Peter Train Posted December 31, 2010 Share Posted December 31, 2010 Hi I have an Ashdown Five Fifteen that I've been using for about 3 years and recetly all the fuses on the circuit board blew. When I replaced them they blew again. I have spoken to a local engineer who tells me that it's probably a transformer that's gone and needs replacing and he estimates a total bill of about £50 for the repair. Not a bad price but!....... I have been considering changing this for a few months now and I plan to buy a Roland CB100 which can drive an external cab as wel as the internal speaker. As the Ashdown would only be worth aboth £80 as a sale item on basschat I wondered if it would be possible to convert the old combo into a cab and run it from my new combo when I get it? Would this give me a better sound? The Roland needs an external cab with a minimum of 100W capacity at 8 Ohms. The Ashdown is sold as a 100 watt amp and required and 8 ohm extension cab but on the Ashdown website its only shown as 100w at 4 ohms. Any thoughts? Thanks Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warwickhunt Posted December 31, 2010 Share Posted December 31, 2010 Using your existing combo as an ext cab is certainly viable, you just need to ensure that the Ashdown driver is defo 8ohms; I'd assume it's 8ohm as the panel provides connection for an ext cab but I've no idea if the ext socket cuts the signal to the internal speaker... I doubt it but if it was me I'd be whipping the speaker out to double check (easy 10min job). If the Ashdown is an 8ohm driver then yes you can use it with another combo that has an ext socket. One question; Is the Ashdown speaker wired internally to the amp? If it is you are going to need to fit a socket onto/into your combo casing. Again not a massive job and you only need to be proficient with a drill, screwdriver and soldering iron. Doubled up with your new combo it will improve the sound (bearing in mind that you are only talking low powered rig here and not some monster rig). Just ask yourself if you can be bothered! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Train Posted December 31, 2010 Author Share Posted December 31, 2010 Thanks This is useful, I think I will try it as the only other option I can see is giving the Ashdown away or throwing it in a skip. This way I might have a reasonable 15" bass cab to use. The speaker is definitly wired into the amp internally but I'm not sure if it's definitly 8 Ohm. I'll have a look inside tomorrow. Cheers Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomBassmonkey Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 It's very unlikely it won't be 8 Ohm if you can get an 8 Ohm extension cab for it. The amp will be marketed as 100w as technically it is, you just need to attach another cab to get the full power out of it. Get a decent jack plug and it should be a fairly easy job to turn it into an extension cab. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Train Posted January 7, 2011 Author Share Posted January 7, 2011 I've taken the combo appart now and the amp and speaker are in 2 separate self contained sections of the cabinet. The Amp has come out alltogether making the case lighter. When I took the speaker out by removing then grill I founf it was a 150 watt rated 8 ohn ashdown blue line speaker so it should be OK. the wires from the speaker exit through a sealed hole to where the amplifier was. I've ordered a Neutrik jack socket which I think can be mounted on the outside of the case where the amp used to be. I'll post some photos later once I've set this up and let people know how I've got on. Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cygnus x-1 Posted January 8, 2011 Share Posted January 8, 2011 [quote name='Peter Train' post='1073863' date='Dec 31 2010, 05:31 PM']Hi I have an Ashdown Five Fifteen that I've been using for about 3 years and recetly all the fuses on the circuit board blew. When I replaced them they blew again. I have spoken to a local engineer who tells me that it's probably a transformer that's gone and needs replacing and he estimates a total bill of about £50 for the repair. Not a bad price but!....... I have been considering changing this for a few months now and I plan to buy a Roland CB100 which can drive an external cab as wel as the internal speaker. As the Ashdown would only be worth aboth £80 as a sale item on basschat I wondered if it would be possible to convert the old combo into a cab and run it from my new combo when I get it? Would this give me a better sound? [u][i][b]The Roland needs an external cab with a minimum of 100W capacity at 8 Ohms.[/b][/i] [/u] The Ashdown is sold as a 100 watt amp and required and 8 ohm extension cab but on the Ashdown website its only shown as 100w at 4 ohms. Any thoughts? Thanks Pete[/quote] I stumbled on this thread by chance and i'm really interested. As I have a Roland cb100 combo I have been thinking of using an extra external speaker cab, but I too am confused about ohms, the Roland manual says use a cab with a maximum of 8 ohms, but does not specify whether a 4 or 8 ohm external cab would be better in this set up. How do you find out which to use? Also would adding a 2 x 12 or 1 x 15 external cab of the correct ohmage? produce a louder sound or just a sound with more umph? Any help/advice greatly appreciated, thanks, Nick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warwickhunt Posted January 8, 2011 Share Posted January 8, 2011 [quote name='Cygnus x-1' post='1082005' date='Jan 8 2011, 12:34 PM']I stumbled on this thread by chance and i'm really interested. As I have a Roland cb100 combo I have been thinking of using an extra external speaker cab, but I too am confused about ohms, the Roland manual says use a cab with a maximum of 8 ohms, but does not specify whether a 4 or 8 ohm external cab would be better in this set up. How do you find out which to use? Also would adding a 2 x 12 or 1 x 15 external cab of the correct ohmage? produce a louder sound or just a sound with more umph? Any help/advice greatly appreciated, thanks, Nick.[/quote] When the manual says 'max 8ohms' Nick, I'd be fairly confident in saying that means use an 8 or 16ohm cab (or any cab between 8-16... or even over 16 but any of the afore mentioned cabs will be pretty rare) NOT a 4ohm cab. As to whether you should add a 2x12, 1x15, 2x10, 4x10 etc. that is down to personal preference but all should give you a (little) more volume as I'd have thought your combo will produce the 100w at 4ohms (your 8ohm internal speaker and the 8ohm ext cab giving the 4ohm load). You won't be talking a massive amount of wattage increase, maybe 25w more than the 75w you'd be getting without the ext cab BUT the extra speaker drivers will make it appear louder with a bit more Umph. Just don't expect to suddenly be knocking down walls when you get the extra cab! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomBassmonkey Posted January 8, 2011 Share Posted January 8, 2011 [quote name='Cygnus x-1' post='1082005' date='Jan 8 2011, 12:34 PM']As I have a Roland cb100 combo I have been thinking of using an extra external speaker cab, but I too am confused about ohms, the Roland manual says use a cab with a maximum of 8 ohms, but does not specify whether a 4 or 8 ohm external cab would be better in this set up. How do you find out which to use?[/quote] As WH says, 4 Ohms is MORE than 8 Ohms. It's weird, but that's how it works. I'd use an 8 Ohm cab if you wanted an extension. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dincz Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 [quote name='ThomBassmonkey' post='1082161' date='Jan 8 2011, 03:57 PM']As WH says, 4 Ohms is MORE than 8 Ohms. It's weird, but that's how it works.[/quote] 4 ohms is less impedance than 8 ohms - it impedes current less so it allows more to flow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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