Lownote-LA

[color=#141414][font=verdana, geneva, lucida,]Excuse the long post--which is itself a variation on what I posted on the BG Forum at TalkBass--but since I have several Barefaced Cabinets I thought my experience might be helpful. I was lucky enough to be sitting at my computer when the email from Alex arrived announcing the One-10 and the introductory pricing. I currently own a Big Baby 2 and a Super Midget which I use on their own and paired, primarily for upright playing but also for bass guitar and doubling gigs. These are the best speakers I have ever owned bar none, and I jumped at the opportunity to get one of Alex's speakers designed for low volume, small group play that is light as a feather. I will primarily use it for upright duo and trio gigs, and if it is as good as I hope it will be, it will replace my Mike Arnopol fibreglass Crazy 8 that I have been using for low volume gigs. I immediately hit the purchase button and it was confirmed today that I was lucky enough to get one at the introductory price of £199. [/font][/color][color=#141414][font=verdana, geneva, lucida,]My speaker--serial number 002--arrived Friday 11 September. It is beautifully constructed and a step-up quality from the already high standards of the latest generation Barefaced cabinets. I had a chance to play around with it at home on upright bass and to A-B it to one of Mike Arnopol fibreglass Crazy 8 speakers which has been my go-to box for small gigs. I've been having some troubles with the Crazy 8 rattling and vibrating so it isn't a totally valid comparison but I thought the new One-10 sounded much more solid and substantial. For swing music I was able to get the big punchy sound I look for on upright bass--think tones that are like "cubes with eased edges" rather than blobs--if that makes any sense to people. Like other BF speakers I wasn't able to get it to fart out or distort noticeably, driving it with AI Clarus SL (one of the old ones.) I found that using a HiPass filter in front of my amp (that doesn't have one built in) helped to firm up the sound and allow me to increase the volume to an even higher level.[/font][/color] [color=#141414][font=verdana, geneva, lucida,]I had a gig on Saturday night with a jazz quartet of bone, piano, drums and me, which I thought was going to be quiet background jazz during the cocktail hour of a wedding to be followed by a DJ for the dancing. Off I went with the new speaker thinking this would be a perfect test run. Unfortunately when I arrived I found that I was playing more of a neo-swing dance gig in a big marquis with volumes way up, well beyond what the One-10 is designed to do. If I'd had my Big Baby 2 and new Midget pairing, it would have been perfect. Fortunately there was good PA support and I was able to go into the PA for sound out front. The One-10 did make an excellent stage monitor however, [/font][/color][color=#141414][font=verdana, geneva, lucida,]and I like the fact that it fits into a padded cajon bag along with my AI Clarus and an extension reel for easy over-the-shoulder load-in.[/font][/color] [color=#141414][font=verdana, geneva, lucida,]20 September Update: I've still not had the right gigging situation yet for the new speaker--yesterday's job was an outdoor 30's swing gig on upright without PA support. Because I was concerned about volume and overloading the One 10, I took the Super Midget instead. Upcoming gigs include a 17-piece loud big band and a quartet backing a female vocalist in a jazz club with a back line amp wired into the PA so I've yet to get the perfect gig to try out the new speaker. [/font][/color] [font="verdana, geneva, lucida, lucida grande, arial, helvetica, sans-serif"][size="2"][color="#141414"]However, I did spend a bunch of time today with both upright and bass guitar in my large front hall (15' X 25' with a 12' ceiling) and thought my experience with the One10 and my other speakers might be helpful. I'm not a professional equipment reviewer, just a jobbing musician, so I might not have the lingo down, but here are my thoughts in sort of random order.[/color][/size][/font][list] [*]The One10 alone gets incredibly loud with no farting out at all on the E string with either upright or BG. I was driving the speaker(s) with an Acoustic Image Focus Series III so there was gobs of clean power. The upright has a bridge wing piezo pickup called the Revolution Solo. To make the double bass sound "right," I set the high pass filter to about 85 hz, and for BG, I rolled it all the way down to the lowest setting of 35 hz. On upright I get a very punchy and yet fat and rich sound that is clean as a whistle, mirrors the sound of my bass but projects like crazy. The One10 is much fatter when sitting on the ground and I put it down on the long side so that the cylindrical port was pointing out the side and not down to the bottom. When I put a speaker on the floor, I like to slip a foam wedge under the speaker so that I can hear it better and this would cover up the port if it was sitting with the narrow end down. The One10 also sounded good when played alone while sitting on top of another speaker--boomy rooms may well call for the speaker to be up off the floor. [*]This was the first time I played a BG (Status Graphite 4-string Streamliner) through the speaker and was bowled over by what a fat funky sound it produced with just the One10 on its own. For smaller pub gigs where there is no drummer or the drummer isn't super loud, I think you could get by just fine with this speaker alone. Certainly for a drummer-less duo or trio playing background jazz in almost any size room, or any kind of folky or bluegrass gig, the One10 will do the job on either/both upright and BG. [*]Somewhat surprisingly I didn't like the sound of the One10 with the Big Baby 2 although I love the sound of the SuperMIdget paired with the BB2. The BB2 alone has been a wonderful speaker, particularly as a stage monitor with a loud 5-horn band in a touring Rat Pack theatre show that I play with. It is a bit hard to describe why I didn't like the One10/BB2 pairing but the sonic palette just didn't seem to mesh that well. It helped when I turned the crossover on the BB2 almost all the way to the side that favours the woofer and not the horn. [*]However, the pairing of the SuperMidget and the One10 is absolutely wonderful and I highly recommend this pairing for both upright and BG. Loud, rich, clean, punchy and well disbursed are descriptors that come to mind. This will be a rig that I'll go out with often especially since the One10 fits in a Cajon bag and the SuperMidget fits in a Bass Cajon bag, making transport safe and relatively easy. I didn't want to stop playing this combination. [/list] [font="verdana, geneva, lucida, lucida grande, arial, helvetica, sans-serif"][size="2"][color="#141414"]Having owned a ton of small speakers (Wizzy 10, Schroeder 10, Acme B-1, GK 112MBX, Arnopol composite Crazy 8) the Barefaced One10 is the very best one I've played to date and I could have saved a ton of money if they had come along sooner. Barefaced Speakers are relatively unusual in that they sound equally good with both upright and BG, and this is rare indeed.[/color][/size][/font] [color=#141414][font=verdana, geneva, lucida,]Cheers,[/font][/color] [color=#141414][font=verdana, geneva, lucida,]Erik Hansen aka Lownote-LA[/font][/color] [color=#141414][font=verdana, geneva, lucida,]Edinburgh, Scotland[/font][/color]

See private message about my Eminence that I may want to sell.

Major, I'm a little late to the party but have had experience with the strings you are talking about and am a happy user of Evah's, the original gauge. I'm primarily a jazzer and started out with Spiro's, but was playing with a mini big band doing 1930s music for many years and wanted a sound with a lot fatter fundamental, and less of the "zinginess" of the Spiro's. [list] [*]I first changed to a set of the original Velvet strings but found them too expensive, a bit on the soft side and too short lived. [*]I then sprung for Eudoxas which gave me the sound I was looking for in pizz, but were horribly expensive, didn't speak fast enough under the bow/were not suitable to blend in with a classical bass section all of whom were using metal strings, and were a bear to keep in tune. [*]I then tried the heaviest Corelli tungsten strings which were fine for pizz and also bowed easily, however, I found the G string particularly anemic and in general they were too light for me. [*] About this time, the Obligato hit the scene, and I thought I had died and gone to heaven--big fat fundamental like a gut string, with relatively quick decay, easy to bow and fairly affordable. However, their tendency to roll under your fingers as they settled in was frustrating. [/list]The Evah Pirazzi string was then released and I gave them a try. They are like Obligatos on steroids--much louder, heavier, same fat fundamental, incredible tuning stability once they settle in, easy to bow and a great pizz string. I'm currently using them on my main working jazz bass--an American Standard hybrid, had them on my expensive Hachez carved bass that I recently sold (a very sad day!!!) and my former teacher in Los Angeles uses them on his outrageously expensive 300+ year old Italian bass on which he plays exclusively classical music. These strings sound good on basses in all three quality ranges. I would recommend that you give them a try. Even if they turn out not to be just right for your instrument, the demand for these strings used is quite high and you would be able to get a lot of your money back if you sold them. Cheers, Erik Hansen Scotland

[quote name='saxobass' post='409680' date='Feb 14 2009, 08:20 PM']Samuel Shen basses seem to be a big thing stateside. However there are very few here and I`m wondering what they are like as I am considering one. Any info. very welcome.[/quote] I split my time between Los Angeles and the Edinburgh area although I'm living in Scotland most of the time now. About two years ago I brought over to Scotland a LaScala flatback hybrid to use as my main bass here. I recently sold a very expensive bass that was left behind in Los Angeles and needed an instrument for the limited time I spend there. In February I purchased a Shen Willow Roggieri hybrid (carved top, ply back) that is beautifully made and sounds great for my use which is primarily jazz playing. I'd love to get the LaScala and the Shen side by side so that I could compare the two, but they are very similar in size and, I think, sound. Both of these basses are loud and have a big low end. Both have violin corners. While I was in the U.S. I also had a chance to try two of the Shen all carved basses at Robertson Violins in Albuquerque, a very high qualitiy bass dealer and luthier in the U.S. Both of the Shens sounded great, particularly the all carved Shen Willow Roggieri. Robertsons told me that they have been selling a lot of the Shen's and believe they are the highest quality Chinese basses on the market--they have had little or no problems with the basses they have sold. While you would want to budget for a good set-up if buying one new or used, if hadn't been given a great setup already, the only upgrade I chose to do was to put on a Goetz endpin and install Spiro's. Lisa Gass, the LA luthier who sold it to me (she had bought it off the floor at the NAMM show) said that she had to do just a touch of fingerboard planing, but that other than that it came to her with a very good setup already. The bridge that came with it was nice and had adjusters pre-installed. The tailpiece as also ebony. I don't understand why Shen is not selling their stuff in the U.K. The Chinese basses I've seen in the U.K.--mostly with the name Stentor in them--don't begin to compare to the quality of the Shen.

I'm pleased that my review has generated this level of comment and activity. One thing that I didn't say in my review--and should have--is that the manufacturing quality and set-up of the Streamline is the best I've ever experienced in the world of bass guitars. The instrument arrived at my flat in Scotland so well packed that I have a lifetime of bubble wrap saved. The intonation and action were perfect. The quality of the instrument itself was flawless. This is my first Status-Graphite axe and I wish other manufacturers could match this level of quality. I played Only the Brave again tonight, and the bass was again exactly right for what I needed. As I've worked more with it, I find myself dialing in more and more of the neck pickup to get the fatter sound I'm seeking, particularly for the ballads with their long sustained notes. Of course, this could also be a function of the very funky speaker (a GK MB150X) that I'm using as a stage monitor. Erik Hansen Scotland

I purchased a Streamline late last year and until just recently hadn't really had a chance to play it as all of my work had been on string bass. However, this summer I was hired to play bass guitar exclusively on a musical called Only the Brave that has opened and is on for the full run of the Edinburgh Fringe. The music is terrific and demanding and I'm part of about a 20-piece orchestra. I've been playing the Streamline exclusively and couldn't be happier with it. What I like particularly is: 1. The ergonomics, particularly its balance, is wonderful and is perfect for situations like this where I'm forced to sit on a folding chair squashed into a small performance space. Of course, the bass also balances beautifully when you are standing to play it as well. 2. The small size is also wonderful for tight quarters like a pit or in this case a small space on stage behind a scrim. 3. I'm able to get a very nice tone out of the bass although I've made hardly any adjustments since I'm counting on the guy on the mixing board to do the heavy work. The technical stuff at the Fringe events is a bit limited, e.g., I'm not plugged directly into the board with a monitor of my own and the ability to dictate a monitor mix. Rather, I've brought in a tiny Acoustic Image Clarus SL amp that I'm running through a little GK MB150X speaker so that I can hear myself. I'm having to play at as low a volume as possible on stage so as not to put too much bass into the mic's that are picking up the strings and woodwinds. The only tweak I've made is to move the pickup control slightly toward the neck pickup so as to fatten up the sound a little bit. This has been wonderful for the parts that are really written for arco string bass, i.e., lots of long notes with a lot of sustain desired. However, the bass also sounds good on the slamming rock and roll pieces as well. 4. The light weight and compact size makes it perfect for a commuting professional musician who is taking the train to work. The gig bag has just the right pockets and the bag pack straps make it a joy to carry for the 1 mile walk at each end. 5. I've never owned a carbon fibre instrument before and didn't appreciate how stable they are. With the original ground flats (half wounds) fully settled in, I haven't had to change the tuning in more than a week, and I've been playing it for 5 to 6 hours each day. Remarkable. This is a wonderful instrument for the working professional. Erik Hansen Scotland

[quote name='Kubickiboy' post='90625' date='Nov 19 2007, 12:36 AM']I'd sell it here if I were You. Kubicki's are hard to come by in the UK. The odd one pops up on ebay from time to time and usually go for a good price - all depending on condition of course. Any chance of any pix, and how much would you be looking to sell it for?[/quote] I'm not sure on price yet--I sort of want to see how the auction on US eBay at the moment finishes on Tuesday. I will get some pictures taken in the morning when there is better light and post them. The bass is in nearly mint condition.