Power requirements and amplifier recommendations
150W is sufficient to gig with the 1x12” models alongside a reasonably restrained drummer, 100W likewise
for the 2x12” models. If you are loud enough but your tone feels a bit compressed/one-dimensional/thin
then you need more power to give your amp the headroom to let the loud peaks through. If you aren’t loud
enough then you need more power.
Our recommend power range is up to 600W per 12” driver for the ‘Super’ cabs and up to 800W per 12”
driver for the ‘Big’ cabs. Once you reach 75% of this then adding more power won’t usefully increase your
loudness but it will help your tone out by giving you more headroom. When we talk about power we mean
true continuous RMS power or true burst power (500ms). A 20ms burst is all well and good when your peaks
are caused by the transients of a snare drum or crash cymbal but bass guitar and double bass both have
a lot of low frequency energy in the transients which means that high power requirement goes on for over
200ms. This is the main reason why big heavyweight amps tend to be louder or fatter with bass guitar than
lightweight micro-amps - they can sustain a higher power level for longer, even though their power rating
may be the same.
The 12XN550 models are an easy load to drive, there are no significant dips or large negative phase swings
in the impedance plot when cold so even budget amps should perform well (and note that many modern
budget solid-state amps will be miles ahead of the the typical decent solid-state amps from forty years ago,
whilst good speakers are as expensive as ever). You don’t necessarily need an expensive amp to sound
great or get loud with a Barefaced cab. Don’t feel you have to go shopping for an appropriately ‘boutique’
amp to match your cab - see how your existing amp works first, however old or inexpensive or low power it
is.
Please note that a 1000W amp with the volume never past halfway is not a 500W amp - put a ‘hot’ enough
signal into it and you will get full power.
These recommendations mean that unless you’re doing something silly, using the cab in an unreasonable*
manner, or are very unlucky, then you will not blow anything. If you do blow something then come to us first -
our drivers are unique and our electronics are complex - only we know how to get you up and running again.
Once again, note that even if the volume knobs are on your amp are kept well below maximum it will be
possible to hit full power with enough signal level coming into the amp.
*It is reasonable to expect any 12XN550 cab to have similar max output to other high quality modern bass
cabs of twice the size, or cheaper/older bass cabs of three or four times the size. Expecting more than this is
unreasonable and asking for trouble!
Notes on woofer break-in
The 12XN550 drivers have extremely high power handling and maximum excursion. This requires very
tough suspension to support the cone and consequently this suspension is tight when the woofers are brand
new. As the woofer is used the suspension loosens up, resulting in significantly increased bass response
(both depth and fatness) and the speaker becoming easier for an amplifier to drive, as well as the mids and
treble becoming cleaner and smoother as the ability of the surround to damp the cone vibrations improves.
This change occurs in a reverse exponential manner, so the change is most rapid early on, particularly in the
first five minutes of loud use.
It may take a number of gigs or loud rehearsals for your cab to settle into its long-term parameters (and thus
tone and performance). The midrange and treble response will also improve as the softer suspension allows
the cone to move as designed, both in its pistonic behaviour and the multiple bending modes, giving unique
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ly even power response for such a large high excursion driver. Note that we test every cab before it leaves
the factory, and part of that process is a frequency sweep from 100Hz down to 20Hz and back up again, at
fairly high level - this brief test alone does about half the breaking in, so you will never hear the full break-in
change with one of our cabs.
6. Technical appendix
