2X12 cabs: Avatar, Sourmash, Marshall... who makes a good one for a fair price?

[kiki_90291]

I am currently using an Avatar 2x10 - I'm very pleased. Solid, well built, no issues, great customer service. If I get another cab, I will order from them again.

 

[patentcad]

My Egnater Tourmaster 2 x 12 sounds amazing. The Egnater Tweaker amps are gone. The cabinet remains. The rig in the picture is the best sounding one I've personally played. It was very reasonably price new @ $500. JB Bobblehead not included.

 

[Reckedtrek]

Best deal if you want something stock = Used Avatar.
Best Deal if you want something custom = Sourmash.
I've got cabs from both and they are both good quality.

Would you say the quality is the same, or is one slightly better in your opinion?

 

[GuitarTampa]

Best deal if you want something stock = Used Avatar.
Best Deal if you want something custom = Sourmash.
I've got cabs from both and they are both good quality.

+1 on this.

Guy from Sourmash is really nice and willing to do whatever you want to do. Avatar stuff is solid from what I have seen.

Also there is so much used Marshall stuff where I am (Florida) they are going for super cheap. Well ... all cabs are going for super cheap right now really.

 

[Steve73]

I've owned quite a few cabs and I really like Stagecraft and Mojo 2x12 cabs.

 

[daveAvatar]

I don't care for sourmash at all - not nearly as impressed as others with their quality. Depending on what size you are looking for you really cannot beat Mojotones for build quality and ease of customer service. In fact, Mojo builds that cabs for a ton of boutique builders and Mojo cab blanks are what Avatar receives for finishing.

Mojo offers so many more colors schemes, styles, and options, I would just go straight to the source.

Mojo makes nice cabs but we have our own in house wood shop and make all of our own cabs at Avatar. We don't receive blanks for finishing from anyone.
We are the source. We manufacture and offer many cab styles, tolex colors, grille cloths, piping colors, speaker choices, all done in our building.

 

[ahcleinad]

+1 for Sourmash. I was also searching around for a nice 2x12 awhile back also and ended up with Sourmash after searching. Can't be any happier with the purchase! Great product with great customer service!

 

[michael patrick]

I've got two 2x12 cabs from Trutone Custom Cabs. Totally solid hand-built cabs at prices that are comparable to Avatar's. Robert is a great guy to deal with.

 

[WhoJamFan]

Both the other guitarist, (in my band) and myself have Avatar 212 vintage cabs, and both of us came down from 412s as it's easier to tour and you can turn your amp up more. He has a Celestion Gold and a Fane AXA speaker in his with a Satellite head, and I have an Eminence Tonker and Swamp thing in mine with a Hiwatt DR504 head. Trust me, we can be plenty loud if we need to be, and don't miss lugging those 412s everybodys always crying about turning down.

So, in a bit of touring and loud bashing about, the Avatar cabinets have served us well. The workmanship is top notch and the cabs look really nice. I like how the speakers tilt upwards slightly to aim it more at your head. I was a bit worried about going from a 412 to a 212, as the only real 212s I'd ever used were Marshall 1936 cabs, and hated the midrange peanut butter they seemed to coat my tone with. 5 minutes of playing through the Avatar changed my outlook on 212s. I actually like the 212 better than the 412 for all but the loudest of applications, which is far beyond what ANY club or gig would allow. Avatar 212s can really kick some butt!

I was lucky with mine-swapped a few pedals I was really miffed about buying for my cab, so it made a bad deal good. Even now, I'm happy I have an Avatar as it's proven itself, and highly recommend them to anyone looking for a cabinet.

I don't know about the other builders mentioned, but I'm sure that they have to at least be better than average to stay in business. Having said that, I know that Avatar builds some of the best stuff out there that's readily available with a large choice of speakers with a price that's hard to beat. You really can't go wrong with these guys.

 

[Reckedtrek]

Hmmmm... I've played through a Marshall 1936 once and it wasn't the best sound I'd ever heard, to put it nicely. I just assumed it had crappy speakers in it. Now it may have had bad speakers anyway, but the few comments about them in this thread mirror my thoughts, although I never thought of it as "the midrange peanut butter they seemed to coat my tone" LOL! Anyway, maybe it WAS the cab in general.

Well that's one off my list. I'm currently considering Avatar, Sourmash and Mojo at the moment. I'm not looking for anything overly unique, just a well built, great sounding 2X12 cab, preferably with 70's or 80's/90's Marshall style aesthetics.

 

[johnmfer]

Hmmmm... I've played through a Marshall 1936 once and it wasn't the best sound I'd ever heard, to put it nicely. I just assumed it had crappy speakers in it. Now it may have had bad speakers anyway, but the few comments about them in this thread mirror my thoughts, although I never thought of it as "the midrange peanut butter they seemed to coat my tone" LOL! Anyway, maybe it WAS the cab in general.

I played one once, it belonged to a friend of mine. My sentiments are exactly the same as yours. At the time I was playing through a Marshall 1960AV and I couldn't believe how the 1936 cabinet made everything sound SO BAD when it sounded so good through the 4x12.

 

[Kitarist]

Now that we are talking about cabs... Does anyone know some great cab makers in Europe?

 

[lang.murphy]

What about Guytron closed back and Engl 2x12's? One each on local CL... the Guytron has the V30/80Lead combo and the Engl V30's. Not worried about the speakers, I'll probably swap them out for WGS ET65/Vet30.

The Guytron has insulation... not sure I'm keen on that... but if it sounds good... ???

 

[Echoplexi]

I have a Mather 2X12. It's a great cab. Highly recommended. http://mathercab.com/

I've got one just like this coming myself. I've had Peter build me a couple combo cabs and a head cab and i'll never go anywhere else. and great to deal with too.

 

[Gnarlly]

Cell phone pics of my Avatar 2x12 with removable velcroed back that I spoke of earlier:

 

[Roodboy]

Cell phone pics of my Avatar 2x12 with removable velcroed back that I spoke of earlier:

Nice Marshall

 

[Reckedtrek]

Cell phone pics of my Avatar 2x12 with removable velcroed back that I spoke of earlier:

Wow does that looks sick or what?! Very nice!

 

[-analog-]

I played one once, it belonged to a friend of mine. My sentiments are exactly the same as yours. At the time I was playing through a Marshall 1960AV and I couldn't believe how the 1936 cabinet made everything sound SO BAD when it sounded so good through the 4x12.

Some of the newer 1936 cabs are made with MDF which is a no-no...
About 2 years ago I had one with an MDF back and baffle, I couldn't believe my eyes when found the mdf delight inside... Explained everything..Great idea for a cab but it was easily the most lifeless cab I've ever used in stock form. I was forced to live with it for a while for a few gigs so I modded it to be 3/4 open back and its makes for massive improvement.

Any love for the port city 2x12's? they sound pretty sinister with JCM800 heads

 

[twangbanger]

Real happy w/ my Avatar 2x12. sounds great and built solid.

 

[TheGuildedAge]

Very happy with my Jdesign, I have two.

I also liked the Avatar I had.