alexclaber

I'm not convinced it's a great way to go. For starters there's the whole issue of how when you put bass cabs in close proximity the whole is greater than the sum of the parts (due to coupling), whilst when splitting the cabs you not only lose the good coupling but you also encounter destructive interference at certain frequencies. Most small cabs are unlikely to provide quality thump on their own, plus more output near the mics is never a good thing for the FOH sound. And you couldn't control the monitor cab with a passive volume knob, you'd need to run a dual channel power amp. I'm used to standing way away from my rig whilst singing but I've always tended to use BIG rigs, or at least high output ones. Obviously the closer you stand the more thump you feel. But if you have plenty of output that thump shouldn't diminish too badly. If it is diminishing so badly that you can't feel the bass at all then you're fighting the room's acoustics and/or the rig is too small for the gig. Once the gig gets to the size where there is no hope of your stage rig being felt when you're at the mic then there should really be enough FOH subwoofer output bleeding back to give you the thump you need, even if there's no bass coming through the monitors.

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='894616' date='Jul 14 2010, 12:41 PM']I've always found 8x10s to be rubbish, pretty much blame them for the clanky rubbish metal tone that is so prevalent. Comparative lows to Aguilar GS412?[/quote] Same ballpark in terms of the sensitivity and roll off, though the GS412 should have the slight edge on one front or the other because it's bigger. Max LF SPL of the Dubster will be usefully higher.

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='894328' date='Jul 14 2010, 12:52 AM']Is this part saying its not for ridiculous sub detuning contrabass action, more of a really beefy in the lows you hear for sensitivity purposes? The Big one/sub is still the one for mad low end, but will need the juice? Would this be totally awesome with my big valve Matamp Slave, which I am fairly sure was made to power an oldschool dub rig?[/quote] Yes, kind of, probably! It'll handle super-detuned tone just fine, just as an 8x10" will, but it won't reproduce the lowest content as accurately as something designed explicitly to go lower. But if you're in a LOUD context and looking to run dirty+clean rigs or similar then a higher sensitivity cab that produces more bass in general at the expense of deep bass extension makes more sense.

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='893696' date='Jul 13 2010, 01:38 PM']This is a 2x15 big sub roughly then?[/quote] Not really. Different alignment and design goals. [quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='893696' date='Jul 13 2010, 01:38 PM']Pair up nicely with a high passed driven guitar rig?[/quote] Yes, I suspect it would. That's another niche then!

[quote name='EBS_freak' post='893590' date='Jul 13 2010, 11:59 AM']Interesting. Could make for an awesome miced up bass drum reinforcement too...[/quote] Could be dangerously awesome! Between that and guitars through some Mesa Dual Rectifiers the bassist would be relegated to the Jason Newsted on 'And Justice For All' position of might as well have stayed at home...

I think this could go down rather well with a very specific niche of bass players - reggae, rocksteady, ska and dub bassists. These sounds have always been close to my heart and were one of the key drivers in designing the original Barefaced model, the Big One. However if you're a dedicated dubstyle player you don't need the extra top of the Big One and you probably don't have a massive amp to drive it, and you're not going to be going below low B and many of you won't be going below low E. So what we have in the works is a reasonably compact 2x15" (same width and depth as the Big One but about 6" taller) which is tuned for maximum fatness in the lows and can handle absolutely tons of power but doesn't need much power to get loud. It won't go above about 1.5kHz but that doesn't matter if you're dedicated to the cause of riddim. In the region where it matters it has similar sensitivity to an Ampeg 8x10" but it can handle ten times the power before farting out (the voice coils will be thorougly melted if you put that much in for more than a short burst but you get the point). The 4 ohm load and doubled cone area makes it much easier to drive than the Big One (~6dB greater voltage sensitivity) whilst the rolled off highs make amp clipping much less obvious so you can get away with even less power because you won't hear bad noises when you run out of juice. If you currently use two top quality 4x10"s pushed with 600W (the max the best neo ones can handle before compressing/distorting in the lows) then one Dubster will match that SPL with 1100W. If you currently use two typical 1x15"s or a typical 2x15" the Dubster will be equally loud and fat with the same power but will handle ~four times as much power and thus go as loud as four conventional (but high quality) 15"s. However most reggae bassists will get plenty of output with a ~500W amp, even one of those tiny micro-amps. If you like HUGE deep sounds but are sick of moving a huge rig, then this is the solution. Should weigh under 50lbs, will handle 900W all day long, LF peaks up to 2800W. Peak SPL of ~135dB @ 100Hz, can continuously sustain about 130dB. Price-wise, about the same as the Vintage. NB: No treble at all. But lots of BASS!

[quote name='bigjohn' post='889132' date='Jul 7 2010, 11:47 PM']Any chance of a Super 12 going on tour Alex?[/quote] No plans to send a S12 on tour, for starters they're selling as fast as we make them!

Have we stalled? Lurkers, help this decision happen this month!

I have to second the Jack 210 suggestion. Unless you want to spend quite a while learning about how to design a cab or fancy gambling on the 'cross your fingers and hope' method then I think your time and energy is best spent using some well thought out plans by someone that knows what they're doing! Plus if you buy those plans then your carpenter is likely to nail it (no pun intended) right first time with little or no input from anyone techy. I'd expect a Jack 210 with DeltaLite II 2510s to outperform all three cabs you've referenced, though you'll probably have to rethink your EQing before you find your preferred tone.

I'd expect the sender to pay postage to keep things simple. However last time round almost all the exchanges went hand-to-hand so hardly any postage was involved. By the way, you can have a second Speakon added at the build stage but very few people have opted for that. I prefer not to daisy chain cabs because it only takes one poor connection to kill the sound from your rig, plus daisy chaining also opens the possibilities of series wiring to solve impedance problems but that opens another can of worms if done with dissimilar cabs.

Compact has left! Included is a sample badge for deksawyer, as he designed it, and a couple of Auralex blocks for tilting/isolating the cab. Please keep all the packaging (flat-pack the box and stick the corners in a bag so they don't get lost) and pass it onto the next user in case it has to be couriered between two tourees (tourettes?) Expect it to reach its Scottish destination tomorrow.

...isn't it, didn't they, jumpers for goalposts? I set up an account for us Barefaced people a while back but have distinctly failed to tweet anything. However lots of change is happening right now and that should mean there is some time to publish our ponderings... Hopefully it'll be a useful feed of snippets of information about bass playing, speakers, acoustics, and maybe something about our own products amongst all that! [url="http://twitter.com/barefacedbass"]http://twitter.com/barefacedbass[/url]

[quote name='Alien' post='874985' date='Jun 23 2010, 12:00 AM']I'd be more worried about the grille frame covering 2 sides of the port and reducing it's cross section at the mouth.[/quote] Well spotted! I can't see any way of getting a strong enough frame in place that won't block the port to a significant degree.

At higher SPL I'd expect the cloth to marginally restrict the air flow but I don't think it'll cause chuffing, it think it'll slightly compress the low frequency response. What's the driver, what's the port tuned to? If the port is a half decent size for the driver Vd then although the difference will be measurable it probably won't be easily audible.

In all likelihood this should be heading out next week!

Everyone, expect the Midget T to be departing in early July. It seems that lots of people have suddenly twigged that it's something quite special and we have thus had a burst of orders, which have to come first. We don't normally put two Speakons on unless you specifically request it (less than 2% have) but we will for this example.

First to fifty?

[quote name='ShergoldSnickers' post='862955' date='Jun 10 2010, 09:30 AM']... that's it - geodesic bass cabs as per Barnes Wallis! [/quote] Buckminster Fuller I believe!

I just wanted to say that I think this is practically a work of genius - seriously inspired thinking, nice one John! Well written review too Andrew, kudos all round!

I doubt you'll ever totally get rid of the smell. On the upside I doubt you'll notice it in most typical rehearsal rooms or pubs!

108 votes cast, 4 main runners. How long before we see a winner emerging? Vote, vote, vote!

Good work Mr M.Ste!

We need more votes! I wonder if we could crosslink to the other sub-forums to get a wider sample of voters?

You'll need to brace 12mm. Decent 18mm on a box that small will be fine unbraced but I'd still consider bracing it.

Just to update y'all, we've had a sudden flurry of orders so this is on the backburner until they're sorted!