Ander87

Had a chance to deal with Alain for one of my Limelight basses. Top bloke and great communications, serious buyer. He had good patience and made every reasonable effort to meet and sort since I caught covid and had to delay the meeting because of this. Deal with @ead in confidence! Ander.

Happy for you @haimesy, welcome to the club. I've 3 Limelight P basses with jazz necks, and loving them badly! I have nonetheless realised I am good enough with 2 and not 3 so I'm letting go on the white one as I upgraded my rig to a barefaced Big Baby II with an Eich T-900 (BLOOOOODY HELL WHAT A CAB UPGRADE!!) Having said that I don't think I'll be able to ever part with my charcoal frost with flats (I want to do the whole Sean Hurley conversion with mute and all) or my custom spec'd purple/gold bass on rounds. Both on Nordys, both quite different, both a pure joy to play. I've been, like you, on a journey from Stingrays to Sadowsky J's to headless ibanez, sandbergs, alphers.... I think these Limelights are the most reasonably priced basses I have, and best bang for buck - back into passive territory, the only bass I remember often before my Limelight era is an Alpher Mako with J pickups, passive - that was the first bass that made me realise you don't always need active when you have good dynamics on the pickups and a solid constructed bass.

Hey mate!! I got in touch with the Creamery but for one reason or another I didn't notice much pull from them in terms of advise - was promised an invoice and an order but after 3/4 emails I admittedly let it go cold and sourced for other options. I tried the Lollar in the interim thanks to a BC'er here and found it to be a bit 'to contained' - very correct pickup and nicely balanced, but I prefer the cut of my Nordys so I went for the NP4V. Bear in mind I already have the Nordy Blade and the NP4A (the punchy, loud out version), so a vintage one would do me good. Sold the BKP '58 and got the NP4V which I really like - similar, very similar character to the BKP '58 as based on a '57/58 thing, but less boomy and more balanced. Funny enough, I'm selling my 3rd P bass and keeping the NP4A and the Blade, so I'll be posting the NP4V on sale soon, still have it boxed and all but oh well. Hope that helps? happy to answer any more questions! Best, Ander.

Bought a Barefaced Big Baby II from Matt. He approached me on my ask for cabs to offer a BT2 initially, and gave great advise and answered a lot of PMs as I was doubting between this BB2and a larger BT2. Relaxed and not pushed for the pricier cab, top bloke to deal with and would recommend again without a doubt! cab in perfect condition as stated. Best, Ander

... Well! I just got home with my Barefaced Big Baby 2 gen 3. The cover is amazing and the amp is built beautifully. Plugged it in and damn.... it does sound so. much. Love it. I will share more detail but in combination with the Eich is all I could've wanted I think! Well.... that's one out of two isn't it? Ander.

You do have a very, very fair point, to which I say...: 1. I think we, as a whole and generally, are aprehensive to have a ´big gig´where our gear doesn´t perform 2. We also hope that we will have huge gigs were we have a full stack of sonic blast behind us 3. Whilst the two first points are more ´just love for gear´, the realistic and valid point is that often, the bigger the concert: The stage is bigger, I use my rig as reference to hear / monitor myself, and rely on it more than the actual PA/monitor More dispersion and more factors will affect your tone... You´ll have the PA and whatnot but I´d always want to hear myself properly if that makes sense? ie. if open air the sound will be travelling in more directions and so on... I think so many times our fears and ´needing bigger gear´ can well be unfunded, but I wouldn´t totally discard it. Your rig is often very good monitor for your bandmates too if you´re short of monitors around the stage too... I do think just the BB2 will do me good for all I am realistically planning to do with it, but I´ll admit I´m teased to have 2x BB2´s same as I haven´t deleted fully from my mind the thought of the BT2... Ander.

Thank you for this Mudpup! Yep, I think my heart wanted/wants the Big Twin II but the brain wants the Big Baby II. I was very averse to going modular but like I've read in posts about this conversation, it is good to turn up to a knife fight with a gun (BB2), but not a bazooka (BT2)...! And when the time is right I can add another one for large gigs and outdoor festivals... ... venues don't always let me use my DG210N especially for short sets as opener etc, it'd fosters me off massively to not be able to use the BT2 just because it's bigger yet - throwing more money at it and depending on house gear... Nobody would go against me using the BB2 being a tad smaller than the Darkglass. I was also concerned about projection - whilst I'm sure the BT2 has better projection, I need to remember the BB2 is just 5cm/2" shorter than my Darkglass 2x10 and I can hear myself okay with it at 250w, I should not have a problem with my Eich's 600w on a BB2. Also the Eich makes more sense if I go modular... 1 cab and 600w for most gigs, big big ones 2 cabs and 900w...

Thank you my friend - I've been fighting the concept of 2 cabs but hey, I may just have to in the future... It does seem that for most medium sized pub gigs we have (50 to 200 folk) I should be grand with a single BB2... ... And, when the bigger gig comes, I'll consider a 2nd BB2 to essentially make a Big Twin II both tweetered... It just came to me that for a regular sized SUV, I can probably fit 2 BB2's easier than a single BT2 forcing tilting angling or potentially having to bring down seats etc... Also, well, the BB2 is on a silver cloth grill which I fancy more 🥰 although I should know that's not the biggest factor!!! I'll keep you guys posted...! Ander.

Well, to reopen the debate, update and spice things up... Turns out the seller of the Big Twin II does have a Big Baby II, both gen 3, and is happy to sell me either. This has now become one of those Big Twin II vs Big Baby II threads, welcome! I have used the search button extensibly and I know I'll have the answer once I try them both end of this week, but thoughts are more than welcome! I've read from folk that have had a play with a BB2 in a hangar with no PA, but I guess the pros are: 1. Portability (a BB2 will fit so easily on my car, easier than my current DG210n!) 2. Being so small I won't have trouble in using it for every gig as opposed to the 'use the house amp, your amp is too big' situations... 3. Weight is less important in that I drive 90% of the times I'm bringing a cab... but yes, we're looking at 22kg vs 12kg (cloth version BB2 vs grill BT2); it will be handy in one way or another, my bandmates won't need to help me load/unload and I won't have to pass by the venue to unload before looking for a parking spot... Cons... 1. Of course it won't look as deadly as the BT2 which offers cons to the portability and usability mentioned before ('oh, sorry, too big an amp, use the house amp') 2. How's the dispersion of a 1x12? Especially against my experience with 2x10s... I know Barefaced mention the BB2 competes with 2x12s and 4x10s which sounds plenty especially as I'd be shooting 600w vs 250w, but it is still a 1x12... I wouldn't want to hear myself less than a 2x10 being that low/little? With my amp I'd be running the BB2 @ 8ohm, 600w, or BT2 @ 4ohm, 900w... This is coming from a 500w amp @ 8ohm hence 250w out of the 2x10 cab where I would at most reach 5/10 volume... I of course do not want to discard the BT2, I'm drooling for an authoritative stack like that and the confidence that I won't be ever needing any other cab, but the reality is I would be using PA out of the DI in 95% of gigs, the occasional 5% without PA will be for the neosoul/Rnb stuff ala Sofar Sounds / NPR Tiny Desk, the BB2 @ 600w should warrant enough on that end without a PA... Thoughts? Best, Ander.

Hmmmm....! Yep I had a look at the data that I could understand and the articles from Barefaced... I know myself and I won't be lugging more than one 2x12, I wanted a one cab solution - I'm really playing it safe as the DG 210 is fantastic, but since I'm selling the amp thought I'd refresh the cab.... Freq range, sensibility etc seems like Barefaced beats on all ends for that...

Thank you!! I ended up going for an Eich T900. I had very good memory of it, I had it a couple years ago and loved how portable it is and super super clear and responsive - this suits me considering I'm using the HX Effects for all the colouring (effects, Ampeg/Sansamp/Darkglass drives...). I like Aguilar but had the feeling Eich would always give me a 'blanker' canvas to paint on. On that note, I love the look of those royal purple Aguilars but haven't seen even regular 2x12's second hand.... and that's a hurting £1100 cheapest I've found...! I've seen a Barefaced Big Twin II and I'll be going for it. It is a 900w behemoth at 4ohm alongside the Eich, but a 'better than FRFR' cab that I can even throw IR's through from the HX Effects - that way I can either colour or not or change my cabs setup or just use it without IR's/cabsims with the Big Twin II... after all it can even be used as a PA with that 30hz-20khz range... and I was offered it second hand which saves me a good pinch, £825 for a £1310 cab with cover.... I can't be more pleased! Now I'm just doing maths to see if I can fit it in the boot of the CX-5 comfortably alongside the bass Best, Ander.

Ooooooft!!! It’s such a beauty!

show us!!

Yep! noticed this! they have the AT212 slim on sale, pretty attractive! No porting though, and I have had a mediocre experience with too small enclosures. Not saying that's the case of GR at all, but my DB Elbee cab, 2x10, was farting out bassy notes with an ultra clean Eich T900 working at 600w / 8ohm. Even at 'slightly pushed' home volume levels, it would behave quite okay and sound nice and sweet but still, the moment you'd EQ bass/lo-mids over 2pm on the amp it's start distorting a bit... They're fantastic weight and I am shocked we live in a world where a 2x12 can rate 900w and weight 12.9kg. Tempting, very, but I think I've less likelihood to fail / more chances to success and not move/trade/deal gear back and forth with Barefaced. Or, at least for longer Best, Ander.

Hey Dan! Totally considered this actually. Having said that, I was too teased into the features and fame I’ve read about Barefaced to warrant giving them a try. Also it’s 500w at 8ohm where my amp delivers 600w. I’m 95% it’d be more than fine but I guess I want to play it safe and not feel like I’m overwhelming the cab on the long run. I think I’m too intrigued by the praise received by the BF BT2 to ignore this chance, Thinking about it I could always downgrade to a super twin or other amps. things I would’ve wanted to try or consider, the matching Eich 1210 and bergantinos essentially… but a good deal on a Big Twin is something I better not miss on…! Will report on it once I pull the trigger. Best, Ander.

I would first think whether you want a clean sound to colour over with effects/pedals, or to the contrary get a ‘coloured’ amp. if you get a coloured amp and add pedals and distortions etc to it it may happen that you find it too overcoloured so to speak. my take, and going to the point, if you want a coloured amp, Aguilar has great quality. Also Darkglass comes with an awful lot of options and bells and whistles. (I’m selling the newest one/sold out in warranty but that’s another talk I guess 😉). if you want a solid canvas, clean with lots of headroom… Eich T500 should do you well. I got the T900 again just a couple days ago and it’s my reference for that kind of sound. Best, Ander.

I assumed so and typed along that…!