Another Speaker (or amp) Question - Old Barefaced vs New Barefaced (and PJB)

[guyl]

I love my old Barefaced Compact. (the one with the 15" speaker). Usually powered with a GallienKrueger RB1001-II head. The rig is buttery warm, more than loud enough for most things and super light. I use it for electric as well as upright. Upright has a Copperhead pickup. Fabulous.

 

The only criticism might be that it never did super clean or super bright, and I have wondered about upgrading to a newer model, or one with a tweeter. Especially for upright. I'm feeling this even more after recently swopping strings from super bright (pizzy) strings to a hybrid string. (Obligatos). I'm trying to arco properly, but that's another story. 

 

Has anyone upgraded their Barefaced cab in the quest for a cleaner upright sound? 

 

And unrelated, someone on here is selling a PJB rig. Never tried one, but in theory those small speakers might be good for us bullfiddlers??    

   

Thanks for any advice/thoughts...

[ezbass]

My PJB rig works fine for my NS WAV, but as a newcomer to the world of upright, my opinion may not hold much weight. However, Kyle Eastwood uses PJB gear and he’s a bit good.

[jrixn1]

I moved from an original 15" Barefaced Compact to a Barefaced Big Baby 2 and it was a big increase in clarity.  I wouldn't get a BB3 today though, at £1150 (unless you just couldn't do without its unbeatable low weight) - I'd get a good 12" powered speaker, like an RCF 732-A or Yamaha DXR12 for £700 or so.  Also depends how attached you are to your RB. If so, the other cab which I've not tried but sounds interesting (if I was using separates) is the Monaco https://www.lfsys.co.uk/bassguitarproducts It's marketed for bass guitar but I don't see why.  Apparently there's a demo one making its way around the UK (contact  @stevie ).

[TheRev]

I'm firmly in the 'lots of small drivers' camp for double bass.  I use  MAS cabs (4x5"), which are expensive and hard to come by these days. I didn't particularly like PJB cabs when I tried them, but plenty of DB players do.

I did like the Barefaced One10 - if I was buying again (and MAS wasn't an option) then a couple of One10s would be on my list. But, the one cab I really, really liked was the LFSys Monaco 12" cab, made by @stevie (

https://www.lfsys.co.uk/bassguitarproducts) - super clean, clear and loud. If I had to find a replacement for my MAS cabs, that's what I'd go for.

[keeponehandloose]

Big Baby 2 is ideal on db IMHO.

The tweeter level can be dialed to give you just the right amount of zing. There is no harshness when its set to higher levels. I would look for second hand though, they seem to go for around the 500 mark.

[Bloopdad1]

All 3 of my double basses sound great either through my BB2 or my Super Midget. 

They're so good that I instantly sold all my Bergantino cabs the week after I first tried a BF 12" cab. 

The Super Midget loves theatre pit work and the BB2 eats up big bands and loud jazz stuff. 

(obviously both superb for bass guitar). 

Can't comment on the BB3, can it be even better!?!??!? 

[Phil Starr]

As most of you know I'm a friend of @stevie and have worked with him on designing the free self build designs on BC.

 

The Monaco is a remarkable design, probably uniquely suited to double bass, crucially it has a really tight, tailored low end. This is going to reduce boom and hence low frequency feedback. Higher up it has almost certainly the best crossover available in an instrument speaker and a really flat frequency response, again this will help avoid feedback with an acoustic instrument as well as giving studio quality sound. The third feature is that the horn is rotated 90deg so that you are going to get more information when you are standing close to the speaker. All these things help an electric bass of course but I'd suspected that these would be crucial to upright bass. I had the chance to hear this at the SW Bass Bash where @TheRev had a chance to try out/demo the Monaco. Perhaps he might come on and give an opinion.

 

The Monaco isn't cheap but it is a lot less than the barefaced Big Baby

[TheRev]

3 hours ago, Phil Starr said:

I had the chance to hear this at the SW Bass Bash where @TheRev had a chance to try out/demo the Monaco. Perhaps he might come on and give an opinion.

 

Go up three posts Phil... 😁

[NickA]

I'm a huge pjb fan for double bass, but I'd call it "accurate" "transparent" "hifi".... Not exactly bright.  No tweeters.  Does sound a lot like a double bass does without amplification.