Barefaced Super12 T & Compact! So Excited!

mattplaysdabass · #1 07-10-2011, 11:58 PM

I just paid for a new Barefaced Super12 T and a Compact aswell!

Alex has been very helpful since my first email, and I ant wait for them to be finished and sent to Australia. My main basses are a MIA 2010 Jazz Deluxe with d'Addario Chrome Flats and a 1972 Fretless P bass with an added Lindy Fralin J pickup and La Bella flats played through my new Genz Benz Shuttlemax 12.0. I've heard so many good reviews about Barefaced Cabs, has anyone here had any experience they can share with me? Cheers

MysticMichael · #2 07-11-2011, 12:26 AM

No experience with 'em here. But I'll bet that ShuttleMAX 12.0 is an excellent match for those cabs...especially since you can use each channel separately. Not to mention the extensive EQ options and more.

A wise score. Should sound super with your Jazz Bass especially.

MM

OzzyGreg · #3 07-11-2011, 12:27 AM

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I'll be interested to hear whether or not you cop Import Duty on the cabs.
I am under the assumption that customs sting us for it for speaker boxes, that's what's holding me back from ordering a Barefaced cab at the moment.

In the interim I have made up a fEARful cab, I'm tracking down drivers for it now.

Greg

mattplaysdabass · #4 07-11-2011, 12:43 AM

yeah Im hoping the import tax wont be too much. According to the customs website its only 5% of the price or something. I'll let you know when I find out.

::::BASSIST:::: · #5 07-11-2011, 01:31 AM

I have a BF Compact. Given its size and weight it truly is an amazing cab. Mine is 27.4LBS and super easy to carry. The tone is fairly even but do not expect pillowy lows. This is *not* your average 115 in any way, shape or form. Some have complained, from what I've read, of the DIY asthetic and I can definitely see where they are coming from as its not as visually appealing as say a Berg. However, it is well built and I have no complaints.

mattplaysdabass · #6 07-11-2011, 04:26 AM

Yeah I'm not going for heaps subby lows, I usually focus a bit more on lower mids and I'm just using the compact to fill out my sound and volume to boot!

rodl2005 · #7 07-11-2011, 05:38 AM

Interested to hear how they sound.
Look forward to a review!

mattplaysdabass · #8 07-11-2011, 05:50 AM

Ahhh yes I will definitely be putting them through their paces and will be posting some reviews.

T2k5 · #9 07-11-2011, 06:07 AM

I've been using a Super Twelve T for around 9 months now. It's an excellent cab; small, light and LOUD! Packs a huge whallop for its size. I use a Shuttle 9.0 with it and it sounds great. We used it on our new album (not yet finished), even doubled some guitars through it since it worked great for that too!

The only problem I've had with it was that mine was shipped with a faulty crossover. It worked fine for a few hours and then puffed out some smoke. Barefaced sent me a new crossover which I installed myself. Not a single hitch since then. From what I was told, mine has been the only one that has had such problems.

All in all, I doubt you will be disappointed by the cabs!

Jools4001 · #10 07-11-2011, 06:29 AM

As you can see from my sig, I've used a Barefaced Big One since just before Christmas 2010.

They are, sadly, discontinued (what were they thinking?) so I must have one of the last ones. I'll echo what Bassist said about the whiff of DIY aesthetic, it has a textured paint finish (duratex?) that is similar to the finish applied to touring PA rigs. It's built well and is tough enough but it doesn't look as sexy as some other cabs.

Who cares...the sound is awesome! With the 15/6 configuration it is like a big studio monitor and reproduces everything I've thrown at it with utmost clarity. I don't slap much so I don't miss having a tweeter and IMHO anybody who needs more upper end extension on their highs than this baby kicks out must need some seriously exaggerated top end.

Otherwise it just sounds clean, accurate and just plain huge.

::::BASSIST:::: · #11 07-11-2011, 11:21 AM

Yeah, its too bad BF discontinued the Big One. If its somewhat similar to the fEarful 15/6 I am sure you are right about its awesomeness. I wonder why Alex stopped making them?

Curious... how much does your Big One weigh?

Jools4001 · #12 07-12-2011, 12:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ::::BASSIST::::

Yeah, its too bad BF discontinued the Big One. If its somewhat similar to the fEarful 15/6 I am sure you are right about its awesomeness. I wonder why Alex stopped making them?

Curious... how much does your Big One weigh?

I got the Big One after musing on a fEarful thread about wanting a 15/6 but being strapped for time to build one. Greenboy replied saying that if he was in the UK, like I am, he would go for the Big One - good enough recommendation for me.

In terms of price, it seemed that Alex was selling them with only a relatively modest markup from the cost of the component parts - list price was £675 at the time, and in my research for building a fEarful I'd already worked out that the components would be around £500. I guess that with the added complexity of sourcing different drivers and crossover it's also more difficult to make than a cab that uses 'stock' components - it must be far cheaper and simpler for any manufacturer (even a small one) to get quantity discounts on a whole bunch of 10's than to split those quantities between different driver types. Also, no matter how good a cab the Big One is, it is still a cab that you need to be 'in the know' about and has to compete in the market with less intelligent choices such as the ubiquitous 410, so I guess there is a ceiling price the market will bear. My best guess (and it is a guess) is that as a somewhat 'niche' product that looks expensive for a cab with a single 15" driver, the Big One is just not commercially competitive, that's a shame because it is genuinely the best cab I have ever owned in 40 years of playing - it completely blows away everything else I've owned and I just can't imagine needing anything more for what I do.

In terms of weight, I've never had it on the scales but it continues to surprise me at how lightweight and manageable it is. As a guess I'd say it weighs around the mid 40's to mid 50 lbs range, but oddly, it feels much more manageable to lift and carry for any distance than my small rig which consists of two Eden CX110's that weigh 26lbs each, and you do have to carry it, it has tilt back wheels but these are too small to handle anything but smooth floors. It can be fun watching people who volunteer to help you load though, they generally get down and grab the handles like an olympic weightlifter, give it an almighty heave and almost fall over backwards as it flies off the floor.

::::BASSIST:::: · #13 07-12-2011, 12:46 AM

Very informative. Cool. Thanks. Another thing that might have something to do with it is the 8 ohms thing. Most people want more so they can the optimum power from their amp. I currently have a composite/fibreglass fEarful 15/6 on order and have been using an LDS 15/6 for a couple years. These cabs are so good I just buy the right amp for the cab and build my rig around the cab.

Fro 20 · #14 07-12-2011, 01:43 AM

Does the current Barefaced big series (Big Twin and Big Baby) use the same drivers as fEarful?

alexclaber · #15 07-12-2011, 02:34 AM

This is why we discontinued the Big One:

"So what happened to the flagship Big One?

The Big One was our very first Barefaced design, dating from before we had any plan to make loudspeaker cabinets commercially. As such it was designed to do exactly what I wanted and without any view to what any other bassists may want or need. And for me it was pretty much perfect - and as the glowing reviews over the past couple of years have shown, it was pretty damned good for others two. So why replace it?

Well when we developed the Super Twelve we came up with a stronger, stiffer and marginally lighter way to build a larger format (i.e. tall enough to have tiltback castors) bass cab. Then our woofer supplier came up with a 12" variant of our Big One woofer, which had the same unparalleled ability to move air (BASS BASS BASS!!!) but a more robust thermal:mechanical power handling ratio (less chance of blown woofers in abusive situations), better midrange response, a slightly higher force:mass ratio (=even more slam!), and lower resonance (lower tuning and deeper bass extension viable). Two of these 12"s can manage to produce even more bottom than the 15" in the Big One, they suffer less thermal power compression which means the tone is even more dynamic and remains even more consistent at punishing SPL, there are few amps on the market will enough power to kill this cab even in abusive conditions (but please don't go out of your way to try) yet the nominal 4 ohm load matches up better with the vast majority of bass amps so you get more from them (and Big One owners know that although the Big One is far louder than most cabs its weight and comparable to most its size, it isn't until you get huge power that you realise it is a giant killer!).

The downside is that we've had to uprate the crossover (biggest inductor ever seen in a commercial bass cab by a country mile!), add another woofer (more weight and cost) and use an even louder midrange driver to keep up (pricey!) The upside is that you have an utterly bulletproof design with huge output, huge power handling, huge dynamic range, huge lows, huge clarity and huge badassness.

There is a very very small chance we may launch a redesigned version of the Big One. But right now it seems like we've got all the basses (sic) covered:

If you want a slightly smaller cab which gets close to going as low and moving as much air with a dose of EQ but manages it with a much smaller amp, whilst still having very clean mids and highs, we have the the Super Twelve.

If you want a much smaller cab which goes lower still and plenty loud (like bringing almost as much output in the lows as the best 4x10"s) we have the Big Baby and this gives you the option of adding a Baby Sub making a modular rig which goes lower and louder than the Big One.

And if you want a slightly larger cab which goes even louder and deeper we have the Big Twin!"

Jools4001 · #16 07-12-2011, 03:17 AM

Ah ha...

Didn't want to spread any misinformation Alex, as I said my views were pure conjecture.

I've read the stuff on the website about why the Big One was discontinued, and I suppose that I would've been a bit peeved to find that a newer, faster model with 10% more of everything and racing stripes was available so soon after I bought my Big One - except that I have no reason to be peeved. The Big One already delivers what I need in spades. As I said, I simply can't imagine wanting any more in terms of the volume, frequency response and clarity it produces, it already produces more than I will ever need to the point where I consider my lifelong quest for the perfect cab to be over. I'm not worried about the 8 Ohm thing at all, I'm just re-building the rest of my rig to make the most of the cab, the power amp I already have is running 600 watts bridged into 8 Ohms but is getting a bit long in the tooth so will soon be replaced by a Crown 1000 (or 1500) XLS

Having a cab that gives even more performance is academic for me, because the Big One is currently laughing at my attempts to use its full potential. As an erstwhile flagship product it certainly lives up to all of the claims made for it, and speaks volumes (no pun intended) for the Barefaced brand. It must be nice for other potential Barefaced owners to know that there is something even mightier out there now.

On the strength of my experience I'd say to anyone who has ordered a Barefaced cab, or is thinking of it, that they're highly unlikely to be disappointed with the sound....quite simply, it kicks the ass of everything else I've ever tried.

mattplaysdabass · #17 07-12-2011, 03:36 AM

Thanks for all the responses guys. I wish Australia wasn't so far away from everything else so I had the chance to try stuff out before I bought it, but now I am super pumped to get my new rig, and am confident that the compact and super12 T will have an almighty sound!

mattplaysdabass · #18 08-04-2011, 05:24 AM

My cabs finally turned up yesterday! They sound amazing, look super cool, stupid loud and all up with the head are only about 35 kilograms (like 77 pounds)! I will be putting up a review after a few gigs.

electriccheese · #19 08-13-2011, 01:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mattplaysdabass

My cabs finally turned up yesterday! They sound amazing, look super cool, stupid loud and all up with the head are only about 35 kilograms (like 77 pounds)! I will be putting up a review after a few gigs.

With this rig you can kill someone! I have one of the first Compacts, and have been gigging with it for two years, and is an awesome cab. Now I have a Supertwelve T, and it's very very loud.

Yesterday, on a gig, with a Markbass F1, I couldn't turn the master more than 4, and was a medium gig with medium PA (12.000w), and very loud stage, with the subs on the stage and a lot of monitors... I still can't imagine how loud can be this with my Thunderfunk 750-A...

4-string · #20 08-13-2011, 02:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mattplaysdabass

My cabs finally turned up yesterday! They sound amazing, look super cool, stupid loud and all up with the head are only about 35 kilograms (like 77 pounds)! I will be putting up a review after a few gigs.

Congrats! Those cabs stack up nicely.

In a couple of weeks or so my Big Twin T should be here. I'm very excited.