Al Krow

Interesting you found the F112 lacking mid punch. It has both a dedicated mid speaker and, if anything, a reputation for being strong in the mids. But not all marriages work and clearly this cab was not meant to be for you and your wooden stages! It's very happy to have come home 😊

Ah I now get what you're saying i.e. it's a venue specific frequency that was causing the boominess. Absent a sound engineer who can have a listen whilst the band is playing live, and adjust on the fly taking account the number of 'bodies' in the audience etc., I don't know an easy fix other than a bit of trial and error and remembering what worked / didn't for the next time you're there.

@Dood - thanks Dan, excellent & helpful post. FWIW I've rarely found that boosting bass works when playing live, if anything I'm usually doing the opposite on either an active bass or amp EQ: cutting the bass a touch and typically giving the mids a nudge at 250 Hz (the latter more so with BF cabs than my Fearless F112). The one exception will be for slap bass where a mid cut / treble boost is more likely to be the order of the day. Gotcha "ponk" = "anti-clank" 😁

@dave_bass5you mentioned you were struggling with low end with the F112 more than the Berg, so the offending freq's must, by definition, be at the lower end? What am I missing here? You can obviously start cutting low end at whatever starting point you want with a variable HPF eg you can start at 80Hz with a 4 string to tighten things up (or 60 Hz with a 5 string) ie you don't need to just focus on the low end crud which something like a Thumpinator deals with, which cuts steeply from 28Hz. @NancyJohnson have you just introduced a whole new term "ponky"? 😁

Classic case for using a decent HPF to get the most out of that excellent cab?

Always a mistake to venture south! And even more risky to the wallet if you're heading back via Mark at Bass Direct. My two most expensive basses at the time I bought them were entirely his fault 😁 My recommendation of Bergs was borne out of the fact that the Berg CN212 I had (and which now adorns Dave's mantle piece) was right at the top of the cabs I have had in terms of articulation, power handling and tone. It's obviously not a 112, but I can only imagine that the quality of Berg 112 cabs will be entirely comparable. The only thing that has held me back from going down the Berg 112 route was their power handling - I would have wanted / needed to go for a pair rather than just the one and my quest has been very much for a "one stop shop" single cab solution. But you are looking to go for two 112s so they could be perfect for you. Hopefully @Dood will be along shortly to expound on the virtues of Berg 112 cabs.

Thanks Chris for clarifying that point. As I mentioned above - that's a really neat feature! And I'm already loving the fact that it's a horn and not a hissy piezzo tweeter! What might also be really helpful for other readers on this thread, and for balance, is to get your considered thoughts on your three BF cabs. It would be interesting whether you agree my broad conclusions about the SC vs BB2 with your Aguilar AG700 & Sadowsky / Mike Lull basses.

Thanks Dave. Been reflecting on this and I think the better statement is that "the best way to test a cab or rig is to gig or rehearse with it use it in the situation you're going to be playing it. So if your main / primary / most important use is going to be live, test it in a live mix (without and with earplugs!); if your main use is at home then try it out at home". My F112 is 99% used and pretty much daily(!) at home and as you said "on hearing it at home I couldn’t imagine a finer cab." My SC on the other hand has been almost entirely used at rehearsals and gigs and after 18 months I've got a very good idea of how it sounds / works in that environment. But it also makes sense that you test any bit of gear in the most demanding environment you're going to be using it in, which I totally accept may well be in live band mix, to make sure it can handle / has enough headroom for those circumstances. I appreciate that many folk only have one cab (despite having several basses!) but the point still stands. Wise.

Been a bit of a pedal board fest for me this weekend! Metro 24 board also now set up and following the same theme as the budget mini board (which is going to be first one I'll be taking out on the road) posted above i.e. centred on a multifx. Signal chain: Smoothhound-->Boss SY1 with Red Ripper in its parallel loop--> HX Effects-->SA Manta-->VT DI. One Spot CS6 underneath and own dedicated PSU for the Helix.

If that's correct, Dave, that would be doubly neat as it would leave the woofer able to focus more on the mids and lows. Win win. I actually quite like the tone with HF dial set at 8/10 or so; it really is very articulate. Not sure now why I hesitated in getting the BB2 before, perhaps based on some friendly fire which suggested that topping out at 4kHz shouldn't make much of a difference (on the SC and the ST). It noticeably does.

Bit of a shock response from the missus, just now (must be going down with a bug or something)! I explained that the BB2 edged it over the SC for me sonically, and I thought that Monsieur P le Chat was a bit mad letting it go for such a good price only having had 6 months, particularly as he'd felt it sounded a LOT closer to what he was after when paired with my AO900 rather than his Ashdown, so actually it's his head he needs looking at? Mentioned I'd had my SC for 18 months 'cos it's easily the lightest decent cab out there. She asked "if that's the case, why was I thinking about selling it then?" Hmmm...she's got a point...it is still the perfect "grab'n'go" cab. @Merton I think you've just replaced your SC, what's taken its place and you glad you made the move?

My privilege to start Ian's (aka @Pirellithecat) feedback thread. Ian sold me his BF BB2 today, having very kindly delivered it to my door and allowed me the opportunity to try it out before buying. It was in the mint condition he'd promised it would be (and it's a great cab). Ian is a proper gent and the whole transaction went very smoothly, as well as finding time (of course!) to chew the cud on bass gear and music. No hesitation in recommending Ian to my fellow BC'ers - deal with in complete confidence. Cheers, Bas

But would you take more than one bass to a gig? Shouldn't take you too long to dial in the right setting for each bass pre gig, if you're only taking out one bass at a time? Although if you had @bassfan's B|Amp you could just set it all up as presets! Ah yes - a horn not a tweeter - my turn for an error in my mini review above! Actually that's a ton better and explains why I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of hiss with the treble dialled up and the high freq set to max on the BB2.

@krispn definitely not any form of dig at you at all, my friend (on this occasion 😁)! More of a challenge to the "orthodoxy" that's all too often heard on bass gear forums, including this one. But don't get me wrong, I totally respect folk who gig their gear! And playing live with my bandmates is my passion. But assuming that is the only "proper" enjoyment / pleasure / fun that folk can get from their kit is IMO small minded and disparaging of the many who are not in a band. Creativity comes in many guises!

Barefaced Super Compact vs BB2 Interesting you mentioned on the 'best D class thread' possibly thinking of pairing your AO900 with the BF SC, Paul, it's exactly what I have been doing for the past 6 months or so (and with a DG M900 for a year before that). It's not a bad pairing at all and the SC has outlasted several other cabs that tonally stole a march on it because it such an easy carry at 21 lbs. But for me it definitely met its nemesis today in the shape of its big brother, the BB2, which I very nearly went for 3 years back but ended up with VK 210 MNT instead. Well I've come full circle. I had a very pleasant time with the seller, Ian (aka @Pirellithecat), who kindly bought his cab right to my door all the way from "up North" a chunk of which involved A/Bing the SC with the BB2 via an AO900 set clean and a Yammy BB1025 on the full spread of its P/J settings. Conclusion: they are clearly sibling cabs but the BB2 is more musical sounding vs a flatter / slightly harsher tone from the SC which tops out at 4kHz. The BB2, unlike the SC, has a tweeter horn that provides welcome additional colour to the top end without being 'hissy' or unduly bright. The BB2 is a little bigger depth wise and is 7 lbs heavier than my silver grille SC, but still very portable. The flatter / slightly harsher tone I've had from my SC has recently made me think about getting a tonally richer amp to pair it with ('cos frankly my Mesa M6 makes pretty much most cabs sound good!) I know others have "solved" the same point by pairing their BF SC with a BF Super Midget, but as a one cab solution the BB2 seems to tick a lot of boxes. I suspect the AO900 /BB2 combo will be a pairing, for live use, that I'm going to be very happy with. [Aside: we were in full agreement about having the benefit of some of our best gear for home use: like me he plays far more at home than live with his band and we agreed that the nuances of great bass tone are much harder to discern in a full band mix with ear plugs in! I'm gonna continue battling the snobbery that I often hear on BC from guys that "if you don't gig it, it's pointless having it!" Tosh. We should all get to choose how we enjoy our own gear without that sort of bollox being regularly spouted. Here's a glass raised to bedroom bassists as well as their gigging counterparts].

But surely why I invite you round, what's the point of doing that otherwise? 😁

Ok following up on the above discussion - so I've had a listen out for any annoying 'comb filtering' resulting from putting the digital B1X-4 in the LS2's loop and tried it with the 15 or so patches I've got set up. Conclusion: - if there was any 'comb filtering' it was barely noticeable (by me anyway!) and completely swamped by the effects themselves. The benefit of being able to blend in clean to preserve both (i) authentic bass tone and (ii) low end, particularly on the drive patches, was immediately obvious. => very happy with the set up and no hesitation in recommending folk doing something similar with their Zoom multifx.

Where's this PSU been all my life?! Slots comfortably below a "flat" pedal board. Delivers 1.9A vs my Trutone 1Spot CS6 1.6A vs former Ciocks DC5 0.9A. I mention those two 'cos they are two very good PSUs which can also work well under a flat board. It provides two 500mA outputs with variable 9V/12V/18V which are the most common alternatives AND costs much less than either the 1Spot or Ciocks!

You can never have too much fat valve on any bass thread!

You're turning into a right digital diva aren't you? .😂 You'll be singing the praises of your HX Effects next!

+1 ^^ for the DG AO900 Still discovering new nuances of this versatile amp. It's not a cheap amp though!

Wow that list has been kept up to date for a decade! Impressed! Well my two Tech 21 pedals are both analogue and not on the invert phase list so on my other larger board, which is also going to be centred around a multi fx (I think you're getting a bit of theme from me here!), having the Red Ripper fuzz in the Boss SY-1 loop to keep a clean synth sound in the chain should be just fine.

Cheers Gents - thanks for taking the time to post the above, appreciated! Well the board is set up and ready to go so I'll be having a play and be listening out, although the dirt I've got set up e.g. the Rat Tail is anything but subtle! There is a broader point here about parallel loops more generally, right? Loads of us are doing that without any concerns. From what dB is saying, it seems to me that this is only going to be an issue when digital pedals are in the loop of another pedal, it should be a non issue if a digital pedal has an analogue pedal in its loop?

True. But very easy to dial the clean signal right down if that ever becomes an issue for a particular fx patch: remember the LS2 offers independent volume control for both clean and fx, so you can still go fully wet by simply doing that. Or alternatively just have the LS2 set to output 'A' only. Comb filtering is going to be a non issue for dirt though, right? And plenty of folk throughout history (or at least since the invention of the LS2 decades back!) have been blending clean with their dirt to preserve low end, albeit mostly with analogue dirt pedals. On a separate note, the comb filtering effect doesn't seem a million miles off what folk are deliberately trying to do when they bi-amp? So it could actually be a good thing?! But I'll have to have a listen to see if I can actually hear occurring in the first place. I suspect it will be most noticeable on pitch shifting (which I absolutely won't be doing on the Zoom anyway) and octave down, when the additional latency should also be relatively obvious.