Avatar B210 NEO Cabinet

Great cab! The neo 10s really pump and the tweeter really sings! This is the base model without tolex nor a cloth grill cover, but it still looks kickbutt from onstage with my Markbass micro mark sitting ontop of it.

Only thing I could complain about is the handles aren't 100% ergonomic. And that's about it. I gave it an 8 because cabs don't really have features :P

I'm running a Marcus Miller Jazz V through a Markbass micro mark head into the Neo 210. I play slap and fingerstyle, with a style that resembles Stuart Zender from the old Jamiroquai days. I must say, it sounds EXCELLENT. The neo surprised me, they really can pump out those lows without blowing. The mylar crossover and the fostex tweeter were quite a surprise. Clear, concise, and the best of all, no hiss!

I gave it a 9 because at 500W it doesn't quite handle the low B :P

I gigged with this cabinet for two months, but it blew out on me. I made sure I only pushed the amp to 400W, but regardless the speaker blew and almost started a fire during one of my outdoor shows. It may have been my fault, but it's a shame that the cab didn't last. Still love avatar though, there are lots of people who haven't had the misfortune that I did, and they sure love their rigs too :)

I bought my cab used, so I never really dealt with avatar themselves. I'll just give them a N/A for now.

Great cab, just one bad accident :(

Regardless of with or without the blow, it's a great cab and it served me well while it was still alive.

I already owned a B212 NEO. I liked the tone of it, especially with a Markbass amp, because it adds some thickness on it.

I liked it so much that I wanted to expand it and get more flexibility and more volume.

Unfortunately my B212 was a 4 ohms and the my amp cannot take anything beyong 4 Ohms. So I sold my former B212 and I got a new B210 and B212 8 Ohms.

The combination is made in heaven. Crisp, low and loud. Greater then the sum of the individual parts.

I would usually be happy with only a 410, but since I usualy play small gigs without going through PA, the 212 served me very well and
provide the earth quake I want.

The 212 sounds deep and clean, slightly lacking mids, and not exactly loud enough by itself for lour rock or funck. Very good for jazz or church though.

The 210 sounds more prominent then the 212, of course doesn't have as much low end as the 212, but still very good by itself. Most rock and jazz player would prefer this one over the 212.

The two of them is louder then a 410. It has the clarity and punch of the 10' but the dept and low end of 12'.

It doesn't have the thickness of a 410, but it is VERY LOUD, has more low end then the 212 by itself and the tone is driven by the 210.

The 10' are very funcky, won't go as high as the 10' on an SVT, but goes lower and has more thickness.

Those are PA drivers, not Bass Guitar drivers, but they sound just right for me.

I usually cut off completely both horn, and once in a while I turn the upper one to 8 o'cock.

I could not see the limit of these speakers because my amp is rated at 500W and it falls into protection mode way before damaging the drivers. It's loud though. Way loud enough for me.

What I like the best about this rig, is that I can use only the 210 for recording, or for small gig, or only the 212 if I want to play at church or a jazz gig. I wouldn't record from the 212 though. Sounds awesome in open spaces.

For mid gig, I use them both, the 210 stacked over the 212. The 210 seem more prominent, because it sounds more in your face, but the 212really add some earth quake and thickness.

I have to give Avatar a 10 for the value. I have tried many expensive speakers which had construction problems.

I have purchased 3 speakers from Avatar so far and did not have a problem.

Buyers beware. Avatar sells directly to musicians. You won't find the cabs at your local music store to try out. However the cabs seem like a good value. I was just about to buy from this company, unfortunately, Avatar doesn't have a trial period or return policy. Once you buy it, you're stuck with it like it or not. Other direct to musician competitors usually offer a ten day trial period which is especially helpful as it gives you a chance to hear it, otherwise you buy it blind or deaf. Avatar mostly has great reviews and a good rep, but the sound is in the ear of the beholder. It's too risky to spend your hard earned money and not have any recourse if you're not 100% satisfied.

Excerpt from the email from Dave at Avatar:
>>..we used to have a trial period for returns but
>> now that we have sold thousands of cabs and they have a
>> great rep and no one wants to return them anyway ...we
>> don't offer that anymore...it should be fine for
>> you...

If no one returns them anyway, then why not offer a trial period and take the risk out of it for the customer? I'd even pay for the return shipping if it didn't work out.

It's unfortunate; I had done much research and came to the conclusion that I was going to go with Avatar. Then the no trial period or return policy issue came up. Dave did answer my emails the same day, but had the attitude like, I don't need your business. Basically to me, it felt like he didn't need my business and didn't care if I would be satisfied or not with his product. Remember he's sold thousands, so, his product should be fine for me. OK Dave.

He suggested that, "...hopefully [I] can go to talkbass.com or harmony-central.com or any of the bass forums and see if anybody in [my] neighborhood has one [I] can try..." Read you loud and clear.

It weighs only 44 pounds and is rated for 500 watts. I think the best feature of Avatar Neo bass cabs is the combination of light weight and tone. I ordered it with black carpet but wish I had gotten the tolex covering. I also own the Avatar 410 and 212 Neo cabinets. I got them all with black carpet so I am stuck with em now. But I love em. They can???t be beat at this price.

The sound is perfect for small gigs or practice. Obviously, if you want a lot of low end you should pair this cab with 12 or 15 inch cabs or with the Avatar 410. I pair this cab with various Avatar and GK cabs depending on the venue. I power the cabs with an Ampeg SVT 1000 or a GK 1001RB-II biamp head. However, the KILLER combination I have found is this: I run my GK 1001RB-II head with the GK 212 Neo cabinet and the Avatar Neo 210. I stack the GK 212 on top of the Avatar 210 while running the GK cabinet in bi-amp mode and the Avatar Neo 210 in full range mode. This is KILLER for a bass rig its size. It is light weight with smooth response and clarity and is louder than any rig this size should be.

I have had these cabinets for a year-and-a-half and have had no problems yet. The plastic corners have cracked slightly but that has not compromised the cabinet structurally. Avatar might consider selling replacement parts for these corners since they seem a bit flimsy. Nevertheless, it is still a great cabinet. It should be noted the corners have not cracked on my Avatar 410 and 212 Neo cabinets.

Everyone knows their service is top notch. Guitar Center can not compete with Avatar. Why would anyone buy bass cabinets from Guitar Center when you can get them from Avatar?

This cabinet gets a 10 for performance and exceptional value minus one point for the cracked corners. I feel like I got a Lexus for the price of a Toyota. You might be able to find a better 210 for 2-3 times the price, but I would question whether the incremental improvement in sound justifies the disproportionate increase in price. If you want to spend a lot of money, apply your savings from purchasing Avatar cabinets toward a high end bass head.

OK - I got the B210 and B212 Neo's at the same time, no sense writing 2 reviews. Heard about them but never played thru them before ordering. Incredibly both got to my house within 4 days of ordering. Wired them up right away and I could hear what everybody was raving about. Unfortunately Avatar does not provide 2 speak-on conections per cabinet to run the two cabinets together. Used 1 speak-on from the head to the B210 and a quarter inch from there to the B212. Not fond of that feature. Tweater control has no indicator markings. Rear conection panel has no ratings or markings giving power and ohm data. Very plain and obviously economy minded.

I use a Warwick Thumb NT5 and Spector Euro 6LX thru an Ampeg SVT6PRO 1100 watt head with a BBE sonic maximizer in the rack. Both basses have their own sound signature so dialing in the EQ for each bass is the key here. Avatar horns are quite sensitive and doesnt take much to adjust the output to my taste. Since both cabs are 500 watts each they are a good match to the power I supply from the Ampeg. The 212's handle the low B nicely at 75% power (wont handle much more than that) and the 210's are clear reproducing the mids and highs. Good punch and nice response from these speakers. However you get out what you put in and if your instrument and/or amplfication is crapy then thats what you will hear. Dont blame the speakers.

Very reliable system. I player large and small bar rooms and these puppys fill the room very well. Like anything else if the room is really big then you go thru the house PA to.

New items so service issues have not come up HOWEVER the reputation Avatar has established already with customer support I dont forsee any issues there. If its anything like the great attutude from the guy who took my order and ansewred all my questions Im confidant that if there is a problem it will be handled well.

These cabinets are a good investment and for the price you pay you save tons on middleman mark-ups. It takes Mesa weeks to make a simple cabinet and ship it to you and you pay big bucks for the name. Avatar does the same but you have it in days at a fraction of the cost. These Avatars are inexpensive (I didnt say cheap)and are comparable to Mesa or Ampeg in sound quality and thats my opinion.

Great sound..very effective in all registers.

Sounds great..no distirtion unless I put it there..even at high volumes.

Looks Bulletproof..

These guys are what customer service is all about..I ordered it on a monday afternon and I was playing it Thursday nigh..outstanding.

I got the 8 ohm an I run it with a Ashdown 4x10..run by a Carvin BX1200..and a Ibanez SD500 Active Bass (really loud) a MXR M80 adn a Roctron Gainiac for overdrive..(better than any bass distortion) and inhuman amount of power..I couldn;t even turn it up past 1 at the house it was knocking my wifes China off the wall..oopps. The sound is fantastic and it has more bottom end that my 18" Sub..which now will go to the PA system..I will soon by the B212 and get rid of the Ashdown..down the road..best cab I have and I have a lot..the price can't be bet..better that the boutique NEOS for 3X the price. I would buy it again if it were stolen.

This is you're basic bass cabinet; two 1/4" inputs; 1 speakon input; and a rather effective tweeter control.

An absolutely huge sound for 2 10s. I have paired this cab with a B212 and power the rig with a Carvin B1500 (1250 watts at 4 ohms) and am delighted with the result. Speaking for the combination, very toney, bullet proof (low, low distortion at loud volume), and I can really "feel" the lower register. My experience with the high end stuff is a bit limited, but why would I spend three times as much when I'm having this much fun.

Both cabs are new. The construction appears bomb proof. The metal grill (which is pretty heavy duty)is suspended on rubber discs and ther is no rattle whatsoever. Although the speakers are very light because of the neo magnets, the overall cab is not that light. I suspect that's because of the 3/4" birch. I think I'd have to drop it from my roof to make a difference. I'll leave this as no opinion though since they haven't been out of the studio yet.

No repairs needed yet. I have bought three cabs from these guys. They respond quickly to questions and answer their phone after two rings. In each case, the cab was mailed on the day I ordered it and it arrived in a very substantial box. They may have a low key web site with zero bells and whistles, but they have proved completely dependable and true to their word.

I have been buying and selling audio and guitar and bass gear for 30 years. Dave (the owner) is a treat to deal with and the product is terrific. Incidentally, their FAQ gives a remarkably clear explanation of the implications of ohmage. I'm always amazed at how little attention is paid to this kind of critical element of matching amps to cabs and cabs to cabs. These guys take this seriously.

Slightly used, probably not a year old. The Neo supposedly has better bottom end, I sure can't complain. I dial the horn way back (but not all the way off!), don't really need it (never cared for horns in bass rigs).

This is a "soon after purchase" review, I'll follow up later.

I got this to go with my 1-15 cab which has a great JBL professional 4" voice coil LF driver. The Avatar I bought is 4 ohms, so it doesn't mate up well with my 16 ohm JBL at all. The combo of the two cabs sux, because the JBL's 16 ohm and the Ava's 4. So I should rewire the Ava in series for 16 ohm, for a total load to the amp of 8 ohm, right? Sure, but....

Wait a minute, let's try each cab on its own, with best EQ etc for each: The JBL cab sounds OK, like it always did, no great shakes - and no real mid/high unless I force it in with EQ. The Avatar has too much mid/high unless I dial it back but the low end is what amazed me - better than the JBL. With my Aphex Bass Exiter dialed in it shakes the house alarmingly. Even without it, just using some EQ tweaking, the Avatar puts out much better bass than my perfectly tuned & ported JBL cab. WOW! So my original intent to (reluctantly) use two cabs goes by the wayside, the Avatar is all I need! The bass player in one of my bands uses the same configuation cab by Aguilar, and to my ears this sounds better!

Just bought it, no data

None needed. Very strong good reports by others, though.

Incredible value and sound. 100% satisfied so far.

Since a speaker cabinet is only a box with speakers in it for purposes of getting your sound to yourself and other people, features are slim in almost every case. But not every cabinet has two jacks for daisy chaining, a speakon jack, and a volume control for the tweeter. The Avatar 2X10 Neo has all of those things, so it gets a 10 in my book. The speakers are custom made by Eminence for Avatar, I think they have a longer voice coil or something like that. It makes a positive difference in sound, so that's fine by me. Nice grill for protection, nice Foster tweeter, and very, VERY nice construction. I got black tolex instead of carpet, and I can't see any seams. Very well made, solid as a rock. A big rock that makes nice sounds.

I use a Fender Deluxe Active Jazz Bass (Mexican, four-string, with Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounders for pickups) through a Mesa 400+ all tube head. I try to stay away from things like compression or any kind of signal processing as much as possible, I used to be way into that stuff and it makes things too complicated, so I keep it simple. Regardless of what people say about the low-end, I completely disagree. I'm extremely picky with my tone, and I could have put myself through college twice with the amount of money I've spent on equipment trying to find "that sound." Avatar cabinets (from my experience of owning two, now...I had a B212 before this one) are basically the best things out there. They are very affordable and provide excellent tone quality; all of the low end is there. I think it sounds just beautiful. I'd take it over Ampeg any day.

Ten inch speakers are usually the toughest to get low end out of, but these perform beautifully there, without sacrificing any of the nice and punchy highs tens are also known for.

Keep in mind - your choice of bass and amp will also greatly affect this area.

The cab is gorgeous. No flaws, nothing. I bet it could tumble down a few flights of stairs and be completely fine. I would gig this for years and never ever take a back up with me. I trust it that much.

Back when Avatar was still producing the B212 cab and still using the old crossover design for the tweeter, I fried (literally melted) the tweeter volume control (and the voice coil of the tweeter itself) after a long period of time in a recording studio. To be fair, I was using a Kustom 1200 watt Groove Bass amp at the time, and I was pushing the cabinet volume-wise really hard for a really long time. But they have since upgraded the crossover design...and I never had the problem again.

This is where Avatar shines. And I mean SHINES. Dave is very helpful and will bend over backwards to make you happy and help you out if you're in trouble. When I fried the volume control and the voice coil of the tweeter, he shipped me the new updated crossover, a new voice coil, and a new volume control, only charging me $10 for the voice coil. Ordering is fast and easy, everyone is very nice. Emails are quickly returned. Perfect.

I've been playing long enough to know a thing or two about a thing or two. If this thing were stolen, I would be lost in life until I got a new one. I would normally never give anything straight tens, because almost nothing could possibly deserve them. But Avatar is a rare and welcome exception. I will continue to buy from Avatar until the day I die or the day they go out of business, which will be never, if they keep it up.

This is a 2006 model with the Baltic Birch ( I mistakenly called it Baltic Spruce in my review of the Kappa Pro 410)plywood cabinet with professionally computer tuned design. Bottom ported with two 1/4" phone and one speakon hookup in the back. There is also a terrific Foster horn with crossover and control in the recessed back area. The unit is strongly made and had recessed hand friendly handles. It is covered in black carpet with corner bumpers and has a metal grill.(It is also available in Tolex for a slightly higher price.)
This particular cabinet is 4 ohm. It also weighs only 44 pounds so this is perfect to throw in the car and go to a small or even medium venue or to jam in a friend's living room.

I play classic rock and blues and this rig is perfect for it. I'm using a new American Fender P bass and a Music Man and an old '77 Ampeg SVT2 at 4 ohms. It sounds meaty and tight. I can also hook this up with the 410 Kappa Pro and have 6 10's at 2 ohms. I use a Gallien Krueger Backline 600 for a backup amp when the old boy has to go into the shop for new tubes, etc.
Serious thump. This thing will loosen the fillings of your teeth if you want it to. The sound in any of these combinations is full, punchy, as loud as I want it, clear and clean I had tried many 210 rigs and none of them had the tone and quality and raw power as this unit. I also have a '77 SVT 1540 HE cabinet that is HUGE with 410s at the top and one 15 below. Biampable. Believe it or not, I like this Avatar sound better. It can handle more power and the projection into the room is incredible. It's much tighter and more focused. I was looking for something easier to move and stumbled across Avatar. After checking them out I took a chance and hit the jackpot. It may be possible to beat this sound, but never for this unbelievable price.

I've had this such a short time that I cannot speak to this topic.

Never had to get it repaired, but from dealing with Dave (the main Avatar guy) and the other folks I've spoken with, I could not foresee a problem. They are great about communication and have been extremely helpful and friendly. When Spenser told me the unit was going out "today" he meant it. This speaker cab came from Spokane Washington. It was ordered on a Monday and arrived the following Thursday! Regular shipping! The warranty is one year for speakers and cabinet. They will replace one blown speaker without question. After that it's negotiable.

I've been playing bass since 1971 and have played pro and semi pro and have had great fun in garage jams. I have a '77 Ampeg SVT2 with the aforementioned SVT 1540 HE cabinet. I also have the GK 600 backup amp and a Fender Bassman 30 practice amp. My basses are a '65 Fender jazz bass, a Musicman passive SUB, and the Fender American P bass. All 4 string basses.
I would buy this product again with no second thoughts.
For my brother bassaholics who want top quality material for ridiculously low prices you gotta check this out. These Avatar speaker cabinets are an answer to your dreams.