Please tell me why I should avoid Ashdown amps? (aka why Ashdown are just great!)

[edstraker123]

I'm just awaiting delivery of a B-Social as a practice amp. It's features look fantastic and hopefully the sound will match.

I did own a CTM-15 head previously and the hiss when you turned the gain up was utterly horrible and a problem experienced by numerous users having googled the issue. It's long sold now but I seem to recall getting no response from customer service having emailed the issue more than once.

[Krysbass]

Still using the Ashdown Superfly 500 I bought new in 2008 and the Ashdown Little Giant 1000 bought new in 2010 for all rehearsals and gigs.

I bring both amps to gigs so i always have a backup.

But I treat them kindly and neither amp has let me down yet (touching some wood).

I can't say fairer than that.

[edstraker123]

Amp never turned up as expected today which left me really disappointed - apparently the engineer who checks these things is off sick so there is a backlog of items to go out. It should be dispatched tomorrow so hopefully I will have it on Wednesday.

[Daniel Piper]

Don't avoid them.

they are good stuff. EVO IV for me next. Or...there is a NOS BTA200 down the road from me that I bet would play nice with my ABM414H

 

 

[Merton]

The BTA is a beast. Sounds amazing, needs a crane to lift it 😜

[edstraker123]

Hi Daniel what's the bass - it's gorgeous ?

[la bam]

Ive previously had the evoii and they were great.

Ive now just picked up a little giant 1000 in immaculate condition as a back up amp and it sounds fantastic so far. Potentially really loud and the 7 band eq really lets you dial in any sound.

Very tight sounding through my bf sc andcan get some real growl to the sound using the J setting on my bb424.

I'll take it to practice and give it a full run through.

[BigRedX]

1 hour ago, edstraker123 said:

Hi Daniel what's the bass - it's gorgeous ?

It's a Reverend Mercalli.

Edited December 20, 2017 by BigRedX

[artisan]

My CTM100 is excellent 

[mcnach]

On 10/30/2017 at 10:26, Al Krow said:

Guys,

I'm looking for a great amp head to pair with (likely) a VK 210 MNT cab (and lots of great suggestions in the best 500W to 1000W amp head thread - for which many thanks!)

I've always been put off Ashdowns based purely on my bad experience of them in rehearsal studios where they have generally sounded very 'meh' and often felt underpowered. But this is likely to be a very unfair reflection of them - as someone pointed to me recently "an amp that has been thrashed by a bunch of 19 year olds to within an inch of its life and played through a beat up studio rehearsal cab is never going to sound great!" Fair point. And no offence to 19 year olds - I was one, once.

The new Ashdown Doom does look gorgeous and I'm very tempted to get this when it comes out at the end of Nov and I'll hopefully get a chance to try it out in the newly opening central London PMT store.

But a bunch of you already currently own and love your Ashdown amps and others will have owned and moved them on. I'd be really interested to get your thoughts on why they are a great amp or if you disagree and don't feel they stack up against your current amp head?

Cheers! AK

 

Judging amps/cabs at rehearsal studios may not give you an accurate idea of what they're like. At least where I am, most amps are pretty much battered to within an inch of their death and they rarely sound great. I got my "ugh Trace Elliot" face from those experiences, but then I tried Trace Elliot rigs owned by people who looked after their gear and I've liked a lot of them...  

[edstraker123]

My B-social has landed so dying to get home from work to try it 

 

[Daniel Piper]

11 hours ago, edstraker123 said:

Hi Daniel what's the bass - it's gorgeous ?

Reverend Mercalli.

i realised after I uploaded the photo that as more of a bass glamour shot than rig shot.

 

[edstraker123]

The b-social is amazing - great sound , loads of functions. I'm well happy

Edited December 20, 2017 by edstraker123

[Merton]

11 hours ago, edstraker123 said:

The b-social is amazing - great sound , loads of functions. I'm well happy

Good news!

[krispn]

Tried the root master at a rehearsal room this week. Did the job and sounded grand. Not sure what they cost but I’d happily play one live.

[edstraker123]

I'm not so happy today . Playing an active bass(E string) through it at less than half volume and the vibration in the cabinet is ridiculous. Its coming from the side rather than directly from the speakers. I've contacted Ashdown for a response but it's taking any joy out of playing.

I'm not sure if I've got a defective unit but it was supposedly delayed while it was checked by an engineer before it was posted.

If I'd paid £600 I'd be livid.

[Sean]

On 12/21/2017 at 09:44, krispn said:

Tried the root master at a rehearsal room this week. Did the job and sounded grand. Not sure what they cost but I’d happily play one live.

I’be played a Root Master at Pirate Studios in Cheltenham and the guys in the band kept saying how good it sounded. I was running my board with a DHA preamp into the FX return and bypassing the Ashdown pre. 

Edited December 23, 2017 by Sean

[basskit_case]

On 21/12/2017 at 19:32, edstraker123 said:

I'm not so happy today . Playing an active bass(E string) through it at less than half volume and the vibration in the cabinet is ridiculous. Its coming from the side rather than directly from the speakers. I've contacted Ashdown for a response but it's taking any joy out of playing.

I'm not sure if I've got a defective unit but it was supposedly delayed while it was checked by an engineer before it was posted.

If I'd paid £600 I'd be livid.

Same here, b stock unit £250 it’s okay if I roll off the bass on the amp but that seems a bit off for a bass amp.  Bass heavy music streamed to the unit doesn’t have the same distortion.  Haven’t actually tried the instrument2 input.  Going to persevere but think that I will send it back after Xmas. Doing my best to make it work

[krispn]

The amp I played was at Pirate Studios Edinburgh!

[Sean]

I heard from a source that was very close to it that Ashdown all-valve amps were sub-contracted out to another UK builder. 

Any truth in that? 

[Merton]

Well they were designed by Dave Green, and I suspect they do little more than final assembly being the size they are. I would think all the amp manufacture is sub contracted out, it certainly was by Trace Elliot back in the late 90s / early 00s

[louisthebass]

On 31/10/2017 at 13:42, Rich said:

I have never owned an Ashdown amp, but I have never managed to get a sound I even remotely liked out of one.

Same here - use an Ashdown rig at a rehearsal studio with one of my bands and find the "wooly" sound quite off putting. There doesn't seem to be any punch or clarity, although having read some of the comments in this thread, I'll take some of those on board and play around with it a bit more.

[Lozz196]

1 hour ago, louisthebass said:

Same here - use an Ashdown rig at a rehearsal studio with one of my bands and find the "wooly" sound quite off putting. There doesn't seem to be any punch or clarity, although having read some of the comments in this thread, I'll take some of those on board and play around with it a bit more.

If it`s an ABM I find that the treble control doesn`t do much, but adding on the hi-mid really sharpens up the sound, plus backing off of either of the low-mids to taste.

[louisthebass]

47 minutes ago, Lozz196 said:

If it`s an ABM I find that the treble control doesn`t do much, but adding on the hi-mid really sharpens up the sound, plus backing off of either of the low-mids to taste.

Ok - so if I back the bass knob off (9pm?), boost the midrange, drop the graphic sliders on the outside either side a bit, leave the treble flat (or back it off) that should do it?

Sounds like you've got these amps nailed so interested to hear more? 

[Lozz196]

Yeah I have a very punchy/gainy sound, which all comes from my Para Driver, but I`ve experimented with the amp to see if I can get that in case the Para Driver fails etc. I can get there pretty much with Bass at about 9pm/10pm, either of the low-mid sliders dropped a bit - I usually drop the right hand side one - regular mids at noon, then on the upper-mid sliders boost a fair bit on the right hand side one, plus up the left hand side one a bit. Treble, well add a bit but I find on a P-bass it doesn`t seem to do much. To get my gain I just bump the drive to suit, and I keep the compression and sub-harmonics completely off. Adding in the pre-shape - which for some reason is out on the control-knob, not in, can work nicely as well depending on what cab is being used. ABM cabs are pretty scooped anyway so I don`t use it, but if I`m connected to a honky/middy cab then selecting that removes that honk nicely.

I do this on both my amps, I`ve the ABM600 & 1000. It all works better on the 600, the eq seems more flexible on that one, and alterations seem to yield better results, but the 1000, which is based on the 500s eq gets there too.