They are getting ripe the same time.
They look similar but not exactly as you can make your own opinion,seen the pixes taken today..
These 2 cultivars deserve 10 out of 10,in everything,taste Flavor rain tolerance,etc,except in cold Hardness,where Kathleen black is an 8,and Maltese Falcon is a 7.
Yet for dedicated Gardeners growing them in cold climate i assure you is very possible.

herman,

if KB breba ripens now, when does the main crop start?

pete

I just ate the only 2 Kathleen Black breba a couple of days ago. One was
terriable, tasteless. The second one was good. No main crop has popped 
out and if they do it will probably be too late in my climate. It is a very nice shaped tree but so far has been a poor fruiter. I raised 3 cuttings sent to
me this spring that are now nice bushy plants but with a bad case of FMV. The idea is that maybe they will produce some figs when they mature.

Peg
Z6, CT  

My main crop is in the stagnant stage and they will be ripe at about August 15,on a reasonable adult tree(5yrs old now).
Peg:you have to wait till the tree mature to Know what this tree is all about.
My plant showed signs of mosaic virus initially when young but last year and present year is totally healthy.The tree is inground.
At This point I think the leaves were distorted from stress,not being adapted here ,and not FMV.
Here is a pix:

I just got through watering my Kathleen Black. I'm actually surprised it is alive. When it arrived from Gene, last year it was potted and grew to be a nice big healthy tree.

Can't describe the Flavor,but I can tell you,that in my climate ,the fruits were top of the chart.
If it has enough heat to get ripe in your climate then you will find out.
It is the best a fruit can taste,and can compete against any other fruit,fig or something else.
I had fruits last year,and I had another couple of Brebas 10 days ago,from a tree I have in pot,and it tasted wonderful,not like Peg 's fruits.

Hi Herman. What is the cold hardiness scale? Does a 7 or 8 live outside in our zone uncovered or does get a lot of damage?

out of three tresss, KB is the only one that didn't do anything for me. it has fig embryo, but it's not growing out like paradiso or VdB. i guess i'll have to wait till next year to see what happens.

pete

71GTO, My impression from having it in ground in our zone 5 last year, It would have frozen to the ground and maybe would have completely died., if it had not been buried. Then we still lost about 40% of the plant.

Herman2, those are two very nice cultivars that you have there.  Thank you for the many reports from your fig trials.  I definitely see why you are 70% sure that KB and BB10 are the same fig or closely related.

Dan
Semper Fi-cus

71GTO:It was always covered every year so I do not know how it will perform without winter protection.
With cover it was performing well,with minimal damage,and the plant is still a teenager,when 5 years old.
I am going to protect this one,and Maltese Falcon,which is on the same level as quality and taste, till is 7 years old,because it deserves it,and I want to make sure I have ripe fruits from these 2, every year.

H2,

It's nice to see the pics & hear your report on these two varieties.

These are still on my wish list. Maybe next season.

I look forward to seeing pictures of the cut ripe fruit.

Bill:I took pixes now because these first fruits usually disappear,without a trace.
I like to harvest them totally ripe when the skin start wrinkling a little.
Then the flavor and sweetness is at maximum level.
I already POSTED PIXIES OF INTERIOR LAST YEAR.
It is  light red,inside on breba.

Thanks V. I'll do a forum search to check out your pics from last season.

By the way. One of the MBVS cuttings I got from you in winter of 09/10 shot up to about 4' last summer. It's growth this season has been nearly zero but it does have three fruits on it. We'll see if any of them make it.

Good thread Herman2. Thanks. At least there is more info on these 2 excellent variants now. Any chance you can confirmed KB is "Noire de Caromb" ?

The Maltese falcon has one nice breba on my tree. It had quite a few figs and then suddenly temp dropped & so did the figs. I have been keeping an eagle eye on it  & I hope no critters get to it. Also, even though its a breba, the colour is interesting - more on the dark side. Unfortunately my KB(2nd season) has yet to give me any figs. Hopefully next season.

My MBVS is putting out fantastic growth & branching. Tree well laden with main crop figs. It was left in-ground(2nd yr plant, last season) last year with no protection.

Paul:I can't confirm,that Kathleen Black is Noire de Caromb because I do not have Noire de Caromb.
Maybe someone with Noire de Caromb should list a pix,so we can see how it looks leaves and fruits.
There are some old pixies from Europe but I can't base my opinion on that tho the leaves and fruits look  similar.
Need to have recent pixies of Noire de Caromb,more detailed from somone on fig forum,to have an opinion.
Paul:Marseilles vs Blk,is a cultivar that produces and ripe,fruit easily in most climates,while Kathleen Black and Maltese Falcon,are a little more difficult to produce.
Yet I can tell you for sure:both do not need pollination,and are persistent on both crops.
From the point I made above the road, to successful ripe fruits,has a lot to do,with the amount of dedication,of each Gardener.

I like MVS and I have one in-ground & 2 in pots(one I have yet to send). The in-ground tree had a great burst of vigor. Grew well with lots of main crop figs.
Can't wait to taste them again.

Lets hope we get some pictures of Noire de Caromb. Hopefully I get to acquire a tree next season.

Here are the fruits above .
They were very good tasting,excellent for a Breba but not better than main crop.
The fruit in top along the ruler is Kathleen black and the other one is Maltese Falcon.

Edit Note: My Granddaughter wanted more of this figs ,so she went and looked inside tree and found another Kathleen Black I missed.
It is the first  picture:
You can see now that 5 years old know better than us ,adults when something is good.
I placed it in  the cooler to get cold,because it is 100F outside and she keep opening the Ref. door and looking at it.That is why I am saying it is worth growing,even tho is not as easy to grow like other cultivars.

Second edit Note:Upon My granddaughter find I looked again and found one more hiding there well hidden at the base of the tree.
So It seem that this cultivar did not drop any breba of which it started ,in the Spring.
It had six,2 were separated,with an air layer,and got ripe 2 weeks ago,and four got ripe now.
Here is the pix of last fig still hanging on the tree.

Nice looking Breba, I am sad to say my Kathleen Blk. went kaput this season im sure it had some winter damage in the roots because it still grew 7-8 leaves then died the trunk was all rotten below soilline.

OK Nelson:Contact me in the Fall,I will send you an envelope with cuttings if you can't get a tree  till then.

Thank you Vasile, If i cant get a plant from the same source I will definately let you know. Thanks

Nelson,  will try to layer on this year wood and if it takes it's yours. My tree is in 2nd season, started from cutting last season.

Herman,
My original Kathleen Black is now 4 yrs old and produced just the 2 breba
I mentioned. How old does this tree have to be to produce some figs.
I'm getting impatient. Its a nice healthy looking tree just taking up space.

Peg

Peg I have no Idea how long it takes in your climate ,in mine it produced a dozen main crop the second year,in ground,and this year it has about 30 main crop.