Ashdown B Social - really?

[Muppet]

I've nothing against Ashdown and have been very happy with Evo heads and old ABM cabs in the past, but this just seems to be trying to be too many things at once and comes with a terribly unrealistic price tag. I'd give it a go for £200 but not for £600. How did they decide that this was the ideal price point....?

[BluRay]

I quite like the gadget-ness of it. The concept is good. I can't imagine I'd buy something like this, but would be nice to win one in a raffle tho.

[chriswareham]

The fella in the pictures has absolutely terrible tattoos on his right arm, regardless of who he is.

[SubsonicSimpleton]

[quote name='Muppet' timestamp='1422098410' post='2668640']
I don't get it.

[url="http://ashdownmusic.com/products/1/Bass-Amplification/21/BSOCIAL/131/BSOCIAL75W/"]http://ashdownmusic....131/BSOCIAL75W/[/url]

Am I missing something here? What makes this worth selling at £600? That's a lot of money for a boombox....
[/quote]
Just imagine how expensive it would be if it was sporting an apple logo

[LayDownThaFunk]

The guy in the photos is Daniel P Carter - presenter of the Radio 1 rock show.

[Delberthot]

Ah that explains why I didn't recognise him then. I didn't think that anyone over the age of about 17 listened to Radio 1

[bartelby]

[quote name='SubsonicSimpleton' timestamp='1422293207' post='2670792']
Just imagine how expensive it would be if it was sporting an apple logo
[/quote]

They did it in 2006 and it was $349.

[M@23]

[quote name='The Badderer' timestamp='1422128846' post='2669083']
i guess they're hoping people will spend £600 on something that will do several jobs poorly, rather than spend a few hundred quid more on separate items that will do the job properly.

anyone wanting decent recording quality will get a proper audio interface.
anyone wanting a decent amp / cab will buy something not made by ashdown.
anyone wanting a decent wireless system will buy a decent wireless system.
[/quote]

Not even that much - you could get a decent audio interface, sub 100w practice amp and wireless system for less than £600. Didn't pay much attention to the link, so not sure if the little Ashdown units offers more, mind.

[Twincam]

I like the idea of this. But it looks a bit too much like a ipod dock combined with a 90s ghetto blaster. The wood (pine) fronted one looks like furniture from the 90s too.

Its also 400 pound to expensive.

Also im thinking bass speakers never ever play music well such as there designed frequency range. So its either going to be crap at bass, or crap at playing music through or both even. If it had dedicated bass speakers and another two full range drivers for music streaming that would make more sense.

[Guest monsterthompson]

[quote name='Twincam' timestamp='1422388079' post='2672093'] Also im thinking bass speakers never ever play music well such as there designed frequency range. So its either going to be crap at bass, or crap at playing music through or both even. If it had dedicated bass speakers and another two full range drivers for music streaming that would make more sense. [/quote] Many bass cabs have been going to a PA/full-range style driver and design in recent years and many folks like the way they sound. You won't get vintage warmth unless you have an eq or amp voicing getting you there, though. I think a full-range music speaker playing bass guitar should work just fine, as long as you can tame the treble. Older bass cabs don't do recorded music well because the high end wasn't necessary for bass guitar so the designers didn't care about the roll-off.

[Twincam]

[quote name='monsterthompson' timestamp='1422402246' post='2672354']
Many bass cabs have been going to a PA/full-range style driver and design in recent years and many folks like the way they sound. You won't get vintage warmth unless you have an eq or amp voicing getting you there, though. I think a full-range music speaker playing bass guitar should work just fine, as long as you can tame the treble. Older bass cabs don't do recorded music well because the high end wasn't necessary for bass guitar so the designers didn't care about the roll-off.
[/quote]

I get your point about the older bass cabs etc. But i disagree there is no way tiny full range speakers will do the job, the only small speakers that can do bass are the ones in phil jones stuff and there designed for bass. And full range speakers can do bass but not better than an actual single purpose bass speaker. There is always a trade off. So my view still stands i bet if you put a five string through that the speakers will turn inside out.

Ive not found one demo of the product and its frequency response is 60hz - 20khz while that does not paint the whole picture it suggests to me its will struggle to produce correct bass tone.

[BluRay]

Ok, there may be some (real or perceived) compromise in exchange for versatility. But it’s clearly it’s a different proposition to a regular practice amp - guitar and bass at the same time, at don't-upset-the-neighbours volume. When my band works on songs at home, it feels like total overkill when the geetards turn up with 212s etc. One of these things would be cool for that situation, and nice toy with the apps and stuff. I can’t afford it either (and keep my live rig in the living room, so I'm at hardware capacity!), but just saying it could be good for what its meant for.

[Ashdown Engineering]

[quote name='Muppet' timestamp='1422137654' post='2669219']
I've nothing against Ashdown and have been very happy with Evo heads and old ABM cabs in the past, but this just seems to be trying to be too many things at once and comes with a terribly unrealistic price tag. I'd give it a go for £200 but not for £600. How did they decide that this was the ideal price point....?
[/quote]

Hey Muppet.

Wow... £200.... The speakers alone are worth more than that...

The B Social has taken nearly 2 years of development.... the speakers we have worked with SICA in Italy to produce a very special pair of dual concentric cones that handle bass superbly(it its primarily a bass amp after all) as well as reproducing music to a much higher level than the majority of dedicated music players already out there.(We have a Sonos Play 5 in the office which the B Social destroys) This has been one of the most challenging products that we have ever made from a design and functionality point of view and if it was not up to the task then we would not have launched it. Instead we are so pleased with the final product we just cant wait to get it out there.

Cannot quite believe peoples fury at the price! The retail price of any product(with us anyway) is always worked from the cost price of the product and whilst it would be nice to be a bit cheaper the cost of the B Social equates to a selling price of £599. However going back to the people who say this should cost £250 that is just lunacy... Whilst there isn't really a comparable product to compare to if we look at something like a Phil Jones Bass Cub which retails at around £499, It has a tiny bit more power than the B Social but 20w is really neither here nor there and featurewise its just a run of the mill small bass amp. Then the B Social has -

- True Stereo Bluetooth streaming

- Wireless instrument connection with transmitter bug

- USB Stereo record out that if using 2 instruments splits them onto individual tracks simulatiously with no latency

- AppTek connectivity for using IOS amp sims and FX, plus direct recording and uploading to Soundcloud etc

- 2nd wired input

Etc Etc

So this isn't worth an extra £100 on something like the Phil Jones?

Sorry but when you have been building bass amps for 34 years and spent 2 years on developing a truly groundbreaking product to then read some of these ill informed comments is quite upsetting. Especially when none of you have actually seen, used or heard the product...

Having just returned from the NAMM show the B-Social was a huge hit(winning a spot in the top 5 products of NAMM 2015) and not one person who tried it/saw it quibbled about the price in any way. Also for the guy who said it won't handle a 5 string we had numerous 5 strings going through it at NAMM and a couple of 6 strings... All sounded great.

How about you actually have a play with one before you decide if its any good, Is that not fair?

Also I think most of you are actually missing the point... Yes you could buy a practice amp, a music player, a recording interface etc but if you live in a house/flat where space is limited will your better half want all that in the front room? Whereas the B Social is nice and small and does everything most players could want as well as being a music hub for the family when not being used as an amp...

This is not a practice amp with bluetooth which is what some of you seem to think it is, this is a very serious product carefully designed and tested after a huge amount of R&D and a product that ultimately we are immensely proud of.

[Ashdown Engineering]

[quote name='Twincam' timestamp='1422468986' post='2673114']
I get your point about the older bass cabs etc. But i disagree there is no way tiny full range speakers will do the job, the only small speakers that can do bass are the ones in phil jones stuff and there designed for bass. And full range speakers can do bass but not better than an actual single purpose bass speaker. There is always a trade off. So my view still stands i bet if you put a five string through that the speakers will turn inside out.

Ive not found one demo of the product and its frequency response is 60hz - 20khz while that does not paint the whole picture it suggests to me its will struggle to produce correct bass tone.
[/quote]

The only person who can design small speakers for bass is Phil Jones?!? Do you honestly think we just stuck a pair of off the shelf Hi Fi speakers in this and hoped for the best?

As for frequency response you are aware that one 'bass amp' manufacturer actually has nothing below 80hz in any of their amps...

[Ashdown Engineering]

[quote name='Wooks79' timestamp='1422128633' post='2669080']
Well at least Daniel P. Carter will have got a freebie...
[/quote]

Nope - he has ordered one though

[Ashdown Engineering]

[quote name='The Badderer' timestamp='1422128846' post='2669083']

anyone wanting a decent amp / cab will buy something not made by ashdown.
[/quote]

Ha...

Quick you'd better tell;

Nate Mendel
JJ Burnel
Jah Wobble
Norman Watt Roy
Guy Pratt
Pino Palladino
Paul McCartney
Nick O'Malley
James Johnston
Bruce Foxten
etc etc

I'll DM you their email addresses so you can explain ;-)

[Merton]

It's a real shame Ashdown have to come on here defending themselves like this, especially from ignorant comments about frequency response.

They are a British success in a worldwide market, I understand people may not "get" the product but it seems to have turned into an unnecessary flaming a la the Barefaced threads.

Let's leave this one be shall we

[The Badderer]

fair play to you guys for coming on to defend your product. as i explained 2 posts below my original comment i was being a bit tongue in cheek, but i'll happily take all of those guys contact details, would love to get in contact with them I think the point about price when developing your product should be thought about the other way round (although i'm not a 34 year old amp manufacturer). Are bass players / their guitar playing friends prepared to spend £600 on the product? Maybe not pricing it thinking... it cost us this XXX to make so we need to charge XXX.

It would be great to try it, but i don't think i'm the type of person it's aimed at (although i do have a beard ), I have a bass amp, guitar amp, audio interface and cables to connect them together. Sometimes one of the 1st few products to come along like this gets a bit of an unfair 1st hearing and we should try it to see how it stacks up. Maybe in the future we'll all turn around and say "you remember when ashdown brought out the B Social?" as we are sat around our wirelessly connected bluetoothed mobile studios. It might be a nice way to get rough tracks laid down when writing ideas / songs, but i doubt it will have the necessary quality to be used for serious recording to replace the need for a decent AI / Preamp but as you say we'd need to try it to make an informed judgement. The point i'd make would be, if someone wants to seriously record, they're still going to need to get an AI anyway after they've bought your product.

I might be missing the concept, but great that you've spent 2 years of hard work developing it and are proud of it.

[The Badderer]

for clarity i was just posting mine about 20 secs after merton posted this

[eude]

[quote name='Merton' timestamp='1422635396' post='2674997']
It's a real shame Ashdown have to come on here defending themselves like this, especially from ignorant comments about frequency response.

They are a British success in a worldwide market, I understand people may not "get" the product but it seems to have turned into an unnecessary flaming a la the Barefaced threads.

Let's leave this one be shall we
[/quote]

Here here!
I personally think it's a great idea, and I think you're right that folks should really try something before they offer up such condemning opinions.
Seeing a breakdown of what you get for your £599, it's hard to argue on the price!

I'm in the market for something similar, but I don't currently need all the extras, would there be a "B-Social Lite" in the pipe line, just as a wired high end product without the wireless and recording?

Keep up the good work Ashdown

Eude

[Merton]

[quote name='The Badderer' timestamp='1422635528' post='2675001']
for clarity i was just posting mine about 20 secs after merton posted this
[/quote]
Cool beans

[barkin]

[quote name='Merton' timestamp='1422635396' post='2674997']
It's a real shame Ashdown have to come on here defending themselves like this, especially from ignorant comments about frequency response.
[/quote]

Well said, that man.

[Twincam]

While i respect Ashdown. And i have nothing at all against there amps unlike others here. And i will try be as respect full as possible in my reply.

I honestly still think 4 speakers 2 bass and 2 full range would of been more practical (probably would work better too), cheaper because you could of then used off the shelf speakers!. Less development time (2 years developing the speaker).

I actually have said i like the idea but i think there are some flaws in my view.

As for my comments about frequency i did say it does not paint the whole picture. I am willing to be proven wrong and learn on all my comments. I am just saying it as i see it which in this case is it could be cheaper and perform just as well if not better.

[The Badderer]

^^^ yup.

[Muppet]

[quote name='Ashdown Engineering' timestamp='1422631135' post='2674901']

Cannot quite believe peoples fury

Sorry but when you have been building bass amps for 34 years and spent 2 years on developing a truly groundbreaking product to then read some of these ill informed comments is quite upsetting. Especially when none of you have actually seen, used or heard the product...

[/quote]

This is true, I've not seen or heard the product. What I have seen is the marketing and the proposed price, which was all that was available, so as a business, if no customer has actually seen, used or heard the product, then you are relying on the marketing to promote it.

As a prospective customer, who actually likes Ashdown amps and cabs, I am stating that at this price point it is not attractive to me. I was drawn to the product because of the concept but I cannot justify in my own mind spending that amount of money on something like this. You can have a go at me not understanding the the quality of the the technology or the effort you've put in to the development if you like but at the end of the day, I have the money in my pocket and you have to convince me to give it to you.

I hope that, given the obviously huge investment you've made, that this is a success and I am more than prepared to be proved wrong. But again, as a prospective customer I am not tempted to seek one out to try and really this is what you want us to do.

And for the record, there was never an intention for this to an Ashdown bashing thread; it was a discussion of whether the 'market' considered this product to be worth the retail price attached to it.


Steve