Bassgav666 Posted August 18, 2011 Share Posted August 18, 2011 Hi all, I am a bass player who studied music a long while back (9 years!) and out of the blue have fallen back in music. Besides my 9-5 job, I have joined a function band. I have a question though which I'm hoping for some help with..... I have purchased the following on 'advice' from an on-line site: Ashdown MAG 600 head (575w) Ashdown MAG 410T 'deep' 450w 8 Ohms and... Ashdown MAG 115 'deep' 250w 8 Ohms I play a Warwick corvette standard (built 1992!) 5 string (for the record!!) Hopefully you have noticed my issue...... the 115 cab is perhaps not right for this set up, or is it?? My basic understanding is that when all hooked up together, there will be 575W divided between the 2 cabs giving me an output 287.5w per cab when at max volume Clearly the cab only goes to 250W..... I will be playing at gigs with say 200-500 people, at a push 1000 but in practice I don't think I need to go much past half volume on the amp to cover this. I have read a lot of conflicting info on this, so am hoping for some clarity. I can play the bass.... but am way behind the times on the technical side so please excuse any wrong info. The main reason for the above set up was based on overall cost, however should I be looking to change the 115 MAG to the 115 ABM which is around double the cost - and incidentally has a blue speaker cone which wouldn't match the existing set up! Any help would be much appreciated, let the debate begin! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyfisher Posted August 18, 2011 Share Posted August 18, 2011 Audio watts is not quite the exact science it might seem. Your calculation is correct but the speaker won't suddenly go up in smoke when the amp output is cranked up to 251W. The general view is that if the speaker is not distorting then everything is fine. Also speaker ratings are generally pessimistic and amplifier ratings optimistic. The max calculated power of 287.5W is only 15% over the speaker rating so I'd be surprised if you could do any damage with this configuration. And, as you say, you're highly unlikely to be cranked up to full volume anyway. I wouldn't worry about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blademan_98 Posted August 18, 2011 Share Posted August 18, 2011 [quote name='flyfisher' post='1344804' date='Aug 18 2011, 08:16 PM']Audio watts is not quite the exact science it might seem. Your calculation is correct but the speaker won't suddenly go up in smoke when the amp output is cranked up to 251W. The general view is that if the speaker is not distorting then everything is fine. Also speaker ratings are generally pessimistic and amplifier ratings optimistic. The max calculated power of 287.5W is only 15% over the speaker rating so I'd be surprised if you could do any damage with this configuration. And, as you say, you're highly unlikely to be cranked up to full volume anyway. I wouldn't worry about it.[/quote] Good answer. If you ran it flat out volume wise and were pushing it to the limit for an extreme duration of time, you might get a problem. You will probably be fine because that's a loud rig! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassgav666 Posted August 18, 2011 Author Share Posted August 18, 2011 Thanks for your comments guys, exactly what I needed to know and also very reassuring It's the first rig I've had, and looks the part so makes sense to keep as it is. I had a nice little Peavy combo back in the day and that used to distort all the time, but it was the sound I was looking for. Next thing to look at is pedals... Thanks again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvin Posted August 19, 2011 Share Posted August 19, 2011 Welcome to the forum. That will be quite loud. I saw a bass player the other night with a very similar set up (difference was he had a Peavey 410 not and Ashdown, but same head and 115 cab) and it was ear splitingly loud. Have fun, knock a few walls down Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassgav666 Posted August 20, 2011 Author Share Posted August 20, 2011 Very good to know! Thank you Marvin, The last amp I used (at my wedding!) was so quiet I ended up with blisters trying to be heard. We have a rehearsal mid Sept. of the full set, will let you know how it holds up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krysh Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 moin! listen to it before you buy, and decide yourself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanbass1 Posted September 11, 2011 Share Posted September 11, 2011 Welcome aboard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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