stewblack Posted March 28, 2018 Share Posted March 28, 2018 So I bought a Mark Bass set up comprising a head and two cabs. Then, a while later, GAS got the better of me and I couldn't say no to a couple of Barefaced cabs. As Patrick O' Brian would say I was with child to try them out and promptly did so on the evening of the day upon which I'd wrested possession of them from @Happy Jack in the car park at Newbury services. They gave an incredibly detailed account of the instruments I put through them, but I did spend much of the rehearsal fiddling with the controls of the Little Mark Tube to achieve a sound I liked. No problem I thought, new gear takes time to learn. Every set up has its foibles. Last night I gazed along the mountain of amps and cabs I've accumulated over the years, and in a fit of quite astonishing laziness decided I could only be arsed to take the smallest of the BF cabs and a couple of cables and one bass. Once the folly of not taking any amplification had fully dawned on me I trotted back into the house and on nothing more than a whim I grabbed my ageing Behringer BX4500H. This cheap and cheerful head has been with me for yonks usually coming along for the ride as a back up where it has served me honourably. In fact on more than one occasion it has stepped bravely to the fore when far more illustriously named amplifiers have croaked in mid gig. Imagine my utter astonishment when the diminutive Barefaced Midget in combination with this ugly ducking of the bass amp world proceeded to produce the most astoundingly beautiful bass sound with which I have ever been associated. My singer looked up wide eyed from her seat to comment how the bottom end of the sound had passed through her chest in such a way as to make her draw breath, the clarity and smoothness of the upper frequencies had my aged yet nimble fingers dancing up the fretboard and the mid tones boxed their way cleverly through the other instruments there present as they seamlessly and fluently held together the whole in a way I'd not previously experienced. And loud. Boy oh boy. The master pot was barely off the floor and yet I filled the room with a sonic feast both voluble and delicious. The tone knobs were set to neutral, just the shape control engaged and the bass boost button depressed. I was playing a Stingray, the infamously zingy, tingy, teeth on a metal fork quality of which I have tamed by the application of some flatwound strings. It was truly bass heaven. I look froward to trying other combinations of amp and cab before flooding our for sale section with unwanted goodies but honestly I shall be extremely surprised were any of them to match up to what I heard last night. Just goes to show, don't write off a 'cheap' brand from a position of prejudice, and don't assume amp 'A' will be amazing with cabs 'B' or 'C' without trying them first. 5 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted March 28, 2018 Share Posted March 28, 2018 Quite agree, I happened on Ashdown by accident, and found that I liked the combination of my Precision & Para Driver with their amps & cabs more than anything else I`d had previously, with my ABM600/ABM1000 amps & ABM410/ABM210 cabs costing only just a bit more than the high-end speaker cab that I had before. It`s the ears that make the best decisions on gear sometimes. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leschirons Posted March 28, 2018 Share Posted March 28, 2018 Good post. I recently had a similar experience and with Mark bass head too only I, hooked it up to a battered £40 Laney Richter cab and it's probably the nicest sound I've had. I've used Eden, Genz Benz, Mark bass and Trace and although maybe my taste has changed, I love this current set up. Problem is, a couple of years ago I changed to all lightweight gear and now it's all just sitting there in the studio. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Jack Posted March 28, 2018 Share Posted March 28, 2018 Stew, this is only because I'd run in that Midget so well for you ... 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpondonBassed Posted March 29, 2018 Share Posted March 29, 2018 If you use your common sense and choose your separates in the cold light of day you can't really go wrong. It's like you have just happened upon that discovery for yourself with outstanding results. I am happy for you. I used to think that you'd get the best sound out of a Hi Fi system by buying all of the kit from the same brand. Sony had planted the notion in me when I was young. Their glossy marketing was attractive. I went to a Sony outlet. A pushy sales rep tried to sign me up for a three year finance agreement for a separates system with a patented method for linking the units! When I did the ready reckoning on his figures I found that I would've paid half again on top of the all inclusive purchase price. I had a quiet word with myself and politely told the sales rep that I would let him know. I didn't. After that, I decided that I'd build a fully capable system from separates. Most of it was second hand. The only matching I did was to see if outputs and inputs were roughly the same between connected units of equipment. No two units were from the same brand. I always built my own speaker cabs back then using new drivers and crossovers, from Oxford Street electronics shops in home built enclosures. Between that and modifying near suitable units I always had a sound system that was the envy of my house mates because I got it for beer money. In some minor respects Sony had the edge but that wasn't noticed by my peers. They had signed up with the Sony rep you see. I rarely buy new. I am just the same with my rigs. Sure, I briefly envy the new kit on the block with its matching enclosures and it's advanced features and its popular image but I am a tightwad as dictated by genes from both parents and it doesn't make my sound, such as it is, suffer one little bit. If I was earning from my playing I am sure that I'd have another quiet little word with myself though. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T-Bay Posted March 29, 2018 Share Posted March 29, 2018 Gigged my new (to me) Barefaced Midget and compact last night with my (also new to me) Orange Terror head and got a hell of a lot of compliments. Both guitarists and our drummer commented on how good they sounded. They impressed me most when I was loading in and out tbh! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Jack Posted March 29, 2018 Share Posted March 29, 2018 Ah yes ... Orange Terror bass + Barefaced Midget, my go-to rig for several years. Loved it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcnach Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 On 3/28/2018 at 18:40, stewblack said: So I bought a Mark Bass set up comprising a head and two cabs. Then, a while later, GAS got the better of me and I couldn't say no to a couple of Barefaced cabs. As Patrick O' Brian would say I was with child to try them out and promptly did so on the evening of the day upon which I'd wrested possession of them from @Happy Jack in the car park at Newbury services. They gave an incredibly detailed account of the instruments I put through them, but I did spend much of the rehearsal fiddling with the controls of the Little Mark Tube to achieve a sound I liked. No problem I thought, new gear takes time to learn. Every set up has its foibles. Last night I gazed along the mountain of amps and cabs I've accumulated over the years, and in a fit of quite astonishing laziness decided I could only be arsed to take the smallest of the BF cabs and a couple of cables and one bass. Once the folly of not taking any amplification had fully dawned on me I trotted back into the house and on nothing more than a whim I grabbed my ageing Behringer BX4500H. This cheap and cheerful head has been with me for yonks usually coming along for the ride as a back up where it has served me honourably. In fact on more than one occasion it has stepped bravely to the fore when far more illustriously named amplifiers have croaked in mid gig. Imagine my utter astonishment when the diminutive Barefaced Midget in combination with this ugly ducking of the bass amp world proceeded to produce the most astoundingly beautiful bass sound with which I have ever been associated. My singer looked up wide eyed from her seat to comment how the bottom end of the sound had passed through her chest in such a way as to make her draw breath, the clarity and smoothness of the upper frequencies had my aged yet nimble fingers dancing up the fretboard and the mid tones boxed their way cleverly through the other instruments there present as they seamlessly and fluently held together the whole in a way I'd not previously experienced. And loud. Boy oh boy. The master pot was barely off the floor and yet I filled the room with a sonic feast both voluble and delicious. The tone knobs were set to neutral, just the shape control engaged and the bass boost button depressed. I was playing a Stingray, the infamously zingy, tingy, teeth on a metal fork quality of which I have tamed by the application of some flatwound strings. It was truly bass heaven. I look froward to trying other combinations of amp and cab before flooding our for sale section with unwanted goodies but honestly I shall be extremely surprised were any of them to match up to what I heard last night. Just goes to show, don't write off a 'cheap' brand from a position of prejudice, and don't assume amp 'A' will be amazing with cabs 'B' or 'C' without trying them first. I had one of those Behringer heads too. It was my first amplifier head. I always remember liking the sounds it made. I paid £100 back in 2007 for that and a Behringer 210 cab, used but in great condition... apart from a noisy fan (which was only really noticeable playing at home), I thought it was great. I sold it and bought a TC RH450 which, in hindsight, was not a better amp. Yes, more bells and whistles, and small, and light, but... it didn't sound better. I should have kept that amp. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 A mate of mine had some form of Behringer amp head, coupled with one of their 410s. He put his 70s Jazz through it and it sounded amazing. Sometimes science, design and cost don`t measure up to what just sounds great.At the SE Bash a few years back we did a cab shoot out, a couple of very inexpensive Maplin PA speakers being very surprising in their performance. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muzz Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 Not exactly Behringer-levels of surprise, but an old-school/new school combination I have is fantastic: my Walkabout through my Barefaced Super Twin. The cab just delivers all the Walkabout sound, and on the upside, it goes very, very loud. I know Mesa watts vs other watts and all that, but it makes 300w more than enough to deal with a couple of 412 Marshall guitars and a shed-building drummer. And it's a verrry easy one-cab solution (40lbs and wheels? Oh, go on, then ), and with a £30 Maplin case, the amp's a breeze to carry, too. As far as backline's concerned, I'm pretty much done. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discreet Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 Behringer gets a mixed reaction generally, but I like their stuff. I've had cause to use one of their bass combos as backline on more than one occasion and they did not lack heft or articulation. Of course marketing would have you think otherwise. Best pairing I've had was a Burman 100W all-valve through two Bill Fitzmaurice J12s with Kappalites. All gone now, I'm sorry to say. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Jack Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 1 hour ago, Lozz196 said: At the SE Bash a few years back we did a cab shoot out, a couple of very inexpensive Maplin PA speakers being very surprising in their performance. I remember that well! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzyvee Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 1 hour ago, Muzz said: Not exactly Behringer-levels of surprise, but an old-school/new school combination I have is fantastic: my Walkabout through my Barefaced Super Twin. The cab just delivers all the Walkabout sound, and on the upside, it goes very, very loud. I know Mesa watts vs other watts and all that, but it makes 300w more than enough to deal with a couple of 412 Marshall guitars and a shed-building drummer. And it's a verrry easy one-cab solution (40lbs and wheels? Oh, go on, then ), and with a £30 Maplin case, the amp's a breeze to carry, too. As far as backline's concerned, I'm pretty much done. Yep for me Walkabout with Barefaced Big Twin II is an incredible match made in sonic heaven. You are right the BF Twin cab delivers in bucket loads. I did a gig with that setup last weekend and the boogie was on about 1/4 on the input and 1/4 on the master and that was filling some space sound wise. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewblack Posted March 30, 2018 Author Share Posted March 30, 2018 Think I need to keep my eyes open for a Walkabout. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzyvee Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 I'd like another for a backup. I love it, it gives me a great sound and I like really simple tone controls. Win win for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discreet Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 (edited) 8 hours ago, stewblack said: Think I need to keep my eyes open for a Walkabout. Yes, or you'll bump into something. Ha! Ha! Edited March 30, 2018 by discreet 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Jack Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 I'm really not sure that apology is sufficient, y'know. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discreet Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 53 minutes ago, Happy Jack said: I'm really not sure that apology is sufficient, y'know. Youre right, I'll remove it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeFRC Posted March 31, 2018 Share Posted March 31, 2018 17 hours ago, stewblack said: Think I need to keep my eyes open for a Walkabout. Think I need to keep my eyes open for a big twin! Is that the one with the 12 or 15 inch drivers? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewblack Posted March 31, 2018 Author Share Posted March 31, 2018 49 minutes ago, LukeFRC said: Think I need to keep my eyes open for a big twin! Is that the one with the 12 or 15 inch drivers? Look no further https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/322074-barefaced-big-twin-2-roqsolid-cover/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpondonBassed Posted March 31, 2018 Share Posted March 31, 2018 46 minutes ago, stewblack said: Look no further https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/322074-barefaced-big-twin-2-roqsolid-cover/ Cor! That's a big 'un!!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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