Avatar or Greenboy?

[Brother Goose]

I believe Avatar is the best value in mass produced bass cabs. They hold there own against any of the "Big Boxes"- but certainly not in the same league as the Greenboy/Fearful where purity of sound are concerned.

I'm actually VERY torn between buying a pair of Avatar 210 cabs or going whole-hog on a 15/6... are there any similar designs for JBL woofers I already own? I wouldn't expect my cabs to be anymore exciting that a pair of Thieles- but at least they would match up well and the addition of a good 6 inch driver would cover all the high end I need... oh wait, I play 6 strings... let's do the 1" too!

Guess I'll have to knock on Bill's door! (burningskies)

 

[BurningSkies]

I believe Avatar is the best value in mass produced bass cabs. They hold there own against any of the "Big Boxes"- but certainly not in the same league as the Greenboy/Fearful where purity of sound are concerned.

I'm actually VERY torn between buying a pair of Avatar 210 cabs or going whole-hog on a 15/6... are there any similar designs for JBL woofers I already own? I wouldn't expect my cabs to be anymore exciting that a pair of Thieles- but at least they would match up well and the addition of a good 6 inch driver would cover all the high end I need... oh wait, I play 6 strings... let's do the 1" too!

Guess I'll have to knock on Bill's door! (burningskies)

Hey Gus,

I agree that the Avatar is a great deal for many players in that price point. They sound as good as many other 'name' production cabs. That said, they use standard sized boxes with different baffles which isn't necessarily what you REALLY want, but then I think that many companies do that.

The bad news is that the GB FF designs are really built around the 3015LF drivers. I would think there would be a TON of heavy lifting in the box, port and crossover design to get to the same stage with other drivers, and it would all depend upon the driver and the mid, etc. Part of what makes these work is the huge amount of excursion in the 3015LF...Again any time you want to spend some time with my cabs, let me know. I have a place out in Camillus for playing. I don't think you've ever had a chance to really spend time with them. Also, I'm guessing that a single 15/6 would probably be plenty for you in terms of volume/size...although I know you'd want a tweeter, which I don't have on mine.

 

[singlemalt]

I might add that the 3015 LF is a very different animal than the 3015. When I was building I experimented with both drivers. The 3015 LF by itself is not suitable for bass.

There were lots of tweaks and ideas back in early days. I ran my horns off my GK's biamp high side rather than building the three way crossover. That gave me total control at the amp. Some guys used biamp configurations with variable crossover frequencies. Part of the beauty of an open source design, and a bunch of eager DIY guys.

At some point, I'll probably revisit my crossovers and use the latest design to make my 15/6/1's into PA. Does anybody know what frequency the horn starts at now? I though 5or6K was kind of on the high side.

I need to get over to the Greenboy site and see what's really going on!

My 12/6 doesn't have a horn, and uses the inexpensive Alpha 6 mid. Huge bang for the buck. I don't miss the horn at all, and I'm playing 6 string. It's the lows and mids that work so well. Plenty of highs there.

There have always been naysayers at this party. I try to keep my opinion to what I've experienced along the way. It has been a fun trip.

 

[Adam Wright]

I got the Avatar TB153 with Line-X and a sweet Fender style grill cloth for something like $750 shipped. I use it weekly on the road and it kills. The sonic subtleties will be lost on most everyone, especially the audience. If you want Greenboy then go for it but the Avatar is a killer cab and the best value out there for the money IMO.

 

[will33]

I might add that the 3015 LF is a very different animal than the 3015. When I was building I experimented with both drivers. The 3015 LF by itself is not suitable for bass.

There were lots of tweaks and ideas back in early days. I ran my horns off my GK's biamp high side rather than building the three way crossover. That gave me total control at the amp. Some guys used biamp configurations with variable crossover frequencies. Part of the beauty of an open source design, and a bunch of eager DIY guys.

At some point, I'll probably revisit my crossovers and use the latest design to make my 15/6/1's into PA. Does anybody know what frequency the horn starts at now? I though 5or6K was kind of on the high side.

I need to get over to the Greenboy site and see what's really going on!

My 12/6 doesn't have a horn, and uses the inexpensive Alpha 6 mid. Huge bang for the buck. I don't miss the horn at all, and I'm playing 6 string. It's the lows and mids that work so well. Plenty of highs there.

There have always been naysayers at this party. I try to keep my opinion to what I've experienced along the way. It has been a fun trip.

The plain old Alpha 6 is one of my favorite mids, it just plain works and sounds good, expensive or not (it's not). I'm using mine in my 3-way (non fearful) PA cabs. It's amazing how much of the tone comes from that mid. The woofers and tweeters just kind of fill things out, but the mid is the tone, the sound. Granted, there's louder, more expensive, "more pure" stuff out there, but those things just plain work, in a PA or a bass cab. No filtering or stuff needed, just run like they are. You have to spend at least twice as much to get a little better, and you might be the only one who notices the better.

Faital makes a 6pr110 I've been curious about for quite some time, but still have never tried. It's $100.