Ashdown 515 combo to cab conversion

[SpacewitchIan]

I have a 100w Ashdown five fifteen combo (the older cloth covered one) which is blown due to it accidentally being put through a 4 ohm cab. The repair cost seems to be non-economical, so I am thinking of converting it to a 1x15 cab. My only reservation is that my amp head is a Peavey 450 max (450w @ 2 ohms, 300 @4, 170 @ 8).
Would the cab handle the head?

 

[dubhnight]

I have a 100w Ashdown five fifteen combo (the older cloth covered one) which is blown due to it accidentally being put through a 4 ohm cab. The repair cost seems to be non-economical, so I am thinking of converting it to a 1x15 cab. My only reservation is that my amp head is a Peavey 450 max (450w @ 2 ohms, 300 @4, 170 @ 8).
Would the cab handle the head?

Yeah, it could, as long as you don't turn it up too loud. Wattage ratings are a funny thing, you could blow up a 500w cab with a 100w head if you put the right (or maybe that shoud be wrong?) frequencies through it. I'd say it would be okay, as long as you're very careful not to overload it. Watch out for horrible farting sounds and excessive buzzing. Mind you, the situation isn't really ideal... I never had peace of mind with my old rig, because I knew I was always close to blowing the cabinet to hell.

 

[kbakerde]

Funny thing, I actually did something very similar to my 515 combo this past weekend, but for different reasons.

I had the 515 since November, but just recently bought a Bassman 135 stack with a 215 cabinet. The 215 is way to huge to be practical in a lot of scenarios, so I had a lot of thoughts of what to do with it. Unfortunately finances left me having to keep it as is, but I still wanted a smaller more portable option for the head.

I have been trying to unload the 515 on craigslist for about 2 months and no bites at all. I didn't want to just practically give it away, and my amp section works great. So I added a jack to connect the speaker to an outside head unit, and I added a switch that allows me to select an outboard head, or the onboard amp and voila, I have a 4 ohm 1 x 15" cabinet.

Now in your case, I think you are fine as long as you manage the volume on the amp. As has been mentioned, the wattage of an amp will vary depending on how you control the volume. If you hear distortion back it down. Also, If I were you, I would consider adding a 4 ohm resistor to the effectively change the value to 8ohms. I believe that would work so the amp would only be putting out the 170w and give you a little more breathing room before you run the risk to damage the speaker. If I am wrong on this, your more experienced cab guys will correct me.