TF408 (long) review...
First and foremost, I feel soooooo stupid! Been playing bass for over 25 years now and have never ever tried 8" cabinets before. Anyhow, I often check in with Tom Bowlus (gear reviewer of Bass Gear Magazine) every month or so to see if any new gear has come out and in particular this time if there were any new 410 cabs and he recommended I check out Trickfish gear among a few other manufacturers as he considered them to be top notch gear. Good enough for me! Long story short, I wanted a new 410 and after talking with Ryan at Trickfish and telling him what sound I was looking for, he recommended that I purchase the 408 and said that he thought I’d be impressed.
I was very hesitant in trying out one because I felt that they wouldn’t give me the punch and especially the bass that I was accustomed too but what the heck I could return it if I didn’t like it and only had to cover the $60 bucks shipping so I gave her a try. To set the stage, the head and amp combo I used was a Mike Pope MPP-1 pre with a Lab Gruppen IPD2400 amp. The bass was a Fodera Imperial V. After hooking everything up, setting everything flat (bass and pre), I powered up. The first thing I noted was that my bass sounded totally different than with any other cabs.... more alive...wayyyy more punchier. I loving what I was hearing and I hadn’t even touched the eq yet. I could tell right off this was going to be special as normally with other cabs I would have to eq to get my tone which is normally a nice gritty finger tone that sets well in the mix.
First thoughts...OMG why havent I even thought of using a 408 cab before? I’m thinking that 410 is as good as it gets as far as punch goes but boy was I wrong. Talk about quick and punchy! This cab absolutely punches through the mix like a hot knife thru room temperature butter! Looking back, I’ve should have known or suspected that 8" speakers would have given me what I needed because I once own some Phil Jones cabs with 5" speakers in them but although I had eighteen individual 5" speakers all playing at once they just couldn’t hold the "B" string like I needed in gospel and smooth jazz. The mids and highs were there and they cut nice but just wasn’t the total package for me. If I had one word to sum up this TF408 it would be the word "perfection," yup the perfect sound. Perfectly balanced amount of everything which allows it to set well in the mix. Does it move as much air as a 410? Absolutely not but it moves enough to be heard and to be heard even better than a 410.
I think that I got use to 410’s allowing me to feel that rumble but I’m now realizing that feeling isn’t the same as being heard. You can feel bass but if the sound isn’t detailed enough then you won’t be heard especially when doing runs or solo/improve. Most 410 cabs can punch thru well but I find that they can be very bassy and even boomy at times. I also really don’t like mixing cabs either. I’ve tried 112 cabs with 210 but to me it effects the clarity and definition. The 112 often muddies up things for my style of music.
I love a really gritty finger tone that has nice bark and weight to each note and normally to get the grit that I need I would have to put my Fodera into single coil mode and boost the mids to get that nice barking tone. And because of the initial tone I was hearing coming out of the cab I thought for sure the bass was in single coil mode. I was shocked to look down and see that it was still in dual coil mode but the cab had my Fodera sounding like it was already in single coil mode. When I switched to single coil the tone just got really ridiculous. I would say that I did have to turn down the treble after switching to single coil mode as the treble was way too much for my liking. Not harsh way too much but just too much. It did make me think of a local friend/bass player who would love to have heard and played it like that as it was more his tone. He loves it bright. The horn is really efficient and you don’t need to crank it.
After turning the treble down I then added a bite of mids from my bass, keep in mind that everything was still flat on the MPP-1. OMG the tone I got from it sounded like a jazz bass on Steroids. Unbelievable tone! Moving on I then decided to see exactly how much bass this cab would hold so I turned up the bass way past what I would use during a gig and I hit the "B" string with some ferocious low notes and to my ignorant surprise it’s actually held without farting. I can gone on and on but I think I’ve said enough... I’m truly sold on first off using 8" speakers for my bass cab and secondly Trickfish who made this awesome cab. I would say that I love the fact that they used ceramics for this cab instead of neo’s. I may be wrong but I don’t think it would have sounded nearly as good with neo speakers. I would say that this cab has enough volume to a medium to medium-and-a-half gig and for me that’s 95% of my gigs. Maybe even a large gig because with this cab you can definitely be heard a lot better than any 410 I ever owned or any cabinet for that matter and I’ve owned a lot of them. Just great detailed clarity!
I would liken this cabs volume to being that of a 310 so 2 of them would be like having a 610. Very portable and you can easily carry it with one hand and fit 2 of them on your back seat. I’ve added a picture that I found on the web comparing it to a Trickfish 410 and also pics of my actual TF408. I would like to also add that Ryan and Justin of Trickfish displayed great customer service, FedEx actually lost my TF408 for 6 days. It was suppose to deliver last Saturday but I just got it yesterday. They both stayed on the phone with Fedex until it was resolved and even offered to send me a new cab so I could have it before my next gig. Great customer service...but even better product! Oh I forgot...the construction of the cab is top notch...No flaws any where and believe me if there was I would have found it. I’m really anal when it come to my equipment. I think I see another TF408 coming in my near future...How’s next week!
