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[Evan Kirkendall]

My good 'ol friends in Brown dropped off some new toys for me today. A nice shiny pair of JTR Growlers, ready for roadtest. They look so young, new and innocent. It's a shame they dont know about all the fun they are about to see.

Anyway, I unboxed them and right away I was surprised how small they were. They remind me a lot of the Yorkville LS608's. Very easy to move around, and light! However, one thing Im not liking aready is the lack of any handles on the sides. It's a little awkward to carry alone, at least until I figure out a better way...

Anyway, here's a few glamor shots:






So, of course I had to fire them up. I cant just let them sit around going to waste.

I grabbed a few cables, opened up the amp rack and got ready to make some noise.

Setup was as follows:
-Ipod for playback
-01v96 for mixer
-DR260 for processing
-PL6.0 for power(1 per channel)




I started off light with some Miles Davis. Right away I noticed they had a very smooth sound. And, they went surprisingly low. I had the DR260's LPF @ 40hz, with an 18db slope and they seemed very solid all the way down to 40hz. The upright bass sounded very good through them.

Next up was some rock. I wanted to see what they can do, so I pulled out my Mest and played the intro to Cadillac. For you guys who have heard the song before, you know what this intro is like. PL6.0 was solid -10 and it was pretty sweet. The low end was quite impressive, as everything in my garage began to rattle off the shelves.

Then came some rap/techno. They handled the sweeps in the songs very well, and there didnt seem to be any dead spots in their response. I was very impressed.

EQ wise, it only took a little bit of tweaking to really get them thumping. For music playback, a 3dB boost @ 45hz, Q2 seemed to do the trick.

Tomorrow is their first gig, I cant wait.






Evan

[Adam Whetham]

Evan Kirkendall wrote on Thu, 06 December 2007 15:58

Next up was some rock. I wanted to see what they can do, so I pulled out my Mest and played the intro to Cadillac. For you guys who have heard the song before, you know what this intro is like. PL6.0 was solid -10 and it was pretty sweet. The low end was quite impressive, as everything in my garage began to rattle off the shelves. Evan

I only wish i could use that song more often to kick some bass out... great album also That sub synth on that track is stupid nuts.

[Matt Vivlamore]

Adam Whetham wrote on Thu, 06 December 2007 21:23

I only wish i could use that song more often to kick some bass out... great album also That sub synth on that track is stupid nuts.

Well the new Avenged Sevenfold album is susposed to have some Deep 808 sounds that where added by a HipHop producer.  I have yet played the CD on something bigger than the $15 desktop speakers.

[Evan Kirkendall]

2 gigs down, 1 more to go. Ill write a longer review later, but for now I will just highlight some stuff from each night.

Friday night:
Small church hall, 300 cap, about 90 showed up. 5 bands. Room is very LIVE and it gets LOUD in there. During sound check the bass was not there. I was very disappointed. Then of course, I noticed that only one sub was on.... Forgot to twist the speakon in all the way. Bass came to life. Up front, they remind me of mini EAW SB1000z's. They go very low and hit pretty hard, up front. In the back of the room the bass was average at best. I was driving the piss out of the PL6.0 to get enough thump. I was into the limiters all night trying to get them to keep up with the SLS920s, who were barely hitting -20. I was around 103-106dBA @ FOH.

Saturday night:
Grange hall, 300 cap, about 200 showed up. 5 bands. Room was dead and sounded pretty good. My problem tonight was the subs walking around. They would not stay in place. I had to ratchet strap them together and strap them to the amp rack. They need rubber feet so they wont slide around as much. Again, I was hammering the PL6.0 trying to keep up. I was a little quieter, only around 100dBA. The subs do sound good, but I need 4 to keep up with 2 SLS920's.

Also another thing that is bothering me is the plastic corners. THEY SUCK. All of them are already cracked and they do not hold up well. I highly suggest metal corners instead.

So to sum it up:
Pros:
-Deep response
-Hit good up front
-LIGHT!
-Easy for one person to move

Cons:
-Cant keep up with SLS920's
-Lack a lot of output(still kick good for their size)
-Corners crack
-Slide around when you crank them

More later...





Evan

[Jim Duyck]

did you honestly think 2 of them would work for gigs like that, though????

i also told jeff we'd pass on the corners since i felt like construction/coating was definitely up to par with other gear...and i guessed correctly and don't miss them...

[Vic Cowles]

I agree,  you needed two per side to run that gig.  The Growlers couple very well. We just ran two under a SLS 960 per side.  I increased the gain on the subs from +2 to +4.  This is compared to running JBL 4733's on top. The Growlers performed very well. Running PLX 3402's to them.  I've only ran one Growler per side once. I was a very small room and a nasty load in.  Was not happy with the output. Of course, I'm use to running two or four per side.

[Kent Clasen]

Evan Kirkendall wrote on Sun, 09 December 2007 20:26

I was into the limiters all night trying to get them to keep up with the SLS920s, who were barely hitting -20. I was around 103-106dBA @ FOH. Again, I was hammering the PL6.0 trying to keep up. I was a little quieter, only around 100dBA. The subs do sound good, but I need 4 to keep up with 2 SLS920's. Evan

Evan, I have used the Growlers and thought they were quite efficient (though obviously not as efficient as most mid/hi boxes) and sounded very good, though I am a dealer for them.

Given the levels you state above "106dBa @ FOH", you don't mention the distance to FOH, so I will assume an easy distance of 100'.

The Growlers are around 100db/1w/1m, so you mention a PL6.0, were you running it in stereo mode?  If so, you are around 1100w at 8ohms (which is properly powered), so that would be around 101dBa at 100' with 1 cab, 1 amp channel. Add another cab and amp channel and you gain 6dB, so ~107dBa without room gain, etc, etc.  So basically this is what the cabinet is designed to do.  If you need more bass or headroom, you will need more cabs/amps (as Vic stated).  

At 899.00 list, they are hard to beat for size & output IMO.

[Phil Lewandowski]

Hey Evan!

Just curious... where do you cross-over the 920s at to the Growlers since the 920s drop of higher?

Thanks!
Phil!

[Pascal Pincosy]

Evan Kirkendall wrote on Sun, 09 December 2007 20:26

My problem tonight was the subs walking around. They would not stay in place. I had to ratchet strap them together and strap them to the amp rack. They need rubber feet so they wont slide around as much.

Evan- You'll find this is a common problem with horn-loaded subs. Tons of output from a small light box makes the subs want to stroll around the room. My Bassmaxx Trips have a hard time staying in one place, and my Danley TH-115's will move around even if you strap two together. I suggest Growler owners who are trying to run center-clustered subs get some rubber matting to sit them on. Rubber feet are just going to get in the way or get torn off, especially if one is using the cabinets in different combinations.

[Evan Kirkendall]

Phil Lewandowski wrote on Mon, 10 December 2007 09:11

Hey Evan! Just curious... where do you cross-over the 920s at to the Growlers since the 920s drop of higher? Thanks! Phil!

Growlers are 40-100hz. 18dB and 24dB butterworth. Community's start at 120hz, 24db butterworth.




Evan