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!"
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
