Official Barefaced Bass Cab Club

[mcnach]

@alexclaber Here's another idea: Come out with another 10" driver that pairs better with your 12" driver...or vice versa...just saying.

what would be the purpose of that?

 

[howlin]

I was working at a venue when someone had posted something along the lines of "how come everyone says that Ampeg is the most popular brand for touring acts and provided back lines? I don't think it's true, I see plenty of different brands of amps at live events" Afterwards I systematically took a picture of every bass amp to hit our stage and a good 85 - 90% of the time it was an SVT.

SVT, isn't that a social disease? Actually, your metric is pretty depressing IMHE. But what do I know . . .

 

[MOSCOWBASS]

what would be the purpose of that?

A smaller BB2.... I bought a crazy 8 to do just that, albeit not as big in the lows obviously, but seems to stay clean throughout its usable range. Its not a pair with the BB2 either, way less power handling for that. Yes i know..... Super Midget

 

[triode6L6a]

I'm going to have a little bit of a rant here because there's nothing that annoys me more than the TRUTH being written off as "just theory". I may be an engineer but I'm also a bass player, songwriter, singer, musician and music lover.

So people often ask me "can I use a One10 with a Super Compact" or any other combination of 10CR and 12XN models. Yes you can.

Then they ask me "how will they work together?" The answer to that is very very very complex. The cabs are just so different in so many ways. But the most important difference is the difference in their behaviour at high SPL.

You could get the "perfect" tone happening in the rehearsal studio with a One10 on a Super Compact, go a a gig, have to crank up a lot more and that tone is gone. Why? Because the One10 changes in tone as you turn up louder whilst the Super Compact barely changes until it maxxes out. That tonal change with the One10 doesn't just affect the two different sounds you're mixing, it also affects how they mix.

It's like trying to make a cake with two groups of ingredients, say one cab (12XN) is the flour and sugar and the other cab (10CR) is the eggs and butter and flavourings - and when you use them together not all of both groups of ingredients actually lands in the bowl (that's the phase difference). And as you play louder the 10CR group of ingredients is changing so the number of eggs, amount of butter and amount and type of flavourings are all changing - but not only are they changing, a different proportion of them are landing in the bowl rather than on the floor (because the phase is changing due to the non-linearity).

So yes, our 10CR and 12XN cabs can be a lot of fun and great sounding together. But they can also be not so good. And it's nigh on impossible for me to predict. So if you have at least one cab from each range, do try them together and post up about your anecdotal evidence - but don't go telling everyone it's ideal for them because every situation is different.

It isn't about "real life vs theory" - it's about there being thousands of different variables in real life and your experience will only represent a handful of them.

Wow, that is a wonderful explanation, Alex, and it makes a lot of sense. Thanks for taking the time to post, and by the way, it didn't come off as a rant at all, but more a short lesson about WHY some combinations of speakers might sound good at low volume but not at higher volumes. Very interesting.

 

[N. Kentucky Bass]

A smaller BB2.... I bought a crazy 8 to do just that, albeit not as big in the lows obviously, but seems to stay clean throughout its usable range

I've owned three Crazy8s and two BB2s. Got to say I never would have dreamed of seeing those two cabs named in the same sentence! Loved the Crazy8 for its purity of tone and it works well for acoustic bass. But it has absolutely ZERO balls for electric bass. Maybe super quiet stuff, but it's still a disappointing cab for electric bass. The BB2 is in a totally different class from that perspective. It almost had too many balls for my taste. I'm super happy with a Super Midget, which at 23 lbs packs plenty of balls and doubles fine with acoustic and electric. The SM sounds much better at acoustic bass because it moves more air, even at lower volume. At some point, you can try and squeeze bass juice out of a small container and die of thirst from a tiny form factor. Or just move on to the real thing and never go thirsty!

 

[MOSCOWBASS]

I've owned three Crazy8s and two BB2s. Got to say I never would have dreamed of seeing those two cabs named in the same sentence! Loved the Crazy8 for its purity of tone and it works well for acoustic bass. But it has absolutely ZERO balls for electric bass. Maybe super quiet stuff, but it's still a disappointing cab for electric bass. The BB2 is in a totally different class from that perspective. It almost had too many balls for my taste. I'm super happy with a Super Midget, which at 23 lbs packs plenty of balls and doubles fine with acoustic and electric. The SM sounds much better at acoustic bass because it moves more air, even at lower volume. At some point, you can try and squeeze bass juice out of a small container and die of thirst from a tiny form factor. Or just move on to the real thing and never go thirsty!

I've owned three Crazy8s and two BB2s. Got to say I never would have dreamed of seeing those two cabs named in the same sentence! Loved the Crazy8 for its purity of tone and it works well for acoustic bass. But it has absolutely ZERO balls for electric bass. Maybe super quiet stuff, but it's still a disappointing cab for electric bass. The BB2 is in a totally different class from that perspective. It almost had too many balls for my taste. I'm super happy with a Super Midget, which at 23 lbs packs plenty of balls and doubles fine with acoustic and electric. The SM sounds much better at acoustic bass because it moves more air, even at lower volume. At some point, you can try and squeeze bass juice out of a small container and die of thirst from a tiny form factor. Or just move on to the real thing and never go thirsty!

I would respectfully have to disagree, i find the crazy 8 has plenty of grunt with electric bass, with a mesa d800, im amazed at what this little cab puts out, especially with some boundary reinforcement. It doesn't do what the BB2 can do, but i wasn't saying that. An 8 ohm smaller BB2 with a 10...3010lf or similar with a small compression driver would be of interest to me.

 

[allenhumble]

I'm thinking of selling my Bergantino ip322 to buy a big twin. Best sounding cab I've ever heard but it weights 100 lbs. Paired with Jules Monique it has yet to be beat. The problem I face is that I'll have to purchase a power along with the big twin. Likely m700. $$$$

 

[peterpalmieri]

I'm thinking of selling my Bergantino ip322 to buy a big twin. Best sounding cab I've ever heard but it weights 100 lbs. Paired with Jules Monique it has yet to be beat. The problem I face is that I'll have to purchase a power along with the big twin. Likely m700. $$$$

My advice is do not sell until you have used them side by side. The Ip322 is like hens teeth.

 

[Cuzzie]

@allenhumble does it have to be an m700, surely any power amp be it a QSC or any other class d head and you use the power amp section not EQ (unless you want to) will do?

 

[alexclaber]

A smaller BB2.... I bought a crazy 8 to do just that, albeit not as big in the lows obviously, but seems to stay clean throughout its usable range. Its not a pair with the BB2 either, way less power handling and wrong impedance for that. Yes i know..... Super Midget

Yes, Super Midget! The Super Midget is literally half the size of the Big Baby 2.

If we designed a 10" driver to behave as similarly as possible to our 12XN driver and designed a cab around it with the same goals as the BB2, then you'd end up with a cab which was 2/3 the size of the BB2, and thus bigger than the SM. We could try to design an 8" driver to behave like the 12XN so that would get us a cab a bit less than half the size of the BB2 - but the power handling would be so vastly less that you couldn't turn it up loud (and might as well just use the 12XN cab on its own).

Basically we try to make a few bass cabs as possible (and we still make quite a lot of different models!) What we don't do is make marketing led variants that have little engineering reason to exist!

 

[mcnach]

I would respectfully have to disagree, i find the crazy 8 has plenty of grunt with electric bass, with a mesa d800, im amazed at what this little cab puts out, especially with some boundary reinforcement. It doesn't do what the BB2 can do, but i wasn't saying that. An 8 ohm smaller BB2 with a 10...3010lf or similar with a small compression driver would be of interest to me.

and in what way you'd like it to be different from a midget/supermidget?

 

[MOSCOWBASS]

and in what way you'd like it to be different from a midget/supermidget?

Something around the size of a one10, a one10 with the clean properties and hf of the BB2

 

[DaveAceofBass]

Yes, Super Midget! The Super Midget is literally half the size of the Big Baby 2.

If we designed a 10" driver to behave as similarly as possible to our 12XN driver and designed a cab around it with the same goals as the BB2, then you'd end up with a cab which was 2/3 the size of the BB2, and thus bigger than the SM. We could try to design an 8" driver to behave like the 12XN so that would get us a cab a bit less than half the size of the BB2 - but the power handling would be so vastly less that you couldn't turn it up loud (and might as well just use the 12XN cab on its own).

Basically we try to make a few bass cabs as possible (and we still make quite a lot of different models!) What we don't do is make marketing led variants that have little engineering reason to exist!

I'd like to see a wedge shaped or upright firing cab...maybe a One10 or something with a driver more similar to your 12".

 

[N. Kentucky Bass]

I'd like to see a wedge shaped or upright firing cab...maybe a One10 or something with a driver more similar to your 12".

I have an up-firing "wedge-shaped" SM. Well, with a little help from an AmpWedge!

 

[Plutonium244]

I'd like to see Alex produce a cabinet that will make me a sandwich afterwards.

 

[MOSCOWBASS]

Yes, Super Midget! The Super Midget is literally half the size of the Big Baby 2.

If we designed a 10" driver to behave as similarly as possible to our 12XN driver and designed a cab around it with the same goals as the BB2, then you'd end up with a cab which was 2/3 the size of the BB2, and thus bigger than the SM. We could try to design an 8" driver to behave like the 12XN so that would get us a cab a bit less than half the size of the BB2 - but the power handling would be so vastly less that you couldn't turn it up loud (and might as well just use the 12XN cab on its own).

Basically we try to make a few bass cabs as possible (and we still make quite a lot of different models!) What we don't do is make marketing led variants that have little engineering reason to exist!

Yes, fully understand your reasoning here

 

[BigEarl]

I'd like to see Alex produce a cabinet that will make me a sandwich afterwards.

... and get me some gigs to help pay for it.

 

[Stumbo]

I'd like to see Alex produce a cabinet that will make me a sandwich afterwards.

And whatever I play, it translates it into some cool sounding bass lines. Yeah...a bass translator cab, that's the ticket.

 

[Plutonium244]

... and get me some gigs to help pay for it.

Yes-- the Barefaced BookBot cab with wireless internet and phone connectivity, and a Siri-like voice activation. Just say "BookBot, get me a gig at the Philmore."

 

[monsterthompson]

And whatever I play, it translates it into some cool sounding bass lines. Yeah...a bass translator cab, that's the ticket.

This always works for me.
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