Eight years and over a thousand members!

Man, have we gotten our monies worth out of this bad-boy! (Free!)

I never visualized this forum would have this many members. Honest. I know that the members don't come here very often (myself included), but still, that is impressive.

Wishing you all the best. Have a great Holiday season!

I no longer own my H&K amp. I gave it to my Grandson. How about you? Do you still play through yours?

Yay!     Hiya you old goat, (that's a term of endearment from another old goat of course    ), hope you had a great Thanksgiving over there.  Yes, little did you know when you set out how this thing would build.  We don't see anything like the traffic through here that we used to see in the old days but there is still some useful stuff bandied around here.  And it's all down to your efforts HwyStar and I for one am very grateful.

Like you I'm not a H&K user now, only for the same reasons I have always said, they don't suit my own genre at all well.  But that doesn't mean I have fallen out of love with them, they are still great amps and continue to develop along solid engineering lines, (my obsession as you know). I moved on through a number of Marshalls but just recently I was asked to fix and clean up a Fender Hot Rod Deville for a friend.  It was an easy fix after a GM36  but, getting the chance to play it, I found it opened up my guitars sounds massively.  Looking online I found they are actually pretty cheap to buy as they don't have a very sparkling reputation.  However, knowing what I know and preach about the H&K amps, (simply put, less input = more tone), I found that if you control the input levels tightly and don't drive them too much you can get wonderful tones out.  And the pairing with my Fryette Power Station to control sound levels while still driving the amp is magical. The clean is a given with a Fender of course but the Drive and even More Drive channels respond to using the low gain input with very low volume settings on the guitar incredibly well.  I found there were a few for sale online within easy driving distance of me and picked up an ultra clean one for what must be a silly low price for a named fully valve amp.

How are your hands doing HwyStar?  Are you back to playing at all?  I do seem to remember you said you were 'Pianoing' nowadays, have I got that right?  I'm suffering at my age with my hands too, especially since I have spen most of my life stupidly driving them through bits of wood and building materials.  Oh the silly things we do in our youth.  

Hey Mate! Thanks for the wonderful reply.

I'm glad to hear that you are doing well and loving your Fender.  There's a reason they have been around for so long. I had a Fender for a short while when I was a kid. Great amps. Unique sounds can be driven out of them. The middle pickup on a Strat through them is a wonderful thing!

I still play both piano and guitar. My hands are better, or at least have not gotten worse. I had food sensitivity issues going on that helped cause the arthritis. Once I removed the foods my body does not like, my sleep and arthritis got much better. I'm still in pain when I play but it is bearable. I played for an hour yesterday through my Boss amp and it sounded great! DP's, Made in Japan, Highway Star was a blast to play. Loud too!

I hear you on the silly things we do in our youth in regards to the abuse we put on our bodies. I ride my bike usually 80 miles a week now, plus lift some weights. Both really help me feel better so it is worth it. It helps keep my hands moving. If you don't use it you lose it! Working with wood and building materials "is" very hard on our hands. But, we enjoy it. I am setting up a shop in the attic to make my own frames for my artwork. I have always enjoyed wood working, on a very amateur level.

It's great to hear from you and Thanks for the reply! I wish you and your family the Merriest of Holiday seasons this year! Rock On!

*Update: Another new "dang" forum I created. Just yesterday: Williamsburg Astronomy Club Man, I "boop" around!

Actually I just recently bought my HKGM36 and I'm loving it.
I had to buy an iPad to be able to connect to the WMI-1 dongle, since GM36 does not support Android.
I have not tried to access the amp from my computer, yet. Need that usb-midi thing first

Glad you are getting good sounds out of the GM36 KidCurry.  For anything but older classic rock sounds, (no I mean REALLY classic 10 years pre-Foo Fighters rock ), mine doesn't suit what I want but for everything since I for one do think they are wonderful amps.  But that isn't a criticism, it's in with the other design choices made by the H&K team.  No amp does everything best!  I have a friend who has just forked out an insane amount of money for a Friedman BE100 Deluxe, why I can't comprehend.  It's a superb amp but it still has things it can't do perfectly.

The GMs are high gain metallish amps at heart.  For my usual stuff I use one of a few Marshalls I own or my latest great find, a Fender Hot Rod DeVille 4x10".  You know, the one that everyone says sounds c**p on overdrive?  Well, just like the GM36 you have to figure out how to drive it properly in order to get the best out of it and, just like the GM36, that means simplifying your blend of distortion mechanisms and driving everything very gently.  The fact that everyone "!knows" they are so poor means you pick them up for next to nothing for a Fender valver and you just have to keep the Drive down and adjust afterwards to get really great rock tones.  Of course a Fryette Power Station helps too!

What's your genre of choice Kid? I saw the Judas Priest reference there so I guess that is in the ballpark of what you play?

bordonbert wrote:Glad you are getting good sounds out of the GM36 KidCurry.  For anything but older classic rock sounds, (no I mean REALLY classic 10 years pre-Foo Fighters rock ), mine doesn't suit what I want but for everything since I for one do think they are wonderful amps.  But that isn't a criticism, it's in with the other design choices made by the H&K team.  No amp does everything best!  I have a friend who has just forked out an insane amount of money for a Friedman BE100 Deluxe, why I can't comprehend.  It's a superb amp but it still has things it can't do perfectly.

The GMs are high gain metallish amps at heart.  For my usual stuff I use one of a few Marshalls I own or my latest great find, a Fender Hot Rod DeVille 4x10".  You know, the one that everyone says sounds c**p on overdrive?  Well, just like the GM36 you have to figure out how to drive it properly in order to get the best out of it and, just like the GM36, that means simplifying your blend of distortion mechanisms and driving everything very gently.  The fact that everyone "!knows" they are so poor means you pick them up for next to nothing for a Fender valver and you just have to keep the Drive down and adjust afterwards to get really great rock tones.  Of course a Fryette Power Station helps too!

What's your genre of choice Kid?  I saw the Judas Priest reference there so I guess that is in the ballpark of what you play?

I've been thtough Boss Katana MKII 50 and Blackstar ID:60H an none of them tickled my fanny. I tried the Positive Grid Spark, but not for me.
Then my local musicstore owner showcased me this GM36, and I was sold. So I picked one up. I love how you can just have your tablet hooked up and dial in things from-a-far.
But connect the tablet + Internet + GM36 took me a whole weekend. Just amp and tablet = simple. But including Internet, no dice. I wish I could afford a few more amps to play with, but when you only work part-time, some things got to go.

Mostly it's metal for me, Priest is and has always been my number one. But I can go with most other styles as well, maybe not playing, but listening. I mean Nickelback, Kid Rock, Billy Idol, ZZ Top, Saliva, Trivium, Five Finger Death Punch, Parkway Drive, Waylon Jennings, Springsteen, Tom Petty, Neil Young. But if I have to choose one, then it's heavy metal/hardrock Accept, Priest, Ozzy, Maiden, Whitesnake (the early years).

Haha! We do have some stuff in common there. The Godfather Gibbons is a great favourite of mine and I actually still see Bernie Marsden occasionally too so there is a Whitesnake link. I have one of his signature PRS models. You might try listening to a bit of Clem Clempson era Humble Pie. Not too heavy by today's metal standards but great driving heavy rock. Marriott was not the best guitarist at that time but man, what a voice!!!

bordonbert wrote:Haha!  We do have some stuff in common there. The Godfather Gibbons is a great favourite of mine and I actually still see Bernie Marsden occasionally too so there is a Whitesnake link.  I have one of his signature PRS models.  You might try listening to a bit of Clem Clempson era Humble Pie.  Not too heavy by today's metal standards but great driving heavy rock.  Marriott was not the best guitarist at that time but man, what a voice!!!

Yeah Billy is great "less is more" You don't have to be a great guitarist, but you do need to have feelings and passions when you play. I can't stand those 200 notes a second kinda guitarists So boring. Give me David Gilmour every day over Malmsteen Will give that Clem Clemosn a listen

I'm with you on the dislike for "neck w**king" and I don't usually go for long solos but... Have a listen to the way Clempson develops his solo in this excerpt from his time with Colosseum: Is this the best solo ever? His work with Humble Pie was much simpler good time rock but his class always shone out.

bordonbert wrote:I'm with you on the dislike for "neck w**king" and I don't usually go for long solos but...  Have a listen to the way Clempson develops his solo in this excerpt from his time with Colosseum:  Is this the best solo ever?  His work with Humble Pie was much simpler good time rock but his class always shone out.

No, not too long. Saw Deep Purple back in '89 and Blackmore went on for over 15 minutes wanking of his guitar. I mean it was fun first minute, but then it got boring and repetative.
He is almost as boring as Malmsteen

Will listen to it