Ashdown Superfly 484 Cab

[derrenleepoole]

Anyone here using a Superfly 484 Cab with a different head other than the Little Giants or Superfly? Just got a cab a great price and need a head but don't like the LG's or Superfly, very underpowered.

[WarPig]

getting de ja vous

Edited October 12, 2009 by WarPig

[derrenleepoole]

[quote name='WarPig' post='624053' date='Oct 12 2009, 03:17 PM']getting de ja vous [/quote]

I presume this has been covered then? Did a search but nothing came up - or I missed a thread? If there is a link to a topic on this, could you post it? Cheers...

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

[quote name='derrenleepoole' post='624238' date='Oct 12 2009, 01:34 PM']I presume this has been covered then? Did a search but nothing came up - or I missed a thread? If there is a link to a topic on this, could you post it? Cheers...[/quote]
You can use them with any head. Their only claim to fame was the stereo wiring that allowed each half of the driver complement to be hooked up to each of the two power amps of the SF head. BTW, I have a SF and I find it not the least bit underpowered, and that's into one 8 ohm cab, albeit one of much higher sensitivity than off the shelf. I can't see a LG not being able to push a SF cab to full output.

[derrenleepoole]

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' post='624332' date='Oct 12 2009, 07:54 PM']You can use them with any head. Their only claim to fame was the stereo wiring that allowed each half of the driver complement to be hooked up to each of the two power amps of the SF head. BTW, I have a SF and I find it not the least bit underpowered, and that's into one 8 ohm cab, albeit one of much higher sensitivity than off the shelf. I can't see a LG not being able to push a SF cab to full output.[/quote]

Well, my SF ran VERY hot - so maybe that might of indicated a problem, or I simply didn't use it with the right cabinet? Conceptually the SF is superb, but the heat issue did worry me. Tried both the LG heads today at Promenade Music and didn't really like them. Tonally very good, but seemed very underpowered and the build quality was a serious issue. But then again, you are getting power at a low cost.

Because the 484 is dual 4 ohm, as I understand it, I want to get the very use of the cabinet with a good head. I understand I can use any head, but some heads might suit the cabinet better? Obviously it's designed to run with either the SF or LG heads for the split/dual outputs, but Ashdown's website is frustratingly lacking full information on how best to use the cabinet. Is it better for example, to think of the 484 as 2 separate 2x8 cabinets with a 4 ohm load on each side? Or am I missing something? The cabinet does have after all, 4 speakon connectors!

[WarPig]

[quote name='derrenleepoole' post='624238' date='Oct 12 2009, 06:34 PM']I presume this has been covered then? Did a search but nothing came up - or I missed a thread? If there is a link to a topic on this, could you post it? Cheers...[/quote]

[url="http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=589128&highlight=ashdown"]http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.p...ghlight=ashdown[/url]

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

[quote name='derrenleepoole' post='624379' date='Oct 12 2009, 03:34 PM']Well, my SF ran VERY hot -[/quote]
So did mine, due to a design flaw. The heavy aluminum external chassis is not ribbed, to act as a heat sink, but is solid, retaining heat. It also doubles the weight of the amp. I removed that, mounted the amp in a rack, added a fan and it runs cool to the touch. You'll note that the LG has abandoned the aluminum crap and added a fan.

[lemmywinks]

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' post='624568' date='Oct 12 2009, 11:22 PM']So did mine, due to a design flaw. The heavy aluminum external chassis is not ribbed, to act as a heat sink, but is solid, retaining heat. It also doubles the weight of the amp. I removed that, mounted the amp in a rack, added a fan and it runs cool to the touch. You'll note that the LG has abandoned the aluminum crap and added a fan.[/quote]


+1

My Superfly hasn't had any cutting out problems since i removed the ugly casing.

Just watch out for those sharp corners!

[dan670844]

[quote name='derrenleepoole' post='624046' date='Oct 12 2009, 03:09 PM']Anyone here using a Superfly 484 Cab with a different head other than the Little Giants or Superfly? Just got a cab a great price and need a head but don't like the LG's or Superfly, very underpowered.[/quote]

Aright Dude,

I use a Superfly 484 awesome cab, loud a F*** don't be fooled by it size, it has the power and clear sound of an old Trace Elliot 1048H in my opinion. it can really move air

I use a Crown Power amp (stereo) and I pump 500watts into each side. I have two preamps (Trace SMX, Hexa valve) that I hook up to this dude. What you need to do to be clever with you Eq. The bottom end of the speakers frequency response (celestians) is 70HZ like a trace 1048H in fact. What you don't wanna do is boost anything below this freq. I boost 100-160HZ. This gives a really fat meaty tone at very high vols and will get your trousers flapping. You don't need to boost anything below this as the cleverly designed cab does the work.
. Most people don't get this cab and wack the lows up to meat it out. The best thing you can do is get a mate to play your bass and stand 20ft or more away from it. can you hear those lows, of course you can!! did you boose 50hz noooo you don't need to!!!

D

[nino500]

Hi, On the subject of the casings on the Superfly:

I have just opened mine up because it was cutting out whilst warming up (usually after 5-15 mins) but would eventually reset after a couple of attempts at switching off and back on. It had never let me down at a gig as I let it warm up while setting up the rest of the gear then reset it before we start. This situation doesn't inspire confidence, so I decided to investigate.

On removing the outer casings, I found they serve no purpose but increase the weight of the amp by 2.75kg (6lb)!!!
It's only 4kg (9lb) without them and 6.75kg (15lb) with!!

Worse than that, they create a dead air space of about 5mm above and below the amp. As the amp has no fan, this works like double glazing and INSULATES the amp keeping the heat IN.

Then there are those alloy castings on either side. Aluminium isn't the best conductor of heat and they're not finned so, again, they just cause the amp to retain more heat.

Ok, you woldn't think things could get much worse, would you? WRONG, this amp is controlled by a digital CPU/motherboard (basically, a small computer). Where do you think they placed this delicate unit in this designed-to-overheat amp?
Yes, you guessed it, THEY BOLTED IT RIGHT ON TO THE POWER AMP HEATSINK!!!!

Words fail me!! I just can't think of any way of describing how STUPID this design is without getting chucked off this lovely forum, which I've just joined!

[bassicinstinct]

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' post='624332' date='Oct 12 2009, 07:54 PM']You can use them with any head. Their only claim to fame was the stereo wiring that allowed each half of the driver complement to be hooked up to each of the two power amps of the SF head. BTW, I have a SF and I find it not the least bit underpowered, and that's into one 8 ohm cab, albeit one of much higher sensitivity than off the shelf. I can't see a LG not being able to push a SF cab to full output.[/quote]


+1000!!!

[lemmywinks]

[quote name='nino500' post='919593' date='Aug 9 2010, 01:32 PM']Hi, On the subject of the casings on the Superfly:

I have just opened mine up because it was cutting out whilst warming up (usually after 5-15 mins) but would eventually reset after a couple of attempts at switching off and back on. It had never let me down at a gig as I let it warm up while setting up the rest of the gear then reset it before we start. This situation doesn't inspire confidence, so I decided to investigate.

On removing the outer casings, I found they serve no purpose but increase the weight of the amp by 2.75kg (6lb)!!!
It's only 4kg (9lb) without them and 6.75kg (15lb) with!!

Worse than that, they create a dead air space of about 5mm above and below the amp. As the amp has no fan, this works like double glazing and INSULATES the amp keeping the heat IN.

Then there are those alloy castings on either side. Aluminium isn't the best conductor of heat and they're not finned so, again, they just cause the amp to retain more heat.

Ok, you woldn't think things could get much worse, would you? WRONG, this amp is controlled by a digital CPU/motherboard (basically, a small computer). Where do you think they placed this delicate unit in this designed-to-overheat amp?
Yes, you guessed it, THEY BOLTED IT RIGHT ON TO THE POWER AMP HEATSINK!!!!

Words fail me!! I just can't think of any way of describing how STUPID this design is without getting chucked off this lovely forum, which I've just joined![/quote]


Aye, if you look at Mark King's prototype Superfly (it was designed for him as he wanted a tiny head to take on planes) it doesn't have the casing either. A last minute decision by some berk in marketing?

Also you can get little rubber feet from Wilkinsons which screw into 4 existing screw holes on the bottom. Get those sharp corners ground down and painted over and you have a tidy little amp which works

I run mine this way and it's been fine, don't bother racking it as that defeats the point of having a small amp!

I wonder if anyone has tried hooking up a USB fan to the square port on the back (assuming it provides power)? Hmmm, might have a go at that tonight....

[tauzero]

I ran my 500W Superfly uncased with no problems, though it was always a bit warm to pick up after a gig.

I now have the 1000W version (which has a fan on the top panel) and it gets luke-warm at the best.

[quote name='lemmywinks' post='919685' date='Aug 9 2010, 02:52 PM']I wonder if anyone has tried hooking up a USB fan to the square port on the back (assuming it provides power)? Hmmm, might have a go at that tonight....[/quote]

It's the wrong end of the USB lead to provide power. As the MIDI port is an IN port, that also doesn't have 5V available on it.

[nino500]

I'm thinking of moving the CPU board. With a little adjustment to the power connectors on the front panel off/on switch, I reckon I can move the whole power amp and heat sink assembly forward about 20mm, which will leave enough room to place the CPU board vertically next to the rear panel circuit board. This will require a longer ribbon cable to connect to the front panel, but the rest of the cables originate from the rear board so will be long enough.

All that leaves room for a big mains fan, sucking air upwards, on top of the power amp heat sink.

[nino500]

[quote name='tauzero' post='919908' date='Aug 9 2010, 06:40 PM']I now have the 1000W version (which has a fan on the top panel) and it gets luke-warm at the best.[/quote]

Is the CPU board still on top of the power amp heat sink, or have they moved it to make way for the fan?

[nino500]

Doesn't look like anyone's really interested now but, just in case...

I have now made the superfly work reliably. I removed one of the power amps (the one that the digital board was sitting on) and all the additional casing bollox.

I was only using one output anyway so I haven't lost any power and now the digital board just sits on the heatsink for the missing power section. The heatsink was all one piece so I hacked it in half. One half sits on the remaining power section and the other just makes a mounting plate for the digital board, using all the original casing screw holes and risers.

The bonus is that the unit now weighs about half what it started out as!

[cheddatom]

Sounds good - did you take pics? It'd make a good build diary.

[tauzero]

Must admit, I forgot completely about this thread and haven't had a look inside the Superduperfly to see what the layout is like.

I am tempted to try repackaging it into a full-size 1U box, to try and get some shielding between the switch-mode PSU and the audio circuitry. It does have a bit more high-pitched digital noise than my 500W one did - it's not loud but it's there.