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Official Barefaced Bass Cab Club
- Thread starter Stumbo
- Start date
My office last night for the first gig with a Super Twin. We're a relatively new band and we've been playing out about once a month since April. Last night several of the local musicians that inspired us to do our thing were in the audience. Got a few questions and comments about my bass rig. Yer gettin' some PHAT sound! was the common theme. I agree. That little box is killer!
I'd never do that, if there was any chance of playing loud. The resonator openings on the side are also vents, and they're designed to manage the heat the speaker generates. Having the vents run vertically along the side means cool air can enter the cab at the bottom and warm air can escape at the top. Having the cabs stacked sideways won't affect the sound (as far as I know), but having the vents run horizontally along the bottom defeats the temperature control function of the side vents. And hotter speakers are more susceptible to damage.
Interesting. And makes sense. @alexclaber how much of a concern is this?
What kind of bottom is that Super Twin capable of? What type of music are you using it for? Pros/cons?
I'm intrigued
Forgot to mention... My band provided PA for a smaller festival (festival budget fell through for a proper PA - but we do have a decent small unit (2x bose F1 812 mains and 2X EV EKX-18SP subs) that can carry an smaller outdoor gig with ease. I typically run sound. I let the other bassists know they could use my bass amp. One less thing for me to shuffle around between acts and teardown/setup for my band. My rig is 2x big baby 3 cabs and a Mesa TT-800 head. Enough head to power both cabs and be effective but not so much that I would be afraid of damaging them either. One of the bassists took pics of the head and the cabs, and that was BEFORE I had him pick one of them up. lol. He was amazed how light, loud and low the entire rig was.
The answer to that is always "compared to what"? It's got more bottom than my previous cabs, a Bag End S15 and Audiokinesis TC112. But those were obviously single speakers. Both were great at what they did. The Super Twin is just…more. Deeper, fuller, richer. And I haven't played it loud yet. I play passive 4 string J's and P's doing classic rock and old country, mostly.
Pros: 40 lb box with tilt-back wheels, massive power handling, neutral voicing. Like I said, the musicians in the audience knew it sounded good.
Cons: no crossovers or tweeter. The speakers are full range but I can hear the difference from the TC112, which features a legit crossover and tweeter assembly.
If you miss the full range with a tweeter - you should try a Big Baby or Big Twin. The horns and crossovers used are not harsh at all. Very musical - puts the click & clack machines that most vendors call a tweeter to shame. I run my basses straight into my TT-800 & BB3's and never have had any harshness from the top end. I've dialed the horns back and definitely like the tone with them full on better than the high mid/high response of the woofer alone. Super thoughtful and musical setup. FRFR is great.
Also, the Barefaced Super Compact T (which I own) is a single 12" with a Tweeter/crossover that can be dialled in/out via a variable resistor.
I haven't heard the barefaced tweeter vs. the horn used in the big cabs. I find most tweeters to be harsh sounding. The horns in the bb3s even sound great when used as a pa speaker. They just sound good.
I know what you mean. I think the design goals of the AK Thunderchild and BF Big Baby are similar. Both can be configured for PA use but sound amazing with bass instruments. I'm continuing to use my TC112 with one of my bands that's all acoustic instruments. The volume required in that situation is perfect for the smaller cab.
And I don't mean to imply that the Super Twin is lacking. It's phenomenal. But it doesn't have that top-end presence, if that's something you need.
On Barefaced's website, the Super Compact specs say:
- Consistent polar response when vertical or horizontal Super Compact / Super Compact T
Wouldn't the quote i posted here indicate the same for the Super Compact?
Thanks!
For my tonal goals, a horn isn't necessary. It would be nice to have just in case, but I don't find myself needing one currently.
No, polar response has nothing to do with how hot the speaker gets. Polar Response means it sounds the same no matter which way you turn it.
Thanks for the explanation. Since it does say it can be stacked vertically or horizontally, wouldn't that mean it is safe to do so?
A sideways SC has the ports running along the top - they're on the same side as the handle and the opposite side to the feet.
That's interesting, but it doesn't substantially change my point. With the ports on the side, the vertical arrangement provides a bit of a chimney effect. With the ports horizontal, there's no upward airflow.
I don't know how much that matters with the SC. I have a BB3, and it's designed to be upright for the speaker cooling to work.
alexclaber
Commercial User
When you turn an SC or SM sideways so the (side) feet are on the bottom, the handle is on the top and so is the port, so hot air can still escape.
Most guitar/bass/PA cabs don't consider this, so even with the port in the wrong place, a 12XN Barefaced cab has plenty of thermal power handling, it's just that putting the port in the right place is yet another of our marginal gains.
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