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Modern Speakers for vintage heads

mitts

mitts

Apr 1, 2020
37
72
London
#1
I'm pretty much a vintage gear player all the time. I have a bunch of 60s, 70s and 80s basses that I play through a variety of amps. All the combinations sound great in the studio and live.

I'm looking for a modern, smaller and lighter speaker cabinet to take on tour when I'm playing club sized venues that will work sympathetically with vintage heads, can handle the power well and doesn't weigh a ton or take up as much stage and bus real estate as an 8x10 (or a pair of 8x10s!).

I use an 1970 Ampeg SVT blue line, 1990 Ampeg SVT 2 non-pro, 1974 Fender Bassman 100, 1972 Fender Bassman 50, 1980s Peavey Century and a 1982 HH Bass Machine.

I'm not a fan of neo speaker or tweeters in bass cabinets I find them really harsh. I don't have great experiences of ported or tuned cabs. I'd like something that sounds like a nice studio monitor really with maybe a slight warm colouration if any at all.

Do any of you have any suggestions of things I should try?
Cheers!
Mitts x
 
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#2
Here ya go....
Mesa.jpg
 
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#5
I'm not sure what experience you have with neo speakers, but I've owned a few cabs that have them over the last 10 years or so, and they are definitely NOT the same as they used to be. I use a Pope preamp through a Crown power amp, into a Greenboy F112. It's a great combination, but I wouldn't recommend these cabs for tube heads. They're very power hungry, and really shine with about twice their rated power being fed into them.

I'm definitely not saying that any of the heads you have listed are any slouches, but they may not give you the performance you want. While many bass cabs are made with bass guitar in mind, the Greenboy cabs are made with a speaker that behaves a bit different than your average bass cabinets. It goes quite a bit lower, and has a longer excursion. If you're only playing a 4 string, you may not have the challenge of wanting to use a low B string through a small cab, and I think that's where these cabinets really shine. I've heard that Barefaced are really easily paired with heads of varying power levels, still go plenty low, are really sensitive, sound clear, and I believe they have a more vintage styled cab.

Have you heard of, or checked out Low Down Sound? They have a lot of positive reviews, and I think they'd work with you to find a cabinet that would really meet your needs. I think they can make you just about anything.
 
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#8
UmamiBass said:
I'm not sure what experience you have with neo speakers, but I've owned a few cabs that have them over the last 10 years or so, and they are definitely NOT the same as they used to be. I use a Pope preamp through a Crown power amp, into a Greenboy F112. It's a great combination, but I wouldn't recommend these cabs for tube heads. They're very power hungry, and really shine with about twice their rated power being fed into them.

I'm definitely not saying that any of the heads you have listed are any slouches, but they may not give you the performance you want. While many bass cabs are made with bass guitar in mind, the Greenboy cabs are made with a speaker that behaves a bit different than your average bass cabinets. It goes quite a bit lower, and has a longer excursion. If you're only playing a 4 string, you may not have the challenge of wanting to use a low B string through a small cab, and I think that's where these cabinets really shine. I've heard that Barefaced are really easily paired with heads of varying power levels, still go plenty low, are really sensitive, sound clear, and I believe they have a more vintage styled cab.

Have you heard of, or checked out Low Down Sound? They have a lot of positive reviews, and I think they'd work with you to find a cabinet that would really meet your needs. I think they can make you just about anything.
Click to expand...

Thank you these are interesting points. My experiences with neo speakers has been pretty terrible but it is probably coloured by hearing the older cabinets you're talking about and not getting on with them. I associate them with those awful Hartke and Warwick type enclosures. I've been doing the same gig for 5 or 6 years now and it's mostly big outdoor festival shows with a vintage SVT and a pair of 8x10s. It's fine to be loud on those stages and that's where that old skool gear really shines - when you can drive the amp and move air but it's just not practical on smaller gigs to do that. For some touring stuff when I'm on in ears I've been using smaller boutique vintage valve amps with single speakers because on in ears relative volume isn't an issue. But although the tone is awesome it's a struggle to hear those little amps when you're not on IEMs and you're standing next to a drummer.

So I'm thinking that a smaller more focussed and less sonically coloured cabinet may let me keep the vintage character of the heads I love with more clarity and less of the artifacts, sag and size associated with 1970s speakers. And because it will be tonally clearer I'm hoping I don't need to be so loud!

I'm not a 5 string player - I occasionally drop my E string to D. I've heard a friend play through one of those Greenboy cabs and I thought it was alright - although he's more of an upright bass guy. It sounded pretty wooly to me but that could just be his tone from playing in that old skool way. I really liked what I read about Barefaced - I'll check out Low Down SOund thanks for the tip!
 
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#9
mitts said:
Thanks. Are you suggesting the Mesa Subway 1x15 cabinet in particular? I used to own a Bass 400+ but that was quite a while ago - I haven't heard anything Mesa in a while... what is it that you like about this cabinet? Have you tried using it with different vintage sounding heads? That's really what I'm interested in particularly.
Click to expand...
Yes ... this one Mesa cab is quite loud and holds it's own. I've also used it with my old Hartke LH500 and it was quite loud.
 
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#10
I run all my tube amps through modern/neo cabs these days. The issue I’ve had is they’re often the narrow/tall style which doesn’t quite work with the feet on some wider amps. Especially an SVT with the positioning of the screws on the bottom.

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Had a barefaced retro for a time, amazing sound with ceramic drivers in a resonator design. Loud and full sounding for being so light. Plus it fit the amps a bit better.

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#11
I really like the online demos I've heard of the Barefaced 2x10 it sounds warm but not too coloured and very focussed. How did you feel it coped with the power and volume that a SVT puts out?

I was wondering also about trying their 4x10 and 6x10...

What made you swop to the Bergantino cabinets? Did you prefer those tonally?

Nice collection of amps btw :)
 
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#14
I’d be looking at the Barefaced 10’s. Actually, I am looking at them. I’ve had a pair of Big Baby II’s for a few years now and they’re great cabs, I’m just digging my NV610 vibe and want something a little easier to lug around.

I also play an SVT II non pro, an SVT II-Pro, and a V4B RI…
 
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#15
I went through a similar process. The runaway winners for me were the Fender Pro Neo cabs and the Bergantino HDN410. I actually bought a Bergantino CN410 s/h as it pretty much was the forerunner of the HDN410. Very sensitive (loud with low wattage), lightweight and beautiful, full sound. If you want sealed, Bergantino do that too. I tried them but preferred the tunes/ported.
 
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#16
Dave W said:
I’d be looking at the Barefaced 10’s. Actually, I am looking at them. I’ve had a pair of Big Baby II’s for a few years now and they’re great cabs, I’m just digging my NV610 vibe and want something a little easier to lug around.

I also play an SVT II non pro, an SVT II-Pro, and a V4B RI…
Click to expand...

Have you tried the Barefaced 2x10 with an SVT?
 
#18
mitts said:
I really like the online demos I've heard of the Barefaced 2x10 it sounds warm but not too coloured and very focussed. How did you feel it coped with the power and volume that a SVT puts out?

I was wondering also about trying their 4x10 and 6x10...

What made you swop to the Bergantino cabinets? Did you prefer those tonally?

Nice collection of amps btw :)
Click to expand...

No issues handling the power of an SVT. Actually a good pairing, I would stack the cab on top of the road case for the amp and then the amp on top. Got it up off the floor a bit. I had the berg 212 first, got the barefaced 210 later. I have another 4 ohm cab as well, so at that point I had three 4 ohm cabs. The berg and barefaced got more use with my upright setup which is a little class D amp, but at 4 ohms it puts out 650 or so watts which was a bit above the 500 watt power handling for the 210.

I picked up the berg neo 210 to have an 8 ohm option, but that put the barefaced as kind of the odd one out. The berg 212 is larger and louder and good for bigger gigs, the 8 ohm 210 more compact for others. The third cab is a matching cab for another amp used for one particular band so that one was sticking around either way.
 
#20
There are options to be sure, but your narrowing, specific limitations point to nothing that I am aware of.
I have a 1970 Bassman 100 that I run through a modified original Bassman 4x12. It is now a ported 2x12 with neo speakers in it…sounds awesome to my ears.
 

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