Low volume from amp

[Ramirez]

Hello all,

I've just bought an Ampeg B410HLF 4ohm cab from this very forum to bring my rig back to life - I've been playing through a VERY cheap PA cab for a while, which wasn't too great, as my main Marshall 7412 cab is completely fecked at the minute.

The head is a Marshall 3530 - solid state, 300w into 4ohm. As far as I'm aware, it was made in the early 90s, and I bought it used (with the 7412 cab) around 2003. I've never taken it be services, so god knows when was the last time anyone had a proper look at it.

I tried it with the new Ampeg yesterday, and while I was quite taken with the sound, it didn't seem to give out much welly - I could crank it almost all the way up in a small living room and not have to raise my voice [i]too[/i] much to be heard. I was playing quite lightly, and the gain was quite a way off from clipping, but it still seemed a bit to quiet. It was similar, but worse, with the old PA cab, but I has assumed that had been down to fact that the PA cab was 8ohms.

So, is this par for the course with a 15-20 year old amp that has potentially never been serviced, and does it point to an expensive job?

Thanks,
Aled

[Phil Starr]

The amp will give at least 150W into the 8ohm cab which should make it really quite loud. When you say it was worse with the old cab do you mean that it is worse now or that it was never very loud with the PA cab?

Either way there are not many things that could go wrong with an amp that would make it quiet without making it very distorted. since you liked the sound it doesn't seem as if much is wrong. Try gradually turning the amp up full and trying different inputs if you have them. Also try changing your lead and trying a different guitar. Let me know how you get on.

[Ramirez]

[quote name='Phil Starr' post='678670' date='Dec 8 2009, 11:53 PM']The amp will give at least 150W into the 8ohm cab which should make it really quite loud. When you say it was worse with the old cab do you mean that it is worse now or that it was never very loud with the PA cab?

Either way there are not many things that could go wrong with an amp that would make it quiet without making it very distorted. since you liked the sound it doesn't seem as if much is wrong. Try gradually turning the amp up full and trying different inputs if you have them. Also try changing your lead and trying a different guitar. Let me know how you get on.[/quote]

Phil, thanks for your reply.

What I meant was that it was worse with the PA cab. It is much better now, although it's almost decent practise amp-like in terms of output instead of 300w into a 4x10.

I realise 300w isn't a huge amount of power for bass, it's just that I seem to recall it being quite a bit louder with the old 4x12 cab (I realise that speaker sensitivity and such play a major part in this as well)

However, the more I think about it, and given that the basic sound and response of the amp seems fine, I'm starting to feel it must be my technique, as my style has changed quite a bit since I used the 4x12. I won't really be able to tell until I get a proper blast with a drummer and a guitarist, as I tend to play slight harder then anyway.

The bass and lead seems fine - healthy level when DI'd into my recording system.

[Phil Starr]

your 4x10 with 300W should be producing peaks of 124 dB and be able to play at an average level of over 100dB which is loud enough to cause hearing problems. Something doesn't seem quite right.