Super cabs barefaced etc...210 or 12 with a GK MB 500?

[misterdistortion]

Hi,

I need some recommendations and BC wisdom please.

I'm gearing up to some medium sized outdoor festival gigs this Summer/Autumn and I'm considering chopping-in my trusty Gallien-Krueger MB210 combo for something more compact, but, without losing the GK sound and performance that I'm really happy with.

I'm thinking that a class D head and a nice, light super-cab is probably the way to go? Are there any real benefits to going down this route bearing in mind that, apart from the bulkiness, the GK MB210 has been great so far (5 years).

So far, in my sights are a GK MB500 or MB500 Fusion for the head and maybe going down the Barefaced rabbit hole and ordering a super compact or super midget 12, or, a 210.

Real-world experience of 12 vs 210 guidance would be great ladies and gentlemen... help!

Cheers,

C

[Lozz196]

The 210 has a much warmer vintage sound than the compact or midget, indeed that’s why BF call them Retro. I used a GK RB with the 210 & 410 and just couldn’t quite get that hard sharpness of the GK sound through, so I’d look at their 12s instead.

Additionally for outdoor festival gigs I’d be looking at least at a 212, although BF are quality cabs a single 112 outdoors irrespective of monitoring, well it’s asking a lot.

[JohnDaBass]

3 minutes ago, Lozz196 said:

Additionally for outdoor festival gigs I’d be looking at least at a 212, although BF are quality cabs a single 112 outdoors irrespective of monitoring, well it’s asking a lot.

+1

A couple of BF Super Compacts with a Mesa Subway D800  (or D800+) would provide a broad range of powerful tones for most outdoor or large venues. Also provides flexibility for smaller venues. The new Fender Rumble 800HD would be a slightly lower cost solution. 

[chris_b]

Are these gigs the only reason you want to upgrade? If you are playing any gig outdoors, other than your back garden, you have to DI the bass through the PA system. There are very few bass rigs out there that will fill up a whole field with great bass tone. Even a new rig will struggle on an open air gig without FOH support.

Having said that, an upgrade is easily done, as is upgrading the performance and power of your back line, but keeping the GK sound you have now? That's unlikely to happen, but do it right and you can upgrade your gear and get a better sound at the same time.

If you want to keep the GK sound then I guess a GK head is the place to start. I'd look at the MB800 because you need headroom and this will give you 500 watts into a single 8 ohm cab. I bought Barefaced cabs because they are light, loud, and have great tone. They should sound exactly like the amp you're using, but much louder. BF cabs are pretty sensitive so will put out more volume for your watts. That might be a bonus if you find your festival monitors aren't as good as you would have hoped. The other BF bonus is you can try the cab and send it back if you don't like it.

I started with 800 watts and 1 Super Compact. The next day I ordered another SC. 2 just sound fantastic. Now I'm using an SC and a Super Midget and probably sounding better than I ever have. YMMV

You have a lot of choices. Have fun finding what sounds good to you.

[misterdistortion]

19 minutes ago, chris_b said:

Are these gigs the only reason you want to upgrade? If you are playing any gig outdoors, other than your back garden, you have to DI the bass through the PA system. There are very few bass rigs out there that will fill up a whole field with great bass tone. Even a new rig will struggle on an open air gig without FOH support.

 

Oh, I should have said, the stages I'm playing will have FOH and whatever I use will be DI'd at all but the smallest venues...

50 minutes ago, Lozz196 said:

The 210 has a much warmer vintage sound than the compact or midget, indeed that’s why BF call them Retro. I used a GK RB with the 210 & 410 and just couldn’t quite get that hard sharpness of the GK sound through, so I’d look at their 12s instead.

Additionally for outdoor festival gigs I’d be looking at least at a 212, although BF are quality cabs a single 112 outdoors irrespective of monitoring, well it’s asking a lot.

The thing I like about the GK amps I've used is the lower mids that define the tone and give it a bit more of a vocal quality, especially with Jazzbass style instruments

[Lozz196]

Well the BF 12s are your guys then, imo. As they`re pretty much flat response you can dial in exactly what you want without having to counteract the baked in eq/frequency setting of a cab so what you get on stage is what FOH gets if you DI post-eq - ideal if you don`t want a generic bass tone for the band. I think Chris is pretty spot on with either two SCs or a SC/SM combination - and that little stack with an MB800 would be plenty loud enough for outdoor stage monitoring, plus being so light and portable you`d probably end up using it all at whatever gig you were playing, irrespective of size.

[casapete]

8 hours ago, chris_b said:

If you want to keep the GK sound then I guess a GK head is the place to start. I'd look at the MB800 because you need headroom and this will give you 500 watts into a single 8 ohm cab. I bought Barefaced cabs because they are light, loud, and have great tone. They should sound exactly like the amp you're using, but much louder. BF cabs are pretty sensitive so will put out more volume for your watts. That might be a bonus if you find your festival monitors aren't as good as you would have hoped. The other BF bonus is you can try the cab and send it back if you don't like it.

I started with 800 watts and 1 Super Compact. The next day I ordered another SC. 2 just sound fantastic. Now I'm using an SC and a Super Midget and probably sounding better than I ever have. YMMV

You have a lot of choices. Have fun finding what sounds good to you.

I currently use an MB800 for exactly that reason, into a BF Compact. A good combination and compromise between output and portability for me. I'd like to try the head with either another cab added on, or a BF 2x12 - Twin/Supertwin etc, but to be honest for me it would probably be overkill for most of my requirements. The benefit of having two small-ish cabs is great though - one for small gigs/rehearsals etc and then use two for bigger stuff.

[status1]

GK fusion 800 w into two Vanderkley 2-10 s not saying anything but awesome and I’ve had pretty much most that’s out there so selling my Markbass cabs,sadly, as no room in doors

[Al Krow]

55 minutes ago, status1 said:

... into two Vanderkley 2-10s not saying anything but awesome... 

+1^^ and BF are also obviously much loved.

Seems to me for your needs, you could do far worse than:

One cab solution - VK 210 LNT 4 ohms (1200W AES power handling) 

Two cab solution - BF SC x 2

Edited May 21, 2019 by Al Krow

[status1]

I’ve got the 1200 watt 8 ohm and the smaller one both awesome and a bit overkill but you can never have too much power it’s a case of knowing how to use it but I must say I’m super impressed with the GK fusion 800,not far of my 30 year old Trace Elliot that I still use

[cetera]

I'd go 2x12. Worth looking out for a used GenzBenz Neox212 cab. Less than half the cost of a Barefaced cab and the best value for money/weight/performance you can get imho.

Edited May 21, 2019 by cetera

[Cuzzie]

There are a couple of great BF Supertwin deals on BC right now-last time I looked

Being so light it’s not overkill even for smaller gigs - they will reproduce what you put in and the volume you desire

[gjones]

On 06/05/2019 at 19:18, casapete said:

I currently use an MB800 for exactly that reason, into a BF Compact. A good combination and compromise between output and portability for me. I'd like to try the head with either another cab added on, or a BF 2x12 - Twin/Supertwin etc, but to be honest for me it would probably be overkill for most of my requirements. The benefit of having two small-ish cabs is great though - one for small gigs/rehearsals etc and then use two for bigger stuff.

A good combination. I have the same - light and VERY loud.

[casapete]

3 minutes ago, gjones said:

A good combination. I have the same - light and VERY loud.

True story - last year I had a function gig at Ilkley Kings Hall with a 4 piece band. Usual line-up (guitar/keys/drums/bass) with quite a hard hitting drummer and loud keyboard player. I have both an MB800 and also an MB200, and had recently gigged the 200 on a small gig and left it in a hard case I use for both. You guessed it - turned up at the gig with the 200 by mistake. Couldn't set up straight away so went to the pub for an hour. Came back, set up as usual but didn't realise I'd brought along the smaller amp. (I know they're different in size but it was dark onstage / I'd had a beer, okay?!!) Anyway, first set went down well, then during the second set I began to notice I was getting near to losing some headroom on the amp - went to adjust it and suddenly dawned on me what had happened! The little amp had been doing really well up till then though, despite only giving out 140 watts into the 8 ohm BF Compact. Just shows how loud these amps are into efficient cabs.

[misterdistortion]

Thanks for all the input.

I bit the bullet and ordered a Barefaced Super Compact, now I need to source the head. Just missed Funkles MB 500 Fusion on here so, on with the search.

Cheers 

C 

[status1]

Stick with the mb fusion,I’ve always been a Trace or Ampeg man but this 800 w head is the nuts it’s that good I’ve even got a second hand one off eBay arriving this week as a back up to go in my rack although only the 500 w head it should do the trick

you won’t be disappointed 

[gjones]

11 hours ago, misterdistortion said:

Thanks for all the input.

I bit the bullet and ordered a Barefaced Super Compact, now I need to source the head. Just missed Funkles MB 500 Fusion on here so, on with the search.

Cheers 

C 

I have a super compact as well as a compact. The super compact is not as loud as the compact and struggled, to keep up with a loud drummer, with the MB500 through it.

I had to buy a MB800 to drive it, which seems to have done the trick.

[Mickeyboro]

I put a MarkBass LM800 through a Super Compact. Magic!

[malcolm.mcintyre]

Am I the only one concerned about the “look” of the backline, as well as the sound?

I use a Barefaced Big Twin 2, often for its appearance on a big stage, as much as the sound. As has been mentioned many times, at a big outdoor gig the PA guy is in charge of what the audience hears, so a single 12 would be fine for backline fill, but it just looks a bit weedy.

[Lozz196]

1 hour ago, malcolm.mcintyre said:

Am I the only one concerned about the “look” of the backline, as well as the sound?

Def not, I know that due to only playing gigs with FOH that a couple of 112s would be fine for my on-stage sound however I just can’t do it so have a 410 (plus a 210 for bigger gigs/stages and videos).

It might seem daft, but on the originals scene many of the punters see a band using little amps and think that they aren’t a “proper” band. If you want them to take you seriously you have to play to their conceptions, no matter that we all know that a Class D amp/Barefaced Compact for us and a Fender Champ for the guitarist is all that’s actually needed.

 

[BigRedX]

2 hours ago, malcolm.mcintyre said:

Am I the only one concerned about the “look” of the backline, as well as the sound?

 

25 minutes ago, Lozz196 said:

It might seem daft, but on the originals scene many of the punters see a band using little amps and think that they aren’t a “proper” band. If you want them to take you seriously you have to play to their conceptions, no matter that we all know that a Class D amp/Barefaced Compact for us and a Fender Champ for the guitarist is all that’s actually needed.

I'm very much into things looking good when gigging, but...

In the past I've been in bands that had so much equipment on stage (not just amp stacks, but racks full of synths and samplers) that there was hardly any room left for the musicians, and when you are hemmed in on stage it is hardly conducive to putting on a good (visual) performance.

These days when one of my bands does a "big" gig, the stage is normally already full of impressive looking rigs for the headlining band. We just set up next to these. The FRFR I'm using for the bass is practically invisible on these stages from the audience PoV so it just looks as though I' using whatever impressive looking bass rig the headliner has bought with them.

[Lozz196]

Now that’s cheating - but to be applauded!