DGBass

To respond to the op's original post and based on my experience of trying smaller lightweight modern cab designs I have to say I've not been persuaded to give up my last large bass cab yet for something promising big low end performance from a small lightweight(and usually expensive) package. At present, the only cab at my disposal that I can depend on providing real ‘low end depth’ without any drama is a big old Musicman RH115 cab fitted with a Faital Pro 15-PR400. Of course its fairly large and not the easiest to transport. One other point the Op mentions is '4 ohm' cabs. This is my preference nowadays as using a single 4 ohm cab also gives me the benefit of the amps full headroom without the hassle of two cabs. My single bigger 4 ohm cab is getting more use than my smaller lightweight cabs because it can outperform them easily if I need to boost below 180Hz( based on use with a TE GP12). I still feel at present with cabs that the laws of physics apply if you like your bass down(very)low. All that being said, I did try a Markbass Traveller 122 recently (800watt 4 ohm 2x12 cab) and I was very impressed with the ‘low end depth’ it could manage and it was reasonably lightweight. It does however fall into the ‘usually expensive’ lightweight option and I’ll need a few well paid gigs before I consider one and think about selling on my large Musicman bass cab.

Series 6 Trace Elliot amps like the AH100/130/150/200 and even some of the mighty AH250 amps were based around Hitachi lateral Mosfets. You can't get these new anymore but they do occasionally come up for sale as NOS on some internet auction sites at ridiculously inflated prices. Modern equivalents are still available from a company called Exicon. The units are TO3 packaged and a neat fit for the power amp boards on Series 6 Amps.For an AH130 you likely have a pair comprised of a K135 and J50 Hitachi mosfet. It's probably worth investigating why your amp is getting hot before spending time and money replacing mosfets. They aren't cheap. The rear heatsinks on these type amps will get warm running at 4 ohms for extended periods but shouldn't get hot enough to blow mosfets. It would be prudent to check both your cabs aren't running at less than 4 ohms ( most standard wiring on older trace cabs was alway 8 ohms per cab). Also, the thermal compound on the heatsinks on these type amps will dry out after many years service and striping them down, cleaning and re-applying new thermal paste to the heatsink components can cure many overheating and cutting-out issues. If I had one of these for service, I would renew the thermal compound on the heatsinks as a matter of course. I've added a pic showing my own serviced AH200. It still has the Hitachi mosfets intact and working perfectly. I run my cab at 4 ohms and it barely gets warm even after a three hour gig at high power levels. The AH130 will likely just have one pair of mosfets so probably will run a bit warmer with two 8 ohm cabs.

I see your point although looking at the 71 Jazz photo to compare, both cases would't accommodate a righty bass very well as the placement of the top horn on the body wouldn't allow the body to fit. The bottom horn is hard against the case edge. Both cases are a very neat fit body wise. I never really noticed case orientation until now and always lift my bass out of the case with my left hand. It looks more natural seeing the bass not upside down from the front of the case if that makes sense. My Jazz lefty case is also the same way around as my lefty P-bass and to me they are both proper lefty cases but obviously not the same as the 71 Jazz case. Knowing Fender they just changed it around at some point to standardise things. My Jazz case is perfectly moulded for a lefty and a righty won't fit at all. It's a 2012 model year.

I've had pre-Ernie Ball and Ernie Ball Stingrays and the only issues I've ever had were with batteries or the jack sockets. Later 3 EQ Stingrays use a sort of plastic barrel switchcraft jack with a dedicated battery switching contact. If this tarnishes or gets crud in in it, you will get a poor battery supply and the active circuit won't work properly. The pre-Ernieball Stingrays had a much better quality all metal switchcraft jack and the battery didn't go through a dedicated contact like the modern 3 EQ ones. It's well worth getting some good contact cleaner and giving the jack a good skoosh and a wiggle to see if that helps. It may just be a bit of oxidisation from lack of use on the battery contact in the jack.

I messed around with a pair of Eminence Beta 12A-2's a while back in a sealed and a ported cab in an attempt to get a useable 500watt 4 ohm box with a deep 'warm' tone using a p-bass with flats (and an ABM 500). I picked up a generic sealed (empty) cab in the classifieds and a ported cab ( an empty tc electronic BC212) for just a few quid. Both sounded fine to a point but the ported cab won the day. The sealed cab struggled with the really low stuff( I know thats not very technical sounding) but was good with that low mid honk. The ported cab was seismic in the lows by comparison. The cab dimensions were almost identical at approx W x H x D 462 x 662 x 380 . The ported cab had two very large ports to the rear. I sold on the BC212 and had replaced the drivers with Celestion BL12-200X units by that time and they paled in comparison to the Eminence Beta 12-A2's in either the sealed or ported cab. The Celestion's were very inexpensive to buy at the time. I haven't owned a windows computer for eons so don't do WinISD so can't offer any technical data as to why the Eminence units sounded better. I just used my ears. But they did in my opinion and the ported cab was by far the best option to deliver a meaty warm low end with a pair of twelves.😁

Nice. Be interested to hear your thoughts on how your new combo holds up in a band situation when you get the chance to crank it up

+1 for above. A power bar or management strip is a great investment if you have a busy rack with multiple devices. You don't say how big your rack is or how many devices are in it. Even a smallish rack (3U or 4U) will benefit from a managed power supply 🙂

It's a polarised capacitor which means it has to be fitted the correct way around or it won't function properly. These are often used in active pre-amplifier circuits but I've not seen one on a passive tone control before🤔 Is their something wrong with the bass tone?

Truss rod adjustment on any older bass is a very delicate procedure. If your sure you have the right size tool for the adjuster nut it may just be a case of gritting your teeth and turning it in the right direction to see if it will move. A quick skoosh of something like WD40 or similar onto the adjuster nut might help to loosen a corroded or seized adjuster nut. Spray and leave for a while before trying. Be mindful of the sounds you hear while trying. Bass necks can make some excruciatingly painful sounds when you're trying to release a seized trust rod adjuster. The worst issues I've come across were on older Mex Jazz basses ( late 90's to early 2000's) where the nut seized and would no longer offer enough adjustment to bring the neck into a true and stable condition. Padding the adjuster out with spacers helped but thats only possible if you can actually turn the adjuster. If you don't feel confident enough to try loosening the adjuster, it's probably better finding a local luthier who can do the deed. If the nut adjuster has been over tightened and stripped the thread then you will def need a luthier to repair it. It may even boil down to finding a replacement neck is the most cost effective repair.

Nice lights make everything sound better to me😎 Functionally, a mute facility is the most useful feature.

good call. Can't bear overhang and none with my current cab thankfully which is not a BF.😁

I've had a few of these pass through my hands in recent years and found them to be very capable and underrated amplifier heads. The Trace Elliot GP7 SM 150 heads were almost an entry level TE amp head of the late 90's /early 2000's and typically came in an enclosed metal case which was fitted in a wooden sleeve covered in green carpet covering. The RAH heads could be rack mounted ( assuming you had purchased a set of TE rack ears ) but in my experience most of these amps came in the green carpet covered wooden sleeve. The amps were fairly straight forward design with either a Mosfet power board or a Bi-Polar power amp board ( The Bi-Polar Bear) and were fan cooled. Output was 150W RMS, 300 Watt peak. The input stage was a standard 7 band graphic with pre-shape buttons and a graphic output knob and an EQ balance knob. A DI option complemented these features and an effect send/return and line out completed the front panel options. On the rear panel was two speaker jacks and a tuner out. In use the amp has a fairly characteristic Trace Elliot tone using the pre-shape. Using the graphic EQ in conjunction with pre-shape 1 gives a fairly wide option for tones and its not difficult to get a useable tone for almost any musical style. In use these amps are very versatile/toneful and their output will more than cope with rehearsals and small gigs even with a good 8 ohm cab. With a good quality 4 ohm cab they can be very loud and remain stable for an all night gig lasting several hours. I haven't experienced any issues with cutting out or overheating with prolonged high output usage of these amplifiers. Pro's Trace Elliot classic pre-shape sound Quality pre-amp tone shaping abilities 150 old school Watts is deceptively loud cheap to purchase used easy to repair/maintain Good build quality Great amp for punk/metal tones Cons fairly heavy for a 150W amp head rack mounting options limited as TE rack ears unobtainable these days cooling fan can be noisy as tend to run very fast Watch out for crackly/noisy examples. There is an issue with some builds that don't have a locking washer on the power amp ground post(mounting screw can shake free after years of service and cause noise/crackles). For the amp aficionados and techies, there are a couple of simple mods for these amps that can improve their usability. Changing R21( GP7SM 150/300 schematic) on the pre-amp from 10K ohms to 4.7k ohms transforms the input sensitivity and overall volume responsiveness of the unit and makes a huge difference to how these amps perform. The same mod was carried over to early Clive Button designed Ashdown MAG amps to also increase the pre-amp sensitivity and overall amp performance. For examples with a very noisy and fast cooling fan, you can mod this by fitting a series resistor on the fan positive to drop the fan voltage( usually a high 16v rail). In my experience, a 5 Watt 82 ohm or 5 Watt 100 ohm resistor will reduce the fan speed without adversely affecting cooling ability. Thermal cutout on these amps is designed as 100C so you really need to be thrashing them to death to cause a cut out. Always consult your amp tech before applying any mods* Overall, nowadays these are great budget amps that we're still built up to a spec and not down to a cost. The sound and performance from them is still valid today and I'd give a good example 8.5/10 - in my humble opinion.

Dear Stewblack, what kind of trusty Trace are you referring to? I've realised of late that no matter what cab I use with MY trusty Trace, it always sound great 😁

A new TE( Peavey) high wattage amp was a long time coming. I suppose it was inevitable it would be class D and super portable/lightweight and boasting a ridiculous amount of (questionable) watts. It's the direction the bass amp world is heading these days amp wise. There's bound to be some cab action as well. A 2x10 /1x12/ 2x12/4x8 lightweight cab option might be on the cards as well. I prob won't be able to afford any of these new TE options but will view with great interest. If any new class D TE amp can replicate or even surpass the heft of my mid 80's AH250 I will be seriously impressed😁

My two Stingrays from many years apart. On the left is my first late seventies B serial number Pre Ernie Ball Stingray. Three bolt neck with micro tilt, metal battery cover, extra wide profile p-bass type fingerboard and three band Eq. I gigged this bass for over 15 years and it never missed a beat. Sold it to a bass playing window cleaner from Leicester and I believe it made its way back north of the border in recent years and is in the hands of a Scottish basschater. Would love to buy it back for nostalgia's sake but probably couldn't afford it these days. What a fantastic Stingray it was. On the right is my current 2013 Ernie Ball Stingray. Six bolt neck and three band Eq. Its also a cracking bass but has a different feel and sound to the pre-Ernie Ball bass over and above the woods and neck material. I've kinda lost interest in the newer Stingrays as they have in my humble opinion become over flash and lost that vibe that I appreciate in the classic models. Some of the finishes and specs are stunning these days but not for me. Price wise they've also gone stratospheric and out of my reach. My 2013 Stingray is probably going up for sale soon so its a bit of first and last in the pic. Great basses though and very glad I have had a chance to appreciate them.

While I've not had any experience with the SMX heads, I do have a series 6 GP12-200 head. Other than replacing serviceable items like the coupling caps on the mosfet power board and the bridge rectifier diodes( my amp was made in 1992 and the originals were only changed last year due to a developing hum), I've found these amps super solid and reliable. The SMX is a bit more complex in that it has a back board like the Ashdown ABM's and a Multi pin connector from the pre-amp board to the back board. If the amp cuts out after a thrashing or responds to a thump on the case when it cuts out, it could possibly be either heat related (perhaps a dry joint on the power board somewhere) or perhaps the multi pin connector between power board and pre-amp is not fully home in the socket or shaking loose. For heat issues and if your SMX has the big cooling fins at the back, these power sections MUST have proper thermal compound applied in copious amounts or they can easily overheat and cut out / blow expensive Hitachi mosfets. For pre-amp issues, I had an ABM which had very similar symptoms to what you describe and the fault was traced to the multi pin connector/ribbon cable from pre-amp to back board. It was vibrating loose and generating all sorts of strange loud earth type hums and buzzes. And cutting out. On ABM's, the pre-amp signal routes off the pre-amp board via the multi pin connector cable to the back board and back again in a loop. So any issues with the ribbon connectors can cause all sorts of weird and difficult to trace issues. A bit of hot glue applied to the the multi pin connectors to stop them vibrating loose at both ends solved the problem for me. Clive Button did a lot of design for Trace and Ashdown at the time so there are a lot of similarities between ABM's and TE SMX amp designs with the valve pre-amp.

This is a review of my experience with a fairly old school combo bass guitar amp from Ashdown Music. These haven't been made for a long time now but they can be picked up fairly cheaply used and if you know what to look for you can get a very capable example that can ace rehearsals and do small Gigs easily. And is very easy to carry around. The MAG 250 is an intermediate amplifier version that sits nicely between the old school MAG 200 mosfet combos and the later MAG300 bi polar amp combos. What you can expect to get is a fairly lightweight chipboard cabinet that is covered with black carpet and has two rear ports on the speaker box. Standard plastic corners, and a rubber strap handle are fitted. Originally no rubber feet were fitted to these combos so they are prone to wear on the bottom panel. The amp chassis section is fairly interesting in that its made of lightweight magnesium alloy and only a fraction of the weight of EB180 and MAG300 steel chassis versions. This is a major plus as it gives the combo a very lightweight feel. The pre-amp is standard MAG specification and the power amp section is essentially a MAG300 with a smaller 250VA toroidal transformer. Early MAG 250's were convection cooled but can be prone to overheating if used at high power for extended periods. Later examples had a cooling fan fitted ( a standard 80mm Jamicon fan unit ) longitudinally inside the amp chassis. These are the most desirable versions. The standard speaker fitted to these units was a SICA branded 8 ohms 15 inch unit. I'm not sure of the power rating as its not stamped on the chassis but expect this is the same unit fitted to MAG 300 combos of the time so likely to be between 200 to 300 watt rating. The driver seems fairly efficient and can easily handle the MAG 250 output. In use the pre-amp is bog standard MAG. You have high/low inputs for passive/active basses, an input volume, 5 band EQ with bass(usually swept around 100Hz), low mids swept normally at 220Hz, middle swept at 660Hz , high mids swept at 1.6 Khz and treble swept around 7Khz. There is a low boost and a high boost switch, a main EQ in/out and a switchable sub octaver with adjustable knob. The DI is post EQ and there is an effects send/return and a tuner /line out. if you have ever used a MAG or an Electric Blue amp these will all be familiar and the EQ section can create a wide variety of tones. RM users will also find these controls familiar. The rear panel has two speaker out jacks with a safe minimum impedance of 4 ohms. Essentially adding an external 8 ohm cab will allow the full power and headroom to be used. In use this combo can really deliver a fine and powerful output from its inbuilt speaker. I tested this with a p-bass straight in and with the input around 3/4 and the master around half on the dial, it delivers a tight focused output that sounds clean and detailed around 30-40 feet away. One thing you will notice is the amp chassis gets very warm at this sort of high volume and after a long session. This is normal as the chassis is also part of the cooling mechanism for MAG 250's. The combo tested in this review was owned by me and originally was built and left the Ashdown UK factory around May 2003. It was reviewed last year at a local rehearsal studio. In summary, here are some pros and cons: Pros lightweight alloy amp chassis makes this a breeze to transport (15.5 KG typical total combo weight) Lightweight particle board cab Rear ported for a deep smooth tone Punches easily as high as later MAG300 combo's for loudness. Cheap as chips used Simple to repair/maintain Parts cheap and easily accessible. Efficient SICA blue line driver Typical Ashdown tone. Cons rehearsal / small gigs only prone to overheating during long gigs if it doesn't have the cooling fan update. prone to wear on the bottom panel as did not have rubber feet as standard and carpet/corners can get torn/worn. cats love these combos for sharpening their claws so never buy one from a cat owner as it will likely be torn to shreds down the side panels. Verdict - one of Ashdown's hidden gems where lightweight amp chassis design/technology wasn't appreciated at the time(except by those in the know).

The photos are representative of ABM EVOII or newer models so I'd say what you are seeing is fairly usual. the ABM 300's I've come across(quite a few) from EVOII models onwards had the same power amp boards as EVOII and EVOIII 500 that I've also come across . It's known as an APC033. I've also seen the same power amp board appear in MAG 600's. These utilise (usually 6) big Bi-Polar output transistors but I'm unsure if Ashdown spec these differently between 300/500 units. The ABM 500's have considerably larger and heavier transformers basically to supply more power. Older ABM 300's, 400's & 500's use different power boards( APC001) with a Mosfet output design and either 4 or 6 output mosfets depending on model. They also have specific transformers rated for the model. I gigged an ABM 300 EVOII for a spell a few years back and it certainly didn't lack power. If anything, it was more powerful that I expected it to be.

I've used Eden World Tour kit in the past and it was great sounding and very high build quality. I'm not surprised Marshall pulled the brand offline without warning, they did the same with the old EdenAmpsForum (A very friendly forum of dedicated Eden users with excellent Eden Resources available). I think Marshall has historically had a mixed reputation for their bass gear which might be in part due to their history and reputation as a maker of guitar amps. They've made some fine Marshall bass amps over the years but not really anything I can recall that set the bass world alight in my humble opinion. Eden was a fine brand for them to keep their hand in the bass market when they stopped making Marshall bass gear but I don't think they ever really promoted it to any extent or certainly not as much as their guitar products. I suspect it didn't have the mass market appeal to a company that needed to shift units. Eden equipment had fairly hefty RRP values when new. It will be interesting to see what happens to the Eden brand and whether Marshall finally decide to be a guitar amp only company. Who knows they may be ready to launch some new exciting bass products of their own in place of the Eden brand. An 800 watt Class-D Marshall Superbass JCM2020? Fender did it with their Bassman amps🤨 RIP Eden.

Because it was fitted onto a left hand bass. The bridge comes as a right hand unit and the saddles did have those small v notches already cut but for right handed fitting. The notches were re-cut to suit left hand use and to keep string alignment & spacing even.

Never really been into having an exotic board and have always stuck to basics. 95% of the time I use my Boss GE7 ( not the bass version) to provide a mild 100Hz boost for extra low down oomph and the Boss Limiter Enhancer controls the level into the amp and adds a little extra sheen & click to the sound especially when using flat wound strings. The TC Polytune is indispensable as a tuner and also as gig mute. I only occasionally use chorus and phase pedals and the overdrive is for special occasions. It all works well though and is very simple to use, setup and transport.

Weapon(s) of choice at a recent first rehearsal after lockdown - My 2012 Fender American Standard Jazz with custom shop 60's and running 100 gauge Rotosound Monel flats. preferred noise boxes were my mid 1980's AH250 GP11 MK5 through the studio 8x10 and a mix of Ashdown ABM's. ( A 2010 ABM 500 EVOIII head and a 1998 ABM C410H-400 ). It was hefty.

Fender have made specific leftie cases on occasion. Some of them were contracted out to well known vintage case manufacturers like G&G. My 90's USA Standard came with a vintage G&G leftie case as standard when the righties came with an ABS shaped cases. I've not really seen many of these G&G vintage leftie cases over the years to be honest so I guess they are quite scarce. For the vintage case snobs and case sniffers, the G&G cases smell awesome and impart a really vintage smell on to your bass. Legit!

I fitted a fender Hi Mass bridge on to my player series and to be honest I never really noticed much difference. It looked more cool but sonically didn't make a great deal of a difference. I sold the bass on after a year and put the stock fender MIM bridge back on the bass. Sounded as good with either bridge. I never had any issues with setup. Only thing I would mention is you have to be very careful cutting string slots, specially if your fitting the hi-mass bridge on to a leftie bass 🤨

Ashdown amps in my experience are very repairable. They are well designed from the outset. I'm sure there have been several quotes stating 'a quality instrument or amplifier is easily repairable'. Ashdown would breeze the 'right to repair' laws that are due to come into force in the near future. ABM's are also a breeze to work on and repair. Not much goes badly wrong with them. My most recent repair was a 23 year old ABM400( see below). All it needed was a new pre-amp volume pot, a replacement valve, a quick clean and it was good as new. The china made ones aren't all that bad either ( EvoII/III models). Not to mention MAG's and EB's. They are also very easy to fix. I hope your ABM gets the love it needs to gig again.