Advice on replacement speakers for Ashdown Combo

[4stringood]

Hi,
I have recently aquired an Ashdown 550 Touring 2x10 combo.
I can't say I am particulary impressed so far, it does not seem like 575 watts and no matter how I eq it you can either have lots of booming bottom and no definition or twangy mid and no bottom, however the sound is relative to the player and perhaps my Squeir bass doesn't help.
Main problem is at the volume I play the speakers fart out badly on the low notes so i am thinking of replacing them and wonder if anyone has any advice on suitable subsitutes?
The fitted speakers are Ashdown blueline and are 16 ohm @ 250w
Or would I be better of keeping them and using a 8 ohm 15" extension cab which I assume would give me the full wattage into 4 ohms as the min output impedance is marked as 4 ohm.
Thanks for any help.

[Lozz196]

Well changing speakers can be a bit iffy, as strictly speaking they are meant to be fitted to cabs with the correct size. Plus, not sure there are too many 16 ohm 10s at 250 watts around.

Adding in a 15 cab will get the full power from the amp. However before doing this, I`d start off with all the eq, including Gain, set to 12 o`clock, and all the presets off. From there if too twangy, cut the twang, without boosting the lows. Likewise, if that setting is too boomy, reduce the lows, without boosting highs. From there, make only minor adjustments, and if it were me, I`d start on the Gain at this point. Altering this can have a fair change to the overall sound.

Additionally, a change of pickup and pots (potentionmeters) in the Squier may be worthwhile. Squier make a good instrument, but have to reduce costs in some areas, and the electrics are an easy area to make this saving. With a new pickup and pots, you may find no need for extra speakers, and even if you do, your bass will sound a lot better anyway. I don`t know which type of Squier you have, but CTS Pots are what Fender uses, pickup wise, all depends on the sound required - Seymour Duncan/Wizzard/Fender are all good replacements.

[gjones]

That's sad to hear those amps aren't exactly cheap. If they're rated at 250 watts each they shouldn't be farting out. Most Ashdown combos don't deliver their max power into 8 ohms, which means you'd be getting much less that 500 watts through those speakers (you'd need an 8 ohm extension cab to get the full 500 watts). I'd get in touch with Ashdown first and ask them about the issue and see if they can sort something out for you.

Edited July 8, 2012 by gjones

[Mornats]

I've got the Ashdown 220 Touring (1x12 speaker) and I can get mine to fart a bit if I turn up the bass on my Overwater to full but the preamp on that bass is quite meaty and it can overpower a lot of speakers in my experience.

I've played a Squire precision through my Laney RB1 combo and it sounded just fine. It had that classic P sound so I don't think it's your bass.

Our very own walbassist demos the 550 head on YouTube and shows quite a few EQ options you could try. Flat EQ seems to be bass = 9 o'clock, mid = 9 o'clock, treble = 3 o'clock. They have a passive EQ which takes some time to get used to.

I've managed to get a really nice growly sound with some good low end and enough upper-end bite to cut through drums and a guitar from my combo so I know it's possible to get a good sound. Definitely contact Ashdown though and see what they say. I had a good response from Guy when I was asking about amps before I bought one.

Oh, here's Walbassist's vid: [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8QibZQbxSc"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8QibZQbxSc[/url]