alexclaber

[quote name='funky8884' timestamp='1430588696' post='2762945']
Is the super midget compatible with the BB2 ?[/quote]

Yes, that's turned out to be the 'doubler' rig. SM for smaller gigs, BB2 for larger ones, both for really big ones. Size benefit of the SM is very worthwhile when you're carting a double bass and very handy when you're being [s]lazy[/s] efficient with your bass guitar gear. BB2 has a bigger sound but it's almost twice as big.

But I'm very glad you liked whichever of our cabs it was!

This thread title is going to be really confusing in a few months' time...

I don't think its really the highs that are the issue, it's more the upper midrange, the 800Hz-2kHz region. A lot of bass cabs have a dip there, particularly off-axis but our 12XN cabs don't. The Markbass amps (if you're running them clean) are amongst the most transparent but none of their cabs really are.

Even with the HF driver all the way up on the Big Twin 2 there's no treble boost at all - there are just no dips anywhere, right through the mids too. I think your Stingray is a much brighter sounding bass than you realised - I didn't know Drew's first Two10 had already left GBBL - I suspect it might be the right beast to tame the Stingray though!

Phew! The 12XN drivers roll off at about 4kHz but there's quieter output from the 3" dome in the middle of each up to 10kHz. They're VERY clean sounding drivers so you hear all the detail - which isn't to everyone's taste, hence we make the Retro 10 cabs too, which are much mellower sounding.

Put overdrive through a 12XN cab and you hear all of it, all the grit, edge, dirt etc. Put it through a Retro 10 cab and it gets softened like you heard from the Markbass. Did Drew not have a Retro Two10 in stock?

Are you sure you had the HF driver turned off? The knob turns the opposite way to the norm.

[quote name='JamesBass' timestamp='1430404471' post='2761086']

How's best to arrange such a thing?
[/quote]

Email us! [email protected]

It really depends on the cab - there's a huge variance!

What it comes down to is how much air the cabs can move - so that's the cone area x cone excursion. Double the cone excursion and you only need half the cone area to get the same output for bass guitar.

Amongst older/cheaper cabs the 15" speakers tend to have more cone excursion, plus a 15" is about the area of 2.5 10"s. So generally amongst a similar range of cabs you'll find the 1x15" sits halfway between the matching 2x10" and 4x10" in terms of output.

Our little Retro Two10 though has about twice the cone excursion of most decent 10"s and even more that older/cheaper ones, so one of them has similar output to a typical 4x10" and more than almost all 1x15"s.

Obviously a 2x10" can't move enough air for louder bands/larger venues or so many larger cabs wouldn't exist!

You're welcome to borrow one of our demo cabs and wander down to GAK with it (only a few hundred yards away) for tonal comparisons with the variety of heads/cabs they have in stock. And if you buy a head there you can try it REALLY LOUD with our cabs in our factory!

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1430236816' post='2759348']
Be careful with the TH500/Barefaced combination....
[/quote]

The TH500 works brilliantly with all current Barefaced cabs - in fact the only one I know it doesn't work well with is the long discontinued Big One and possibly the Gen 2 Big Baby and Big Twin. It's great with all the Gen 3 cabs, both 12XN and 10CR.

[quote name='vailbass' timestamp='1430065471' post='2757643']...slow responding with far too much cone excursion trying to give lots of lows.[/quote]

There's no link between high cone excursion and poor transient response - in fact the reverse is likely to be true because a driver which is operating within its linear region will have far better cone control than a driver whose voice coil is moving out of the magnetic gap on louder notes.

[quote name='Mudpup' timestamp='1430173721' post='2758721']Sold the Shuttle recently and picked up a Gallien 700RBii head and it suits me much better. And funnily enough even though its rated at 480watts it seems much pokier than the 900watt Shuttle.
[/quote]

Not surprised at that! The 700 and 1001 have absolutely slamming power amp stages - you have 480W from low to high, into loads with challenging phase angles, for many many milliseconds (maybe even continuous). The 900W Shuttle is a good head but it won't do 900W for the length of a big bass note. Loud enough for many though, hence the popularity.

We've got some power amp modules here at Barefaced HQ for amplifier experimentation (early stages of R&D). They use absolutely cutting edge class D and SMPS technology but per watt they're far bigger than the innards of any micro amp I've seen because they can sustain that wattage for serious lengths of time.

[quote name='jimcroisdale' timestamp='1430127267' post='2758113']It is my understanding that the bass from a sealed cab does actually go lower, albeit at a slope?[/quote]

Although it often does in theory (based on 1W tests), in practice it doesn't because drivers in sealed cabs run out of low frequency power handling much sooner without a port to help move air.

[quote name='jimcroisdale' timestamp='1430121678' post='2758036']
[list]
[*]I understand that sealed cabs can be made much smaller than ported cabs, right?
[*]I know that a sealed cab will have a more 'natural' sound and a more gentle rolloff in the low end, right?
[*]I'm assuming that this will give the sound guy something good to work with, and he can add the big low end back on the desk eq, right?
[*]The maths are a LOT simpler...
[/list]
[/quote]

Point 4 is definitely right! The first two, not really, the third, well it depends.

Nice work! 4" ports looking tiny shows how HUGE it is!

[quote name='DanH71' timestamp='1429983061' post='2756957']If I'm mainly using DI at gigs and rehearsals arent crazy loud, can I not find a ultra light 8 ohm 15" /12" circa 300/400W cab that 'can' be easily lugged around without band mate favours?

Surely something on the market? Or do I ask too much![/quote]

You're not asking too much - a Super Midget will do that just fine! I don't know of any other cab as small or light with comparable output.

http://barefacedbass.com/product-range/Super-Midget.htm

[quote name='Lw.' timestamp='1429631931' post='2753438']I'm assuming this isn't possible but another fun looking thing would be to have a cab where the magnets are sticking out of the cabinet to make more of a display of them, like you often see with subs in boy-racer cars.
[/quote]

We've had some sub designs in the works for a while and some of them are a bit like that!

[quote name='MoonBassAlpha' timestamp='1429632570' post='2753451']
How about a tall, thin cab with upward facing sealed driver and multiple flared small ports acting like a line array?
[/quote]

Not sure I understand - please expand!

[quote name='symcbass' timestamp='1429633392' post='2753459']
Wish cab- barefaced 4x12 and the Faital tweet with the crossover designed specifically for plug n play slap upright bass please Alex
[/quote]

That's quite a cool idea! How would the crossover need to differ from the crossover in the Big Twin 2 to make it plug-n-play for upright slap? How about if that cab was active so you'd just run your preamp(s) into it?

[quote name='largo' timestamp='1429693705' post='2753925']
As for behemoth, what about a 6 x 12 that has the punch, response of 2 x 810 fridges and wide enough for that valve amp on top. 6 x Super Compacts in the same box?
[/quote]

A 4x12" with four 12XN drivers would handle 3200W, have 103dB sensitivity and have 2200cc Vd - very few pairs of 8x10"s could go louder!

[quote name='bootsy666' timestamp='1429884439' post='2755988']
How do they sound when stood next to one? I find that un like most people I can realy hear the diffirence between front and rear ports, I think that front ports sound a lot better for the style of music I play.
I'm going to try four 2" ports on the front, one between each set of speakers. And four 3" on the rear panel across the bottom with long tubes. Or maybe they should be 4"?
[/quote]

No-one can hear the difference between port placement when they're done right - the frequencies are so low that they blend seamlessly with what's coming out of the woofers. Done wrong and you get mids & even treble coming out, and port air noise and so on, which you hear.

Have a read of this if you want to understand what ports are for and what they're actually doing: http://barefacedbass.com/technical-information/the-mysteries-of-ports.htm

Silicone sealant (neutral cure) is pretty effective at holding a plastic port tube in place if the joint is nice and tight and has plenty of surface area.

You can put the ports wherever you like, it doesn't change the sound once you're anywhere other than right next to the cab. The Acme Low-B4 has front and back ones. On our Super & Big 12XN cabs we have them at the front whilst on our Retro 10CR cabs we have them at the side or on the bottom.

[quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1429710164' post='2754167']
could always go the other way - barefaced IEM....[/quote]

Heresy! Burn him! Burn the witch!

[quote name='Guinness21' timestamp='1429629455' post='2753413']Hmmm, interesting (he says stroking a cat like a bond villain). So does the super twin have wheels?[/quote]

Yes, we have tiltback casters on the Super Twin, Big Twin 2 and Retro Six10. We seem to be very bad at telling people about that though!

[quote name='Guinness21' timestamp='1429628391' post='2753394']I do have a fender rumble 75 w with a similar handle, and it's a right pain to carry cos it moves around so much.[/quote]

That's one handle on the top though, not one on each side. And it doesn't have wheels. And it's heavier.

A Super Twin will play louder than every other cab mentioned in this thread. And most people love its tone. Rocktastic.

[quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1429627419' post='2753386']the 4x12 you mentioned sounds interesting.

out of interest... if you had a mesa walkabout... 300w at 4ohms, 160w or so at 8 ohms, can push it to 2ohms if needed... which barefaced would you suggest? the retro 610? two retro210.[/quote]

It depends on if you want one big cab or some smaller ones? And how loud you need to go. Walkabout into one Two10 won't be exactly quiet!

[quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1429627419' post='2753386']It might be as interesting to ask peoples problems and see if there is a barefacedsolution to them (which gives you more engineering latitude than folk predetermining that they want a certain size driver or so on)[/quote]

From the logical engineering perspective I thought we'd solved most bass guitar amplification challenges as well as can be expected - but if there are more unsolved ones then I'd like to know and I'll see what I can suggest!

[quote name='Guinness21' timestamp='1429622609' post='2753308']I know barefaced are good and light, but it really annoys me that they don't have inset handles. [/quote]

Aaargghhhh, not again!!!!!



Pick one up some time (as in literally pick up, not buy, though you can buy one if you like!) I guarantee it'll feel a damn sight less annoying to move than any other equally loud cab (which will almost certainly be larger and much heavier).

[quote name='Count Bassy' timestamp='1429620558' post='2753272']
What about a version of some of your existing cabs with a section of 19" rack integrated on top (along with a speakon on top), so anyone could add their own favourite amp and make themselves a combo?[/quote]

Seems like a lot of lightweight amps (which would make sense to be part of a faux combo) aren't 19" wide nowadays?

[quote name='Count Bassy' timestamp='1429620558' post='2753272']Also, I have never heard a Barefaced, so this is pure conjecture, but I have always liked the sound of a bass driver (12/15") with a 6" or so mid/treble. Always sound smoother to me than a tweeter.
[/quote]

Our Gen 1 & 2 Big Series cabs used 15" or 12" drivers crossed over to 6" mids (with or without a tweeter as well). The Gen 3 Big Series cabs use a fancy big HF driver instead because it sounds even better!