Ashdown - sell for nothing???

[TheGreek]

Just been browsing through the Amps for sale thread. There are several Ashdowns for sale - all for virtually nothing.

I've got a couple - an Evo11 180 combo - lives in the living room and used for home practice - and a Little Giant 1000 head (only outputting 500w) which after being serviced at Ashdown has had little use. No great investment in either but they are reliable and usable - fantastic VFM. Ideal for home use and, because they're not heavy, easy to chuck in the back of the car to take to practice.

I fully understand why we buy them, but why sell??

[Woodinblack]

To clear up space for other things. Some people don't have the space for lots of things.

[itsmedunc]

I'm gobsmacked by some of the Ashdown deals on here. It's great bass gear too. I know space can be an issue but surely not for everyone selling their stuff on here. I've still got a MiBass 2.0 110 combo and 1x10 extension that I sort of donated as it would have sold for peanuts on here. It now resides in the rehearsal studio that we use as a spare if any bass gear goes down. Better there and used than taking little money for what is in essence, a great little setup.

 

[Lozz196]

There’s all sorts of gear about at the moment which is probably more fashionable but if you want quality reliable gear then Ashdown has to be at the top of the list. I’ve seen some of the gear/prices and been amazed, top notch gear for silky money.

[skankdelvar]

Let's tread gently here. If we start a trend for Ashdown gear other people will catch on, the prices will shoot up and then where will we be?

Scuppered.

[itsmedunc]

[Reggaebass]

I love a bit of Ashdown, I’m a massive fan and their after sales service is superb 🙂

[Woodinblack]

Well, I have a few ashdown pieces, a few of those aren't worth the effort of advertising, and old EVO 300, and a mibass 150. I am happy to keep the EVO 300, its a solid amp even if I don't use it, the mibass, will probably sell it for whatever somewhere.

And I have a CTM100. I think I could probably get a couple of quid for that if I advertised it. I am not going to though!

[gjones]

I bought a UK built ABM 500 III head for £134, on Ebay, a few months ago. It had a flight case and everything. 

Sounds excellent. I think people have gone class D crazy ( D mented?).

[bearhart74]

Ashdown got a bad rep for quality and never seemed to recover.

Trace Elliott is another company that used to be great but is not so much anymore.

Warwick also makes really nice bass gear and never got a good rep except for the Hellborg stuff that was way too expensive for most players.. I had a CCL 15 combo that was really fun and only cost me 150 USD used. Also had their 411 pro (4x10 8 ohm) cab and it was killer with my Eden WT550.

Edited September 1, 2019 by bearhart74

[Woodinblack]

3 minutes ago, bearhart74 said:

Ashdown got a bad rep for quality and never seemed to recover.

I never heard that before. I thought it was just they still make A/B amps while the world was interested in class Ds

3 minutes ago, bearhart74 said:

Trace Elliott is another company that used to be great but is not so much anymore.

You mean the Trace Elliot that got bought out by Kalman who kicked the engineers out (who went on to form Ashdown) and then sold them to Gibson who shelved it?

If so, there might be a reason for that

 

 

 

[fleabag]

I thought Peavey took over TE ?

Anyways - Ashdown bargains ?

 

[skankdelvar]

9 minutes ago, bearhart74 said:

Ashdown got a bad rep for quality and never seemed to recover.

2 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

I never heard that before. I thought it was just they still make A/B amps while the world was interested in class Ds

When I first came here in 2008 a fair number of BC-ers were frequently ragging on Ashdown and alleging that the early (non-UK?) MAGs had a tendency to burst into flame at the slightest provocation.

I cannot say if this was true or false. Someone here will probably know.

 

[lemmywinks]

In the main it's pretty bulky and heavy gear, commonplace so if you want one you have a lot of choice and wasn't particularly expensive to begin with aside from the fancy stuff. See Peavey, Hartke and Warwick also.

While my experience with Ashdown gear wasn't brilliant (it's the only kit that consistently let me down) I did use my Superfly as part of my home/rehearsal rig for a number of years when I couldn't be bothered setting my main head up and it sounded good. There's some Warwick gear at our rehearsal room as well which kicks, all cheap to buy so If you can be bothered carting it about then enjoy your bargain bass rigs! I put my Hartke stack up for sale after lumping it across two fields at 3am after a crazy wedding gig so no more of that for me.

 

[cheddatom]

It was the little amp head that burst into flames wasn't it? 

People used to beach about the "woolly ashdown sound". No idea where that came from. I can get a woolly sound out of any amp. The AMB stack in my studio sounds awesome

[stingrayPete1977]

10 hours ago, Woodinblack said:

I never heard that before. I thought it was just they still make A/B amps while the world was interested in class Ds

You mean the Trace Elliot that got bought out by Kalman who kicked the engineers out (who went on to form Ashdown) and then sold them to Gibson who shelved it?

If so, there might be a reason for that

 

 

 

They made class D early on but it was terribly unreliable, you couldn't give them away. 

[dave_bass5]

14 hours ago, TheGreek said:

Just been browsing through the Amps for sale thread. There are several Ashdowns for sale - all for virtually nothing.

I've got a couple - an Evo11 180 combo - lives in the living room and used for home practice - and a Little Giant 1000 head (only outputting 500w) which after being serviced at Ashdown has had little use. No great investment in either but they are reliable and usable - fantastic VFM. Ideal for home use and, because they're not heavy, easy to chuck in the back of the car to take to practice.

I fully understand why we buy them, but why sell??

I had a Ashdown 1x15 combo for years, stopped using it about 8 years ago. I ended up giving it to my sons school for free. Dont have space for it and if im never going to use it why bother keeping it.

[Woodinblack]

22 minutes ago, stingrayPete1977 said:

They made class D early on but it was terribly unreliable, you couldn't give them away. 

To be fair, i have an ashdown class D (its the mibass I mentioned). Its perfectly reliable but not very exciting and not something I use. I need to remember to move it on.

[geoham]

My first 'proper' bass rig was a Mag 300 head plus a 2x10 cab. It did sound really nice in a 'traditional' sort of way. However, it was simply too heavy - something like 32kg for the cab and 15kg for the head. Multiple trips from the car to the venue - not nice when you are gigging in the city centre and not being able to park close.

I switched to a TC Electronic setup, their BC210 cabs were significantly lighter (20kg?), and I could manage a one hand lift. The BH550 head fitted in the same bag as my cables and effects. Overall, one trip was possible. Then it was the even lighter RS112 cabs, before ditching amps and going straight to PA!

I suppose it's basic economics - people see plenty of Ashdown amps being used by top players. They are reasonably quite affordable to buy new - so sell plenty. The end result is an over-supply to the used market, which ultimately means lower prices. To me, it's quite similar to Fender. 

[Muppet]

I never really liked the MAG cabs, they did sound a bit 'woolly' compared to the ABMs a few years ago, but I've got a EVO IV 600 now and the sound through Barefaced cabs is awesome. I'd thoroughly recommend the amps. 

[stingrayPete1977]

2 hours ago, Woodinblack said:

To be fair, i have an ashdown class D (its the mibass I mentioned). Its perfectly reliable but not very exciting and not something I use. I need to remember to move it on.

I think the damage had been done before the mibass stuff came out tbh

[lemmywinks]

3 hours ago, cheddatom said:

It was the little amp head that burst into flames wasn't it?

The Superfly? Yeah they had them made overseas incredibly cheaply leading to high failure rates and then everywhere sold them off at £199 to get rid of stock, at which point Ashdown kinda washed their hands of them. I bought one, sent it back a few times (can't remember where I bought it but they were very good - it arrived with one side down IIRC) and finally got one that worked OK and didn't overheat after I removed the useless outer casing. Got a lot of use out of it in the end (never trusted it on an actual gig though) until one side went down again at which point I sold it for £60 and didn't buy an Ashdown product again.

 

Interestingly the famous Ashdown customer service mysteriously disappeared when I needed support with that product despite them previously answering questions about its usage pretty quickly, funny that - maybe they were all on holiday or something? There was some comically late damage control by their rep on here a while back but I think the amps had all exploded/been binned by then.

 

Great idea though, shame about the quality control and design.

[gjones]

3 hours ago, stingrayPete1977 said:

They made class D early on but it was terribly unreliable, you couldn't give them away. 

I have an early MiBass 550. Good sounding amp and still going strong.

[Soledad]

14 hours ago, skankdelvar said:

alleging that the early (non-UK?) MAGs had a tendency to burst into flame at the slightest provocation.

I recently picked up a UK built MAG250 combo (210) for rehearsal space so it runs at quite low levels, but I read somewhere they are known for overheating due maybe to no fan cooling. Anyone else know about this?
 

Must say it's a cracking combo for the £120 I paid - good core sound and versatile EQ. Used other Ashdown rigs and always been impressed. I reckon it's partly a fashion thing, with weights also a bit of a factor for some.

Top Gear, as they say on the streets of Amsterdam

[fleabag]

19 minutes ago, lemmywinks said:

The Superfly? Yeah they had them made overseas incredibly cheaply leading to high failure rates and then everywhere sold them off at £199 to get rid of stock, at which point Ashdown kinda washed their hands of them. I bought one, sent it back a few times (can't remember where I bought it but they were very good - it arrived with one side down IIRC) and finally got one that worked OK and didn't overheat after I removed the useless outer casing. Got a lot of use out of it in the end (never trusted it on an actual gig though) until one side went down again at which point I sold it for £60 and didn't buy an Ashdown product again.

 

Interestingly the famous Ashdown customer service mysteriously disappeared when I needed support with that product despite them previously answering questions about its usage pretty quickly, funny that - maybe they were all on holiday or something? There was some comically late damage control by their rep on here a while back but I think the amps had all exploded/been binned by then.

 

Great idea though, shame about the quality control and design.

I also had the Superly, and mine was 99% brillant, but quite a few suffered from that high pitched digital clock whine, on one channel IIRC.  Apparently there was nothing could be done. Possibly cheap Chinese components,  but i bought mine 2nd hand so never got to debate with Ashdown about it. I also dumped the rediculous alloy outer casing. Save a fair bit of weight.

Bill Fitzmaurice used to use one,  or maybe still does