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Fixing up a cab - is it worth it?


joescartwright
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I recently bought an Ashdown CTM-15 with a 1x10 flip top cab (see [url="http://ashdownmusic.com/products/1/Bass-Amplification/1/Custom-Shop/110/DH15C110/"]here[/url]) on ebay. It arrived with the latches bent and not working and the speaker farts out a bit in the lower register. Anyway, paypal refunded me the money as the seller was unresponsive and I've still got the amp.

Switching the latches to something more substantial is going to be super easy and cheap to do but I'm not sure if it's worth changing out the speaker for something better or just to scrap the cab and keep the head.

The flip-top thing is cool but I'm not sure that the cab will sound good with a different speaker in and don't want to bin the money if it doesn't.

What do y'all think?

Cheers,
Joe.

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[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' timestamp='1509642850' post='3400566']
I think the need for a sticky that explains what it takes in terms of the tools and knowledge required to successfully substitute drivers is long overdue. :unsure:
[/quote]

I think you're right - you have the knowledge BIll, how about a short post on driver substitution and I'll get a mod to make it sticky? :)

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[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1509643382' post='3400573']
I think you're right - you have the knowledge BIll, how about a short post on driver substitution and I'll get a mod to make it sticky? :)
[/quote]I'd only do so if the topic was locked. Back when I still frequented talkbass they asked me to explain how driver phase response affects mixing cabs. It turned into a complete clusterf*ck when the usual bunch of idiots decided to fill the thread with Luddite nonsense. If the topic had been locked, or if the mods had done their jobs and cleared out the detritus, it wouldn't have given me one more reason to leave there. Lesson learned. To do it right would take a fair amount of time, which I'd only invest if I was assured that it wouldn't turn into an endless debate.

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Bumnote - The product has been discontinued and it doesn't look like they use the same speaker in their other stuff (it's one of those whizzer cone things).

If it takes more thought/effort than just popping a different speaker in then I'll probably give it a miss, I've got too many projects on the go at the moment without another one to balls up! I'd be interested to read the clevers all the same though.

Cheers,
Joe.

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[quote name='Jhowhdheyieh' timestamp='1509651063' post='3400642']
The product has been discontinued and it doesn't look like they use the same speaker in their other stuff (it's one of those whizzer cone things).
[/quote]

Would they give you the specs of the driver? They may even be able to point you in the direction of a suitable replacement. This is all pointless though if the reason for the driver farting out is that either the driver or the combination of driver and cab can't physically give you the lows you want.

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It's hard to say without hearing what you're hearing, but is it definitely the speaker farting and not the amp distorting? It's only a 15 watt amp, and the speaker would have to either be damaged or very poorly chosen to be running out of steam at that amount of power. It'd be worth checking through another cab before you spend more on it.

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[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1509658094' post='3400712']
It's only a 15 watt amp, and the speaker would have to either be damaged or very poorly chosen to be running out of steam at that amount of power.
[/quote]

The CTM-15 is an all-valve job though... could still be quite hefty!

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[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1509658094' post='3400712']
It's hard to say without hearing what you're hearing, but is it definitely the speaker farting and not the amp distorting? It's only a 15 watt amp, and the speaker would have to either be damaged or very poorly chosen to be running out of steam at that amount of power. It'd be worth checking through another cab before you spend more on it.
[/quote]

That's easy to check out - just try it with a different cab.

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The head works fine with other cabs.

I took the speaker grill cloth off to have a look at the speaker and farty sound changed which makes me think it's just mounted too close together or something. It seems like a chunk of the noise is coming from the inside of the cab (more obvious at higher volume).

In all honesty I much prefer the way the amp sounds with a Mesa 12" cab and I don't feel comfortable selling a noisy cab, I think I'll probably scrap the upgrade idea and save the money.

I'll drop Ashdown a message and see if they've got any advice first though.

Cheers,
Joe.

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I have a guitar with a built-in amp and speaker. A while back, over time the sound got more and more distorted (and not in a good way). When even changing the battery for a brand new one didn't fix it, I took the back off an found 5 or 6 ball-ends of the strings that had broken attached to the magnet on the speaker all vibrating away in sympathy with what I was playing. Removing them all fixed the problem.

What I'm saying is that I'd open the cab up properly and check that nothing has become attached to the speaker magnet. Especially since you reported in the OP that the unit had got damaged in transit. And while you are in there check that there's nothing loose in there either (bracing etc.)

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So after considerable fiddling (and swearing) it turns out that the noise is a combo of the speaker grill buzzing and the very shoddy job whoever put this together did of attaching the head to the cab. With the head and cloth grill removed the cab sounds fine.

And after all that I'm not sure how much I like the sound of the cab anyway! I'll see how it sounds at rehearsal but I think 12s and 15s are more my thing.

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[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1509658196' post='3400713']


The CTM-15 is an all-valve job though... could still be quite hefty!
[/quote]If the power supply was Up to it is could put out 35 watts with a square wave. Hardly a monster and “hefty” it ain’t.

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[quote name='Chienmortbb' timestamp='1509976635' post='3402959']
If the power supply was Up to it is could put out 35 watts with a square wave. Hardly a monster and "hefty" it ain't.
[/quote]

35 watts is considerably more than 15 though. My point was that valve amps do things differently to solid state amps, which is hardly news. Turned out to be a cab issue anyway.

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