Gallien-Krueger, also referred to as 'GK' (as in their

logo A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name it represents as in a wordma ...

), is a manufacturer of bass amplifiers and speaker cabinets . The company is based in

Stockton, California Stockton is a city in and the county seat of San Joaquin County, California, San Joaquin County in the Central Valley (California), Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. Stockton was founded by Carlos Maria Weber in 1849 after he acquir ...

, and was founded in 1968.

History

Robert Gallien started his company, then named GMT, from his garage in 1968 in

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...

, while working as an engineer for

Hewlett-Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. HP developed and provided a wide variety of hardware components ...

. His first amps were the GMT 226A and 226B (named after their power output) and were unconventional in their design because they were built around transistors instead of tubes.

Carlos Santana Carlos Humberto Santana Barragán (; born July 20, 1947) is an American guitarist who rose to fame in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band Santana, which pioneered a fusion of Rock and roll and Latin American jazz. Its sound featured ...

was one of the first to buy a GMT 226A (serial #6) and it can be clearly seen in the Woodstock movie. In the early 1970s Bob Gallien teamed up with fellow HP engineer Rich Krueger and the company was renamed from GMT (Gallien-Martin-Taylor) to Gallien-Krueger. Although Rich Krueger is no longer involved in the company it has retained his name. In 1983 Gallien-Krueger launched the bass amplifier that would define the future of the company, the 800RB. The GK sound is defined by a dry "growl" and a quick reaction from the class H power amplifier. GK engineered the MB200, which was the smallest and lightest 200W bass amp available when it launched, and the 250BL, the first channel-switching bass amp. The company stopped producing electric

guitar amplifiers A guitar amplifier (or amp) is an electronic device or system that strengthens the electrical signal from a pickup on an electric guitar, bass guitar, or acoustic guitar so that it can produce sound through one or more loudspeakers, which ar ...

in the early 1990s but continues to make bass amplifiers and bass cabinets. In November, 2013, the company paid a fine to the

FCC The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdictio ...

for producing non-compliant digital radio products. Artists using GK equipment include

Flea Flea, the common name for the order Siphonaptera, includes 2,500 species of small flightless insects that live as external parasites of mammals and birds. Fleas live by ingesting the blood of their hosts. Adult fleas grow to about long, a ...

of the

Red Hot Chili Peppers Red Hot Chili Peppers are an American rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1983, comprising vocalist Anthony Kiedis, bassist Flea (musician), Flea, drummer Chad Smith, and guitarist John Frusciante. Their music incorporates element ...

Velvet Revolver Velvet Revolver was an American hard rock supergroup consisting of Guns N' Roses members Slash (lead guitar), Duff McKagan (bass, backing vocals) and Matt Sorum (drums, backing vocals), alongside Dave Kushner (rhythm guitar) formerly of punk b ...

Duff McKagan Michael Andrew "Duff" McKagan (born February 5, 1964), sometimes credited as Duff "Rose" McKagan, is an American musician. He played bass for twelve years in the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late ...

, Tom Hamilton of

Aerosmith Aerosmith is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Boston in 1970. The group consists of Steven Tyler (lead vocals), Joe Perry (musician), Joe Perry (guitar), Tom Hamilton (musician), Tom Hamilton (bass), Joey Kramer (drums) and Brad Whi ...

, and

Ted Dwane Ted Dwane (born Edward James Milton Dwane, 15 August 1984) is a British musician and photographer, best known for being the bassist of the Grammy Award-winning British folk rock band Mumford & Sons. Before this he was the bassist in experimental ...

Mumford & Sons Mumford & Sons is a British folk rock band formed in London in 2007. The band currently consists of Marcus Mumford (lead vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, drums), Ted Dwane (vocals, bass guitar, double bass), and Ben Lovett (vocals, key ...

References

{{reflist

External links

Official Site

About Gallien-KruegerBob Gallien Interview - NAMM Oral History Library (2007)
American musical instrument makers Instrument amplifiers