BillFitzmaurice.info

Hello!

Although I’ve never heard one in person, I’ve been curious about BFM bass cabinets for some time. Although I use IEM’s, I still bring cabs to most shows - for the band mates that don’t wear IEM’s (cover band), and for the larger stages where it helps to fill in, and for the visual aspect of it (tribute band).

I’m looking to upgrade my Markbass combo (+ extension cab) with potentially, one of the BFM designs, and looking to lighten my load for the tribute band when I bring the 300w Ampeg tube head and 810 cabinet, with two BFM designs.

These days, I run out of a rack mounted Kemper DSP as my preamp. Probably looking at buying a Class A/B power amp to supply the cabs the my future. The end goal is to, like many, replicate the sound/feel of my Ampeg full stack. What cabs would you all recommend to accomplish that goal? I am proficient in woodworking, by the way.

soundsfromthecellar.com
backandforthfootribute.com

Jack won't sound anything like Ampeg. It has far more lower midrange presence. The closest you'd get to Ampeg is a sealed Simplexx loaded with a driver with Qts of 0.4 or higher and a pronounced response peak around 2.5kHz.

Thank you, Bill! I love my Ampeg! Would you say that a Jack is capable of delivering the tone (grind/honk/whatever) of most 80’s hair bands anyway? If not, regarding the Simplexx, I’ll be considering a design with two speakers per cab (probably build two cabs). Probably go with no tweeters. Do you have a preference between 10s or 12s? Also, which woofer brand/model do you recommend?

The Jack would be quite different from Ampeg. You may like it, but you may not. To keep a similar tone the Simplexx 10 would be better, loaded with La Voce WSF 102.00 drivers, which have similar midrange to the Ampeg SVT driver. To get better low end, allowing fewer cabs, make it ported rather than sealed. If they have more low end than you want you can always cut the amp bass EQ. If you went sealed and they didn't have enough low end boosting the lows might result in distortion.