| Sonic difference between a K200 and a 250? [message #5939] |
Wed, 06 July 2005 12:40  |
voided3
Messages: 200
Registered: July 2004
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Senior Member |
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Hello. I was wondering, is there any difference in tone between a K200 or the later K250? My K200-B6 has the selectone on it, so I don't know if it would be a huge leap, but the bumped up wattage seems cool. I've been toying with the idea of eventually getting a 250 with at least the reverb and trem, the harmonic clipper would be cool though. Also, these heads can run at both 8 and four ohms, correct? I know they were sold in the 500 series with one powered and one unpowered cab, and I think the later cabs were 4 ohms, right (hence one active cab)? As you can see, I am more familiar with K200s than anything else. Thanks!
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| Re: Sonic difference between a K200 and a 250? [message #5940 is a reply to message #5939] |
Thu, 07 July 2005 00:12  |
BC
Messages: 583
Registered: March 2000
Location: Kentucky
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Senior Member |
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Funny you should bring this up. Just last Sat I used a cascade 200 on my JBL d140 cab ...because I had been wanting to try it...and because we were in a lower volume situation. I can not quite describe it....but there is nothing and I mean nothing like a K200. ET will verify this. They simply have their own sound...once you learn it it is unmistakable when you hear a bass coming through one. They have....."that sound". I had it many years ago then left my Kustom for the BIG amps....then, thank heaven, I rediscovered "MY sound" in 1999 when I went back to Kustom.
The rest of the band also commented on the sound Saturday. Very Smooth. I like and use the 250 most of the time. I Like the additional power. I have yet to find a situation where my 250 could not do the job.But after last week I may cling to the 200 for a while. The 250 is more full...and the 3 tone bands give more of everything. But to me the 200 is a warmer sound and I prefer its tone. I also have a 200B-6.....sounds crazy but I found it again last week as it has been hiding from me among the other 200s. I have not made friends with it though. I played one that belonged to someone else and loved it had to have one...got one......I think mine needs a little help. The good thing about the B-6 is that you still have a regular 200 on the right channel. Bottom line is...YES there is a difference....if you look inside you will see different circuits in the 200 and the 250 series so I think that is the reason. 200s were sold with 8 ohm cabs in 2x15s....250s were 4 ohm cabs for 2x15s BC
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| Re: Sonic difference between a K200 and a 250? [message #5941 is a reply to message #5939] |
Thu, 07 July 2005 03:38 |
voided3
Messages: 200
Registered: July 2004
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Senior Member |
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Hello. Thanks! Yeah, I fully understand what you mean, if my K200 was as loud as my 1000+ watt bass rig, i'd use it everywhere. It sounds amazing with a pair of CTS 2x15's for bass, or my newly frankensteined Traynor YT-15 cabinet (It's a combo of a Traynor 2x15 with a Kustom CTS 15" in the top in a separate sealed compartment and a huge Altec Lansing 515-16G in the separate bottom ported section, divided by plywood I added; I call it the KuTrayTec). I found that the selectone works better with bass than guitar though. I use the normal channel on the B6 with the bright switch off and the bass and treble nearly cranked (about 8 on a 10 scale) through my blue Kustom Jensen 2x15 and the above KuTrayTec. Also noteworthy, my K200-A5 sounds completely different from my K200-B6. The A5 has really bitey highs and smooth, strong lows while the B6 has subdued highs and thunderous lows. With a Gibson SG and a Boss DS-1, the B6 (through the pair of 2x15's) sounds like a crunchy Marshall while the A5 (through a Crate and '71 Orange 4x12's)sounds more like a Hiwatt Townshend sound ala Isle of Wight Festival; seriously, i've played along with the DVD, it's close (though the A5 through the 2x15's is still really bitey). Another difference between the two heads I have found is that the B6 is louder at a lower volume setting that my A5 with more headroom. The A5 has a nice breakup though at half when you really dig in hard, and at that volume with single coils it's flippin' loud and clean. The B6 is always clean, I never dare to turn it up half because I fear for my life. I used the B6 with a pair of borrowed Kustom CTS 2x15's on a gig once a year or so ago and it sounded great and was very audiable. The only thing I don't like about the K200's for bass is the lack of headroom, if they just had a hint more, they'd be the perfect amp volume wise; they already have the tone. To try to get the same sound, I run my reletively new Ampeg SVT-350 through an old Acoustic 2x15 cab, and it comes somewhat close, but it doesn't have the same character, though I like the 350 watt headroom. So basically, the Kustoms are my sole guitar amps, I sold my Ampeg ss140 head and am soon to ditch my Line 6 Spider that I haven't used in about a year anyway. Between those two setups plus pedals and with my array of guitars (SGs, Strats both 6 and 12 string, a Les Paul, a heavily modded Tele, among others) I can get about any sound I want from acoustic like shimmer to fat hair removing grind. I might even look for a K200-B4 eventually, I want to try out the harmonic clipper and tremolo. Anyways, thanks for the info again!
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| Re: Sonic difference between a K200 and a 250? [message #5943 is a reply to message #5939] |
Thu, 07 July 2005 08:26 |
stevem
Messages: 4744
Registered: June 2004
Location: NY
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Senior Member |
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The metal face 150s and 250s have more clean head room than the 200s due to having better power supply regulation feeding the preamps, the difference in wattage makes about a 5% difference. The neat thing you can do with them is to install a 14 pin IC socket on both preamp boards, and audition different brand and even production run ICs. They all sound a little different tone and gain wise. One that a friend gave me sounded brittle and harsh, I have 2 older GEs that sound very nice.Just something to play around with!
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