Help!!! Please!!!!

[Freddie75]

Hi - I was wondering if somebody might be able to give me some sound advice.

Firstly:

My bass- stingray musicman

I have an Ampeg B2re and for the past 2/3 years have played it through a peavey 4x10 cab 8ohms which I believe gave me about 275 watts of power. It sounded quite phat although the amp was switched up almost full (peaking).

Recently the speaker started to sound distorted so I decided to purchase an Ashdown 414t deep cab (4x10) which should be running at 450 watts at 4 ohms (the ampeg b2re giving 450 watts at 4ohms) so therefore should give me more power.

I assumed that having this extra power meant that I could keep the volumn down more and therefore giving my sound better clarity and bottom end.

Well - I seem to have no more power than before through my old peavey cab at 8ohms and the deep rumble I used to get through the peavey seems to have dissapeared with the ashdown.

Does anybody have experience of using these cabs and amp?

I am starting to wonder whether the amp is playing up or the new cab is not that great!

Can anybody recommend a good head to go with this particular model cab?

Bit confused - any help appreciated.

Kind regards
Freddie

[fleabee]

Going from 275 watts to 450 watts is not very significant in volume. You would think by almost doubling the watts it would be dramatic but its not very noticeable. In addition the B2re output is very overrated. Try a Markbass head or Genz..cheap and gets the job done well

[dubcut]

It would take a 550 watt amp for you to tell a noticable volume difference. The wattage doesn't do all that much until you quadruple it.


Am I mistaken, or did your speker blow on too little wattage...seems there is a thread floating around here that talks about that....

[Freddie75]

Thanks guys,

Not sure if the speaker blew or not but my ashdown Cab seems to distort - although the volumne doesnt seem to be that loud when playing along with band. Not sure why up until a couple of months ago even through the peavey - it sounded fine.

Might have to go with more like a 550 watt head then.

Will this cause me issues as the ashdown cab is 450watts at 4ohms?

Can I put another cab along with the ashdown seeing as its 4ohm?

Sorry for all the questions.

Kind regards
Freddie

[chokeslam512]

I think maybe you would have better luck with two 8 ohm peavey cabs rather than one 4 ohm cab if it's volume you are looking for.

[chokeslam512]

Originally Posted by Freddie75

Can I put another cab along with the ashdown seeing as its 4ohm?


Freddie

NO!!!!!!

[Gearhead17]

Sounds like the Ashdown cab is about the same volume as the Peavey cab. So, in this case, adding more wattage will just give you more headroom for your tone. The smaller amount of low end in the Ashdown cab is based on what is was designed to sound like - not necessarily your amp.

I suggest you go to a guitar store and try out another bass head with your new cab. Then try your B2RE head and see which one is louder. Some people love the B2RE, and having owned the earlier version (B2R), the head is purely junk. Sounds cold & lifeless, the power output seems quite low, but it did have a great pick playing tone!

[Freddie75]

Originally Posted by chokeslam512

I think maybe you would have better luck with two 8 ohm peavey cabs rather than one 4 ohm cab if it's volume you are looking for.

Thanks for reply, dont really wanna be lugging 2 cabs round with me though which is why I went for a 4 ohm assuming I would have enough depth with just the one cab.
The older Im getting - the harder it is on the old back carrying these beasts!

Thanks again though

[smogg]

If you want more volume you need more speakers. How a bout a 610 cab with built in rollers?

[eq777]

When you put two 8 ohm cabs together, the load is cut in half to 4 ohms. Make sure you understand about ohms/resistance and power amps/speakers. I think you blew your ash down cab. Speakers don't blow from being loud; they blow from the signal being distorted because the coils get hot and then that causes the speaker to blow. I think you should do like chokeslam512 says and get two 8ohm cabs. Try to get a 700 watt or higher amp. That way you can get the power without having to crank your amp all the way up and maitain clarity at the same time. You may have to spend some bread to get the sound you want. Remember no matter how good your bass is or how powerful your amp is, your rig is as only as good as the speakers, because that is the last element in cycle.

[RickenBoogie]

+1 to that^.