DGBass

I saw this recently and for me anyway, its not more than fifty or sixty quids worth of parts without a few photos of what has happened internally. Apart from it being an ABM1200 which is a rare beast and fairly impractical for pub gigs, the damaged back panel looks particualrly terminal. Any impacted surface moves a fair bit in the direction of impact before springing back into place albeit in this case not all the steel panel has come back flat as it should be. The back board will be broken for sure. Both fans likely impacted the dual output boards and hit the heat sinks. They could be ripped out of position or the boards split. Either way thats two APC033 output boards, potentially two new fans, a back board and its possible the transformer could have been impacted. If that needs replacing you could be looking at a £400 repair bill in parts before the metal work is straightened out. I suppose if you already had an ABM1200 it would be and ideal source of spares you could pick at for years to come, but not for the current asking price. The case also looks like it has a split or been weakened at one side🤔 Must have been a very heavy impact and no telling what else might have been damaged.

Thanks for the bump G🙂 Umm...never seen inside an MK500 but they are simpler than your average ABM. These MK amps are getting on a bit now and were mostly new around 2005-2006 or thereabouts. Yoy can get the odd buzzy gremlin occasionally if the amp has never been serviced. Difficult to say what it might be but if its had a lot of use a buzzy noise like in the video could be a ground issue. Could be something as simple as a loose screw that needs a quarter turn on a ground post on either the output board or the pre-amp section. Could also be a dry joint on the input jack ground. Not sure if anyone has suggested yet but it might be worth plugging directly into the return jack to isolate the pre-amp. if the buzz remains, it's likely ther power amp section. If it clears its likely the pre-amp. All academic if its going back and the op isn't keen on popping the hood. I'd tend to agree with the contact Ashdown idea if its a keeper. They have the ability to sort it and check it over and seem to do it very reasonably cost wise. Big Ashdown's like these are reliable and great sounding but everything needs a little TLC now and again, even an Ashdown. The good news is that they are always easy to repair and restore to gig condition. Dave Green is the man the OP should call if he intends keeping the MK500.

You might be onto something there G😉 I did own one first time around in 79/80, a Blazer 800 in two tone sunburst, slab body and one piece maple neck. It was my first ever new bass after a string of used planks i'd owned. The fit, finish and quality was immense. It felt like and was a proper quality instrument and sounded brilliant through my Marshall Superbass half stack. The Fenders of the time looked rough by comparison. Seems such a long time ago and the photo shows that! Not sure if I'd buy a re-issue if that ever happened. Ibanez still make great instruments but nothing like they were in their heyday. A slightly better photo of it just before it was sold on circa 2010.

My covers band do indeed supply their own PA. Got me thinking though, the originals band I'm in also supply their own PA and thats my simplest setup. Bass - Lead - Tascam24. And of coure finally the PA.

I miss the days of bass - coiled curly lead - amp and everyone tuning up to whoever's bass/guitar was most in tune audibly before the gig. The audible tuning was unprofessional when I think of it but it let everyone in the venue know the band was about to commence. Tuning up with pitch pipes on stage was never cool. I have forgotten the power supply to my board on occasion in recent times and played straight in with only a clip on polytune for comfort. It was fine and the show went on. I do like my LMB3 and my floor polytune for muting though and I may yet slim things down to just those.

I've been using this vintage EVO300 head at rehersals of late and its quite impressive for 20+ year old amp. It's all original and has its factory 300 watt mosfet output board and XTE3 transformer. I've owned a few 300 watt ABM's and they have all done the job. They may not have the raw grunt of the bigger 500/600 watt variants but if anything they sound more refined and the mosfet powered ones imho do sound a little warmer and smoother. Not a huge difference in loudness between the 300's & 500's either when they are cooking at gig level outputs. I've always been curious whether Ashdown sell many of the 300 watt models these days as they rarely come up for sale used. Could that be because their owners like the 300's as much if not more than their bigger bretheren? or is 300 watts just an ideal size for pub gigs?

Ashdown on occasion come up with some super sounding cabs that seem to excel in certain circumstances. The ABM 4x8 is in my experience a tremendously good sounding cab in lower volume environments like studio and small rehearshals despite its massive power rating. It does need a bit of scooping on the low end to get the best from it or run with a second cab. Another cab that comes to mind which has an almost similar profile in my experience was the latest Rootmaster EVOII 2x10 sealed cab. Loved the sound of it, really was great for home and light studio session use but it really struggled in a live enviroment without even being driven with anywhere near the power it was designed to cope with. Used alongisde an RM EVO II 1x15 it sort of worked for live use if the power was kept well inside spec.

Not sure 100 watts of class d power fpr the beta bass constitues a hard sell IMHO, especially at nearly $800. Maybe 1000 watts would?. Could be a typo on the sale blurb?

A 100 watt class D head that weighs 26Ibs and costs $799 ( probably £799 if it is released as retail here in the UK). It's a novel approach. The amp and matching cabs do have a classy old school vibe to their look. The 2x15 cab is also rated at 100 watts. At a guess its going to be very efficient as the drivers are designed with 4 inch voice coils? Maybe all you really need is 100 watts to gig with and someone at the new Sunn thinks that. 🙂

I do miss the LM3 I owned previously. The Little Mark amps are a very mature and well thought out product that can do almost any genre of music. If I was to buy another class-d head, The LM4 would high up on my list of considerations 🙂

Storing a bass in a sealed gig bag for a period of time can cause unusual issues, mainly due to even small amounts of air moisture being trapped in the gig bag when its zipped up and left for a while. Bunging a silica gel dessicant pack in the gig bag will absorb any moisture that could enable corrosion or oxidisation of any of the metallic parts. Certain kinds of airborne spores like white mold can also cause fur on certain surfaces and even metal if they are trapped in a static environment and left long enough undisturbed with no air circulation. I had a bass I'd left zipped in a cheap gig bag in a cold cupboard for about a year. Half of the body was covered in white powdery mold residue when I eventually opened the gig bag to get the bass out. Wiped off ok with mild disinfectant without damaging the laquer. If you have furry white deposits on your pots its likely white mold. Left long enough it would spread to more areas. Silica gel packs are a good defence. Same with guitar cases, always worth using silica gel packs if you are storing something for a long time.

If its just basic patching you need to do to protect exposed wood on the cab and you aren't super fussed about matching the grain try searching for Grained Faux Leather Fabric Heavy Duty Leatherette Vinyl in your search engine of choice. Sounds a bit kinky but its legit and several big online stores sell it by the metre for around a tenner. Sticks well with normal spray contact adhesive, especially the stuff that has the fabric backing and as a lot of it is intended for furniture its quite hard wearing.

Yes I'd agree, its a rare combination in my experience. I feel lucky to have that in the here and now. It was worth the wait and I wouldn't change any aspect of my current band lineup 🙂

I would have been more selective about which bands I joined. The current crew are the nicest, amiable gents I've ever gigged with as well as all of them being higly proficient musicians. Having good players around makes my playing better. So many bands in the past were a struggle, drummers who couldn't keep time, guitarists who didn't own a tuner, singers who struggled to stay in key and my pet hate, band members who show up at rehersal and obviously haven't learned the new tunes or who don't show u at all. Especially if they were mates. Minor changes of less importance: a) would never have sold my 78 Jazz🙄 b) would never have sold my 79 Pre EB Stingray😬 c) I should have bought the 79 Les Paul Standard sunburst flame top that was in McCormack's January sale in 1980 for a grand. It was stunning, sounded and played amazing and its tone still haunts me to this very day. I'm fine with who I am personally even though the high mileage is beginning to show in many areas. A few less aches and pains would be nice nowadays. 🙂 Going back and making major musical/band changes can be a bit sliding doors. If I'd bought that Les Paul for instance, I might not have become a bass brother and be surfing on TDPRI tonight😄

Indeed. I see a few regulars on here still using their trad GK RB's, plenty life left in them yet. Strange though, GK always appear niche to those who have never tried them and loved by those who have and who know how good they are. Good all round amps and imho especially good for blues/rock music as the mid range availability is quite formidable. Not forgetting the boost feature🙂

I've always been more of an amp hoarder than a bass guitar hoarder. ATM I have four gig ready heads at my disposal. Trace Elliot AH250 GP11 head GK 700RB Ashdown Blackface ABM500 4U Rack using a Trace Elliot GP12 SMX stereo pre-amp with a Harley Benton Class D GPA400 power amp. Any of these will get me through a gig. I did have a Markbass LMIII as my backup amp until recently but sold it as it was never needed. I'll probably come to regret that as I'm playing without back up for the first time in years. So far so good. You do get to know each amp though if you've had them a while and can often tell when they might need a service. One bonus with having a few amps is that rotating them keeps the wear and tear from gigging/ rehersal minimal.

Its an American Standard 😁 No lefty option though.

Played a 5 string Yamaha back when emo and grunge were a scene. Of course everyone who was anyone on MTV at the time had switched to 5-string so I was conscious of widespread 5-stringism being possibly more of a fashion or fad with the times. The odd thing was the more I played that 5 string, the more useful it became and it was far from pointless. Listening back to some recordings i made then, the five string definitely made an impact on the overall sound. I think if 5's are your thing, the more you play them, the more you will enjoy them and find them pointiful .The grunge band didn't last and I remember moving back on to my 4 string P-bass and thinking wow! This is it. I tried to recapture that 5-string vibe a few years ago with a Ibanez Soundgear 5 but the point of a 5 string was lost on me by that time and I couldn't go back to having a big floppy B string used only as a finger rest. Niether 5 string I owned had the overall punch of any 4 string I've ever owned.

I owned a Fender bass with an S88xxxx serial number and it was a 1978 so odds on its a 78 or 79 you have. The neck heel might help narrow it down as it likely has a date stamp. The sunburst finish is consistent with those times. The fingerboard doesn't look original but fender did make fretless versions with both maple and rosewood boards at that time. I would guess you have a standard usa fender 78/79 with added routing for the Jazz pickup and emg electronics added at a later date. The fingerboard is also probably aftermarket but looks well done. I'd be inclined to keep it as is if it plays well and sounds fine. The nut obviously needs attention and maybe the foil job but thats a small amount of work required for what could be a fantastic players bass. Nice one.

I sort of did the signature bass thing a long time ago and what I ended up with probably reflects what I considered my dream rock bass was at the time. Before this came along I'd already had a few Jazz Bass copies, a Westone thunder and a couple of other forgetable budget basses. It also occured to me whether a signature bass was a customised version of someone elses design or a blank sheet on the design board with shape, construction and finish. I opted for someone elses design( a bloke called Chris May ) and I filled in the options based on preference and to an extent cost as back then it took me a while to save up for the whole signature bass experience. Here are a few of my specs: super slim jazz bass profile neck and nut width two octave neck graduated fretting bound ebony fingerboard Pre Cites Brazillian mahogany body and neck, thru slim heeled neck joint Flame maple top and matching headstock with transluscent blue tint German Schaller hardware includiing locking strap nuts Kent Armstrong custom soapbar humbuckers positioned to my spec VTT with master 5 position pick up selector wih tone filtering on each position - all passive I remember at the time being thoroughly excited about the prospect of having my signature bass and even now I'm surprised how it turned out. Almost forty years later it still makes me smile when I open the case and plug it in for a jam. Everything else since has been off the shelf standard as I've never had any urge since then to build or have built another signature bass. It's something i recommend everyone does in their bass playing lifetime. Hopefully you will get a bass you will never tire of.

I've had a few GP 7 SM's in bits for a rebuild, 150's and 300's and the split heatsink output boards are the bipolar variant. They arent dissimilar to the MAG 180 and Mag 300 design in later Ashdowns, one heatsink is positively charged, and one heatsink negatively charged. They should never touch or sparks will fly and components are likely to pop. The only reall issue I ever see with these bipolar boards is that some loose their ground screw because the locking washer either wasn't fitted in the first place or due to years of vibration. The screw in labelled GND1( see pic) and is in the left front corner of the board. I always give this screw a turn with a screwdiver to see if its loose. If it is, renew the locking washer. If not its probably ok. Another curious but common issue with the SM amps is the standby switch circuit. The big green resistor next to C10 is often fitted hard to the board, overheats and burns out. This causes no output because the standy circuit dies. Both are easily fixed. Anoth tip is to keep the cooling fan clean and make sure the heatsink fins dont clog up with dust. Bipolar output transistors can be prone to thermal runaway if the aren't kept cool. Mosfets will shut themseleves down in that scenario. Fans on the bipolar SM's tend to run noisier and faster than the ones on their mosfet brethern's amps. The 300 watt mosfet board is very stable, and the only issue i see with them is vibration causing dry solder joints on the coupling caps over a long time. On earlier models, the board is usually not screwed down at the front right corner and sort of floats losely on a plastic post allowing that corner to flex too much. Later SMX models like the one in the picture were properly screwed down at all four corners. The mosfet boards also tended to have thermostatically controlled fans so they run quiter and smoother and only spin up to full speed when the amp is hot. Thats why later SMX's are more desirable than standard SM's, they usually have the more reliable mosfet output and all the previous niggles earlier SM's suffered have for the most part been ironed out.

I sold a 2002 ABM to a local player recently, and told him it was over twenty years old. He didn't seem phased by that and told me he had been using a Portaflex PF500 which failed just a few weeks outside of its warranty. His local tech shop told him it would cost more to repair than it was worth. When he asked the repair tech what to get, he said get and Ashdown, and an ABM if you can. If anything happens to it, I can fix it for you next time. Not much changes design wise in some Ashdown models, its is an Evolution process that works. I also sold a lovely EVOIII ABM to a well known visitor of this site recently. It was one of the best EVO III examples I've seen in a long while. It had all the full spec completely original 575watt parts in it and was around ten years old and just needed the dust removed for it to be as good as new. Most of the major parts from the 2002 ABM would also work in the EVO III ABM. They are that compatible and I guess thats why techs like them. There are however many subtle spec differences between versions of the same models that mostly Ashdown will only be aware of and thats why it always makes sense to get Ashdown to service one if you can. I haven't come across any ABM models ever that couldn't easily be repaired.

Oddly enough I always have snacks ready to consume during breaks and in between sets at a gig. Last weekend it was raisin & biscuit flavour Yorkie. Yum. As far as drinks go, it has to be non alcohoholic and non fizzy. Staying hydrated is my doping for bass playing nowadays. Bars don't seem to offer free drinks as much as they once did anyway and i'm always driving too. Was just thinking it's also been a very long time since I was in a band that had a rider provided so the temptation to drink beer in a dressing room before a gig hasn't presented itself. That's probably a good thing.

Lovely basses and I don't doubt the smugness factor will be pretty high when comparing to MIMs or Corona standards. When it comes to MIMs, Squiers, and Standards there are actually so many useable and interesting variations/finishes to choose from these days. If it wasn't for powerful force that prevents me from suffering too much G.A.S. and being a lot more selective when choosing a bass, i'd more than likely own or have gone through way more basses than I have on The Quest that lots of bass players do.🙂 3.12kg, now thats lightweight for any P.