Gallien-Krueger Backline 600 Head

A weak over drive channel, that was the first to go. The contour knob hasn't much effect on the tone. It has a noisy XLR out. 300 watts. at 4 ohms. Fan for cooling the amp. That failed also. Ever 1/4 inch connector had to be replaced after less than a year of owning it.

I bought it January 07
It can play most styles nothing that requires a serious low end and a bass presents. There is an effects loop.

I used it with a Fender Jazz Deluxe 4. A Schector Stilleto Studio 5 w/EMG Hz.

It doesn't suit anything it fails and sounds weak. It's noisy. The overdrive channel was noisy and too quiet at the same time.

Failed before 1 year of owning, had it repaired, now it's a weak sound. I've plugged into all 4 cabs that I own with the same outcome.

For a beginner it's cool. As long as it stays running. I won't buy it. Add $180 to you buying price and get a Eden wtx-260. Same wattage and it;s a EDEN.

Solid State, 300w @ 4ohms
4-Band active EQ
Adjustable Contour
Effects Loop
Boost Valve effect
Tha basics you know.
I purchased mine as a half stack that came with the G-K 410 GLX Cab.

I Play Every thing from Country to Alternative to Hard Rock, This amo can handle load. Very Loud! I've played with some very ***** guitarist with impressive Marshall half stacks and this Amp can hold it own. Against practice amps (even Tube) forget it this amp can drown them out easy.

Has two Channels, but one is just distortion, with all the types of music I play I yet to have found a use for the distortion channel. I think they could have done without this and gave it a more usefull feature. I agree with the comment below The "Contour" (voice)knob gives little to actually no help with developing a sound. How ever I find that the Bass Boost Valve effect usefull in the sense that I have my Cabinet on castors and I can add that thunderous Bass back into the sound. It comes in handy when that Guitar player slowly start cranking his amp through the night this give him the message.

I have a Squire Fender Vintage Jass Reissue (Don't knock it this guitar rivals high dollar quality fenders!Sad it had to carry the Squire brand).
This Amp handles all the styles that you would need. I play a clean sound with a stereo chorus and thats all. So far this monster can handle any type of music you want to play. I mainly play through the clean channel, the Second channel or the distortion channel is completely useless. as far as sound quality it is pretty decent. I love it with the being that this is my first G-K Im hooked I love the sound of it. I've played through Hartke, Crate, Pevey, Fender, and Ampeg Bass amps and this is by far the most rewarding.

I have gigged with it and it is my practice amp as well. With a bright imagination and knowledge of sound and stage setups. there is nothing that this amp cant do. Was planning on getting another 410 cab to get the full 300watts ou of it but so far I dont need it. I even thought about getting another identical set up (BL600 on a 410GLX cab) and playing out of them both. But I really dont need that, this amp is loud enough as is. and Im happy with it. I have only had the amp for about three months and it has never shut off or given any issue (knock on wood)!

Never had to call them and I hope I never will. I believe that this was purchased with a 2 year warranty. I will use it if I need it.

I have been playing for about 3 years wit various bands and friends. If it were Stolen I would hunt that person down (censored) and get my amp back. If it broke down I would get it replaced or definatly get something in the G-K Family, this amp got me hooked.

2 channels, 4 band EQ, effects loop, direct out, mute and pad switches, etc; it's all laid out in other reviews. It has pretty much everything you would expect of an amp of this size and kind. However, not all these features are particulary well-implemented or useful.

Tonally, this amp is not bad - it does most things well for a cheap amp, but it suffers from a couple of bad pitfalls. I use it with a GK Backline 410 cab and a mexican Fender 5 string jazz bass.

Firstly, and the main reason I bought it, is that it is LOUD, and can give a good tone fully cranked. The clean channel is pretty good; it's fairly clear and responsive, and the sound is quite warm. It doesn't start distorting until you're pushing the amp hard, but it's never really clean either. However, the colour it lends the tone is very pleasent, and is not one of this amp's problems. It also handles the low B string well, and doesn't stumble with low registers. Likewise, I've never had a problems with a 'farting' tone on higher strings with this amp. But, it doesn't ever really bite or pierce through the mix, which although is not a huge problem for me, may be you. All in all, the clean channel is quite good, although somewhat limited in scope.

The EQ, likewise, is limited, but acceptable. It's not a particulary powerful EQ, meaning you can't badly mess up your tone, but neither can you do much to sculpt it to your preference. You're probably better off getting a seperate EQ unit. The boost and contour controls are more problematic, as they either give a mild effect or ruin your tone. Use them conservatively, and they'll add a bit of edge that the amp is otherwise lacking.

Now, the problem. The distortion channel is useless. Despite extensive fiddling with the amps controls and the EQ on my bass, I've found it impossible to coax a halfway bearable tone out of this channel. It's thin and brittle, despite being fairly mild, and sucks all the bottom end out of your bass. A big muff leaves more bottom end than this. For a bass, it's completely unuseable.
Another problem is that a small degree of noise always seems to be present, and nothing really gets rid of this.

I use this amp mainly for jazz, funk and metal. It handles all of these well within a limited scope, but doesn't lend itself particulary well to any of them. If anything, its suited to a more rock environment. However, for a workhorse amp on a budget, it's better than any of the other half-stacks out there in the same price range.

I bought this towards the end of 2007. The first one I got failed in the first 2 weeks, when it would not switch off the distortion channel. However, it was promply replaced, and the one I have now has not hiccupped once in the time I've had it, despite a getting very hot a couple of times.

I have not dealt directly with GK.

For what it is, and the debacle that is the distortion channel aside, this amp is good. If it were stolen, though, I would probably buy a different one, as I've worked out my needs more specifically since I bought it. However, if what you need is a cheap, loud bass amp for a rock setting, and you're not too worried about the finer details of your tone, this is one of the better choices out there. If you want anything outside this narrow scope, look elsewhere.

Not too bad, ok for an inexpensive amp. The distortion is not too useful, I'd use outboard effects if you want that sound. If I never played though this amp again I wouldn't miss it. If it was more reliable it would be a good amp for a beginner.

Pleyed through it about 10 times, then the master volume started working intermittantly. Now the master volume stays on 100% unless you apply pressure to the knob. Seems like the connection to the circuit board is bad.

I'm about to try to contact them to return it for repair. The last time I tried calling with a question I had to leave two messages and never got a response. I sent an email and it was answered about a month later.

I've been playing for about 30 years, got this amp for my son to use and thought I'd use it for practice when he wasn't using it. Well, you get what you pay for when you buy an amp made in China. Save your money and either get a USA made GK if you crave the GK sound or look to other amps.

Standard features as listed by others. The overdrive lacks definition, buy a pedal. I've practiced with this amp for 15 months and until now have had no problems

Pretty good sound. You can shape the tone well, contour knob doesn't seem to do anything though. High volume is still as crisp as it is turned down.

After 15 months the distortion feature will not turn off. It's not turned on, but won't go away. I play mostly blues with no need for distortion so...It's junk to me now. Maybe it'll make a good boat anchor... But, it did work great until now.

Haven't called them yet, but they will definetly be hearing from me.

It worked great for a while...4 hour practices with loud playing didn't seem to bother it until... Wish it still worked, but now I have an excuse to tell my wife I need Ampeg gear

I bought this amp used from eBay about a month ago. This appears to be a fairly new amp, late 2007/early 2008 at best. Solid state, and very light weight. Features include 2 channels (1 clean, 1 distorted - footswitchable), Contour control to boost lows and highs and cut mids, 4 band parametric EQ (Trebble, Hi-Mid, Low-Mid, Bass), boost, master, and gain controls, tuner out with mute, effects loop, XLR out, -10db input pad for active basses, and 2 1/4" speaker outputs. All very usable, though I'm not so sure about the distortion channel yet. The EQ is tough at first, very little adjustment is needed.

I play Fender Jazz basses with passive pickups in a rock band, and this amp suits the style perfectly. It's punchy through my Sunn 1x12/1x18 cabinet, and it has enough power to cut through the mix. The amp is very quiet, unless you use the distortion channel, but that's expected. I noticed that high peak notes in the lower register tend to distort even on the clean channel, but I think this is controllable.

I've only had this about for about a month now, and we haven't played any gigs yet, so I'm not sure how it will handle constant gigging. But, it can handle a long practice with ease. No issues so far.
I've never used a backup before, but my recent experience with my Trace Elliot dying without any warning might make me rethink that decision.

I only had to deal with GK once. I had a question regarding the fan, and decided to call. I got someones voice mail, so I decided to e-mail GK. I got a response within 20 minutes. Kudos to GK for that.

I've been playing bass for 20 years, mainly in rock or metal bands. I'm currently using the previously mentioned Fender Jazz basses and Sunn 1x12/1x18 cabinet (heavy, but powerful). In the past I've used amps from Peavey, Hartke, Ampeg, and Trace Elliot. It's tough to compare to my previous gear, as the Backline 600 really has it's own voice. I really like this amp, and would replace it if lost or stolen. I compared it to the Berhinger and Ashdown offerings in the same price range and wattage, and this one just seemed to stand above the other two. I wouldn't mind getting matching cabinets for this amp, or even another amp as a backup. For the price, it might be worth it. This is a great amp for the price.

2 channels, solid state - 1 clean, 1 overdrive, so you'll need to purchase a footswitch.
It has an effects loop in the back of the unit which is a nice option to have effects like delays and loopers that still play when you're in silent tuning.
It's rack-mountable, so you don't have to worry about damage during transport.
I used this head in a heroin rock/shoegaze/rock band and a post-hardcore outfit. The two channels made it versatile since I didn't use any pedals up until the time that I sold it.

I used both active and passive Fender jazz basses with this. I had to disengage the active pickups in the one bass b/c when I activated the overdrive channel, there was insane feedback.
The head suited the different styles of my bands well. I wish there was more shaping to the overdrive channel that wouldn't effect the clean channel.
The clean channel was clear, but not warm like tube amps.
The overdrive channel was heavy, but again, it's not warm like tube distortion...

I had some crackling on the high knob from the time of purchase and I didn't want to bring it back to the store (too lazy at the time), so I dealt with it.
I never had any real issues with the head. It was solid!

I sold this head to upgrade to an Ampeg SVT classic tube head. I gave up 2 channels and an effects loop for warmth in my sound.

If you want a 2 channel, solid state head that's loud, durable, and dependable, this head is for you!

Features of this head are all I need for rock, metal, slap and jazz sounds I play. I play in mostly small areas the size of a very large garage and the BK600 is far more power than I need, but it carries a full sound that can inspire you to dance. I rarely use the distortion channel and would choose to use the patch bay when inserting different effects. But if you choose to use this channel you will probably like what you can get out of it.

I would recommend using the amp without effects connected in the patch bay at least for the first few hours of getting one. I say this because my effects generator was the culprit in creating noise instead of having full quieting between songs. Also, my effects box was limiting the level of clean power and amplitude that I could get from the 4x10 cabinet and the 1x15 cabinet. The active band equalizer seems to need small adjustments to aquire a large margin of sound variance. After purchasing the 115 GLX cabinet to go with the 4x10 cabinet, the sound is punchy, full bodied and you can literally feel some breezes comming out of the sound baffle on the upper edge of the cabinet. The lowes highs are clean and I really like how clean the sound is, and for less then half the price of many fine amps in the same power catagory. I've had my amp for 3 months now and about 15 of my musician friends love the sound and want to buy one now.

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This amp kicks butt.

I bought this amp in a second hand store a month ago for 166???. It has two channels, one for overdrive and one for clean sounds. Included is a parametric 4 band EQ, a Contour knob, a Boost knob (to add some growl to the mids, I think), a gain knob for the overdrive channel, volume knobs for both channels and a master volume knob. It has a tuning mute switch, a switch to reduce the signal in the preamp and outputs for tuners, two cabinets and a D.I. XLR output (pre/post-EQ switchable).

enough to get a proper sound out of it.

I use a Yamah BB 404 a passive Jazz-Bass with it. My cabinet is a GK Backline 2*10". It's a little noisy if you only use one of the Pick ups with tone-control at 10, but does not matter at all. after trying a few EQ settings, I decided to push the mids to 2 o'clock and to bass and treble to 12. The contour knob is interesting, but I don't need it for my sound. The Boost knob, I turned as far as possible, Volume A (Gain for Clean channel) is turned to about 10 o'clock. I use the Master volume to get the right loudness. The amp sound good over the cheap Cabinet, in comparison to other Cabinets in this price range, but when you hit the e-string too hard, there is somekind of distortion.

The heights come clear and not too loud, the middles a nice and punchy and the bass delievers a nice foundation.

All in all you can get a very nice tone out of it, if you only try to.

I mostly don't use the overdrive channel, in fact I don't own a footswitch. But the channel has an interessting dry tone. I like it.

I cannot give a statement for this topic, I just own it for a few days.

Dunno

Good amp for this price. But you should get a better Cabinet, maybe a 2*12" or a good 1*15" and 4*10" to get a realy great sound.

I'll give it an overall 8, cause it's (of course) not comparable to higher class amps, and I just don't know how the amp sounds live. In practice room I've got enough power, and a lot of headroom.

I bought my GK Backline 600 in 2005. For the price, the features are very good - balanced line out with ground lift, nice EQ and tone shaping controls such as Contour, and the dirty channel rocks. The ability to add a pedal is essential for switching between the clean and overdriven sounds. The only feature I would say GK could realistically add to an entry-level amp like this would be Speakon connectors.

I will give this a 10 since it could really have a bunch more features, but considering the price/sound/reliability I have experienced it has PLENTY.

I played this amp using a Fender P/J and a Spector, both 5-string. The amp has a decidedly solid-state sound particularly suitable for hard rock, which is mostly what I play. The EQ and tone shapng is sufficient to be able to get what you need out of the axe/amp/cab combination you are using, and the overdrive channel is great for some hard rock tunes. It is not super-quiet, but sufficiently quiet for most purposes. I tried this amp next to similarly priced and marketed models (such as the Behringer Ultrabass) and it was the better sounding amp BY FAR.

My 9 rating should be put within the context of other amps in this range. Against my Ampeg SVT I would give it a 4.

I have had ZERO problems with this amp. Before I could afford a backup, I played many gigs with the same Backline 600 with no backup. After 2 years of using it without backup, I would not be too nervous doing it again. That said, I do value the professional reputation of my band and myself so I recommend always having a backup when feasible. The Backline is now backup for my SVT and I would be comfortable playing an important gig with it if necessary.

I have not had to deal with support in any way, thus my lack of opinion on the matter.

I've been playing bass casually in local bands for about 15 years. I have used various amps such as a Fender BXR300C, GK 800RB, and Ampeg SVT6-PRO. In this price range, I have never seen a better value. I had $300 to work with, went to the store, and tried everything in that range and this was the standout. The fact that I have had no issues is icing on the cake.