ASHDOWN Big Tube Amps and 424 Small block amps

[martin8708]

I was leafing through the Aug edition of Bass guitar magazine and came across the Woodshed article on Ashdown Engineering . I have been aware of the lower priced amps and combo's that Ashdown produce , but I was not aware of the high end big valve amps they build as well. I've always fancied an Orange 200W valve bass amp to keep the flag flying for British built valve amplification ,but now I have started looking at Ashdown in a new light .
Does anyone own / use these amps and what is your ( honest ) opinion of these amps , are they a viable alternative to the Ampeg/Orange / Hiwatt amps ?
Cheers
Martin.
PS , I know Ampeg is not British , it's probably not even American any more , but I know people will use it as a benchmark for bass valve amplification .

Edited November 1, 2010 by martin8708

[umph]

not sure they're out yet, they do look good though

[thodrik]

I'm really interested by the line of amps. I don't mind the Ashdown ABM and MAG heads on the whole, but never would feel the need to buy one. The valve ones look really cool though. The proof will be in the tone and build quality though.