uk_lefty Posted February 24, 2016 Share Posted February 24, 2016 (edited) So after selling my beloved and all powerful trace rig I needed a new amp. Was seriously considering new: hartke kickback 12, gk mb 112, ashdown toneman. Then a fender rumble 500 came up on gumtree in my price range. I contact the seller, arrange the meet, and he doesn't show and doesn't answer his phone. I had a hartke kickback 15 and loved the sound but couldn't bring myself to buy the new 12 and being out of stock at thomann helped my decision. I fancied the gk but the powered extension cabs cost the same as the amp almost so that put me off although again, I have had gk amps before and they're excellent. I went for the toneman largely down to cost, but also all the features I want are there. I have never been a fan of the abused and tired ashdown s I have used in rehearsal rooms but I understand they have been mistreated. As soon as this arrives I'll put out a review. 250 quid for 300 watts, footswitch overdrive, 15" speaker, seems a good deal. Edited February 26, 2016 by uk_lefty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uk_lefty Posted February 26, 2016 Author Share Posted February 26, 2016 So it has now arrived.... This is [b][u]not[/u][/b] a lightweight combo like a Fender Rumble, I think the shipping weight was 28kg... so its in that region. Having a little plastic top handle for that is a bit rubbish frankly, you need to get two hands on this to carry without knackering your back. Its not just this amp, I had a massive Marshall that had the same issue, Hartke kickback... etc. Looks inviting. I could take it to almost any sort of gig I think without looking out of place. Would be ok for folk/ country and acceptable for rock and metal... good all-rounder, has some character in its appearance and looks comfortingly old-school with the logo and VU meter. Looks small - I did doubt whether I had a 15" speaker at first. A bit of cream piping round the cloth grille looks good. Metal corner protectors, vinyl cover which I prefer over rough carpet. Rubber feet. I've now tickled three basses through this - Fender Jazz, Fender P, fretless 5 string Kramer. The amp articulates each well. I've only played with the EQ and the "Deep" switch, not yet the "Bright". The EQ is ok though the knobs feel a little cheap. I can get the sounds I want which is typically flat EQ with mid slightly cut and bass & treble slightly boosted for the fretted basses and the opposite for the fretless. The EQ has five knobs but two of them are smaller than the three main ones. The amp doesn't provide much of its own character on to the sound as many can do - I wouldn't call it an "ultra-clean" sound in this sense, but I'm not sat here thinking "that's the Ashdown amp sound" - if that makes sense? Some will think that's a good thing, some may not. I'm ok with it. Volume-wise I'm sure this has more than enough output to keep up in band practice when you boost the input volume as well as the output volume. I live in a flat so it won't be pushed on volume until next band practice. At less than half-volume I'm confident in its air-shifting ability. Overdrive - the built in overdrive can be controlled by a footswitch. The overdrive is pretty good and saves pedal space, afterall "overdrive" should be the sound of an over-driven amp so its best coming from the amp rather than a pedal. The overdrive has a rotary knob and can go from un-noticeable to a-bit-too-much with everything in between. I couldn't see whether Ashdown actually make one, but I've bought Thomann's cheapest footswitch for this - which does the job, but surely if its a function of the amp they should just give it with the amp?? Sub-Harmonics - saved me buying a dedicated octaver maybe. Its ok. A bit cheesey. Annoyingly this isn't footswitch-able and I can't see me ever playing a full song with it engaged - why make the overdrive footswitchable but not this? Sounds good in the higher reaches of my fretless and may sound good if I were ever to need to play really heavy stuff. Possibly best combined with the overdrive, otherwise its a bit too much like a cheap multi-effect type sound without much flexibility to change it. Built-in compressor with rotary control and on-off switch - personally I prefer a compressor on the amp than on my pedal board, but I'm not an omni-labs compressor fiend, I like a bit of it and know when I want more or less, that does it for me. I don't like a super-squashed sound so this is sufficient to me. Post-EQ DI - this would be useful with a pre/ post switch. Not used it yet, hope it works when I need it. Extension cab? There is the usual speaker input for the in-built combo speaker in the back and a spare socket next to it... can I load on another cab? I have no idea. If I can, what impedance? etc. Another 15" cab underneath would be formidable and they do one in this range for just over a hundred quid. There's a built-in fan which is noisy. Ideally I'd like this to be more quiet. Might really p!ss me off during the week because we don't play very loud and we record all our jams, I don't want to hear the fan on the amp through any quiet bits. I've not yet put my pedal board up in to it, would be interesting to see how it handles the envelope filter and flanger combo I use, and then over-driven. I expect it will be ok. Overall I'm so far happy. £250 delivered within a few days from Germany, for a brand new 300 watt amp. I usually buy secondhand amps due to the horrendous cost new, but this is a safe buy and I so far feel its good value. It is not the quality of my Trace Rig that I sold but I didn't expect it to be. For pub gigs, rehearsals and quiet home playing it will fit the bill and only time will tell if its going to keep going for years or not. I have never been attracted to Ashdowns but I think I've just used some that have been abused in hired band rooms, rather than getting my hands on something that's either new or been looked after properly. If you only have £250 to spend on an amp and you want new then this is a good use of money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merton Posted February 26, 2016 Share Posted February 26, 2016 Nice review, but where are the pictures to prove it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merton Posted February 26, 2016 Share Posted February 26, 2016 PS - extension cab, anything 8ohms will be fine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uk_lefty Posted February 26, 2016 Author Share Posted February 26, 2016 Literally no idea how to put a picture up here. I've done it before but it involved chicken blood and a full moon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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