Gallien-Krueger 250BL Backline Head

I would give this amp a "10" on features simply because of the two channels. The "Contour" control and 4-band EQ allow for plenty of tonal variation. However, I don't particularly care for the sound and level of the XLR direct out, so I subtract one point. I love simplicity with instrument amplification - more bells and whistles usually means less tone and more problems. The amp has exactly what I need. I also deduct another point for the rack kit being extra and expensive. Another point deduction for only being operable at 8-ohms. But, then again, at $125.00 used, I guess I can't expect it to perform like an old Trace Elliot. I'll go with an "8."

I've been a GK fan for well over 10 years now. I bought this amp for two reasons - low volume rehearsals and to serve as the distortion side of a stereo set up for live use. It does both very well. Good, clean tones for low volume rehearsals. And the distortion channel sounds fantastic with my 8 and 12-string basses. I'd been long searching for a better distortion tone, and this is it. Extremely ballsy. Retains low end without being muddy. It sounds best with passive pickup basses - I wish Hamer didn't use EMGs. And sounds good through 10s or 15s, although I prefer 10s for the distortion tone. The distortion sounds surprisingly good with 4-string basses, too. And no tubes to worry about.

Never had a problem with a GK product in over 10 years.

Great website - have never needed to contact them for repair issues.

I read the bad reviews about the combo versions of this amp. I think people expect way too much out of a 125-watt bass combo amp the size of a 4-slot toaster. It's not going to sound like a 1x15/4x10 stack. This is a great little bass head - extremely versatile. I can do light rehearsals with a small cabinet and carry everything in one trip. Or I can hook it up to a 4x10 and remove plaster with a 12-string bass. If I had to do it over again, I would have purchased the 350 model, which is more power and can push a 4-ohm load. But the $125 was too good to pass up. I'll problably get a 350 at some point, or one of the new Backline 600 models. 8.5

Made in 2005. I use this little amp for casual and club gigs in a variety of settings, mostly country pop and dance.It handles all very well. It has channel switching but I never use the distortion channel. I feel it has plenty of features for my needs but the ones i like best are the tuner input and bypass switch. Also the direct out is a boon for sound engineers. This amp combined with my Aguilar 112 cab is plenty loud enough for casuals and club gigs, but probably would be hard pressed in a loud rock band. For my use it has plenty of power, and I have only ever had to turn it up to 5 to get the volume needed. I rank it highly for it's awesome active EQ, and truthfully it has many fine features I don't even use. Did I mention that it was cheap too?

I can get all the tones I need with this amp's comprehensive tone stack. I use a Mexican 60's reissue Jazz bass that is stock and run it into the Aquilar cab. No matter the song I can get the sound I need, and mostly I set it and forget it, using my bass' controls to get different sounds. The distortion channel is fun, but I never use it, as the material I play does not fit with distorto-bass. The clean channel has tons of headroom for my use, and my cabinet can handle more than this head can dish out. I can't believe such good GK sound at such a low price!

Oh yea-I can depend on it and never need a backup. Keep in mind that I'm not needing to run either head or cabinet hard to get all the volume I need. I keep it clean and am careful with all my gear. This rig seems very stout and well built!

Have sent in warranty card but not experienced any problems as of yet.

I've been playing guitar in original rock bands for over 20 years and have a ton of very cool vintage guitar gear. This amp rig (Mexi Jazz, GK, and Aguilar) were bought for one sole purpose: To make cash on the weekends playing mostly country and dance pop in cover bands in casual and club dates. I bought this stuff for these reasons: Reliability,portability, flexible tone, small size, low weight, and cheap price. It works well, as I only have 650 bucks in my bass, amp, and cab. I can strap my bass' gigbag on my back and carry my cab in one hand and the head in the other. I needed this stuff to be cheap, easy to use and portable. If it were lost or taken, I'd probably get the same head again. It really suits my needs to a tee, and I've had many compliments from both the folks I play with and patrons at gigs. I recommend it highly for those needing and amp for this kind of playing.

The features have already been listed in detail in other reviews. I really like the mute for the tuner. An adjustable compressor/limiter would be more useful than the overdrive channel.
A second set of speaker inputs would greatly extend the usability of the unit.

This unit was part of a GK package that included the head, a single 15" speaker cab, and some thin speaker and head covers, cables, and casters.

Sound is amazingly good using the clean channel. I just don't have a need for the overdrive and never use it. If you can't dial in a usable sound with 4 bands of eq and a contour, have you ears replaced. I play blues and rock in medium sized clubs, using a variety of Fender 4 string bass. I use the head with a GK Backline 115xl (single 15") cab. I like to remove the back set of casters to angle the sound up a little. I push this pretty hard (normally running it at 60 - 90% of max) and the amp and cab stay tight and clean. I really am amazed at the quality and quantity of sound for the money.

For those using 5 & 6 string bass, yes it will easily handle the low B string.

OK-- I've read about the overheating problems some others have experienced. Either I'm the luckiest person alive or GK has fixed the problem. Looks like additional ventilation in the case and probably larger heat sinks internal. I recently used the amp when my band hosted a jam session. The head was turned on and in constant (sometimes brutal) use for 4 straight hours. No problems at all and the amp was barley warmer than room temperature at the end of the night. In actually the Backline 250 runs much cooler than my Ampeg SVT350 head. (Not as much power, but much lighter and cooler running.)
I'm so please with the amp, I have stopped carrying a backup head.

Haven't needed to contact them.

I've been playing since the late 60's and have owned dozens of head, cabs, and combos over that time. The Backline 250 is an incredible value and great performer. It rivals heads costing hundreds more. I especially like the tone (big, full bodied, room shaking lows, with clear mid and highs). It is very easy to dial in an excellent tone with a variety of basses. The head is extremely light weight and easy to move around. The cab is pretty standard for weight and size (maybe a little lighter than some, it's about 60 pounds).

Compared to: Peavey combos? too heavy and harsh sounding. Behringer BX450H too heavy, control knobs felt flimsy, Ampeg Porta Bass, Eden and Mesa Walkabout ? great sound and weight but way out of my price range. Overall the GK Backline had the most appealing sound with the lowest weight and cost.

I don?t hate anything, but I find the overdrive channel to be totally useless and a waste of front panel space.

When the venue size demands it I use two of the GK Backline 115 cabs with the SVT350 head. I'm finding I carry the large rig less and less, especially if the house has a large PA, I just use the Backline head and DI off the front panel.

This is a great head. two channels (clean and overdrive) effects loop, tuner imput, built in DI but, no fan. I have had my amp for about a year now and it shut off the first night i had it! I installed a new heat sink to help with the cooling proccess. The only gripe i have is the about the overdrive channel. Yeah... its overdrive but it still needs to sound clean.

The sound of this head is tremendously versitle. In one day i did a jazz gig at noon, a blues gig at 5pm and my rock band at 10pm. Needless to say the only knobs i touched from gig to gig were the volume/boost knob!!! I have three main basses that i run through this head. A Fender Highway 1 jazz bass hot rodded with a badass bridge, hipshot tuners with extension key and fender noisless pickups. I also have an American Standard Jazz bass ( I know.. i allready joined the jazz bass fanclub) and a Brice 6-string fretless. Most of the time my i leave my tone knob down on a jazz bass for a real john paul johns sound but, if i'm at a funk gig i just turn the tone knob up and i'm ready to roll. I think that the head is really quiet do to lack of fan

Once the heat sink got installed i've had no problem even at a four blues brothers tribute gig. This is my main amp i take it everywhere!

never used it

Great amp versitile and built to last. I run it through the GK 410 backline cab. If this one was ever stolen i would get another. its a $300 amp with a $1200 sound. One thing that stands out in my mind is that fact that it so small. I LOVE IT. I can get all my gear from the car to the stage in one trip! its a good amp make it better and install a heatsink yourself!

The only other review listed for this amp tells all the features including 2 channels, one being an overdrive. So I'm not going into all that. It has every feature I want in an amp, except I wish it had more power. I've played about 40 shows with it and it was only really sufficient in the smallest of rooms. Most of the time, my sound man has to crank my monitor if I'm going to hear myself. I don't use all of the features such as the effects loop or the tuner imput, but that's just because I don't want to run any more cables than I absolutely have to. My sound man doesn't let me use the direct out that is on the amp because he says that the signal is clearer through a direct box. His live recordings sound better than many studio recordings, so I trust his opinion.Overall, for the price, you can't buy an amp with more/better features

I play a '75 Reissue Fender Jazz Bass with Bassline Pickups. I play Tropical Rock and it suits my style. Honestly, this amp could work for any style of music unless you need power, but what do you expect for $300. Tonaly, this amp sounds beautiful, but only at low volumes. If you take it much past 12 o'clock on the volume, it distorts. It has a fairly meaty distortion which I don't use because it is not compatible with our style. I have nothing to compare the distortion to because I have never had that option on a bass amp before. It sounds better that the Tubescreamer that I tried just for fun. Remember, my category ratings do take into account price. This is a cheap amp.

I have to say BOOO in reguard to reliability. This amp has cut out on me at at least 5 different shows. I think GK made one fatal mistake with this amp....There is no fan! This may be one of the reasons that the amp is so cheap. Personaly, I would rather have an amp with a cooling fan and no effects loop, tuner imput, overdive channel, or boost knob than to have all those features and an overheating amp. In GK's defense, at least they had the brains to give it a feature that cuts off the amp when it gets hot, so you don't burn it up. If the amp didn't have that, mine would have been toast long ago. This amp could work great for low volume coffee house gigs and practice sessions, but it has been a nightmare on the road.

There is a 2 year limited warranty. I have never had it serviced. I have not contacted the company, although I would like to give them a piece of my mind.

If it got stolen, I would save up enough money for an amp with some power and a cooling fan. I am trying to save enough money for a new amp. I will keep this one for a practice amp. That's what it's best suited for. I only bought it because the last amp that I had (which I bought used) died on me. It had a long hard life under it's last owner.

This amp was made in 2002. 125 watts @ 8 ohms, solid state. Quite a versatile amp, it has 2 channels(Clean and Overdrive) which I believe makes this the first bass amp to offer this, an effects loop, xlr line-out with pre/post and ground lift switches, tuner out, mute switch, footswitch out,-10db pad, 4 band active eq, clip LED. I think that's it. The only thing I wish is that the patch bay was in the back. Otherwise it's fine though. I use this band in a 3-piece best described as a punk band I hate classifying. It has enough power for practice but I'm gonna have to upgrade to something with more power later. I think I could get buy doing gigs with this I'll just have to boost my mids.

I use this with a Peavey Milestone V 5-string bass with Jazz pick-ups. It suits my style great I can quite a wide variety of tones by just slightly adjusting the EQ. It's very quiet. The clean channel will sound somewhat distorted at high volumes but I guess that's just because the power section isn't so large. The overdrive channel is quiet good however you really need to open the volume on Channel B if you want a light overdrive.

This amp is cooled by a convection vent, it gets somewhat hot. Although running it for an hour or two I have no problems and it doesn't shut down. I'll see if I can update this review if I have any problems.

I contacted the company by e-mail and asked them a few questions I got an e-mail back from them within the next day. Also at talkbass.com a rep from GK is a member there and helps out just about anyone with any problems they have. He's also a pretty nice guy too.

This amp is great, I wouldn't buy a new one if it were stolen because I'd save for one with more power. I run this through a Backline BLX410 cabinet. I like this amp alot, the only thing I don't like is there isn't alot of power and the patching bay is in the front but for $300 dollars what do you expect?! For the money it has quite alot of features. I compared this to Ampeg, Mesa, Trace Elliot and SWR. I love the GK tone and although this is the cheapest model I prefer this over everything but Mesa and Trace. Mesa and Trace are just different I wouldn't say I like them better. Price was a factor in my purchase but If I had the money I would buy a 700RB over the others.