The MOST SIGNIFICANT guitar cab since the Marshall 4x12"

We hold our AVD cabs with such prestige that we decided to get a UK patent for it. Despite their ingenuity, they haven't left a huge impression on the guitar-ing world.
This must change.
Read what Sound on Sound had to say about about our Reformer 112:
www.soundonsou...
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[@joehoppard814]

John Nathan Cordy has a great YT presence, makes a lot of content, and plays live so always appreciates kit that makes live gigs easier/better.

[@riangarianga]

I can't think of anyone better than Johan Segeborn, he'd compare it to our most beloved classic gear, and what's better promotion than that. Euge Valovirta is another guy (on the heavier side) who makes anything sound great, he might even test it live, and not just in his studio room. In the jazz/blues/funk area you also have the great Tomo Fujita, he's currently promoting a cab with planar speakers that kind of competes with yours in the dispersion area (but at a much higher price point), so that's a good bet for an honest review. Actually there are many reviewers focusing on guitar speakers or cabs, however I can't really think of many who are native English speakers, if that's what you're looking for (although many of them make videos in English). Otherwise, the guys from Doble Bobina in Argentina are also great (seasoned gigging musician + pedal manufacturer), usually aiming to a less heavy sound, and you'd cover the Spanish-speaking market. Sometimes I also watch reviews by many Brazilian guys, although I don't have any go-to names. Then there are the somehow popular German reviewers everyone knows, but to me they tend to be a bit elitist compared to the rest of European reviewers, so many of us stopped caring about them. However, you need to get the point about how nowaday's promotion works. In the past, you'd place an ad in a magazine. These days you either pay a video creator for promotion, should you want any guarantees they'll publish anything about your product, or either you just lend/give them the product for free, hoping they'll like it enough to make a video.

[@samirintala1266]

Two youtube channels that mainly come to mind are That pedal show and Pete Thorns channel. Their analytical, technical and long experience in the field would be a good measure. Personally would like to thank you for the excellent insightful videos. Teaching is best marketing at least for me 👍I started to test with impulse responses more after your video about 12" celestions and their differences. Moved from V30 to G12M because of it.

[@BarefacedAudio]

@thatpedalshow do have a couple of our cabs, they used them for their Bros Landreth video! But we’ve yet to organise anything more focused on what the cabs do.

[@PooNinja]

With cabs that awesome sounding you’ll grow. Some of us care about cabs. Thanks for all you do.

[@PooNinja]

Tell henning pauly. Hes got a wide audience.

[@peterheijnen33]

I'm a former session player, former since i ruined my ears quite bad. Not bad enough though to hear how amazing my first Reformer 112 sounded, causing me to buy a second one to create a super deluxe stereo home rig. Due to my ears i can only play at whisper volume. So gigs are out of the question but very occasional i agree to do a recording session if the studio environment allows me to totally control the volume in the recording room. Last summer i did a two day recording session, my first time with a Reformer properly miked. All my professional career i never liked to hear my recorded guitars solo'd but when the engineer played the sound coming from the Reformer i was genuinely shocked how crazy good it sounded and how much i loved it. To me the Reformer represents the guitar cab reinvented. Thx Alex!

[@clemguitar63]

Pete Thorn...HUGE YT Presence!

[@corey4805]

Really cool cabs. Can't wait to hear one in the wild.

[@josearjona3728]

Let´s be honest, the price is an important handicap for popularizing

[@rkphilpot]

Really liked the idea and the innovation but just can't afford it. Can't say it's not worth it as I don't know. But it's a lot.

[@removedot]

@@rkphilpot there is also the effect that being expensive gets you some respect and early adopters might not be as price sensitive. Saying its really good with no explanation and its expensive though sets off the scam alert, especially if its patented it should already be out there how it is done

[@BarefacedAudio]

The AVD adds quite lot of manufacturing complication, so that puts the price up substantially. And they’re made to the best finish possible. So they’re just priced at what’s needed for this business to be viable, which does make them a lot more expensive than many cabs - but still very good value in terms of what they do for your sound in the real world.

[@BarefacedAudio]

@@removedotthere’s a huge amount of explanation across our KZbin channel, our website and our other social media platforms, so hopefully you’re not referring to our AVD cabs seeming like a scam!

[@removedot]

@@BarefacedAudio nope, I'm saying seriously that if a new product is "too cheap" people can have lower opinion of things, people are weird and irrational. Early Adopters in my experience also tend to be less price sensitive, its often part of what makes them an early adopter, they tend to have the resources to take a bit more risk. I'm sure you know more about the process than I do but finding someone in America to be your dealer or do something like a Kickstarter or Drop might be the way. I would think shipping a large amount at a time would be much more efficient and cheaper than sending one at a time. If you timed one of those with a couple people reviewing them at the same time could really get the attention going

[@bradpeel]

Kyle Bull & ToneWars in the U.S. will give a genuine review of your cabs with an emphasis on heavier rock and metal sounds.

[@nacuda9]

Know your gear!!!! He does some of the best reviews

[@nacuda9]

Phillip McKnight

[@mcmSEA]

Very good! Full disclosure: customer and fan already. "People don't care about speakers": Funnily enough, I've been buying vintage Sound City/ Fane speakers from the early 70's, from a chap who got them from a roadie for The Who... and they bought them by the truckload because PT was constantly blowing them. They sound amazing! PT also bought Gibson SG Specials by the dozen because he'd trash *those* onstage until Gibson refused to sell him any more.

[@jonathanray4598]

Put a side by side comparison of a Marshall 4x12 and one of your cabs.

[@BarefacedAudio]

challenge accepted 🤝

[@MegaTubescreamer]

the most significant contribution to the guitar industry alex, is your enthusiasm and design ethic, its as significant as leo fender was, you remind me of Mr fender in many ways from the stories and history surrounding his contribution to that era of musical development, roll with it alex,👍😊

[@simonsmith9942]

I LOVE how Barefaced Audio share the room mic sound. I'd really like to see an example of a 4 x12 quad box chugged and a barefaced can chugged with the room mic. I think this would be a game changer. As for channels.Fluff's Riff Beards and Gear in the US. Anderton's would be great, but they probably won't do it unless they stock it. Pete Thorn and That Pedal Show and Rick Beato. Rick Beato doesn't generally do product stuff, but he's all about hearing music better, so worth a shot.

[@CinemaPuree]

I own a reformer 1x12. Love it. I have a usurper wide 1x12 on the way. Can’t wait!

[@markteague603]

This information is priceless! Thank you so much for educating me on the cabin universe. Can't wait to purchase the Reality 112FR! Much success is around the corner my friend!

[@Funkybassuk]

I think what is not often said is that a lot of KZbin reviewers are paid. Invite the Studio Rats around. They’re good blokes, you’re a good bloke. You’ll have fun.

[@yaniv-nos-tubes]

hi, i work for a backline company and i make the world sound better by replacing speakers to alnico creams and tubes to vintage mullards and ge's. to my opinion in order to grow you should collaborate with a good boutique amp maker. thanks for the info you are the best

[@Apoplexya]

Glenn Fricker of SpectreSoundStudios in Canada is one of those you mentioned were working to shift the focus of the guitar gear discourse more onto speakers. I'm sure he'd be delighted to talk about your cabinets. Thank you for your informative videos btw, the one where you grouped up and explained the whole Celestion guitar speaker range blew my mind and put language to what I was hearing in Adam Steel's exhaustive Celestion speaker comparison video. Cheers!

[@samsoliva]

Congratulations! I need one Radical 212H ... or two.

[@Scoots1994]

To me it sounds like the speaker breakup is more detailed in my Reformer than in other open cabs. I don't know how you would test it, but it's significant to me.

[@DaveBarlowGuitar]

I play 90 gigs a year in pubs n clubs plus bigger festivals, most pub club gigs are not miced up so people not standing directly in front of my 4x12 complain they cant hear guitar, if this works happy to review it on my YT channel

[@BarefacedAudio]

@@DaveBarlowGuitar email us!

[@NSRider24]

If there is some miracle way to have the price be a bit lower than they currently are, I bet mass adoption would be more likely. This obviously requires scaling up manufacturing and isn't easy. It would be amazing to see a price drop when sales get much higher.

[@BarefacedAudio]

Scaling up manufacturing would make almost no difference to the price - the only efficiency gain available would be a machine to cut the tolex, everything else we’re doing as automated as possible. We’d get a marginal gain from buying in larger quantities but both those would be offset by the higher costs or admin (more staff not actually making things). The only truly effective way to bring the price down would be to relocate the manufacturing to a part of the world where we could pay people far far less, rent a factory for far less and cut corners on quality and finish. But I don’t want to do that, for numerous reasons.

[@removedot]

@@BarefacedAudio Are you in the UK? That could make it tricky between shipping to the US and not being part of the EU either.

[@BarefacedAudio]

@@removedot we’ve been shipping cabs to customers all over the world for the last 15 years - even leaving the EU (terrible idea!) hasn’t been a problem. We sell more overseas than in the UK.

[@clemguitar63]

The Universe sent me here Alex!

[@hoboroadie4623]

I am dreaming about an Upsizing 4X12, for the Impedance and Wattage, not that anyone serious would have any practical want for it. But I would.

[@wingee]

My barefaced 2x12 is fantastic

[@cchimozmin]

Maybe you’re cab requires a different microphone technique? Which bass / guitar cabs would you recommend for recording at home and small gigs? Wish you all the best with your fab cabs x

[@BarefacedAudio]

No they don’t, same mic techniques as usual. Which cabs are best will depend on the tone you’re after and your other gear - email [e-mail] and we can work it out!

[@Scoots1994]

I've looked but can't find anything said by Tim Comerford about his cabs. I love mine!

[@BarefacedAudio]

A quote from Tim via WhatsApp the day of the first gig of RATM’s 2022 tour: “The amp is all time”. ✊

[@jxorz6013]

Alex, I really think I have your answer: The most important thing for many people would be to hear the gear used by a player they respect. Zines don't have near the influence they used to. Look first at great players that have KZbin channels, people like Charlie Robbins or Bernth. Another example, if you want to use the same strategy for bass cabs, I'd recommend Charles Berthoud or Nate Navarro. Proactively contact these people, offering gear, and I'm sure you'll get results from someone. If someone respectable uses your gear, there is no better endorsement. If you could get technical masters like Plini or Tosin Abasi using Barefaced, or a production master like David Maxim Micic, people will notice. Yes, every player I mentioned is involved with metal music, but I think the point stands. Would love to see Barefaced making a bigger splash in the audio world.

[@iDealMedley]

maybe you should send your cabs to youtubers to try out. Ola, Glenn, Kohle and maybe more audio engineers that do content.

[@BarefacedAudio]

We are in the process of reaching out to creators (have already reached out to Ola and a few others) I can imagine they are inundated with companies trying to send them their products. The difference is that we're really, really good at what we do!

[@freefaaall]

Surely the one question is "for which group(s) of guitarists are these cabs better"? I would hazard a quess that wide dispersion is good for those playing un-miked, or it might enable more quitarists to play un-miked thereby simplifying setting up for gigs?

[@BarefacedAudio]

I was curious about this when we launched the cabs - thousands of cabs later we seem to have found that they work better for every type of guitarist in every genre! A bit like how better PA systems work better regardless of the music that’s going through them.

[@removedot]

@@BarefacedAudio are these able to be tipped up a bit or does it change the way they work? I know a lot of guitarists like to either tip it more towards their ears. Does placement depend a lot on how far away from a wall or if they are in a corner?

[@BarefacedAudio]

@@removedot tilting them is no problem, it doesn’t change how the AVD helps. If the nearest rear or side wall is more than about 30 feet away then the AVD output will take longer than ideal to get to you and be quite a lot lower in level but if it’s closer than that then you’ll get AVD benefits. I’ve never seen a rehearsal space that’s too big for the AVD to work really well and only the biggest stages would lose out on the benefits but on a stage that big you’ll have a dedicated monitor engineer.

[@robertdonosobuchner3129]

There are some KZbin channels that would be perfect for your products... In the USA: Buddy Blues / Riff, Beards & Gear / Xander Raymond Charles / Sonic Drive Studio / Metalhead Productions / Pete Thorn / Darrel Brown Guitar / Silas Fernandes (also Brasil) / in Australia: TheSuperFunHappyTimePedalShow / in the UK: Rabea Massaad / Andertones / in Spain: Alberto Barrero / in Germany: Rich. Words. Music. / Kohle Audio Kult / Eytschpi42 / in Austria: The Guitar Geek / in Norway: Frog Leap Studios / in Sweden: Ola Englund...... I would like to see your products also on the Guitar Summit in Mannheim.... 🙃🤘🔊🔥

[@drseangeorge]

Alex would you consider having some of your cabs sold through dealers in Australia? I can’t wait to get my reality 112FR!

[@pageyjjj]

It will happen faster if you license the technology to a company that has a strong presence in North America.

[@marct138]

does it chug though? is it as tight as a closed back? I mean like a tight djenty percussive right hand palm muted chug :)

[@ChadWork1]

I wish these didn't need to be customized to put an alnico gold speaker in them. I got the stock Celestian Vintage 30 in mine, and it just doesn't sound good with any of my amps. Brittle & flat top end. Is there a speaker that will fit in the reformer 12 that has the qualities of an Alnico Gold?

[@BarefacedAudio]

Email us and we’ll do some thinking!

[@BarefacedAudio]

Incidentally, the reason we need a different AVD to fit the alnico speakers is because the magnet structure is so deep. If the cab was deeper then the AVD would be further back and we could use the same AVD for all, but as increased depth is a downside for both ease of carriage and positioning on stage I didn’t want to make all the 12” guitar cabs deeper. However, the 10” AVD cabs don’t need a different AVD for alnico drivers and nor does the new Upsizing as it’s wider, taller and deeper than the Uprising 212V.

[@christopherberry8519]

That's not how marketing works in the guitar world. advertising budget gets reviews. Sponsorship and artists get views. Personally, I think you could hit pubs and buskers and build momentum. You could break the mould and get some basic plans out for DIY (Not for profit)/ cnc/laser guys to push and copy. License a version? many ways to achieve exposure but all cost something. I like you and what you've done but honestly, we needed this in the 70s and 80s - now I'd just plug my rig into the desk, PA and be done with it. I'm struggling to find a use situation which isn't covered by either a cab-less or traditional setup better (Lower risk is better how these guys think) and most of what I can come up with are people who would build a kit version, want something cheaper or need something lighter and quieter. Mesa Boogie found a niche cramming more power into a smaller combo and finding some key artists (Santana early on) to fly the flag but the market is different now. Could you grab Polyphia? Bonamassa? Would a major company license your work? Peavey? Marshall? Thomann? In the UK Chris Buck is THE guitarist's guitarist. He values being able to just plug in and not have to carry speakers everywhere. Making sure your speakers are what he plugs into wherever he goes could help. Best of luck!

[@BarefacedAudio]

I wasn’t alive most of the ‘70s and in school in the ‘80s so sorry about the lateness! But if you’re enjoying playing through an amp and cab they still work better, whatever the year. But I realise quite a big chunk of the industry has gone amp-less. At the end of the day, the sound has to come from speakers or headphones and we’ve found the AVD cabs solve so many cab problems that you can have the upsides of a full monitoring set-up without the hassle. And rehearsals, magic!