Bass Gear Review: Intro & Avatar B212 Neo Cab

I was recently invited to reform Silent Film with guitarists Brad and Chad. I also recently bought a whole new bass rig. I wanted to give some reviews of the gear on here. I never fully trusted the reviews on merchant sites like Amazon or Musician's Friend. So hopefully someone finds these of some use or at least more interesting than my usual snake ramblings.

I ordered the B212 in August 2007 for $380. I choose the brown Tolex (an extra $39) 8ohm version rated at 500w RMS. It is loaded with two 12" custom Eminence neodymium speakers plus a tweeter. With two 1/4 inch inputs, a Speakon connector, and a tweeter volume control on the back. A nice array of features and the only things I can knock it on here is not having a second Speakon connector. The construction quality is very high on this cabinet. Weighing in at 56lbs. this cab is lighter but still solid. It is pretty well balanced, making it easier to carry, and feels rugged. There are recessed steel handles and large rubber covers on the corners. These corner guards are ridged to add traction and to interlock if stacked with another cab. The front is covered with a metal grill that is held in place very securely with 8 screws and rubber spacers to prevent rattling. There is a 12db Mylar crossover...which admittedly I had no clue about! Customer service was good but all I did was place an order. They only accept phone or email orders so those of us who are accustomed to fancy, super secure online stores might feel a little weary. Rest assured they are legit and handle all your info very securely. Shipping was pretty fast, 5 business days cross country, and cheap, $42.

As for the important stuff. This cab sounds great! I have played my current amp, a GK 1001-RB II(review to come), through a few different cabinets at Guitar Center. Off the top of my head there were GKs, Ampeg, a Mesa, and Mark Bass. The only ones that were close are the GKs and the Mark Bass cabs which are at least twice the price. The B212 uses custom Eminence neodymium speakers which have a much longer cone travel than most other bass drivers. This allows fuller low frequency response from the 12" speakers. The sound lives up to these claims. The low B on my five string no longer invoked that almost toneless woofing rumble. Instead it now sounded much more musical and full but still retained it's growl. In fact I noticed an improvement in the E string as well. Silent Film plays in drop D, formerly in the string tension nightmare of drop C, and the better bass response gave a little extra power to the open D. The mids were impressive as well. These 12"s gave enough punch to rival most 10" speakers out there. While not enough to coax a slap happy bassist from his 10" punch machine, it is more than enough to let this cab stand on its own and cut through the rest of the mix. With the tweeter volume at about 9 O'clock I found the highs to be just right. Crisp and clear with just a little sparkle. With the tweeter turned off the cab did sound a little dull. At full volume the tweeter produced highs that were too much for my taste but I could see them being usable in other settings and for other players. As far as volume goes this cab is pretty damn loud. My finger style is pretty quite and I normally find myself turning the amp up as the guitarists really start to crank those tubes. But at last practice with this cab I was good from start to finish. There is a whistling at very high volumes. I have read that this is caused by air being forced out of unused 1/4" jacks. There are special screw on covers you can purchase to stop this or I've heard an ear plug does the trick nicely. Really, I don't see it being a problem in a band setting as the whistling is not that loud.

Overall I am very happy with the Avatar B212 Neo. So happy that I ordered a 2 10" Neo cab from Avatar the day after this one arrived. The 10"s should help give that little extra punch this cab is missing. Also, with the two 8ohm cabs I can run my amp at full power, 700w at 4ohms! I will post a review of the B210 once it arrives. Things that could be better about this cab? Like I said, casters would be nice and another Speakon connector for those tricky configurations on stage. I also would like a cloth grill cover as opposed to the metal. Cloth always looks more classy and finished to me and the option would have been nice. I do like the custom colors of Tolex and they even have an option to coat it in Line-X which is used to protect truck beds. As for the sound, I think these Eminence 12"s are squeezing the most tone and volume you can from a 12" speaker. Plus the Neodymium magnets save your back from completely breaking. I would bet hard cash that a better cab cannot be found for this price.

Avatar Speakers