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Official Barefaced Bass Cab Club

#4,621
I took my Super Twin to practice after only breaking it in for an hour. The studio we were going to has a simple 810 that I wanted to A\B it against.
I'm pretty impressed. It is the sonic equivalent of Gianna Michaels. 'Nuff said.
Plus, for a cab with two drivers, it is light enough for me to put on my shoulder to move if I need to. The height makes the tilt back wheels a little hard to use. If I was a little taller, I wouldn't be able to get the angle right.
So far I'm very happy.
 
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#4,624
After owning two BB2s, then downsizing to one, then switching to a Super Midget, I have concluded the SM is a more versatile cab being able to provide tight low end, or with my Noble tube preamp, it provides (to my ears) nearly identical swampy ultra lows depending on what a song requires. Each cab deals with the high end in different ways, but the performance of both cabs in that context is not different (horn vs. tweeter). The key difference probably is maximum volume potential. The smaller form factor and weight make the SM a big winner over the two. I would imagine two SMs would sound superb as I've always loved the coupling effect of two identical cabs. Just don't need that much stage volume!
 
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#4,625
N. Kentucky Bass said:
After owning two BB2s, then downsizing to one, then switching to a Super Midget, I have concluded the SM is a more versatile cab being able to provide tight low end, or with my Noble tube preamp, it provides (to my ears) nearly identical swampy ultra lows depending on what a song requires. Each cab deals with the high end in different ways, but the performance of both cabs in that context is not different (horn vs. tweeter). The key difference probably is maximum volume potential. The smaller form factor and weight make the SM a big winner over the two. I would imagine two SMs would sound superb as I've always loved the coupling effect of two identical cabs. Just don't need that much stage volume!
Click to expand...
Nice to know as I'm expecting my SM being shipped soon. Thanks for sharing!
 
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#4,626
N. Kentucky Bass said:
After owning two BB2s, then downsizing to one, then switching to a Super Midget, I have concluded the SM is a more versatile cab being able to provide tight low end, or with my Noble tube preamp, it provides (to my ears) nearly identical swampy ultra lows depending on what a song requires. Each cab deals with the high end in different ways, but the performance of both cabs in that context is not different (horn vs. tweeter). The key difference probably is maximum volume potential. The smaller form factor and weight make the SM a big winner over the two. I would imagine two SMs would sound superb as I've always loved the coupling effect of two identical cabs. Just don't need that much stage volume!
Click to expand...

Don't say that. I still toy with the idea of swapping my BB2 for a SM pair.
 
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#4,627
N. Kentucky Bass said:
After owning two BB2s, then downsizing to one, then switching to a Super Midget, I have concluded the SM is a more versatile cab being able to provide tight low end, or with my Noble tube preamp, it provides (to my ears) nearly identical swampy ultra lows depending on what a song requires. Each cab deals with the high end in different ways, but the performance of both cabs in that context is not different (horn vs. tweeter). The key difference probably is maximum volume potential. The smaller form factor and weight make the SM a big winner over the two. I would imagine two SMs would sound superb as I've always loved the coupling effect of two identical cabs. Just don't need that much stage volume!
Click to expand...

monsterthompson said:
Don't say that. I still toy with the idea of swapping my BB2 for a SM pair.
Click to expand...

Arrrghhhh!
Invalid Link Removed
 
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#4,629
I was playing around with my Super Twin last night, and was thinking about the how it sounded "right." Of course it has been well established that the majority of the Barefaced models are flat, so we are hearing more of our tone, as opposed to what the builder prefers. However, if this is a new revelation, and 99% of cabs made for the last 50 years aren't like that, why do BF cabs sound right?
Then this occurred to me: 90% of the time when we are listening to bass, it is not through a cab. Think about it. We listen to music through flat speakers and earbuds. On live stages the bass is almost always DI'ed into a PA. Even on recordings the a bass cab is almost never mic'ed. Technically, about the only time we as bass players hear bass through actual bass cabs is when we practice on our own, and on stage, which (for me) never sounds right anyway because you are dealing with the dynamics of the stage\room.
A Marshall stack at practice, on stage, or on a recording sounds pretty much the same because we are used to hearing the actual head and cab. There is far less actual listenable tone from a bass cab around us. We've been trained to hear bass through PAs and reference monitors, not cabs, so now this PA style cab sounds like what we are more used to hearing. Kinda weird.
 
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#4,630
Just for the record, got a new OneTen a while back and it seemed rather bottom-weak. I've given it a maybe 8 hours of 25 Hz sine waves at moderate volume (still chucking a lot of air out the port) and it's significantly warmed and really developed improved low end response. Taking it out to a restaurant guitar-bass duo gig this evening so I'll see how much difference it makes.
 
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#4,631
jmlee said:
Just for the record, got a new OneTen a while back and it seemed rather bottom-weak. I've given it a maybe 8 hours of 25 Hz sine waves at moderate volume (still chucking a lot of air out the port) and it's significantly warmed and really developed improved low end response. Taking it out to a restaurant guitar-bass duo gig this evening so I'll see how much difference it makes.
Click to expand...

Does the port orientation make a difference? I found side was deeper than bottom.
 
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#4,632
monsterthompson said:
Does the port orientation make a difference? I found side was deeper than bottom.
Click to expand...

Yes, sideways is deeper. There's really a lot of air moving out the port during playing, so without higher feet/legs it seems to me that the almost immediate sideways deflection of air flow out of the cab in an upright position could inhibit cone motion to some extent. That inhibition, if it exists, would be eliminated with the cab sideways. I've always tilted my Acoustic Image Contra up on its little post to reduce this effect as well. [Mine, like Tarzan, is a unidexter.]

acimg_siia_lift_226x242q70.jpg
 
#4,633
alexclaber said:
The Two10 (and indeed all the 10CR designs) are quite tweakable on the low frequency tightness front - with the port firing into free air they're biggest and least tight in the lows, with the port firing onto a boundary (usually the floor), they're a bit leaner and tighter. Then there's the option of entirely plugging the port (a tightly rolled up sock or T-shirt or closed cell foam plug) which tighten them up even more.

And there's also the option of plugging the port with something porous, so open cell foam or a loose plug of more open weave fabric (part of a retired woollen jumper?) so make the port aperiodic, so it becomes a leaky sealed box. And if the port is aperiodic you have the option of using the free air or boundary positioning of the port as well. Depending on how the port is damped this could actually sound tighter than a completely plugged port.

Lots of choices!
Click to expand...

...a post from way back. I was wondering if it's not recommended to experiment with port blocking in the cabs featuring the 12XN550? Specifically my Super Twin. I play in some boomy rooms from time to time, and stuffing a shop towel in one of the ports would be easier than finding room for an eq pedal on my already crowded board :)
 
#4,635
I AM NOW AND FOREVER A BAREFACED FAN!

I had a gig on Friday night, my first with the Barefaced Four10 that I picked up a little over a month ago. (thanks @looper!)

So, I got some compliments from a bassist I know and his girlfriend, who randomly showed up last night. They were like, "hey, the bass was nice and loud tonight, really clear too!" I rarely get compliments like this. So I go to the sound guy, who usually wins "best sound guy in Omaha" every year - I thank him for mixing me so well, I told him I was getting better compliments than I usually get.

His response: I didn't have you in the mains, I didn't do anything with your signal tonight. It just sounded better with you out of the mains tonight.

People were hearing the Barefaced Four10!!!!!!!!

Words cannot describe how happy I am with that cab, my Dually T is officially going up for sale.
 
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#4,636
bassvirtuoso said:
I AM NOW AND FOREVER A BAREFACED FAN!

I had a gig on Friday night, my first with the Barefaced Four10 that I picked up a little over a month ago. (thanks @looper!)

So, I got some compliments from a bassist I know and his girlfriend, who randomly showed up last night. They were like, "hey, the bass was nice and loud tonight, really clear too!" I rarely get compliments like this. So I go to the sound guy, who usually wins "best sound guy in Omaha" every year - I thank him for mixing me so well, I told him I was getting better compliments than I usually get.

His response: I didn't have you in the mains, I didn't do anything with your signal tonight. It just sounded better with you out of the mains tonight.

People were hearing the Barefaced Four10!!!!!!!!

Words cannot describe how happy I am with that cab, my Dually T is officially going up for sale.
Click to expand...

It just doesn't get much better than that.
 
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#4,637
bassvirtuoso said:
I AM NOW AND FOREVER A BAREFACED FAN!

I had a gig on Friday night, my first with the Barefaced Four10 that I picked up a little over a month ago. (thanks @looper!)

So, I got some compliments from a bassist I know and his girlfriend, who randomly showed up last night. They were like, "hey, the bass was nice and loud tonight, really clear too!" I rarely get compliments like this. So I go to the sound guy, who usually wins "best sound guy in Omaha" every year - I thank him for mixing me so well, I told him I was getting better compliments than I usually get.

His response: I didn't have you in the mains, I didn't do anything with your signal tonight. It just sounded better with you out of the mains tonight.

People were hearing the Barefaced Four10!!!!!!!!

Words cannot describe how happy I am with that cab, my Dually T is officially going up for sale.
Click to expand...
Welcome aboard the Barefaced train!
 
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#4,638
jmlee said:
Just for the record, got a new OneTen a while back and it seemed rather bottom-weak. I've given it a maybe 8 hours of 25 Hz sine waves at moderate volume (still chucking a lot of air out the port) and it's significantly warmed and really developed improved low end response. Taking it out to a restaurant guitar-bass duo gig this evening so I'll see how much difference it makes.
Click to expand...

Well, the gig was great fun (thanks for asking) and the OneTen cab's bottom end was *much* improved after the 25 Hz cycling. Same room, same location, same cab orientation, identical signal chain settings which I photographed to reproduce, and even some of the same crowd. (Whadda ya know, they came back!) I know there's skeptics around this idea out there, but this is clear emprical evidence—albeit with a sample size of one, but I've only got a single OneTen to try this on. For me, it worked. I now like this cab *a lot* more and it's going to travel to all my small upright gigs.

BTW, I'm carrying the OneTen, my Clarus 4Plus SL head in its bag, power and speaker cables all in a standard Meinl cajon bag: $38 CDN. Very tidy and nice and light.
 
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