BAREFACED AUDIO
It’s slightly embarrassing that it took a bassist to rethink guitar cabs so they produce a really big sound from a small, lightweight box – but such are life’s little ironies. Alex Claber is the founder of Barefaced Audio, a Brighton-based company producing some of the most innovative and intriguing guitar cabinets we’ve seen for a while.
Cleverly designed internals mean the company’s pint-sized Upsetter 110 cabinet, which weighs less than a guitar in its case, produces a room-filling, expansive sound that’s remarkable for such a compact design. Paired with a small lunchbox head, such as Victory’s V30 The Countess, it forms a rig that can be carried in one trip from the car to the stage without breaking a sweat – yet sounds as big as a hefty combo. It doesn’t rely on neodymium speakers to achieve that light weight, either (though you can have them fitted if you wish), but comes loaded with a Celestion G10 Vintage driver as standard.
The secret to this sonic sorcery is the application of science, says Alex, a bass-playing engineer with a fascination for the more arcane aspects of how sound waves travel from source to ear. His company, Barefaced Audio, began as a kind of serious hobby that blossomed first into a cottage industry and then a thriving business.
Alex cut his
