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Upgrading the rig. Oh my....

vlad335

vlad335

Apr 14, 2003
1,291
631
Latrobe, PA
#1
Received two Ashdown Mag 410t's and a Carvin Hd900 poweramp yesterday. Didn't have a chance to wire it all up till about an hour ago.

bassrig.jpg


bassrig1.jpg


One word... DEVASTATING.

I have a QSC 1202 bridged 1200 watts into the SWR Big Ben (4 ohm Black Widow 18") for the lows. This is crossed over at about 80-90hz. Everything above goes to the Carvin's bridged 900 watts feeding the Ashdowns. 2100 watts total

I can't get the Alembic's F-1X volume past "2" without my house sounding like its coming apart! This is no exaggeration. I have always been a proponent of power and headroom but I think I might have gone just alittle too far this time. :rollno: LOL.

Whats funny is I planned on adding 2 more Ashdowns and replacing the QSC with a Carvin HD1800 in the future. This was for a metal gig but I honestly can't see a guitarist or drummer ever overpowering me as it stands now.

Will post more on the tone after I get the chance to fiddle with things. (and sweep up the broken glass. LOL)
 
#3
Haha! He doesn't know yet.

Definitely impressed with the Carvin. Its fairly light, very powerful and cheap. Totally quiet and sounds great too. As for my ordering expeirence over the phone, their like a bunch of retards humping a doorknob. I had to call a manager the next day to get things straightened out. Long story short...

I don't know about the Ashdown Mags yet. The tweeter is weak. I am thinking of pulling one and checking it out. I have a set of Cerwin Vega tweeters here that I might stick in there. Also the weight listed in the specs is a lie. These cabs are no way 62lbs. When I got the tracking numbers the weight for each package was 92lbs. I emailed Ashdown when I saw the weight on the UPS site and heres their response:
Hi David
they should indeed be about 62 lbs each only!
Regards
Martin
Click to expand...

I think Ching Lee is pulling a fast one on Martin over in England. These cabs are easily over 80lbs!

Also, both speakers came with a manual... For the Mag and ABM amp heads! Not that its crucial to get a manual with a speaker box mind you, its just all the errors. Now are these speakers really able to handle 450 watts? I don't know but thats what they are getting.
 
#12
BigMikeW said:
I'd have skinned that cat already for sleeping on my gear!
Click to expand...

No way man! Baxter's cool.

I am still having mixed feelings about the Ashdowns. Really pissed about the weight being misrepresented.

They sound pretty good after I did some tweaking of the Aphex 104 and Alembic pre. The tweets are not really weak just need to be setup differently than my Musicman's. One Speakon and one 1/4" jack is goofy though. ( They do not list the connection setup.) Had me digging for speaker cables today.

I have a problem with the Carvin now. It keeps going into Protect mode when I crank it up in a 4 ohm load bridged. Hooked up to one ashdown in 8 ohms, it works fine. I swapped out cables in 4 ohms and it does the same thing. This amp's defective! Arghhh! :mad:
 
#18
Does anyone know why my Carvin amp keeps going into Protect mode?

I switched it to run the 18" sub and same thing... Thump the "e" string with my thumb and it goes off. Not even at huge volumes either! I switched the speaker cables and the cords going into it and it didn't help. However, bridged into an 8 ohm load it doesn't do it.

My QSC just thumps right along. I am starting to think this is one of those instances where you get what you pay for.
 

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