In my continuing fascination with what I've been calling the new category of 'Super Twelves', meaning small, 112 cabs using heavy duty 'PA' type neo drivers with hi end crossovers, and either mid drivers or hi end tweeters/horns, TBer Roger Baer of Baer Amplification was nice enough to send my his version of these little beasts, the ML112, for a tryout and review.
The cab arrived safely packed and in perfect shape. Very good looking tolex, nice chrome corners and hefty metal grill, great looking company badge, and heavy duty handle. The cab is 'badged and oriented' to be used in horizontal configuration (I assume due to Roger's upcoming amp head being the full 19" rack size). However, Roger thoughtfully put heavy duty rubber feet on the side of the cab, making vertical use simple with micro heads.
The cab is configured as a 12/6, with two speakon inputs (pictured below). The nominal impedance is 8ohms, but in my hour or so with this cab so far, the efficiency seems quite a bit higher than some of the other Super Twelves, and it cranks with my F500.
I'll be putting up some clips, and a more detailed tonal review when I've had more time with it, and when it is fully broken in (I find that cabs with these heavy duty drivers take about an hour of playing time to open up most of the way on the low end).
HERE IS THE COOL THING! Roger has posted that he wasn't after doing another 'studio monitor' type hi fi box, since there are quite a few of those type of boxes out there (i.e., the fEarful type 12/6 cabs, the Audiokinesis Thunderchild, etc.). Well, he wasn't kidding. He mentioned in a post a few days ago that he wanted a cab that would do the 'Chris Squire' thing, and he has achieved that beautifully. Of course, the cab can purr and do smooth also, but what brought a huge smile to my face was digging in with the passive tone opened up most of the way on my P with nickel wounds. If some are still wondering what an example of the term 'grind' sounds like, this is it. It just snarls and grinds up top while staying totally clean and open and deep down low. And, most importantly, there is no harsh tweeter thing (I love my tweeters, but not for that vibe).
So, VERY interesting execution, and even with my 'clean' sounding all solid state Markbass F500, that mid driver SNARLS when you hit it. Beautiful upper mid and lower treble extension that stays 'paper cone' sounding all the way up, and breaks up just like the top of a driver like those old JBL 15's. Very impressive. And again, since that snarl is coming out of a separate driver, there is no compression down low, or unwanted distortion in the low end.
This little cab reminds me a bit of my Bergantino AE410, but does that upper mid/lower treble grind even better, while staying more even down low.
Very impressive. I'll put a few pictures in the next post, and then play it a while and do some clips tomorrow, and post more impressions of the clean tone in addition to pushing it a bit.
This is definitely another flavor of Super 12, and will really speak to players who like to dig in and rock a bit IMO.
The cab arrived safely packed and in perfect shape. Very good looking tolex, nice chrome corners and hefty metal grill, great looking company badge, and heavy duty handle. The cab is 'badged and oriented' to be used in horizontal configuration (I assume due to Roger's upcoming amp head being the full 19" rack size). However, Roger thoughtfully put heavy duty rubber feet on the side of the cab, making vertical use simple with micro heads.
The cab is configured as a 12/6, with two speakon inputs (pictured below). The nominal impedance is 8ohms, but in my hour or so with this cab so far, the efficiency seems quite a bit higher than some of the other Super Twelves, and it cranks with my F500.
I'll be putting up some clips, and a more detailed tonal review when I've had more time with it, and when it is fully broken in (I find that cabs with these heavy duty drivers take about an hour of playing time to open up most of the way on the low end).
HERE IS THE COOL THING! Roger has posted that he wasn't after doing another 'studio monitor' type hi fi box, since there are quite a few of those type of boxes out there (i.e., the fEarful type 12/6 cabs, the Audiokinesis Thunderchild, etc.). Well, he wasn't kidding. He mentioned in a post a few days ago that he wanted a cab that would do the 'Chris Squire' thing, and he has achieved that beautifully. Of course, the cab can purr and do smooth also, but what brought a huge smile to my face was digging in with the passive tone opened up most of the way on my P with nickel wounds. If some are still wondering what an example of the term 'grind' sounds like, this is it. It just snarls and grinds up top while staying totally clean and open and deep down low. And, most importantly, there is no harsh tweeter thing (I love my tweeters, but not for that vibe).
So, VERY interesting execution, and even with my 'clean' sounding all solid state Markbass F500, that mid driver SNARLS when you hit it. Beautiful upper mid and lower treble extension that stays 'paper cone' sounding all the way up, and breaks up just like the top of a driver like those old JBL 15's. Very impressive. And again, since that snarl is coming out of a separate driver, there is no compression down low, or unwanted distortion in the low end.
This little cab reminds me a bit of my Bergantino AE410, but does that upper mid/lower treble grind even better, while staying more even down low.
Very impressive. I'll put a few pictures in the next post, and then play it a while and do some clips tomorrow, and post more impressions of the clean tone in addition to pushing it a bit.
This is definitely another flavor of Super 12, and will really speak to players who like to dig in and rock a bit IMO.
