BassmanPaul

Persona;lly I would go for the Ampeg. Ampeg and bass go together naturally. Fender do not. My Ampeg B15NF is a delight to play through and always makes me smile no matter my mood. I have never got on with Fender bass amps.

I've just had a delivery too! 24 cans od Ricards Red beer and 24 cans of Keiths IPA. I think I'll enjoy them as much as the OP will his V4B! LOL Besides it's 33C outside at the moment. Our two air conditioners are working hard to keep us a 23C indoors.!

Those systems are hardly worth setting up!!

Just a note to the OP. Ladies play our instrument too. One of them could have your answer but you excluded them with your "Hi chaps." 😒

Speakers need to be matched to their enclosure. With the neos. the cab could sound lovely or the speakers could just tear themselves to bits. Why buy a cabinet just to change the drivers? When you could just put together or have one made for you, a suitable box to mount the neos in? The manufacturer of the neos would probably have suitable plans for such an enclosure. It would be cheaper than this plan.

Can't wait to see it!!

That model GK showed up in the search I did too.

Did you get the manual that comes with the unit? If you did then read the manual carefully. Maybe you bought a faulty unit and it needs to be returned to Ashdown for service.

You make me want to put one together but I don't have speakers that would suit a 100W amp.

My only suggestion would be a search on-line to find what you are looking for. I entered 'bass combos' into my Safari task bar and got a few hits but they are all over on this side of the pond. 😄

I was from Liverpool but left the UK in early 1973 for our new life in Toronto. There used to be some great music shops in Manchester that I would visit. I'm sorry that things have changed so much.

I have no experience of Phil Jones amplifiers but as an engineer I have always distrusted them for the reasons Bill has mentioned.There are so many combos out there that I feel would work better for you. May I humbly suggest trips to music stores and try out as many combos as you can. Remember that bass and small really don't go together that well! LOL

Now you know how tubes make a bass sing! Enjoy!

I would monitor the operation of the internal fan and carry on using it. Using a distortion pedal will cause the amplifier to run closer to its limits. There should be enough protection against overheating built into the unit - hopefully!

That would do it for sure. The amp will be cooler running into an 8Ω load that if it was pushing a 4Ω one.

Remember less is more when it comes to DeOxit!

A short spray of Deoxit should fix that for you. Shouldn't cost too much for a tech to fix this for you.

I do have a full tube amplifier. It sits at the bottom od the stairs to my basement 'studio.' The amp is an Ampsg B15NF from the sixties. Playing through it is a delight. No matter the mood I'm in plugging into this amplifier brings a smile to my face and a rise in my mood! I love that thing.. When it first arrived I had a JBL 2225 doing nothing so I installed it in the combo. It sounded great BUT there was 'something' missing. After a time I reinstalled the original driver with its square magnet and the 'something' was back. The JBL went back into it's box and back into storage.

All amplifiers get hot in use. As @Downunderwonder says it's what the fan is supposed to dissipate. Make sure there is clear air around the amp so the cooling can occur.

Can't help with the schematics but as a temporary work around drop the volume to zero before engaging the EQ.

Sorry Stub but I find Piezo tweeters harsh and unmusical. I would never use them.

Fixed!

Y'know I find Basschat somewhat bizarre! I remember all the gigs I played in England and Wales using 50W amps. I was never at a loss for volume! Now here are you guys saying that you need 500W in order to be heard in an average British pub. I find that incomprehensible. Back in the day I would have died for an amp as powerful as an Elf! If an Elf is not enough for your needs add a second one with its speaker system to increase your volume. I can only imagine how loud your band must be.

Depends on the cabs impedance. If it is 8Ω the amp will be giving much less than it's 4Ω capability.