Ashton V30-loaded 412 cab

[Dave Sloven]

I picked up a second guitar cab this week in a trade for my Peavey Classic 30, which had a blown valve.  I opened it up today and as I suspect it's Laney-style particle board under the tolex, but it has four 16ohm Chinese-made Celestion V30s in it, the same as in my Orange PPC412 cab. The benefit of this cab is that it is smaller and lighter, and thus more practical for me to take to band practice and gigs, and it should sound better than 90% of loan cabs I've been offered.

It was made by Ashton, an Australian company that makes cheap guitars and amps.  They did experiment with better stuff every so often, and I suspect this was part of that.  From the plates on the back it looks as these are the original speakers for this cab.  When you consider the price of V30s and the fact that I'd be lucky to get $400 for a Classic 30 with a blown tube I think I did okay.  I traded some other stuff the same day, and got rid of a Roland Cube 30X for an MXR Super Comp pedal and traded a Hipshot bridge and MXR 6-band EQ for a Boss DD-7 Digital Delay.  The only trade that I'm not happy with was an MXR M80 Bass DI+ for what we *thought* was a cab with a Peavey Black Widow 15" bass speaker in it, but which turned out to be a HH Invader.  He's taking that back but I have a long drive down there and back to do it

I will post some photos of the cab after band practice on Sunday. I kind of wish I took some of the speakers today when I had the back open.

The model of the cabinet is VQ240BK.  I have seen photos of a blue variant online (VQ240BL), but all the hits are in the Czech Republic!   Here's a photo of the blue version.  I am also including a photo of another version with Celestion Rocket speakers that looks more like mine cosmetically (mine is missing the Ashton logo on the speaker grill).  Must be the cheapest cab ever with four V30s.

[CommonCourtesy]

Looks like a steal! I'm getting on alright with my 2 V30's (same ones in yours I think) mixed with the G12T-75's, but I might even go all 4 V30's. As I do tech stuff for a mate's band who has an Orange PPC412 I'm free to borrow his cab for whenever I need, my 6505+ sounds great through it!

I know they do Marshall 4x12's with V30's but they can't be cheaper than the one you picked up, in GBP we're talking maybe £400?

Be interested to hear how yours sounds with your Peavey (I assume you still have it?)

[Dave Sloven]

AU$400 = £230 

Cheaper than most Strymon pedals!

Mind you the Classic 30 cost me $800 new three years ago

Never liked it much.  No need for tweed

My Orange PPC412 sounds amazing with my Peavey 6534+ and this should be pretty good

I will use the Orange cab at home and for any recording but any V30 loaded 412 should do for gigs and band practice

[CommonCourtesy]

Wow, almost half the value of say a V30 loaded Marshall!

Yeah Orange cabs are really great sounding with the Peavey heads, can't quite afford a Mesa so having that mate with one I can borrow is really helpful. Not to mention they're heavy as f**k to carry haha.

Never heard of the brand Ashton though, despite it being from the Aus I usually find out things like this. Sounds like you got yourself a real bargain though.

[Dave Sloven]

The cab is cheap particle board.  Looks nice on the outside.  I am assuming that in a live environment any deficiency in the wood will negligible.  I have played through all sorts of cabs and for the most part my EQ took care of any issues.  I'm not playing an especially subtle form of music and there is no real emphasis on percussive tightness either, chords are long and droning. I suspect that the character of the speakers will count for a lot more than the wood.  Despite being made of particle board the construction seems good, with good joints and corners and the handles are better than those on Marshall cabs.  The castors are not great but they are cheaply replaced.  It's quite possible that a previous owner took the original castors and replaced them with these, as they look a lot more tired than the rest of the cab.  The wiring, jacks etc look good.  The speaker grill fabric looks a little funny, like it has been removed at some point, but I suspect that happened when the ugly Ashton logo was removed.

The guy also offered me a really rough looking Marshall cab with two V30s and two T75s in a X pattern.  I chose four V30s over that.  Basically I got four V30s with a decent looking cab thrown in.  Later on if I find a nice birch cab with speakers I hate at the right price I will get it and do a speaker swap.

I know all about the weight of the Orange cab.  It's impossible for me to carry on my own and as I live a long way out sometimes the only person available to help is my dad, and he's too old to be doing much of that

[Dave Sloven]

Here's a couple of photos of my actual cab.  It lives out in the garage between practices and gigs.  Will test it out on Sunday.

[CommonCourtesy]

Looks cool! Only 1 input for 16ohms though? I think the Orange's are the same with Mesa's being 8. Not fully clued up on ohmage stuff but just know to match it on the head!

With the material being light would the tone be more thin I wonder? Orange/Mesa have more resonance I feel cos they're made of thicker materials?

Don't forget to report back on how you find the tone!

[Telerocker]

It probably won't sound as rich as a 13 layers (18mm) laminated baltic birch cabinet, but it saves your back and your bankaccount.

[Dave Sloven]

Definitely saves my back and my bank account, especially when you consider I got out of the expense of retubing the Peavey Classic 30 and then selling it,because I would still probably only get $500, which is what you would pay for four V30s without the cab.  I still have the Orange cab for those rare occasions when we record something.  Otherwise I don't think anyone will notice the difference much, especially given the fact that I am standing next to a guy playing through a full Peavey Mark VIII bass stack with plenty of volume. This way I have a cab that I can actually take to practices instead of always borrowing one.  I used to borrow our bassist's son's Valveking cab for band practice

Yeah the Orange has two inputs but I only use the one.  Most of the cabs I've borrowed have only had one.  This one is 16ohms like my Orange, most of the cabs I have borrowed seem to be 8ohms so I have been switching that switch on the back of the Peavey each time.  I won't need to worry about remembering that with this cab.

It's not a super-light cab, probably similar to many of those I have borrowed (I'd say it's the same as the VK cab).  We'll have to see about the tone. Main issue would be the amount of flex, but I play doom so there's no real emphasis on tightness and punch.

[Telerocker]

Anyway congrats on your new gear day.

[Dave Sloven]

Put it through its paces at the jam rooms today.

Results were pretty much what I expected.  Basic tone of the speakers was pretty much the same as my Orange PPC412, much closeer than other non-V30 cabs I have borrowed. Normally I borrow some straight-front 412 cab with front-loaded speakers (no idea what type) that is quite bassy and boomy.  What I usually do is adjust the resonance and presence controls, increasing presence and decreasing resonance, and then fine-tune that a bit with the bass and treble pots on the amp. Basically with this cab I did the opposite, because lacks bass compared to my Orange and has more of a high-mids spike.  This is most likely due to the lighter construction and smaller volume.

My bandmates thought it was a great trade for the Classic 30

[Dave Sloven]

The only thing wrong with it at band practice was that it was a little wobbly due to damaged casters.  I went to a local hardware store and bought four new casters for $12, fitted them tonight and all those wobbles have gone!  Rolls nicely too

[CommonCourtesy]

Sounds like you got a right result on this! I'm envious!

I agree with you about the Marshall thing with the stock speakers, very boomy and bassey. Orange's or V30's in general have that nice cut and brightness.

Plus you got the bonus of it not being heavy to lift!

[Dave Sloven]

Yeah I am happy with that trade!

Also I took the cr@ppy 115 back and swapped it for this genuine Peavey 115BX (late version with tolex) with a 4 ohm Scorpion speaker.  It's not 8 ohms so it doesn't match my 410 but I solved the problem by making the 115 my 'indoors' cab and putting the 410 out in the garage, meaning I can take it to shows and borrow someone else's 8 ohm cab to make a 4 ohm stack.  Going from 8 ohms to 4 ohms I effectively gained 100W out of this head and it is as loud as when we use a full stack ... in the house!!  I had to turn the post gain down quite a lot!!

[Dave Sloven]

For reference this is the inside of my Orange PPC412 cab.  When I get the chance this week I will take a photo of the inside of the Ashton cab for comparison.

As you can see the Orange cab is made from birch plywood.



EDIT:

Here are some photos of the inside of the Ashton cab showing that (1) it is particle board with maybe a thin plywood shell (2) the speakers are Celestion V30s, the same as in my Orange cab.







I noticed today that the tolex and the metal corners seem to be especially flimsy.  I did test it out side by side with my Orange and basically when going to the cheaper cab it is necessary to roll back the resonance and presence a bit and boost the mids slightly to get a similar sound to where I like my amp with the Orange cab.

Here's a video of me testing out the cab and adjusting the EQ.

Never mind the sloppy playing and my wheezing.  I have asthma and I forgot to use my ventolin puffer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGKFVHbM4o0