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Official Barefaced Bass Cab Club

I know the BF website says that a single Two10 has a recommended power amp wattage of 100 to 500 watts and is safe with up to 800W if you're running fairly clean sounds (not really sure exactly what that means) but for you folks running a D800 or MB800 into a single 4 ohm Two10, how concerned are you about putting too much wattage into the cab?
I have (2) One10's = four ohm load.

Well several factors put mine mind at ease:
  • i set the ohms to the (2 ohm) position, at recommended by @agedhorse
  • Just like any other cab / amp combination I have used, I employ common sense
  • My playing situation is not insanely loud (but i also know you don't have to be loud to blow a speaker
  • The Mesa's design lends itself to being speaker friendly
That being said, I have, in the privacy of my music room, while home alone ran the Mesa at 4 ohms and let her rip. The Barefaced's handled quite a bit of power. My insides were literally shaking before the Mesa's limit light came on. So even though I never play that loud, it seems to me the Barefaced cabs will handle it.

Of course that wasn't a gig situation.
 
I know the BF website says that a single Two10 has a recommended power amp wattage of 100 to 500 watts and is safe with up to 800W if you're running fairly clean sounds (not really sure exactly what that means) but for you folks running a D800 or MB800 into a single 4 ohm Two10, how concerned are you about putting too much wattage into the cab?
Got my Two10 on 18th August, gigged it with my d800 on 19th August. Sounded great at first at loud(ish) gig volumes but then cab started to 'fart' out with the sound deteriorating badly. Sent it back to BF a couple of days later. Very disapointed. It has to be said that barefaced customer care has been great, and they are sending me a Super Twin to try instead of the two 10 (which didn't seem to be up to the job). I'm sure the super twin will be great, it's just another £300 that I'll have to find if I decide to keep it!! Plus I've lost a bit of confidence in the product. Moral of the story...if you play in a pretty loud rock band with a Mesa d800 (or similar) and a two 10, you may need a bit more rig for the gig.

Anyway, this is what Alex from BF said to me last week...attached is a photo of my settings on the d800 at the gig.

"Well I'm sorry to say you have the honour of being the first person to ever blow one of our 10CR woofers! One of them had been driven so far beyond its excursion limits that one of the tinsel leads had snapped and was shorting against the other one. The other woofer isn't sounding too happy either and there are marks on both tinsel leads indicating it's been repeatedly pushed past its limits"
 

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Yeah. Loud rock band +Two10 pushed with a D800 is no shock you blew that drivers. That cab is rated at 500w (800 *if* clean). You certainly hit the limit. I doubt there's a 210 box out there that would've done significantly better.
Looking at those settings, I wonder, were you running any pedals? What bass were you using? Active/preamp? I wouldn't expect those settings would definitely kill the amp, but if you heard it farting out, that'd be the sign to dial the master back. I've pushed my Two10 pretty loud with my 800W Demeter, but never got it to start farting. As soon as my volume knob gets near noon, I get pretty concerned and cautious, since many amps can deliver near peak wattage once the master hits noon.


The Super Twin should be fine, and much louder. It's a way bigger box, and built to handle 1,200 watts. No need to lack confidence on that one. It won't have the same tone/voice, but it'll probably be much better suited for your volume needs.
 
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Hi Stevie, congrats. Just kidding man, sorry for the bad adventure. Even if those drivers are mean, there is always a point break. Amping a clean tone and hearing distortion from the cab is always a bad thing. Even if I usually don't use hpfs in my signal path with my BB2, I could think that using one could have possibly saved that situation, or not, but the golden rules are always the same, volume = speakers and farting = turn down and/or lower bass.
Using less wattage but more cabs is far more rewarding and safe, even if Barefaced has pushed the boundaries far away and educated us to expect much more, almost too much at times.
I pushed my BB2 far beyond what I did in the past with other products but the cab didn't break a sweat...
 
I think we just got to the bottom of it - a combination of bass knob all the way up on a Stingray (is that 15dB boost @ 40Hz?) and not really differentiating between a clean sound and amp/speaker overdrive. Voice coils are fine so it's not overpowering in the usual sense, just spectacular over-excursion damage like I've never seen before. First Barefaced speakers to ever be blown without the use of FX pedals and a 1000W+ amp!
 
We used to use the 3012LF in the original Big Baby and Big Twin. The 12XN is significantly more powerful when you gig with it - the slight increase in Vd and thermal power handling, combined with the large increase in sensitivity, plus the improved transient response and dispersion means it has a big advantage in the live environment. I don't think running bandwidth limited test signals at lower levels is of any benefit - take the cabs out and gig them, or at least crank them in a loud rehearsal with a band.

I wouldn't go so far as saying you'd need two 3012LF's to match one 12XN but I would say you'd need three 3012LFs to match two 12XNs and even then the 3012LFs would struggle.

Based on what?
I've seen in another thread where @DukeLeJeune proved mathematically that the specs for the 12XN contained different methods of measurement or calculation, that, when applied to the 3022LFs proved this to be, umm, misleading. @CharlieC's real world experience seems to confirm this.

Sorry, but "Significantly more powerful" and "big advantage" sounds like marketing lingo or flat out bs.
 
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Based on what?
I've seen in another thread where Duke proved mathematically that the specs for the 12XN contained different

Apart from the complex engineering which backs it up (do not trust oversimplifications), it's based on our experience and customers' experience with our previous 3012LF models vs our current 12XN models.
 
I think we just got to the bottom of it - a combination of bass knob all the way up on a Stingray (is that 15dB boost @ 40Hz?) and not really differentiating between a clean sound and amp/speaker overdrive. Voice coils are fine so it's not overpowering in the usual sense, just spectacular over-excursion damage like I've never seen before. First Barefaced speakers to ever be blown without the use of FX pedals and a 1000W+ amp!

the Stingray bass boost is pretty strong... thanks for posting that, it's reassuring for the rest of us who are interested in the Two10 cab. Amp settings are only one factor... without knowing what the bass is and whether it has a preamp and it's set, and/or FX pedals etc, it's hard to get a sense for the kind of signal that hit those speakers.
 
the Stingray bass boost is pretty strong... thanks for posting that, it's reassuring for the rest of us who are interested in the Two10 cab. Amp settings are only one factor... without knowing what the bass is and whether it has a preamp and it's set, and/or FX pedals etc, it's hard to get a sense for the kind of signal that hit those speakers.

Having bass boost all the way up on some active pre-amped basses will destroy any speakers. I've had some basses with Aguilar OBP-2 preamp and could only use bass boost at 10-15% of the control knob way. It was practically of no use since your tone became so boomy you could not define the pitch of low notes... So one should have some reasonable approach to the controls.
 
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Having bass boost all the way up on some active pre-amped basses will destroy any speakers. . . .
Definitely user error.

I provide the back line for a jam night and I wince when I see MM players getting ready and I have to go into protection mode with my gear. They always have the pre amp set to "destroy". MM players are the ones I've had to turn down the most.
 
Got my Two10 on 18th August, gigged it with my d800 on 19th August. Sounded great at first at loud(ish) gig volumes but then cab started to 'fart' out with the sound deteriorating badly. Sent it back to BF a couple of days later. Very disapointed. It has to be said that barefaced customer care has been great, and they are sending me a Super Twin to try instead of the two 10 (which didn't seem to be up to the job). I'm sure the super twin will be great, it's just another £300 that I'll have to find if I decide to keep it!! Plus I've lost a bit of confidence in the product. Moral of the story...if you play in a pretty loud rock band with a Mesa d800 (or similar) and a two 10, you may need a bit more rig for the gig.

Anyway, this is what Alex from BF said to me last week...attached is a photo of my settings on the d800 at the gig.

"Well I'm sorry to say you have the honour of being the first person to ever blow one of our 10CR woofers! One of them had been driven so far beyond its excursion limits that one of the tinsel leads had snapped and was shorting against the other one. The other woofer isn't sounding too happy either and there are marks on both tinsel leads indicating it's been repeatedly pushed past its limits"
As a former D800 owner, I can see how those settings could blow a driver. The settings are very bass heavy. The Voice control boosts sub 40Hz frequencies. Adding bass and low mids, plus the cranked Stingray bass pot is intense!
 
Based on what?
I've seen in another thread where @DukeLeJeune proved mathematically that the specs for the 12XN contained different methods of measurement or calculation, that, when applied to the 3022LFs proved this to be, umm, misleading. @CharlieC's real world experience seems to confirm this.

Sorry, but "Significantly more powerful" and "big advantage" sounds like marketing lingo or flat out bs.

For now, please discount my far-from-scientific A/B of two completely different cabinets. I can attest today that the 12XN is more than capable if pushed.

I have a BB2 on order now and I believe the playing field shall soon level, along with things more interesting. To be continued.

Cheers!
 
I think we just got to the bottom of it - a combination of bass knob all the way up on a Stingray
Who does this? That cannot be a good sound, combined with the Mesa settings. I humbly suggest reading the D800 as @agedhorse has said over and over. Full bass EQ on the Sting Ray at loud volumes is a recipe for speaker failure. I wouldn't be surprised if the Super Twin is the next fatality.

Any amp with even moderate power combined with any active bass with the bass EQ maxed out could easily blow drivers. You are lucky Barefaced is taking care of you, as I do not see this as being an equipment issue.

@Stevie H I feel certain all this is old news to you, and I am glad to see BF working with you to resolve this. I completely understand the high expectations you (and myself) have in the Mesa/Barefaced setup. Best of luck, and I hope all this works out for the best.
 
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No speaker is indestructible if you abuse it. Absolutely user error. Again, it is very kind of Barefaced to eat the loss for customer abuse. I dont know if I would.

Yeah but look at the reputation gain for Barefaced. This level of customer service literally doesn't surprise me just based on my email interactions and phone conversations with Alex in the UK. Very professional.
 
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