Ashdown / extension cab conumdrum!

[catmanhog]

Apologies if this has already been covered but the site isn't letting me search..

I have a Five Fifteen combo & I'm considering using the extension facility on it - anyone out there done this?

What are the pro & cons with this?

Thanks,

Sean

[xgsjx]

Add another 1x15 cab (make sure it's 8 ohm & try & get the matching one).

Pros = more sound Easier to hear yourself
Cons = more to carry

I think the pros outwiegh the cons

[RandomBass]

Hi

I just had a nose at the manual on Ashdown's website, and I found this paragraph:

EXTERNAL SPEAKER – An External Speaker
socket is provided to allow you to use an
external speaker cabinet if required. This cuts
out the main speaker when a jack plug is
inserted. The external speaker must be a
minimum impedance of 8 Ohms for the After
Eight and Perfect Ten but can be 4 Ohms for
the MiniRig and Five Fifteen.


Now I find that unusual - the external speaker effectively replaces the internal one, as opposed to supplementing it as with other combos (my old Ashdown EB180 springs to mind). In my rather limited experience of combos, the amp is usually rated at a certain number of watts into 4 Ohms, but the internal speaker is 8 Ohms - so adding another 8 Ohm extension cab (as opposed to 'external'?) gives you the full wattage at 4 Ohms.

So unless you have more speaker area, or more sensitive ones, I would guess that an external speaker might not add much more volume wise.

Cheers

Geoff

[xgsjx]

That's a bit pointless! Though if the 515 is a min 4Ω load, you could use 2 8Ω cabs (but isn't that the point of adding an ext cab?).

[RandomBass]

[quote name='xgsjx' post='1301705' date='Jul 12 2011, 10:46 PM']That's a bit pointless! Though if the 515 is a min 4Ω load, you could use 2 8Ω cabs (but isn't that the point of adding an ext cab?).[/quote]

My thoughts exactly. Strange indeed.

Cheers

Geoff

[Blademan_98]

My Orange Crush 50w is the same.

Plug in an external cab and the internal speaker goes down.

Plug in a 1 x 15 (as I do) and the sound is a lot deeper

Not worth lugging to a gig, just use the line out and go through the PA.

[Ed_S]

If it was mine I'd get in there and check the impedance of the internal speaker. If it happened to be 8ohm then I'd safely disconnect the internal speaker, solder a new speaker lead onto it and run it outside the combo to a jack. That way it'd plug into the external speaker-out when flying solo, and could be plugged into the parallel out of a suitable extension cab to run both together.

[catmanhog]

Thanks for all your expertise guys!