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GR Bass review

#41
edfriedland said:
My demo is out, link in the above post. But more than the demo, I've actually had some gigs (miracles never cease!) to try it on, and the One 350/208 setup is really making me happy. The gigs have been full bands, but not hard rock/metal volume... Both outdoor venues, so no room dynamics to help out, just that rig in the open air. The GR Bass "mini rig" (that's what I call it) kicked ass, plain and simple. And having the chance to play the same venue, with the same band, but swapping out the wood 208 for the graphite one made the sonic advantage very clear. The tone isn't noticeably different, but the projection and punch were increased with the AT model.

The Mavericks have some acoustic shows coming up and my Greenboy F215 is going to be too much, so I'm going to plug in an AT112 with a ONE 800 head for those gigs.
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Ok... who else had absolutely no idea Ed Friedland is on TalkBass?!?
 
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#44
Proud owner!
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#45
@johnpaulbass, as you already know - we're waiting for your detailed review ideally with some sound samples on this side of the pond! There is so little uploaded material on YT of the AT cabs, particularly the AT 212/4 Slim 900W model that you have, weighing in at just 29 lbs!

@edfriedland - have to 'fess that your Fearless F112 review certainly reinforced my decision to get that cab and what a great cab! If you're talking about the GR cabs as being in the same league, that's a huge vote of confidence. But am I correct that you have the original non-AT 208 model, not the carbon graphite AT version?
 
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#46
Al Krow said:
@johnpaulbass, as you already know - we're waiting for your detailed review ideally with some sound samples on this side of the pond! There is so little uploaded material on YT of the AT cabs, particularly the AT 212/4 Slim 900W model that you have, weighing in at just 29 lbs!

@edfriedland - have to 'fess that your Fearless F112 review certainly reinforced my decision to get that cab and what a great cab! If you're talking about the GR cabs as being in the same league, that's a huge vote of confidence. But am I correct that you have the original non-AT 208 model, not the carbon graphite AT version?
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I won’t compare them to Greenboy, they’re coming from different places, but I think the GR stuff performs exceptionally well. I want to try their larger rigs, but for this small size/weight/power, the GR rig is really doing it for me.

I have the regular 208 but I was sent an AT to evaluate and demo. They both sound great, but I’m coveting the graphite.
 
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#47
edfriedland said:
I won’t compare them to Greenboy, they’re coming from different places, but I think the GR stuff performs exceptionally well. I want to try their larger rigs, but for this small size/weight/power, the GR rig is really doing it for me.

I have the regular 208 but I was sent an AT to evaluate and demo. They both sound great, but I’m coveting the graphite.
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Actually, I'm probably not alone in saying that it would be greatly appreciated if you compared the GR cabinets with the Greenboys. If possible, it would also be nice to know if you were able to hear any sort of cabinet resonance in the graphite GRs, given that there seems to be some question about their lack of traditional damping material. Watching your GR Mini Rig review right now!
 
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#48
Al Krow said:
@johnpaulbass, as you already know - we're waiting for your detailed review ideally with some sound samples on this side of the pond! There is so little uploaded material on YT of the AT cabs, particularly the AT 212/4 Slim 900W model that you have, weighing in at just 29 lbs!

@edfriedland - have to 'fess that your Fearless F112 review certainly reinforced my decision to get that cab and what a great cab! If you're talking about the GR cabs as being in the same league, that's a huge vote of confidence. But am I correct that you have the original non-AT 208 model, not the carbon graphite AT version?
Click to expand...

Sadly at home I don't have any mic's so I could do a sound review. In the near future I will try to get a good mic and record myself.
What I can say about this cab is that she completely blew me away. It's of course ridiculously light, but what I like the most is the huge power, the fantastic response and it does not color the sound at all. It's very clean, hi fi sounding which I tend to like more then other brands I used to own.
If you're looking for a cab that adds its own character (like i.e. Ampeg) this is not the cab for you. What I do love about GR is that passes the sound of the bass exactly as if it was put through a DI
 
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#49
GR Bass Staff said:
The foam is designed to recreate the natural sound characteristics of wood, instead the internal carbon fiber layer is designed to limit the resonances.
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I have an AT210 and AT112H. Had them since last year, but have only rehearsed so far with 210 due to virus. The 112 had resonance issues and was replaced by GR bass in Italy( I'm in the UK). The replacement has no resonances as far as I can tell at home, but my D800 vibrates on top of the cab when the volume is turned up. Some neoprene rubber under the amp seems to fix this. My 210 was brilliant, but it too was replaced due to tolex peel....I think it was an older version cab... possibly from NAM demo. The replacement is great so far. Cant wait to gig these cabs, really liking them so much, but need some gigs to fully check. I have been using Barefaced cabs for the last 10 years, and liked them, but the GR's sound better to me....cleaner, the 210 goes louder than my 2 x BFone10's and handle the low B cleaner.
Great customer service from GR wrt replacing the cabs.
IMG_20200611_180846.jpg
 
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#50
MOSCOWBASS said:
I have been using Barefaced cabs for the last 10 years, and liked them, but the GR's sound better to me....cleaner, the 210 goes louder than my 2 x BFone10's and handle the low B cleaner.
Great customer service from GR wrt replacing the cabs.
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Well coming from someone who knows BF cabs as well as you, that's high praise indeed. I can see an AT212/4 ticking a lot of boxes!

I've got a slightly odd concern about the AT212 Slim - it does look it like it could be easily knocked over, which could be fatal to an amp perched on it! And for that reason alone I'm also thinking about the regular AT212/4 even though it doesn't have quite the same power handling.
 
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#51
Al Krow said:
Well coming from someone who knows BF cabs as well as you, that's high praise indeed. I can see an AT212/4 ticking a lot of boxes!

I've got a slightly odd concern about the AT212 Slim - it does look it like it could be easily knocked over, which could be fatal to an amp perched on it! And for that reason alone I'm also thinking about the regular AT212/4 even though it doesn't have quite the same power handling.
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There is one for sale second hand at Bass Direct just now
 
#53
You can spot one of the AT cabs (112 perhaps?) in the background of a photo posted by Chad from The Bass Shop here in Seattle earlier this morning. Looks like one of the GR amps on top of it too. The shop is a mile from my house. I should go down and take it for a spin and report back. I'm waiting on a custom Dingwall order to come in, which will hopefully be any day now. If that comes in before the AT is gone I'll definitely take it for a test drive.

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#56
Al Krow said:
So here's my concern - just watch this for a few seconds and see just how easy it seems to be to knock over the 212/4 slim. Am I being unnecessarily worried about this issue?
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I think thats just something to be aware about. I could knock my 2x10 over in the front to back direction quite easily....they are lightweight cabs. My 2x BF one10 stack was probably more vulnerable.
 
#57
Agreed, if it was just me playing at home, I'd be relaxed. But bandmates and punters are less easy to police, and even swivelling around and knocking the cab, or pulling on a lead in a live setting could potentially topple the rig.

It would take considerable intention to knock over a BF BB2 which is the same weight. It's more the design of the 212 Slim that seems to me to be inherently unstable. Not sure whether GR bass gave this point too much thought, but it's one of those boring practical points that can make a real difference: you only get to drop your amp head once onto a hard surface and it's game over for the amp.
 
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#58
Al Krow said:
Agreed, if it was just me playing at home, I'd be relaxed. But bandmates and punters are less easy to police, and even swivelling around and knocking the cab, or pulling on a lead in a live setting could potentially topple the rig.

It would take considerable intention to knock over a BF BB2 which is the same weight. It's more the design of the 212 Slim that seems to me to be inherently unstable. Not sure whether GR bass gave this point too much thought, but it's one of those boring practical points that can make a real difference: you only get to drop your amp head once onto a hard surface and it's game over for the amp.
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If you play wireless then the lead isn’t much of an issue, punters are unlikely to pull the Speakon at the back. Granted if your amp has a footswitch it could be a problem, but if your footswitch isn’t fixed to the floor it’s likely that will travel as opposed to the amp.

You can Velcro the head to the cab as per pedals on pedalboards which will mitigate some give.

Unless the speakers cannot go that way it looks like it could go sideways instead of up ways as the tweeter is inbetween the 2 12” speakers thus being more stable (BF 210 can be upright or on its side as an example).

You dont need to have the amp on top of the cab (often it is for ease) it can be next too it thus preventing the pull off. If you like changes on the fly to your sound, if you have an on Board EQ on your bass then the amp being hidden is less of an issue.
 
#60
All reasonable points, but the more straightforward solution for me is simply to go for the normal i.e. non-slim version and not to have to worry about the stability of the cab. Laying it on its side with such low clearance off the floor loses some of the key benefits of having a stacked 2x12 and frankly increases the risk of tripping up over the thing / taking up unnecessary stage space.

The normal 212 has a 51cm x 35cm footprint which isn't too dissimilar to the BF BB2 (45cm x 37cm), which I have no particular concerns about. Ok that maxes out at 700W rather than the 900W of the slim, but as we all know we would need to get to 7,000W to be twice as loud as 700W so the extra 30% wattage is likely to be only marginally different in actual volume difference and the two cabs are the same weight.

Besides, such a slim cab would likely provide an unflattering contrast to the figure of the bass player standing in front of it my case :laugh:
 
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