Gallien-Krueger
Gallien-Krueger's been around for a while. They haven't made any guitar amps in a long time. In the 1980s they made an amp called the 250ML that was about a little bigger than a lunchbox and sounded pretty good, even if its distortion wasn't on the same par as the large name tube amps.
The other thing that characterizes the 250ML is the chorus and distortion effects: They were activated by a button on the control panel. There is no potentiometer that allowed you to dial in either a particular level distortion or swoosh of chorus. It was either "on" or "off". So while the 250MLs that are still alive today are cool because they are small and still pump out 50 watts each on the left and right channels, they either have a sound that you as an artist like, or they don't. They're pretty much one-trick ponies.
A good example of a fully distorted 250ML can be found on Motley Crue's song, "City Boy Blues". This song is off of the 1985 "Theatre of Pain" album and can be found on YouTube. Admittedly, this is more of a glam album but it's a fairly representative example of how the 250ML from Gallien-Krueger sounds.
Despite the dearth of guitar amps, Gallien-Krueger has successfully translated their solid-state technology portfolio over to the realm of electric Bass amplifiers. Gallien-Krueger (also known as "GK") is, of course, not the only brand to power bass rigs. The market for electric bass amplifiers, while also a smaller market, was for a good while, a less competitive market (1908s-1990s). For a long time, Ampeg and Sunn (tube), and Sunn and Peavey (solid-state) owned the biggest portions of the bass amplifier market. With more bass-oriented rock and doom sounds coming out, the bass amplifier market appears to have more entrants and being more competitive. Of course Sunn is now defunct, but Fender and other brands are also making amps available for bass players.
GK amps are characterized by a thin profile, back-lit controls and a lot of volume. Their 800-watt bass amps are not unexpected in a band's equipment portfolio.
