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Darkglass Elite Series 810 & 412


Cuzzie
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I think that if you are carting about an 8x10 or vertical 4x12 then expectations of how ‘lightweight’ the cab should be realistic. An ‘ultra lightweight’ 8x10 is still going to be pain to move as soon as you meet a set of stairs compared to two lightweight 4x10 cabs.

116lbs is not too bad for an 8x10 considering the classic Ampeg fridge is 140lbs. It is also much less than the Mesa 6x10 I have which is about 135lbs(!). However the EBS Neo 8x10 has been on the market for ten years or so and it’s quoted handling weight is 105lbs, so the Darkglass cab is not really close to being the lightest 8x10 on the market.

As far as I’m concerned I don’t really consider either Darkglass cabinet to be especially lightweight. In terms of the other specs though they look like top quality cabinets.


I’m sure it will be a great cabinet, the real test will be the cost.

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The Barefaced 8x10 is 79lb

That's a big difference.

 

I remember when DG released their first cabs. Old tech and very heavy. The comments they got all over social media quickly showed it was a mistake to assume the world still wanted heavy cabs. 

Now the new cabs are much lighter and the smaller ones are competitive on weight, but the larger cabs are not. Perhaps the 4x12 and 8x10 are aimed at pros who have roadies.

 

The pricing will be vital though. The lightweight DG 4x10 is £1125 at bass direct, and the Barefaced is £959 (steel) and £1009 (cloth)

That difference is probably not enough to be a huge issue for anyone wanting to drop a grand on a cab and the weights are so close (cloth grill on the BF) that it's not an issue either.

 

Be interesting to see what the prices of the bigger cabs are.

 

I'd still love to try one of the Aerotech cabs though - seem to have dropped another third in weight. I love the way that tech is going!

 

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Things is, the only people who will buy DG cabs like that are people who like to saturate their tone with DG pedals/products. In which case, they could plug into any cabinet by a reputable manufacturer. They're just going to sound like every other DG user anyway.... lol!

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1 minute ago, cetera said:

Things is, the only people who will buy DG cabs like that are people who like to saturate their tone with DG pedals/products. In which case, they could plug into any cabinet by a reputable manufacturer. They're just going to sound like every other DG user anyway.... lol!

As much as I like DG pedals and the M900 amp I agree.

It's got a distinctive baked in sound just like a SVT has. 

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Off the top of my head, the laney nexus 810 and markbass classic are around 10kg lighter each.

52kg isnt bad for a quality 8x10, but it cant be classed as "ultra lightweight" especially with 2 high quality competitors coming in 10kg lighter.

Edited by la bam
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Yeah, they need to drop the ultra lightweight tag as it look a bit silly if there are cabs out there that weigh 10kg less.

Still, they''re not heavy and if your buying an 8x10 or 4x12 I'm not sure how much difference you would notice.  Still isn't a one hand lift and stairs are still going to be a problem!

After my experience of the Barefaced cab range I don't see them as a fair comparison quality wise, the Darkglass builds will be top notch.  It seems like a niche market though, i just don't know who uses cabs that size any more over a modular setup, and even if the ones that do may be set in their way with their SVTs.

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3 minutes ago, Kev said:

Yeah, they need to drop the ultra lightweight tag as it look a bit silly if there are cabs out there that weigh 10kg less.

Still, they''re not heavy and if your buying an 8x10 or 4x12 I'm not sure how much difference you would notice.  Still isn't a one hand lift and stairs are still going to be a problem!

After my experience of the Barefaced cab range I don't see them as a fair comparison quality wise, the Darkglass builds will be top notch.  It seems like a niche market though, i just don't know who uses cabs that size any more over a modular setup, and even if the ones that do may be set in their way with their SVTs.

When u say fair comparison quality wise can you expand?

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7 minutes ago, Cuzzie said:

When u say fair comparison quality wise can you expand?

I lost a lot of money on selling my retro (if they’re still called that?) range cabs because of tweed tolex shrinkage, repair of which I was fobbed off my Barefaced for around 2 years.  Even after acknowledging the issue, they continued to sell cabs with the same glue and tolex, a recent post on Facebook by Alex admitted this.  Leaves a sour taste, and unless I’m mistaken their 810 has the same tolex and construction as the one10s.  I can’t see Darkglass letting anything with that kind of QC issue hit the market.

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21 minutes ago, Kev said:

I lost a lot of money on selling my retro (if they’re still called that?) range cabs because of tweed tolex shrinkage, repair of which I was fobbed off my Barefaced for around 2 years.  Even after acknowledging the issue, they continued to sell cabs with the same glue and tolex, a recent post on Facebook by Alex admitted this.  Leaves a sour taste, and unless I’m mistaken their 810 has the same tolex and construction as the one10s.  I can’t see Darkglass letting anything with that kind of QC issue hit the market.

Thanks - I get the tolex covering issue - but aside from the covering, looking at sound what is the comparison?

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1 minute ago, Cuzzie said:

Thanks - I get the tolex covering issue - but aside from the covering, looking at sound what is the comparison?

I was referring to build as I said, sound wise I haven't heard the Darkglass so have no idea!  Assuming you have, what's your take on it?

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I was just referring to what you said about quality in your initial statement, it Appeared you had owned one or multiple BF cabs. It’s probably my interpretation that when I think of build quality it’s components, woods, moving parts, sound, voicing etc not just covering.
 

I haven’t seen or heard a sound quality comparison either side by side, or a DG cab without the standard ‘baked in’ type sound going through them.

I know you are on board with DG and thought you may have tried possibly the smaller cabs. I assume these are just bigger versions of those

Edited by Cuzzie
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4 minutes ago, Cuzzie said:

I was just referring to what you said about quality in your initial statement, it Appeared you had owned one or multiple BF cabs. It’s probably my interpretation that when I think of build quality it’s components, woods, moving parts, sound, voicing etc not just covering.
 

I haven’t seen or heard a sound quality comparison either side by side, or a DG cab without the standard ‘baked in’ type sound going through them.

I know you are on board with DG and thought you may have tried possibly the smaller cabs. I assume these are just bigger versions of those

Ah sorry, perhaps I wasn't clear enough looking back.  I've had a brace of Limited Edition One10's (the sour taste), a Super Compact and a Midget.  I loved my Super Compact and had no issues with it apart from it being flat tonally, if there was an 8x10 or 4x12 in that series I would be more interested in a comparison, but I'm not sure the coloured more cost effective build of the retro series is equal to the Darkglass in terms of finish, and potentially build quality and woods used;  presuming the speakers weigh very similar both being Neo, there may be a comparison of robustness to be made. SUPER lightweight in that regard is not always king, especially in cab of this volume.

I haven't tried any of the new Neo range to be honest.  The Ceramic cabs sounded good but nothing groundbreaking.

Edited by Kev
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I tghink myou can only judge the quality of a cabinet or anything after a while. These cabs are made in the USA so are OEM and probably not absolutely built to the same standards as Darglass's own products. They may be better but my point is that we cannot be sure.

As for the Super Compact being "flat tonally", some people would prefer that.

 

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