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ashdown ABM evo500 with 2x12 little bastard cab?

S

shednz

May 27, 2013
21
0
#1
Hi all am a guitarist now also playing bass in a blues band (old school little walter, bb king, muddy, sonny boy williamson etc).

I have seen some reasonable prices on ashdown gear over here in NZ and am thinking about matching an ABM 500 evoIII with a 2 x12 lil bastard cab. Really I am a complete newbie when it comes to bass gear so am encouraging your thoughts. I know the lil bastard cabs are designed to go with the little bastard head but at only 30 watts and mucho more $$ than the ABM I'm thinking that tube head won't have enough volume.

Cheers for your thoughts!
 
#2
What have you got for PA?

For reference, I had a 50w Jansen Bassman, not enough clean power to keep up, full noise PA, maybe with a better monitor set for the rest of the band it could possibly have worked out.

500w head into LB cab, not a good recipe from getgo, but you could make it work in a full on PA situation.
 
#3
hey - thanks downunderwonder. Yeah i was wondering about a 500 watt amp with the lil bastard 2 x 12 cab. the cab is rated at 300w - I thought the general rule was amp should have more watts than the cabinet? Anyone else help me out here? Thanks
 
#4
shednz said:
hey - thanks downunderwonder. Yeah i was wondering about a 500 watt amp with the lil bastard 2 x 12 cab. the cab is rated at 300w - I thought the general rule was amp should have more watts than the cabinet? Anyone else help me out here? Thanks
Click to expand...

Not too familiar with the lil bastard, but really the rating isn't that important as one may think. If it's 300 at 8 ohms, you're just fine. Even if it's not, you're not really cranking the entire 500 watts from the evo. The EVO is an excellent head, btw.
 
#5
Thanks Drnknmstr...I believe it is a 4 ohm cabinet at 300 watts so yeah, the head would have full grunt available but it wouldn't typically be operating at any serious kind of volume - small to medium gigs playing old school blues plus a little funky stuff. Any one else - anyone used this cabinet?
 
#7
I play in a band doing very similar material to what you describe and use an ABM 500 head into a Barefaced 2 12 (can handle up to 1200 w), rarely have the volume above 1/3rd max.

I agree with poster above, cab should be capable of handling more power than the amp can deliver. I reckon that a 300 watt cab is not going to last too long with an amp able to pump out nearly double that.
 
#8
cheers folks - have now found the enormous threads on overpowering/underpowing cab and amp combinations - some debate going on there! I'll [lay it safe I think and look for some higher handling cab. Hillbilly Dave how do you find the Abm500 for providing the old school tones?
 
#10
you mean something like this?
 

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#11
Do you have a link to the info on the 212 Bastard cab?

I believe the LB212 was a 8 ohm cab at 200w. You won't see many non-boutique 212s wired for 4 ohm, especially with such a low rating.
 
#12
LB212 is a 4 ohm cab (I own one). Originally designed for use with the LB head so wattage ratings were unimportant really. There are only 20 of these cabs in existance - they are all prototypes in essence.

Don't bother looking at the Ahdown specs of the cab as everything other than it's physical dimensions is rubbish, the quoted weight of 14kg for example. If you can find one that weight I'll eat my hat... and yours. Most cabs have a 100 watt rating on the back, but the drivers can actually handle 300w or 400w (depending on which cab you have - some have celestion drivers, others have eminence).

Use it with the EVO. If it sounds like it's struggling it's probably an idea to turn down!

The thinking behind overpowering a cab is so your amp doesn't run out of juice. Nothing will kill a cab quicker than a square wave signal from a power amp that's being pushed too hard. Underpowering a cab is more likely to kill it than overpowering it. After all 500 watts on tap doesn't mean you have to use them all...
 
#15
Downunderwonder said:
Squarewaves kill tweeters, not woofers. Woofers eat squarewaves for breakfast, lunch and tea. Too POWERFUL a squarewave will kill a woofer from OVERPOWERING.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I wouldn't touch a 300w rated 212 at 4 ohm with a 10 foot pole with most modern amps. Certainly it's not future proof and what's the point of having the full rating of the Evo500 if you've got to cool your jets to avoid popping your cab.

It's the kind of thing that would be wonderful for a small tuber or to pick up if you wanted to get all the juice out of an old style Peavey or Hartke low rated head but it's totally the wrong cab for that head. Better off with a MAG210.
 
#17
Downunderwonder said:
Man that squarewave myth takes some killing. Die, dammmit!

Squarewaves kill tweeters, not woofers. Woofers eat squarewaves for breakfast, lunch and tea. Too POWERFUL a squarewave will kill a woofer from OVERPOWERING.
Click to expand...

I stand corrected.

I still maintain that the cab will work just fine with an ABM head - mine can take a good kicking from my ABM AND my Orange Terror (which is a MUCH louder amp). Just use your ears. If it sounds like it's struggling, it is.
 
#18
Bigwan said:
Oh dear...
Click to expand...

All I'm suggesting is that if that little 212 is really rated 300w at 4 ohm it would be great for one of the old style heads (HA1400 which is 140w at 4) for instance. Or the full 30w of the LB..
If you've got a problem with that I'd prefer you qualify yourself rather than being flippant.
 

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