Ashdown SuperFly Q

[Al Heeley]

I've been offered a second hand Ashdown Superfly by an old friend who is no longer gigging. I don't know if its the 500 or the 1000 - theres nothing on the case or the box to state the power. Is there any way of telling?
I'm reading that the 500 is 2 x 250 into 2 x 4ohms which I fear is not going to be loud enough to gig with , but it may be ok as a smaller footprint amp for rehearsals?
If I want to get the max out of it, then I really need 2 x 4ohm cabs, I have 3 Hartke cabs and they are all 8ohm. I don't really want to go shopping for new 4ohm cabs on the back of buying a cheap second hand Superfly head, thats the tail wagging the dog tbh.
Any feel for what the superbly is worth? If it was the 1000 model then its probably worth keeping as a backup.
Anyone still using the superbly heads out there? I also read there were issues with overheating, burnt circuitboards but generally disappointing power output. I'm sure there must be dozens of happy punters for every negative review though....
Finally, I take it there no way of rewiring a 4 x 10, 8 ohm cab (4 x 8ohm speakers) to give me 4ohm impedance.?

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

I use one channel of a Fly into an 8 ohm 1x12, but it's a high sensitivity Jack 12 cab, not your garden variety box. Depending on what your Hartke are a pair of them, one per channel, may be OK.

[Al Heeley]

I reckon i can rewire my 4 x 10 8 ohm cab to effectively give me 2 separate 4 ohm parallel loads - like a stereo cab, taking inputs from both channels of the Superfly to get the full 500W out of it.
With a dpdt switch i can still use it with my Peavey 450W head at 8 ohms driving all 4 speakers, and switch to B for stereo pair of 4 ohms to take both inputs from the Superfly. Any opinions or pitfalls I haven't noticed?
[url="http://www.colomar.com/Shavano/4sp_stereo_mono.gif"]4sp_stereo_mono.gif[/url]

[Al Heeley]

Note: in stereo mode (switch pos B,) i think the above circuit is wrong, giving me a series pair = 16 ohms, not a parallel pair of 4 ohms. But the principal should still work...

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

That would work.

[Al Heeley]

[URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/al_heeley/media/4sp_stereo_mono_zpsp36qyauj.jpg.html][IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v609/al_heeley/4sp_stereo_mono_zpsp36qyauj.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
Heres what I'm after, switchable but not yet worked out the wiring for the switch. Help!

[Al Heeley]

I think I found a solution
[URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/al_heeley/media/Screen%20Shot%202016-08-31%20at%2000.07.19_zps6vrj24ol.png.html][IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v609/al_heeley/Screen%20Shot%202016-08-31%20at%2000.07.19_zps6vrj24ol.png[/IMG][/URL]
With a bit of rewiring and a couple of stereo jacks, This allows me to run either the Superfly into 2 channels 2 x 10, 4 ohm each or continue to use my Peavey 450 head at 8 ohms as a 4 x 10 mono cab

[BigRedX]

I used to run a Superfly 500 into two modern, efficient 8Ω cabs and it was plenty loud enough for my classic rock covers band when it was working.

However they are notoriously unreliable. Mine developed the classic Superfly whine within 6 months of me getting it and shortly after that developed a problem where it wouldn't switch on half the time. As the shop I'd bought it from had gone bust I wasn't able to get a refund under the sale of goods, and Ashdown were remarkably uninterested in my problems.

Given the reliability issues and the fact that they were EOL'd at £199, I'd be reluctant to spend very much on one. The going price on eBay seems to be around £40-50, maybe a little more if it is in full perfect working order and comes in it's original packaging with all the bits - carry case, strap manual etc.

Good luck!

[tauzero]

I had a Superfly 500 and a Superduperfly. The 1000 has a fan, the 500 doesn't. The 500 gets a bit warm under the collar, the 1000 doesn't. I didn't have any reliability problems with either of them. I loved the graphic preamp. You could hear a bit of electronic breakthrough on both mine when there was no bass going through them, which I think was a combination of power supply and power amp boards. I think they missed a trick not making it bridging.

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

[quote name='tauzero' timestamp='1472736162' post='3123771']
I think they missed a trick not making it bridging.
[/quote]It was bridged. Each 250w amp consisted of two bridged 62.5w amps. You can't bridge twice, and even if you could the minimum impedance load would have been raised to 8 ohms anyway.

[fleabag]

My Superfly had the annoying digital clock whine, and on one channel, which was normal, if you got it. They didnt all have it though, so some of us were just unlucky

They seemed to be a good idea, just poorly executed. I dont remember hearing any such problems with the 1000 model

Edited September 1, 2016 by fleabag

[tauzero]

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' timestamp='1472740596' post='3123825']
It was bridged. Each 250w amp consisted of two bridged 62.5w amps. You can't bridge twice, and even if you could the minimum impedance load would have been raised to 8 ohms anyway.
[/quote]

Does that mean that the outputs (signal and 0V) of each power module floated relative to the other? If they did, you couldn't bridge them, but if the 0V was common, I think you should be able to invert the input to one of the modules and take the two signal outputs to + and - of the speaker - the common 0V would mean that the signals would move relative to each other. But as you say, the 8 ohm limitation would be an issue.

[Al Heeley]

I guess I got lucky with mine, £50 from an old friend, no whine, no buzz, just a really nice clear clean deep fruity warm sound and very easy to eq, i'm playing a Geddy Lee jazz thru it into my now modded hartke 410xl which is sounding lovely. Not yet tried at gig volume. Will see if the bass cab rewiring from 4 x 10, 8 ohm to 2 channel stereo 2 x 10, 4 ohm helps to project the volume needed.