Leaderboard

Well. Since 1999 I’ve wanted one. And after a lot of back and forth (think we’ve joked about me having this bass off Paul for about 3 years...) This is coming to me this week. And I didn’t have to sell the white jazz. The only other bass I desire is a Wal Mk1and that ain’t happening 😂

Here it is mate. 5 minutes ago! I won’t hijack the post anymore.

That's because, in Mr Read's world at least, it's ok to be a racist xenophobic bigot but not ok to be gay.

I really like my One10 cabs. Great sound. They do suffer from the tolex peel. Does that annoy me? Yes, it does, a little. I never had that issue with Berg cabs. but for my taste the One10 sounds a lot better. Can I be arsed to complain or send them back or anything for what is a cosmetic issue I have experienced on other cabs (not Berg)? No. Will it make me not buy another 10inch series cab - don't know. Haven't given it any thought as so far the pair of cabs have dealt with everything I need them to. Will it stop me looking at a Supertwin or similar - no because they are covered differently IIRC. The only "build quality" issue I have is the tolex and that is a cosmetic quality issue rather than construction or performance. I'm not aware of other build quality issues. Do I want BF to change their processes? Of course - we all get gear lust by looks as well as specs and there's no doubt a peeling bit of tolex looks stinky poo next to a shiny Berg or Vanderklay cab, and those issues need to be fixed before any high end bass shops will stock BF next to other expensive brands. I suspect BF have managed to avoid that sort of direct comparison because they sell direct - otherwise the pressure from retailers would be immense - if a curious customer won't try them in a shop because the other brands next to it then it doesn't matter how good they sound as the customer will never find out. Or worse the customer will take it home and then bring it back for a refund. That is a dead easy way to ruin a reputation no matter how good it sounds. I bought mine blind because for me the most important issue was weight - so I bought one and was amazed by the weight and then was thrilled when the sound was what I wanted too. For my taste the 10 inch series are the best sounding cabs out there. I also think they look great - when the tolex is stuck down properly. High end does not need to be flashy like the berg pretend carbon fibre look, but it does need to look well finished. The tolex application on mine is not as good as my £170 Jet City guitar cab. I wonder if the 10 inch cabs should just be painted like the original ones. End the problem overnight?

I don’t understand this attitude at all. This is an open forum where people come for advice and information of possible new gear purchases. The OP is clearly in love with his gear. I’m sure no one has any issues with that. However, this is a brand with more complaints about build quality, fit and finish than any other I’ve ever come across. This is a simple statement of fact, it’s not an ‘opinion’ just something that is well-documented both on this forum and others. Whenever anyone reports these simple facts it seems owners of the brand’s products feel the need to somehow defend them as if it’s not important that things peel away, parts chip and break and bits drop off as if it’s a personal attack on their brand choice.

They do say that getting a record banned is very lucrative.... I look forward to releasing our new single 'Doing the Queen up the 'arris, while the ghost of Princess Di tickles my plums with a phantom feather' next week.

Barefaced bass speaker cabinets have been around for over a decade now and, although more people know about them than ever before, they are nowhere near as well known as the more mainstream manufacturers. You may very well be reading this and wondering who I am to be writing this. The honest answer is, I’m nobody special. I’m an ordinary bloke who plays bass in some bands, I’m not a signed artist, in a touring band, in a band of any great popularity and I’m certainly not endorsed by anybody. I wanted to write this because, to be honest, I thought it might be helpful for anybody who wants an opinion, not only about the cabs and BF’s customer service, but also to read about my experience. I should say here that I’m only talking about the bass cabs, I’m not a guitarist and have absolutely no experience or knowledge regarding the new BF guitar cabs, which is why I’m speaking purely from a position of my own experience. So how did I hear about Barefaced cabs and what made me take the plunge? Like many musicians out there I was becoming more and more fed up with having to lift, drag and carry large and heavy gear. I’m also blind and although I’m more than happy to manhandle my gear, it often ends up being another member of the band or a roadie loading the cars etc. Since losing my sight I’ve always been very conscious of this and over time strove to make my gear lighter and easier to manage, in particular the cabs. I’ve been playing bass for just over twentythree years now and, like thousands of musicians around the world, I have always sold or traded in unwanted gear to help fund new purchases. The cabs I’ve used over the years are a good example of this. My first serious gigging rig was a Peavey 2x12 combo and a Hughes and Kettner 1x15 and man they were heavy, the combo in particular was a nightmare if you didn’t pick it up at exactly the right angle. Over time a moved to using an amp head and cabs, which of course made things lighter. It was at this point I found Gallien Kruger amps and fell in love with the 1001RB head which I used for several years before switching to a 1001RB II for the increased head room and power. This was an important time for me as it’s where the biggest changes in my cab set up took place. For the first few years I ran a GK Backline 4x10 and a GK Backline 1x15 with my original 1001RB head. Once I’d invested the money in the head my budget was limited for the cabs, so I went with what I could afford and that matched reasonably well with the head. After a few years I wanted better quality cabs that were smaller (the Backline cabs were massive). I got a really good trade in deal with the Backline cabs for a GK RBH4x10 and a GK RBH2x10. These new cabs were actually slightly heavier than the Backlines but they were infinitely better for sound, were very well matched for the 1001RB II head and were physically quite a bit smaller than the Backlines, which of course made them easier for moving and loading. It was once I had these cabs that I started noticing in practical terms how much easier having a smaller footprint on the stage made the logistics of playing gigs, particularly in small to medium venues with limited stage space. I appreciate that nearly every bass player reading this will have gone through a similar moment of realisation, I mention it here simply because it was the physical practicality of it which really hit home. It was around this time that I basically decided that any cabs I were to buy in the future would always be lighter and physically smaller than their predecessors where possible, and all without the loss of any sound quality etc. Fast forward a few years and I was switching to a GK 1001RB II head and was thinking about switching cabs again. By this time I was playing in a 7 piece rock covers band and a 4 piece metal band. I needed plenty of volume for both but stage footprint was also starting to become increasingly important, particularly in the rock covers band. By the time we had a drum kit, bass rig, 2 guitar rigs, keyboards, all the musicians and 2 vocalists on the stage, we were almost needing to sit on each other’s shoulders! So, I ended up going with a 4 ohm GK Neo 4x10 which allowed me to run the 1001RB II head to its full potential for larger gigs and a GK MBE 2x12 as my small gig cab. Both were great cabs in their own ways. The Neo 4x10 sounded awesome but was quite big and reasonably heavy, although not as big and heavy as any other 4x10 I had previously owned. The MBE was light enough to be carried easily, was only about 20” wide and was loud enough but I did always miss the sound of the 4x10. I must have had these cabs and been gigging with them for a year or so before I stumbled across something about Barefaced speaker cabinets online. Apparently BF cabs were compact, ridiculously light, ridiculously loud and their sound quality was fantastic; the only downside was that they were expensive. Any musician who is reading this will know exactly what I’m talking about as I describe that I read everything I could about this awesome new gear, fantasising about owning one but at the same time knowing that there was no way I could afford it and anyway, the stuff I had was okay. Yet over time I read more and more about it and my mind started working over scenarios where I could sell this, trade that or sell a kidney to raise the funds. Ultimately I decided that I really wanted a Barefaced cab as, from what I’d read, I believed that I could have the small stage footprint and lightweight portability but still have the clarity, punch and bone crunching volume that I required. It took me a couple of years to work up to getting my first BF cab and I don’t mind telling you, I was really quite nervous about it. The reality was the the cabs I was using were actually very good and I was about to need to sell them to get one Barefaced cab purely based on what I had read online, all without ever having even tried one out. I must have read through the entire Barefaced website about twenty times before I finally emailed them to ask for their advice. I was relatively sure I knew which cab would be best suited to me, I had narrowed it down to two possibilities, but I really wanted to get their input as I didn’t want to drop all that money on something only to find that it wasn’t right for me. As it turned out, of the two cabs I’d narrowed it down to, Alex from BF actually recommended that the cheaper of the two would be a better match for me. That cab was a SuperTwin and holy cow was I in for a surprise! So, the cab......any good? Before I even start talking about sound, I want to talk about build quality. I had read that there were some quality issues with carrying handles and rubber feet coming off which did concern me a bit initially. I soon realised on investigating further, that those issues were happening in the first and sometimes second generation cabs and that BF had made design tweaks and/or hardware changes which eliminated those issues for the newer third generation cabs. The SuperTwin is a third generation cab so naturally my concerns went away. There were, and still are in fact, some reports of the covering peeling away from some of the 10” models, but I understand that BF have managed to sort this out now. Not only that, but they will send out repair kits to people who encounter that issue. I have never owned a 10” model so can’t really comment on that at all. What I can say is that the build quality of the 12” models is fantastic. They are incredibly well put together, tidy, compact, incredibly stiff and incredibly light. The SuperTwin has tilt back wheels and a pull handle on the top so you can pull it along but also has a carry handle on each side. It’s actually very easy to manoeuvre with the wheels anyway but even if you need to carry it up stairs, it’s so light it’s perfectly possible for one person to lift it. No need for two people to each take an end of a massive heavy 4x10 any more, brilliant! I now also have a BigBaby2, which is a 1x12 cab and it is awesome. The stage footprint is only about 19” wide and it’s so light I can pick it up with one hand, I can literally have my amp head in its bag over one shoulder, my bass in a gig bag over the other shoulder and the BB2 in one hand if I want or need to travel light, it’s just brilliant. It’s clear to me that Barefaced put a great amount of craftsmanship and pride into their cabs and rightly so. Not only that, I’m 100% certain that if something were to go wrong with one of my cabs and I were to contact BF, they would either send me a repair kit (if it were something I could do myself) or would take the cab back and fix it as long as I hadn’t done something stupid like playing through it under water or something. Bringing the thunder. When you read through the Barefaced website there’s a ton of information about the science of the cabs, hints and tips about how to get the best from your cab, technical information aplenty etc. To be honest, it’s all rather a lot to take in initially but, what immediately impressed me was how much useful and practical stuff was available. They talk about frequency response, power handling, dispersion etc and they are all terms we are, if not familiar with, will at least be aware of. Naturally I was very interested in the physical size and weight of any BF cab I was thinking about buying but then I found myself thinking more about things like clarity and dispersion and how getting what, on the face of it, would be a smaller cab with less speaker area to move air, might affect those factors. Like most bass players out there, I not only wanted my bass to be heard by the audience but I also wanted to hear it clearly myself. My GK cabs, the 4x10 in particular, were actually very good and could certainly move some air, but I did used to find that at high volumes I would start to lose clarity on the deep lows and being a 5 string player, I felt this was quite important. The first thing that struck me when I plugged the SuperTwin in for the first time was how incredibly clear the sound was. I actually ended up adjusting the EQ on my amp a fair amount to dial in the tone I wanted. This was because the EQ settings I had used with my old cabs really needed to compensate for their shortcomings, the SuperTwin however was much more responsive to pretty minimal EQ tweaks. I really felt like I was hearing my playing and my bass properly for the first time and it was clear, loud and punchy as hell. This was reinforced by our drummer who, at the first rehearsal I used the BF at, said something like, “Holy stinky poo man, I can hear every note you’re playing!”. What I hadn’t really appreciated at that point was that the dispersion qualities of the cab were making a huge difference, not only to what I could hear, but what the rest of the band and by extension, the rest of the room/venue were hearing. When I asked him about it, the drummer said that he had always been able to hear the bass, feel the rumble etc before but he couldn’t really hear the actual notes I was playing, but with the BF he still got the rumble but could hear the notes cutting through. I think the thing that impressed me the most however, was that even when playing loud heavy rock/metal and playing down on the E and B strings, the Barefaced never farted out, never lost any clarity and showed no signs of being anywhere near its limit, all in a smart lightweight package that I could easily carry and that took up way less stage space than any other cab I had ever owned. I also didn’t seem to need to push my amp as hard to get the sound and volume I wanted/needed, which I felt could only be a good thing. Shortly after getting the SuperTwin I had the opportunity to buy a pre owned BB2. I honestly couldn’t believe my luck, particularly as the guy selling it had it from new and had only owned it a couple of months. He was selling it as he couldn’t get on with the fact that he could hear absolutely every nuance of his playing. It perhaps should be acknowledged that not everybody wants absolute transparency from their cab, some players like a more coloured tone. That’s what makes us all different though; imagine how dull music would be if we all sounded the same. I was ecstatic with my SuperTwin but it’d be fair to say that the BB2 absolutely blew me away. It’s only just over half the size of a SuperTwin, can easily be picked up and carried with one hand, has a single 12” driver, can handle up to 800 watts of power (it’s an 8 ohm cab) and has a fully adjustable tweeter crossover built into it. As I don’t really use tweeters I did wonder if I shouldn’t bother to buy the BB2 but ultimately decided to go ahead as it seemed too good an opportunity to miss. Man, am I glad I did! Several weeks later I was reading the information on the BF website and saw that it was perfectly possible to use the BB2 (and the SuperMidget in fact) as a high quality PA speaker by turning the crossover all the way up. Needless to say, I had to try it. Well, I can tell you that it absolutely can and it sounds killer. I tried it with music running through a mixer, with my playing bass along with the music through the mixer, guitar, bass, electric drums and vocals through a mixer and it all sounded crystal clear, with no hint of it farting out and that was with only one BB2. I imagine with 2 you would have a PA set up for practically every situation. The BB2 quickly became my go-to cab, not because the SuperTwin wasn’t amazing, it was, it is the best cab I have ever played through for consistancy of tone and volume, but the BB2, particularly in small to medium venues could do the same and it was practically half the size and two thirds the weight, plus it has the flexibility of being used as a PA speaker when needed. Ultimately I decided to sell my SuperTwin, the truth was that I had only used it for 4 gigs and 1 rehearsal in the year that I owned it. In contrast, I used the BB2 for every rehearsal and all but 2 gigs since getting it. I think I would have kept the SuperTwin if I were in a bigger band which played more medium to large gigs rather than the small to medium gigs I mostly play, but it’s gone to a good home and I know that it’ll deliver no matter what it is used for in the future. I now play through a DarkGlass AO900 head and I think it’s worth mentioning that, both the SuperTwin and the BB2 handle distortion with ease and sound great. If you like those DarkGlass tones I’d be very surprised if you were disappointed with the sound you got from a Barefaced 12” model. I’d buy that for a dollar (10 points if you get the movie reference). You often hear things like, “Barefaced are good but they’re bloody expensive” or “I’m not sure the expense is worth the returns”. Obviously the perception of value is completely subjective and almost everybody is going to have a different opinion, so I’m not going to say categorically that Barefaced cabs are worth the money and everybody should have one. At the end of the day we all have different criteria as to what constitutes the best cab for us, different music tastes, different playing styles, different budgets and or course different expectations. So all I’m going to do is tell you what I think and feel about my BF cabs based on my own experience. Yes, they are expensive. However, when both new, the SuperTwin (2x12) was approximately £300 more than the GK Neo 4x10 and all things considered, I would choose the SuperTwin over the GK if I had the funds. Although very good, the GKs sound quality wasn’t as good as the SuperTwin, particularly at high volume, the clarity all the way through from deep lows up to high end frequencies was significantly better on the SuperTwin, the dispersion was also significantly better on the SuperTwin. The SuperTwin is much lighter and easier to move and crucially, its footprint is significantly smaller. When taking all of those things into consideration, for me, the Barefaced is well worth the extra money. If I were to compare the BB2 (1x12) with my old GK MBE (2x12), the Barefaced would win every time. When new, the BB2 would be approximately £350-£400 more than the MBE. The sound quality of the BB2 out performs the MBE on every level yet with only one 12” driver, the footprint of both cabs is about the same, however, the BF is much smaller over all and can be carried in one hand, the BB2 is also lighter. The BB2 has a built in tweeter crossover and can very comfortably be used as a PA speaker, the MBE cannot. For me, the Barefaced is worth the extra money when taking all of this into account. None of that is to say that either of the GK cabs were bad, far from it, they were very good cabs, I used them for several years and both were very reliable. It was more to help communicate my thoughts regarding the value of Barefaced cabs. The one thing I haven’t talked about is the fact that all Barefaced cabs are hand made to extremely high standards by a small team of dedicated folk, they aren’t produced on a mechanical production line in a factory as many big brand speaker cabs are. The guys at Barefaced are also incredibly customer focused and always do their best for the owners of their products. Even when you purchase a cab from them it’s more like a chat with friends about gear (friends who know their subject inside and out) and their communication as not only prompt but friendly and helpful too. That, on top of the performance capability, portability and weight saving of BF cabs makes them well worth the extra cost for me. Well, that went on a bit longer than I thought it would! Thanks for reading and I hope, if you are considering buying a Barefaced cab, it has been helpful to you which ever way you are leaning.

I've been to quite a few of these shows, I think my first was in 2013 when I left with an L2k G&L. This year's wasn't the best in my experience but I really liked it, here's why: I started to play guitar last December (this time properly, or so I think :D) so to be able to also check out guitars and especially the effects, heaven! I tried a PRS through the neunaber effects, incredible stuff from neunaber, the guitar wasn't too shabby neither (although I tried a different set of effects next day with a different PRS, and it was just nowhere near as good as the previous one, no idea if it was a more budget version or what); lots of cool and crazy sounds from Walrus and Beetronics but the Shergold guitar they had there was something else, never knew about the brand, fell in love; beetronics Overhive was a damn fine stompbox too. Really liked how musicman guitars were there hooked up to an array of mooer effects, got a chance to try most of the effects and guitars, felt like a kid in a playground there. I have to say that the guitar stands seemed better prepared with headphones and readiness to just plug and play. which brings me to Chowny basses - I met Stephen years ago helping out at his first time at the show, in Olympia, was great to see him now and his extended range, and he was ready for the show: a markbass amp and headphones, I sat down and played through all of his gear couple of minutes each bass, really nice and punchy pickups in his basses, nicely put together, great finishes, thoroughly enjoyed the double humbucker one in red, good comfy neck too. opportunity to see and play stuff that unless you go to bass direct, you can't try anywhere else - to my utter despair as I can't afford it I finally had a chance to try a Vigier bass, and even though the amp was a crackly one (the guy who plugged me in was very apologetic about it) I fell in love there and then, that neck, those pickups, weight/balance, sublime. Also, tons of guitar effects (another lesson reinforced: 90% of them are sort of meh, good GAS killer, they sound sooo much better in the youtube demos :D) opportunity to speak to the makers, the builders, the sellers - once you cut through the marketing spiel, some people were utterly fun to chat with, dry humour, silly anecdotes, intriguing insight into how they came up with stuff, etc. John Patitucci - what a legend, what a nice guy, humble, funny, his duet with just a piano was jaw-droppingly awesome; he was visibly touched at the receipt of the lifetime achievement award, you'd think it wouldn't matter to him much, or that he shouldn't be too surprised, well he held back tears trying to say how grateful he was. the venue - I loved it, not only it was so much easier for me to get to it, the area around it is so much nicer than around Olympia, and Olympia always seemed a little claustrophobic, this is good, I will be gutted if it moves back to west London Ok, so what I'd like to see improved: clinics/masterclasses need to be in rooms that are not disrupted by performances in the Auditorium (John P first found it amusing, then annoying, then just gave up and laughed - really should not have happened), these could also be bigger as on Saturday (I didn't even try attending these on Sunday) not only were they packed, the aircon was not being turned on, stuffy and just downright smelly, had to leave one as was feeling nauseous; luthier/tone zone talks need to be inside rooms, geez, I tried 'attending' three different ones, just could not hear anything or focus on what was being said; more interesting/varied live line-up in the Auditorium - much as I like Ariane and Cody, their solo sets of looped tapping were just not that interesting (I still stayed, the room was air-conditioned and dark so a good rest from the noisy main hall) - another musician, preferably a drummer should be the law for auditorium bass player performances - remember that year when Trujillo was there..? (Ok, Michael Manring may be exempted from this law.) Why do people slap at the show - we will never know, it shall remain one of life's great mysteries. As much as why guitar players can't play chords or riffs all of a sudden but can shred mindlessly up and down the neck like there's no tomorrow. I will be attending the show next year, hopefully it stays in the same venue and remains a guitar and bass show.

Congratulations, lovely bass. I've never been a big Flea fan but I've always loved these basses. The sig models he's had since are rather different and imo not a patch on the Modulus. Anyone that wants a new one can get one from Modulus, just $4199 before you add options, shipping fees, import tax... It's great to get an instrument you've wanted for a long time. I was learning Dream Theater's Erotomania on my Yamaha Attitude LTD II today, having wanted one since about 2003, it was a year to the day yesterday since mine arrived in the post from Germany.

The old Modulus Flea Bass is one hell of an instrument, nice one Andy. i used to own one just like that, as well as its predecessor, the Sonic Hammer, an instrument so aggressive that I had to muzzle it. Once you've played a well set-up Flea Bass, every other bass you will play will feel like it has very high action, the quality of engineering is in a different league to any other bass I've played. To extend Ped's comment above, there are graphite necks and then there are Modulus graphite necks. Enjoy

LOL I've only been here for a few hours and already getting strong symptoms of need-to-buy-a-new-bass-asap syndrome. My wife is going to kill me. That bass Andy looks absolutely beautiful.

I'm not small, the bass case is HUGE. The tallest case I've got (for an acoustic bass)

Alice Cooper claimed he used to send Mary Whitehouse flowers as her dislike of him actually increased their exposure.

In 50 years of playing, I haven't owned an amp or a cab from any manufacturer that hasn't had peeling Tolex. Some have ended up with no Tolex left on then at all. My barefaced 2 x 10 is the only one that hasn't peeled its Tolex. Maybe I should say so far, but after 2 years it's still all in one piece.

It was a really odd gig, we setup and went into the first half of the gig and there was all of about 3 people in the pub, the 3 that were there were clearly not there for music and looked very unimpressed despite us playing really well and after each song there was dead silence, no applause at all , the atmosphere was terrible and after the first half we had a 10 minute break and we all agreed that so far it was probably the worst gig we ever did, I was not looking forward to the prospect of the 2nd half and having to play for another hour and a half. Anyway, we go back and there are now another half a dozen people there, this time the audience are fantastic, people are dancing and singing and requesting we play certain songs twice, even the few originals we threw in go down a treat, there was a lovely couple who brought all of the band a round and afterwards people are coming up to us and telling us that they really enjoyed the set. Was a complete contrast to the first half and when the gig finished I was glad that we did the gig.

Hah! Reminds me a little of the practice of 'buying indulgences', which resulted in some chap nailing his theses to a church door. But he was more of a Luther than a luthier I understand, so probably unlikely to result in similar reformation of your behaviour by Sibob 😁

I'll just leave this here...

You off to @40hz’s place? The thought crossed my mind too.

Had the plastic wig when i was 3 or 4 yrs old along with the Beatles plastic acoustic guitar. I even got my first Beatles single EP All My Loving in 63 / 64 which i still have the EP today. Afraid the wig and guitar got the worse deal and were either thrown out or damaged over the years Pretty sure i even have a pic with me wearing the wig and holding the guitar. B&W pic of course. Dave

It was sad when they parted.

The Beatles may never have worn wigs but tens of thousands of people wore Beatles wigs including Brian Epstein (who probably signed the merchandising rights away for $50 bucks). Some wigs were licensed... ...while others were just straight knock-offs (below): Not all Beatle wigs were made of a hair-like substance. Some were made of moulded plastic and designed to be popped on the head like a Beatlesy helmet. Nice. Indeed, the wigs were so popular they even spawned their own spin-off board game: The Beatles' Wigs story kind of puts matters in context. There are worse things in this life than bands going out with only one surviving member.

Er hmmm. Can I just remind folk that some people are willing to pay EXTRA money for that 'crapped* on' look! Apparently like fake [insert anything you like] it adds that elusive "mojo" and makes your audience regard you as some sort of minor god.

Prepare yourself for “portrait of Cuzzie”

I’ve used both. I used to string my “smooth jazz/Fusion” basses with steels but nowadays just prefer the nickels on everything. Still super bright but more warmth and thickness in the mids for me. Nickel has just always been my sound despite my departures and attempts to prove otherwise!

Saw a multi band thingy in the back garden of The Brasenose during Cropredy festival a few years back. Spent some time hanging out with the sound guy (I was trying to find out how you got on the bill at The Brasenose during the festival): he did really well for everyone and was clearly trying to make everyone sound good, but for the main band he had everything worked out. He'd engineered for them before, and had pre-planned motorised settings on his desk for every song, including variations in sound for choruses, solos, etc. etc. and as he knew their set he rode the desk and paid strict attention throughout. Apparently he worked with them at a lot of their gigs. It wasn't that the sound was bad at all for the other bands, it was just much much better for the main act (if that makes sense).

🍻

Should we be putting gear reviews, especially ones so detailed in to the reviews forum so they don’t get immediately lost in the Amps & Cabs discussion? (Which has a high turn over of posts)

Been on 45-105 Super Bright Nickels for ages now. Love the sound, lower tension and feel of them. Seem to last well for me too.

But if you use headphones of IEMs other people can't enjoy your playing and admire your prowess? And if you can't be heard over the din, why not just turn it up? Surely that's what everyone else is doing...

I was literally just going to make a post doubting my barefaced, and this was near top of amps & cabs; Spooky! Glad you're enjoying your cab, man! I've always sworn my Barefaced big twin 2 was the best cab I'd ever used (albeit after getting a suspected manufacturing fault repaired after buying pre owned and the fault not becoming noticable until trying to use it with a tonehammer amp, but that's another long winded story). I've used 3 different heads through it, and currently using a TH500, I found the tone a bit lacking in areas despite what I'd read, a bit bland and smooth... Played through a pals Aguilar rig at a wedding this week using a TH500 and a pair of GS112 cabs, and the difference was staggering! The mid detail and growl was phenomenal, it had serious clout compared to my rig, and it's the exact same head! Now wondering if I've backed the wrong horse 🤔

I've had several BF cabs (tho none with Tolex), and yep the original Compact handle had an issue...the same issue I saw on one of my Berg 112s, simply down to rubber wearing... They're very light, very solid and sound like whatever you put into them (again, I'm talking about the Super series rather than the clearly-voiced 10s) and I've no need for anything else, and I haven't looked at a cab for several years now, since I sold my Bergs. Which is very unusual for me...I've had to focus the GAS on basses and amps... 😀

There was a time (about 20 years ago) when I would practice the set at least once every day I wasn't actually rehearsing or gigging. At that time the band I was in was also using a lot of high-tech equipment, so the pre-gig routine would normally be to break down everything we needed from the studio where we practiced and pack it all into flight cases. This would normally take a couple of hours on the night before the gig. Then on the day of the gig these flight cases would be loaded into the band van, driven to the venue, unloaded, set up on stage, plugged in, and ready for the sound check. With a bit of luck everything would still be working, and we wouldn't have forgotten anything important (like the floppy disc with all the MIDI files for the sequencer backing). Then after the gig we would have to break everything down and take it back to the studio, where it would be re-assembled for rehearsal the following evening (another 2 hours or so). With everything else going on making sure that I played all the right parts on my instrument was normally the least of my worries. Unsurprisingly I don't miss this in the slightest.

As said before you clearly have an axe to grind and are vocal about it here and Facebook etc. Your comments are often geared towards saying this happens in the majority of cases etc. with no reported actual figures to back up. For clarity, for it to be a majority it would have to be a significant percentage of their sales, and if you have the figures on Gen 1 vs 2 vs 3 and the frequency of issues covering the trend, whether it’s static, improving, getting worse. You could argue that if it’s improving, then they are a better company for it, even if not perfect. For example electrical manufacturers build in up to a 5% failure rate for components inside the recognised timespan of use. The fact is they have had or do have problems (no one denies this) the opinion is this is the most problematic brand out there - conjecture. Yes its an open forum, but all these issues were mentioned in the OP’s post, and he is giving a well written personal experience with a brand. If someone asks for brand X vs brand Y which shall I get, then that is the true place to get your knives out, and then others will disagree accordingly. The fact is, it’s a thread about someone expressing their joy at a product, it’s churlish to rain on a parade.

I can't believe people said the steels have a warmer tone than nickels.

"What I really need is a way to promote my videos in an almost veiled way that looks like I am saying something else.. oh, here's one of my videos."

Irrelevant how professional and successful another musician is people are entitled to their own opinions about that person good or bad and voicing that opinion if it’s negative doesn't mean you are bad mouthing them I'm sure there are musicians that you don’t particularly favour or you think are overrated etc

In the 60s and 70s you could write songs and have a hit record and take it to the bank. That bank statement was a big money motivation. That was when people had to buy music. Music is free now. What's wrong with wanting and trying to look your best. Wigs and hair pieces are and have always been used in show business. Blue

Here’s a section I’ve just written that I’ll probably add to the manual. (Formatting is better in the proper document. What do you guys think? Building your first sound Loading a pre-existing sound and playing around with the various parameters can be a very good way to learn how to manipulate sounds to your liking, but at some point you will probably want to start creating your own sounds. This next section will give you a few pointers on how to do just that. The examples assume you are creating a sound using the audio input for triggering. Connect the FI to your computer (a single cable is sufficient for this, unless you want to write your sound to the FI straightaway). Launch the Editor. Let’s start by zeroing out all the parameters so you can start from a clean slate. Using the block adjust tool in the bottom right of the Editor click Select All and Reset. Note that due to the various gain stages in the signal path you may need to raise several sliders above minimum in order to hear anything. To hear your dry instrument signal, turn up the INSTR slider in the Main Mixer. You should hear sound straight away (providing the pedal is not bypassed). To hear a sound using the synth you will first need to turn up no less than 5 volume sliders! These are as follows: At least one VCO waveform amplitude slider - e.g. VCO1 AMPLITUDE SAW; That VCO’s master volume - VCO1 AMPLITUDE VOLUME; The synth volume going into the filter - VCF INPUT SYNTH; The VCF outputs of the main mixer - MAIN MIXER VCF LIN and; MAIN MIXER VCF LOG. If you are in one of the two ADSR modes then you will also need to set the VCA envelope before a sound can be heard. To start with, set the S slider to 127 and leave all others at minimum. This gives a simple on/off gate signal when playing a note. (If you are in Vintage envelope mode then leave both the A and R sliders at minimum to achieve the same effect.) Lastly, the filter will need to be set with a sufficiently high cutoff to allow sound through. (You could set VCF TYPE to OFF to bypass it completely but for this example let’s use the filter.) Click the Vintage/New button to put the filter into New mode, set the slope to 24dB and raise the cutoff (VCF FRQ) slider to 122. You should now hear a sawtooth alongside the sound of your instrument. Lower the filter cutoff back down to 64 and you’ll hear the sound become more muted. Now raise the A and D sliders of the VCF envelope to 64. This sets an envelope shape, though you still won’t hear any difference until you apply this envelope to the filter. To do this, raise the AD/ADSR slider in the Filter section; set it to 64 for now. You should now hear a synth brass-type sound. Experiment with the positions of the A and D sliders of the envelope, the VCF FRQ slider, the AD/ADSR slider and the RESO slider to find a sound you like. If you want the filter to sustain at a cutoff level above that set by the VCF FRQ slider then raise the S slider of the VCF envelope. We recommend only using a single oscillator to start with until you have become familiar with the controls. Adding multiple oscillators adds complexity and you need to be careful with the levels if you want to avoid foldover distortion and clipping. When you are satisfied with your creation, click save to archive it to your computer. Let’s now look at creating a sound using the Distortion block. Use the block edit function to zero out all the blocks again. To hear a sound using the Distortion block you’ll need to turn up the following sliders: At least one slider in the Harmonizer Mixer section - e.g. INSTR The distortion block signal going into the filter - VCF INPUT DIST The VCF outputs of the main mixer - MAIN MIXER VCF LIN and; MAIN MIXER VCF LOG. Again, if not bypassed, the filter will need to be set with a sufficiently high cutoff to allow sound through. Let’s bypass the filter this time so set the VCF TYPE slider to OFF. At this point you should hear sound but it might be very faint. This is because the sound is being made using your instrument as opposed to the synth and the synth has a much hotter output than the instrument signal. If you recall, unity gain of the instrument input is achieved when its sliders are at 127. Turn the VCF DIST and HARM MIX INSTR sliders to 127. Now raise the DISTORTION TONE slider to 127 and you should notice a marked increase in volume. If it’s still not enough, try raising the VCF LIN and VCF LOG sliders. Now experiment with the positions of the DISTORTION GRADE and TONE sliders. You may need to back off some of the volume sliders at high GRADE settings. Now raise the HARM MIXER VOICE2 VAR slider until you hear distortion at a 5th above the original sound. Adjust the HARMONIZER TRANSPOSE VOICE2 slider to hear the different intervals. If desired, repeat the process with VOICE 3 and add in the VOICE1 slider. Experiment with different combinations, paying attention to the volumes, until you find a setting you like. You could also mix in some of your dry instrument signal using the INSTR slider in the Main Mixer. When you are satisfied with the result, click save. Hopefully you now have a better idea of how to go about creating your own sounds. Remember that you can create a sound using a mixture of the synth and the distortion blocks. If necessary, go back over the explanations given in the parameter block descriptions to acquaint yourself with what the VCO, LFO and effects slider do and experiment, again within a single VCO until you are comfortable. Don’t be afraid to try things out and let your ears be your guide. We hope that your Future Impact v3 brings you many years of joyful music-making!

Think we are getting into ‘agenda against manufacturer’ and ‘axe to grind’ territory here. The OP clearly stated in his write up about this having been a problem documented, and if people wish to search this up, there will be plenty written. Shall we not go down this line and instead contribute to this post in the manner it was written and celebrate someone clearly finding a product they have found suits them, which is a really cool thing.

You should've taken up tap dancing. You'd only have had a short drop until you hit the wash basin.

I’ve just got this from Jon . And thoroughly enjoying my first Shuker experience . its a lovely built bass and weighs only 3.7kg..

Should bands with one original member carry on? Are they any good, still making good music? I've heard plenty of bands with their full original line-up who probably shouldn't be carrying on!!

copied from @leschirons post in 'Quotes to Live by' thread heard, two nights ago, one of the greatest musical statements ever. Chatting to a Brit EUB player after his gig, I told him that I'd just started learning (he'd been playing jazz standards at the gig) and that I needed to put in a lot of work to get his level. His reply. "It's not as hard as it looks. If I have a chart with the chord changes, I usually play the root of those chords in the right place and hit any old bo ll ocks in between" I'm thinking that I could probably apply this method to every situation in life😆