Curious about this as well. I run a bb800 to midget with good results, and am contemplating a sc to complete the stack.
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Official Barefaced Bass Cab Club
- Thread starter Stumbo
- Start date
The BB800 was praised for the compression characteristics which I think would explain my experience. The BB800 was “toothless” with the SC, lacking top end bite, and sounding rounded off. A tweeter or compression driver might’ve helped the pairing but I didn’t have that (like the SM or BB cabs). The pairing didn’t sound dark, just excessively smooth. The BB800 EQ didn’t allow for more edge to be dialed in, so I looked to outside pedals for help. At the time I had a Darkglass box (can’t recall but I think it was an AO) and a Dunwich Volt Thrower which could be excessively smooth. Running either through that head couldn’t generate any zing or edge. It was just felt polite and restrained. I wasn’t trying to get it to overdrive or distort, I just wanted a clean tone with some top end definition.
Cut to me acquiring a Mesa Buster which can dial in an aggressive, edgy voice and the SC paired very nicely, capable of a range of tones from bright and zingy to round and warm. The cab delivered with that head and a few others that rotated through my collection, which left me to assume Quilter was the thing I didn’t like.
I’ve said it before but other amp I didn’t enjoy with the SC was the Jule Monique pre + a power amp. I felt like the Monique’s midrange was congested and odd with that cab and the EQ wasn’t flexible enough to remedy that. I switched to from Monique to a Genz Shuttle head and got much closer to what I was after, much more easily.
I know Quilter is a TB darling and enjoyed by many, but to me it sounded/felt restrained and throttled, like it was overly compressed.
Cut to me acquiring a Mesa Buster which can dial in an aggressive, edgy voice and the SC paired very nicely, capable of a range of tones from bright and zingy to round and warm. The cab delivered with that head and a few others that rotated through my collection, which left me to assume Quilter was the thing I didn’t like.
I’ve said it before but other amp I didn’t enjoy with the SC was the Jule Monique pre + a power amp. I felt like the Monique’s midrange was congested and odd with that cab and the EQ wasn’t flexible enough to remedy that. I switched to from Monique to a Genz Shuttle head and got much closer to what I was after, much more easily.
I know Quilter is a TB darling and enjoyed by many, but to me it sounded/felt restrained and throttled, like it was overly compressed.
Gotta get a Glockenklang. Bluebird into BB3. Clean and loud, from low to high.
@John D Harris
…to be clear, I’m not saying the amp is horrible and certain to fail in that pairing for your particular needs. I’m just saying that it is within the realm of possibility based on my experience of disappointment.
…to be clear, I’m not saying the amp is horrible and certain to fail in that pairing for your particular needs. I’m just saying that it is within the realm of possibility based on my experience of disappointment.
I'm pretty sure @gtirard has both and I think he likes the combination (not that I would buy or not buy based on one person's taste).
Also, the v803 has more EQ options than the 800 with the Treble & variable Mids plus the Scooped input.
[Random thought: Seems like the brightness of a GK head would be a consideration for a tweeterless cab.]
@monsterthompson well said. The Quilter limiters don’t have an off switch. For my playing, they sound great. When I first got the amp I could hear and feel them and now I don’t really notice. I think the combination with the ST is like a bulldozer. My notes don’t cut as much as push all the other instruments out of my way.
I could be wrong, but I thought that the limiter is affected by the Gain knob?
Low gain = no limiter.
Medium gain = medium limiter.
High gain = high limiter.
Good to know wasn’t hearing things
…and that the amp/cab combo works for other users.
Your examples are entirely possible. For my taste, the gain knob lives between 3.5 and 4.5 and I like what the limiter does. Above 5, the gain gets into territory that results in ear fatigue with my basses and cabs.
Yes, I've had the BB800 paired with the SC (no tweeter), and I've loved that pair, then I sold the BB800 and bought the 803, and I love the new pair even more.
The limiter of the BB800 cannot been switch off, but it only enters in action as you increase the gain (in order to avoid clipping), so if you dial the gain down there should be no limiter. In the 803 the LED lights up when the limiter is triggered, which helps understanding and hearing it.
I think I have different tastes from @monsterthompson. I don't think the BB800 lacks top end bite, I do like Monique, and I always switch of the tweeter of a cab if there's one.
It’s quite likely we have different tastes. I don’t generally go for super bright tweeter sounds and also frequently turn them down/off. I was thinking a tweeter might’ve helped get me closer to what I wanted with that amp/cab combo.
The real deal breaker for me with the amp is what it did to my sound with drive/distortion/fuzz. The amp somehow took the edge off all my dirt pedals. The closest thing I’ve come across to a similar effect was when I ran dirt into a compressor with a high compression setting, so I assumed it was something with the compressing/limiting circuit.
Different taste confirmed, LOL. I dislike the harshness of fuzz pedals in general, so what you are looking for seems to be what I'm trying to avoid, and vice versa
. What amp and cab did you eventually come up with?
Different taste confirmed, LOL. I dislike the harshness of fuzz pedals in general, so what you are looking for seems to be what I'm trying to avoid, and vice versa
I’m not always into harsh territory but it’s part of what I do. I like classic rock and blues but I also like industrial and metal.
That’s a great question. I cycled through a bunch. The BB2 and Demeter VTBPM 800D ended up being my favorite combo (well, I REALLY liked the Mesa Buster & SC but it was silly to have that head with that cab for a light rig). The Demeter head was a very nice clean platform that sounded great by itself, as well as being a good for pedal coloration. I could run it as a DI, there was a ton of output available, and the EQ was quite flexible.
The BB2 has a bit more big low end and I just had to try it. I had already cycled through a SM and SC. I ended up with a second BB2 and ran the pair as a PA with a mixed and power amp for a project that was synth and sample heavy (no guitars of any kind). I should probably sell that rig since I don’t gig anymore and rarely use it but I can’t bring myself to do that. These days I mainly go bass > pedals/DI > mixer/interface > monitors/phones. I keep thinking that I’ll move to a bigger place where I can set up a studio space, but that’s another story.
…yikes. I just looked up the prices on the Demeter head and they’ve certainly moved up since I had mine. Even the more economical 800 head is up there.
I have the 802. With one10, Super Compact or Super Twin setup is outstanding. Lets see a smaller more potent lil rig than the BB with the one10, careful though. to add the Berg forte HP is #1 , as these speakers take the power, HPF and LPF in a great way.
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What is the purpose of the Activier? Is it essentially a powered (PA) cabinet, such that you would have all the EQ in a preamp pedal and then DI into the Activier?
It's a power amp module that you add to your passive cab to turn it into an active cab.
So yes, you plug a preamp pedal into the Activier, but it's a instrument / line level with a instrument cable (not DI with XLR).
"The excessive compression of the Quilter BB800 also caught my attention, but it quickly disappears if you turn down the gain significantly and open up the master more." Edit: sorry, I was too quick with my reply, It was already said.
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