Avatar G212 Premier Vintage 212 Cabinet

This is the Vintage 2x12. It's basically the same as the Premiere Vintage except for the pepper grill. Other than that it's basically the thing. Nothing fancy, just solid materials: birch plywood, switchcraft jacks and oxygenated cable.

This cab sounds great! It's very focus and clear! Nice balance of frequency response throughout the spectrum. Clear tight bass, smooth highs and punchy midrange. I have WGS Vintage clones in them and it sounds killer either clean or distorted! I'm using a Laney VH100R and Marshall 6100 (BlueEl34), both amps sound fantastic!

Excellent materials are put into this cab! No reason not to think it wouldn't last like a champ! It's built Avatar tough!

Great support and have answered my questions everytime I call.

Great performance and overall value for a cab. It definitely competes against the big boys like Marshall, Splawn, Mesa Boogie, Orange, and Bogner! No BS it's definitely a great cab!

The features on this amount to the standard features on most 2x12 speaker enclosures: Speakers, and an enclosure. Mine has a Celestion Vintage-30 and a Celestion G12H30 wired at 8 ohms mono. With Avatar you can select the cabinet you want, the speakers you want, the tolex and grille you want, either an open or closed back design, whether you want it to be stereo or mono, and which ohm rating you want. What more could you want with a cabinet? A great price? Fast and secure shipping? Well hell, they have both of those covered too. I give this cab a SOLID 10/10.

Alright. I use a Mesa/Boogie Mark IVA head through this. I play progressive metal, shred, and hard rock. Dream Theater, Liquid Tension Experiment, Racer X, Vinnie Moore, Cacophony, Alice in Chains, Van Halen, any of it. The Mark IVA and the Avatar G212 Vintage hit all of that. From shimmering cleans with chorus and a ton of headroom, to that classic crunchy hard rock tone, all the way to that singing wet lead tone. This cab delivers. I have only owned it for a week, but it has about thirty hours on it and the speakers are already filled with that vibrant warmth that everyone loves.

I have had the chance to play this cab side to side with a Bogner large sized 2x12 closed back cabinet loaded with Vintage-30's and the Avatar is the same IF NOT BETTER than the Bogner. I mean, how the heck can you buy a $790 cabinet when a $390 cabinet is in the exact same ball park?!

I MUST give this cabinet a 10/10 here.

Okay, for reliability I can't give it a rating, as I have only had it for a week. I can tell you this though. The tolex is high quality and applied to the cabinet very well. The grille is very secure and snug. The white piping is attached very securely. The logo on the front is the same quality plastic that Bogner uses, attached with the same care. The metal handles are very secure and do not rattle at all. The back baffle board is well attached by fourteen screws, believe me, this thing isn't going anywhere, and it isn't going to rattle any time soon. The speakers are mounted securely, the wiring doesn't just hang, it is neatly wound. Everything in this cab is handled by individuals who know and care about what they are doing.

The guys at Avatar are great to deal with. When I ordered the cab I talked to Dave (the owner) and I have to say he was a pleasure to deal with. Just ask him about any of his company's products and he will be happy to answer. When I ordered they were in the middle of doing an inventory AND two of their guys were sick. I still got the cab in only eight days. I called two other times to ask general questions about the cabinet and talked to (I believe his name is) Spence, who also is a pleasure to deal with. All these guys are regular people that are absolutely wonderful to deal with. The thing I hate the most is giving someone my hard earned money just to be treated like crap by some egotistical turd. With Avatar YOU WILL NOT be subjected to this. You deal with people who treat you like a customer, not a dollar sign.

Look up customer service and you should see Avatar Speakers written there.

Well Avatar gets a concrete 10/10. There is nothing better than a high quality product for a low price. Way to go Avatar, you are the epitome of a company.

I have played guitar for six years avidly and I am a gigging musician, so I actually do put my gear to some use. If I lost this cabinet, or if it were stolen or broken, I would shell out the cash to buy another one. No doubt about it. When in the market for this particular cabinet, it was going up against a Mesa/Boogie 2x12 rectifier cabinet, a Mesa/Boogie 2x12 half-back with a Celestion Black Shadow and EV, and a Bogner 2x12. I ended up buying the Avatar and the Mesa halfback to get a plethora of recording tones. I wouldn't even add castors to this cab because frankly, 55 pounds with recessed metal handles is quite manageable.

Oh, and if you are one of those types that worries about shipping gear this is my shipping story. I open up the door to find the DHL delivery man holding, yes that is right HOLDING, the box, not just the box sitting unoccupied on my doorstep. He steps in, gently puts down the package and leaves. I open up the box and take out about 2 1/2" worth of cardboard on each side of the enclosure then gently slide it out. The enclosure is taped up with a plastic covering double wrapped around it and taped very securely. Now, I am always picky when it comes to shipping, and I even let out a "Would you look at this? This is some of the best packing I have ever seen." to my buddy. It seems like Avatar doesn't miss a beat when it comes to their products.

Check avatarspeakers.com for the features. Basically, its got better materials and construction than most of the name brands out there. I just wish I could get casters!! One point off for that!

WOW. Exactly the sound I want. I got the Hellatone 60L s and they exceeded all my expectations. I can go from 50s rock to the latest heavy metal and not miss a beat. I was a little worried about the projection of the cab bc I got the closed back but since the speakers are angled up slightly I can hear my self no problem. Seriously, this thing is almost as loud as the Marshall 1960A I had. It sounds almost exactly the same as my buddy's Bogner 2x12. That's saying alot.

Seems super solid... wish there were corner protectors and casters both of which could help prevent an accident.

One word. AWESOME. I had sent them an email to order my cab early in the week but had not received any sort of confirmation email. Called them up on Friday and explained the situation and they were more than happy to take my order and ship it out that day (they had some sort of email problem). I wanted a closed back salt and pepper cab which was no longer available and they were kind enough to re-grille a wheat grille cab with the salt and pepper one for me. I got it in the mail the following Wednesday. Simply fantastic customer service.

Excellent cab and at a GREAT price. None of the big names can BEAT this cab in sound. All are either on par or worse. Do yourself a favor and try out this 2x12. You will not regret it! Sorry if I sound like a total fanboy here but I'm very impressed and happy with this cab.

This is the larger 2x12 cabinet in avatar's line. Styled like a Marshall Bluesbreaker, it is approx. 30" W x 25" H x 12" D. Grille is salt & pepper, w/white piping trim. Loaded w/one Eminence Red Fang & one Eminence Cannabis Rex @ 16 ohm total load. Construction is birch ply w/black vinyl covering. Recessed side handles & dual 1/4" input plate on rear. No metal or plastic corner protectors, so a case or vinyl cover bag is a neccessity for travel. Fit & finish is very good; seams are straight & well glued. This is quite a handsome box, very similar to the Bogner 2x12. Perfect match cosmetically for my Marshall head.

This cab will be used w/a 70's Fender Princeton 'verb & a Marshall Jubilee series 2553 Silver Anniversary small box 25/50 watt head. I I mostly play blues/60's-70's rock ala Allmans, Aerosmith, Thin Lizzy, & some more modern cool tone bands like Wilco, Counting Crows, & Los Lobos. Guitars are '68 Gibson SG std, ash body 90's Fender USA tele, & the rarely mentioned (very underappreciated) '74 Ibanez Deluxe '59er flametop Les Paul. All guitars are completely stock. I'm not much on FX, just a Vox wah, & an old MXR analog delay, but I always use a Klon Centaur (gold version) as a drive into either amp. I do have a full size Silver Anny 4x12, but it's too big for almost any stage I'll ever play on, plus I'm a fat old man who doesn't want to lift that thing any more. I use the Marshall on the clean channel only (OD channel w/diode clipping is way too rude & just kills the dynamics) @ 25 watt setting, & w/the Klon, the humbuckers on the '59er rip out creamy sweet overdrive just like Duane & Dickie or B.F. Gibbons. The SG spanks of AC/DC & Cream era Clapton; throaty midrange growl with a few hairs of top end bite when you really lean on it. I use a lighter setting on the Klon for the Tele, & it sings & chimes but never bites like an icepick in the ear. (think Hellecasters, Gatton, etc...) Not the typical bite & buzz one might associate w/a Marshall/Tele combo. Gorgeous blend between the Fang & Rex, gobs o' volume, & bass = to the 4x12 without the size. With the Princeton driving it, I've never heard 12 watts get so loud or fat. That rig is more than enough to cut thru a full band without a mic on it. If you've used a Klon, you know how it accents the dynamics of your rig, (if you have any "touch") and the Fang & Rex reveal highs, lows, & everything in between. Just work the volume control on the guitar and vary your picking attack(if you use a pick) and you can get from clean to dirty in nothing flat without ever turning the Klon off(I never do). Overtones bloom & sustain without squealing, even at fairly high(103 dB+) volumes. That may not seem loud to some, but like I said, I'm an old man. I did not have an opportunity to hear the cab before buying as it comes stock w/Celestion Vintage 30s or a few other choices, but the Rex & Fang were special order. I did play the standard Avatar 2x12 that my other guitarist has, (loaded w/ one Vintage 30 & one Greenback) which was the inspiration to try the custom cab. Overall very impressive, & I'm sure it will only sound better once broken in. The $ was more than reasonable for a custom cabinet, & I doubt anyone else has the same spkr combination. I did NOT want a generic sound and this is quite unique. Can't give it a 10 until I really play this thing for a while.

As of yet, reliability is unknown as I just got the thing this week, but other than dropping it down the stairs, I don't know how it can go bad. The Fang is rated @ 30w & the Rex @ 50w, so its not a high power box, but since I only run 25w, I've got more headroom than I need.

This is my first experience with Avatar, & Dave was very helpful. It took about a week to get the speakers from Eminence, but the whole affair only took about 2 weeks from order to delivery. As far as warranty, if you blow a speaker, more often than not IT IS YOUR FAULT. There is no reason to play so loud that the voice coils lock up. If this is a recurring problem, PLEASE TURN DOWN AND SAVE YOUR EARS. Shipped by DHL, my only compaint was the fact they left the box on my front porch in 10 degree weather without even ringing the doorbell to let me know it was there. Good thing I was home or someone else may have written this review.

I've been playing live & mixing bands for over 20 years, so I've seen & heard almost everything. Been lucky enough to work w/ The Band, Cheap Trick, Dave Navarro, Styx, etc... I've cut down my gear to only what I play out with, but I've owned various Fender, Ampeg, Hiwatt, Marshall, Carvin(yeah, I admit it) amps, and Gibson, Fender, Ibanez, Vox, Gretsch, & Dean guitars. I would definitely buy another Avatar product as they made it so easy to get what I wanted. I did check out other 2x12 boxes before this (Marshall 1936, Bogner, Orange) but they were all loaded w/mostly the same Celestions, so I opted for something off the beaten path. Corner protectors would be nice, but it is a vintage style cab & that would have ruined the vibe. I don't usually buy anything sight unseen, but having heard the standard Avatar 2x12, I was impressed enough to gamble $489 on a one off cab which was less than any of the stock Celestion loaded boxes I had seen. Thanks to Make'n Music & Chicago Music Exchange for putting up with my crap while auditioning various cabinets. Even though I didn't buy a box from either, they are both fabulous shops with worlds of great gear that I don't need, but will probably buy at some point. Lets face it, once a gear slut, always a gear slut. Don't think I'm a name dropping gear snob; I've been lucky enough to use tons of gear over the years & everything I've written is merely opinion. Listen to whomever you want, but play everything you can get your hands on & form your own opinions. Just because it works for me doesn't mean it will work for you & vice versa.

Marshall Bluebreaker style cabinet. You can order it as a open back or closed back cabinet and your choice of Celestion or Eminince speakers in 16, 8 or 4 ohm cabinet impedance. I ordered a closed back with salt and pepper grille with two Hellatone 30 speakers which are Celestion G12H30 speaker just slightly broken in.

Just the sound I was looking for. Fat bottom with smooth mids and highs. I was using a 1X12 open back with a Bad Cat Vintage 30, but it was to harsh in the mids and highs an it didn't have enough lows. THIS CABINET ROCKS!!! It sounds focused and full like a 4X12. The Hellatone 30's are smooth and creamy. Rhythm sounds are full, both clean and crunch, lead tones are full and rich. I'm using it with a Yamaha T50 tube head designed by Michael Soldano. My main guitars are a Warmoth custom Strat and a Warmoth custom Tele with Duncan Antiquity Mini Humbuckers. MY band plays classic rock, R&B, Motown, and also newer rock tunes.

It's a very well built cabinet. 13 ply baltic birch construction.
Quality componets. What could go wrong?

Great people. Dave is very responsive to all inquiries. 14 day money back guarantee.

I've been playing guitar for 37 years. I've had other cabinets and this one is the best by far for the sound and tone I was after. If it were lost or stolen, I would order another one in a heartbeat!
It looks KILLER and sounds even better. What you get for the price is AMAZING.

Brand New November 2006
Vintage styling, open middle back.
Loaded with one Vintage 30, and one G12H30 wired in parralell, 8 ohms.

This cabinet sounds great for most rock styles. Just plug in your different guitars for the sound your looking for, and there's sound, from warm, fat, to clear and bright. It sound great. I have three electics, a Les Paul copy, a Clapton Strat, and a PRS with p90's. This is an extension for my Mesa Heartbreaker, and this compliments it perfectly. AWESOME!!!!!! Can only get better with time.

Very sturdy looking construction. Birch plywood, tolex covered, grey tweed cover.

I was going to get two Vintage 30's, but Dave talked me into the above combo. Great choice, brings out the lows, and great mids.
It's brand new so only time will tell, but I don't forsee any problems.

Very good price. $423 shipped in a week. I looked at a few other 2x12's, and the comparables were $550 and up.

I got a closed back Vintage 30 loaded Premier Vintage cab. 8ohms. I imagine it could be used for any style of music and perform well at it.

This cab sounds amazing. I usually run my Randall RG100ES amp through it and it never ceases to impress me... It's very tight and big sounding on the lows, great full mids and has tons of clarity to it as well. As far as 2x12's go, this cab completely kills the competition within this price range. I also have a regular Avatar G212 cab and it's a good cab and alot less pricey, but it certainly doesn't compare to the premier vintage as far as tone goes. Most 4x12's don't compare to this cab.

The Premier Vintage has no flaws to it whatsoever. From the day i got it, it sounded simply amazing! Once those speakers broke in it sounded even sweeter. I'd depend on it in any situation.

My other G212H on the other hand, had a problem. The back panel buzzed/rattled at high volumes. But i added some strips of tolex to the edges of the back panel to tighten the fit and that seemed to fix the problem. Very easy fix. That's really the only prblem I've had with an Avatar product, and is probably a rare case.

Well, i ordered my cab from the canadian Avatar dealer, steamcomusic. I got great servise and had my cab delivered very promtly. They're good people to deal with.

I've been playing guitar for around 10 years now and as far as 2x12 cabs go this is right up there at the top in terms of sound quality. I haven't played many better sounding cabs (i've tried alot). Even most 4x12's pale in comparison to it. If it were lost or stolen i'd definitely have it replaced with another Premier Vintage.

This is a 2x12 closed back guitar cabinet with the Marshall ???Bluesbreaker??? look (I believe, however, that it was patterned after a Bogner). Though the cab is bigger than I expected 30"W x 24.5"H x 12"D, it is a reasonable weight. No problem lifting it alone; the steel side handles are appreciated (very handy in the airport). I purchased the cabinet empty; when I opened the back to load my speakers into it, I was impressed with the soldering and components. It was not perfect, however, as there was some splintering around the T nuts, and would be better if it had black steel corner covers.

I was looking for enhanced bass response and speaker saturation; this cab gave it to me.

I use a ???74 Les Paul Deluxe with DiMarzio PAFs, a standard complement of pedals, through a Marshall 4001 ???Studio 15??? (15w RMS: ECC83+12AX7+2 6V6s) w/ an open back single Celestion G12 ???Vintage??? (Alnico-60w). This is already a very clean tube amp, and the Vintage had zero speaker distortion with too many highs and mids. Desperate for more lows, I closed up the back of the cabinet to hopefully increase bass response. Since distortion comes from three sources???preamp, amp and speakers???at Dave from Avatar???s suggestion, I replaced the Vintage with their Celestion ???Hellatone??? G12H-30. The Hellatone had a bit more of an edge to it, slightly better bass and was less nasal, but I still hadn???t found what I was looking for. In quest of more lows and speaker distortion, I found two 12??? 25w, 1970s Rola Greenbacks???a (T1221-75hz) guitar speaker and a (T1511-55hz) bass speaker (apparently Marshall used to use these indiscriminately in their 4x12 cabinets)???and loaded them into the Premier Vintage cabinet.

I got the ???thud??? and bass response I sought, plus the Greenback grit to boot. The best way to describe the sonority was like going from two aural dimensions to three! This cab has a balanced, rich tone.

Over the last few months I have gigged with this cabinet for both indoor and outdoor concerts. e.g. our band???hard blues to ballads to grunge???was playing in a citywide street festival. We strung our power cords down from a friend???s third floor apartment, but wanted to keep them out of the reach of inebriated celebrants. Solution? I climbed up on the Avatar and strung the extension cords up over a rain gutter. I was curious as to whether I would hear wood splitting and joints cracking. Nothing. I don???t weight much (70kg), so no big deal. The test was when our sound technician, who is about twice my size, climbed up. Still nothing! This cabinet is solid.

In response to my e-mail queries, though I had asked some questions about covers and dimensions and weight including packing that Avatar neglected to answer???important to me because I was bringing it back to Europe with me on a plane, they nonetheless always got back to me within a day or two. I talked with Dave a couple of times about speaker choices and the cabinet. Easy to talk to, has sense of humor and knows his stuff.

I have been semi-pro for 25 years, and have owned/extensively played Gibson, Fender, Ovation guitars, Ampeg, MusicMan, Marshall amps, MXR, Boss, Ibanez, Zoom pedals.

This thing is so big that it would be hard to lose! My equipment is in and out of the car a lot, so size is my hesitation. If someone stole it I would see if Avatar had developed a baby Bluesbreaker and would go with it, eyes closed and ears happy.

I compared with most every 2x12 cab I could find???Mesa Boogie, VOX, Hiwatt, ENGL, Hughes & Kettner???. Four reasons for which I chose this cab, rather than say the Marshall 1936, were the Birch plywood (not particleboard), the slightly slanted front speaker baffle board (I stand close to and directly in front of the cabinet and hear myself perfectly???the sound does not blow past my feet), I could put in the speakers of my choosing (with others I often found either the speakers or cabinet that I was looking for), and Avatar???s reputation (I went for quality components and sound over name recognition). No disappointments and no misnomer; this is premium piece of aesthetically retro-hot equipment.

Avatar and the Premier Vintage cabinet are not yet perfect, but they certainly deserve kudos for prompt service, quality components and craftsmanship, and above all celestial sound.

The Klaw

I got the open back model which I thought would work better for R&B and Blues. The opening in the back of the cabinet can be moved to upper, mid or lower positions. I went with the Heritage G12H speakers for an 8 ohm cabinet. The size of this cabinet makes a lot of sense for people with full sized heads that don't want to lug around a 4X12 cab. Smaller 2X12 cabinets don't look right to me with full sized heads. This is the size point where things look right and don't weigh that much depending on the speakers. A good compromise.

Cabinet sounds nice and huge whether playing clean or not.

Just a word about the previous reviewers comments on the speaker bolts being way too tight. Mine were fine and just right. This is a good company run by hard working, smart people. Dave is great. It's silly to think they would not put a stop to someone overtightening the bolts on the speakers. If whoever did that did it again and they had to replace any more expensive speakers I'm sure that person is flipping hamburgers somewhere right now or whatever. This cabinet is beautifully built and finished.

Could not be better...

A great design for anybody but especially for people with big Marshall heads or whatever that want to go to a more managable cabinet that still sounds great.

Bought the cabinet new in May of this year, and arrived in excellent shape. It's all 13-ply birch ply construction, even the baffle board. Very nice. Tolex and grill cloth are perfect, top notch workmanship all around. I ordered the cabinet through eBay with the UK G12H30 speakers wired in mono at 16 ohms. However, the speaker mounting screws were way over-torqued, deforming the speaker basket, but more on that in Customer Service. Had the features I wanted in a 2x12 cabinet.

This cabinet sounds amazing. I've gone through a number of cabinet/speaker combinations, and this is my favorite. Huge sounding cabinet, pretty darn close to a 4x12 in tone, but without the backache. This cabinet does what I need it to do, and then some. It's hooked up to a Framus Dragon, and I play just about everything - except metal and punk. I may have to go to a higher power speaker, though, because the Dragon will probably fry the G12H30's if I ever really open it up. I have tried Vintage 30's, and they will work tone-wise in this cab, though the G12H30's are more the sound I'm after.

Super solid construction, so reliability isn't an issue. I gig with it, no backup needed.

When I received the cabinet, everything looked great. Excellent packing, quick shipping, all that stuff. I took the back off just to see if the cabinet really was constructed completely of birch plywood, and noticed the speakers. They were UK G12H30's, just like advertised, but the baskets were whooped from the mounting screws being drastically over-tightened. I called them right away, and actually got a couple of B.S. explanations as to why that might have happened.

Bottom line, the mounting screws do not need to be tightened with a power drill. Anytime you buy a raw frame Celestion (or other brand), there are explicit manufacturer warnings against over-tightening and bending the speaker basket out of shape.

Now that I've got that out of the way, Avatar did call back a couple of days later to see if I'd been contacted to get the problem taken care of. Dave was out with back surgury at the time, so things were no doubt moving slower than normal. Avatar did make it right and replaced the speakers. I could have gone without the bogus excuse for the whooped speaker baskets, though. I'd be tempted to rate this category a 5 based on my initial 2 phone conversations with Avatar, but will give a 9 since they bent over backwards to make it right in the long run.

I've been playing too long, have owned a bunch of gear and have whittled it down a bit. Probably will get some more, too! I'd replace this cabinet if anything happended to it, no hesitation. I'd say it compares very well with the Bogner 2x12. I kinda wish it had wheels, but those are easy enough to install. I'm very happy with sound and quality of the cabinet. I may order another one, but have them ship the speakers in a separate package.