Gallien-Krueger 250RL Head

I own 2 of these, they are both 1985. Recently purchased #2 used, for a backup in my rack. It has an A channel, which is for cleaner sound, and the B channel has a great tube overdrive simulation. I use the B all the time. I was used to backing off the vol. pot on my guitar for a less-driven tone with my tube amps, so the drive channel works for me.
I love the back panel features which allow me to run rack effects in stereo. I have it set up with and additional parametric EQ which I use for master vol. control, because this thing cranks with the B vol up all the way.
I don't use the built in effects, I prefer my own delay over the reverb it has.

I am in an 80's band, so it's perfect. We do some classic rock, too and my Les Paul feels right at home. This amp has always responded nicely. I get a huge sound out of it, maybe due to my 1970 Marshall 4x12 greenback Celestion cab wired for stereo. (2x25w/16 ohm = 50w/8 ohm per side, which is exactly what the amp's output is)

This amp has been repaired twice in 23 years. Last time 8 years ago because of brutal cold/ then heat onstage

I have never contacted GK for anything. My tech just about invented this amp, knows it inside-out. J.D. Gibson is the man.

I've been playing for 39 years. Right now the RL250 is all I use. There is nothing not to like about this amp. It meets my needs all around. It's lightweight and fits my style, safely in a rack, and PLENTY of power!

Solid state two channel with echo and chorus. Limited features, but for it's size it does pack quite a punch. Direct out, two 8ohm speaker outputs at 50watts each. Headphone,footswitch. I gave it an 8 because of the EQ section.

Very very good clean channel, and the distortion channel rocks too! I was very surprised with what this amp can do. The last EQ pot. is damaged so i have to push in on it to get the sound adjustment out of it. Even so it still sounds great for a solid state amp.

After opening up the top cover and inspecting the inner components. It looks very well built as long as you don't "tinker" very much with the mini-pots inside. The pots. have what looks like plastic shafts so it figures that they would damage easy. Although why thrash it around anyway? Overall it seems very solid, especially the case.

Heard some good and bad from other people. I have no opinion on this.

I paid under $120 for mine used, but i don't think i'd pay anymore that that though. I like that for its size the tone it puts out. If it broke i'd try to find a nicer one. Better to buy new stuff anyway unless older collections are your thing.

I think these amps were made in the seventies or eighties. I never liked the little speakers that come with the 250ml's, so I thought I try the head. It has two channels and puts out 50 watts per side to two output jacks. I guess that's 100 watts total. Anyway, it sounds plenty loud. The amp also has compression, reverb (labelled "echo"), a nice chorus effect, and a high gain switch for each channel.

Very nice solid state sound, like a Kustom or Acoustic Control Corp. amp. The distortion is good too; very tube like. This amp could do a good Jazz Chorus imitation with the chorus on. I use it with one speaker, but it would be better with two, so you could put 50 watts to each speaker and get the full stereo effect. The amp would be great for classic rock sounds; and it also works for Jazz if you stick to the clean channel.

These amps are made in USA and seem well built. The head is made to be mounted in a rack, but you can also stick it on top of the cab like I do, and it works fine that way too. Seems very reliable for a thirty year old amp. Everything works, and the pots aren't even scratchy.

I've never dealt with customer support for GK. I don't think they make guitar amps anymore anyway.

There were some great solid state amps that were made in the 70's. I always think of the tuck and roll Kustom amps, the Acoustic 150 heads, and the Gibson Lab Series amps. But these GK amps are also very good, and they are more portable to use with a cab. If you don't like the 2x5 configuration of the 250 ml, then one of these heads might be worth a try. Jazz guys pay a fortune now for a simple, good sounding, portable head. And you can get these on Ebay for around a hundred bucks.

feb 1984, for 1984 this thing is great, 2004, needs a lil push

recently bought 4 35 watter 12 inch speakers for this amp. wired in stereo 2 on each side. 70 watts total on each side. being that this amp is 50 watts stereo its able to push the speakers very well. volume isnt really a problem anymore since it can push the speakers now as before it used to struggle to push 150 watts stereo that a regular cab would have.

sounds are pretty cool, i tweaked it a bit in the fact that i messed with the lil pots on the inside. (please note that if you do this you should be prepared to buy a new 50volt capasitor cause youll kill the old one...done it 3 times with 2 of these amps)

sounds just like a nice medium to mild distortion but i use a bit of a tube screamer to throw it over the top. full on bass and the rest of the knobs are at 9 oclock. love this amp.

mess with it like i have and youll be fixing it. leave it alone and run it properly and youll be fine

GK rocks, they always answered my phone calls and emails about this amp.

love this amp love it. only thing i could see being better would be a GK 2100sel

Bought new in 1987 along with 2X12 GK cab, 2 channels, usual stuff for a 250 RL

Use Strat, 335, ibanez depending on style of the gig. Clean is clean, especially like to use it on jazz gigs with 335, gets a good jc 120 sound without the heft of cartage. Use inconjunction with Korg A1 processor for rock/top 40 gigs. also have another tube amp I switch between on the gigs.(footswitch)

Amp is a trooper, only went down when a drunken patron sheared off speaker wire plug and messed up the output jack.

NA

playing for 20 years, would replace with newer if stolen. In response to other reviewers on the lack of volume, there are a couple of choices.One, run direct to the board or, two, open up the top of the amp and boost the output from the internal controls. GK does not recommend you do this But it was a must when I first purchased and played in a trio format. Have expeienced no problems from this mod.

I purchased this amp because I have a Gallien Krueger MLE combo that I absolutely love. This 250 RL is from the mid 80's from what I can tell. 50 watts per side stereo. Fixed chorus and reverb (actually reverb with a minute amount of delay). Two channels, one with gain, and one with gain and compression. The gain and compression settings are fixed as well. Aux input to jam along with CD's.....although mines appears to operate only in mono. Also it has a balanced XLR output which I used to go straight into the board during gigs. For it's time this amp was packed with features. By todays standards it is somewhat lacking.

Current Guitars are an Ernie Ball Musicman Axis SS, and a Washburn USA Custom Shop WMS. I use the Tech 21 TRI-OD as a pre-amp, and then various effects depending on the gig, and my mood at the time. For a cab I use a GK 2X12 loaded with Celestion GT-75's. Well.....I'm a bit disappointed in this category. I have a GK MLE combo, and purchased this unit because I loved the MLE so much, and wanted to use this to power my 2X12 cabinet. I runs a tech 21 TRI-OD into the effects return of the MLE and simply LOVE the sound. Simply put if you plan on running a preamp into the effects return of this amp you will not have enough volume. Even though the RL and MLE are both rated at 50 watts per side (100 watts total) the MLE is MUCH louder than the RL. I simply couldn't hear myself at rehearsal running the amp this way, and had to resort to plugging the output of my TRI-OD into the input on the front of the amp, which changed the sound entirely (not in a good way). When using the inputs on the front of the amp I had plenty of volume. Unfortunately I couldn't get enough balls, and the bass was almost non existent this way. The mids were very peaked........ sounded like Tom Sholtz from the band 'Boston".......lot's of mids, no lows......no matter how I eq'd it. Very disappointing. The cleans on this amp are as amazing as the cleans on the MLE. The reverb is really a digital reverb with a slight amount of delay (about 100 ms). Not bad....but not my cup of tea. I use the reverb from a Boss RV-3 instead. The chorus is great.....although it's not adjustable. It's set just about the way I would set a pedal, so my Boss CE-5 has come off my pedal bord and the use the built in chorus on the amp instead. The amp is a bit noisy.....there's a background hiss that always seems to be there, and the hiss also comes through quite audibly in the PA when using the XLR out on the back of the head. The built in distortion is very grainy sounding. Pretty terrible. You should plan on running your own OD pedal into this unit to get some useable distortion tones.

Built like a tank. No issues here.

Wrote the GK support department weeks ago concerning some parts for my GK cab and never heard back from them. I then called and got voicemail. Left a voicemail message, and never got a return call. The techs should all be written up, and the tech support manager fired. Support this bad tells me Bob Gallien doesn't give a shit. Pity. GK are you listening? Get your act together! Support is HALF the product. No matter how good your product is, if your support sucks the product sucks. Call Mesa Boogie or Morley and take some damn notes. Geeeez.......

Been playing about 20 years. I currently gig with a local Top 40 band, covering all styles from 70's rock through 80's metal and modern grunge. Well......I really wanted to like this amp. With the volume issue (when running the TRI-OD into the effects return) this amp is pretty unuseable for me. I'm still looking for an MLE head. If you can find an MLE snap it up.....it is an incredible amp. If I can find an MLE head, then I'll keep this as a backup.......otherwise I see this going up on eBay in a couple of months.

it has all the features you could want. efx loop. build in choures and reverb. head phone jack. direct out. its plently loud, maybe too loud. im not sure at all what year it was made. its a stereo head. 50 watts per side. works well for the style i play. 2 channels.. good stuff

im using a gibson SG thru a marshall jcm900 4X12 cab.
i love this amp. ive owned a fender bassman, fender tremolux, marshall jcm900, peavey 5150 and mesa dual recto rackmount and oddly this amp has surpassed all of them.
its very warm and sounds a lot like a tube amp should sound, (even though its solid state) punchy warm and with lots of bass responce, its easy to get harsh solid state tone but its just as easy to get a very convincing tube amp sound. i like to turn the mid ranges and treble down and crank the bass for a dense distortion. i like to add an ibanez tube screamer with it to get more gain and bass. i suggest the tube screamer because thats the only overdrive i know of that can match the warm tones of this amp.

the clean is very nice. its not too loud and floppy, pretty much your average solid state clean sound but a very good one indeed. theres a compressor button that pretty much just gives you more treble and edge, theres a gain switch which gives you just a bit more edge. makes it sound a lot like the clean channel on my of 5150, but it still retains its cleanness.

on the distortion channel i like to keep the extra gain button off because all it does it just ruin great warm tone but adding a bit more treble and not much more distortion..if any.

well, its broken down on me twice already. be VERY VERY carefull how you run this amp into your speakers. anything under or over an 8 ohm load will destory it. you can fun 2 16 ohm cabs though. 1st time was because of my stupidity on the ohm matter and the 2nd with messing with the distortion pots on the inside. i dont reccomend doing this. it does help but you have to be very minimal with tweeking it. ts best to keep them at 1 o clock. these things are so cheap though that having a few more couldnt hurt.

great team over at GK. answered a lot of my emails and questions.

ive been playing for 7 years now. if it were stolen (which i can see possible cause you can fit it inside your jacket) id replace it in a heartbeat. i dont really dislike much about this amp, just gotta be careful with it. like i said ive compared it to a lot of tube amps and a few solid state ones and i liked this one out of all of them. a built in 5 band EQ would be nice, i feel it needs one, but it isnt too much of an issue but this amp has just about everything going for it that an EQ would make it perfect.

ive heard its also good for bass so that just makes this thing even that much more awesome for anyone who wants to mess around on bass but not spend money on a bass amp.

ive FOUND MY TONE! who knew it was in an old forgotten cheap as dirt solid state amp.

This is the head version of the 250ML combo. Likely it was made in the 80's as it nails the sounds of Rush, the Fixx, etc. (killer stereo chorus built in). The amp has channel switching, stereo amp with 50 watts per side, chorus, delay, compression, FX loop, stereo aux in, headphone jack, direct out, 4 band EQ, distortion and additional micro pots on the PC board which can be tweaked as well. All of this is designed in a very small, compact package, much like the famous GK 400RB bass head. Can be installed in a rack.

I play mainly Strats, Les Pauls and JEMs with this amp. It handles them all well after a little re-EQing. I play hard rock, progressive rock, shred, R&B and roots rock. While this amp does a decent job, it sounds a little brittle which was the case with most solid state amps from the 80's. The newer modeling amps and high gain tube amps sound better, but this amp has it's place with them all. When I first got the amp it sounded OK, but needed more oomph. I adjusted the internal micro pots and it really made a huge difference. This thing roars! You can dial in more distortion than you'd ever want and the EQ works very well. The clean sounds are a little brittle but very usuable as well.
I find this is a great amp for recording, especially when layering several guitar tracks. It sounds best when mixed in with tube amp tracks playing different parts. It's a great way to get different sounds and isolate each guitar track on a recording. The sterile sound is actually good as it stands apart from other tracks very well. I give it an 8 in this category, keeping in mind this is a solid state amp and should be expected to sound like one. I wouldn't compare the sound to the complexity of my Lee Jackson or Rivera amps.

Very. It's almost twenty years old.

GK only makes bass amps these days, but their network of authorized dealers can repair it if needed. Maybe it'll be collectable one day...Nah!

A great, compact amp for someone looking for something a little different. Nails Alex Lifesons lush chorus sound, (he also used GK guitar amps for a while). Nice piece of 80's nostalgia. Very useful when recording.