Ashdown Basses?! Woo!

[AndyTravis]

7 minutes ago, acidbass said:

Agreed.  Not sure the £1k+ price tag of these Ashdown instruments will appeal to buyers - it's a hugely saturated market at that price point.  Certainly a lot of PR needed and positive reviews in all major publications to develop the brand awareness of the instrument side of the business.

Think £949 on The P Type as an RRP? And the Jag esque silver one...is the same from what I know...

Want to get my hands on one before I pass judgement. 
 

 

[Stub Mandrel]

31 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

TBH there are only 2 types of Fender style basses that are worth making if you are not actually Fender.

1. Standard P and J style basses of a reasonable quality that can be sold cheaper than the equivalent Squier branded model.

2. Specialised models that look on the face of it look like a typical P or J but have been customised to exactly match the requirements of the player ordering it and come with a correspondingly high price tag.

Pretty much everything else is going to be doomed to failure.

Tell that to Sandberg?

[E sharp]

Why do they keep making them with 20 frets? Only the 5 string has 21 .

I know it's hardy a deal breaker for many , but always thought it was strange

[EBS_freak]

Ashdown make amps, not basses. Why would you want Ashdown on your headstock?

It's like Markbass trying to make basses. Hasn't gone too well for them so far.

I know that people are going to say Fender and Gibson make/or have made both... but they are amongst the oldest in the business when choice was somewhat limited.

Out of interest, how many amp manufacturers have actually succeeded and continue to have a foot in both camps...? (Vox aren't really in it anymore... neither are Musicman).

[bartelby]

Do Orange still have a range of basses?

[Stub Mandrel]

2 minutes ago, bartelby said:

Do Orange still have a range of basses?

https://orangeamps.com/o-bass/

[BigRedX]

54 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Tell that to Sandberg?

Who?

Seriously though, they're not a massive company with a presence on the wall of almost every musical instrument retailer in the UK, Besides their Fender clones only appear to be part of what they offer, and my perception of them has been as more a custom maker than off-the-peg.

Could they stay in business if all they offered were the Fender Clones with no customisation options?

[Cuzzie]

3 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

Who?

Seriously though, they're not a massive company with a presence on the wall of almost every musical instrument retailer in the UK, Besides their Fender clones only appear to be part of what they offer, and my perception of them has been as more a custom maker than off-the-peg.

Could they stay in business if all they offered were the Fender Clones with no customisation options?

That’s because Fender being threatened by their quality actively rung up shops and retailers and said unless they stop stocking Sandberg, they wouldn’t send Fenders to them.

Sandberg now have their own shape so can no longer really be called a clone unless the BB Yamaha range is also a clone.

The fact is the QC and customer service I way above what Fender offers, that’s why they are still going 30 years later

[Woodinblack]

43 minutes ago, EBS_freak said:

Ashdown make amps, not basses. Why would you want Ashdown on your headstock?

Literally how I feel about fender!

[bloke_zero]

17 hours ago, Cuzzie said:

That’s because Fender being threatened by their quality actively rung up shops and retailers and said unless they stop stocking Sandberg, they wouldn’t send Fenders to them.

Sandberg now have their own shape so can no longer really be called a clone unless the BB Yamaha range is also a clone.

The fact is the QC and customer service I way above what Fender offers, that’s why they are still going 30 years later

And they have some really smart configs - P + MM Stingray pup layout on the California always made that look like a real workhorse for a certain kind of player.

[Cuzzie]

Wholeheartedly agree

Very very nice basses

[Rich]

19 hours ago, BigRedX said:

TBH there are only 2 types of Fender style basses that are worth making if you are not actually Fender.

1. Standard P and J style basses of a reasonable quality that can be sold cheaper than the equivalent Squier branded model.

2. Specialised models that look on the face of it look like a typical P or J but have been customised to exactly match the requirements of the player ordering it and come with a correspondingly high price tag.

Pretty much everything else is going to be doomed to failure.

I'm not sure the Sire V and P basses fit into either of these categories -- they aren't customised and they don't undercut the Squiers price-wise. And they certainly haven't failed. My V7 is a superb instrument.

[lemmywinks]

21 hours ago, EBS_freak said:

Out of interest, how many amp manufacturers have actually succeeded and continue to have a foot in both camps...? (Vox aren't really in it anymore... neither are Musicman).

Warwick?

[thebassist]

I'd rather buy a secondhand US Standard Fender Jazz/Precision at this price point personally.

[Machines]

I'm unsure if these instruments have any particular unique selling point that other brands at this price point may have.

The fact they are backed up by Dan Lakin to me means they will be great instruments, but so far they look very anonymous in an ocean of Fender clones. (with Lakland at least, the oval bridge is distinctive).

The previous fate of the 'D Lakin' basses was quite tragic also, they seemed to not sell very well anywhere despite being good instruments. I would expect these to be on par with Skylines in general, if not made by the very same factory (and i'd wager they are).

[EBS_freak]

47 minutes ago, lemmywinks said:

Warwick?

They haven’t done too well on the amp front have they?

[lemmywinks]

3 hours ago, EBS_freak said:

They haven’t done too well on the amp front have they?

The Hellborg pre/power amps are highly regarded top end amps, dunno if they're still in production though. The smaller heads that look like vintage stereos are supposed to be pretty good. Had a quick look on their page and Rob Trujillo, Stu Hamm, Steve Bailey, Stuart Zender and Rex Brown play 'em - not a bad roster.

 

Edit: Also Jonas Hellborg as well! These do look like nice kit IMO:

Edited January 7, 2020 by lemmywinks

[EBS_freak]

Ive not seen one of those LWA1000s ever. And isn't the Hellborg discontinued? Thomann flogged off all their stock at ridiculous (low) prices anyway.

[fleabag]

I had a Warwick lwa and it was faulty from new.  EQ didnt work although they took it back for repair, sent it back, and it was no different. They got it back and i got money back. 

Never again

[wateroftyne]

15 minutes ago, lemmywinks said:

The Hellborg pre/power amps are highly regarded top end amps

..by the people who are trying to sell them, by any chance?

[wateroftyne]

...as for the OP,  I'm not Ashdown's biggest fan, but I like the look of these*. Curious to try one.

*The brass saddles freak me out a bit, mind.

[lemmywinks]

11 minutes ago, wateroftyne said:

..by the people who are trying to sell them, by any chance?

I think they had quite a good rep on here going off user reports, did you have one?

[wateroftyne]

Just now, lemmywinks said:

I think they had quite a good rep on here going off user reports, did you have one?

No, but I don't recall them setting the world alight... I remember someone won one, and struggled to sell it...?

[lemmywinks]

1 minute ago, wateroftyne said:

No, but I don't recall them setting the world alight... I remember someone won one, and struggled to sell it...?

They were still fetching decent money prior to the Thomann clearance which had a knock on effect for used prices as you would expect. As with a lot of niche stuff they were never flavour of the month but always got good good reports on here from anyone that heard them.

 

As for the ridiculously low prices I think it would have still been around £1k for the pre and power amps so they weren't exactly giving them away and the pre sold out pretty quickly.

[BigRedX]

5 hours ago, Machines said:

I'm unsure if these instruments have any particular unique selling point that other brands at this price point may have.

The fact they are backed up by Dan Lakin to me means they will be great instruments, but so far they look very anonymous in an ocean of Fender clones. (with Lakland at least, the oval bridge is distinctive).

The previous fate of the 'D Lakin' basses was quite tragic also, they seemed to not sell very well anywhere despite being good instruments. I would expect these to be on par with Skylines in general, if not made by the very same factory (and i'd wager they are).

So wouldn't you be better off buying a Lakland Skyline Bass instead?