Wow, it’s been a long time since I did a gear report. I guess that’s a good thing because it means I’m playing versus arguing on the internet. 
Before I start yakking it up, let’s get the disclaimer out of the way:
The OP does in fact know the builder and considers him a good friend. In spite of this and the OP’s love for this cabinet, the OP received not a danged thing for writing this. Further, when the OP refused to return said cabinet to the builder, the builder got angry and threatened the OP with bodily harm. The OP then tried to negotiate a discount for the cab to which the builder replied with a single finger salute. In addition, the builder used the dreaded F word, to wit, “FULL price, bro. The shop don’t run on love.” At this time, the OP is trying to decide if he should elope to Tanzania with said cab, or eat mac with no cheese for a while in order to purchase an identical copy of said cabinet.”
Background
Since tonal tastes at this level of quality are very personal, I guess I better share a little. I am a small town local hack, heavy emphasis on hack. In fact, I am not qualified to carry the dirty underwear of most of the bassists in town, except for that drunk guy that always asks if he can play Rage Against the Machine on my Super J5 while we are on break. In spite of my 1-4 prowess, I am blessed with lots of opportunities to play because I learn my trash on my own time and forever remain a root note riding fool.
I spend 90-95 percent of my time playing CC/Praise at PCC, with the remaining time spent playing bar band or coffee house stuff. On occasion, I get asked to lay some ugly rough tracks, so when the REAL bass player comes in to record, he/she will have an idea what the writer has in mind.
As far as tonal tastes, I like vintage hi-fi. I want warmth. I want soul, without gear being colored. I don’t do farty. If I want hair, wool, grind, or anything else, I prefer to add it myself. And finally, I want simple. I am not a knob turner. I love gear that sounds great almost everywhere, with nothing more than 10 seconds worth of knob fiddling. Plug and play !
Neo 18
Sooo, earlier in the year I was deeply embroiled in a heated 32 page text with Mark at BNA and Jonathan at Reiner Amplification. I think the topic of discussion was Ginger or Mary Ann. Somehow, the topic of discussion turned to cabinets. Specifically, the days of yore and the Cerwin Vega 18, which led to talking about how sloooooooow 18’s responded. This early conversation likely planted the seed for Mark and Jonathan. They convinced themselves (hold my beer and watch this) that with today’s technology, beefy 18 tone could be captured, shedding its former bad habits. Frankly I tuned out to the nerd talk. I wasn’t interested. If I want fat and slow, I’ll look in the mirror.
It was interesting to observe the design discussions and process. I won’t go in to details because first, I don’t know what I can and can’t share, and second, I didn’t understand half the jibber jabber.
Fast forward a couple of months. I was whining about having sound problems with both my cabs. We had installed a new wall at the church and all of the sudden, my beloved DuallyT was just too much of a great thing. Mark suggested that I move to my smaller cab. Frankly, that idea failed to blow my dress up. While I love my little cab as a tool, far too often I found myself in a Texas grudge match while EQ ing. The mids were driving me nuts. Didn’t matter which bass or head I used, from time to time I found myself fiddling with EQ for the entire gig. And that pushed me to a point where I only used the cab if I absolutely had to.
Mark ran me down a couple days later and asked me if I would do him a favor. He had 2 Neo 18 prototypes that had already been briefly road tested by him. One ported and one sealed. Since I was having woes with stage sound, he asked me to test the sealed Neo. He felt it would potentially resolve both of my issues. I think the other issue here is he wanted someone that spends a lot of time on the low B in an unrelated genre to test it and offer some objective commentary on what worked for the cabinet and where it needed to be shored up. Finally, he told me that if it sounded like crap, just tell him so.
Testing
The cab arrived a few days later and I took it straight to rehearsal. Overall size was a bit bigger than the 115, but obviously much smaller than the behemoth DuallyT. Cab dims are approximately 27 ¼ x 21 x 14 ½ inches. Pretty lean for an 18. I never have weighed it but I can say that in spite of having side handles, I just grab it by the top strap.
Pulled the front cover to take a look. At first glance, it looked like an 18 with 2 juicers. I was told later that the juicers actually were mids.
One of the things I love about CC/Praise is how demanding it is. Not from an arrangement standpoint but from an execution perspective. Huge swings in dynamics. Everything from whisper thumbing and chokes to beating on the low B like it owes you money. Quite a contrast from bar band loud or louder.
The other issue is that I find myself all over neck. The old saying about there being no money above the 7th fret does not apply to Praise. I think it’s because those cutsie keyboard players do much of the writing and arrangements and want to show everyone what a real bass line sounds like. Anyway, there are no lonely fret positions.
I fired it up using the Genz 900 Streamie and off I went. By the second verse, I was cautiously in love. Nice and chunky. I could hear all the nuances of what I was playing without having to keenly focus on listening. Great balance. Warm mids (not overly so) and crisp clear highs with no danger of cutting anyone’s head off. In spite of a full band with 3 guitar players and a heavy handed drummer, every note jumped out, without having to pound everyone with my stage volume. Tone for me lands somewhere between a miniature version of the DuallyT and an F215.
The most surprising thing to me about the cabinet is how fast it is. While I don’t play at 220 BPM, I have had to play some pretty quick slap stuff, in addition to some short quick fills that make me sweat bullets every time I have to play them. I have yet to make this cab stutter or otherwise mud up tone. I’ts pretty shocking to get this kind of response out of an 18.
Thus far, I have more than 50 play dates and gigs on it, but less than 100. Volume has ranged from a 93 dB cap to drive it like I stole it at outdoor country club volumes with no FoH. Amplification is always the Streamie or my glorious Reiner 6SL7. While I spend much of my time on the Super J5, I played a number of Fender P’s, a Fender Jazz, my Grove 51P, A Rocklin Trop 5 banger, and a NXT upright. Thanks to other bass players, I have also heard a Carvin 5 string and a Music Man Sterling. The cabinet responded with the idiosyncracies/personality of each of these instruments. None of the basses failed to sound fantastic through the Neo 18.
While this cabinet takes me from Tomlin to Sabbath without missing a beat, it may offer the most value to those that need to move fluidly back and forth between strap-on and upright. If you’re looking for more meat in a smaller package while protecting your clack, this cabinet will likely be your new best friend.
I like this cabinet so much that I ditched my 15 (the third best cabinet that I have ever heard), and am having Mark build me one. Further, I can’t help but think about moving to a single solution by buying a pair of these and then dragging one or both with me, depending on space and volume requirements.
Old habits die hard. This won’t be the cabinet for everyone. That said, if you’re looking for more out of a smaller cab and are someone willing to ignore history, you’ll want to give this a listen.
Before I start yakking it up, let’s get the disclaimer out of the way:The OP does in fact know the builder and considers him a good friend. In spite of this and the OP’s love for this cabinet, the OP received not a danged thing for writing this. Further, when the OP refused to return said cabinet to the builder, the builder got angry and threatened the OP with bodily harm. The OP then tried to negotiate a discount for the cab to which the builder replied with a single finger salute. In addition, the builder used the dreaded F word, to wit, “FULL price, bro. The shop don’t run on love.” At this time, the OP is trying to decide if he should elope to Tanzania with said cab, or eat mac with no cheese for a while in order to purchase an identical copy of said cabinet.”
Background
Since tonal tastes at this level of quality are very personal, I guess I better share a little. I am a small town local hack, heavy emphasis on hack. In fact, I am not qualified to carry the dirty underwear of most of the bassists in town, except for that drunk guy that always asks if he can play Rage Against the Machine on my Super J5 while we are on break. In spite of my 1-4 prowess, I am blessed with lots of opportunities to play because I learn my trash on my own time and forever remain a root note riding fool.
I spend 90-95 percent of my time playing CC/Praise at PCC, with the remaining time spent playing bar band or coffee house stuff. On occasion, I get asked to lay some ugly rough tracks, so when the REAL bass player comes in to record, he/she will have an idea what the writer has in mind.
As far as tonal tastes, I like vintage hi-fi. I want warmth. I want soul, without gear being colored. I don’t do farty. If I want hair, wool, grind, or anything else, I prefer to add it myself. And finally, I want simple. I am not a knob turner. I love gear that sounds great almost everywhere, with nothing more than 10 seconds worth of knob fiddling. Plug and play !
Neo 18
Sooo, earlier in the year I was deeply embroiled in a heated 32 page text with Mark at BNA and Jonathan at Reiner Amplification. I think the topic of discussion was Ginger or Mary Ann. Somehow, the topic of discussion turned to cabinets. Specifically, the days of yore and the Cerwin Vega 18, which led to talking about how sloooooooow 18’s responded. This early conversation likely planted the seed for Mark and Jonathan. They convinced themselves (hold my beer and watch this) that with today’s technology, beefy 18 tone could be captured, shedding its former bad habits. Frankly I tuned out to the nerd talk. I wasn’t interested. If I want fat and slow, I’ll look in the mirror.
It was interesting to observe the design discussions and process. I won’t go in to details because first, I don’t know what I can and can’t share, and second, I didn’t understand half the jibber jabber.
Fast forward a couple of months. I was whining about having sound problems with both my cabs. We had installed a new wall at the church and all of the sudden, my beloved DuallyT was just too much of a great thing. Mark suggested that I move to my smaller cab. Frankly, that idea failed to blow my dress up. While I love my little cab as a tool, far too often I found myself in a Texas grudge match while EQ ing. The mids were driving me nuts. Didn’t matter which bass or head I used, from time to time I found myself fiddling with EQ for the entire gig. And that pushed me to a point where I only used the cab if I absolutely had to.
Mark ran me down a couple days later and asked me if I would do him a favor. He had 2 Neo 18 prototypes that had already been briefly road tested by him. One ported and one sealed. Since I was having woes with stage sound, he asked me to test the sealed Neo. He felt it would potentially resolve both of my issues. I think the other issue here is he wanted someone that spends a lot of time on the low B in an unrelated genre to test it and offer some objective commentary on what worked for the cabinet and where it needed to be shored up. Finally, he told me that if it sounded like crap, just tell him so.
Testing
The cab arrived a few days later and I took it straight to rehearsal. Overall size was a bit bigger than the 115, but obviously much smaller than the behemoth DuallyT. Cab dims are approximately 27 ¼ x 21 x 14 ½ inches. Pretty lean for an 18. I never have weighed it but I can say that in spite of having side handles, I just grab it by the top strap.
Pulled the front cover to take a look. At first glance, it looked like an 18 with 2 juicers. I was told later that the juicers actually were mids.
One of the things I love about CC/Praise is how demanding it is. Not from an arrangement standpoint but from an execution perspective. Huge swings in dynamics. Everything from whisper thumbing and chokes to beating on the low B like it owes you money. Quite a contrast from bar band loud or louder.
The other issue is that I find myself all over neck. The old saying about there being no money above the 7th fret does not apply to Praise. I think it’s because those cutsie keyboard players do much of the writing and arrangements and want to show everyone what a real bass line sounds like. Anyway, there are no lonely fret positions.
I fired it up using the Genz 900 Streamie and off I went. By the second verse, I was cautiously in love. Nice and chunky. I could hear all the nuances of what I was playing without having to keenly focus on listening. Great balance. Warm mids (not overly so) and crisp clear highs with no danger of cutting anyone’s head off. In spite of a full band with 3 guitar players and a heavy handed drummer, every note jumped out, without having to pound everyone with my stage volume. Tone for me lands somewhere between a miniature version of the DuallyT and an F215.
The most surprising thing to me about the cabinet is how fast it is. While I don’t play at 220 BPM, I have had to play some pretty quick slap stuff, in addition to some short quick fills that make me sweat bullets every time I have to play them. I have yet to make this cab stutter or otherwise mud up tone. I’ts pretty shocking to get this kind of response out of an 18.
Thus far, I have more than 50 play dates and gigs on it, but less than 100. Volume has ranged from a 93 dB cap to drive it like I stole it at outdoor country club volumes with no FoH. Amplification is always the Streamie or my glorious Reiner 6SL7. While I spend much of my time on the Super J5, I played a number of Fender P’s, a Fender Jazz, my Grove 51P, A Rocklin Trop 5 banger, and a NXT upright. Thanks to other bass players, I have also heard a Carvin 5 string and a Music Man Sterling. The cabinet responded with the idiosyncracies/personality of each of these instruments. None of the basses failed to sound fantastic through the Neo 18.
While this cabinet takes me from Tomlin to Sabbath without missing a beat, it may offer the most value to those that need to move fluidly back and forth between strap-on and upright. If you’re looking for more meat in a smaller package while protecting your clack, this cabinet will likely be your new best friend.
I like this cabinet so much that I ditched my 15 (the third best cabinet that I have ever heard), and am having Mark build me one. Further, I can’t help but think about moving to a single solution by buying a pair of these and then dragging one or both with me, depending on space and volume requirements.
Old habits die hard. This won’t be the cabinet for everyone. That said, if you’re looking for more out of a smaller cab and are someone willing to ignore history, you’ll want to give this a listen.
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At low to medium volume, the sealed and ported versions sound more similar than different (though I prefer sealed). At higher volumes the sealed cab really shines, IMO
