hamfist

Bought an amp head from cccy. It was appropriately packaged, and his communication was excellent throughout, despite hassles with couriers. A recommended seller !

Excellent ! Thnks to all for your experiences. From those, and what else I've read about them, it'll be right up my street ! Just got to be patient until I get it now.

A bit excited ... just won a Schroeder 410L on ebay. It's one of the really lightweight 4x10's (plus tweeter) with the angled baffle. Anyone had any experience of these ? I'll be using an Ashdown ABM500 and a GK 700RB II with it.

[quote name='ThomBassmonkey' timestamp='1330715622' post='1562173'] I'd always prioritise my head over my cabs. If your head gets DId, your cabs are just monitoring on stage while your head is what the crowd hears. [/quote] Very, very good point. I am going through the PA for most of my sound at the vast majority of gigs.

Sold a pedal to Chris. Pleasant and easy transaction. Great communications too. Thanks mate !

Phil bought an amp from me. Quick payment and very good communication throughout. Top bloke !

Gwilym, I think my main issue is that I simply haven't played that many cabs, so am less sure about how much more "punch" or "grind", or "tightness" or whatever other hard-to-describe descriptive terms, other cabs might have. I am a lot more experienced with different amps though, so am fairly sure that further expenditure on an amp would be fairly pointless for me. The other issue is that youtube-type soundtests (limited though they are) can give you a clue as to what an amp will sound like. But for cabs (especially at anywhere near gig volumes, where cab characteristics can change noticeably), they are pretty much useless. As for more money always buying a "better" cab I know it is not necessarily so. I used to have a TC electronic RS cab, then bought a cheaper BC cab, but actually liked the BC better, so sold the RS and bought another BC.

My situation is that I am "happy" with my current cabs. But if I spent out the wonga on well chosen more expensive cabs. Might I be "more happy" ? Especially once you get into the realm of more expensive gear it becomes more and more difficult to try out, as they are harder to find locally so at some point each of us has to say ... right that's it, I'm happy. But who knows if we could be that elusive thing of "more happy" ????? And the answer is, of course, 43.

[quote name='Gwilym' timestamp='1330678737' post='1561298'] buy what sounds good, don't think a set ratio of monetary value needs to be / should be the yardstick [/quote] Clearly no-one is expecting a set of rules. Was just wondering what others actually ended up spending on each. And yours is, of course, a bit of a cop out answer ultimately.

Just wondered how you guys tend to split spending your money, between amps and cabs. I always seem to buy a cab setup costing about 75% of the cost of my main amp. Maybe I should be putting more of my money into cabs ? Hmmmmm .. thoughts ?

Sounds like a very positive turn of events.

[quote name='icastle' timestamp='1330528355' post='1558891'] On balance, if your cabs use Speakons then I'd be more inclined to go down the 'daisy chaining' route and take advantage of the more robust Speakon connectors. [/quote] Definately.

[quote name='gjones' timestamp='1330309582' post='1555576'] just need to figure out how to do it without overdriving the pre amp on the ABM. [/quote] A bit of compression will work wonders. Would advise against using the onboard compressor though, which is almost useless IMO. I tried a MB Compressore for half an hour or so in front of the ABM, and it did a great job of simply taking the peaks off the low notes, yet losing no perceptable punch. As I use a bit of OD from a pedal in front of the amp at all times, that adds a perefect amount of compression. I lose no punch at all, but my input signal is at the ideal point on the VU meter (peaking at around 0 to +1 most of the time, for most strongly played notes, yet never venturing into clipping territory if I did right in on the bottom string. If I didn't use drive I would defo use a compressor. Certainly have not found this ABM to be a "quiet" 500 Watts. Has at least as much as, if not a bit more than, my Little Mark III.

[quote name='gjones' timestamp='1330265543' post='1554812'] Well I'll be playing through my new ABM for the first time tonight through my TC electronic BC2x12 cab . Hopefully I'll be as chuffed after the gig as you were. [/quote] Report back on how it goes !

[quote name='Bigwan' timestamp='1330265108' post='1554801'] I've always loved my ABMs and never had any trouble with mine, although I firmly believe that the early series are much more reliable than the newer ones. I still have 2 first series ABMs, but currently use the orange terror bass more. It has the same tone set flat as I try to get from my ABMs, but with a little more punch and a LOT more gain, which suits the stuff I normally play. [/quote] A Bass Terror is an amp I [u]MUST[/u] try out at some point, although I suspect, from all accounts, it may not have the flexibility I need for a covers band.

[quote name='fretmeister' timestamp='1330258017' post='1554640'] I like Ashdown sounds too. Would be nervous though - I have 3 amp repair mates and they are always moaning about them [/quote] Yeah. It does make me a little nervous. Especially coming from the school of building and handwiring my own guitar tube amps (which always gave me confidence that the main thing likely to let me down was the tubes, not the amp itself). Anyway, I'll just do what I always do, and look after my amps with kid gloves, and expose them to as few knocks and as little vibration as possible. If it's the sound I want, that is all important.

Well, I gigged with the new ABM500 Evo 3 last night. A really rather loud, heaving, sweaty pub, with a very excited drummer. ...... and I have to say that my tone was rather awesome. Every single band member made a point of telling me how great the bass sounded even. Pleased? Yes I am ! Playing mostly a J bass through the ABM into two vertically stacked TC Electronic BC210's. EBS Multidrive on a low drive at all times. Plenty of authority and so much punch and definition. I had an experienced bass player standing in front of me and my stack the whole gig and he was very appreciative. I know I am relatively new back to the bass world but I have decades of experience of trying to find the ideal guitar tone, even learned to build tube amps and built many in my time. To be honest, I pretty much ignored the bassist's tone during those years (maybe because most players have appalling tone !) and it's strange that it's only in the last few weeks that I'm actually learning what I want out of my own bass tone. Hence my initial (wrong) purchase of the LM3, not realising that some OD, clank, and background fuzzy niceness were going to be essential for me. Before buying the ABM, I read so much out there about how Ashdown have lost the plot and their current amps are rubbish etc. Well, from yesterday's experience, Ashdown know how to make a rock bass amp sound right, with the ABM series at least. I certainly do want to experiment much more with the tube pre-amp part of the ABM, as I was playing only with the SS side of the pre-amp, as I didn't think my first gig with the new band was the right time to be trying new tonal things. Next rehearsal (sadly over 2 weeks away) will see me experimenting a lot more with that. My setting were basically a nice mid hump, peaking around the 660Hz. Rolled off the treble a tad, and boosted the 60 Hz just a smidgeon for fullness. Master at about 10 o'clock, which was LOUD. The EBS multidrive also compresses (and mid-boosts) quite a bit, allowing me to have the input levels up decently high without getting frightening peaks on the low notes. Hence getting the very most out of the ABM's volume. I remember starting "Town Called Malice" on my own and the whole place erupted. My bass just sounded exactly like Bruce Foxton's. Seriously cool. I have a GK 700RB II coming at the end of the week and it'll be fun comparing the two, although I'm not convinced it will have the mids-control I want, and get with the Ashdown. I'm really wanting to give the GK "boost" (which is the control fro the GK growl) a try though. Neither of these amps is hugely light. But neither are they hugely heavy. A comfortable single handed lift is fine with me. I have to lug in two 2x10's anyway, so the extra kg's of an ABM versus one of the micro amps is nothing to me really. Thankfully space is my vehicle is also not an issue. Anyway, thanks for listening. I just was just so pumped about last night's gig, I wanted to share.

[quote name='ahpook' timestamp='1330175541' post='1553719'] can't make it down to see you, but best of luck ! [/quote] THanks !! I feel well prepared. SHould be a good'n.

Will be gigging for the first time with my new band. Just a good ole covers band. Loads of great poppy/rocky stuff from the 60's through to current. At the "George" in Fair Oak, nr. SOuthampton. I think we'll be on about 8.45pm. Come at let me know how my new ABM500 is sounding !!

[quote name='nottswarwick' timestamp='1330166255' post='1553554'] Sounds sank, so when he is not looking (I stand next to him) I change the amp EQ. If I don't it really eats my sound.... Nice band, by the way. Looks fun. [/quote] THat's an impressively sneaky move ! He must be rather a doofus to not notice.

THanks for all your suggestions. Despite never actually playing a Genz, there's something that just hasn't appealed to me on every clip that I've ever heard of them. To be honest, the ABM I now have ticks pretty much every box for me. Although heavier than the LM3, it's still easily a one hand lift, which is pretty much the key for me. So, I'm not really looking for another amp. Although I have to admit I just bought cccy's GK 700RB II from the forum. It was a great deal, and it's an amp I have really been wanting to try out. It may not oust the ABM from my affections but at least I'll have ticked it off the list. But, who knows, it might bowl me over, and there might be an almost new ABM for sale imminently !!! The GK will have to be pretty special for that to happen though !