Over the past 1.5 years, I've been a happy owner of a Berg AE212 but recently decided to revert back to a modular setup. So, in February, I sold the Berg and replaced it with a couple Baer ML112 cabs. While I've played smaller rehearsals and worship gigs using one cab, last night I had the opportunity to play a bigger 4-hr. gig with both cabs at a neighborhood Italian restaurant. In pic #1, this venue is not that large with tables that are a few feet from where we stand and the bar is at the far end under the overhead TVs. Our band (which comprises vocals, two guitars, keys, drums, bass and sax) plays a diverse set of hits from the '70s-current that requires a good combo of fingerstyle and slap. The signal chain used was an "A" jazz-style 4-string --> Markbass SD1200 --> Baer ML112 stack. The room required minor EQ adjustments on the amp of a slight reduction of 40hz at 11 o'clock and boost of 150-200hz at 2 o'clock. All other amp knobs were flat with both VLE and VPF filters completely off (counter clock-wise). In pic #2, I decided to stack the cabs on end since I needed to stand right in front of them and wanted that add'l upper frequency articulation closer to my ears.
In their native voices, I find the Berg AE212 to be a little fuller down low and a little more pristine in the upper treble, as one would expect with a tweeter-loaded cab, and the Baer ML112s to be less full down low and have more "texture" in the upper mids while not extending quite so high. But because this was a louder, larger gig for the band using the Baer stack for the first time, I wasn't sure what to expect once we played our first downbeat, let alone the next four hours.
As I reflect on the gig, I liked this upper-mid texture quite a lot for fingerstyle. Most of the time, I have both pickups 50/50, but for songs like Soul Man, Mustang Sally, etc., I solo the neck pickup. On one song, My Sharona, I solo the bridge pickup. The add'l upper-mid detail afforded by the Baers was, to my ears, a positive benefit by providing add'l detail to each note irrespective of pickup balance. I really liked what I heard.
There are a few songs where I slap 100% - Play That Funky Music, Take On Me, Dead Man's Party, Notorious - and the tone of the Baers struck me differently. On the gig, the tone was less pristine (compared to the treble response you might think of when playing gospel, for example), but this did not come as a surprise given the design approach of the Baers. However, I must say that the tone lended a different feel/texture to the song that was different...it was more "in your face," but in a positive way.
So, in the end, while I consider the Berg AE212 a fine cab, I do not miss it. I am more than satisfied with the Baer ML112s and look forward to gigging these for a long time to come.
I also enjoyed working with Roger who I found courteous as well as responsive to both TB PMs and external e-mails during our 4-month sales cycle (which was caused by my uncertainty about whether to move back to a modular set-up).
In their native voices, I find the Berg AE212 to be a little fuller down low and a little more pristine in the upper treble, as one would expect with a tweeter-loaded cab, and the Baer ML112s to be less full down low and have more "texture" in the upper mids while not extending quite so high. But because this was a louder, larger gig for the band using the Baer stack for the first time, I wasn't sure what to expect once we played our first downbeat, let alone the next four hours.
As I reflect on the gig, I liked this upper-mid texture quite a lot for fingerstyle. Most of the time, I have both pickups 50/50, but for songs like Soul Man, Mustang Sally, etc., I solo the neck pickup. On one song, My Sharona, I solo the bridge pickup. The add'l upper-mid detail afforded by the Baers was, to my ears, a positive benefit by providing add'l detail to each note irrespective of pickup balance. I really liked what I heard.
There are a few songs where I slap 100% - Play That Funky Music, Take On Me, Dead Man's Party, Notorious - and the tone of the Baers struck me differently. On the gig, the tone was less pristine (compared to the treble response you might think of when playing gospel, for example), but this did not come as a surprise given the design approach of the Baers. However, I must say that the tone lended a different feel/texture to the song that was different...it was more "in your face," but in a positive way.
So, in the end, while I consider the Berg AE212 a fine cab, I do not miss it. I am more than satisfied with the Baer ML112s and look forward to gigging these for a long time to come.
I also enjoyed working with Roger who I found courteous as well as responsive to both TB PMs and external e-mails during our 4-month sales cycle (which was caused by my uncertainty about whether to move back to a modular set-up).
