New Ashdown pedals

[Wolverinebass]

1 hour ago, eude said:

I think that's a little unfair dude.

Their RM range, the class D stuff replacing the old MAG stuff has been really well received, plenty of happy users out there and their valve stuff seems to get a lot of love too.

They do bring out a lot of new gear, but frankly, I much prefer that, as even if a product doesn't stick, aspects of product development, manufacturing etcs, will always appear in other bits of gear here and there.
Were they not they the first to commercially release a class D head in the Superfly many many moons ago? The head itself didn't stick, but class D certainly has, for better or worse.

I appreciate these pedals are unlikely to sell that all well, but like I mentioned before, they've got very little to lose making them in small batches in here in the UK. They'll be high quality and I'm sure they'll tick the box for some out there.

Eude

Maybe that's harsh, but taken objectively they've had much more misses than hits. I really liked the Mag range actually as I found it very easy to get a good sound out of.

I have nothing for or against Ashdown personally, but I wonder how long it'll be before that series of pedals get consigned to the dustbin with all the masses of stuff they've done that just hasn't worked. 18 months maybe?

 

Edited January 24, 2019 by Wolverinebass

[eude]

10 minutes ago, Wolverinebass said:

I have nothing for or against Ashdown personally, but I wonder how long it'll be before that series of pedals get consigned to the dustbin with all the masses of stuff they've done that just hasn't worked. 18 months maybe?

Given that they'll be made in small batches, I expect they could discontinue them pretty damned quick if necessary.

[Bigwan]

7 minutes ago, eude said:

Given that they'll be made in small batches, I expect they could discontinue them pretty damned quick if necessary.

Yes, they're one of the biggest names in bass amps. Rightly so. That should give them a competitive advantage over quite a few of their competitors (distribution, etc).  BUT they've tried to break into pedals a couple of times,  both times they've left common sense out of the designs! They could and should be producing better. I'll reserve final judgement until I hear they're latest offerings, but from initial look they're lacking in features, oversized and WAY overpriced. Time will tell how they're received, but jumping straight in at the pricey end doesn't seem a smart move to me.

[eude]

8 minutes ago, Bigwan said:

Yes, they're one of the biggest names in bass amps. Rightly so. That should give them a competitive advantage over quite a few of their competitors (distribution, etc).  BUT they've tried to break into pedals a couple of times,  both times they've left common sense out of the designs! They could and should be producing better. I'll reserve final judgement until I hear they're latest offerings, but from initial look they're lacking in features, oversized and WAY overpriced. Time will tell how they're received, but jumping straight in at the pricey end doesn't seem a smart move to me.

I think the only way to break into pedals now is to make something completely new or do whatever you're doing way way better than anyone else.
I'm not a huge fan of the DarkGlass sound, certainly not for my own playing, but man alive they got everything right, and nobody seems to mind that the pedals cost a lot either.

Eude

[Al Krow]

Now matter how big a name you are, if you're making overpriced products that aren't doing anything special you're not going to sell. 

Nokia. 

[eude]

2 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Now matter how big a name you are, if you're making overpriced products that aren't doing anything special you're not going to sell. 

Nokia. 

I feel sorry for Nokia, the Windows phones they produced before Microsoft bought them were wonderful, fantastic product design, great specs, up there with the best Android phones.
If only they'd ditched Windows and jumped on the Android band wagon, I expect their story would've been very different...

[Bigwan]

Just now, eude said:

I think the only way to break into pedals now is to make something completely new or do whatever you're doing way way better than anyone else.
I'm not a huge fan of the DarkGlass sound, certainly not for my own playing, but man alive they got everything right, and nobody seems to mind that the pedals cost a lot either.

Eude

Ha! I was trying not to mention DG! A lot of people regard Darkglass as the Apple of the pedal world and I'd tend to agree. No, people don't mind Doug taking the eye out of their head and coming back for the socket, and I don't think it's because he's invented something new, at least not in the early days (B3K design shows more than a passing resemblance to other well known and well established stomp boxes), there's certainly been a lot of strides lately, but they had the customer base by the short and curlies by then!

DG's marketing is spot on. Something Ashdown don't do that well.

They didn't jump into the market at current prices, they gradually built up to it. Something Ashdown are doing donkey backwards by the looks of it.

Ashdown will say they're not trying to be Darkglass, but they have to play in the same game, and to be successful they need a USP better than "spot the VU" (what's VU is that? Why the one that made the first line of pedals entirely too big!)

[eude]

25 minutes ago, Bigwan said:

Ha! I was trying not to mention DG! A lot of people regard Darkglass as the Apple of the pedal world and I'd tend to agree. No, people don't mind Doug taking the eye out of their head and coming back for the socket, and I don't think it's because he's invented something new, at least not in the early days (B3K design shows more than a passing resemblance to other well known and well established stomp boxes), there's certainly been a lot of strides lately, but they had the customer base by the short and curlies by then!

DG's marketing is spot on. Something Ashdown don't do that well.

They didn't jump into the market at current prices, they gradually built up to it. Something Ashdown are doing donkey backwards by the looks of it.

Ashdown will say they're not trying to be Darkglass, but they have to play in the same game, and to be successful they need a USP better than "spot the VU" (what's VU is that? Why the one that made the first line of pedals entirely too big!)

I'd agree with you up to a point about the Apple comparison, however I don't consider DG to be "evil" and they seem to be building stuff people want instead of telling people this is what they need and removing things that people really want/need. Price wise too, DG are expensive, but, not a patch on Apple's pricing strategies! In saying all that, I still use an Apple for work, I tried desperately to use Windows when I was freelance, but after 1.5 years, sitting back down in front of an iMac, I felt immediately at home again. I guess as long as someone else is paying for the Mac it doesn't matter. I still use Windows at home but slowly...

The UV is nice, but yeah, it's too big to be useful in a pedal format, the whole classic look works really well on the amps, but not so much elsewhere.
I think these pedal are about the size of the old Korg DT-10, which never struck me as being too big >>

If they're any bigger, I think they might be in trouble...

Eude

[Bigwan]

58 minutes ago, eude said:

I'd agree with you up to a point about the Apple comparison, however I don't consider DG to be "evil" and they seem to be building stuff people want instead of telling people this is what they need and removing things that people really want/need. Price wise too, DG are expensive, but, not a patch on Apple's pricing strategies! In saying all that, I still use an Apple for work, I tried desperately to use Windows when I was freelance, but after 1.5 years, sitting back down in front of an iMac, I felt immediately at home again. I guess as long as someone else is paying for the Mac it doesn't matter. I still use Windows at home but slowly...

The UV is nice, but yeah, it's too big to be useful in a pedal format, the whole classic look works really well on the amps, but not so much elsewhere.
I think these pedal are about the size of the old Korg DT-10, which never struck me as being too big >>

If they're any bigger, I think they might be in trouble...

Eude

Yeah maybe a comparison with Apple's tech strategy is a step too far... I think my point is more that, paraphrasing Amos Williams of Tesseract, Darkglass are now seen as ubiquitous...

I've no problem with a pedal being that size if it needs to be, but I suspect people will question why a pedal has to be that size if it has a single control knob, a toggle switch and a stomp switch. Especially (crucial point) if it sounds as "Meh" as some of their previous offerings. My one MAJOR bugbear about my favourite drive pedal (Ashdown James Lomenzo Hyperdrive) is its size. The pedal could be made to fit into an MXR or Boss sized enclosure. But NO...

Edited January 24, 2019 by Bigwan

[Al Krow]

Size indeed matters! 

When it comes to pedals, anyway. 😄 

[Jack]

There's a drive and a compressor or two, same as everybody else.

 

That DI/headphone/reamping box looks like a decent catch though. There's loads of competing products sure but as far as I know the only ones at that price point are chinese cheapies. To have something at that price from a name like Ashdown could be a coup.

[CameronJ]

Just now, Jack said:

There's a drive and a compressor or two, same as everybody else.

 

That DI/headphone/reamping box looks like a decent catch though. There's loads of competing products sure but as far as I know the only ones at that price point are chinese cheapies. To have something at that price from a name like Ashdown could be a coup.

Agreed, that looks by far the best of the new lineup!

[TJ Spicer]

I’ll reserve judgement until I’ve heard them. I think these might be a big step up, as they should be. Construction looks a LOT better than I remember from the old ranges of pedals. They look relatively simple to operate which I reckon is probably attributed to the success of the CTMs etc. I’d love to give the 3 compressors a head to comparison - the copy doesn’t really reveal too much other than classic compressor buzz words... I’m hoping there’s some Diamond BCP type magic going on with each, which would make the pricing seem perhaps a little more reasonable.

[CameronJ]

Meanwhile, at Fender...

[TJ Spicer]

1 hour ago, CameronJ said:

Meanwhile, at Fender...

Really interested to hear their ‘Downtown’ unit...

[CameronJ]

1 minute ago, TJ Spicer said:

Really interested to hear their ‘Downtown’ unit...

Me too! Looks very reasonably priced too, at around £170ish I think? The big F have done their homework.

[TJ Spicer]

Just now, CameronJ said:

Me too! Looks very reasonably priced too, at around £170ish I think? The big F have done their homework.

It does rather make the Ashdown units look a bit more... ‘challenging’ in terms of pricing. 😅

[eude]

14 minutes ago, TJ Spicer said:

It does rather make the Ashdown units look a bit more... ‘challenging’ in terms of pricing. 😅

It does a bit, and they've really gone all out with great product design too.

That Downtown thing needs a headphone jack and an aux in though 😉

Eude

Edited January 25, 2019 by eude

[CameronJ]

10 hours ago, eude said:

It does a bit, and they've really gone all out with great product design too.

That Downtown thing needs a headphone jack and an aux in though 😉

Eude

Agreed. Fender clearly said to themselves, “we aren’t big names in the pedal world so let’s make solid, well-designed products at reasonable prices that people will actually buy”

Remarkable 

Edited January 26, 2019 by CameronJ

[Bigwan]

...even less convinced than I was before after this load of drivel...

[CameronJ]

7 minutes ago, Bigwan said:

...even less convinced than I was before after this load of drivel...

Drivel indeed. Grim.

[Jack]

Considering how slick most of the Andertons videos are, that one was dire. I know NAMM is a difficult environment too say the least but that shouldn't stop someone holding a microphone still or knowing what they're talking about.

[eude]

1 minute ago, Jack said:

Considering how slick most of the Andertons videos are, that one was dire. I know NAMM is a difficult environment too say the least but that shouldn't stop someone holding a microphone still or knowing what they're talking about.

To be fair, that guy standing in for Lee at Andertons definitely isn't the guy for the job.
There's a video of him speaking to MarkBass about the new Bona basses and asks if the whole bass is made of Swamp Ash and goes on about how Swamp Ash can be heavy, if you're not a detail guy or an interview guy, you shouldn't be doing the interviews...

[Jack]

5 minutes ago, eude said:

To be fair, that guy standing in for Lee at Andertons definitely isn't the guy for the job.
There's a video of him speaking to MarkBass about the new Bona basses and asks if the whole bass is made of Swamp Ash and goes on about how Swamp Ash can be heavy, if you're not a detail guy or an interview guy, you shouldn't be doing the interviews...

That's kind of my point to be honest. Everyone has different strengths and the Andertons people are usually pretty good at thhis. Look at how the personable and technically-brilliant Rabbea is balanced by the guitar nerd (who's name escapes me at the moment) or how the excitable and slightly too-enthusiastic Nathan works so well with chilled and laughy Lee on All About The Bass. Salesman Lee (Captain) and professional product demonstrator Rob Chapman. They've got their social media presence NAILED and for some reason they've put this gentleman all over the NAMM coverage with a bad interview technique, no ability to hold a mic still and a proclivity for asking silly questions that'll make the bedroom guitar nerds that watch this kind of stuff roll their eyes.

 

He looks and sounds kinda like Lee Anderton actually, is it just nepotism?

[eude]

3 minutes ago, Jack said:

That's kind of my point to be honest. Everyone has different strengths and the Andertons people are usually pretty good at thhis. Look at how the personable and technically-brilliant Rabbea is balanced by the guitar nerd (who's name escapes me at the moment) or how the excitable and slightly too-enthusiastic Nathan works so well with chilled and laughy Lee on All About The Bass. Salesman Lee (Captain) and professional product demonstrator Rob Chapman. They've got their social media presence NAILED and for some reason they've put this gentleman all over the NAMM coverage with a bad interview technique, no ability to hold a mic still and a proclivity for asking silly questions that'll make the bedroom guitar nerds that watch this kind of stuff roll their eyes.

 

He looks and sounds kinda like Lee Anderton actually, is it just nepotism?

Ha ha, who knows.

Lee's ill, and I guess there's SO much to cover they're just doing what they can. NAMMthrax claims many a victim every year, but not usually till the flight home, sadly though at the end of the day, the people this will reflect badly on the most is the manufacturers in these vids.

Eude