hamfist

I owned an HD400 Lowdown head for a while. It was pretty awful. THe tones just didn't cut through in a band situation. SOunded pretty OK at home .... I'd say that's pretty typical of Line 6 kit in general though. It's mainly designed to appeal to bedroom players. In contrast with an opinion above, though, I did find it "appropriately" loud for 400 Watts, but setting the input volume was pretty critical. It struggled hugely to get loud and [u]clean[/u] though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ed8NBPmits and this .... [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pCw3Aw9yyk&feature=player_embedded"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pCw3Aw9yyk&feature=player_embedded[/url]

Bought an amp head from cccy. It was appropriately packaged, and his communication was excellent throughout, despite hassles with couriers. A recommended seller !

Excellent ! Thnks to all for your experiences. From those, and what else I've read about them, it'll be right up my street ! Just got to be patient until I get it now.

A bit excited ... just won a Schroeder 410L on ebay. It's one of the really lightweight 4x10's (plus tweeter) with the angled baffle. Anyone had any experience of these ? I'll be using an Ashdown ABM500 and a GK 700RB II with it.

[quote name='ThomBassmonkey' timestamp='1330715622' post='1562173'] I'd always prioritise my head over my cabs. If your head gets DId, your cabs are just monitoring on stage while your head is what the crowd hears. [/quote] Very, very good point. I am going through the PA for most of my sound at the vast majority of gigs.

Sold a pedal to Chris. Pleasant and easy transaction. Great communications too. Thanks mate !

Phil bought an amp from me. Quick payment and very good communication throughout. Top bloke !

Gwilym, I think my main issue is that I simply haven't played that many cabs, so am less sure about how much more "punch" or "grind", or "tightness" or whatever other hard-to-describe descriptive terms, other cabs might have. I am a lot more experienced with different amps though, so am fairly sure that further expenditure on an amp would be fairly pointless for me. The other issue is that youtube-type soundtests (limited though they are) can give you a clue as to what an amp will sound like. But for cabs (especially at anywhere near gig volumes, where cab characteristics can change noticeably), they are pretty much useless. As for more money always buying a "better" cab I know it is not necessarily so. I used to have a TC electronic RS cab, then bought a cheaper BC cab, but actually liked the BC better, so sold the RS and bought another BC.

My situation is that I am "happy" with my current cabs. But if I spent out the wonga on well chosen more expensive cabs. Might I be "more happy" ? Especially once you get into the realm of more expensive gear it becomes more and more difficult to try out, as they are harder to find locally so at some point each of us has to say ... right that's it, I'm happy. But who knows if we could be that elusive thing of "more happy" ????? And the answer is, of course, 43.

[quote name='Gwilym' timestamp='1330678737' post='1561298'] buy what sounds good, don't think a set ratio of monetary value needs to be / should be the yardstick [/quote] Clearly no-one is expecting a set of rules. Was just wondering what others actually ended up spending on each. And yours is, of course, a bit of a cop out answer ultimately.

Just wondered how you guys tend to split spending your money, between amps and cabs. I always seem to buy a cab setup costing about 75% of the cost of my main amp. Maybe I should be putting more of my money into cabs ? Hmmmmm .. thoughts ?

Sounds like a very positive turn of events.

[quote name='icastle' timestamp='1330528355' post='1558891'] On balance, if your cabs use Speakons then I'd be more inclined to go down the 'daisy chaining' route and take advantage of the more robust Speakon connectors. [/quote] Definately.

[quote name='gjones' timestamp='1330309582' post='1555576'] just need to figure out how to do it without overdriving the pre amp on the ABM. [/quote] A bit of compression will work wonders. Would advise against using the onboard compressor though, which is almost useless IMO. I tried a MB Compressore for half an hour or so in front of the ABM, and it did a great job of simply taking the peaks off the low notes, yet losing no perceptable punch. As I use a bit of OD from a pedal in front of the amp at all times, that adds a perefect amount of compression. I lose no punch at all, but my input signal is at the ideal point on the VU meter (peaking at around 0 to +1 most of the time, for most strongly played notes, yet never venturing into clipping territory if I did right in on the bottom string. If I didn't use drive I would defo use a compressor. Certainly have not found this ABM to be a "quiet" 500 Watts. Has at least as much as, if not a bit more than, my Little Mark III.

[quote name='gjones' timestamp='1330265543' post='1554812'] Well I'll be playing through my new ABM for the first time tonight through my TC electronic BC2x12 cab . Hopefully I'll be as chuffed after the gig as you were. [/quote] Report back on how it goes !

[quote name='Bigwan' timestamp='1330265108' post='1554801'] I've always loved my ABMs and never had any trouble with mine, although I firmly believe that the early series are much more reliable than the newer ones. I still have 2 first series ABMs, but currently use the orange terror bass more. It has the same tone set flat as I try to get from my ABMs, but with a little more punch and a LOT more gain, which suits the stuff I normally play. [/quote] A Bass Terror is an amp I [u]MUST[/u] try out at some point, although I suspect, from all accounts, it may not have the flexibility I need for a covers band.