WinterMute

[quote name='The Dark Lord' timestamp='1353709393' post='1877831'] Aha. I do live near Brighton. Shame that they don't have a demo room though. [/quote] They don't have very much room at all...! Truly a micro industry, but what products...! [quote name='sifi2112' timestamp='1353700394' post='1877711'] Great looking rig, congrats , might have to pick your brains at some point regarding POD for recording as I've got an HD bean (guitar) but still need Mac (pc) Is that like my S12T but with 3012LF's & a midrange ?[/quote] I thought the woofers were the same Eminence units in both boxes tbh, could be wrong... Its got a 6" midrange and a complex crossover arrangement, it goes lower and louder than the Super 12 as the woofers don't have to do so much of the work int he midrange. The articulation in the mids and HF is really something to hear.... I haven't finished running it in yet, 25hz for 2 hours was all I could take tonight, more over the weekend though.

I've been using the pods in studios for a long time, I'm a recording engineer by trade, and I'm very familiar with the architecture. I've always managed to get great sounds when recording myself and other bassists, and I figured I should just apply the same approach to live. All that was missing was a speaker system capable of amplifying the range of tones I need to gig levels, which is where Alex's designs come in... Bob: the pod XT is a huge box of tones, it's just not very user friendly, the MacBook on the top is running a graphic editor, but you still need to understand signal flow, EQ, compression, time domain FX... I think that's what keeps them for being more acceptable to most bassists. The Crown is just a PA amp, it delivers 1400 watts into 4 Ohms which is precisely what the Big Twin is rated for. Fretmeister: Presets? What are those....?

[quote name='bremen' timestamp='1353662359' post='1877016'] Which is your favourite Iain Banks? Mine's Espedair Street :-) [/quote] I'm a M Banks fan generally, favourite is probably Use of Weapons, I should have been Zakalwe.... I really liked Complicity and Crow Road.

This is posted over in Amps and Cabs too, hope thats ok... Love my new rig. [IMG]http://i1356.photobucket.com/albums/q726/WinterMute16/BFBTTrig.jpg[/IMG]

So I dropped into the Barefaced workshop this morning to pick up my new Big Twin T, had a good chat with Alex and left with a boot full of new cab. Had to wait till I got home to connect it up, and as it's a little late, I thought my neighbours might not appreciate 1400 watts flat out...! The rig is now a Pod XT Pro into a Crown XTi1000 bridged into mono into the Big Twin, the bass is a Tony Levin OLP with a Bart pup and pre-amp. Can't really comment on the sound as I could only run it very quietly, and I want to soak it with the 25hz signal for a while before I crank it up. I'll report back once it's been used in anger, but I have to say I have no quibbles about the finish, the cab is unbelievably light and Alex's customer service is excellent.

Not sure what MX might be, I've been using the tag for years, mainly on Apple forums though... I looked at a whole bunch of stuff before going with Barefaced, the combination of size, weight, pure output and tonality looks very hard to beat if you can afford the price. I'll let you know once I've had a chance to fire the cab up. Alex puts his money where his mouth is with the one month money back deal, he's absolutely certain they can build you a cab that does what you want. The Fearful designs look good, but you'd need to find a builder you trust.

I run a Pod XT pro into a Crown XTi1000, and I'm hopefully picking up my Barefaced Big Twin T next week, it's nearly finished...! I'm doing pretty much what you are doing and I chose the Big Twin T because its effectively designed to act as a large bass orientated monitor speaker, the Pods are then driving the whole sound and the cab simply amplifies the signal to gig levels, the Barefaced cabs are light, very loud but they certainly ain't cheap. The fEARful designs are working on a similar idea, but Barefaced are in Brighton. Do yourself a favour and discuss your needs with Alex on [email protected] and check out their line at http://www.barefacedbass.com.

I prefer Gabriels solo work and post Gabriel Genesis, "And then there were three" being truly frightening in places at volume.

I have a Tony Levin OLP, it's an extraordinarily good bass for the £200 that it cost, even accounting for the Bart pup and pre-amp I've put in. Flamed maple top, matching headstock, light, good tone and a decent B string. Some are the suspicious orange colour of Levin's original SR5, but some are natural... The pickguard i a bit shabby, and it's next on the list to change. If you can find one, get it.

[quote name='alexclaber' timestamp='1351157456' post='1847950'] Don't bumblebees gain the extra lift, that simplistic calculation said was unavailable from their wing size and reciprocations per minute, through the creation of a vortex which generates extra lift compared to how a bird wing works? Usually when scientific theory differs from reality it's because the science is incomplete! [/quote] Who said "one man's science is another man's belly laugh..."?

[quote name='fatback' timestamp='1351081598' post='1847027'] Honestly, a strip or two of auralex foam cures stage boom. Not at a subtle change either, a dramatic improvement. As for the er... debate above, I have no idea. [/quote] Many people report significant improvement for boomy stage and rooms by using such devices, wether they be the overpriced Auralex offerings or a couple of bits of packing foam, so there is, demonstrably, an effect that players like. The Auralex GRAMMA is rated for 300lb I believe, so is good for an 8x10, I'm not sure I'd want to put an 8x10 on bits of foam that weren't up to the job. Several people have made their own versions, Auralex foam isn't cheap, so I reckon the discounts that are out there make it worthwhile. I'm certainly going to be looking at either the GRAMMA or the Iso-tilt once it arrive.

[quote name='alexclaber' timestamp='1248965112' post='556258'] Personally though I don't see much value in bass amp modelling in live situations as you're almost always going to be limited by the loudspeaker cabinet performance. [/quote] Should I be worried about the capabilities of your Big Twin T then Alex...?

I currently have the LD400 Pro combo, which is for sale (plug, plug), and I have the Pod XT Pro rack which I'm going to be using with a Barefaced Big Twin T when Alex's guys can tear themselves away from FiFA 2012....! Unlike Alex I do see the point of modelling live, provided you abandon spurious thoughts of "authenticity", I find the Line 6 bass kit to be good both in flexibility and in tone, but you do need to spend some time getting away from the factory presets and finding your own sound. I deliberately chose the Big Twin T as I intend to use it like a very loud studio monitor, to simply amplify the output of the Pod XT to gig levels. The Pod XT is a great studio tool, providing a huge range of tones, and I intend to make use of that flexibility in the live situation. The models are generally pretty good, particularly the Ampeg and Marshall models, and can yield some very useable sounds. The combo is certainly loud enough to cope with a loud drummer, moreso with an extension cab, but the limitation is the speaker cab, which doesn't handle high volume as well as a very expensive cab would, however at the price you can grab one for they are useable, loud and flexible. Studio wise the DI output with the modelling is very useful. If you don't expect it to sound exactly like an SVT/8x10 rig, you'll find that it sounds close enough for rock n roll. As ever, it's not the kit you own, it's what you do with it that counts. We all know the guy with £1000's in kit who sounds crap and the other guy with the scraped together rig who sounds great.

It's not just a tilt back device, it isolates the cab from the floor, which is a good thing on hollow boomy stages and helps you sound remain your sound in bad acoustic conditions, check out the Auralex GRAMMA pad, not a tilt device just a de-coupler, Alex's plan is to provide the de-coupleing effect with a handy tilt-back.

[quote name='funky8884' timestamp='1350806949' post='1843572'] In one of my emails to Alex asking about a Barefaced Cab solution he mentioned an ''IsoTilt wedge''. Has anyone out there got one / used one ? [/quote] Alex told me he needed to get to see a supplier for the foam I think, anyway, they aren't available as yet. Auralex GRAMMA is your best bet.

In the 80's I ran a GK 800RB bi-amped into an Ampeg 8x10 and a TE 4x10, I played a 5 string Thumb and it sounded awesome... 400 watts was plenty to shift the air and the decibels, however it weighed slightly more than the car I use to shift it around in and I was young, strong and stupidly keen... I also only ran one basic bass sound, and this is the key element. I'm 48 now, I play 5 string fretted and fretless and the bass sound shifts to suit the style and content of each song occasionally during songs, I need a rig that shifts the air and the db, but can cope with the different tonality and playing styles I employ, plus it has to be small and light... I have a Pod XT pro and a Crown XTi1000 awaiting a Big Twin T from Alex, I fully expect it to be able to outperform the old rig. I love 8x10 and large scale rigs as much as the next Teutonic Bass Monster, but sometimes technology and the application of knowledge and design comes up with something different. I'll let you know if Alex, (and by extension, myself) are right.

[quote name='Jools4001' timestamp='1350332455' post='1837529'] +1 I've gigged my Big One for a couple of years as well. I drive it with a Pod XT Live, an ART ProChannel and a bridged Crown 1000XLS. I'm no spring chicken and I've used rigs from Ampeg, Trace, GK, Marshall, Hiwatt and Eden amongst others over the years. It took a bit of a learning curve for the rest of my kit to play nice with the Big One because it is so transparent it will reveal stuff you didn't notice before.I've got it cracked now and it's the best rig I've ever had,. You know that the Big One sounds awesome when non-bass playing, non-musicians tell you that your bass sound is the best they've ever heard. It's cured my cab GAS anyway....well....except maybe for a super 15 [/quote] Looks like I'm taking the same route, Big Twin T, Pod XT Pro and a Crown XTi1000 in bridged mode.... Just need the cab now...! Glad to hear that the theory works so well.

[quote name='alexclaber' timestamp='1350031607' post='1833640'] Look it at like with cars. An efficient car might do 60mpg, an inefficient car might to 20mpg. Put 10 gallons into one and you'll be able to go 600 miles but only 200 miles with the other. mpg=sensitivity; fuel put in=power from amp; fuel tank capacity=max power handling. [/quote] What about acceleration, cornering and the leather seats then?