Your best (and worst!) bass gear purchases of 2025?

[Barabass]

2 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

I have a cheap 'Cube Baby'. 

 

The improvement in the sound through an (allegedly) FRFR speaker when I switch in any IR into the signal chain is very noticeable.

 

This suggests speaker colouration of the sound IS important, so what is going on?

What I meant is that “strange” might not be the right word and may cause confusion. What I wanted to say is that a cab can be FRFR, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it will sound cold or sterile. With the Monza that’s definitely not the case, and I find that remarkable and very pleasant.

 

EDIT: 

I think I now understand what you mean @Stub Mandrel If you use an effect like the Bassrig and amplify it through an FRFR system, you still end up with a coloured sound. So why would you choose an FRFR in the first place? I can follow that question.

My experience is that the Monza reproduces the sound of the P‑bass, the Bassrig, and ultimately the Quilter BB800 in a really pleasing way. The cabinet reproduces the colouring created by the Bassrig exactly as intended. And if I want a different sound for another music style, that’s possible too. That makes the entire rig more versatile.

Edited 4 hours ago by Barabass

[rwillett]

54 minutes ago, Barabass said:

Quilter Bass Block 800

Nice....

[tauzero]

2 hours ago, Barabass said:

 

I think I now understand what you mean @Stub Mandrel If you use an effect like the Bassrig and amplify it through an FRFR system, you still end up with a coloured sound. So why would you choose an FRFR in the first place? I can follow that question.

My experience is that the Monza reproduces the sound of the P‑bass, the Bassrig, and ultimately the Quilter BB800 in a really pleasing way. The cabinet reproduces the colouring created by the Bassrig exactly as intended. And if I want a different sound for another music style, that’s possible too. That makes the entire rig more versatile.

 

It does mean that you're not stuck with a single baked-in amp and cab sound, you can use different ones by using NAM/IR or other modelling.

[Stub Mandrel]

2 hours ago, Barabass said:

What I meant is that “strange” might not be the right word and may cause confusion. What I wanted to say is that a cab can be FRFR, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it will sound cold or sterile. With the Monza that’s definitely not the case, and I find that remarkable and very pleasant.

 

EDIT: 

I think I now understand what you mean @Stub Mandrel If you use an effect like the Bassrig and amplify it through an FRFR system, you still end up with a coloured sound. So why would you choose an FRFR in the first place? I can follow that question.

My experience is that the Monza reproduces the sound of the P‑bass, the Bassrig, and ultimately the Quilter BB800 in a really pleasing way. The cabinet reproduces the colouring created by the Bassrig exactly as intended. And if I want a different sound for another music style, that’s possible too. That makes the entire rig more versatile.

 

I like the sound of my GRBass AT212; in a shootout with a Monza it was generally felt it sounds slightly scooped by comparison, bit not far off 'flat'. Both sounded good with a various types of music played through them, and obviously sound great with bass played through them.

 

I have a number of inexpensive all-in-one cabs that sound fine for music or when used as low powered PA that would probably be considered as FRFR (or meant to be). My cheap reference mic suggests they are a bit short <100Hz and above 11 or 12KHz and wander up and down by about +/-5 dB across that range (partly due to me measuring in a living room, I suspect). They sound weak with bass through them, if detailed, and an IR cabsim transforms them.

I suppose I ought to (1) see if I can measure the response of my GRBass cab and (2) see what happens if I power it via the Cube Baby.

 

 

[Stub Mandrel]

38 minutes ago, tauzero said:

 

It does mean that you're not stuck with a single baked-in amp and cab sound, you can use different ones by using NAM/IR or other modelling.

 

Indeed, it's just intuitively I'd expect all FRFR cabs to sound the same, but many sound utterly lifeless and the Monza doesn't. The answer is presumably that not all FRFR cabs are created equal, or even truly FRFR.