Downunderwonder

Without going to check myself, be absolutely sure it's two amplifiers in one head. I have seen a lot of people think two speakons at the back = stereo. They might even have dual preamp channels that switch and blend but only one volume knob = mono amp.

If you're going to carry on in this industry you better learn where the 1 is because 99/100 everyone in the band and audience is expecting you to hit it. There's a clue there in how to know where it is 99/100. Take it Easy is not the 100th time btw.

My Dad had a couple of albums of a basically nobody jazz singer. My brother was busking in a mall and Dad recognized the singer coming by. The mention of his name sent him scurrying for the exit. Felt sorry for him not being able to go out in public.

@dove All figured out yet? Techspeak that couldn't be substituted easily can be explained if you are still confused.

For my money a length of HD PVC pipe with screw on cap fitted on one end would do the job for less than any sports case. Why does a case for a bass cost so much more than almost identical case for a ski set? You'd think there exists enough competition to drive sourcing them from the same maker at roughly the same retail price.

Valiant efforts with parametric filters could only succeed in amping it up to a level that wasn't really enough for the band to hear me let alone play to the room. I will have to give the f stoppers a whirl.

I didn't know what a vb99 was so I looked it up. That thing looks like it could land SpaceX while practicing modes. I didn't look up the spec but if it can't function as a preamp you bought a pup.

Generally you'd be right but you could find some little 8 ohm drivers in two little cabs and a big old 4 ohm 15 cab and you'd be wrong. It pays to be specific on generalization.

Jeebers. While I broadly agree with the rest, this is way off base. Pump up a genuine 4ohm 200w cab with a 500w amp and you're probably going to the whole 200w into it if you're trying. Even if it's a 400w cab. So the solution is not going to be more power. If we're talking in general, the solution to more volume is almost always a straight line to more cab, not more power. Two efficient 8ohm cabs will walk all over one inefficient 4 ohm cab every single time. It takes a DOUBLING of power, AND the ability to handle all that power, to make up for a 3dB sensitivity deficit. You can pick up an extra 3dB sensitivity from adding a second cab. You get something along the way to another 3dB if the same amp makes more power into 4 ohms instead of 8 ohm. Those are whole numbers.

Back up the bus. You said the amp is rated as 550w 4 ohm. That usually means you can only hook up one 4 ohm cab or one 8 ohm cab, or two 8 ohm cabs. With parallel cabs 4 ohms plus 4 ohms makes 2 ohms which is an illegal load unless the amp comes with a 2 ohm rating. Less impedance with the same voltage lets more power come out of the amp. Too little impedance makes too much power and the amp cooks itself with its own enthusiasm. On paper you should be toasting your 4 ohm 12" cab. I guess the amp is really not all that powerful. There really is no comparison between 2x5" cab and anything else that calls itself a bass cab. Impedance is the last thing you need to consider. To make significant gains in volume the easiest route would be get a more efficient 4 ohm cab/ pair of 8 ohm cabs/ loud 8 ohm cab. You might need a new amp but leave that for another day.

If the £100 Ashdown combo is working well it's a good prospect. By rights it should take an extension cab, you would have to check up on that, also that it has the original speaker which must be an 8 ohm. Some old combos only took extension cabs by plugging in another in series as opposed to the usual parallel. This let them away with using a 4 ohm driver to "get all the watts" but it was an own goal because the extension lowered the output power when the 2nd cab plugged in taking away a lot of the usual extension cab benefit.

£200 is well used territory but you could bring the thunder if you shop very well. There was a Trace combo that went for £150 I think in the end. Add extension cab later and stand well back. It can be done.

OP is extra cheap so probably looking at old iron which was made when watts were harder to come by, expensive but real, and now proper cheap mostly thanks to being 14kg or more.

An old Trace Elliot with 250w will keep up with any drummer outdoors given enough cab. Two or three in the classifieds at the moment. 500w is the Class D 'standard' only because so many puff up the ratings with burst power that won't put out more than a couple of milliseconds.

Speaking softly didn't work so you figuratively bashed her skull in with your big stick. Life is so fair sometimes.

There are pub gigs and PUB GIGS if you catch my drift. There is no average that will be all good for a PUB GIG. The Ashdown could easily be all you need. It could also be inadequate. A lot depends on whether you are joining a Big PA toting band or a Vocal PA toting band, or even a IEM toting band. You may have ideas of playing outside with no PA support and a loud guitar based band? You can pretty much forget about the Ashdown combo for that. It is very much horses for courses yada yada. All we really know is you have a four legged horse but we don't even know if it's steeplechase or gallops let alone track conditions.

The professional standard I recall is 1.4V on a balanced connection, which would need 2.8V on a single leg unbalanced instrument cable feed to account for the 0v on the other leg. I only know from experience that the BDDI version of line is a fair bit less than what a power amp is expecting ie the full pro level. I cobbled up a grab and go rig out of PA and BDDI to do a last minute gig when my actual rig was locked up elsewhere. The output was only enough to make an a minimal amount of boom. The amp could have easily destroyed the cab if it had been fully driven! The way Blackstar word things you could almost expect it to work with any damn preamp pedal on the 1/4 and need Line on the XLR. But they are entirely coy about all of that so I wouldn't buy one without getting some good info.

Looks like you might struggle to find one new anyway. Ask a seller what they powered it with. I found an Australian site saying you can use a Darkglass pre. Afaik those run on 9v so unlikely to put out much more than your Sansamp, if it is one with 'line' level option. When the description talks about passive input that is the speaker level input being driven from another amp and cutting out the onboard amp.

If they were a little bit clever they could list just the Sansamp and offer the exotic stuff cheap to the buyer out of the back of the van.

Farcebook is the goto place to fence stolen goods in fine plain sight. They may also be dumb enough to try pawning it. Having a police report is part of laying claim to it isn't it?

There's a clue there that you will get your answer quicker from the sensitivity spec.

Result also depends on Blackstar. If they did the same as GK did with their active bass expansion cabs you're SOL. Those require the hyperactive output of the matching GK combo extension output. I don't know of anything that will substitute. What's the input sensitivity spec of the cab amp? It will be very obvious from that if you have a chance. Later versions have quasi "Line Out" Level switch which has some oomph to it but not proper Line Level. So it's a definite maybe if a Sansamp can kick it. Sensitivity is the key.

Jeebus. OP has two amps and two 4 ohm cabs. The solution is trivial and has been given three times. Only requires a spare 1/4 patch lead to link the amps fx send of the bass input amp to fx return of the slave amp. Now that's four times. Give it a blimin bone!

I wonder if your speakon cable is NFG.

Never thought about it, but good shout.