New Cab Day, and a new logo, and maybe a need for a new amp

[fretmeister]

My new Barefaced One10 has been delivered.

 

I've had a pair of them before but during the lockdown I got bored / lockdown psychosis and sold them and bought a Super Twin instead - you know, for the house  

 

I didn't own them before at the same time so I'm quite looking forward to trying them out with identical EQ settings to see how much of a difference there is. I do really like my Super Twin but I like it with different amplifiers to those I used with the pair of One10. I also use an external EQ (Boss EQ-200) with the Super Twin to make it sound a bit more old school. My only amp at the moment is a Tech21 VTbass 500. It's a lovely sounding amp but the EQ is quite limited, particularly in the mids. It's a 3 band EQ with a choice of 500hz or 1K for the mids. There is also a character knob. It sounds good on it's own, but with the EQ-200 I can get it sounding great, and thanks to Helix Bass patch guru Jon Willis I have an EQ curve designed to approximate the good old Ampeg 8x10.

 

The amps I used all the time with the One10 stack last time were a Mark Bass Little Marcus Gold Line and a Darkglass MT900 - both sold in lockdown as well so now I'm wondering if I will miss those. I sold them partly to fund the Super Twin so I never really got the chance to use those amps in anger with it. I am wondering if another amp with more extensive EQ options will be a better choice for the Super Twin - 5 band or more. Might be heading back to Mark Bass, or maybe an Ashdown ABM with that 9 band EQ.

 

I am also curious as to whether the VT500 will be a bit too old school with an old school cab, or will it be a perfect fit and won't need the external EQ to get the sound I want.

 

Still - it will be fun finding out!

 

 

And the logo - I had only seen the new Barefaced logo in photos and I wasn't really a fan. But for whatever reason it looks much better in the flesh. I expected to want to remove it, but it looks great.

 

Here it is, next to it's big brother

 

 

Edited December 13, 2021 by fretmeister

[JapanAxe]

I have a One 10 and a Super Twin and I do end up EQing them differently with the same head - for me the Super Twin needs more mids but less bass.

[Merton]

Pics! Need pics!

[MacDaddy]

[fretmeister]

Done!

[MacDaddy]

The logo probably weighs as much as the speaker 🤣

[fretmeister]

I really need one of those safe cab switcher units so I can footswitch between the 2 cabs safely without blowing the amp.

That would be excellent for A/B comparison.

 

As expected I am really liking the cab although I am definitely missing the Mark Bass amp. After Xmas I'll have to start saving up I think. The Andrew Gouche model should be out then and that looks like a great option EQ wise. I'll have to try and find a shop that has both that and the Marcus models to compare them.

 

Might have to open up the chest of unused pedals and see what I can sell to raise some money.

[fretmeister]

Had a very enjoyable 2 hours starting from scratch with my amp and both cabs. Bit of a faff powering down and swapping cabs, but great fun nonetheless.

 

I had been running the VTBass 500 with the character at about 1 o clock, a bit of clean blend etc. 

Instead I went fully left on the character which is supposed to be SVT. No blend.

 

for the One10 I set the mids at 1Khz and cut them to 9 o clock, bass boosted at a little over 2 o clock, treble at 3.30 ish. Bright switch in.

 

Then had a good play until the sound was installed in my head and swapped to the Super Twin.

The low end was stupid for that cab but when I cut the bass to about 10 o clock the lows were controlled and the sound of the 2 cabs was surprisingly similar. Tweaking the treble control on my bass got that even closer. Full up for the ST, and centred on the One10. The One10 has a higher range than the ST.

 

I expect that the mids might have to go up a bit when in a big band mix but I won’t find that out until January now.

 

The SVT setting has a massive low end that I hadn’t used before, but after tweaking the EQ for a while I think it might be my favourite for at least today!

[Cuzzie]

I have both cabs too, each has their place, and yes EQ settings may vary slightly but part of it is getting your ‘ear’ in on them - you ge used to one, and then to another - but overall - great problems to have!

[fretmeister]

Definitely! I'm really learning the Character control too. I hadn't really done much with it. It makes such a massive change that I had pretty much just left it where it was rather than having to re-eq all the time.

 

If only it had a compressor in it I could leave my board at home most of the time.

 

@Tech21NYC When you update the VTBass 500 - put a good compressor in it! That would be very useful.