Bob Gallien – Bass Gear Icon - Gallien

Bass gear has evolved tremendously since the middle of the
twentieth century — thanks to a relatively small group of
innovators, experimenters, designers, engineers and builders that
have dedicated their lives to the advancement of the art and
science of the gear we play.
With a singular determination of purpose coupled with
life-long dedication to the pursuit of the advancement of bass gear
technology, plus tangible contributions to the evolution of the art
and science of bass gear design and production, Bass Gear Icons
have proven themselves to be valued members of the bass gear
community.
As bassists, we owe the Bass Gear Icons a sincere debt
of gratitude for expanding the instrument’s range of expression
and enhancing our enjoyment of the music we play.
As a representative of the bass community, Bass Gear
Magazine is honored to formally acknowledge the contributions
and achievements of these individuals.
That was then, this is now: Bob Gallien’s
contributions span more than forty years.
And there’s plenty more to come.
BASS
GEAR
ICONS:
Bob
Gallien
by Terry Buddingh
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gear
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Left:
Bellbottom
Jesus - Bob
Gallien in
1974, from
an early
magazine ad.
The Making of An Icon:
The Early Years
Our story begins in the swingin’ ‘60s,
when a kid named Bob began taking
guitar lessons at his neighborhood music
store in the sleepy San Francisco east-bay
delta town of Antioch, California. Webb’s
Music was a cool place with a lot of
character and lot of cool guitars; it was a
great place for a kid to get his first taste of
the music business, and Bob fell right in,
quickly rounding up a pack of students of
his own. More significantly, Bob also
helped Webb’s build their own line of
speaker cabinets in the workshop shop
behind the store. “When I was taking
guitar lessons at Webb’s, I was also getting
interested in electronics,” Bob begins.
“Besides building Webb’s speaker
cabinets, I started modifying amps. I
added reverb and tremolo to my Fender
Deluxe when I was in high school.” It
might have been difficult to see at the
time, but the life-long journey had begun.
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After high school, the journey brought
Bob further west, across the hills from
Antioch to the University of California’s
Berkeley campus. “I wanted to be either a
musician or a pilot, but I chose to pursue
and engineering degree when I got to
Berkeley,” Bob explains. (Years later, Bob
would get his pilot’s license, and today he
commutes daily to GK’s Stockton,
California headquarters in his six-seat,
high-performance, single-engine Piper
Saratoga.)
After Berkeley, Bob headed across the
bay to Stanford, where he earned his
master’s degree. “I started
Right: A rainy
working at Hewlett-Packard
night in
while I was working on my
Antioch,
master’s at Stanford.” (This California, the
former site of
was long before HP became Webb’s Music,
known for copiers and other
where Bob
taught guitar
consumer-grade products;
lessons and
back then Hewlett-Packard
built speaker
was among the most
cabinets as a
teenager.
respected producers of state-
of-the-art industry-grade electronic test
equipment.) “HP was using an unusual
totem-pole transistor arrangement in
some of their test gear. In those days,
transistors couldn’t handle much voltage,
so for my amp design, I stacked them in a
totem-pole arrangement, like HewlettPackard.” With its unique totem-pole
output stage, that amp - the 226A - could
produce 226 watts, an impressive amount
of power in 1967.
Bob’s amp manufacturing career began
in his garage, while he was working for
HP. (Coincidently, HP began in a garage
as well.) He built two versions of the 226.
Intended for guitar, the GMT 226A was
equipped with reverb and tremolo, while
the bass version —the 226B — was
narrower, since it wasn’t equipped with
any effects circuitry. “I built 150 of those
amps in my garage, bending the
aluminum trim around the ends by hand
and etching the circuit boards and
everything. About two-thirds of those
were the bass version.”
As luck would have it, Carlos Santana
bought one of Bob’s early 226A amps
(serial #6), and he brought it to
Woodstock in the summer of ‘69. You can
see the head clearly in the Woodstock
movie, and the Woodstock version of
Santana’s “Soul Sacrifice” can be easily
found on YouTube. It’s an impressive
performance, not only for its energy and
the way it captures the moment, but also
for Carlos’ clear and punchy, yet
dynamically resilient tone — it’s like
hearing the basic DNA blueprint for the
GK bass sound, (but in guitar form); the
authoritative yet musical sound that
would come to further fruition in bass
form a few years later was there from the
beginning. A few months after
Woodstock, Carlos brought two 226A
heads to Altamont; these rare
“Spaceships” (as they were sometimes
known as in the bay area at that time) can
be seen clearly in photos and film of the
Altamont concert as well.
In the beginning, Bob was clearly
focused on both guitar and bass amps, but
a trip back to Webb’s helped redirect that
focus. (In the early years, Bob sold his
amps though several music stores in the
San Francisco bay area. Carlos Santana
bought his amp at Draper’s Music in Palo
Alto, California, near Bob’s first
garage/factory.) There were plenty of great
sounding guitar amps in the late ‘60s, but
few bass amps could keep up with their
Above: Bob’s first design, the 226A, was
also known as “The Spaceship.”
Above: Inside a 226A. While his designs
have evolved greatly over the years,
Bob’s signature construction style can be
seen in this amp from the late ‘60s.
loud volume levels. Webb recommended
focusing on bass amps, “Webb wasn’t very
interested in my guitar amp, but he knew
he could sell the bass amps,” Bob
explained. Sometimes revisiting your past
can clarify your mission for the future,
and Bob’s future mission was becoming
clear. “Even in the beginning, we were
selling more bass amps than guitar amps.”
Bob was soon selling more amps than he
could build. To take the company to next
level (and out of Bob’s garage), he teamed
up with Rich Krueger, another HewlettPackard engineer. In the early ‘70s, they
made the transition from the GMT brand
to Gallien-Krueger, and the company
retains that name today, though Rich
Krueger is no longer involved.
The next milestone in GK history, and
the milestone that really set the stage for
the future, is marked by the 1982 debut of
the amp that introduced the full
complement
of
GK’s
signature
contributions: the 800RB. With its
rackmountable all-metal enclosure,
musical tone controls, built-in DI, bi-amp
capabilities, detachable AC cable, and
industrial durability, the 800RB set the
standard for modern bass amp design and
construction, and this influence is still
vital today.
Fast-forward to the present: The GK
legacy of evolution continues with the
recent introduction of the Fusion 1050,
MB Fusion, new Neo cabs, and the
Goldline series. With the addition of GK’s
new manufacturing facility in Jiashan
China (they also have an existing facility
in California), it’s clear that GK will
continue to be flying high as an industry
leader for many years to come.
YouTube Alert!
Visit the BassGearMagazine YouTube
channel to view excerpts from Bass Gear
Magazine’s exclusive interview with Bob
Gallien. But before you jump away, do
read the “World According to Bob”
question and answer session that starts on
page 26. We promise you, it will be well
worth your time.
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Below: Assembling MB combos at GK's headquarters in Stockton, California.
Clockwise from above:
Bob’s first preamp schematic, the 226A,
dated 5/27/68.
Evolution of design: the 800RB preamp
schematic.
Priceless manuscript: Bob reflects upon the
massive 67-page workbook he used to
calculate his tone control loop equations in
1971.
GK’s Stockton, California headquarters.
The venerable 800RB introduced GK’s
modern era.
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Below: Bob at the test bench. After more than four decades, Bob is still directly involved in every aspect of the GK operation.
Clockwise from above:
Stockton burn-in rack.
Stockton final production testing room.
The GMT 226A featured a backlit front panel.
The future: The new GK factory in Jiashan
China.
Bob at the Stockton airport. He flies his Piper
Saratoga to work every day.
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