Barefaced One10 vs Vanderkley 210MNT dilemma

[largo]

So, as is typical with my affinity to Basschat I've gone with the hype & got myself a couple of Barefaced One10 cabs.

Gigged Friday & Saturday night at reasonably-sized weddings and the little cabs coped admirably, using a 5-string passive bass and the Mesa Carbine M6 amp. Looked kind of stupid with the rack sat on top but didn't seem to be lack anything, even down to low B. Band members said they could hear no difference, although they do reckon I need a couple of dancing dwarves to complete the Spinal Tap look of the One10 cabs.

I haven't done a true A/B & doubt I'll be able to, but I'm now in a dilemma.

The Vanderkley cabs are top-class in terms of tone but bigger, heavier (still light) and way above my current needs. The BF One10 cabs are smaller, lighter and produce an amazingly big tone. I'd give the edge to the Vanderkley cabs due to "heft" of tone (there, I said it) & if I had no PA support then my current rig would be first choice. However, with a decent PA all I need is stage monitor and I'm not getting any younger, so the BF cabs are edging it, I think.

I'm still within my months trial with BF and got a couple of gigs this weekend to make my final decision. Could someone please help me choose or give me pointers to anything else I should be thinking about.

Help!!!!!

[Muzz]

I'm afraid I can't help with the A-B thing (have you no rehearsal opportunities to do this? Might be worth calling one on a spurious pretext...), but I'd like to thank you for the Spinal Tap dwarves dancing round a stack of One10s...

[FuNkShUi]

The overhang of the Mesa would be too much for my OCD!!
Decision made haha

In all seriousness, both are top quality brands with no shortage of happy users.
Im guessing it all comes down to personal preference.
At the minute you say you prefer the Vanderkleys, for whatever reason that might be, so give the One10s another couple of gigs before your months trial is up, and see if they can change your mind.
Not losing anything.
And sometimes what you say you prefer is only actually what your used to. Another few gigs, getting more used to the EQ settings and voicing of the BF cabs and the One10s could have you drooling

[chris_b]

When your band says they can hear "no difference", is that between 2 x 210's and 2 x 110's or 1 x 210 and 2 x 110's?

[mingsta]

Only you can decide whether portability or tone is of more value to you.

...but personally I'd go the middle road - send back one of the One10's and keep the other + vanderkley.

For the gigs where you're going through the PA, then a single One10 gives a great and highly portable stage monitoring set up. Not sure why you'd want the extra hassle of bringing two if its just for monitoring. For the gigs where the backline is doing the heavy lifting, then you have your preferred tone going out to everyone with the Vanderkley.

See, with mentality like that, this is why I currently have 4 x amps/speakers!

[largo]

[quote name='FuNkShUi' timestamp='1468248422' post='3089549']
The overhang of the Mesa would be too much for my OCD!!
Decision made haha
[/quote]
Not if you have a Mesa Subway D800 on order too Exact fit to the top of the One10's (well 1/4" over at the back but I can live with that) although the rack fits exactly to the top of the VK cabs too.

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1468249671' post='3089561']
When your band says they can hear "no difference", is that between 2 x 210's and 2 x 110's or 1 x 210 and 2 x 110's?
[/quote]
This would be 2 x 210MNT against 2 x One10's. Like I say very impressive for small cabs. There's definitely much more headroom on the VK cabs but I can't ever imagine needing it. Both gigs, I had the gain at 1 'o clock & the volume at 1 (not 'o clock, I mean 1 out of 10) on the amp. I challenge anybody to a volume wars with a Mesa M6 amp. Haven't had to up the volume between the 2x210MNT or 2xOne10 either.

Keep 'em coming.

[largo]

[quote name='mingsta' timestamp='1468250729' post='3089568']
For the gigs where you're going through the PA, then a single One10 gives a great and highly portable stage monitoring set up. Not sure why you'd want the extra hassle of bringing two if its just for monitoring. For the gigs where the backline is doing the heavy lifting, then you have your preferred tone going out to everyone with the Vanderkley.
[/quote]
Always go via the PA these days, so never need the full power of the VK's. Gear is kept in a trailer so only hassle is back & forward to a stage. Not convinced a single One10 would be loud enough on 100% gigs though & personally I like the tone of cabs that are under control as opposed to being pushed to their limit, if that makes sense. Bit taller & closer to the ears too. That's also the reason I went for two 210MNT's as opposed to a single 410 cab.

[IanA]

It is always nice to have more cab than you need.
I don't need my 410LNT but it produces depth and punch that smaller cabs cannot.
Previously I always played through p/a using my rig purely for monitoring, but now I have some gigs without p/a and the extra beef really comes in handy.
Having gone through £££££ of gear I have drawn the conclusion that with cabs bigger is better (for me anyway).

[Merton]

Keep the Vanderkleys and send me the One10s

[IanA]

[quote name='Merton' timestamp='1468256704' post='3089630']
Keep the Vanderkleys and send me the One10s
[/quote]
Strange... I nearly posted keep the BF and send me the MNT's🤓

[chris_b]

You say, there's more of this in these cabs and more of that in those cabs but if the band can't tell the difference between either rig. . . . . why carry the extra weight?

[Delberthot]

Like the OP I only ever go through the PA so I've ordered a single One 10 with the top hat mount as it's all I'm going to need. I've already bought a good speaker stand and amp to go with the cab. It's due in the next couple of weeks.

I had planned on keeping my Rumble 500 combo but when I bought the Rumble I had said that I'd buy a Rumble extension cab for bigger gigs but have never needed one. Worst case scenario I could pick up an Ashdown 4x10" for much cheapness if anything big came up.

Personally, if it sounds the same through the pa regardless of what you use then I'd go with whatever sounded the best to me. My stage sound is secondary only to how it sounds out the front and I'd rather have the best sound I could on stage than whatever is easier to carry.

The better I sound the more I enjoy it

Edited July 11, 2016 by Delberthot

[Kev]

Interesting to see a comparison between Barefaced and Vanderkley, without having the opportunity to do it myself your results are pretty much what I imagined they would be.

I personally wouldn't want to compromise tone, so if the extra weight and size isn't an issue I would stick with the Vanderkleys. If you crave more compactness and a good tone buy the Barefaced.

[Merton]

[quote name='IanA' timestamp='1468257042' post='3089637']

Strange... I nearly posted keep the BF and send me the MNT's🤓
[/quote]

Haha! You can have the MNTs then, and Largo can buy something completely different

[IanA]

[quote name='Merton' timestamp='1468264655' post='3089735']


Haha! You can have the MNTs then, and Largo can buy something completely different
[/quote]
Lol! I would just buy two we ones, my GAS is cured though😋

[M@23]

[quote name='IanA' timestamp='1468254325' post='3089610']
It is always nice to have more cab than you need.
I don't need my 410LNT but it produces depth and punch that smaller cabs cannot.
Previously I always played through p/a using my rig purely for monitoring, but now I have some gigs without p/a and the extra beef really comes in handy.
Having gone through £££££ of gear I have drawn the conclusion that with cabs bigger is better (for me anyway).
[/quote]

I've had the same experience. But the bigger cab I've gone to is a 212MNT. It's about as big as I could go whilst still being able to move fairly easily on my own.
I've loved some of the smaller cabs I've had up to a point, but don't like the sound when pushed. I don't really do acoustic/quiet gigs and the 212MNT is effortlessly powerful and it's amps up incredibly.

I'd really like one of these BF 1x10s for home and rehearsals, they look seriously cool too.

Edited July 11, 2016 by M@23

[bassjim]

I've recently gone from a pair of EBS112neos back to a EBS 2X10 neo. For most full band gigs I add 1 x ebs112. Small rehearsals ect i take a 112 but for any gigs that where I can use just 1 cab I use as a prefrence the 2x10, PA support or not.
I feel you lose too much head room and just about everything else from these small cabs on their own regardless of what the physics book says. On a loud stage with mic'd up kit banging around in the monitors along with everything else ect, a pair of small cabs gets pretty useless pretty quickly.
IMO keep the Vanderkley. You can always stack the smaller cab with it when you need more volume ect and for those nice and super low volume rehearsals/gigs you still have the small cab for portability.
In an ideal world it would be nice if you could have two of the larger cabs and two of the smaller. Thats all situations sorted! As soon as I see another EBS2x10 at the right price I will have achieved this nirvarna.

IME these small light cabs from most manufactures are very good on gigs so long as they are used in pairs and there is no volume war going on.

So what I am really saying is keep 1 barefaced if you really like em and send the other one back!!

Edited July 12, 2016 by bassjim

[crabman]

[quote name='Delberthot' timestamp='1468263829' post='3089724']
Like the OP I only ever go through the PA so I've ordered a single One 10 with the top hat mount as it's all I'm going to need. I've already bought a good speaker stand and amp to go with the cab. It's due in the next couple of weeks
[/quote]

Delberthot, what stand did you go with? I could go for a smaller "monitor" cab if it was higher.

Edited July 12, 2016 by crabman

[Delberthot]

I bought [url="https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00EQ45Y1G/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1"]these ones[/url]

Absolutely rock solid and come with a bag. I'll only be using one so I can put my Hercules bass stand in the bag at the same time.

[lownote]

[quote name='mingsta' timestamp='1468250729' post='3089568']
...but personally I'd go the middle road - send back one of the One10's and keep the other + vanderkley.

For the gigs where you're going through the PA, then a single One10 gives a great and highly portable stage monitoring set up. Not sure why you'd want the extra hassle of bringing two if its just for monitoring. For the gigs where the backline is doing the heavy lifting, then you have your preferred tone going out to everyone with the Vanderkley.

See, with mentality like that, this is why I currently have 4 x amps/speakers!
[/quote]

Sorry, hope it's OK to butt in but this is just what I've done by a sort of accident - bought 1x BF One 10 and 1x Vanderkley 112EXT. Seems to offer me the best of all worlds and full flexibility. It's just my cab stack looks like that of a guy who couldn't make up his mind - which is pretty close to the truth.

EDIT: Found it didn't sound nice nor was good theoretically to mate such different cabs. VK was fairly light but awkward to hump, BF seemed to have oceans of oomph with a MB LM2 head. In the end it was no contest and out went the VK, in stayed the BF 110.

Edited December 29, 2016 by lownote12

[fretmeister]

Sell them all.

Get a BF Four10 instead.

[largo]

far too heavy...