JGSpector

This review covers the SuperMini speaker cabinet from UK manufacturer Barefaced. I have owned a few different Barefaced cabs over the years but I now own a SuperMini so felt that it would only be fair to review a cab I still own and use on a regular basis. Disclaimer: I’m just a dude who gigs in a few projects and bands for fun, I am by no means a professional reviewer. All views are my own and I have not received any payment or other incentives to write this piece. Overview. I’m a huge fan of what Barefaced do and I have to say, getting a SuperMini has not changed that. I have owned a SuperTwin, a BigBaby III, a SuperCompact and a 210 and they were all absolutely fantastic cabs that made me smile every time I played through them. I did also have a SuperMidget at one point, which is what the SuperMini used to be called, but I rather stupidly sold it to help fund a new bass or something, yep, you guessed it, GAS again. Around the same time that Barefaced renamed the SuperMidget to SuperMini, they also made it available in two versions, the SuperMini which doesn’t have a tweeter and the SuperMini T which does have a tweeter. I hardly ever used the tweeter on the SuperMidget I had owned previously anyway, so the standard SuperMini appealed to me for several reasons. Mainly because I knew it would sound great but also its small size and weight due to it not having a tweeter really fit with what I need in the real world when it comes to a cab. Small but mighty. The SM is a 3rd generation 12XN model and the build quality, just like the other 12XN models I’ve owned is impressive. It’s incredibly well put together, tidy, very compact and looks awesome. It’s also comically lightweight. All of the 12XN models come with a black powder coated steel grill as standard but there is an option to have the cab built with a high strength silver or black cloth grill. The cloth grill saves some weight compared to the metal grill version as you would expect and the non tweeter version is around 1kg lighter than the version with the tweeter. The quality of sound is superb. Clear, responsive, punchy with nice tight lows and smooth highs. I pretty much always play 5 string basses these days and it handles the low B with ease as well as octave and envelope filter effects. I really like the tight lows as they seem to have more definition but I guess that’s more of a personal preference thing. I play in a rock covers band, a metal/atmospheric instrumental band and a function band. The SM works wonderfully in all three without breaking a sweat. What I particularly like is that, as with all of the 12XN models, whatever sound you put in is what comes out, just louder. I use an amp with a tube pre amp for the covers and instrumental bands and with the instrumental band I tend to use a fair amount of fuzz, octave and chorus. For the function band I use a pure solid state amp but also use chorus, octave, envelope filter, a little overdrive and fuzz, not all at the same time obviously but depending on the song. Because I’m playing all sorts of different sounds and styles the SMs ability to handle them all works brilliantly for me. Cab Specifics. Height: 17.5”. Width: 16.5”. Depth: 11”. Weight: 8.5kg (Cloth grill no tweeter), 9.5kg (metal grill no tweeter), 9.5kg (cloth grill with tweeter), 10.5kg (metal grill with tweeter). Max amp power: 600w RMS. Max output: 127db. Frequency range: 37Hz - 20KHz. Impedance: 8ohm. As a side note, you can even use the version with a tweeter as a high quality PA speaker by turning the tweeter all the way up. Barefaced sell top hat stands for this purpose. Summary. I’ve been using Barefaced cabs since 2017 and I haven’t looked back. They sound fantastic, have a small stage footprint, are easy to move and look great. For the bands I play in these days I just don’t need the big double 12XN cabs like the BigTwin III or SuperTwin. Even the larger single 12XN models don’t quite fit my needs these days because of their size compared to the SM, particularly when 2 SuperMinis will give me more than enough output for the larger gigs that I play whilst giving me a modular solution. The SuperMini whilst not able to give quite such deep lows as its bigger brothers the SuperCompact and BigBaby III, does produce tight thick clear lows that still beat larger cabs produced by other manufacturers. The fact that the SuperMini is small, weighs next to nothing but can handle up to 600w and just one of them can easily keep up with a loud band makes it a no brainer for me at this stage. Can it do massive lows like a BigBaby III can, not quite, but the lows it does are more than suitable for my needs. To find out more about the gear that Barefaced make, visit their website at: https://barefacedaudio.com/ #BlindMusician #BlindBassPlayer #Blindness #PlayingMusicBlind #BarefacedAudio #BarefacedSuperMiniReview #MusiciansWithDisabilities #ExperiencesOfTheBlind #BestBassAmpForTheBlind

i can't find one online no matter how hard i try. I've found the user manual and schematic but can't find the service manual. Any chance you can share a link to the one you found?

I don't think so. If that were the case loads of us would be blowing cabs all over place. For example, someone running a Trace Elliot Elf into an 8 ohm cab rated at 400w is only using the Elf at its 8 ohm power rating of 130w. There are dozens of players who do that and i doubt any of them have blown their cabs doing so. I'm not a tech guy but my understanding is that the power rating of a cab is the maximum power it can take within its limitations. So running 2000w flat out into a cab rated at 400w probably wouldn't be the best idea in the world, but running an Elf into that same cab would be fine as the Elfs power rating is less than the maximum that the cab can take.

Running into an 8 ohm cab that is rated at 600w won't be a problem with that amp because the 1000w power rating is at 4 ohms. So when running into an 8ohm load you roughly half the power rating of the amp. Regardless of that though, you can still blow any cab if you are over doing things like bass boost or running the amp flat out. As long as you use your ears you'll be fine. Might be worth looking at the TC Electronic heads too. A lot of people like them and they are very reasonably priced. I think they do an 800w model which might help ease your concerns about blowing other people's cabs a little as the amp would likely be running at around 400w into an 8 ohm load.

What it says in the title really. Does anybody have a PDF of a service manual for an EBS HD350 that you could share with me? I know it's an extremely long shot but despite multiple emails and Messages by social media over the last month I haven't received a single response from EBS

Can any of you knowledgable fellows tell me the correct points in the circuit to measure for bias current and DC offset voltage in Milli volts for offset and Milli amps for bias in one of these EBS HD350 amps? Have messaged and emailed EBS several times over the last month or so and I haven't had a single response. A local amp repair guy has done a repair for me but wanted to be 100% certain that he is checking at the correct points as he's never worked on an EBS amp before and it doesn't say in the amp schematic. It's my amp but this all goes way over my head, I'm just asking the question he asked me to ask EBS in the hope that someone will know

Brilliant. Thanks for that, much appreciated

Has been really interesting reading through this thread, glad I found it. I'm at the point of pulling the trigger on one to be honest. I have a couple of questions that I'm hoping you folks can help me with as I'm still not sure of the answers despite having read through the Ashdown website about a dozen times. 1. Is the ABM Evo V 750 rack mountable or is there a bag available to store/carry it in? My preference would be to have it in a rack case if possible but I'll go with a bag if it's not rack mountable. 2. I've never experienced the notched controls that a couple of you mentioned in the earlier posts but they sound awful to me. Does the amp still come stock with the notched controls or are they doing normal smooth controls now that we are a couple of years into the amps being available? Thanks for any help you can give

All sorted now. Well, the amp is with a trusted amp tech thanks to a solid referral from local friend King Tut. The chap seems to thing it is fixable but he has it and will give it a good going over and let me know. Much thanks for the help

Probably easiest if i show you the recording i made. Please find it attached EBS HD350 sound issues, March 2025.mp3

Can anybody recommend a good reliable amp tech? I have an EBS HD350 solid state amp that needs some attention and I’d like to get it serviced and/or repaired if necessary. I’m based just outside Milton Keynes so ideally looking for someone within an hour or so of Milton Keynes but will consider going further if none are near me. Many thanks for any help any of you can give.

Ah, no worries