amp: | Class H, 16 Complementary BJT’s in Each Power Amp Section |
| Transformer: | Custom Toroidal Transformer |
| EQ: | Active, Serial, Variable Q, 4-band, Bump, Contour, Presence switches |
| Inputs: | 1 x 1/4″, 1 x 1/8 (aux) |
| Outputs: | 2 x SpeakON (1001RB), 6 x SpeakON (2001 RB), 1 x XLR (direct out), 1 x 1/4″ (tuner) |
| Headphones: | 1 x 1/8″ (Studio Quality) |
| Effects Loop: | Unbalanced ¼” Send and Return |
| Footswitch (Included): | 1 x 1/4″ (boost) |
| Cooling System: | 1 x Internal Fan with Thermal Speed Control (1001 RB) 2 x Internal Fans (2001 RB), Side and Back Intake Vents, Front Exhaust Vents |
| Power Source: | Standard IEC AC cable |
| Chassis: | Anodized Aluminum, Laser Etched Graphics |
| Height: | 5.25″ |
| Width: | 17.2″ |
| Depth: | 13″ |
| Weight: | 1001RB: 25 lbs, 2001 RB: 41 lbs |
In his time with No Treble, Kevin has met hundreds of amazing bassists and interviewed icons like Jack Casady, Victor Wooten, Les Claypool, Marcus Miller, and more. He's a gigging bassist performing jazz in Northern Virginia and bluegrass with The Plate Scrapers up and down the East Coast. Kevin appreciates all genres of music, from R&B to metal and everything in between. Connect with Kevin on Facebook and check his performance schedule on his website.
For a website called NO TREBLE it’s very disappointing to hear this new GK head horribly demo’ed using treble overloaded sound with every bass used. Did not hear the true tone of the head at all. My suggestion is, get a bass player to demo the head, utilizing the tones that I know GK is famous for. Having served me with excellent industry standard tone for over 40 years, I would think they would select a player capable of demonstrating it’s tonal range, rather than an annoying, growling, and brash treble nightmare with every bass used.
Hey Frank, we didn’t make the demo – GK did. Forest Gallien is a great bass player, and I’ll say that it’s a solid demo of the range of sounds you can get. Were you listening with headphones?
In any case, instead of leaving a snarky comment here, it would be more productive to write to GK and ask for what you want to hear.