Gallien-Krueger

On this site you can read about the Gallien Krueger 800RB and the Gallien-Krueger Plex.

The 800RB and its reach into pedals

The 800RB's standing among bass players is such that other makers have built pedals around its sound. Dicosimo's RB800 is one example: a pedal whose circuit is modeled on the amp itself¹.

That a separate builder would name a pedal after the amp, and say so plainly on its own product page, says something about how the 800RB is regarded. For a bass player shopping bass pedals, this is the practical way Gallien-Krueger's name shows up on a pedalboard today: not only through the company's own products, but through amps-in-a-box like the Dicosimo RB800 that set out to capture the 800RB's character in a stompbox.

Gallien-Krueger's own pedal-format gear

The company's own contribution to the pedalboard is the Plex, a preamp covered on its own page here. Unlike a purely analog stompbox, the Plex is a product Gallien-Krueger continues to develop after purchase: the company publishes firmware updates for it on its website².

For players comparing preamp pedals, that update path is a meaningful difference from a fixed analog circuit. A pedal like the Dicosimo RB800 is what it is the day it is built, while the Plex can gain changes the maker releases over the life of the product²¹.

Where to read more

• Gallien Krueger 800RB: the amp whose circuit other builders have borrowed for pedal form
• Gallien-Krueger Plex: the company's preamp, with its firmware history
• Bass pedals: the wider field of effects for bass players, where both the company's own gear and 800RB-inspired pedals sit

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