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Big E Speakers Part 4 - Quadraphenia
- Thread starter kesslari
- Start date
I pronounce this one the 007 James Bond version of the 210 Mod. Its dapper good looks mask its inherently dangerous capabilities. You will need to check the grill from time to time, the vortexititudinal energy passing through those little holes will leave them vulnerable to wind erosion of the anodizing/powder coating. Great looking rig!
Boy, howdy! I would be half afeard to stand in front of this MAS112! Might blow the $s right out of my wallet! Gorgeous!
Aw, what a sweet rig! Looks great with the "mood" lighting.
I really need to get good enough to justify getting one of these cabs...
=wr=
Boy, howdy! I would be half afeard to stand in front of this MAS112! Might blow the $s right out of my wallet! Gorgeous!
Aw, what a sweet rig! Looks great with the "mood" lighting.
Played a stage show Monday and Tuesday, house sold out both nights (450+), rock n roll. I play this theater often and I'm almost always frustrated with the sound. I usually use two sealed 115 cabs to help with the boom, standing waves and tricky acoustics. Guys I've been playing with for 15+years show up, see the new cab, roll their eyes yet again. Give me the usual, well deserved ribbing for bringing another piece of new gear to try out.
MAS112 kicked some serious ass and made me smile the whole night, two nights in a row. This cab is the real deal.
Very impressive, Mike!
I really need to get good enough to justify getting one of these cabs...
=wr=
Currently my favorite cab of all time. Got to put it in the mix, just perfect IMO!
Gotta say, having the mids firing up at you makes standing right in front of the cab a non issue. Add that to the crazy dispersion characteristics and there isn't a spot you can't hear yourself well!
Last edited:
- Dec 21, 2007
- 15,233
- 45,123
- Disclosures
- Lark in the Morning Instructional Videos; Audix Microphones
Big Red, caught in the wild at a gig...
Hung with Jake at my sister's in North Carolina. Boy can he play!
- Apr 29, 2003
- 9,079
- 9,801
- Disclosures
- Contributor- Bass Musician Magazine | Marketing Manager- Trickfish Amplification
As fate happened to have it, I had a chance to meet up with Mike the other day, as he was passing through town. We had a great time hanging, and I got to check a handful of stuff I've been dying to hear. We had on hand: Puma 900, Intersound IVP with 1200w ICE module, Sonic Farm DI with standalone 1200w ICE module, Flex210 mod, and MAS112. (Caveat: everything sounded great, just some things better than others for certain goals). Here's my impressions:
Puma 900: My go to amp for the last couple years. Warm, fat, clear, uber loud. Great EQ points, and the taste knob is a marvel. Interestingly, with the Flex it sounded best with the taste control at 10-11 oclock (never had to roll the taste knob counter clockwise before with any cabs, but with the flex really tightened up the upper bass region and cleaned up the mids. Pretty tough to beat this head for my money given how good it sounds, and how loud it is for its size and weight.
Intersound IVP w/1200w ICE: Never heard one of these before, great detail and clarity overall. The 1200w power section is immediately noticeable as increased headroom, punch and clarity. 4 bands of semi parametric EQ. I didnt fiddle with it too much, but the native tone was great. It reminded me a bit of the original 1.5 rack space demeter preamp. Lots of detail and transparency, and quickness. Cool thing about these is they can be found relatively cheap used, according to Mike, and the 1200 watt power module can be retrofitted into the preamp chassis making a wicked cool head with plenty of great EQ for not alot of bread. It did have a. significantly higher noise floor than the others, FWIW
Sonic Farm Je DI w/ 1200w ICE module: Holy moses.. Ridiculous sounding. Seriously, there isn't much to say other than this: This rig made the Puma 900 sound slightly flat and plasticky, which is pretty much IMO what the Puma 900 makes most other amps sound like. Loads of 3 dimensional, lightning quick dynamic responsiveness. I agree with Mikes assessment (to paraphrase) that sounds like the illegitimate lovechild of a Millenia pre and a vintage Neve channel. The highs are just effortlessly bright and detailed without a trace of brashness. Everything is there in luscious detail. Its one of those amps that changes the way you touch the instrument, it just totally gets out of the way and lets you play. Kinda reminded me of my old Glock BAC, but less colored, more 3D and quicker, if thats even possible.
(Caveat 2: comparing the Puma 900 to the others is a bit of an apples to orange comparison, because alot of the difference seems to have as much to do with the 900 vs 1200w ICE modules as the preamp sections. That being said, the 1200w section is the first "micro" power section that holds up to my gold standard: the CA9, which i gigged for years before moving to smaller amps. the 1200w ICE really is a whole different beast than the 900w. Not just louder but more detailed and fuller for sure.)
Flex 210MOD and MAS112: (All comments in comparison to the other, not to any other cabs). IMO, the 210MOD has a bit more of an upper bass bump, slightly more relaxed mids and more "hi fi" upper treble. The upper bass bump was well tamed with the taste control of the puma at 10-11 oclock (as mentioned above) which brought the rig more into balance and brought the mids forward a touch. The detail up top is amazingly brilliant, but not harsh or crispy. A very good cab for highly articulate and detailed yet natural sound. The 110 by itself is very impressive and plenty huge sounding, but with the 110 sub it is a massive sounding.
The MAS112 was extremely impressive. Nevermind that it is a single 12" cab, get that out of your head. This thing HAMMERS. So loud and punchy, and insanely quick. It is very full and open across the spectrum with less perceived contour/dip through any part of the frequency range. It's more pillowy down low, and has more bark in the upper mids. Its big and ballsy and doesnt flinch at anything you throw at it. I want to say it's more "rude" sounding than the flex, but thats kind of misleading, given that it can easily be EQ'd to sound more polite, and that most anything is less refined sounding than the flex. The form factor is excellent, well designed for easy lift and schlep. As others mentioned, with the upward facing mid and tweeters, you can stand right in front of it and get it all. This cab is going to destroy A: peoples notions of 12" speakers, B: peoples sense of what a single 12 can do, volume wise, and C: testicles.
(note: I gigged the 110 flex without the sub and it really needs to be elevated off the floor, as the coupling effect magnifies the upper bass bump when the cab is cranked. Elevating the cab made it sound WAY better, and much more in balance overall.)
So thats it, in a long-winded gasbag of a nutshell
Puma 900: My go to amp for the last couple years. Warm, fat, clear, uber loud. Great EQ points, and the taste knob is a marvel. Interestingly, with the Flex it sounded best with the taste control at 10-11 oclock (never had to roll the taste knob counter clockwise before with any cabs, but with the flex really tightened up the upper bass region and cleaned up the mids. Pretty tough to beat this head for my money given how good it sounds, and how loud it is for its size and weight.
Intersound IVP w/1200w ICE: Never heard one of these before, great detail and clarity overall. The 1200w power section is immediately noticeable as increased headroom, punch and clarity. 4 bands of semi parametric EQ. I didnt fiddle with it too much, but the native tone was great. It reminded me a bit of the original 1.5 rack space demeter preamp. Lots of detail and transparency, and quickness. Cool thing about these is they can be found relatively cheap used, according to Mike, and the 1200 watt power module can be retrofitted into the preamp chassis making a wicked cool head with plenty of great EQ for not alot of bread. It did have a. significantly higher noise floor than the others, FWIW
Sonic Farm Je DI w/ 1200w ICE module: Holy moses.. Ridiculous sounding. Seriously, there isn't much to say other than this: This rig made the Puma 900 sound slightly flat and plasticky, which is pretty much IMO what the Puma 900 makes most other amps sound like. Loads of 3 dimensional, lightning quick dynamic responsiveness. I agree with Mikes assessment (to paraphrase) that sounds like the illegitimate lovechild of a Millenia pre and a vintage Neve channel. The highs are just effortlessly bright and detailed without a trace of brashness. Everything is there in luscious detail. Its one of those amps that changes the way you touch the instrument, it just totally gets out of the way and lets you play. Kinda reminded me of my old Glock BAC, but less colored, more 3D and quicker, if thats even possible.
(Caveat 2: comparing the Puma 900 to the others is a bit of an apples to orange comparison, because alot of the difference seems to have as much to do with the 900 vs 1200w ICE modules as the preamp sections. That being said, the 1200w section is the first "micro" power section that holds up to my gold standard: the CA9, which i gigged for years before moving to smaller amps. the 1200w ICE really is a whole different beast than the 900w. Not just louder but more detailed and fuller for sure.)
Flex 210MOD and MAS112: (All comments in comparison to the other, not to any other cabs). IMO, the 210MOD has a bit more of an upper bass bump, slightly more relaxed mids and more "hi fi" upper treble. The upper bass bump was well tamed with the taste control of the puma at 10-11 oclock (as mentioned above) which brought the rig more into balance and brought the mids forward a touch. The detail up top is amazingly brilliant, but not harsh or crispy. A very good cab for highly articulate and detailed yet natural sound. The 110 by itself is very impressive and plenty huge sounding, but with the 110 sub it is a massive sounding.
The MAS112 was extremely impressive. Nevermind that it is a single 12" cab, get that out of your head. This thing HAMMERS. So loud and punchy, and insanely quick. It is very full and open across the spectrum with less perceived contour/dip through any part of the frequency range. It's more pillowy down low, and has more bark in the upper mids. Its big and ballsy and doesnt flinch at anything you throw at it. I want to say it's more "rude" sounding than the flex, but thats kind of misleading, given that it can easily be EQ'd to sound more polite, and that most anything is less refined sounding than the flex. The form factor is excellent, well designed for easy lift and schlep. As others mentioned, with the upward facing mid and tweeters, you can stand right in front of it and get it all. This cab is going to destroy A: peoples notions of 12" speakers, B: peoples sense of what a single 12 can do, volume wise, and C: testicles.
(note: I gigged the 110 flex without the sub and it really needs to be elevated off the floor, as the coupling effect magnifies the upper bass bump when the cab is cranked. Elevating the cab made it sound WAY better, and much more in balance overall.)
So thats it, in a long-winded gasbag of a nutshell
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Great reviews! So, I guess I should fix up my old IVP bass preamp and score a 1200 watt ICE module...
^^^ Very nice! Good thing your vortex fan runs clockwise, it syncs up with the vortextitude windows of the cabinet...
=wr=
=wr=
- Dec 21, 2007
- 15,233
- 45,123
- Disclosures
- Lark in the Morning Instructional Videos; Audix Microphones
Great reviews. I really want to see someone A/B a GB Shuttle 6.2 or 9.2 with the Tecamp Puma on a Flex 210. No, wait, I don't ... I don't need to GAS over gear. I need to focus more on my playing than on my gear... So DON'T do that comparo...
Oh, and I agree about raising the 110 - I did a gig with it this weekend (raised up about a foot) and it just killed!
Oh, and I agree about raising the 110 - I did a gig with it this weekend (raised up about a foot) and it just killed!
Can I take just A and B, please?
So thats it, in a long-winded gasbag of a nutshell
I found your comparisons succinct and well-put. Was cool to read the Flex vs. 112 comparo, as that's the one I didn't get to hear that I'd have really liked to.
With the 112, did you run with the tweeter (if there was one) on or off (or did you try both)? Do you feel that the tweeter adds much? How about the mid-position switch -- "hot" or "normal"? I wouldn't describe the low end of the 112 as "pillowy," but perhaps we have different ideas of what that means. Can you elaborate a bit on the differences in top end detail you heard (or similarities, if you feel them more similar than different). Finally, and this is pretty subjective, did one seem to have more of a 3-Dimensional quality to the sound than the other? Hard to describe, but having gigged a 210 Flex a few times, I think you know what I'm talking about!
Thanks for the useful post!
-Mark
P.S. Mike, dig the shoes!
- Dec 21, 2007
- 15,233
- 45,123
- Disclosures
- Lark in the Morning Instructional Videos; Audix Microphones
Vortexitude!
Well, actually, it's a device called an Mbrace. Mounts on a mic stand, is adjustable for angle.
I had to have 3 vertebrae fused in my neck. The neck stuff made playing with a strap rough, but you do what you gotta do.
When I had the surgery the deal was that I couldn't lift more than 5 lbs for 6 weeks - so no holding a 9.5 lb bass - especially not with a strap on my shoulder. No way was I going to go 6 weeks without playing music.
I was going to have a friend build a stand when I found the Mbrace - already out on the market. That let me play really soon after the surgery - no holding the instrument needed. There are a few photos lurking on TB of me doing gigs with a neck brace on, and the bass on the stand. I liked it enough that I keep using it.
That and I'm Buddhist enough to enjoy having a bass without attachment...
- Apr 3, 2003
- 35,516
- 19,953
- Disclosures
- Editor-in-Chief, Bass Gear Magazine
As fate happened to have it, I had a chance to meet up with Mike the other day, as he was passing through town. We had a great time hanging, and I got to check a handful of stuff I've been dying to hear. We had on hand: Puma 900, Intersound IVP with 1200w ICE module, Sonic Farm DI with standalone 1200w ICE module, Flex210 mod, and MAS112. (Caveat: everything sounded great, just some things better than others for certain goals). Here's my impressions:
Puma 900: My go to amp for the last couple years. Warm, fat, clear, uber loud. Great EQ points, and the taste knob is a marvel. Interestingly, with the Flex it sounded best with the taste control at 10-11 oclock (never had to roll the taste knob counter clockwise before with any cabs, but with the flex really tightened up the upper bass region and cleaned up the mids. Pretty tough to beat this head for my money given how good it sounds, and how loud it is for its size and weight.
Intersound IVP w/1200w ICE: Never heard one of these before, great detail and clarity overall. The 1200w power section is immediately noticeable as increased headroom, punch and clarity. 4 bands of semi parametric EQ. I didnt fiddle with it too much, but the native tone was great. It reminded me a bit of the original 1.5 rack space demeter preamp. Lots of detail and transparency, and quickness. Cool thing about these is they can be found relatively cheap used, according to Mike, and the 1200 watt power module can be retrofitted into the preamp chassis making a wicked cool head with plenty of great EQ for not alot of bread. It did have a. significantly higher noise floor than the others, FWIW
Sonic Farm Je DI w/ 1200w ICE module: Holy moses.. Ridiculous sounding. Seriously, there isn't much to say other than this: This rig made the Puma 900 sound slightly flat and plasticky, which is pretty much IMO what the Puma 900 makes most other amps sound like. Loads of 3 dimensional, lightning quick dynamic responsiveness. I agree with Mikes assessment (to paraphrase) that sounds like the illegitimate lovechild of a Millenia pre and a vintage Neve channel. The highs are just effortlessly bright and detailed without a trace of brashness. Everything is there in luscious detail. Its one of those amps that changes the way you touch the instrument, it just totally gets out of the way and lets you play. Kinda reminded me of my old Glock BAC, but less colored, more 3D and quicker, if thats even possible.
(Caveat 2: comparing the Puma 900 to the others is a bit of an apples to orange comparison, because alot of the difference seems to have as much to do with the 900 vs 1200w ICE modules as the preamp sections. That being said, the 1200w section is the first "micro" power section that holds up to my gold standard: the CA9, which i gigged for years before moving to smaller amps. the 1200w ICE really is a whole different beast than the 900w. Not just louder but more detailed and fuller for sure.)
Flex 210MOD and MAS112: (All comments in comparison to the other, not to any other cabs). IMO, the 210MOD has a bit more of an upper bass bump, slightly more relaxed mids and more "hi fi" upper treble. The upper bass bump was well tamed with the taste control of the puma at 10-11 oclock (as mentioned above) which brought the rig more into balance and brought the mids forward a touch. The detail up top is amazingly brilliant, but not harsh or crispy. A very good cab for highly articulate and detailed yet natural sound. The 110 by itself is very impressive and plenty huge sounding, but with the 110 sub it is a massive sounding.
The MAS112 was extremely impressive. Nevermind that it is a single 12" cab, get that out of your head. This thing HAMMERS. So loud and punchy, and insanely quick. It is very full and open across the spectrum with less perceived contour/dip through any part of the frequency range. It's more pillowy down low, and has more bark in the upper mids. Its big and ballsy and doesnt flinch at anything you throw at it. I want to say it's more "rude" sounding than the flex, but thats kind of misleading, given that it can easily be EQ'd to sound more polite, and that most anything is less refined sounding than the flex. The form factor is excellent, well designed for easy lift and schlep. As others mentioned, with the upward facing mid and tweeters, you can stand right in front of it and get it all. This cab is going to destroy A: peoples notions of 12" speakers, B: peoples sense of what a single 12 can do, volume wise, and C: testicles.
(note: I gigged the 110 flex without the sub and it really needs to be elevated off the floor, as the coupling effect magnifies the upper bass bump when the cab is cranked. Elevating the cab made it sound WAY better, and much more in balance overall.)
So thats it, in a long-winded gasbag of a nutshell
View attachment 465386
Great review, thanks!
That Sonic Farm 2di4 is really something special, isn't it?
Man, you have me jonesing to check out an MAS112!
And we can't let this go without a shout out (or something ...) to Mike's shoes!
Great review! This matches my initial impressions of MAS112. For regular gigging, a great combination of form and function.
