Barefaced AVD guitar cabs - not open backed, not closed back, not even ported; but something new!

BarefacedAudio

Hi everyone!

I'm Alex, the boss at Barefaced Audio and this is my first post here! You probably haven't come across us before because we've been specialising in bass cabs for the past decade but we have literally just launched our first guitar cab.

It's something that's completely different to anything that's happened before but still similar to conventional guitar cabs the ways that matter - we know that you can't apply PA or hi-fi speaker technology to guitar cabs (like we did with our 12XN bass cabs) without losing the essence of the guitar tone. So what we've done is take the back wave of the speaker (which in a closed cab is normally contained in the box and dies away without helping the acoustic output in the room) and then:

1. In the low frequencies, where the back wave output would normally be identical magnitude but inverse phase to the front wave output and thus cause serious cancellation (as you hear in open-backed cabs with their thinner bass tone), we've inverted the back wave output so that it matches the phase of the front wave. This means the back and front wave combine constructively, rather than combining destructively (open-backed cab) or do not combine (closed back isolates back wave so it doesn't enter the room). This is basically what happens with the handful of ported guitar cabs out there (assuming they're well designed - I'm guessing some aren't so don't write off all ported cabs because of poor implementations!)

2. In the mid and high frequencies, where the back wave output would be contained by a closed cab, or released rearwards by an open-backed cab, we're diffracting them through a tall narrow slot, so they spread sideways around the room, and then adding further efficiency and improving dispersing by passing them through a wide angle wave guide. Compared to an open-backed cab these mid and high frequencies are much more effectively dispersed around the room and the frequency response and distortion (and thus tone) is much more similar to the tone you hear from the front of the cab (because you don't get the 'boxy' standing waves of a normal open-backed cab).

The end result is you have a 1x10" cab with output and efficiency closer to that of a 2x10", and with such radically improved dispersion that everyone on stage and in the venue can hear it far better than normal. We called this technology the Augmented Vent Diffractor or AVD, and it's currently going through the patent process, so we have the intellectual property protected for now (and hopefully for 20 years if it gets approved!)

Sorry, I've written too many words as usual! Here's some pictures:






I submitted the patent application back in September and since then the rest of the Barefaced team has been busily refining all the details ready for production. It's also super light because we're good at making cabs strong and light without compromising the tone (actually it helps but that's a whole 'nother essay!)

Lots more info here: https://barefacedaudio.com/products/gx

But I'm keen to hear what everyone here thinks - I know new designs of guitar cabs are few and far between, so I'm expecting a lot of scepticism! If you want to try one we're running a one month free trial for UK customers as an introductory offer.

Any questions, comments, thoughts, opinions, fire away!

Alex

simonk

Welcome!
I think the cabs look great, and if I was in the market for a new cab I’d be knocking on your door.
Any plans to employ neo speakers?

fretmeister

Hello Alex!

I swapped to your bass cabs a couple of years ago and never looked back.

I must try these as well (and I really want to visit to try the FR800 with my Helix.

PS66

looks the business!

BarefacedAudio

simonk said:

Welcome!
I think the cabs look great, and if I was in the market for a new cab I’d be knocking on your door.
Any plans to employ neo speakers?

Much as I like neo speakers when you're after maximum accuracy (see our 12XN bass cabs), there's no doubt that ferrite speakers have their own distinct tone due to various distortions caused by the magnet shape and material and thus how the permanent field behaves when current is flowing through the voice coil. And as the goal with these cabs was to keep that character (we've gone with one British sounding driver and one American toned driver) and they're still VERY light (about 6kg / 13lbs) with ferrite drivers I can't see us needing to use neo drivers even if people are really weight focused.

Saying that, Buzz from Melvins is now using two Super Twin 2x12XN neo bass cabs for his European guitar rig and it sounds EPIC. So there is potential for using the 12XN high accuracy ultra high output neo speakers for non-conventional guitar sounds.

BarefacedAudio

Thanks for the positive comments on the looks - we spent a lot of time on them, Bob here designed that new badge specially for the guitar range, and the British Racing Green tolex came about after we did it as a custom order for a Four10 bass cab and loved how it looked - on a dark stage it blends in like a black cab but when it's lit up it looks different and special!

ICBM

I'm not sceptical about the concept at all, I think it's great and about time someone did a guitar cab that's had a bit more thought put into it than 'what box can we make to take a V30?'  These look like the ideal cabs to go with something like a Yamaha THR100 or a Quilter, or any of the 'lunchbox' type amps.

I'll be honest though - I'm not keen on the green, not least because it's too reminiscent of Trace Elliot's rather unreliable 90s amps. You need a black option too. I think you need Marshall/Hiwatt-style basketweave grille cloth on the 'British' model - the black looks a bit cheap.

I would also probably offer a Celestion speaker in the 'British' cab. I like Eminence's bass speakers and their 'American' voiced ones, but I really don't think their 'British' ones are as good as the equivalent Celestions they're supposedly modelled on. But *not* a G10 Vintage .

I hope those are combination Speakon/1/4" sockets too. Guitarists will not be happy with Speakon-only... no matter that it's a better connector.

Just my opinions of course!

riffpowers

Looks great, I'm a huge fan of smaller amps , and this could be a good match.
 if I were buying one I'd be asking about tolex options (black and orange will probably cover most!!) and speaker choice. Also a nice solid jack on the back.
 

clarkefan

I'm not good at all with written explanations of sound

Are you doing any comparison vids?

BarefacedAudio

I think the green is quite a lot darker than the Trace Elliot green but it's hard to tell in photos - however, we're happy to do cosmetic customisations, so if you want black tolex and basketweave grille that's totally possible.

We can also do Celestion speakers as a customisation but the reason we're using these Eminence ones is that they're very good and to our ears closer to the classic Celestion sounds than the current Celestion offerings - so I'd generally recommend trying the stock version (one month FREE trial in the UK for now, one month trial across the whole of Europe for good), and returning it to have a custom version made if it doesn't nail your tone, otherwise you could be paying more for a less good cab.

Yes, they're combi 1/4" + speakon sockets! We were going to switch to 1/4" only because of guitar convention but thought we'd be brave as there's no downside with these (especially as a lot of 1/4" sockets aren't air tight and that matters with these AVD cabs).

Winny_Pooh

I think it looks awesome
Price?
Width? (Amp heads that won't look absurdly big?)

ICBM

BarefacedAudio said:

I think the green is quite a lot darker than the Trace Elliot green but it's hard to tell in photos - however, we're happy to do cosmetic customisations, so if you want black tolex and basketweave grille that's totally possible.

We can also do Celestion speakers as a customisation but the reason we're using these Eminence ones is that they're very good and to our ears closer to the classic Celestion sounds than the current Celestion offerings - so I'd generally recommend trying the stock version (one month FREE trial in the UK for now, one month trial across the whole of Europe for good), and returning it to have a custom version made if it doesn't nail your tone, otherwise you could be paying more for a less good cab.

All good to know - and the sound of the speaker might well be altered enough by the cab design to make it different anyhow.

I'm not in the market just now though, I'm only playing bass at the moment and I need one of your bass cabs first .

BarefacedAudio said:

Yes, they're combi 1/4" + speakon sockets! We were going to switch to 1/4" only because of guitar convention but thought we'd be brave as there's no downside with these (especially as a lot of 1/4" sockets aren't air tight and that matters with these AVD cabs).

It's not a bad thing to make some progress towards changing the convention for guitar cabs too - even if at this power level it's not strictly necessary... and even if there are very few guitar amps with them. DV Mark are the only ones I can think of right now.

BarefacedAudio

Winny_Pooh said:

I think it looks awesome
Price?
Width? (Amp heads that won't look absurdly big?)

£399 plus P&P to wherever you are in the world (less VAT if you're outside the EU). £50 discount for anyone wanting to sign up as a Barefaced Ambassador.

The GX 1x10" is only 15" or 38cm wide, so not aesthetically suitable for big full width heads. However, the forthcoming GXII 1x12" is 18" or 45cm wide if you want something a bit bigger. Further down the line we have a 2x12" planned but there's a lot of complications to sort out with that!

John_P

I’m not 100% sure about the colours - I agree a black and basket weave would be cool, but I really like the idea. 

Any possibilty that you will make an active version with a gigable sied power amp built in? 

digitalscream

BarefacedAudio said:

The GX 1x10" is only 15" or 38cm wide, so not aesthetically suitable for big full width heads. However, the forthcoming GXII 1x12" is 18" or 45cm wide if you want something a bit bigger. Further down the line we have a 2x12" planned but there's a lot of complications to sort out with that!

Whoa, you buried the lead a bit there! If it's close to a 2x12" in sound, it may even tempt me away from the Matrix NL212 (which is already light as a feather, relatively-speaking).

sgosden

Looks really cool, and in a climate where downsizing and portability is becoming more important this could be ideal for people. 

Are you going to be at Birmingham guitar show in Feb?

timbuk02

Looks superb, and credit to Bob on the logo - something so many guitar/amp companies get so wrong, so often, despite expert attention to detail on everything else. There seem to be a lot of pedalboard friendly preamp/poweramps appearing of late and your cabs would be a perfect partner. Great to see this sort of gear coming out of the UK!

simonk

I’m now pondering mating one of your cabs, bass probably, with a powered Kemper.

fretmeister

simonk said:

I’m now pondering mating one of your cabs, bass probably, with a powered Kemper.

I’m using mine with my helix and a power amp.

Very happy! 

BarefacedAudio

John_P said:

I’m not 100% sure about the colours - I agree a black and basket weave would be cool, but I really like the idea. 

Any possibilty that you will make an active version with a gigable sied power amp built in? 

Haven't considered an active version at all - do you think there's a market for that? I can see an all-valve combo being a nice thing to do at some point though.

digitalscream

BarefacedAudio said:

John_P said:

I’m not 100% sure about the colours - I agree a black and basket weave would be cool, but I really like the idea. 

Any possibilty that you will make an active version with a gigable sied power amp built in? 

Haven't considered an active version at all - do you think there's a market for that? I can see an all-valve combo being a nice thing to do at some point though.

I'd probably buy one, if it was the 12" version and could be made loud enough without going shrill and the power amp had plenty of headroom.