Barefaced 610 hype/svt killer etc. etc.

[deff]

Played our first show last Saturday and the bass player from one of the other bands had a BF610. I have heard tons of hype surrounding this cab so I didn't bring my Berg NV412T. So during sound check I had some time to play around with the cab, which sounds remarkably like my RevSound 410. It had very similar power handling and if anything the same kinda of rounded bottom end. It doesn't sound anywhere near as full as the Berg, but that's a totally different thing. I don't get the SVT comparison though except in terms of layout. It sounded nothing like an SVT 810. I can't comment on SVT 610's because I don't really like them.

It seems everyone wants to compare any cab with 10's against an SVT and say it is an SVT killer, but these cabs sound literally nothing alike at all. Preference is subjective, but to me it was apples and elephants. I did like the cab and it's form and weight and everything is nice, but basically it was just like the RevSound I have. They sound and weigh around the same.

 

[Dave W]

Thanks! I needed to read this...

Guess I'm sticking with my NV610.

 

[deff]

Thanks! I needed to read this...

Guess I'm sticking with my NV610.

No offense to the Barefaced folks but I don't think that I would switch. I'm also not sure at this point I would switch the 412 for a NV610. I have heard great things about the NV610, but have no actual experience with it. The Barefaced sounded good, it was just more polite maybe. To me it didn't sound at all like an SVT810. It was a solid sounding cab though. I probably would have done some tweeter adjusting if there was one and I have a moment or two during soundcheck.

 

[bobomatic]

I have a Retro 610. Given enough time to figure out how to push that cab and get the best from it, it’s anything BUT polite. That thing can scream like a threatened banshee if you know how to drive it. Then again I’m running a V4-B at high volume so polite is the last thing you’d expect from my rig. I didn’t buy it with SVT in mind however, I got it for its own capabilities.

 

[deff]

I have a Retro 610. Given enough time to figure out how to push that cab and get the best from it, it’s anything BUT polite. That thing can scream like a threatened banshee if you know how to drive it. Then again I’m running a V4-B at high volume so polite is the last thing you’d expect from my rig. I didn’t buy it with SVT in mind however, I got it for its own capabilities.

Sure, but that isn't the same cab and Barefaced in their own literature explains the differences in sound, response, etc.

 

[deff]

In fairness Barefaced's own literature calls it an SVT killer. This isn't helpful at all. It sounds really nothing like a fridge. It isn't like an SVT810 on steroids, never mind that there are different flavors of SVT 810's.

 

[Johnny Fingers]

Mesa is the original “SVT killer”.

 

[JimmyM]

With all due respect to Barefaced, which is a really good company, a lot of Ampeg killers have come and gone in the days since I started playing bass. That should tell you something.

 

[AlexanderB]

With all due respect to Barefaced, which is a really good company, a lot of Ampeg killers have come and gone in the days since I started playing bass. That should tell you something.

Haha! Yeah, fridges are not my absolute favorite cabs, but they sure have been the reference for ages, and they still are!

 

[kesslari]

In fairness Barefaced's own literature calls it an SVT killer. This isn't helpful at all. It sounds really nothing like a fridge. It isn't like an SVT810 on steroids, never mind that there are different flavors of SVT 810's.

Well, if the manufacturer says so it MUST be true!

 

[deff]

With all due respect to Barefaced, which is a really good company, a lot of Ampeg killers have come and gone in the days since I started playing bass. That should tell you something.

For sure, but a lot of that is that larger companies are sometimes better positioned and have brand loyalty for the long haul. My point was simply that aside from the form factor and marketing hype, this thing sounded nothing at all like an SVT. Also to the other guy that posted above, neither do Mesas. Barefaced great cab, extoll it's virtues. Because if I bought one expecting something that sounded like an SVT but just "more". I would be really disappointed.

 

[Killing Floor]

Please don’t kill all the SVTs.

 

[logdrum]

With all due respect to Barefaced, which is a really good company, a lot of Ampeg killers have come and gone in the days since I started playing bass. That should tell you something.

What did Ampeg do to anybody that the SVT has to be killed? It has Ninja bodyguards at this point, after decades of attempted assassinations.

 

[logdrum]

Somebody - please do not even think of Subway Killer.

 

[mmbongo]

There's a video of Alex from Barefaced carrying around a Barefaced 810 with one hand. Try that with your Fridge then let me know how your rotator cuff surgery went

 

[MikeBass]

You essentially have four sealed 210 cabs bolted on top of one another…..sorry, nothing is coming close to that sound without almost being a direct copy.

I’m definitely not saying it’s the best sounding cab out there, but as Jimmy said, a lot has come and gone, yet that bastard is still out there going strong.

<insert ultra nerdy guy voice here> “Well, the SVT design is flawed because of comb filtering frequency masking dialectical P32 Space Modulators not being properly time aligned with the roll off of XYZ 347 ply ultra high density Guadalupe sycamore, therefore this is an SVT killer”

 

[MrSidecar]

I don’t know if Alex is about to chime in, but imho the 810 killer thing is not so much about being “better” tone wise (that’d be a pretty tough one, with tone being super subjective to taste). What I think they mean is killing in terms of weight/volume ratio and maybe also power-handling wise.
While I have never seriously played any 810 by ampeg or anyone else, what I do know is that barefaced cabs get crazy loud for their respective size/weight, and they sure handle tons of power and hold up very well when pushed.

But I wouldn’t want to kill any 810s anyways. I’m glad enough playing my barefaced Four10 with the certainty that I’ll never ever need more volume than what’s possible with it.

best
Sidecar

 

[Raf Seibert]

We must face it, the SVT is the standard by which certain amp/cabs will be judged. Being the standard doesn’t mean it is never surpassed. It means that is a well-known and well-established standard that serves a basis for comparison with other amps/cabs in a certain niche. Another cab might be said to be louder, deeper, brighter, cut-through better, have similar mids, have stronger mids, have the SVT sound with no mids. Whatever! It being the standard by which others are judged doesn’t mean never surpassed. It just means that it is a well-known sound and when others are compared to it, most readers will have a sense of how the other fits in the spectrum of bass cabs.

Similarly, amps may be compared to Walkabouts, in fact, I expect that the Subway amps will become a standard by which others are judged. However, they’re stiil fairly new, when they’ve been around as long as SVTs, I’m sure they, too, will be such a standard.

 

[deff]

There's a video of Alex from Barefaced carrying around a Barefaced 810 with one hand. Try that with your Fridge then let me know how your rotator cuff surgery went

No doubt. Sing the virtues. It is a good cab, that sounds nothing like an SVT 810. I did really like it. I liked it less on stage when I was up close to it, but in video that people had taken of us playing it sounded way better. Just not at all SVT like. Yes, light weight, sounds good. As I stated in the first post, it sounds remarkably close to my RevSound 410 and the weight/volume/sound ratio is pretty similar.

 

[deff]

We must face it, the SVT is the standard by which certain amp/cabs will be judged. Being the standard doesn’t mean it is never surpassed. It means that is a well-known and well-established standard that serves a basis for comparison with other amps/cabs in a certain niche. Another cab might be said to be louder, deeper, brighter, cut-through better, have similar mids, have stronger mids, have the SVT sound with no mids. Whatever! It being the standard by which others are judged doesn’t mean never surpassed. It just means that it is a well-known sound and when others are compared to it, most readers will have a sense of how the other fits in the spectrum of bass cabs.

Similarly, amps may be compared to Walkabouts, in fact, I expect that the Subway amps will become a standard by which others are judged. However, they’re stiil fairly new, when they’ve been around as long as SVTs, I’m sure they, too, will be such a standard.

My Bergantino weighs less, handles at least as much power, is more full range than an SVT and while sound is subjective as you say, it at least punches just as hard. SVT's have a sound all their own, but I can get their in all the desirable ways with my smaller form factor NV412T. I'm just not going to say it is "just like an SVT but better".