Obrienp

Bandwidth (not my idea!) did a little 45 minute support slot for the After Hours Band at Blakeney Harbour Room yesterday evening. I didn’t get off to a good start having had to do a massive detour on the way to the gig because of an accident blocking the road. I had set out with a low charge in the car (it wasn’t far) and the detour used up all my contingency, so I was worried I wouldn’t make it home afterwards. We set up on the floor in front of the stage, so as not to interfere with the main band’s set up. As ever I was pushed into a square foot right on top of my amp and I share my monitor with the drummer, so we both end up not being able to hear it 😏. We use minimum stage volume (drummer uses an electronic kit) and we all DI but we always have a struggle setting up the PA. The lead guitarist has a digital mixer, which should be great but I think the technology has defeated him and we seem to go round the same issues every time. We took about 1 1/2 hours to set up, whereas the main act was done in the time it took them to assemble the gear on stage and very impressive it was. My little Peavey Max 150 combo (running at 8 o’clock on Main) was dwarfed by their bassist’s stack of two Aguilar SL 4x10s in beautiful ivory tolex, with I think a 750 watt Tone Hammer sitting on that - sounded massive. I felt uncomfortable throughout the gig, like me and the drummer were chasing the beat, rather than setting it. Not helped by not being able to hear the guitars and keys but the punters seemed to enjoy it. We got plenty of compliments afterwards. We then managed to break down and clear our gear in less than 20 minutes, only to find After Hours didn’t start for another 25 minutes. I stayed to listen to them for an hour afterwards and they were amazing. Really tight, with excellent dual guitar work (a touch of the Wishbone Ash in parts) and fantastic bass. Worth catching if they come your way. On the good side, I made it home through the raging storm (branches flying across the road, etc), with about 5% charge left on arrival.

Thanks for the clarification. So no low pass filter on the Three10.

I would be interested to know how the crossover works with the main drivers. In the Two10, mids and highs go to one driver and bass frequencies to the other. In the Three10, is it treble to one, mids to one and bass to one? The blurb on the BF website doesn’t say.

I take your points and for many that would make it a better choice. My trouble would be lifting it in and out of the car, or up steps, without upsetting my back. The funny thing is, I can just about manage a 25 Kg kettle bell but spread that weight (or there abouts) into a big box and it becomes hard. For that reason I couldn’t consider the Four10 either. I am going to have to stick with a second Two10, if I can ever afford it. At 13 Kg for the cloth front that is a comfortable lift in, even though I would probably have to do the both in two trips.

I agree. I am sure they will have no problem selling these but at only a couple of kilos lighter than a Four10, you may as well go the full hog (if you can afford it). I was hoping it would come in around the weight of the super twin ☹️. I guess that was being over optimistic. I was thinking of going for another Two10 instead but I am sure BF have put the base price up by £100 in the last couple of days. I priced up a Two10 ST with silver cloth for £869 the other day. Now it’s £969. I was waiting to see how the Three10 came out. Oh well! Maybe it is worth having a go at the Loto!

Thanks for posting that folks. Unfortunately, too heavy for me I think. It’s heavier than a super twin. Did they put prices up across the board? I am sure the Two10 was £699 in basic trim the other day (I have been thinking about getting another for a while).

Nice! Enjoy!

I can recommend the Acinonyx “Cat” bass. I love my V1. Don’t be put off by the tone buttons: I find them great when gigging. You get an instant and consistent tone change. Of course, if you don’t like the pre-sets, then it might not be your cup of tea but from my perspective, it beats twiddling knobs. Apart from that, the pickups are great, the whole thing weighs twice nothing and it is so easy to play. Just made for surviving those 3 hour gigs IMO. I was seriously tempted to add a V2 as well but when I heard Nordstrand are working on a 5 string version, I decided to keep my powder dry. It might actually be a 5 string I can play for more than 5 minutes without hand pain (arthritis).

A hearing test I suspect ☹️.

Can you hear your Two10 when it is in landscape mode, or were you relying on your monitor? I find I have to have mine in portrait and even then I can’t hear it if space is tight and I am right on top of it. The sound seems to go passed my legs.

The trouble is they normally chose the moment when you are about to start the next set, or are trying to pack your gear up at the end of the show. Either way, they get in the way but I am sure I have been there myself, so try not to be too judgmental.

Three hour afternoon gig on Sunday at (the pink torpedo (LoL)) the C*ck in Dereham with the Checkmate Kings (blues band). As you can see from the photo, it’s very tight for space and the punters are spread across three rooms but it always turns out to be a good gig (this was our 5th in two years). We got plenty of positive feedback and the landlord was talking about getting repeat gigs every three to four months next year, which is a result. I used my BF Two10 with Mark Bass LM III (overkill for the venue really but I like the tone) and Maruszczyk Elwood 4a medium scale. I’ve got two more gigs to go this year but with two different (non-blues) bands and very little overlap in the set lists. A bit of practice is called for!

Good if the tweeter is optional. That will help keep the price down a bit for those of us who are happy with the 10CR sound. WRT weight: it’s odd but I can easily manage a couple of 17.5 Kg dumbbells down the gym but spread the 17-18 Kg into a largish box and it becomes much less manageable. However, wheels will be a definite plus in most situations, except the venues only reached by 3+ flights of narrow steps. Let’s see how it turns out when Alex releases it. I don’t think he will have any trouble selling it, so we can expect quite a lead time for orders.

Thank you, that is very interesting. I am inferring from the tilt back wheels and tweeter that: a) it’s going to be a bit heavy (for me); b) it will take up more space in a cramped gig than the a vertical Two10; c) it will be closer in price to the Four10 than Two10S, as the tweeter adds £150 to the latter. It does make me ask, why would you buy this instead of a Super Twin? I guess the answer is the more vintage voicing of the 10CR speakers but then there will be a tweeter on the Three10.

Idly looking at the “Using Multiple 10CR Cabs” advice on the Barefaced website, I noticed a section about forthcoming new variants in November 23. The 4 ohm 4x10 has arrived but the teaser regarding a Three10 hasn’t been delivered yet (you can’t order it anyway). Does anybody know more? Is there any inherent advantage/disadvantage to a 3 speaker in one cabinet configuration, or is it just that it can handle more power than a Two10 and less than a Four10? All things being equal, it sounds like an attractive proposition to me. More power handling and headroom for my 500 watt amp in a package that is still quite portable for an old fella (the Four10 is just a bit too big and heavy for me). It would be interesting to know what the form factor will be. I am kind of hoping that it will be three speakers in a tower, so that the top speaker is nearer ear level but I appreciate there might be good audio engineering reasons to have a different layout. I’m also hoping the price is going to be closer to the Two10 than the Four10! Anyway, anybody got more information?

I’m sorry I can’t provide an answer, as I had the head but I understand Orange Technical Support are very helpful. It might be worth dropping them an email.

Is it a trick of the light, or is your double-bass metal bodied? It looks like a German silver National on my screen! Surely it can’t be? It would weigh a ton!

The TMB-35? I think it is a pretty nice bass for the money. There are a few things to consider but perhaps forgivable given the price. Mine was pretty noisy when the Jazz pickup was engaged but on inspection, it turned out they had shielded the P pickup cavity (strictly speaking not really necessary) and not the Jazz pickup up cavity: weird! I did my usual copper tape shielding exercise and it was fine. Talking of pickups, the P pickup was OK but the Jazz wasn’t that great and I seem to recall it had smaller dimensions than a standard Jazz 5 string bridge pickup, so would require a little woodwork to replace with something better. The Strat style jack socket arrangement was a bit weird and not friendly for my Boss wireless system. I found the neck a bit chunky compared to other Ibbys, which is why I sold it but not everybody has arthritis in their left hand/its personal taste. Mine was a bit weighty for an SS as well but I have heard they tend to vary quite a bit. Perhaps mine was made from a denser body blank than others. I can’t remember if it neck dived. A lot of the above is fixable, if you are prepared to do a bit of work. It is also quite easy to mod (except for that J pickup). I put a Fender high mass bridge on mine for not much: not strictly necessary as the OEM was adequate. The machine heads were adequate as well but looked easily upgradable, if you want. I also rewired it with a series/parallel push/pull for the pickups, which made it sound huge.

I can think of a few short scales you can get in fretless and 5 strings but none of them are going to be in that price range; e.g. Maruszczyk, Mensinger, Nordstrand Acinonyx and various even more esoteric (and expensive) boutique basses. For that money, the answer might be to buy an Ibanez TMB35, or SRMD 205 Mezzo and defret it.

Ah! That explains a lot. I thought it was very obvious he was looking frequently because he was turning the bass up so the neck faced him. Perhaps this created the impression that he was looking more than normal (whatever normal might be). In my defence, it wasn’t just me thinking this: a number of my non-playing friends and relies asked me why he was looking at the guitar “so much” in this way.

I can see the Harley Benton has decent machine heads, which would be a definite plus for me and also increases the range of strings that will fit. I love the way these basses sound but I just couldn’t get on with mine because of the way the neck is fitted to the body. I didn’t need to use it for that many songs and when I swapped to it from a standard short scale, I was always playing two frets too high, which meant I had to look at the neck constantly to avoid making mistakes. If you watch Sir Paul’s Glasto performance, he was constantly looking down to see where he was on it and he has been playing his for more years than I have had hot dinners! I guess it is less of a problem if you play it exclusively but he was playing so many different instruments…….

Yep. They are awkward to set up. I gave up and let my local luthier set it up for me. I am wondering if you have a high fret that is causing that buzz? If you bought it new, it might just be easier to return it and start again with a replacement that hopefully doesn’t have issues? I’m not sure violin basses are ever going to give you a very low action and they tend to lend themselves to flats IMO but there is no reason why it shouldn’t be possible to get a reasonable player with rounds.

Back in the club after a little absence with this SRMD200 Mezzo medium scale. This is the sixth Ibanez bass I have owned. I bought this one off BC and it is in fantastic, almost new condition for a very reasonable price. My initial impressions are that it plays very nicely but in common with most Ibby basses I have played, it is a bit too bright. There are also some signs of it being made to a price point, like the finishing (or lack of it) of the end of the fretboard. However, this doesn’t affect playability and unlike some of the Ibby Premiums, it has decent metal control knobs (not those horrible plastic things that look as if they came off a toothpaste tube). All the frets seem to be well set and finished. I don’t know whether the previous owner had to dress them, or whether it was like this out of the box but I’m not complaining. The machine heads seem pretty good and the bridge is adequate, if not as solid looking as the one that comes on the more expensive SRs. The pre-amp is very hot and seems a little crude on first acquaintance. Also there is no passive switch, so if the battery goes the bass is dead. It’s not a quick release battery box (you have to undo a couple of screws and lever the battery out), so be sure it is fresh before a gig! I also imagine that there can’t have been a lot of budget for the pickups, although the P seems alright, the Jazz isn’t great. I was prepared to rip the electrics out when I bought it and replace with a decent P/J set and passive pots. However, I had a set of flats that came on my Maruszczyk Elwood medium scale (bought secondhand but I imagine they are Maruszczyk’s own) and I gave them a try. They seem to have cured the harsh brightness and I have discovered that a light hand on the preamp controls will produce a nice solid P-bass thump without causing the speakers to fart. You still need that pad on your amp but I think the flats have given the standard electrics a reprieve for now. I am still thinking about installing a passive switch though. I have to say I am very pleased with the Mezzo. It plays like a dream and is pretty light. For the price of a set of flats and some careful use of the EQ, it’s possible to get a decent P-Bass tone. The Jazz pickup is a bit weak though but I’m not too bothered about that. It’s a very reasonable medium scale for modest money and would make a great mod platform, if you don’t mind throwing a bit more cash at it. There are so few medium scale basses on the market and most of them seem to cost serious money. In fact, the only similarly priced medium scales I can think of are the Squier Jaguars, which are nice basses but suffer from appalling neck dive, whereas the Mezzo balances well on a strap. Sorry about the rubbish photo.