funkydoug

Great suggestion Stevie, although real estate on the baffle might be too tight. I'll have to measure up. Would a second 5.5cm one be a good, idea? @chris_b I hear you, and I may do that, but gonna explore some options before parting with it. Think I've enjoyed the build diaries too much

Probably a daft question really but... If the port is the main problem, what would sealing the port do?

Really appreciate your input Stevie. I'm feeling a bit bamboozled by the number of options, including everything from selling it to buying a second one!! I am starting to agree that a second cab seems the best bet and if I can find one used it'd probably be as cheap as buying a new driver. Can I also thank you for your input into the other cab threads. I have really got a lot out of them. You guys should write a book! Cheers, Doug

Bit of an update on this. The amp is great in many ways but does feel a bit constrained by the speaker... or at least I can't help thinking that. Can anyone tell me anything about the internal speaker? It has the ashdown blueline sticker and this one too. Can anyone decode it? Cheers, Doug

Thanks for that Bill. Your answer is, as usual, very compelling.

Bit of a zombie resurrection to this thread but... I understand that the sealed cab has less bass response but does a sealed cab actually protect the drivers from over excursion? Seems that a port offers more bass response in the audible range at the cost of the risk of unloading it and exposing to over excursion at very low frequencies. If so, a sealed cab looks to be a simpler, safer design that also removes the need for a hpf at the cost of the roll off of bass that starts *around* 100hz. Have I got that right? Just hoping to check my understanding. Thanks, Doug

A few times, years ago. 1. An ancient amp died a long slow death due to old age and lack of any TLC from me. I was about 22yr old and had much better things to do than amp maintenence! 2. Early ashdown mag amps were notoriously unreliable, unfortunately I had one. It failed quite a few times before they replaced it. Newer ones are great. Each time the bass went via DI into the pa, it was fine. Now I take more care of my stuff, and always have a decent DI available as my backup plan. I think bass players are much more risk averse than guitarists (to the extent one can generalise). Its a personality trait that makes us obsess about HPFs and frequency analysis... FWIW, My day job leads me to work with power system engineers, where keeping the lights on is pretty important and where risk aversion is a necessity. They use a phrase that I've found myself using, 'n minus one' when thinking about gigs. What they mean is you should be prepared to be able to cope if any single one of your bits of gear goes down (that's the minus one bit, n being the number of 'bits of kit' you use). So, the idea is to plan to be able to survive a gig if any one item you have fails. If you have multiple failures on one gig, it's either not your fault or it is so vanishingly unlikely no one reasonably expects you to have prepared for that.

One cylindrical port, at the front, measurements above. Thanks mate 👍

No, it's the 1x12 that they did in Tweed, lovely looking combo with a great amp that ticks alot of my boxes. Just wondering about whether a speaker upgrade would make it even better. Cheers, Doug

Thanks for the moral support Jack:) I've measured the port now at 5.5cm in diameter and 5cm deep. This could be the start of a nice learning journey as at the moment winISD seems to have a bit of a learning curve. Can't be rocket science... Or can it??

Thanks for the replies - very much appreciated. I'll have a look at Win ISD to see if I can get a sense of what the options are.

Hi, I'm considering whether to replace the stock Ashdown driver with a better one as while I love ashdown amps the MAG combo I have is a bit let down by the speaker. It was a cheap combo so it can't have been a high spec driver but I really like the MAG amps. It is a 37litre box with a cylindrical port. Haven't measured the port. The amp puts out 300watts (RMS) at 4ohms. I like the idea of a very sensitive 8ohm speaker as its leaves me with the option handling much bigger stages with a big second cab. With a box this size (quite small but not tiny), is it worth spending about £100 for a more efficient driver? My main question is about how much bass / bottom end / h-word it'll ever deliver.. Lastly, and I can guess the answer but will ask anyway, would anyone make the tempting but probably unwise move of putting a 300w 4ohm speaker in there? Anyone done it? Worth the cost and faff? Cheers, Doug

Good shout, the power supply that is. Don't think it's about Class A and Ohms as these sounded very loud (and still do) in 8ohm combos. Could also be something to do with how the volume pots worked. Few people know how much louder they get past about noon! Just seen that Bill has suggested the volume knobs too. Wish I could say great minds think alike... but that'd be doing BFM a disservice

This has been an interesting read, thanks folks. Only half joking with this question... Can anyone explain why old Trace Elliott (and maybe a few others like Peavey) are perceptibly louder than most other amps with like for like RMS ratings? People usually just grin and shrug, but is there a reason Trace Watts seemed to be louder?? I ask in sheer curiosity, as a fan of both science and Trace Elliott

I was on this trail a while back, and another option is the DSM OmniCabSim, they're great and very versatile... And I happen to selling one in the effects marketplace

no contest - get a Roland Cube. Global availability, will last longer than any of us and they sound very good indeed Welcome back to Bass

For a backup amp I'd go for the mosfet version. Less glass to break. They're not 2000 watts, OK, but it'll still be more than loud enough for almost any real-life gig situation if paired with an efficient cab.