Cab Shoot Out

[bass_ferret]

Mark at BassDirect kindly laid on a 1x12 cab shoot out with his Bergatino and Genz Benz taking on my EBS. There were a few of us there completing various deals Birdy, Funkymonkey and Richardd all had a go. We also got a bit distracted with each others porn and some of Marks stock as well.

We started off with an HD350/Neo 110/Neo 112 vs GBE750/Neo 112T/Neo 112T vs Markbass LM11/Bergatino HT112/EX112. With all the amps flat the EBS needed a little tone dialled in which was a surprise - perhaps its room but more of that later. There was not a lot of difference between the EBS and GB cabs, probably cos whilst they claim to use custom components they are all based on the same drivers. The GB was a bit fuller with more bottom as expected from a bigger cab.

The Bergy had a different sound, with a smoother upper mid and top. This is probably cos its not Neo. We found the tweeters a bit splashy on the EBS and GB and turned them down, but the Bergy was as smooth as (insert rude smooth analogy here) and could be turned up all the way.

Weight wise the Bergy cabs were a bit on the lardy side and are not really a one hand carry. Although the Bergatino and GB websites say the cabs weigh the same either one or both are wrong cos the GB was much, much lighter, on a par with the EBS.

We also tried the Bergy cabs with the GB and EBS heads and they all sounded great - but different. Funny how they all claim to be transparent yet sound different. All the rigs let the sound of the bass through though - and we tried a lot of basses.

We also tried the IP112 with the EX112 to make a 1000watt rig. We used a variety of pre-amps but the Summit sounded great and my EBS Microbass II was nearly as good. This was left flat and sounded great (see comment above regarding the HD350?).

We also tried the new Markbass F1 with the Bergatino cabs - what a sound from such tiny little boxes but the weight of the Bergy cabs stops it from being a cab in one hand, gig bag in the other with the F1 in the pocket job. We ran out of time to try the F1 into the other cabs.

I was gonna take some pics of the rigs but we spent so much time mucking about there was no time.

[warwickhunt]

Nice one , cheers for that.

[poptart]

John

Thanks for coming up from the Saaff Coast, I really enjoyed meeting you and getting to try your lovely GB basses, that fretless sounded killer through the Bergys

It was a treat to have such a great collection of basses being played through some awesome compact rigs and they all sounded good!!

On paper the Neox cabs are the same as the Bergy112s, however they did seem lighter - I think they are smaller and more solid, plus I have read that the weight on the site is the shipping weight with box etc!!

With the new AE Berganto speakers coming in soon I think we could be onto a winner if they sound on Par with the HT/EX speakers IMO.

It is all food for thought.

Kind regards

Mark

[birdy]

A very pleasant way to spend a sunday afternoon :-)

All of the gear on display was top notch but I was particularly impressed with the Bergy cabs, the Genz Benz head and also the Markbass F1. I had never seen a GB bass before and they seemed absolutely fantastic, BassFerrets fretless had some jaw dropping tones coming out of it through the various rig combinations that we tried.
The EBS Gear also came out well in my opinion. I think when you get to this level of quality gear its not a case of something being better than something else its more down to what suits you personally.

Steve