I was going to get another orange tolex cab to go with my 212 but I found this one locally for a price I just couldn't resist. Now I'm all set for Halloween. 
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Avatar Owners Club Pt. 2
- Thread starter J. Crawford
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FedEx says my B410NEO arrives today! I have rehursal tonight, and the studio has superb vintage gear so I might not have a band/rehursal review until next week. Still, I'll try and get pics and initial impressions up tonight.
Also, my Carvin 810 hasn't sold yet, so I can compare my new and old rig!
Update on 9/03
Fed ex tried to deliver to a business at 6:00, so of course I didn't get it. Hopefully today
Also, my Carvin 810 hasn't sold yet, so I can compare my new and old rig!
Update on 9/03
Fed ex tried to deliver to a business at 6:00, so of course I didn't get it. Hopefully today
All right, I'm in! The cab came a couple of hours ago, and I took it home over my lunch break to check it out.
First sonic impressions of my my New 8ohm B410NEO with my Peavey VB2 and Psuedo decade with Dual Darkstars:
Sounds great. It's a bit tighter sounding than my Carvin 810, and seems to have nice clear lows. (For the record, the 810 didn't lack anything to my ears, it was just too big.) It's nice and smooth with the tweeter off, and should fit really well into my country band. With gain all the way up and master about 70% it roared, but didn't fart out at all, even on the E string. Engaging the OD channel seemed to push it closer to the edge, but it didn't seem to be farting out their either.
Visual/physical Inspection:
Looks very much like a vintage Fender guitar cab. Blonde, Chrome corners, Oxblood grill and white piping. The tolex is well done. The piping isn't perfectly even, but I want to see some other amps before I know if this is standard or sloppy. The oxblood grill and fender-esqe' script logo is really striking, boxed in by the blonde tolex and white piping. The chrome screws holding in the grill detract slightly from the vintage appearance, but not much. I may try and find some plastic screw caps for them.
Manageablility:
It's very light and fits easily into my car. It seems smaller than other 4x10's, but that could be my imagination. I've no reason to assume the tolex is particularly fragile but I already feel anxious about damaging my beautiful blonde cab, so I'm definitely going to get a cover for this and build it a dolly.
How and why I chose Avatar:
My prefered tone is fairly vintage, non-hifi, and "round". I'm not going to settle for bottom of the line stuff, but in truth there are a quite a few 4x10" cabs in my price range (4-600) that will do what I need sonically (600+ watts, punchy, handle the lows with some clarity and smooth out nicely), so weight and appearance were the real deciding factors.
Maybe it's shallow, but I really wanted something vintage looking that will stand out on stage from all the other black carpet and metal bass cabs. Seeking neo drivers (for weight) a non-standard tolex finish, and not wanting an expanded metal grill pretty much brought the choice down to Carvin and Avatar, or buying something else and recovering it. Carvin's new small hole metal grills are nice, but when I saw the avatar optional grills and piping I was sold. I ended up spending $609 (including shipping) to have this shipped to my door and it seems to be cash well spent.
My wife has the camera and is out of town til tomorrow, so no pics til the weekend. After I've had some time, put a few more basses and amps into it and had a few gigs, I'll do a more thorough review .
First sonic impressions of my my New 8ohm B410NEO with my Peavey VB2 and Psuedo decade with Dual Darkstars:
Sounds great. It's a bit tighter sounding than my Carvin 810, and seems to have nice clear lows. (For the record, the 810 didn't lack anything to my ears, it was just too big.) It's nice and smooth with the tweeter off, and should fit really well into my country band. With gain all the way up and master about 70% it roared, but didn't fart out at all, even on the E string. Engaging the OD channel seemed to push it closer to the edge, but it didn't seem to be farting out their either.
Visual/physical Inspection:
Looks very much like a vintage Fender guitar cab. Blonde, Chrome corners, Oxblood grill and white piping. The tolex is well done. The piping isn't perfectly even, but I want to see some other amps before I know if this is standard or sloppy. The oxblood grill and fender-esqe' script logo is really striking, boxed in by the blonde tolex and white piping. The chrome screws holding in the grill detract slightly from the vintage appearance, but not much. I may try and find some plastic screw caps for them.
Manageablility:
It's very light and fits easily into my car. It seems smaller than other 4x10's, but that could be my imagination. I've no reason to assume the tolex is particularly fragile but I already feel anxious about damaging my beautiful blonde cab, so I'm definitely going to get a cover for this and build it a dolly.
How and why I chose Avatar:
My prefered tone is fairly vintage, non-hifi, and "round". I'm not going to settle for bottom of the line stuff, but in truth there are a quite a few 4x10" cabs in my price range (4-600) that will do what I need sonically (600+ watts, punchy, handle the lows with some clarity and smooth out nicely), so weight and appearance were the real deciding factors.
Maybe it's shallow, but I really wanted something vintage looking that will stand out on stage from all the other black carpet and metal bass cabs. Seeking neo drivers (for weight) a non-standard tolex finish, and not wanting an expanded metal grill pretty much brought the choice down to Carvin and Avatar, or buying something else and recovering it. Carvin's new small hole metal grills are nice, but when I saw the avatar optional grills and piping I was sold. I ended up spending $609 (including shipping) to have this shipped to my door and it seems to be cash well spent.
My wife has the camera and is out of town til tomorrow, so no pics til the weekend. After I've had some time, put a few more basses and amps into it and had a few gigs, I'll do a more thorough review .
That Carvin 810 has been tempting me since you're so close. It wouldn't be an exact match for my BR810 but two Carvin 810s powered by a B1500 would be sick. I'd offer my Avatar B212 in a trade but it wouldn't match your B410 very well at all (mine is covered in carpet and has the steel grill). That B410 is probably plenty enough as it is.
Has anyone here have/used 2 Avatar 2x12's? I have one and love it. However, for a second cab I am thinking about getting another. What do you guys think?
A matching cab would be a good idea; a lot of posts that I've come across stress that matched cabs will typically sound much better than mixed cab configurations. A tower of four 12" drivers would be unbelievable.
Give in to temptation...
Another 2x12 would be great, but you might want to try a 4x10 for a bit of sonic variety. The "Bass Guitar" mag review reported that the two cabs together were very effective. This was the article that really sealed my decision to go with the 410 rather than the 212.
http://www.avatarspeakers.com/Bass Guitar Magazine.htm
Here's some phone pics. Better pics to come this weekend.
it's a g 4x10 Dave put neos in a geetar cab for me , it's a little smaller , non-ported and sounds killer .
IMO I don't see Avatar as "Entry Level" but another brand. The original Avatars Betas were clones of SWR...the new SWR neos are clones of Avatars....Neos do not have the initial lows as a traditional magnet BUT they handle more power and you can use EQ to regain the lows while still remaining light. I Have A/b my 2x 410 with Ampeg 810e and SWR neo 410.
They outperformed Ampeg in sound and power handling let alone when it comes to moving and they are almost identical to SWR neo with the Avatars having a more power handling and better control over the mids due to the cross over design
But as earlier mentioned...you may not like the sound of NEOs B4 eq
That is similar to the Marcus Miller Golite except you have no horn
Cool !
OP # please
That's cool. It's essentially like my first bass cabinet that I built for myself in 1975. A non-ported 4x10 box with bass drivers in it (I used 10in BIC Venturi woofers).
Mine sounded good too, except the speakers were pretty inefficient and the cabinet quickly reached a point where it wouldn't get any louder no matter how much power you put in.
OMG! Im totally gassing on all the new options for avatar cabs(I know Im a lil late). I think I know where half my tax return is going. I already know exactlt what I want, a neo 212 8 ohm with burgundy tolex, the silver grille, and gold stripping, it'll look straight pimp son!
I've used a stack of 2 - 2x12 (Avatar Neo SB 212s) - works just peachy. Plenty loud. What you want with 15"s but close to the responsiveness of 10"s. Plenty of dance floor shaking rumble. Now in answer the other posts that suggest pairing a 4x10 with a 2x12..folks swear by that as well. I've never tried so I simply don't know.
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