Barefaced or not?

[gary mac]

I went with Barefaced, after even Markbass cabs became too heavy following some surgery.  My rig was a Super Compact and Little Baby. That combo was gigged in pubs, clubs and open air festivals and to me, always sounded great.

[FJ1200]

After a lot (and I mean a lot) of research I ordered a Super Compact T with the silver cloth (shiny shiny and all retro) this morning.  I'm 61 and whilst not weak and feeble, I'm not getting any younger.  Power, weight and performance all a factor.  Plus wifey liked them and said I could have one.  Always good to have backing.  And if I need more power she says I can have another one.   I don't think she quite understands....

 

[Reggaebass]

I use the barefaced BB2 gen 3, I was a bit uncertain about getting a 12 after always having used 15s thinking i might not get enough bass, but I needn’t have worried, they are super powerful and sound great, very light too, might be worth having a look at those 

[BassAdder60]

For the money and superb performance it’s got to be LFSYS Monaco 

 

Awesome cabs and sound larger than they look 

[la bam]

I've had the compact 1x12, 2x12 and x2 210s.

 

I just didn't really get on with them. Might just be my playing style. 

 

I did lift a new markbass 4x10 a few weeks ago. Absolutely unbelievable. One hand lift for a 4x10.

 

Plenty of proper lightweight cabs out there now. 

[chris_b]

39 minutes ago, la bam said:

I've had the compact 1x12, 2x12 and x2 210s.

 

I just didn't really get on with them. Might just be my playing style. 

 

I did lift a new markbass 4x10 a few weeks ago. Absolutely unbelievable. One hand lift for a 4x10.

 

Plenty of proper lightweight cabs out there now. 

 

The issue could be your amp. Which one were you using?

 

Barefaced cabs are not coloured. What you put in is what you get out.

 

We often rely on the limitations of the cab to get our sound. An amp can sound very different when the sound isn't being altered by the cab.

[la bam]

4 hours ago, chris_b said:

 

The issue could be your amp. Which one were you using?

 

Barefaced cabs are not coloured. What you put in is what you get out.

 

We often rely on the limitations of the cab to get our sound. An amp can sound very different when the sound isn't being altered by the cab.

 

Plenty of different amps: The 210s are coloured, the sc say they're not, but if you line the range up the still all sound different with the same amp. 

 

Ashdown evo iv 600

Ashdown ctm300

Ashdown rm500

Gallien Krueger fusion 550

Gallien Krueger 800s

Bugera 300w valve

Trace v6. 

 

Plenty of preamps too. 

 

I just didn't really get that warm feel and punch or sound out of them that I did with other cabs. 

 

Surprisingly at that time I switched back to markbass lmiii with a sans amp and x2 traveller 210 cabs and it was so so much better. 

 

But everyone has different tastes and what sounds good with one person won't with another. 

Edited October 13 by la bam

[Bass Fumbler]

I use an Ashdown ABM600 through a Super Compact & it is a glorious sound. 

Admittedly it took a while to get the eq right but I think I’m there now. 
Obviously I’m not getting the full 600 watts but I certainly haven’t struggled to be heard in a five piece band. 
I moved from a Barefaced Two 10s onto the Super Compact to reduce the weight & as I found the 210 to be too thumpy with not enough growl. 
I’m well happy with the change over. 

[Chienmortbb]

8 hours ago, chris_b said:

 

The issue could be your amp. Which one were you using?

 

Barefaced cabs are not coloured. What you put in is what you get out.

 

We often rely on the limitations of the cab to get our sound. An amp can sound very different when the sound isn't being altered by the cab.

Some BF cabs have not tweeter, so by definition are coloured.

[bassbiscuits]

Briefly owned a Barefaced Big Twin 2 (I think) a couple of years ago and didn’t really get on with it at all. 
 

Yes it was unbelievably lightweight and could handle my amp (a Markbass Little Mark lll) running very very loud, but the sound just wasn’t for me - I get that they are meant as super transparent FRFR cabs but I found they lacked the bassy thump I look for in my onstage sound. 
 

Ended up with some Markbass Traveller cabs and couldn’t be happier. Still very portable and lightweight but with the familiar character of bass cabs too. 

[JapanAxe]

On 13/10/2024 at 12:30, chris_b said:

 

The issue could be your amp. Which one were you using?

 

Barefaced cabs are not coloured. What you put in is what you get out.

 

We often rely on the limitations of the cab to get our sound. An amp can sound very different when the sound isn't being altered by the cab.

I have to disagree here. The 12XN range are pretty hi-fi sounding, but the 10CR cabs have a distinct ‘vintage’ coloration to them. Go for whichever you prefer.

[PinkMohawk]

2 hours ago, JapanAxe said:

I have to disagree here. The 12XN range are pretty hi-fi sounding, but the 10CR cabs have a distinct ‘vintage’ coloration to them. Go for whichever you prefer.

To be fair, I think they're fairly upfront with their 10" cabs having a vintage vibe to them, I think that was part of their original design goal. 

 

I've only ever played through a BF once, and this was a while ago, but from what I remember, I loved the sound, I've just never been able to justify the cost. For the price of one Big Twin or similar, I'd have spent more than double what I've paid for my current cabs (Ampeg and Ashdown 8x10's)

[Downunderwonder]

4 hours ago, bassbiscuits said:

lacked the bassy thump

Sounds like you didn't cut your mids and highs enough and had too much compression going on. A full range cab requires severe EQ to make it sound vintage.

 

[bassbiscuits]

8 hours ago, Downunderwonder said:

Sounds like you didn't cut your mids and highs enough and had too much compression going on. A full range cab requires severe EQ to make it sound vintage.

 

Hmm not really no. I didn’t own a compressor until a couple of years later and have mids and highs all on flat anyway, with a flatwound P bass. 
 

Just didn’t have the right sort of sound or response I was after. Horses for courses innit.

[Dan Dare]

18 hours ago, JapanAxe said:

I have to disagree here. The 12XN range are pretty hi-fi sounding, but the 10CR cabs have a distinct ‘vintage’ coloration to them. Go for whichever you prefer.

 

True, but just to confuse things a little, a tweeterless Super Compact makes a really nice noise with a P bass strung with flats. Being, er, compact, it lacks the really extended low end of the larger 12XN cabs. I think a lot of the hi-fi nature of BF 12XN cabs is to do with that and the tweeter.

 

Really extended low end is not always a good thing in bass cabs for onstage use. A couple of years ago, I was engineering an event and one of the bass players had a Super Twin. Up close and in isolation, it sounded magnificent, but in the mix/room, the low end was just too much. I had a hell of a job persuading the bass player to roll off the bottom end. It was going down all the mic's, causing the stage to resonate and was generally a nightmare to control out front.

[JapanAxe]

1 hour ago, Dan Dare said:

 

True, but just to confuse things a little, a tweeterless Super Compact makes a really nice noise with a P bass strung with flats. Being, er, compact, it lacks the really extended low end of the larger 12XN cabs. I think a lot of the hi-fi nature of BF 12XN cabs is to do with that and the tweeter.

 

Really extended low end is not always a good thing in bass cabs for onstage use. A couple of years ago, I was engineering an event and one of the bass players had a Super Twin. Up close and in isolation, it sounded magnificent, but in the mix/room, the low end was just too much. I had a hell of a job persuading the bass player to roll off the bottom end. It was going down all the mic's, causing the stage to resonate and was generally a nightmare to control out front.

I often have to roll off some bass on the amp when playing through my Super Twin.

[PinkMohawk]

1 hour ago, Dan Dare said:

 

True, but just to confuse things a little, a tweeterless Super Compact makes a really nice noise with a P bass strung with flats. Being, er, compact, it lacks the really extended low end of the larger 12XN cabs. I think a lot of the hi-fi nature of BF 12XN cabs is to do with that and the tweeter.

 

Really extended low end is not always a good thing in bass cabs for onstage use. A couple of years ago, I was engineering an event and one of the bass players had a Super Twin. Up close and in isolation, it sounded magnificent, but in the mix/room, the low end was just too much. I had a hell of a job persuading the bass player to roll off the bottom end. It was going down all the mic's, causing the stage to resonate and was generally a nightmare to control out front.

For sure, I run HPF's on my board just to make sure that I'm not dumping loads of sub-bass all over the stage, and any time I'm behind a desk, it gets HPF'd at 30Hz. 

[Dan Dare]

1 hour ago, PinkMohawk said:

any time I'm behind a desk, it gets HPF'd at 30Hz. 

 

Same here. The issue was not the bass DI, but the kit and vocal mic's and also the fact that the stage was a hollow wooden box that acted like a resonator. Even engaging HPFs didn't solve the problem.

[Chienmortbb]

If you simulate the effects of an HPF, 40Hz or even 45Hz will not really alter your sound.

[PinkMohawk]

24 minutes ago, Dan Dare said:

 

Same here. The issue was not the bass DI, but the kit and vocal mic's and also the fact that the stage was a hollow wooden box that acted like a resonator. Even engaging HPFs didn't solve the problem.

Oh definitely, that's why I have my HPF's as my last-in-line on my board, right before it hits the DI/amp split. But yeah, I know how much of a pain hollow stages and bass cabs can be. 

[Chienmortbb]

On 08/10/2024 at 11:40, SimonK said:

I've never seen a bad review

I think you have to keep in mind that there are different voicings on Barefaced cabs, the 10s are more old school, ie boosted at 100-150Hz and some have tweeters, some do not. There is some discussion about how well BF implement the crossover/HF driver combination. So even without the different bass drivers, there are at least three different Barefaced sounds.

 

That being said, they are extremely well built and lightweight although, as with GR cabs, the thin lightweight materials used in  the construction arguably suffer from more resonances than more substantial materials. I suggest you talk to Alex at BF and chat with @stevie at LFSys. They are both knowledgeable and will probably give better advice, even than the esteemed Basschat cohort. Remember we a have our prejudices (yes even me 😇).

 

 

[Phil Starr]

If weight alone is your issue it's hard to look past the Barefaced cabs and I do like the sound of the SC. However I've also owned an LFSys Monaco which is only a little heavier and it is a better sounding cab IMO. Nowadays I put bass through the PA and so my bass amp is only ever used for monitoring so I downsized to the 10" Monza. It's loud enough to match any drummer at rehearsal. Both are a lot lighter than the 20kg of your Bergs, better sounding than the BF cabs and come with a considerable cost saving.

 

[Chienmortbb]

5 hours ago, Phil Starr said:

However I've also owned an LFSys Monaco which is only a little heavier and it is a better sounding cab IMO. Nowadays I put bass through the PA and so my bass amp is only ever used for monitoring so I downsized to the 10" Monza. It's loud enough to match any drummer at rehearsal.

I followed the same path had the Monaco and traded that for a Monza. Nice and light but I use mine for backline and is is more than man enough for any gig I have done with either of my bands. One of my bands asked where the rest of my rig was when I first turned up with the Monaco, Of course I had to turn up to 5.5 (half way to 11) and was very loudly asked to turn it down. Nothing was said when I changed to the 10" Monza.

Edited October 22 by Chienmortbb
remove golfing reference

[fretmeister]

I've had a stack of One10 cabs, then a Super Twin, then a stack with a One10T and a One10.

I enjoyed them all and I thought they did different things well. 

 

However even with the vintage voiced One10 stuff there was something in the back of my mind that told me what I was hearing was too.... nice. As if the foibles / weaknesses / flaws of older cab designs had been swept away or at least minimised a lot.

 

I'm all for advancement, we need more of that, but maybe after playing for nearly 40 years those flaws are part of my ideal bass tone.

 

My favourite bass cab of all time is the Marshall VBC412. A stupidly heavy 400W 4ohm no tweeter 4x12 on wheels. 50kg / 110lb ish. I am never having another one (I used to run a pair!) for practical and strength reasons but I love them.

 

The only time I've ever got close to replicating that sound is with Mark Bass gear and some slightly uncommon EQ-ing. And a chunk of compression as those Marshalls were not very efficient and compressed themselves!

 

So as of this morning when I had a delivery I am now back in the Mark Bass camp.

 

The irony is, over the last few years when I've seen a show or watched a live performance on YT and thought "wow - what a bass sound!!!" I have looked up and seen it's been a Mark Bass rig... and in every case the 2 cab stack has something obviously missing... a microphone! The cabs aren't mic'd up at all.

 

Then the close ups show the DI coming out of the amp and going off to the PA. Smeg knows what they are doing with the di signal. Could just be a bit of compression, or it could be a massive mix of IRs and EQ as well. Whatever - unless I was close to the stage and directly in front of the cabs I wasn't hearing the cabs at all.

 

Overall though I've been playing long enough to get a close enough sound with almost any gear as long as I've got a bass I like and a compressor.

[Chienmortbb]

14 minutes ago, fretmeister said:

My favourite bass cab of all time is the Marshall VBC412. A stupidly heavy 400W 4ohm no tweeter 4x12 on wheels. 50kg / 110lb ish. I am never having another one (I used to run a pair!) for practical and strength reasons but I love them.

It is all about opinion and I believe that you amp/cab choice is a part of your instrument, like the body of an acoustic guitar. There is no right or wrong. I don't like the sound of the MB cabs I have heard but that does not make me right and you (and thousands of satisfied MB users) wrong. Enjoy your new cabs.