Sealed 15 comparison: Bergantino NV115, JGR 15-8 Vintage-HiFi, and JGR 15-8 Rock!!!!

Fuzzbass just came up this afternoon with his new Bergantino NV115 which I've been looking forward to trying out since they were announced. I just finished tweaking the crossover on my new 15-8 Vintage-HiFi cab, so it was great timing to give them all a whirl.



From left to right, JGR 15-8 Vintage-HiFi, Bergantino NV115, JGR 15-8 Rock (cab o' destruction).

When I plugged into the Berg NV115, I immediately felt at home, and it sounded as I had hoped/expected based on what other folks have reported. Basically a beefier, more balanced sounding NV215 - if the NV 215 had sounded like this, I would have kept it. The new woofer seems to be more robust, the mid is more even sounding across its range, and the woofer and mid levels are more balanced with eachother. If I didn't have my own cabs, I'd be shelling out for a pair of these, and I think the 2X stack would even surpass my beloved NV412. Well done Jim.

Overall, all three cabs are more similar than different. My new "Vintage HiFi" 15-8 has strong lows, is more mid forward, and overall clearer sounding than the other two cabs, but it still has that punchy sealed vintage vibe. My 15/8 Rock cab has higher sensitivity and is a bit louder than the other two cabs; it has more overall midrange complexity, and has a similar woofer/midrange balance as the NV115, but with a bit more low end extension, less upper treble, and a bit more balance through the upper mids and low treble (say 1-4 kHz range).

They all put out a healthy volume - we were slamming pretty loud with the Sadowsky P5 in the low end department, and the Berg was hitting the limits in the low end, the 15-8 rock was still chugging, and the 15-8 HiFi was just hitting us back.

We shot a couple of videos - one with Ken playing his active Sadowsky P5 with some bass boost through my 6SL7 into a bridged QSC PLX 3602, and a second with the same amp setup using one of my passive USA Schecter Model T 4-bangers. We kept all the levels/settings the same for both videos.

Here's the proof:

Active Sadowsky P5
http://youtu.be/8MJsWc8hY9I

Passive USA Schecter P-J
http://youtu.be/0L7g2Dc73dQ

Edit: and thanks again to Ken (Fuzzbass) for doing the playing in the clips - it's nice to be able to just listen for a change, not to mention he is a much, much better bassist!

 

Different vibe than the 15/6, but more similar to the F215 in terms of the more tight/punchy low end and balance between the woofer and mid driver if that makes any sense. My new 15/8 is the most "HiFi" of the three so it' proabably the closest.

 

We were using my Zoom Q3 HD which does a pretty admirable job. The room treatment helps keep reflections and bass buildup tamed very well, even at high volumes. My biggest challenge is not overloading the camera mic, even with gain set to low, so that should give some indication of the volume level - we're generally at or above what most folks probably gig at.

I think the recording technology with these cameras as well as YouTube sound quality has come a long way in the past couple of years, and playback through good headphones does a pretty good job at capturing the nuances. As Fuzzbass said, sometimes the subtleties are more noticeable during playback if the camera is placed more optimally than our listening position - I noticed the same thing doing the 12ax7/6SL7 comparision. And of course the player and instrument plays a big part, but in the end, I think the videos give a pretty good idea of what things sound like regardless, for better or worse, minus the physical aspect of being in the room. All the folks I've hung with seem to dig the gear even more in person rather than being disappointed, so while not perfect, I think the demo videos are a useful tool, and hopefully manufacturers will start putting more stuff out there. I think it is more likely to work in their favor.