I have 2 amps i'm trying these days- an Ashdown 500 EVO head and and an Ampeg SVT CL. Both i've been trying on an 8x10E Ampeg cab and a 2x15 and playing with both an american Fender P-Bass and a mexi-Fender J-Bass. I can't seem to get the volume I want with the fullness of tone I want- a big phat, smooth big bottom end sound. Strangely i can't get either to be THAT loud without seeming to get a tiny bit of bit of distortion or loss of smoothness to the notes i play- the CL is brand new so it can't be the tubes on the amp, nor could it be the cabs, as i know they aren't blown. It's odd to me that i can't a great big tone without worrying whether i'll blow the speakers. Any ideas or suggestions?
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Maxing out Cabs/Volume Issues
- Thread starter jonny5
- Start date
That's an awful lot of speakers, you should be getting tons of volume. What is the wattage the amps put out vs. the power handling of the speakers? Maybe try turning the bass and/or treble down a bit in the EQ? That should give you a little more room to crank the volume without distortion.
Are you pushing the heads hard? If your heads are cranked theyre more likely to be distorting than cabs.
I don't really know about the Ashdown, but I'd say that "big, CLEAN tone" and "Ampeg SVT" do not go together to well. SVT's to the "big" part pretty well, but they're not even intended to be a really "clean" sounding amp. Once you get into a gain structure that's pushing some real volume, any SVT is going to have some grit.
Are the speakers cabs running "out of phase"?
Perhaps if you are using homemade speaker cables (and you are using speaker cables - not a guitar cord?) are wired wrong? Try running one amp (say the Ashdown) with one cab - turn off the amp, plug the secong cab into the Ashdown, power it back up and see how it sounds. If you loose a lot of lows then the speakers are firing out of phase.
Perhaps if you are using homemade speaker cables (and you are using speaker cables - not a guitar cord?) are wired wrong? Try running one amp (say the Ashdown) with one cab - turn off the amp, plug the secong cab into the Ashdown, power it back up and see how it sounds. If you loose a lot of lows then the speakers are firing out of phase.
