Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I have serious GAS, and only a stack will give me relief. I'm looking for serious quality at minimum pricing (aren't we all?), and I've come up with two possible choices:

Carvin BR 4x10 + 1x15
or
Avatar 4x10 + 2x12

Both seem to have similar qualities, such as value, variety, and insane power capabilities. I'm also considering how to power them (yet another topic), possibly with a QSC power amp and some preamp, such as the Sansamp RBI. So, if given these two choices as far as a stack goes, which would you go with?

Ahh, tough one. In the throes of GAS myself! Tempted to say Avatar, but I don't have much experience with either.

A word of caution, Bassman2k...insane power corrupts insanely...

If you check out Sansamps,,try the RBI and the new RPM. The RPM is the same as the RBI but has a new "sweepable" mid section. I'm thinking of trying one.

As far as cabs go,,unless your going to bi-amp, I'd go with an 810 or 2 410's.

Joshua,

I use a Sansamp RBI and a QSC 850w power amp with SWR 4x10 and 2x10. I've also just added a DBX 160a limiter/compressor (not pictured). I'm all about pushing the mids. I wouldn't mind adding a 1x15 to the mix.

http://s68.photobucket.com/albums/i27/acacia70/bass/?action=view&current=DSCN0812.jpg

Don't fall for the hype. Play through everything you can, and buy the one that SOUNDS best.

What stack?

Illogical...

i agree with tom 100%.

Hi Josh,
Nice to see you here from AB, welcome to the Forum.

I've owned an Avatar 4x12 for about 6 years now, really well made, stocked with Eminence Kappa Pro's, not the lightest of cabinets, but great tone driven with my Ampeg B-25, it's an 8 Ohm and the cabinet could handle anything in the Ampeg tube range.

Dave over at Avatar is a great guy, and always willing to assist, now if he'd only build a 2x15 !!

I've tried the Avatar 2x12 and liked it as well, in the end you need as has been said you need to try as many options as you can, and go with the one that suits your ears and pockets.

I have an Avatar B212 Neo. I like it, my lower back loves it. It's a very good sounding cab, projects sound very well. It's no Bergantino or Accugroove, but for the price, it's a nice cab. Like Jim said, Dave at Avatar is a really nice guy.

Hey Jim,
Yeah, it's great to be here. Seems like yet another friendly bass community. We're pretty lucky--most forums on the web are full of jerks.

I'm definitely an advocate of the try before you buy motto, but some products are simply not accessible. It seems this is the case with the companies that I'm interested in (mesa, carvin, avatar). I think this is because I've tried out all the norms, such as eden, ampeg, gk, hartke, and swr. From my experience, most modern speaker cabs are pretty good quality. Each one has their own little differences in tone, looks, weight, price, etc, and its all about finding the right combination of these things that fit the bill.

Unfortunately, this fuels my indecisiveness about what to get! Now I'm even considering an 810.

Joshua- You've come to the right place, this is a fantastic forum.
It sounds like you're going through what I just went through myself. It's true that a lot of products really aren't accessible. Sometimes you just have to try everything you can. I managed to narrow it down to two things and compare them against each other, and in the end I was happy. Part of the issue seems to be that there's always something else out there you could have had that you also would have been happy with. (I guess this is where GAS comes in).

For a while, I was considering the Carvin SBR 810 package, which looked particularly enticing.