Reverend

Shall we say the word 'heft' a lot?

Just thought I'd chime in to a class-D thread and say the word 'heft' a lot. Thanks.

I have this set up (SC and SM). I use it with a GK MB500. Super clean, super flat and super loud. Not much 'vibe' (intentional), so I use an EBS valve drive as a pre-amp, and that's my tone sorted. It's the closest I've got to a rig sounding like the PA does, so I'm confident that I won't get too many nasty surprises when the DI comes back through the monitors. Nothing worse than your all valve beast rig sitting up on stage and knowing that no-one will ever hear it (and no, you can't always insist that the sound person mics it up. That's a luxury bonus if they've got time :-) It's certainly the most useful rig I've ever had.

I got my entire bass rig and pedal board back to scouring the cash converters web site for months. One of the pedals popped up and when I went to the store, everything else was there too. But this was a couple of months after it was all stolen. So keep the faith! It may turn up :-)

Nope, you're right, I was merely using the PA comparison to prove a point - my beef is that people seem to be worried about Class D as a concept, but in reality there are other factors which are just as important which seem to be holding some of these products back - especially at the lower end of the price point spectrum.

Seeing as almost all of the major players in live sound reinforcement are producing insanely powerful and efficient Class D solutions now (look at the d&b web site - everything is class D), I think a lot of people are spouting a little bit of misinformed prejudice against Class D amplifiers. There's a whole lot more to a bass amp than just the power amp section - the preamp design, the EQ, the power supply etc. All of these things are important, and if all of these are designed well there's no reason why a Class D can't perform as well as a class A/B. I really think people are having rose tinted... er... ear syndrome when it comes to the amps of yesteryear. A few years ago not a single person was extolling the virtues of their 'trusy Trace AH600SMX'. Now it seems that because of all this new Class D muck, they and other A/Bs are suddenly the greatest amp ever designed. Remember what you are comparing - lots of people are comparing say the GK MB500 - a £450 amp against top of the range Trace gear from the 90s which cost £1K plus, with the best quality pre-amps, power sections and PSUs that money could buy. Hardly a fair comparison! If you whack your bass through a nice pre-amp into one of the new top of the range Crown or d&b Class Ds power amps, I hardly think you are going to be 'lacking heft'. They are ridiculously good!

Well... horses for courses :-) Funny, I went to a rehearsal last night, and to my dismay they had a big old Ampeg stack - I've literally never gotten a sound I like out of an Ampeg rig - all low mids and muddy rubbish. Turned it on, and lo and behold it sounded absolutely great! Really well defined, bags of power, loved it. Was just about to change my opinion of these amps, and then noticed it was an SVT-200T - a solid state one. Couldn't believe how much better this sounded to me than all the valve SVTs I've had to play through at every festival where they just get one in as standard. Obviously, everyone else isn't wrong - it's just weird how much I don't get on with Ampeg valve heads. Other valve heads, no issues. I remember using a Marshall VBA stack at a gig and nearly soiling myself with joy. I remember a massive all valve silver Fender Bassman rig that blew my mind. Anyway, screw these valve heads these days. They're not designed for human beings to lift. Will stick to my GK MB500. Try before you buy, yo!

Good news BUMP!

Big tip - before you start your set, check if there's a tweeter on their cab, and turn it off. This is realistically the only thing you will likely blow up. Speakers in bass cabs can take a LOT of stick before they die. If you can't turn that off, you maybe want to check you don't rag the input of the amp too hard as it could generate nasty distortion (often not the nice valvey type) which is often the thing that kills tweeters. Lots of amps have 'clip lights' to show when they are starting to max out on the input stage. Turn down the input gain to avoid this. Class D amps usually distort horribly when you overload the inputs and could deffo kill a tweeter. You'll probably be able to hear I've never understood this whole 'never let anyone else use your gear' thing. Honestly, I've done hundreds of gigs with shared backline and never once seen a bass speaker blown up. If there's one thing I utterly loathe it's the guy in the second support act who rocks up with his massive SVT rig and insists he uses it for his set but will not help save time in changeovers by letting other people use it. Consequently it takes ages to change over and everyone after him gets a shorter set time. Obviously it's his cab so his decision, but seriously?

I've got both and usually use them as a pair. The main differences: The Super Compact goes slightly deeper and is a little larger. The Super Midget has a tweeter and is a little smaller :-) The good thing is that the Super Compact is no longer devoid of top end like it's predecessor was. Still sounds like a pretty full range cab. The previous gen Compact and Midget were VERY different sounding speakers, these two are pretty similar apart from the things I've noted above. I'd say that for everything apart from maybe a bit of slap bass (shudder) you'd maybe be better off with the Super Compact, as it's a slightly bigger sounding cab on it's own. If you like to pretend you're still in the early nineties and really must have that tweeter, or you're getting to rehearsals on your bike, maybe go for the Super Midget. Both are great. Hope this helps.

Don't worry about not being able to get the sound. Those BB2 cabs are designed to be a flat as possible, so you can get whatever sound you want, rather than lending themselves to a particular sound. If you want scooped, I think they'll be just fine. I've gigged a Super Compact with a Super Midget (same drivers as the BB2) and there's plenty of bottom end there and loads of click if you want to dial it in. The BB2 is designed to have even more bottom than both of those cabs, so a pair of them will be pretty ridiculous I reckon :-)

[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]What I do know is that proper DSP is so much more than "just a little more top end". [/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Well, yeah, you're right. Believe me I know what proper DSP in speaker management looks like - as part of work I deal with the line up of professional cinema mixing environments - there's some very clever stuff going on. It's all good. [/font][/color][color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]I just question the need for it in a simple bass amplifier. I'm pretty sure I've never felt like I've really felt the need for a high resolution digital equaliser or loudspeaker management system on any gig I've ever done, small or large.[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Being relatively poor, I realise I am not the target market for this amp, as I 'only' own two cabs, one of which I dial in "a little more top end" for. And it works great ;-)[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Anyway, I don't doubt that it'll be a killer amp regardless of cost. They seem to make well regarded stuff.[/font][/color]

Hmm, I have no problem with DSP per se. As the above poster says, almost all big PA systems use it nowadays for insanely complex crossover/room equalisation purposes, and almost all recording and mixing is done using it too, so it's definitely a useful thing, and I'm not an 'analog sounds better' guy. I just sorta think, well... why? In a small bass amp? Is this just convincing people they need something? USB port! Different settings for different cabs!! Wow. you mean, like, 'a bit more treble for this one'. I'm pretty sure people have always managed ok, and how many people are going to be using a small amp like this with loads and loads of different cabs anyway? Is this a problem that really needs solving? I'm sure it'll be really good and of great quality, but I reckon it's just a way to charge more for something which actually costs less to manufacture. I also really hope they don't introduce any kind of 'classic amp/speaker emulation' into the mix with this either. That'll just completely cheapen the product. I'm honestly getting less and less arsed about 'how my amp sounds' as I grow older. No one in the crowd will ever hear it! I think it looks like my Marantz PM4000 amp actually. It's that brushed metal finish :-)

GK MB500 with the right cabs goes pretty damn loud without distortion, so I can only imagine the MB800 being more than capable. IMO it's more about finding a cab or cabs that can handle the volume without breaking up. Staying clean at volume is all about having bags of headroom, so don't go cheap with your cab choice!

I, er... sort of didn't return a Countryman Type 85 DI box back to a well known band when they left it at the studio I used to work at. They never asked for it back. Hey, trust me they could've afforded a new one. This was back when well known bands actually used to make money :-) Really good box though. I've tried much posher DIs and this sounds just as good as any of them. Another added bonus is that it's ACTUALLY indestructible. I know a couple of guitarists who tried mine and ended up using it for all their clean sounds on a couple of records rather than going through an amp.

Thanks for all the support people! At least it's getting shared round the community.

You may or may not remember the post below. Loads of my stuff got stolen from my car. Well, this story has taken a twist! I'm a diligent little f**ker, and after a couple of months spent scouring eBay, Gumtree etc, I saw what looked like my modded Boss CS-3 on the Cash Converters web-site. They'd removed all the silly stickers that I put all over my pedals, but the big giveaway was a recognisable scratch on the front. I decided to go in to Streatham cash converters where it was located to have a look, and as soon as I walked in - lo and behold - all (well nearly all) my stuff. Right there! After a couple of months of jumping through hoops with the police, I finally picked it all up tonight. A Barefaced Compact and Super Midget, and my beloved EBS Valve Drive, the Boss CS-3 and a Boss LS-2. Sadly, my VT-Bass and T-Rex Fuel Tank hadn't showed up, but hey, I'm willing to let that go. So - moral of the story. Don't give up scouring the internet and local shops for a good while if your things get stolen. I found my stuff popped up online a good month and a half after they were taken. I guess the upshot of all this is that I'd bought a BF Super Compact in the meantime, so there may be a Compact or Super Compact coming up for sale in the next few weeks, depending on which one I decide I like better. Keep your eyes peeled! Have good evenings all, and look after your things! Al Hello guys, Here's a reminder not to get distracted when unloading your vehicle, thus making you forget to unload the rest of the stuff. I paid a high price for doing so last night. My Barefaced cabs (Compact and Super Midget) were stolen from my car in Vauxhall last night, along with my pedal board. This probably a futile post, but as the cabs are rare, and one has a serial number, these may pop up somewhere. So if you see a [b]Barefaced Super Midget serial number 001[/b] for sale anywhere, please get in touch on here. If it's being sold alongside a [b]1st generation Compact 15[/b], then that's probably mine also, but it won't have a serial number, as they didn't back in the day. Both cabs were in black Roqsolid cases with white trim. The pedal board is a massive bummer too, don't have serials for most of that stuff. The [b]EBS Valve drive[/b] serial 300001 is distinctive because the two outermost knobs have come off and I've replaced them with different ones. I'll probs never see these things again, but you may see that Valve Drive around. I've attached links to pics just in case you randomly get offered this stuff. The pedal board is slightly different now, but most things are still there - the Sansamp has been replaced with a VT-Bass, and the Ashdown and Echo Park have gone. [url="https://www.dropbox.com/sh/2e35jseweotsi7w/AAA36glNbttcVXRYrDS2C4pUa?dl=0"]https://www.dropbox....YrDS2C4pUa?dl=0[/url] Anyway, stay on point people, don't be an idiot and leave stuff in your car overnight. Lesson learned. Al.

Here is a link to a little review of the BF cabs I did last year. http://basschat.co.uk/topic/219758-super-midget-1-intense-first-week

For a long time I put an EBS Valve Drive in front of the 700RB, and it sounded fantastic. Had it on the lowest possible gain setting, just for a tiny bit on thickness and overdrive when I digged in with a pick. I never turned one on without the other. Perfect combo. I feel that the Valve Drive doesn't quite pair up as nicely with the MB500, and relatively often I leave it off now. Have found that a Sansamp VT Bass sits a bit nicer, but I'm a bit happier for the MB500 to go it alone now. Plus I'm generally playing less aggressively these days. If it's saving your back which is your concern, I'd deffo try out some lightweight amps as well, as the 700RB is still not light. There's loads of options for great Class D amps nowadays, whereas the MB500 was one of the only ones around when I bought it. I'd certainly try some others if I was buying again. The MB500 is a good value amp, but I'm sure there's some better ones about now.

I used to have a very similar rig. GK 700RB and NEO115 + 210RBH cabs (used to have the 410RBH - probably the heaviest cab ever!). Loved it, toured with it, huge fan. Back died badly. Lots of pain. Had to get rid. I too was well into the GK thing, so I got an MB500 which goes just as loud as the 700RB, and to my ears sounded a little thicker, although the 'Boost' control didn't sound quite as good. That shouldn't be an issue if you're using a valve preamp - I do the same. Sold the 700RB once I was confident the 500MB wouldn't let me down. The Fusion looks cool, although haven't really felt the need to change to be honest. Researched the lightest possible weight cabs around. Sound was secondary here - I needed to keep playing at decent volume without doing any more damage to myself lugging these things about. Replaced the NEO115 with a Gen 2 Barefaced Compact (other cabs are available), which took a while to come, but it's great. Then got a BF Gen 3 Super Midget to replace the 210RBH. Again, great. The sound of these cabs is a funny one to get used to. Overall, I think they sound better, but you'll find they're much less 'hyped' than others, so you'll find yourself with a bit more presence in the mid range to start with. They'll take a decent amount of low end too. They ain't cheap, but neither is spinal surgery. Modular rigs are key. Get two small loud cabs. In rehearsals you may only need one! Brilliant. I've never tried Bergantino or TKS or other similar lightweight brands, but I'm sure that if I'd bought one of those instead I wouldn't be able to shut up about how much better they are judging by people on here, so they MUST be amazing :-)

Everyone here needs to go get off the computer and go and have fun playing some bass.