Is It The Amp?

[stewblack]

After playing a thunderous set last night, through a Behringer amp cost me less than 100 quid, and having created a righteous racket in the past with amps badged from Bugera to Trace Elliot, Ashdown to Ampeg and Markbass, Orange, Eden et al, I think I've realised something rather splendid.

Regardless of the head I choose, as long as I sit it on top of my Barefaced cabs it sounds massive, articulate and wonderful. 

I even rehearsed with a full band, using nothing more than a 50 watt Joyo head the size and weight of a small box of chocolates. Through a Barefaced cab. Guess what? Sounded awesome.

It's so liberating to know that I can buy any bass head I like and it will sound not just good, but great. 

I'm sure there are other cabs out there, and that you have your own reasons to love them, but for me,when poverty comes, after everything else has been sold, I'll still have my three Barefaced cabs.

Edited March 18, 2022 by stewblack

[JapanAxe]

What was the Behringer? Just curious to know.*

 

 

 

*By which I mean I might rush out and buy one cheap before word gets out and they are on Reverb at £2k a pop.

[gjones]

I learned this fact many decades ago, when I plugged my sh*tty Carlsbro Stingray head through a Ohm 2x15 cab owned by someone else.

 

The Carlsbro head sounded awful through the Carlsbro speakers, it came with, but great through the Ohm cab (which cost a lot more than I could afford at the time).

 

Cheap amp plus expensive cab = good sound.

 

 

[stewblack]

1 hour ago, JapanAxe said:

What was the Behringer? Just curious to know.*

 

 

 

*By which I mean I might rush out and buy one cheap before word gets out and they are on Reverb at £2k a pop.

Ultrabass BVT4500H

[JapanAxe]

1 hour ago, stewblack said:

Ultrabass BVT4500H

Shampeg!

[Downunderwonder]

The corollary is a bad amp will sound extra bad to you.

3 minutes ago, JapanAxe said:

Shampeg!

I think you will be thinking of the short production run 300 tube model.

[mep]

Which BF cabs do you have?

Edited March 18, 2022 by mep

[stewblack]

2 hours ago, mep said:

Which BF cabs do you have?

I have two of the 15" (Compact?) and a 12" (Midget?) And use them in all imaginable configurations (except all of them together).

Tonight the load in is harder so I've just bought one 15 and a lightweight Bugera head. Harley Benton bass tonight, (last night was a Sandberg) and guess what? It sounds awesome.

[Downunderwonder]

2 minutes ago, stewblack said:

15" (Compact?) and a 12" (Midget?)

??? I only see 12'' and 10'' based cabs in the lineup.

[stewblack]

9 minutes ago, Downunderwonder said:

??? I only see 12'' and 10'' based cabs in the lineup.

Interesting. I bought mine 'pre-loved' and they are most definitely 15" speakers. There are Barefaced experts here will put us straight I'm sure.

Edit: 

https://barefacedbass.com/product-range/compact.htm

Edited March 18, 2022 by stewblack

[Lozz196]

They’ll be the original Compacts which were 15s. Darn fine cabs too!

[barkin]

30 minutes ago, Downunderwonder said:

??? I only see 12'' and 10'' based cabs in the lineup.

The original 1x15 Compact was discontinued when the Gen3 cabs came along.

 

Still got mine, and it ain't going anywhere.

Edited March 18, 2022 by barkin

[Dood]

6 hours ago, stewblack said:

After playing a thunderous set last night, through a Behringer amp cost me less than 100 quid, and having created a righteous racket in the past with amps badged from Bugera to Trace Elliot, Ashdown to Ampeg and Markbass, Orange, Eden et al, I think I've realised something rather splendid.

Regardless of the head I choose, as long as I sit it on top of my Barefaced cabs it sounds massive, articulate and wonderful. 

I even rehearsed with a full band, using nothing more than a 50 watt Joyo head the size and weight of a small box of chocolates. Through a Barefaced cab. Guess what? Sounded awesome.

It's so liberating to know that I can buy any bass head I like and it will sound not just good, but great. 

I'm sure there are other cabs out there, and that you have your own reasons to love them, but for me,when poverty comes, after everything else has been sold, I'll still have my three Barefaced cabs.

 

Yup, every time I've had a crap sound, it has been caused by speaker cabinets, not amps. Sure, some amps sound less girthy or not as loud, but it's always the cabinet that has ended up making the bass sound incoherent, muddy or just plain horrible. *

 

Ok, so there was an amp or two that was pretty bad in the past. 

[40hz]

Agreed, I definitely think 'tone' is impacted a lot more by the speaker cab, but there are some heads that can really add the secret sauce. Most of my modern class D heads I've had, have sounded very similar, the change in tone was bought about by changing cabs. On the flip side, when I bought my Mesa Boogie M-Pulse 600 and plugged it in, it was a whole different ball game and drastically changed my sound.

 

So, yes and a little bit no! 😂

Edited March 19, 2022 by 40hz

[Dood]

3 minutes ago, 40hz said:

Agreed, I definitely think 'tone' is impacted a lot by the speaker cab, but there are some heads that can really add the secret sauce. Most of my modern class D heads I've had, have sounded very similar, the change in tone was bought about by changing cabs On the flip side, when I bought my Mesa Boogie M-Pulse 600 and plugged it in. It was a whole different ball game and drastically changed my sound.

 

So, yes and a little bit no! 😂

 

I agree that when the choice of components in a system compliment each other, the whole is greater than the sum of it's parts. Some combinations just sound great, but still, some speakers just deserve going in the bin ha ha!

[BassAdder60]

I’m seeing this too that the cab plays a bigger part of the sound compared to the amp in many cases 

 

Now I’m using the Ampeg Preamp pedal In front of my amp which is  set flat EQ I think I could use most amps and still sound awesome!

Edited March 19, 2022 by BassAdder27

[JapanAxe]

23 hours ago, Downunderwonder said:

I think you will be thinking of the short production run 300 tube model.

 

Nope, thinking of one of these, which looks like an Ampeg SVT450H.

 

[stewblack]

1 hour ago, JapanAxe said:

 

Nope, thinking of one of these, which looks like an Ampeg SVT450H.

 

Yep. Nothing like my SVT but still sounds great. Of course it's styled like that because that's a classic look for a bass amp. It certainly informed my decision to buy it.

[Chienmortbb]

21 minutes ago, stewblack said:

Yep. Nothing like my SVT but still sounds great. Of course it's styled like that because that's a classic look for a bass amp. It certainly informed my decision to buy it.

I always thought that the SVTs looked like someone made them from bits left over from other projects. Of course looks can be deceptive, sadly in my case they are  not.

[stewblack]

9 minutes ago, Chienmortbb said:

I always thought that the SVTs looked like someone made them from bits left over from other projects. Of course looks can be deceptive, sadly in my case they are  not.

Who can say? Maybe it was, but it has now become iconic

[stewblack]

Crappy low light pic of the rig in question

As you can see the shape is very similar to the SVT, but not the controls.

Edited March 22, 2022 by stewblack