Gallien-Krueger ML/S Head

I owned a roland jazz chorus (120) and was looking for a "better" solid state amp. then I saw the ML/S and fell in love with it (or her?). so tiny and light. it was mounted in a rack in a store for over 5 years and nobody wanted it (or her). the whole time, as I was pretty unexperienced, i thought it would be something like a preamp. only the tiny little cab disturbed me. when my dealer told me, that it was really powerfull amp i checked it out.
two channel, stereo poweramp, headphone jack, 4 EQ,
I give it a ten, because it has all I was looking for.

I tested this tiny thing with an epiphone sg400 (humbuckers) tubescreamer, turbo-rat (my set up at JC-120)through the ML/S into a 2x12 halfback boogie-box (mono-jack). I was only interested in the clean channel. Is it loud enough? Is it clean enough? Is it warm enough?
So what should I say? It passed the importent tests so I spent the money.
And it was realy worth it.
On gigs everybody is wondering: oh, this kid plays a boogie- halfback. maybe a new guitar hero. I'm always sure they expect a heavy markIV top or something like that. Eyes go wide... Then they are laughing at me when I pull out my ML/S-head of my rucksack. I just lean back and smile about the strong men carrying their heavy tube-heads.
Then the specialists recognize the gallien krueger logo and wonder why this kid plays a bass-amp and an SG.
But when they listen to the sound they just wondering about the miracle.How the ...

When I got this amp I really had to learn to play guitar because the GK was never too quiet (most times too loud) or too noisy so the amp put all my bad playing clearly to the audience. As I am the most critical of them I was ashamed of the bad quality, not of the sound (!)just of my bad playing!

I use this amp for ten years now and I got all sounds from it I ever wanted. By the time I learned that a tube-power-amp distortion is a very nice thing to have (an expensive one, too). But I really don't need it. I tried a lot of tube-preamps in front of it. I.g. Boogie studio-preamp, a nice starfield preamp, they all worked fine and they gave me enough tube-sound.
Now I'm using the yamaha's magic stomp modeler and the sound variety of this set will take my whole life to experiment.

the 10 is for all people who can live without real power-amp-distortion.

This amp broke down only one time. It was running over 6 hours as a PA-Power-Amp with very loud techno-music (only used the stereo-return of the fx-slave)when the fuse just did not want to take it anymore. I replaced it and the ML/S played the rest of the evening without any problems.
Never had to change tubes, as there aren't any!

the 9 is for not dealing with punchy techno-music without braking the fuse.

never needed support

There are not much alternatives to this gear.
Maybe Polytones mini- and mega-brain, but I never had the chance to play them. Then there is the new crate power block and for that price it must be good. And last but not lost, there is the good old jazz chorus, which looks nice and sounds nice too , but is much too heavy for my bad back.
So this old stuff keeps my favourite....

although i would have rather had the E model, with the effects and compression, i have enjoyed my ml/S just fine. I bought this thing in the 80s when I still had a head full of hair, with the purpose of playing hair metal. the 4 band EQ is truly awesome, as is the power and tiny size and routing flexibility. i also have the small 2x6 cabinet, and by now the speakers need to be reconed, but after so many years of faithful rocking...who cares. money well spent and long forgotten.

ive used this for various metal and hard rockish stylings with mainly humbucking guitars. it is generally quiet, clean and punchy. run through a 4x12 or 2x12 cab its downright loud, and even through the tiny GK cab (built for the more feature-laden 250ml i believe..)it had been suitable for light jamming with with a drummer.
the clean channel is excellent, providing plenty of headroom and rich tone. i like to use it with an external OD, such as a hughes and kettner tubeman, because the lead channel is a bit farty.
in all fairness for strictly playing solos you can get some pretty gnarly harmonics out of it, and PLENTY of sustian (very creamy), but dont expect any serious chunk out of it. dropped C death metal it surely will not produce. palm mutes are laughable, there is just no clarity or uthority at all. for fun I recently a/b'd it with my little sisters peavey rage beginners amp, and while the GK obliterated the peavey in terms of dripping distortion and pig-like pick squeals, the peavey would be my first choice if i were forced to actually have to record rhythm tracks with either.
that is, of course, using the GK straight with no stomp box. with a good distortion unit through the clean channel it is a pure beast.

completely, utterly, absolutely and astonishingly RELIABLE. i have tortured this thing so much im suprised PETA hasnt sued me for animal cruelty. it is the amp that will not die.

emaild GK about speakers, they got back to me the next day. pretty good

playing 21 years and I seem to held onto this amp longer than any other if that tells you anything. its powerful, small, and handy for many applications once you get creative with it. aside from the flabby lows on the lead channel I would say its a perfect all around recording and rehearsal tool. unfortunately the lows are what prevents it from being said tool and leaves it a toy.

Same amp as G-K ML/E without chorus, reverb, or XLR direct outputs. Dates from late 80's or early 90's. 4 band tone controls, two channel input (clean and lead), effects loop, headphone jack. All solid-state, contains two separate 60 watt amps which are typically used with a common input, but the effects return is a stereo input, so it can be used as a straight stereo amp when needed. For my use a reverb and a low-impedance direct out would be handy, which is why I am looking for an ML/E also.

I have owned this amp for 10 years, and it has been very versatile for me. With standard input I have mainly used it with a 1-12 bottom as a light 25 lb 60 watt big-band rig that has plenty of volume for ballroom gigs. Same setup with San-amp bass DI into the effects return makes a great sounding bass rig. Same setup with a Sans-amp OD into the effects return is my main rock rig. With either of the latter two rigs I use a 4-10 bottom and both channels of the output amp to get 120W of power, enough for what I do. For guitar, bass, v-drums, and even keyboards this gives me good sound and versatility in a light-weight rig.

I play rock, rockabilly, big-band, etc., using a standard Strat w/single coils, Gretsch Annie with filter-tron humbuckers, Guild archtop with humbuckers.

Noise and hum-wise, a very quiet amp.

The standard input section of this amp makes a great clean sound, similar to a Roland JC-type amp, which is great for jazz/big band uses. The distortion is very harsh and solid-state sounding and I don't use it. I get those tones a different way since I'm a Tech21 fan. The Sans-Amp devices work the best with this type of clean amplification anyway. I run my ax through a compressor to a Sans-amp Tri-OD, through my other effects (chorus, echo, reverb, etc.), from there to the ML/S using either the effects return or the main input to get more tone control.

As I said, I have had it for 10+ years, and it has never failed me. It has the typical noisey pots that can be expected on something of this age.

I bought it used, no manuals or literature. I called GK and who should answer but Bob Gallien himself! He sent me a manual AND schematics, which was nice as I work on my own equipment. Very class operation, very helpful. The manual is now available on their website.

I've been playing for about 25 years, and am a fan of tube amps, own and use a few, but for gigging, I like to be able to dial-in a good sound with outboard boxes like the Tech21 using a roadworthy clean-sounding solid-state amp with many different speaker setups. The ML/S has more than paid for itself. They are reasonably priced on the used market, and if stolen I would probably get another ML/S or an ML/E.