Radical 212H / 115 / 112SW

The Radical 212H is the ultimate cab for gigging your big valve amp head. With the unique AVD+ enclosure you don’t need to use a 4x12” cab to get that full power large scale sound, be it for rock, blues, funk, metal, anything - even the loudest bluegrass band on the planet.

And if you don't need the output/tone of a 2x12" you can have this as a custom 1x12" version, the Radical 112SW. This oversized "Super Wide" 1x12" cab is ideal for guitarists wanting to use a full-size head but reduce the output and weight of their rig vs a 2x12".

Or if you want a totally different tonality this is available as a 1x15" version, the Radical 115, with a Celestion G15V-100 Fullback. (Due to the limitations of our Shopify online platform, please order a Radical 112SW in the impedance you want and add the 15" driver to the cart too, then we'll make the 1x15" specific version. We're only able to have 100 different product options and the 115 version takes it over the limit - most annoying!)

If you haven’t heard a Barefaced Diffractor guitar cab you may be sceptical that something this small and light can sound as big and heavy as a 412 - or that it’ll cut through on stage without being as tall. This is where the science comes in:

The AVD+ enclosure uses both sides of the cone to generate sonic output, doubling its acoustic power and dispersing that sound everywhere around the room. No longer will you have to lurk in that narrow cone of tone and finally you’ll be able to consistently get that Goldilocks mix, not too loud, not too quiet, just right - both on stage and in the audience. Gigs are better when you all hear the music as it’s meant to be!

As standard it’s loaded with two Celestion Vintage 30 loudspeakers, giving 120W power handling and buckets of authentic tone. But if your sonic preference differs, you can customise it with any Celestion 12” guitar driver, we offer the whole range.

Specifications

Features

• Innovative internal design - Barefaced AVD+ enclosure for superior audibility, efficiency and power handling
• Low-cut filter toggle switch
• Choose from the entire range of Celestion 12" speakers*. The iconic Celestion Vintage 30 fitted as standard.
• Either a black or silver cloth grill with white piping.
• British Raging Green or Black in Black tolex.
• Single top strap handle
• Rubber feet on base
• Dual combi 1/4” + speakon sockets

*Additional customisation fee applies. See below.

Questions

Traditional guitar loudspeaker designs.

There are basically two sorts - closed-back and open-backed. Open-backed because they were combos and needed to keep the valves cool and accessible for servicing, closed-back and sealed because that’s how most speakers were made in the 1960s.

How does that affect using them?

The closed-back cabs have narrowing dispersion as frequency increases (a hi-fi speaker uses smaller speakers for higher frequencies to reduce this problem). The open-backed cabs fire sound out of the back as well as the front, so although the dispersion narrows from both front and back in much the same way as the closed-back cab, the sound coming out of the back helps fill the room with mids and highs - but that sound out of the back cancels out most of the lows (due to the inverted phase as the back of the speaker pulls when the front pushes and vice versa). In other words, open-back cabs are easier to hear around the room but the lows are thinner.

How is the Radical 212H different?

From the front it behaves much like a closed or open-backed cab. But the mids and highs coming out of the AVD+ at the back are amplified and dispersed around the room whilst the lows are inverted to match the lows from the front, giving lots more bottom. Basically you get twice the output of a closed back cab with an identical speaker AND even better dispersion and audibility (and far far greater output) than an open-backed cab.

What is AVD+?

You see it when you look at the back of the cab - it’s the Augmented Vent Diffractor plus the secondary tuned reflex port. It’s a unique patented technology that we started developing back in 2013. At low frequencies the AVD and the separate tube port act as tuned vents or Helmholtz resonators, improving efficiency, power handling and output. At mid and high frequencies the AVD acts to diffract, disperse and couple the sound with the room for improved audibility and output especially in rooms with poor acoustics.

The reasons for the AVD+ design on the Radical 212H are twofold - for maximum horizontal dispersion we only want the mids and highs coming from the back of one speaker, so the sound source is narrow compared to the wavelengths - that's why there isn't an AVD behind both 12" drivers. But with just one AVD the cab ends up with too a low a tuning frequency to be optimum for conventional guitar, so we add the secondary port to raise the Helmholtz resonance. At low frequencies both the 12" speakers drive the AVD and the secondary port, it isn't a split enclosure, there is just one air space and tuning frequency.

What is the Lo Cut filter for?

The increased low frequency output from the AVD+ may be too much for some guitarists’ tastes - so you can flick this switch and remove lows at the cab. Doing so not only changes the bass response but also increases the power handling of the cab, lowers the distortion due to motor excursion and reduces the load on your amp’s output stage. This can give you two different sweet-spots of optimum speaker overdrive or break-up and two different sweet-spots of power valve overdrive. If your sound is perfect in rehearsal but too dirty at a louder gig then engaging the Lo Cut filter will clean it up.

Customer feedback

20/06/25 - Radical 212H - UK

23/04/25 - Radical 212H - USA

Here’s my Barefaced 2x12 in action! It rocks!

Paul

14/04/25 - Radical - USA

I am still loving my Radical cab! This might be a dumb question: to save space on stage (if needed) can I turn it vertical and get the same sound? I am imagining not, but just thought I'd check. Thanks for any info!

Cheers,

Ian

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Hi Ian,

Try it and see if it works for you! Put the AVD side at the top. Let us know how you get on! Glad you're still loving it.

Best regards,

Alex

20/01/25 - Radical 212 - USA

The cab sounds great, awesome build quality...

I do have one dumb question, I looked in the paperwork that came with the cab, but couldn't find a 'hold my hand and explain like I'm stupid" explanation for what exactly the two inputs on the back of the cab are for and the difference between them, and which one is which?

Thank you,

David

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Hi David,

The inputs are identical - they're in parallel so if you can use one as an out if you want to daisy-chain cabs (in parallel). It's a standard thing on bass cabs and we couldn't see a good reason to leave it off a guitar cab.

Best regards,

Alex

20/02/25 - Radical 115 - USA

Hey I just wanted to say this cab is incredible.  You’ve all heard it before, sure, and I am still impressed. I’m excited to play. I haven’t been at all frustrated like before. It reminded me of the time when I had a chance to drive my mother’s BMW Z3 and I remember hitting the throttle and feeling no limit, like all I had to do was push down more and it would respond in kind. That’s what it the cab feels like. Like I’m holding it back because if I don’t I’m going to roll it. Fantastic.

I hope this finds you warm and in good company,

Justin

19/01/25 - Radical - USA

The cab sounds great, awesome build quality. I do have one dumb question: I looked in the paperwork that came with the cab, but couldn't find a 'hold my hand and explain like I'm stupid" explanation for what exactly the two inputs on the back of the cab are for and the difference between them, and which one is which?

David

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12/02/25 - Radical 112SW - USA

Just in case you don’t have a picture of the Radical underneath a full size Marshall style head. Here it is under my Suhr SL68.

Michael

31/01/25 - Radical 212H (Neo Copperback) - UK

Long time barefaced user here. Playing in the band ‘Mums’. Two loud and deep tunes guitar with 100w valves heads both with the 2x12 cabs with Neo Copperbacks.

We LOVE our cabs, and anyone we play with is always in awe of how loud they are and how light they are!!

Jack & Roanne (Mums)

22/01/25 - Radical 212H - USA

I just got my second Barefaced Radical 212H, this one loaded with the Neo Creambacks. I'm still stunned, even being an owner/operator already, at the total superiority of your designs. I went with the Neos because I'm periodically forced to load into my house ahead of gigs, and access is down uneven stone steps, often in the dark, and sometimes there are booby traps. The full-range-ness of the cab, the richness of sound spreading in the room is hard to describe in guitar terms, because it's unique. It's simply so much better, that there aren't even really points of comparison between my AVD cabs and the traditional cabs I've used. They include vintage and special editions from Mesa/Boogie and Orange, loaded with a variety of Celestions, Webers, and Eminences. The AVD cabs are just better in every way. I'm pretty stunned at the consistent sound between the two cabs I have, which are loaded with very different drivers. The first one has an H75 and DV77 combo, and the second is dual Neo Creams. They match each other remarkably well, which was a pleasant surprise. 

I also want to say, I love the YouTube channel. Not only are the cabs better, but I'm beginning to understand why. My only request is more high-gain content. I think many of us metal folk are up our own asses about tone a little bit, but it is true that under gain, speaker voices can change everything (and still further once they are miced as normal). I really think your cabs are the shit for metal and hope we all catch up to the curve. 

And another thing! I've noticed in your comparison videos between classic cabs and AVD cabs is how revealing the AVDs are of the voice of the speakers in question. When comparing the T75s, no one's favorite speaker for metal (though, for me, a solid choice for R&B), the Radical spoke in the voice I expected to hear from a close-miced speaker but at a distance in the room. Thoroughly exciting stuff. One of these days I'll have to get a pair of Upsizings!

Thank you again.

Max