Have Avatar B210 Neo, what Shuttle should I look at?

AlexD · #1 09-01-2010, 12:19 PM

So I've been using a power/pre combo for a little less than a year now, and as much as I love the tone, the weight and the size kill me when I live in a small apartment. I've got a keen eye looking at the GB Shuttles, and I know there's a bunch of small form factor head nuts here. I'm currently using an Avatar B210 Neo (8 ohm) for my cab, and I'd love to keep that because it's by far my favorite cab, but I'm unsure of which flavor of the Shuttle to pair it with. Eventually I'd like to end up getting another 210 (I play in some punk bands that require the volume), but I also want to be flexible enough to play with just the one cab for my quieter projects. I'm a little worried about under/over powering (the Avatar is 500W at 8 Ohms), so I figured it's a question worth asking. Any recommendations or input would be invaluable.

cap'n crunk · #2 09-01-2010, 12:35 PM

IIRC, it's not actually possible to "underpower" a cab. (At rehearsal I play through a Mesa M6 Carbine -- 600w @ 4 ohms -- hooked up to an Ampeg 8x10 cab -- handles 800w, is 4 ohm; sounds great. I've also hooked up a solid state, 350w SVT head to the 8x10; still sounds great, no problems, just not quite as liver-rupturingly loud, but close.) For bass frequencies, remember, you need to double the output wattage in order to experience a rather minor uptick in decibels produced. It is possible to hook up a head to a cabinet not rated to handle the load, though. You would probably be set with a Shuttle 6.0 (rated 600w @ 4 ohms, 375w @ 8 ohms) or 9.0 (900w @ 4, 500w @ 8). You'd be good to go whether you went with one or two of the Avatar cabs in either case; the question is how loud do you want to be and how much low end do you want on tap? Keep in mind that both of them are beasts, so at that point it comes down to $$$ ... and whether you want your head to be silver or black.

noahw1 · #3 09-01-2010, 02:55 PM

I use a 6.0 with two neo b210 cabs and i think it sounds great. i do tend to have to push the amp a little more when playing with just one cab but it gets the job done. when i use both cabs forget about it - plenty loud.

WJGreer · #4 09-01-2010, 04:01 PM

If you get a 9.0, you'll have enough push to get decent output out of the one 210 cabinet. Then, when you are ready, buy another 210 just like the one you've got. That 9.0 through the two 210s would be an adequate rig for just about any gig not in a football stadium!

phillipkregg · #5 09-01-2010, 04:07 PM

My advice is get at least a 500 watt amp for it.

I've got the GB Shuttle 3 along with the same cab you have. It pumps 150 watts into the 8 Ohm cabinet, and sounds great - but, if you have a loud guitard or drummer, than you will have problems being heard.

I played a church gig last week with my setup, and we are not normally loud at all, but this time we had a cranked 6-stringer and I had to push my amp to clipping levels to even hear myself.

Go for the Shuttle 6 - or even better, the Shuttle 9.0.

Sav'nBass · #6 09-01-2010, 04:14 PM

I have a 6.0.. I love it.. but if I had it to do now I'd get a 9.0.. just for the extra room..

WJGreer · #7 09-01-2010, 04:26 PM

One other point - the 3.0 and 6.0 are designed primarily to work in the "shuttle combo" environment, and they are designed to have a slightly attenuated low end in order to work the best with the smaller shuttle cabinets. The 9.0 does not have an attenuated low end (at all...), and if you end up with a 2x210 setup, you might prefer the 9.0's tonality.

thudfromafar · #8 09-01-2010, 05:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WJGreer

One other point - the 3.0 and 6.0 are designed primarily to work in the "shuttle combo" environment, and they are designed to have a slightly attenuated low end in order to work the best with the smaller shuttle cabinets. The 9.0 does not have an attenuated low end (at all...), and if you end up with a 2x210 setup, you might prefer the 9.0's tonality.

The smaller shuttles were not necessarily designed for their combos, just for their intended application.

Also moving the bass EQ knobs and using the Bass filter will negate the higher bass filters on the smaller shuttles.

The 375/600 watt shuttle 6.0 should be plenty, considering the avatar speakers only take about 100 watts each before they run out of excursion and therefore more power is generally useless...

**jlepre** · #9 09-01-2010, 06:10 PM

Shuttle 6 is what you need. Running just the one 8 ohm cab will be fine for most small rooms at 300 watts. If you add another 8 ohm cab it will really be pushing some air at 600 watts.

I am speaking from experience, as I used to own that amp.

I'm personally eyeing the Shuttle 9, but I'm going to be running 2 Epifani UL210 cabs utilizing the full 900 watts.