New cab day - it’s blue!

[danbanbass]

Finally managed to sell my 6x10 cab as it’s a bit too heavy for me to manage and have now downsized to a Barefaced Two10 to pair with my Ashdown ABM 500 Evo head.

 

To say I’m very happy is an understatement, can’t wait to try it out at practice on Monday 😊 

[Reggaebass]

Loving that, super cool 

[Stofferson]

looks cool!

 

[Alien]

Am I alone in missing the days when the lightest part of your stack was the head?
Don't get me wrong, I'm in no hurry to return to the old days when moving your rig meant risking a hernia, but where's the heft gone?

 

A

[Lozz196]

6 minutes ago, Alien said:

Am I alone in missing the days when the lightest part of your stack was the head?
Don't get me wrong, I'm in no hurry to return to the old days when moving your rig meant risking a hernia, but where's the heft gone?

 

A

I don’t miss those days but I most certainly remember them. Even when I had an Orange valve amp head of some kind it was still lighter than my cab.

[msb]

I’m a big fan of modern lightweight cabs. And that’s a beauty.

[PigBass]

I've been using the same set up as this for a few years now, it's astonishing how it does what it does, small, light, loud and low. Bass, Ashdown, Barefaced and a few cables, for me it is perfect, enjoy your rehearsal 🙂 

[danbanbass]

On 09/02/2024 at 16:25, Alien said:

Am I alone in missing the days when the lightest part of your stack was the head?
Don't get me wrong, I'm in no hurry to return to the old days when moving your rig meant risking a hernia, but where's the heft gone?

 

A

You’ll never be able to convince me into a D class head, I’m an avid A/B class fan and this little cab seems to have plenty of heft.

[BassmanPaul]

You may have no choice but to go to a Class D head in the future. I think you'll find that Class AB amplifiers are going to be less and less available. I really don't understand what the negativity is about Class D amps.  All my amps are now Class D from may bass amp to my PA systems. Lack of heft you say? My amp has all the heft that anyone could wish for. Pushing two or four of my Acme Sound B2 three way cabinets I can almost blow the roof off any venue I've used it in.

Edited February 18 by BassmanPaul

[Downunderwonder]

On 10/02/2024 at 05:25, Alien said:

where's the heft gone

Nowhere. It's the same old heft with added lightness.

[Bigwan]

If you get the chance try out an Orange Terror Bass. It's a one trick pony, but the one trick matched what I was getting from my Ashdown ABM perfectly. Pairs very nicely with the Barefaced Two10 too!

[Pirellithecat]

On 09/02/2024 at 09:34, danbanbass said:

Finally managed to sell my 6x10 cab as it’s a bit too heavy for me to manage and have now downsized to a Barefaced Two10 to pair with my Ashdown ABM 500 Evo head.

 

To say I’m very happy is an understatement, can’t wait to try it out at practice on Monday 😊 

Do tell,  how was rehearsal? 

[danbanbass]

@Pirellithecat
It was thunderous, especially with my ampeg svgt-di. You could recreate weight of an 8x10 ampeg cab obviously not move as much air but I’m a convert. More than capable with a fender blues 1x12 and Mesa Boogie express 25w 1x12 also the drummer too.

 

ABM head gain was a 2,o’clock and output volume at 10’o’clock.

 

Plenty loud enough - colour me impressed.

Edited February 14 by danbanbass

[danbanbass]

3 hours ago, Bigwan said:

If you get the chance try out an Orange Terror Bass. It's a one trick pony, but the one trick matched what I was getting from my Ashdown ABM perfectly. Pairs very nicely with the Barefaced Two10 too!

I do like the terrors but as we do a couple of Biffy covers, however I find the sub octave feature on the ABM 500 handy for chorus’s to give it that weight when needed.

Edited February 14 by danbanbass

[tauzero]

18 hours ago, BassmanPaul said:

You may have no choice bet to go to a Class D head in the future. I think you'll find that Class AB amplifiers are going to be less and less available. I really don't understand what the negativity is about Class D amps.  All my amps are now Class D from may bass amp to my PA systems. Lack of heft you say? My amp has all the heft that anyone could wish for. Pushing two of four of my Acme Sound B2 three way cabinets I can almost blow the roof off any venue I've used it in.

 

It's just gear snobbery. I wonder how many avid Class AB devotees would be able to distinguish an AB from a D in a blind test. Assuming that the blind test didn't include picking the amp up.

 

Edited February 14 by tauzero
No weight here

[MichaelDean]

It'd be really interesting to hear something like a regular class AB Ashdown ABM vs a class D ABM. Same preamp, different poweramp. I'm guessing there wouldn't be much/any difference.

[danbanbass]

1 hour ago, tauzero said:

 

It's just gear snobbery. I wonder how many avid Class AB devotees would be able to distinguish an AB from a D in a blind test. Assuming that the blind test didn't include picking the amp up.

 

Weight doesn’t bother me as the head weighs 14kg and the cab is 13kg, it makes loading in a doddle with one in each hand.

 

I had an Aguiler Tonehammer 700 which I struggled to get the fullness out of, also had a Ampeg portaflex 800 and a little mark 500.
 

They felt shouty but lacking no matter how I messed with the eq etc, I don’t know if heft is the right word however I felt the sound was fuller, more present with the Ampeg B2R, Ashdown ABM 500, Ashdown CTM 100 and the Markbass SA450 I’ve owned.

 

The class D stuff I wanted to love due to the weight, size and convenience but always found myself wanting - so no snobbery there at all. I hoped it would deliver the goods but for me it didn’t.

 

The only D class that came close was the Bass Terror but at that time the Di out was horrendously hot on them, haven’t had the chance to try the lastest version.

Edited February 14 by danbanbass

[Alien]

On 14/02/2024 at 16:36, danbanbass said:

Weight doesn’t bother me as the head weighs 14kg and the cab is 13kg, it makes loading in a doddle with one in each hand.

 

Damn near perfect weight balance between them too.

Stick your bass in a backpack style gig bag and you can do your load-in in one trip!

A

 

[stewblack]

What a beautiful blue black head cab combination. Really pleasing on the eye.

[Ed_S]

On 14/02/2024 at 15:32, MichaelDean said:

It'd be really interesting to hear something like a regular class AB Ashdown ABM vs a class D ABM. Same preamp, different poweramp. I'm guessing there wouldn't be much/any difference.

 

Interesting for sure, but I don't know about the predicted outcome - I had an ABM500 and an ABM1000, both based on the EVO3 preamp board, and I found them substantially different - power rating aside.

 

Whether anyone else would agree, which one they might prefer and why, and whether any difference could be attributed solely to the class of the power stage is, of course, all open for discussion. I also briefly had an ABM600 that I felt was closer to the 1000 but still not quite as good in my opinion, so I sold the 600. That said, I know of at least one other BC member that had both and gave the 1000 honourable mention, but preferred and kept the 600.

[Lozz196]

I think that may have been me, I liked the 1000 but the 600 just had what I felt was a bit more grunt to it.

[Ed_S]

13 minutes ago, Lozz196 said:

I think that may have been me, I liked the 1000 but the 600 just had what I felt was a bit more grunt to it.

 

It was indeed! I liked the 600 but the 1000 just had what I could only describe as more 'immediacy' to it.

 

I should go dig it out and see if it's as good as I remember now I've got completely different basses and cabs.

[Owen]

I am very happy that you are very happy. However, I am slightly dissappointed that you are not running a vintage Turbosound cab cos they used to be blue.