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Baer Amplification Megathread!

#661
My rosewood/alder Valenti PJ5 and ash/maple Carvin SB5000 basses through Genz Benz STM900 and SM9.2 amps provide enough variety to get any tone I need with my ML112 stack. I've got D'Addario Chrome flatwounds and the Nordstrand PJ5 pickups on the Valenti. It has a little darker more vintage sound with less harmonic content than the SB5000 with single coil pickups, maple board, and nickel roundwounds as you'd expect. When put through the SM9.2 and ML112's however, it has the perfect rock tone for doing stuff like Rush 2112, Ozzy's Crazy Train, Guns 'n Roses Sweet Child of Mine and Skynyrd classics. The SM9.2 is on the tube channel with gain at 1:00 for a touch of hair on it, pre at 11:00, master at 9:30 and controls flat except for a bit of upper mid cut around 1.6kHz. Notes are very even up and down the neck and from low B to G strings. The consistency is amazing. The tone center for each note seems very focussed; hard hitting with no bloom but smooth and with no fret noise. The upper mids make the sound very present for fingerstyle but not harsh. This could hold its own very nicely in a dense mix; not over the top but every note can be heard and it holds the pocket with authority. This combination has more punch and volume than I'll probably need to use but this amount of overhead is great for dynamics. I'm still quite fond of my 410 but this is more than its equal. The kinds of tone, timbre, and impact on tap makes it a lot of fun to play. Diggin' it! :bassist::hyper:
 
#663
I ordered an ML112 from Roger back in March. Due to a shipment delay and my travel schedule, the cab sat in the box at my house for a few weeks. In early April I finally had a chance to give it a listen. From the first notes I was hooked - this is a fantastic bass cab.

I spent about a week breaking it in, playing at relatively low volumes, then took it to a couple of gigs. The first gig was all fretless bass: Thomas Dolby had invited me to sit in with his band for a couple of shows at a club in San Francisco and he requested that I bring a small amp, so I brought my Empirical Labs Lil FrEQ (as preamp), Crest CA9 power amp and the single ML112 cab. The bass was my Sadowsky NYC 24/5 fretless. I got many unsolicited compliments on the bass tone, from the soundman, bandmembers and even a couple of audience members on the street after the gig. I myself was very happy with the bass tone and for the entire evening never changed any of the EQ settings, left em exactly the same as they were when I had been practicing the TD tunes at my house.

2nd gig was playing pop and jazz with a 10 piece band (3 horns). Same signal path, only this time I used fretted bass (also Sadowsky 24/5). Again, I was very pleased with the sound.

Since then I've had a run of travel jobs, using rented backline - mostly Eden, SWR, Ampeg. Nice rigs for sure, but it felt really great to come back home and plug into the Crest/Baer combo. I just ordered a 2nd ML112 today, intend to use the pair as primary bass rig.

This may sound a little corny, but I feel like I've been waiting for a cab like this for a long, long time. I've used a wide variety of 2 way woofer/tweeter cabs over the years but have never liked the way that tweeters can exaggerate string noise. I've likened it to the sound of crumpling up notebook paper and recently read somewhere else on TB of someone using the analogy of a crumpled up potato chip bag - a very apt comparison IMO. But dialing back the tweeter in a 2 way cab most always results in a poorly defined, overly dark sound. It's been especially frustrating to deal with when playing fretless bass.

When I first heard my fretless through the ML112 it was, (as has also been expressed here on TB), like someone lifted a blanket off the speaker. Open, natural sounding, very clear and present mids and highs yet without the harshness that I've come to expect from most modern bass cabs. I'm getting a much more detailed sound using much less EQ.

Thank you, Roger!

Also, to all the other TB'ers who've taken the time to post their experiences with the Baer cabs: Thank you, too!
 
#664
Back with a quick gig report. We've been in rehearsal for while, and did our first gigs this past weekend.

The guitar/singer guy likes it loud (sigh...), so we're talking about a moderately competitive stage mix. The PA's pretty simple (a small mixer and some powered FOH and monitor boxes) and I'm not DI'd into either. So there's quite a lot working against me, in terms of getting a good tone on stage or out in the house.

Plain and simple, these cabs work better in a messy RL situation like that than any other cabs I've used. :bassist:
 
#668
Can someone clarify:
Has there been (or will there be) any changes to the 12" driver. I think I read at some point that the first 100 were one type of speaker and after that the speaker would be different.

Really excited about getting a pair of these in the near future.

thanks,
 
#673
tlvernon said:
Can someone clarify:
Has there been (or will there be) any changes to the 12" driver. I think I read at some point that the first 100 were one type of speaker and after that the speaker would be different.

Really excited about getting a pair of these in the near future.

thanks,
Click to expand...

This was back when the custom drivers we are using were no longer available from Eminence due to the skyrocketing cost and purchasing requirements. Right now, the neo market is "somewhat stable" and Eminence relaxed their order requirements. Cost are still up about 40% from the last time we bought drivers, but that's better than the 150% it was us last year at the peak. We are looking into buying more drivers here very shortly, so I expect the ML112 and ML212 to remain unchanged for quite a while. We do however, expect a small price increase here soon to reflect the current neo prices.
 
#674
*Super Briefly*
I got once of the two cabs outta thier boxes at lunch today.
Set the MBF500 on top, and plugged in the Sadowsky MV5JJ.

Personally, I usually need a horn.
I might not miss one with the ML112's.
Neato!

Fit and finish seem very nice, and the tolex feels thick and tough.
More later.
 
#679
jibreel said:
Chef, Please compare to the Thunderchild 12 also. Thanks !
Click to expand...

Well I'm not Chef but I have both cabs and can perhaps help by giving my take:
The Thunderchild thumps more, meaning it has more (or a more solid and present) low end content, but is very even and smooth especially in the upper mids compared to the ML112 that has more of a bump in the high mids and sounds brighter/more aggressive.
The Baer cab also has a more pronounced lower mid thing going on that reminds me of Eden cabs (but with a clearer voice), that ''punch'' factor (it's fun to dial in a fat bridge pickup sound!).
So basically playing through the same amp with either cab I usually bump the highs and/or upper mids on the Thunderchild and on the Baer I boost the low frequency content.
The max output (once EQ'ed to sound ballpark similar)seems fairly close to me. Although as far as I can tell the Baer is more sensitive in the mids, like a ''traditional'' bass cab.
 
#680
Thanks. Great comparison !
I am giving the TC112 another shot and hope it is the one. I shy away from that upper mid bump and aggressiveness that many cabs including the Bergs have. But enough of the side tracking. Back to the Baer. Lots of great reviews and hope to try one someday soon. It would be great to have both cabs!

lookiel said:
Well I'm not Chef but I have both cabs and can perhaps help by giving my take:
The Thunderchild thumps more, meaning it has more (or a more solid and present) low end content, but is very even and smooth especially in the upper mids compared to the ML112 that has more of a bump in the high mids and sounds brighter/more aggressive.
The Baer cab also has a more pronounced lower mid thing going on that reminds me of Eden cabs (but with a clearer voice), that ''punch'' factor (it's fun to dial in a fat bridge pickup sound!).
So basically playing through the same amp with either cab I usually bump the highs and/or upper mids on the Thunderchild and on the Baer I boost the low frequency content.
The max output (once EQ'ed to sound ballpark similar)seems fairly close to me. Although as far as I can tell the Baer is more sensitive in the mids, like a ''traditional'' bass cab.
Click to expand...
 

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