Ashdown knockers

[daveparker123]

Thanks for constructive feedback people. As far as I'm aware though, Ashdown don't offer artist endorsements.

[risingson]

[quote name='daveparker123' timestamp='1367951537' post='2071521']
Thanks for constructive feedback people. As far as I'm aware though, Ashdown don't offer artist endorsements.
[/quote]

They definitely do. They're the kind of brand that thrive on having big name endorsements, it's good business practice and nothing to be scoffed at at all either.

[daveparker123]

http://www.guitarmagazine.co.uk/features/the-only-way-is-essex-the-ashdown-story/

Says here they don't pay out for artist endorsements.

[Lozz196]

That`s very interesting. Not the kind of thing you would readily admit to if there was the possibility of it coming back and biting you later on I would have thought.

[RandomBass]

Yeah that's very interesting indeed, and I'm quite surprised by it. Also explains why they never send me anything lol

[BassBod]

There is a difference between paying people to use your product, and giving the stuff away, or for nominal sums. I don't have any issue with it...its good marketing and serves their more famous users well. One of the most important things Ashdown can do for its endorsers is provide loaner gear all over the world, sometimes at short notice.

[wateroftyne]

The only issue(s) I have with Ashdown are their appalling visual design,comical attempts at marketing and the fact they released the Little Giant and Superfly.

Apart from that, I don't hate them.

[daveparker123]

Comical attempts at marketing?

[JamesBass]

I'm currently using an Ashdown EB-180 combo, it's not good, it's not good enough anymore, I used to love it sounded great, it's now about 4 years old I think! The sound is fairly crappy, each week it seems to jump from wooly to a much honkier tone, I don't hate it by no means, just want to move it on and get a new amp, I'd consider a better Ashdown, there has to be a reason that their valve amps retail at near on £2k!

[drTStingray]

[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1367953702' post='2071573']
The only issue(s) I have with Ashdown are their appalling visual design[/quote]

Aw come on - a little colour co-ordination is a great thing

[attachment=134317:very blue.jpg]

...............maybe not if one of the band members has a clinical aversion to the colour blue (as I have recently found out - he admitted it after separately dissing my Ashdown set up and later my blue Stingray)!!

I have nothing but praise for Ashdown equipment - they even rebuilt my ABM in front of me after I fried it (coat over the fan) once - for a very reasonable price! The ABM set up sounds great to my ears - I liken it to the sound I had with an Acoustic 370 set up in the 70s, but with the dialable tube giving the possiblity of a varying/good levels of drive, and the sub harmonics giving a good octaver - I think they're awesome.

And the Mags aren't that bad at all either - I know someone who uses a PF500 with a Mag 4 x 10 cabinet and it sounds awesome. In fact I know of a particular 4 x 10 Mag that has had 10 yrs of hard gigging and still sounds great.

I think you do get people dissing Ashdown (possibly more on Talkbass - or maybe not recognising their existence there).

Although I generally use Mark Bass now (for weight/back reasons largely) I've kept my ABM set up and will use it if the occassion suits. I have also had rude comments about MarkBass equipment (eg I see you're endorsed by JCB these days etc etc).

[daveparker123]

[quote name='JamesBass' timestamp='1367956754' post='2071646']
I'm currently using an Ashdown EB-180 combo, it's not good, it's not good enough anymore, I used to love it sounded great, it's now about 4 years old I think! The sound is fairly crappy, each week it seems to jump from wooly to a much honkier tone, I don't hate it by no means, just want to move it on and get a new amp, I'd consider a better Ashdown, there has to be a reason that their valve amps retail at near on £2k!
[/quote]

Try an ABM 500. You could pick a used one up on ebay for around £300. I don't think you'd regret it.

[jezzaboy]

I`ve used an Ashdown MAG300 head for about 10 years now. In that time I have owned SWR and TC amps and much prefer the MAG and have moved the other amps on. It`s very much down to personal taste.

Sure, some people accuse them of being woolly, going on fire occasionally but what the heck. It would be a sad world if we all liked the same gear.

[molan]

I've had the misfortune of having to use Ashdown heads a few times. The first time was a gig when all three bands on the bill had to use the house rig. It was an EVO 500 head with a 4x10. The first band finished and the bass man came over and told me he thought the head had blown something and that he couldn't get even a half decent sound from it. I was next one and tried playing with all sorts of eq settings and pretty much the best sound I got was a low rumbling thud. Then the headline band came one and the sound was, amazingly, even worse!

I genuinely thought that maybe it was just a duff head or cab but then I tried a rehearsal studio rig that was entirely bereft of any definition and wooly was definitely the best things got.

And then recently I was in another rehearsal room with another EVO 500 and 4x10 and it sounded just like the other two. Luckily I had a little Sadowsky pre-amp with me and bypassed the onboard eq. It was definitely better but the cab still sounded like it had a blanket draped over it. My band said it was the worst they'd ever heard a bass sound.

Maybe I've just been really unlucky and had nasty house rigs that have been thrashed to within an inch of their lives but it's not a problem I've had with any other brand

I'll have to try and find a brand new one to test my theory

[JapanAxe]

My Ashdown experience amounts to regularly gigging an ABM 500 rig for 10 years. I was even on their website!

I wouldn't necessarily knock them, but I always had to turn down the lowest frequency control, and I could never get the lovely mids that I now enjoy with my current rig. In the end the weight was the killer.

[TomWIC]

Every Ashdown amp head I've used, I've just been completely unable to get on with. The EB180 head I owned a while back was probably the best of the bunch, out of various MAG combos I've used when I haven't been able to use my own rig.

However, the MAG410 cab I had was absolutely fine, until I needed something that could handle a few more watts. The ABM410 and ABM210 cabs I use now, I absolutely love. Sure, they're heavy and not particularly good looking, but they do a great job.

[neepheid]

I owned an Ashdown ABM 4x10 cab for a few years, used it with a Hartke 3500 head, that combination sounded really good to me, weight got to me in the end and I went neodymium and micro head.

[BigBassBob]

My first gigging rig was a MAG300 head with a 4x10. It had no power and was completely unable to keep up at gigs. I sold it to another bass player. 12 months later it blew up at a gig.

I used an ABM500 for a good few years which was a nice enough head. Thick, warm tone and had some snap to it when required. It wasn't amazing but the tone was pleasant and it sat in the mix well. Had it serviced several times though, once due to noise issues and another time to replace all the pots. Never REALLY liked the sound until I ditched the Ashdown 4x10 and moved onto Aguilar 112s.

Then I moved onto a 550 Spyder which actually sounded nicer to me than the ABM500. It served me well for a good while until I started to fancy something more flexible.

After selling the 550 I bought a TH 500 which I am absolutely in love with. I don't see me ever going back to Ashdown again.

I'd also like to point out that some of the artists that endorsed Ashdown have moved onto other rigs. Adam Clayton moved onto Aguilar and I'm sure I saw a picture of Mark King using a different rig... TC Electronics I think?

[risingson]

[quote name='daveparker123' timestamp='1367952304' post='2071541']
[url="http://www.guitarmagazine.co.uk/features/the-only-way-is-essex-the-ashdown-story/"]http://www.guitarmag...-ashdown-story/[/url]

Says here they don't pay out for artist endorsements.
[/quote]

They might not pay artists to use their heads but I doubt it will stop them giving stuff away for free.

[gjones]

[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1367953702' post='2071573']
The only issue(s) I have with Ashdown are their appalling visual design,comical attempts at marketing and the fact they released the Little Giant and Superfly.

Apart from that, I don't hate them.
[/quote]

I never bought a Little giant because of the bad press they got. But The Jazz bar in Edinburgh have one as their in house amp and not only does it sound great but it gets a lot of abuse (3 bands per night 7 days per week) and is still working as well as ever. Maybe it just goes to show that, with technology, you only hear about the small minority that go wrong but never hear about the ones that are super reliable.

[gjones]

[quote name='JamesBass' timestamp='1367956754' post='2071646']
I'm currently using an Ashdown EB-180 combo, it's not good, it's not good enough anymore, I used to love it sounded great, it's now about 4 years old I think! The sound is fairly crappy, each week it seems to jump from wooly to a much honkier tone, I don't hate it by no means, just want to move it on and get a new amp, I'd consider a better Ashdown, there has to be a reason that their valve amps retail at near on £2k!
[/quote]

As well as my Ashdown MIBass I still have my original, Ashdown, UK made, EB 150 and it still sounds pretty good. I recommend instead of buying another amp get yours serviced. You'll get years more use out of it if you do. And it's much cheaper than buying a new amp.

[stingrayPete1977]

My dislike is based on 10 years of playing through one, wooly, unreliable and poor after sales service all first hand but thats not the OP wants to hear is it? It is easier to suggest everyone that makes comments on them has never tried/owned one.

Top and bottom (less top obviously ) is that if the OP and the other people like or love their gear why get upset? Plenty of dislike for class D heads and weak G strings on Stingrays but I like what I have and it is me that has to use the gear so why would I care?

[ezbass]

My first two rigs were Ashdown ABM; first the 300w, 2x10 combo plus a 2x10 cab, then a 300 head and 2 2x10s, never had any reliability problems with them. The reason I changed was; headroom (lack of), size/weight and that I became frustrated with the mid scooped cabs and on stage monitoring. During my ownership of these my mate had an SWR head and a GK head die on him so he used my Ashdown gear while these were being fixed, he had no complaints.

[skydivepaul]

just to add my 2p worth.
I have an Ashdown mag300 210 combo and I hate it!!
nothing wrong with it, it works fine every time, is loud enough (sort of - is any amp loud enough ))
but i dont like the tone it puts out.
I have adjusted, pissed about and tried all the settings but I cant get the sound i like.

Only sounds good when I put my guitar through my xoom B2 pedal first with a Hartke amp and cab simulator
will be trading soon for a hartke, peavey or trace elliot

[LiamPodmore]

Only Ashdown gear i've ever had issues with were a pair of MAG series 1x15's which were just all low end and hardly any top, and their tiny practice amp which couldn't take the output from my bass with any sort of usable sound. All the rest i've used has been great, though it was all ABM stuff.

Liam

[chris_b]

Didn't Ashdown QC slip pretty badly when they shipped their production to the Far East? They seemed to loose a lot of credability then.

If you like Ashdown then that's good. I'm sure they are selling a lot of gear to people who are fans of their sound. I've used them on a couple of occasions and it's never fired my imagination.

I use gear that I think gets a "better" sound for me.