alexclaber

[quote name='Al Krow' timestamp='1509706073' post='3401001'] With due respect Alex, I think that's rubbish. Adding a preamp pedal to a signal chain can and does increase volume or I've gone completely deaf (which I haven't), provided the cabs can handle the extra power and there is no way that two of your BF BB2s won't be able to, right? A power amp is boosting (literally 'amplifying') whatever signal it is receiving and whether it be by replacing underpowered pots on your bass or boosting the signal via a preamp the power amp can only boost the signal that it is fed to it in the first place. [/quote] With all due respect, I don't think you understand what's going on. If the TH500 is very poorly designed then it may not be able to provide enough gain to raise the voltage of a quiet bass signal to the max voltage its power amp can put out. But it isn't poorly designed - like all Aguilar amps it is a good amp and should be able to raise the voltage of all but the most oddly quiet bass to the point that its power amp clips. And these are not quiet basses, they're good basses and they're already running through a Sadowsky outboard preamp.

[quote name='Al Krow' timestamp='1509651581' post='3400649']I took the OP to simply mean 'lack of volume' rather than strictly 'headroom'. If he did mean 'headroom' then I take your point Alex, otherwise I stick by mine with one key word changed: [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]If the lack of [s]headroom[/s] volume is just on a few tracks that require slap, then rather than replace your (quality) amp I'd have thought that a pre-amp / EQ pedal could work i) to give you additional signal boost, and ii) brighten up your EQ a touch for slap, and you could just change settings on the pedal for the slap tracks?[/font][/color][/quote] It doesn't matter whether he meant headroom or volume - the point remains that you can't just add some signal boost in the preamp and make your rig magically louder. If that was the case we could all use tiny rigs! If his rig is lacking either headroom or volume (and turning up the master volume doesn't help) then adding boost earlier in the chain won't do anything for him.

So did you borrow the Big Baby 2 demo cab to try it on some gigs?

Now if you played a recorded slap line through that same rig, it would go crazy loud because the post-processing has taken the peaks under control in a good way.

[quote name='mrtcat' timestamp='1509633228' post='3400475']Can't quite imagine how loud your stage must be if 2 x BB2's and a decent 500w amp aren't giving you enough just for monitoring.[/quote] The thing about slap bass is that the loudest peaks can be a huge amount louder than the average level - 20dB, 30dB etc - particularly if your pickups are set quite high relative to the line between the last fret and the saddles. Pre-Barefaced I used to clip a 2kW power amp fairly often when slapping if I didn't use any compression.

[quote name='Al Krow' timestamp='1509629667' post='3400426']If the lack of headroom is just on a few tracks that require slap, then rather than replace your (quality) amp I'd have thought that a pre-amp / EQ pedal could work i) to give you additional signal boost, and ii) brighten up your EQ a touch for slap[/quote] Boosting the signal would reduce the headroom more and exacerbate the problem. The two options are an amp with more power or some outboard limiting/compression/soft clipping to control the dynamics and reduce the magnitude of the signal peaks when slapping. If the TH500 into the BB2s is clipping then the TE rig will also be clipping but in a way you prefer.

[quote name='kasbridge' timestamp='1509557348' post='3399913'] Thx guys - my setup is purely for stage sound - the foh is DI from the amp which is set flat as my Sadowsky NYC provides a nice sound on its own. I know that some amps/speaker combos are just not optimal so good to hear mine is not wide of the mark - still got a 1x15-2x10-horn TE setup which blows it away though at least in terms of warmth and drive..... [/quote] Warmth and drive are both forms of colouration (i.e. distortion). We put a huge amount of work into making the Big Baby 2 have as little colouration as possible, so it gives a very accurate (and LOUD) reproduction of the tone coming out of your amp (that's created by your hands, bass, FX and amp). Warmth and drive are both great characteristics of certain bass sounds, so if you're not getting them from the BB2s you need to look at what you're putting into them. With the right gear before them they will sound just as good (or better than) then the TE setup, whilst playing significantly louder and having much more consistent tone around the venue.

I appreciate you're trying to gather information to help you choose the best possible rig but what really matters is the combination of: 1. You 2a. Your bass (2b. Your FX) 3. The amp 4. The cab 5. Your bands, their rehearsals, studio sessions and gigs 6. You You might notice that 'you' is in there twice. That's because it's twice as important! It's about how you approach your playing and how you execute it AND about what you want to hear. Sometimes Ashdown heads are about as good as it gets. Sometimes they're almost the worst possible. I could be talking about the exact same head in both cases, it's just the player, the scenario and the other gear is different.

[quote name='Paul S' timestamp='1507554617' post='3386288']Rather than the cab being the issue I would say perhaps it is the amp that is letting the side down?[/quote] This is what I keep saying! ;-) It's only a Puma 500...

Yes but do those graphs actually represent a realistic situation? What happens when you compare one cab on the floor vs two cabs stacked on the floor, with the mic located variously at the bassist's ear position, the band mates' ears positions and the audience's too? If all you care about is the tone that you hear and don't need to fill the room with sound (and don't really want to hear your sound in the context of the room) then yes, one speaker running within its limits and pointing directly at your head (and with all room boundaries well away) will give you more even response than two. But figure in what happens in the room for everyone, especially a bassist who isn't eight inches tall (that's about how low on-axis is for a single One10), and things are very different. We low pass filter one driver on the Two10 (and continue that with its bigger siblings) because they're side by side. Vertically stacked drivers combine well in the real world - there's a reason line-array PA systems are so popular!

[quote name='stevie' timestamp='1507206806' post='3383910']Sorry, but you don't get more output across the whole sonic spectrum.[/quote] Except you do. Leave all the knobs in the same place, plug a second cab in and twice the power flows due to the halving of impedance, so you get more output across the whole spectrum. And with the cabs stacked vertically most of the inevitable cancellations are not problematic (anything you lose through narrowing of the vertical pattern tends to be offset by the benefits of the increased stack height).

I'd just plug in and play. As long as it isn't distorting then it'll be fine.

I used to do a regular jam night in Whitechapel where the "bass rig" was often a Burman 2x12" 100W all-valve guitar combo. It sounded awesome with my fretless bass despite the lack of true lows (I wasn't having to battle with rock guitarists so the absence of thunder wasn't a problem).

Yep, whenever you add a second matching cab you get more output across the whole sonic spectrum (no surprise) but they couple at lower frequencies so you get even more in those frequencies. If you want to hear how this happens and you have a hi-fi with stereo speakers, pick one speaker up and move it right next to the other speaker (so they couple at lower frequencies). Hear how the sound changes? Basically it gets fatter!

[quote name='Jus Lukin' timestamp='1507124305' post='3383478'] A valid concern. Alex, is there anything you can do to make the cabs a bit heavier please?! [/quote] Yes, we put feet on the side as well as the base. If you're stacking more than two, or you're on board a ship, stack them on their side. The sideways orientation will activate the HyperGravity module, preventing wobbles.

How do I embed a video?

[quote name='fretmeister' timestamp='1507115749' post='3383379'] If you are that tall would it not be easier to cut a hole in the stage? [/quote] Or stand three feet further forwards! ;-) [url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpNDM_t5Bag"]http://www.youtube....h?v=lpNDM_t5Bag[/url]

[quote name='Jus Lukin' timestamp='1507114888' post='3383364']Would you say there are any considerations if I were to run a [Super] Midget atop a BB2? Presumably lining up the fronts of the cabs is important regardless, and I will have to account for the different power going to each cab. But they're both basically flat response aren't they? Shouldn't that mean they just match right up, except for [i]potentially[/i] extended low end response from the larger cab?[/quote] They work together very well - you don't need to line the fronts up but if you run them in parallel then if they're lined up you'll get a flat dispersion pattern whilst with the top cab pushed back you'll get a slightly upwards tilted pattern. Can be useful to experiment with.

[quote name='shug' timestamp='1506866224' post='3381597'] Hey, well, ya gotta respect a fellah who works Sundays! I'm sure a lot has changed in 7 years and there's a learning curve going on for all of us. I would be real interested in trying one of your cabs, particularly the big ones! Do you think they'd be equal to the rigours of the road? Without a flightcase (which would be kind of antithetical to the point of the whole lightweight thing)?[/quote] At a guess I'd say at least a third of our customers are either pros or busy semi-pros - Barefaced cabs get gigged a lot, that's what they're made for! And the only person I know who has his flightcased is Timmy C with Prophets of Rage (but they are getting flown and trucked around the world, so everything on the tour is flightcased). Glad you're liking what we're doing!

Well it's a hell of a lot of max output available but it'll certainly work fine, whether you run them in parallel or dual amp with clean/dirty signals or similar. Personally I'd mix at line level and run in parallel unless you're using valve amps for power valve dirt. Don't biamp with a crossover though, that would be pointless. We get a lot of doublers using Super Midget + Big Baby 2 which I never anticipated but they're remarkably good together - the former thickens up the latter whilst the latter deepens the former. And as the former is literally half the size of the latter it's handy for when you're carrying a double bass and really need to minimise the size of your rig.

The old Compact or the Super Compact?

Our Two10 is a very different animal to those cabs - I wouldn't expect players liking one to be much a fan of the other (if we're talking about being really particular about tone as opposed to being like "yes! this is loud, light and sounds like a proper bass cab that's bigger than it is.") If you want a high accuracy full-range ported 2x10" with tweeter type cab from Barefaced then that's what the Big Baby 2 is.

Lots of things have changed since 2010, when there was just one person at Barefaced and it was run out of my garage in my spare time, not least of which that we no longer use: [quote name='shug' timestamp='1506860830' post='3381540']...off the shelf drivers...[/quote] Try another one when you get a chance! Either we're the world's best con artists or thousands of bassists all over the world have a good reason for loving their Barefaced cabs. ;-) Note that we have demo cabs available to test/borrow from the Brighton factory and The Gallery in London and hire cabs available (with or without flight cases) either now or imminently from Brighton Electric, John Henry's in London, STS in Manchester and Third Encore in Los Angeles.

[quote name='dmccombe7' timestamp='1506349774' post='3378096']The only thing i would say and its down to personal taste is that the lightweight speakers don't seem to have the same depth of tone for me. Its difficult to pinpoint exactly why that is and i've tried them with various different amps. They just seem to lack something. Maybe its down to them being too clean in comparison to my heavier cabs.[/quote] There are certainly plenty of lightweight cabs where they've compromised too much on the stiffness of the enclosure ("the first lightweight cabs without compromise" read one hilariously inaccurate advert, IIRC). And often neo speakers sound cleaner than ferrite ones (they have less distortion in the motor). And various other things. It isn't due to the weight though, it's always other factors. I don't know if you've tried any of our 10CR models but they're certainly very atypical for lightweight cabs.

Danny, I'm sure you'll love the Two10 (it isn't called the Retro anymore! ) If you're used to the 210AV cabs then I'm almost surprised you didn't find the Two10 had too much bottom end - we had one on loan for a while and I've never played through a bass cab with so little happening below 100Hz - in many ways it felt like playing through a guitar amp. I was so shocked I even measured it to make sure I wasn't mishearing! The Gallery is a great shop but your experience of testing the Super Twin confirms why I'm not a fan of testing amps and cabs in shops - it's just such a weird acoustic environment for all but the smallest rigs. I don't think we've ever heard feedback like that from bassists gigging the Super Twin - and as we sell almost everything direct we hear back from the majority of our Barefaced users, good and bad (the former vastly outweighs the latter but the latter is more informative so we like that!)