DGBass

I must admit I can get a bit OCD with string and pickup alignment. Does it make a difference if your strings are floating to the left or right of the pole pieces or slap bang in the centre? Hmm difficult to tell sonically but if anything it looks better if the strings aren't all skewed to one side or the other. Some basses are better setup than others from the factory. String height probably affects the sound more than where it is in relation to the pole pieceThis particular bass needed a fair bit of work to the bridge position to get the strings aligned with each set of pole pieces. I don't think it really made a huge difference to the sound but it looked better and played better as the strings were more evenly spaced on the fingerboard.

The 1048H cabs are pretty much 'wall of sound' when cranked. Late 90's green carpet boxes are rated 300w @ 8ohms. The drivers are Celestion G10T-80's so actually it's more like 320W. The horn is usually a Fostex 150W unit so you could argue that they are rated at 470W rms @ 8 ohms. A lot of Trace Elliot gear is very conservatively rated. The only thing worth a watch on these cabs is the horn attenuation switch which can wear out. If it's working ok and on full it can be really painful to be near it at volume. These are great cabs for grungy metal tones with the horn on about half and the treble up on your amp. They are also very efficient cabs. A 150 watt GP7SM will scream with a good 1048H cab even at 8 ohms. I used one of these for a while but the cab weight and size was its achilles heel...

There are a few subtle differences to the line in option for different ABM incarnations. From experience the line in on the ABM rear panel for old skool ABM, ABM EVO and EVO II amps is permanently live and sound will come out the speaker when you plug an input source into the line in. I spent days troubleshooting the line in option on an ABM EVO III amp backboard because no sound came out the speaker from my source only to find that it only became active when I had an instrument plugged into the front panel input jack. I thought the backboard was a dud but it was fine. Same issue with the send and return. The rear panel options basically only worked on the EVO III if the front panel input jack had something plugged in. I suspect this is by design to keep noise levels down on the newer ABM designs. I'm sure Ashdown could clarify the correct operation if you drop them a message. I did try and check over a few ABM user guides but there wasn't anything specific to say you need something plugged into the front panel input to use the rear panel options on newer incarnations.

When I was a bit younger and gigging a lot more, I only ever had one amp(thats all I could afford) and it was an old Marshall superbass head. What I did have was a comprehensive toolkit with me at all times which included a soldering iron, screwdrivers, pliers, wire snippers and a box of spare valves, jack sockets, and various guitar parts including string sets. In recent times, gigging before lockdown comprised of a main and a backup amp. Years of playing have taught me that a dead amp midway through a gig is something you need to be able to remedy quickly. The only spares I carry nowadays are a box of fuses, one set of spare bass strings and a few extra leads. Experience has taught me that as long as you know your amplifiers are in tip top condition, there's very little to worry about. I gig with a fairly modern( last twenty years) high power Class A/B transistor head and in the gig bag I have a class D back up amp. So far so good and the class D has never had to back up the OLD IRON. If we ever get back to gigging, I'll stay with the same philosophy. I've also never had one of my cabs fail in all the years I've gigged( fingers crossed) or one of my basses fail. There's a certain amount of risk of something failing at every gig. But for me at least, I don't thrash or neglect amps and I'm always checking/maintaining my amps/cabs and improving/servicing anything I think might be a potential weakness to avoid a gig failure. For a main I prefer to use an Ashdown ABM or either a Trace Elliot Series6 AH200 GP12 / MK5 AH250 GP11 depending on the venue and how my back is feeling, The class D backup is always a Markbass LMIII

thats a good question... IMHO MAG's don't quite have the bottom end grunt ABM's have but they aren't far off it. They are really good at low mids and upper mids. Especially the old school MOSFET MAG's.

Yes, well spotted. I'm a big ABM fan but I also like the RM cabs. If you like, it's not a bad thing to mix and match different lines. I've owned and tried a bunch of MAG and ABM cabs, both had their positives but were a tad on the heavy side for me. I like the form factor, size and weight of the recent RM cabs, and the one thing that impressed me was how they sounded. The RM white line drivers don't seem particularly efficient but they really do have that Ashdown tone nailed. For me the speaker efficiency isn't a major issue as my ABM 500EVO is more than able to drive them hard at gig volume. I use a four year old RM210T EVO and a two year old RM115T EVOII cab with the ABM and I'm very happy with the balance and tone of each cab and how they perform together gig wise. They are both slightly customised with vintage tinted Musicman grille cloth and the 210T also has a fair bit of internal structural customisation to tighten up the response and performance of the cab. The 210T is 14kg dead, and the RM115T EVOII is 15.5kg. My ABM is 12.5kg. it's an easy lift into a gig and I've used both cabs on their own many times for rehearsal to great effect. Point is, the Ashdown thing works well wether you are in to ABM's or an RM user and don't be afraid to mix and match. Both are viable lines to get in to and sound good when mixed together. I must admit being interested in the new ABM Neo cabs but they are heavier than the the RM's and don't add any extra power handling and cost more. So I'm happy with my investment in RM cabs for now to use with my ABM 500EVO. My ABM EVOIII 500 combo is a whole different thing...its a complete MONSTER and the only amp that's frightened me in recent times😲 It's heavy though at 32kg so not used as much as the RM cabs/500 EVO setup. 🙄

I’ve not had much experience with the RM class-D amps but can vouch for the ABM units as capable, great sounding, well put together, and reliable performance amps. My go-to amp incidentally is a twenty year old ABM 500EVO. It sounds great, still works perfectly and gigs really well. The valve in the pre-amp separates the ABM’s from other models and its worth mentioning different ABM models/variants do their valve sound a bit differently. If your interest is dipping your toes in the Ashdown sound and you aren’t sure which to purchase, it may be worth trying to pick up a good inexpensive used Ashdown to try out. ABM wise there’s a lot to choose from, they come in power outputs from around 200-1200 watts. Used RM class-D amps are also showing up regularly these days in the classifieds so that may be a good option to try. I'm biased towards ABM's though and prefer amps that come in a wooden box, are covered with Tolex and actually have a carry handle on them 🙂 My initial interest in Ashdown amps started with a second hand ABM200 and I was hooked on the ABM sound after that experience. I’ve tried quite a few Ashdown things(and other things) since, but always come back to my ABM’s( I have two at present, the other is an EVOIII 500).

Hi, I picked up one of these as a restoration project last summer and at that time it's cooling fan sounded like a bag of nails. It was just very well worn. The original fan was a Bi-Sonic SP802512L 12v 0.12A and it's bearing was knackered. I was lucky enough to have a spare from an old Ashdown amp (a Jamicon type from a MAG300) to replace mine with. I'm sure Ashdown amps could probably help you source a suitable replacement one if you think yours has a problem. May also be worth checking it's not clogged with dust before condemning the fan. A good clean fan can make a difference. I think historically early MAG250's may not have had cooling fans and were convection cooled only. The whole amp chassis is light alloy and part of the cooling mechanism. The fan is sort of an extra cooling unit as far as I can see. These amps warm up a fair bit when being used at gig/rehearsal volume. I've added a vid of mine as it is at present, hope this helps. There is still an audible whirr but I'd say its about the same as a MAG300 or EB180/220 type combo/amp. IMG_0005.mov

I owned one of these basses from new and the maple body was much denser(and heavier) than the mahogany bodied SR300L 4-string I also owned. The pickups had been installed back to front from new eg the bridge pickup in the front pickup position and vice versa. Once swapped around it sounded much better. The one thing I never got to grips with was the setup from new. The nut was cut way low and the B string flapped mercilessly on the first 3 or 4 frets making an unpleasant clicking sound. I tried different string gauges using lighter and standard settings but couldn't get the odd clicking to go away. Raising the action helped but to a point where it was less comfortable to play in a gig situation. I've owned a couple of four string lefty SR's and they have always been brilliant and had an awesome punchy tone ( an SR300L and an SR500L) but the five string was a mixed bag. I guess I could have taken the bass to a luthier for a more professional setup but I expected much better from Ibanez out of the box. It was a gorgeous bass, the whisky burst finish was very impressive. If it had played as good as it looked I would have kept it. I set it up best I could and sold it on to another lefty who was much happier with it that I was. I hope yours is better than mine was!

Dave Green is in my opinion legendary in his Ashdown advice. He recently fixed me up with a replacement set of Mosfet's for a super early 1997 ABM500H rack mount amp. I also personally use a 2000 vintage ABM EVO500 as my main gigging amp and the valve sound on these amps is more like a valve 'presence' than a 'grind' option. I must admit to liking this very much. I also use an EVO2 300 watt ABM big chassis version (2005 vintage) where the valve sound is much more aggressive than earlier models so there is def a difference in pre amp valve performance for different model year ABM's. I have no experience with evo 3 or 4 versions so not sure how these are voiced. The older ABM's in my opinion have a much more subtle rounded presence rather than a grit/grunge sound.

My 2012 lefty Fender USA Standard in Mystic red with a Hipshot Kickass bass bridge

I decided to go for one of the leftie Player jazz bass versions that were available mid 2019 in the later colour options. I contacted Fender UK directly for the 'Capri Orange' colour option which they said was available for order and mine was one of the very first sent to the UK market. My bass is stock apart from the Fender high mass bridge and sounds fantastic with the stock pickups. The Pao Ferro fingerboard has really nice grain and takes a bit of getting used to visually. I also have a 2012 USA Standard Jazz and the fingerboard is rosewood( it's as dark as ebony)and both have great and different overtones. The big difference from the Player and the USA standard is the neck. the USA standard neck is far and above the Player in terms of stability and tuning and earthy bass tones. I guess its those carbon fibre struts in the USA standard making a difference? Both though play very well and sound great, like Jazz basses should. The bottom end thump is there but if you want some grind its so easy to dial in from the standard player pickups.

I currently have the Eden Terra Nova 110 cab you mentioned, 4 ohm and 300watts. It's a great minimalist unit, extremely well made ported light plywood cab and the electrics are very high quality. So far, its performed as well as a Barefaced one ten I owned a few years back(now sold on). I use mine with a WTX264 and occasionally at noisier rehearsals with a Trace Elliot GP7 SM150. It seems to work much better with the Trace at volume. The cab puts out some serious lows at decent (clean) medium volumes. I've personally gone back to a reasonably good 1x15 for gigging as my experiences with a 1x10 cab on its own just didn't cut it for loud rock. I'm lucky that I have multiple cabs to choose from but if I could only have one, I'd prefer a good 1x15 even if it means a bit more pain lugging it about. 2x10's are also a good 'one cab' option worth thinking about and there's plenty to choose from these days.

Just thought I'd contribute to the thread with one of my fave lefties, a late 90's USA P-bass.

I was thinking of starting a similar 1x12 frankenstien project thread after reading all the 1x12 cab diary threads on Basschat. But based on modifying a branded cab not originally designed as a 1x12. I don't have WinISD or am technically profficient in cab design. It's more a case of modifying something with the bits to hand and see if it works! I suspect the advice would be 'don't go there' however my latest project seems to have worked out well despite having no technical design. If Could offer one one opinion it is that I agree with your last statement regarding being up for a little bit of experimentation. If anyone is keen, my project was a Musicman RH115 horn loaded cab made from pine and light weight which had a new 3/4 marine ply baffle fitted and converted to a 1x12 cab. The replacement driver was an Eminence Beta 12LF ( 250watts rms) . It sounds pretty darn good and has lows and mids aplenty, more so than when it was a 15inch speaker cab. Can anyone do the WinISD math on my franken cab to see if it adds up?

Cooling fans are my pet hate in modern amps. I've sold on some great combos and amps because they had acoustically obtrusive cooling fans when used in a quiet room/recording session. In a performance situation it wasn't such an issue. A lot of bass players I suspect don't have the luxury of having a home jam setup thats separate from their gig setup. Cooling fans are a modern day compromise imho for the large alloy heatsinks of old that allowed solid state amps to run quietly. I haven't heard what a Mesa Subway D800 fan sounds like but have had experience of TC Electronic, Eden, and Ashdown cooling fan noises and have been driven to distraction by them. It's possible to retrofit a silent cooling fan but you might invalidate your amp warranty and perhaps not cool it properly. My solution was to source an old skool combo for home rehearsal/recording (a Peavey TKO80 1x12combo in my situation that is silent!) and leave the fan cooled beast strictly for live performance.

Just checked and I have two brand new surplus jacks with the chrome front pieces in my parts bin from the last Trace Elliot project. PM me if you are interested

It won't damage your Eden. I've been using a WTX264 with two Barefaced One10's and it sounds great( and loud) and never cuts out if I set the input gain led to just blink( auto compression kicking in) and the output gain to similar so that the output protect just blinks every now and again with hard playing. Eden kit is quite impressive and very toneful and loud if used with those led indicators to set your levels.

My fave cheap rig was a s/h late 70's Marshall super bass 100 mkII( I paid good money for it back in the mid eighties £140) and a broken Musicman RH115 cab rescued from a skip and retro fitted with a Peavey speaker. Gigged for nearly twenty years and I couldn't see past it. Sounded amazing.

If it helps, I recently fixed up a GP7SM 150 amp and had a similar issue including the need to change complete worn jack sockets. I 'traced' down replacement components which turned out an exact match and fitted perfectly. I source lots of parts for projects from these guys and they are pretty good. The part no. I ordered was cn02261.

Hi Horroshow, apologies for the late reply. My SR500L has been fine and it's still wearing the strings it came with in the box(the label said Elixirs). They feel about a 100 gauge set and the setup was quite low. I did a basic setup anyway to clean/polish the frets,clean any grit from the nut, and set intonation as I suspect it hadn't been out of the box ever and stored in a cold warehouse somewhere for several years. A slight tweak was made to the truss rod after about a week as it sits mostly on a stand in the front room( at room temperature) but I put that down to it warming up. I don't want to got too far off topic talking about setup and sound but the SR500L definitely seems less in the 'mids' than the sr300L I previously owned. The Bart's are super crisp and I suspect they are the main reason for the difference in tone which appeals to me. The buy to try approach suits me well too...and as leftyJ says 'the chase is still on' for keepers

As a leftie player I've always found it difficult to gauge how a leftie version might sound and feel from a rightey version. As regards Ibanez Soundgear's, I was always sceptical about them and bought a second hand SR300L to see what they were all about. It was a revelation in weight, playability and tone. I since sold the SR300L and bought a NOS 2014 SR500L and love it. A mahogany body, a super slim tonewood neck, Bartolini's, and a great setup out of the box were all appreciated . I have a new respect for Soundgear's but as a leftie player, sometimes you just have to trust your instincts and take the plunge and realise you will never have the in store choice available that right handed players have.

Very interesting review, thanks for sharing. The pics are good and show how much is crammed into such a small unit. I'm guessing the mini fan is attached to the(removed) top plate as nothing looks like a fan inside the unit? I'm interested in the super small form factor of the ELF for a go anywhere amplifier however I have a total aversion to cooling fan noise/hum at low volume which you mention is audible in the ELF. This would be no use to me for home noodling in the front room which for me would be an ideal use case for an ELF. I have a GP7 SM-150 (also with a quiet fan) so if I need a fix of green I can use that meantime. If the good people at TE can come up with a 500watt ELF without a cooling fan, my cheque book will be ready and waiting

the skewed camera angle does make it difficult to tell but yep it does look a bit taller. I mentioned a tweedy one of these might go with a tweedy One10 in another thread but not so sure about that now. The bass overhang in the bottom pic is just too much for me...looks like its going to fall off the cab at any minute No dimensions I could find on the Ashdown site so can't help there.

I can picture one of those Ashdown CTM30 tweed amps with this. Very nice indeed.