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Show your EBS Neo's!

M

mikkejohansson

Feb 5, 2004
653
88
48
Northern Sweden
#1
I'm looking for a new cab or cabs, since I'm swedish i figured what better buy than EBS, right...? No, seriously I'm looking at others as well but the Neo series looks really intriguing (?).

My thought right now is wether to go for two 1x12s or the new 2x12 cab? The advantages of two small cabs is versatility; I have a Mesa Buster tube head and a GK MB150 and the two cabs would give me quite a few differnet combinations;

* Mesa + one 1x12 (smaller rock/pop gigs)
* Mesa + two 1x12s (bigger rock/pop gigs)
* GK alone (100W, upright gigs and smaller EBG gigs)
* GK + one 1x12 (150W, bigger upright gigs)
* GK + two 1x12s (wo/int.spkr, 150W, perhaps no point, but still...)

The 2x12 of course is not quite as versatile, but my concern is that the tube amp head on top of the 1x12s might be a bit "unsteady" and look...well...corny? The 2x12 would be a perfect match size-wise for the Mesa.

So my thought was; Do any of you use your Neo's for other amp heads than EBS? Anyone with a "larger" tube-style head? I'm shooting for opinions sound-wise but also perhaps a few pics' of your rigs.

Thnx!
 
#2
Hejsan!

This will be third thread within a week where I´m showing off my rig but hey, you asked for it :D !
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Top: EBS-1 pre and Crown XLS402 power amp in a 4U Gator rack.
Cabs: 2x NEO-112

As you can see, the rack is slightly wider than the cabs, but I don´t think it looks too "top heavy".

According to Mesa website the Buster head is 23 3/4" (damn those inches!) wide. So it´s about 12 cm wider than NEO, right? 6 cm per side doesn´t sound too bad, but if it bothers you, you could always put the cabs side-by-side. Granted, that won´t work if you bring only one cab. But OTOH NEOs are so light and they sound so awesome as a pair, that you may very well find yourself bringing both cabs to every gig.

Then again, the 2x12 could be your cab, in the end it comes down to tone. If you feel that the small cabs give you the sound you´re after, you shouldn´t let the visual issues restrict your choice. The audience doesn´t care what your rig looks like so why should you?

BTW, I bought my second NEO used. The guy that sold it to me had bought a Trace Elliot tube head (Quatra Valve I think) and thought that the NEO sounded a bit "too tight and defined" for that head. Take it what it´s worth, but how a cab can be too tight or defined is beyond me IMO. But I guess he was looking for old school warmth. To each of his own.
 
#3
OK, I searched for a pic of the Buster head, found one and then things got out of hand... But here you are, a beautiful Mesa/EBS-rig, photoshopped for your pleasure.

The scale should be about right, give or take few pixels. Not too bad IMO, I´d play with that.
 

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#4
Cool Hat: Nice one :)

Granted, the visual aspect is not of real importance, I'm actually more concerned that it might not be steady enough for a stage that "moves" a bit. I'll have to try them out and see.

I understand what the guy meant by "too tight", I'm also looking for a warmer sound. However i feel the head has enough warmth to compensate :)

I have no worries that the Neo's will feel "sterile", I've heard too many reviews saying the opposite.

More pics! Me like!
 
#5
I e-mailed EBS to ask if the new 212 sounded the same as two 112 neos. They answered that the 112´s where designed to be as small as possible while the 212 was designed for the ultimate sound. Its supposed to sound bigger and deeper. It also has more than twice the internal volume of a neo 112.
Might be worth considering...
 
#7
mikkejohansson said:
Granted, the visual aspect is not of real importance, I'm actually more concerned that it might not be steady enough for a stage that "moves" a bit. I'll have to try them out and see.
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Yeah, wouldn´t want to see that Buster coming down in the middle of a gig :eek: But still, I don´t think a NEO/Buster-combo would be more hazardous in that respect than any other stack. The NEOs are relatively deep, and let´s not forget that even though I call them a "stack", it´s only one meter high. So the footprint/height ratio is pretty good.

I´m pretty sure that stage movement wouldn´t pose any sort of threat to my rig or your potential setup (I dont think the head makes that much a difference). But a clumsy/overenthusiastic/drunken guitarist/singer/member of the audience could be dangerous. Then again, a loose cannon can knock down any rig if he really puts his body on the line. So if some of your band members are the "lively" sort, perhaps you could put the head on the floor. Or if the stage is big enough, get a table or milk crates or such. Tweaking the controls while the head´s on the floor can be tedious, that´s true. But you can but something under the head to tilt it slightly upwards. And to be honest, less tweaking=more playing ;)

BTW, on few gigs I put the rack on the floor and the cab on top of it like this:

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Back then I only had one NEO. Lifting the cab off the floor weakens the low end, but on those gigs we had a full PA support so it didn´t matter. The Buster does have that handle on the top, though, so this arrangement might not work for you.

I understand what the guy meant by "too tight", I'm also looking for a warmer sound. However i feel the head has enough warmth to compensate :)

I have no worries that the Neo's will feel "sterile", I've heard too many reviews saying the opposite.
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I don´t think NEOS - or EBS gear overall - sound sterile. Yes, they are on the "hi-fi" end of the scale and certainly miles away from, say, an Ampeg B-15. But they do have color in their tone and it happens to be a color that I like. I have Genelec monitors (w/ a subwoofer) in my home studio and my basses sound very different through them than through my bass rig (even with the preamps EQ bypassed).

Some bassists want their gear as transparent and neutral as possible, aiming to reproduce the natural sound of the bass guitar as faithfully as possible. For example, Anthony Jackson uses high end studio rack gear and Meyer sound PA cabs to amplify his Fodera. There was a big thread about his rig on this forum a while ago and a TB´er called Prockenklang actually went ahead and got himself a somewhat similar setup. The prices mentioned were pretty mind-boggling :eek:

Anyways, I can respect "the purists" quest for perfect tone, but personally I don´t care for completely flat response. In my ears it sounds just like that - flat. I want my rig to compliment the sound of the bass: it should hide the weaknesses and emphasize the strenghts. And NEOs do just that; they make my basses sound better.

That was quite a rant, sorry about that... I don´t want to sound like a walking EBS commercial, but I just love my rig! And after I got the second cab a week ago, it has been like a second honeymoon :D
More pics! Me like!
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Tycker du om?

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#8
jock said:
I e-mailed EBS to ask if the new 212 sounded the same as two 112 neos. They answered that the 112´s where designed to be as small as possible while the 212 was designed for the ultimate sound. Its supposed to sound bigger and deeper. It also has more than twice the internal volume of a neo 112.
Might be worth considering...
Click to expand...
That sounds very interesting, Mikke should definitely check it out. I doesn´t offer the versatility of smaller cabs, but as I said earlier, the two 112s sound so awesome together that you might not want to play with just one cab ever again. So why not have both drivers in one box?

The 212 does weigh more than two 112s, but at 28 kg it´s still light enough to be reasonably handled by one guy. And that has always been my "portability principle": I should be able to carry every single part of my rig by myself with relative ease, if needed. That´s why I´ll never own a 8x10...

If I wasn´t so pleased with the 112s, I´d most certainly try the new cabs myself (the 210 looks nice too). Actually, I´ll probably check them out anyway as soon as they arrive here, just out of curiosity. Heck, my amp could easily handle one more cab. Unfortunately, my wallet couldn´t :(
 
#9
Okej...I'll definitely have to check out the 2x12. In fact, that would ease my mind of not buying an AI Claruis head in stead of the GK :) I like the GK but "gear is gear"...

I can still use the 2x12 on big URB gigs as an ext to the GK, that would in effect be used as a head only since I'll be bypassing the internal speaker.

Now...I wonder if the 2x12 has casters on it?

:)

Cool Hat: Yopu couldn't possibly make me a photoshopimage of the Buster and the 2x12 :) :) :smug:
 
#10
I bought an EBS Neo 2x12 and 2x10 a few weeks back. The best move I ever made.
The 2x12 alone is excellent as a stand alone cab.
Can produce the mid punch of 10's while retaining a smooth low end.
Tried a few other Neo cabs such as Markbass, Tech, Ernie Ball Audiophile series and IMO EBS were way ahead in sound quality and construction.
 
#11
I went to Jam.se (swedish dealer) to try out the new EBS NEO-210 and NEO-212. They had a fafner hooked up to the cabs. I was really dissapointed with the sound. At low volume (aprox, 2 on the fafner) the 210 farted from G to A on the e string and the EQ on the fafner was set flat. No bass what so ever from the cab, sounded really bad. The 212 sounded better but there wasnt anything special about it.
jam.se has the worst room för bassamps I have ever seen in a musicstore, its really small maybe that had something to do with it, I don't know.
 
#14
Any "in action" pics of the 2x12, Onkelpo?

I'm trying to compare the Neo to the EBS Evolution 212, the Eden 212XLT and the Aguilar GS212. They're pretty much in the same price range (give or take), and all look very nice.

The Neo comes in on top on weight category at least.

I've all but given up on the Neo 1x12s after checking them out at the local store...they're too darn small. Good for some but I wouldn't feel comfortable with them on stage.
 
#16
No action pictures I'm afraid.
I never got around to checking out the standard EBS 2x12. I must confess my decision to go Neo was partly based on weight as well as sound quality.
If weight was not an issue then a top contender in the ones you mentioned would certainly be the Aguilar.
I think the EBS 1x12 is a great little cab but some of the gigs I do rely on a big backline sound and 2 1x12's would struggle on 50% of what I do.
 
#18
Oh no... I've been sussed.
It really depends what the gig is. I found it holds it's own for small club/pub gigs. The 2x10 is so lightweight though that I usually take it anyway if I'm unsure of the venue.
Being realistic, if the drummer is going hell for leather and theres no option to DI out then it may struggle alone in a large room.
Now, if I were playing the Onkelpo in Hamburg (if it still exists) I would surely use the 2x10 as well.
 

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