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Question about mismatched cabs: Barfaced One10 and Mesa Subway 115

M

mikeynets

Supporting Member
Aug 5, 2023
445
688
Bay Area
#1
I know these are voiced differently, have different magnet types, different driver sizes and different power handling abilities (250W for the Barefaced, 400W for the Mesa) — but they are both 8 ohms.

With that in mind, if I used them together with my amp (Quilter 803) @ 450 watts/ 4 ohms — is there any technical, physical, mechanical, electrical, etc cause for concern?

Of course they might not play nice together for subjective reasons, but I'd like to experiment as long as I won't be putting any of the gear in danger.

TIA
 
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#3
Technically you are fine, I don’t know how well they will work together. I would expect the sensitivity of the 115 to be quite a bit higher than the 110 so playing the 110 on the top will be helpful imo.
 
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#4
agedhorse said:
Technically you are fine, I don’t know how well they will work together. I would expect the sensitivity of the 115 to be quite a bit higher than the 110 so playing the 110 on the top will be helpful imo.
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Yep, 95 for the 110 and 98.5 for the 115.

I just got the 115 and had no intention of using them together, but temporarily set the 110 on top of the 115 and thought, maybe? I like them both for their different voicings separately. We'll see how they sound together.

Thanks
 
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#5
mikeynets said:
I know these are voiced differently, have different magnet types, different driver sizes and different power handling abilities (250W for the Barefaced, 400W for the Mesa) — but they are both 8 ohms.

With that in mind, if I used them together with my amp (Quilter 803) @ 450 watts/ 4 ohms — is there any technical, physical, mechanical, electrical, etc cause for concern?

Of course they might not play nice together for subjective reasons, but I'd like to experiment as long as I won't be putting any of the gear in danger.

TIA
Click to expand...
You can try, it's not very risky IMHO. At least I would try.

The 450W of the Quilter is for one 8 ohm cab
With two 8 ohm cab, the Quilter @ 4 ohm goes up to 800W, and each cab receives half of it (400W, not 450W)

If you push the Quilter, each can could receive up to 400W so be carefull with the Barefaced, but I wouldn't worry too much because their website says "250W RMS (500W clean)". I think it means that if you play with a clean sound, you will hear if you push the One10 too hard, so you can push between 250W and 500W, as long as you lower the power if it sounds distorted, until it sounds clean again.

Agedhorse often says that not all cabs will warn you before they die, but I think in the case of the BF One10, your ears will tell you if it's suffering.

There was one occasion when I pushed my One10 too hard with my Quilter (for an outdoor gig). The sound started to fart a little bit, so I lowered the bass EQ on the amp until it sounded clean again, and I could play the gig safely, I didn't dammage the cab.

Using a High Pass Fliter can help too.

As you said, the only way to know if these 2 particular cabs sound well together is to try.
 
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#6
gtirard said:
You can try, it's not very risky IMHO. At least I would try.

The 450W of the Quilter is for one 8 ohm cab
With two 8 ohm cab, the Quilter @ 4 ohm goes up to 800W, and each cab receives half of it (400W, not 450W)

If you push the Quilter, each can could receive up to 400W so be carefull with the Barefaced, but I wouldn't worry too much because their website says "250W RMS (500W clean)". I think it means that if you play with a clean sound, you will hear if you push the One10 too hard, so you can push between 250W and 500W, as long as you lower the power if it sounds distorted, until it sounds clean again.

Agedhorse often says that not all cabs will warn you before they die, but I think in the case of the BF One10, your ears will tell you if it's suffering.

There was one occasion when I pushed my One10 too hard with my Quilter (for an outdoor gig). The sound started to fart a little bit, so I lowered the bass EQ on the amp until it sounded clean again, and I could play the gig safely, I didn't dammage the cab.

Using a High Pass Fliter can help too.

As you said, the only way to know if these 2 particular cabs sound well together is to try.
Click to expand...
I plan on trying this out with the Quilter set to Warm or Qtube — per the manual — and it's not super clear to me at least — at 4 ohms these settings delivery between 450 and 500 watts. Only the modern setting delivers 800W @ 4 ohms.

I'm not clear if it's 450W @ 8 ohms and 500W @ 4 ohms or somehow it fluctuates between the two, but either way, seems like I should be ok.

Fortunately for my hearing and gear, I haven't cranked an amp to it's max since I was in my early 20s — aka a looong time ago.
 
#7
mikeynets said:
I plan on trying this out with the Quilter set to Warm or Qtube — per the manual — and it's not super clear to me at least — at 4 ohms these settings delivery between 450 and 500 watts. Only the modern setting delivers 800W @ 4 ohms.

I'm not clear if it's 450W @ 8 ohms and 500W @ 4 ohms or somehow it fluctuates between the two, but either way, seems like I should be ok.

Fortunately for my hearing and gear, I haven't cranked an amp to it's max since I was in my early 20s — aka a looong time ago.
Click to expand...
I was unaware of the different settings affecting the power... this is a little odd and wasn't in any marketing info I have seen. In this case I would be very careful of your 110, the 115 is fine.
 
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#9
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@agedhorse here’s a snippet from the manual
 
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#10
I would want to be sure because of the potential for damaging a speaker.

The way it’s written, if the voltage swing is available, it applies to more than the resonant point(s).
 
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#11
The way I understand it, they might sound fine together at a lower volume, but as you start to push, because the response isn't linear, you could get into weird issues at a higher volume, possibly even phase cancellation type stuff, which might cause you turn it up even louder to compensate in which case you might exceed the limit on the one10.
 
#12
blastoff said:
The way I understand it, they might sound fine together at a lower volume, but as you start to push, because the response isn't linear, you could get into weird issues at a higher volume, possibly even phase cancellation type stuff, which might cause you turn it up even louder to compensate in which case you might exceed the limit on the one10.
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Cancellation and phase issues occurs at all volumes and doesn't change (much if at all), but if you push the system the 110 is the cabinet that's most at risk (by far).
 
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#13
You could very well easily destroy the 110. As a former owner of both of these cabs, I can assure you that the One10 cannot come anywhere near to being able to keep up with the Subway 115. Especially if you are playing a 5 string. The 115 will be cruising without breaking a sweat, while the 110 is melting down internally.

Not knocking the 110, but it's just simple physics. It does great for what it is, but it's not meant to keep up with a cab like a Subway 115.
 
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#16
Fan Fret said:
You could very well easily destroy the 110. As a former owner of both of these cabs, I can assure you that the One10 cannot come anywhere near to being able to keep up with the Subway 115. Especially if you are playing a 5 string. The 115 will be cruising without breaking a sweat, while the 110 is melting down internally.

Not knocking the 110, but it's just simple physics. It does great for what it is, but it's not meant to keep up with a cab like a Subway 115.
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You're the first person to respond who's owned both cabs. Did you happen to own them at the same time and ever use them together? I kinda gather from your answer probably not, but maybe?

FWIW I 100% get it that these cabs are different animals across the board — intent, tone, power handling etc. And I don't plan on pushing the 110 beyond its limits.

BUT. . in a situation where the max wattage (500W in my case) is split between the two 8 Ohm cabs, the BF 110 would only see 250W max — and again, I don't plan on really getting close to that — it should be fine.
 
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#19
mikeynets said:
You're the first person to respond who's owned both cabs. Did you happen to own them at the same time and ever use them together? I kinda gather from your answer probably not, but maybe?

FWIW I 100% get it that these cabs are different animals across the board — intent, tone, power handling etc. And I don't plan on pushing the 110 beyond its limits.

BUT. . in a situation where the max wattage (500W in my case) is split between the two 8 Ohm cabs, the BF 110 would only see 250W max — and again, I don't plan on really getting close to that — it should be fine.
Click to expand...

Yes I owned them both at the same time but did not use them together because of the limitations of the One10. I'm thinking you wouldn't gain anything by mixing them, as I think the 115 alone would be louder than both together because you would have to limit the volume if you used both. I also owned a BF SuperCompact at the same time which would be a better match for the Subway.
 

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