Comparison: BareFaced Super Midget vs. AudioKinesis Hathor 1203

Useful comparison, thanks. I just received a Hathor 1203 and am loving it. It's only marginally larger than my Genzler 10-2 array-with the well placed (and thoughtfully recessed) leather top handle, light weight and vertical orientation, IME it has the best form factor of any 112 I have owned, and sounds great....extremely versatile with the 3 ports and mid/high toggles...very pleased so far but haven't tested it with a band/drummer yet.

 

How would you guys compare the H1203 to a Fearless 112?

 

I have owned a fEarful 12/6 and played/heard a fEarless 12/6/1 when local TBer Smallmouth Bass brought one over for a GTG earlier this year. The fEarless is considerably bigger, heavier and more $$, with (IMHO) a nicer, pro finish (my one complaint about the 1203 is the somewhat home made look). The fEarless sounded more monitor-like. The 1203 is very flavored by design and so far I love it (caveat-still in honeymoon phase and have not run it with full band yet-will not be doing that until Oct 5). The fEarless is a clean box and the Hathor can get grindy with the mid toggle up. I like the fact that the Hathor can have several different sounds-plenty of lows with 1 or more of the ports unplugged but very tight lows if all are sealed.....highs muted at 3500 Hz with the upper toggle flipped down...but plenty of highs for me when it's up...........grindy mids vs flatter mids depending on the other toggle.....and the form factor and weight are, frankly, absolute perfection! My initial impression is that it's the optimal 1 hand carry cab. Smallmouth Bass will be over (hopefully in Oct) for another GTG and we'll do a head to head.

 

Thanks for that. I can see the design differences, and finishes. They sound like different animals all together. I wonder how the dispersion is on the H1203? That's one thing I love about my F112. If projects very well and can be heard from any point on stage of in a small to medium sized room.

 

Speaking of BF vs. AK comparisons, here's a recent one between the Super Midget and the Thunderchild 112:

 

Nice. Would like to read some discussion of tonal qualities by mixing and matching the port plugs and switches on the Hathor. Can they be manipulated to achieve certain " styles " of bass , like, finger funk, rock styles, Blues, etc. ? Be as subjective as you want !

 

Surely they can, but at this point I certainly lack sufficient experience with this cab to comment further, and am an amateur hack now playing only rarely with a full band-TBer Nostatic has posted a lot about the Hathor; he and Duke are likely among the best resources.

 

Thanks for the great information. Looks are important to me, unfortunately, since my rig is visible in church. If the Hathor looked as good as the Barefaced (with silver cloth grill) I'd own at least one if not two.

 

dunno if this helps in this discussion. hathor 1203 and tc112v1 using same (looped) program. flats, rounds, etc.

Stigsite - Steuart Liebig Official Site

 

Sub'd for interest in the Hathor and BF. Good info so far.

 

@lomo would love to hear your thoughts on the Genz 10-2 vs the Hathor!

 

Had the Hathor and a SC and SM at one point. The SM and the Hathor are pretty comparable. I'd have a hard time picking one over the other by any significant reason. I do think the Hathor has more of a voice, and it is quite nice, so I'd probably tend toward that cab if I had to pick one just based on tone. However, The SM isn't much smaller, but certainly presents like it is when when hauling it.

To the OP point on low-end: could you EQ the SM to keep up with the Hathor, or did you find a point where the Hathor could go but the SM couldn't, or were you simply saying that for a given eq position (like all knobs at noon) the Hathor put out more deep lows?

 

Hathor 1203 vs Genzler 10-2 array.......like pomegranates and cashews.......the 10-2 is super clear....I'd use terms like hifi and modern....very sweet top end with the paper cone array and no true tweet. Very light at 21 lbs and a few cc smaller than the Hathor....much nicer finish, not much cheaper....I prefer it for use with my ABG ........it gets loud enough to keep up with a restrained drummer (how's that for the oxymoron of the day)......as in a living room jam....maybe jazz with brushing drummer, congas, whatever....the 1203 goes noticeably lower, gets far louder (should be no problem with the rock drummers I play with), has it's own voices, can get grindy if desired. The 10-2 could never be my only cab, but the 1203 could easily do anything I'd need to, with the caveat being I prefer the cleaner, upper end articulation of the 10-2 for my ABG a little bit.

 

I haven't played any of the Barefaced cabs, so can offer no first-hand experience with them. I have a Hathor 1203 (older, one-port version). For me, plugging the port makes a significant difference, in feel even more than sound. Plugged: tighter, quicker and more percussive in finger funk, even when you dial the bass up a bit to compensate for the earlier roll-off in the lows. Handy for boomy stages. Dispersion is quite good (though the "Changeling" variation of the Hathor, with its rear-firing mid, should be even better). Port open: more open in the lows, as you'd expect, but also more open, relaxed, and, maybe, 3D-feeling overall.

 

The great thing about TalkBass is that many of the guys who make these great products are members who post here, and even if you're not going to buy their amp or cab, they will give you lots of suggestions and point you in the right direction.

 

My suspicion is that the SM uses a more robust driver than the Hathor, and it can take more watts, but the smaller box means you've got to push more to get the same volume and lows. I know Alex says the SC and SM should be equally "loud" but the bigger SC sure seemed louder to me. Perhaps I was going easy on the SM and afraid to push it as hard as it could go, but I selected the SC as my one-cab solution over the SM and Hathor. I've since moved up to the BB2, and it's a pretty beastly cab, using the same driver as the SM, though with considerable additional oomph from the cab design.

Agreed that the SM and Hathor have some synergy. I might've gone that way (having one of each) if I wasn't focused on a one-cab solution.

 

I'm profoundly lazy - I always play it with the port open and both switches "up" (full range and some mid grind). Last night was a jazz hit that ventured into some loud pockets - guitar, sax, flute, drums, bass. Just a single H1203. Never fails to carry the night. Looking forward to the Changeling-T to compare/contrast though I think it will be subtle.

Haven't gigged any BF cabs, but Monsterthompson brought his SC over iirc and we had a bit of a cabpalooza. Then I checked out his BB2 and 2-10. For an all around cab I preferred my H1203, but the 2-10 had a pretty killer funk/rock vibe going on.

From last night, D800 into H1203 (warning - gratuitous noodling). First time for this lineup (which is not atypical for nostatic)