I am debating between the Avatar 410 (peak 1200w) from Avatar.com or the Madison 410 (peak 1600w) from Speakerhole.com . If this was your choice, which would you choose? I play mostly rock and funk on my Schecter Elite-5. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this, please give me your suggestions, or if you know of any other 410's under $300.
Dont know jack about the Madison's but the Avatar's rock for the bucks. 4 - Eminence Delta's, Fostex horn, 3/4" plywood, switchcraft jacks, mylar capacitor, etc.... All the right ingredience for a great cab plus the customoer service (Dave) can't be beat....
I've heard some REALLY bad things about the Madisons. I wouldn't risk that one, personally. I'd do the Avatar thing from what others have said about them.
i haven't heard of madison, but i've been using avatar for a couple of years now. for the money they are great gigging cabs. i use 2 2x10's and an aguilar db359 for almost any club or outdoor venue.
I have the Avatar 4x10 and the 1x15 with a Trace Elliot head. I love these cabinets. The are made very solid, and have a really nice punchy sound that hits you right in the chest.
Just got my 410 and 115 last week and I am really loving them. For the price you just can't miss. Really exceptional customer service too.
I looked at the speakerhole and madison web sites. Even if you get the best madison cabinet it still doesn't have the same quality of speakers that Dave at Avatar is using (madison's eminence loaded cabinet has legends vs. Deltas for Avatar). I have four Avatar cabinets...two Compact 115 bass cabs, a B112 bass cab and a G112 guitar cab...all sound great and are well built. Dave does provide excellent customer service and stands behind what he sells.
...or those shoes George Thorogood sang about. The Avatar is my choice. Exceptional value, and great sound. I haven't heard the Madisons, but as stated above, the Eminence Deltas are my preference over the Legends for bass Ronzo.
Avatars are good for the money spent but my question is are they as good as other amps. Are they reliable and do they give out good sound?
Don't forget that Avatar cabinets are just speaker cabinets. They have a characteristic sound, but the issues you seem to be concerned with are those associated with the amp head -- reliability and sound. I can tell you that with my G-K 400RB head, the Avatar B115 and B210 cabinets sound excellent. For me, they sound better than the Hartkes; I find the aluminum cones a little too bright. I haven't found any build quality issues to justify paying more for the Hartke XL series cabs. The speakers Avatar uses are an Eminence Kappa 15 in the B115 and Eminence Delta 10's plus a Fostex 4" horn in the B210. These are high-quality speakers that other players regard well for this application. JMO. Your mileage may vary. Ronzo
