New Ashdown Guy Pratt amplifier on the way?

[JPJ]

Interstellar eh? That’ll upset a few of the SWR guys and I hope that Ashdown checked whether Fender still own a copyright on the use of that name? 
More importantly this is now up on their website as well https://ashdownmusic.com/collections/pedals-1/products/geezer-butler-pedal-of-doom

Colour me seriously interested in this 😎

[alexa3020]

I'm not familiar with Taurus input - what is it?

 

Edit - Its the Moog Taurus pedal right?

Edited October 20, 2021 by alexa3020

[fretmeister]

Shame that the compressor is only on or off (via footswitch) and that there are no setting options - just GP's preferred ones.

 

But I suppose they had to make it look more different than an ABM. 

[borntohang]

2 hours ago, alexa3020 said:

I'm not familiar with Taurus input - what is it?

 

Edit - Its the Moog Taurus pedal right?

 

Yes, the pedalsynth. Actually kind of interested in this as I double on Moog bass and it's always annoyed me that the Return/In jack on my ABM500 is muted unless you plug a lead into the front. Sometimes I just want a clean power amp! The 'Full Range' output on the front is interesting too - presumably that's for sending synth/sub signal to a DI?

[franzbassist]

 

 

[Woodinblack]

55 minutes ago, borntohang said:

Yes, the pedalsynth. Actually kind of interested in this as I double on Moog bass and it's always annoyed me that the Return/In jack on my ABM500 is muted unless you plug a lead into the front. Sometimes I just want a clean power amp!

 

Well, the taurus input is just a line in on the back.

 

55 minutes ago, borntohang said:

The 'Full Range' output on the front is interesting too - presumably that's for sending synth/sub signal to a DI?

 

By a sneaky technique of 'reading the manual', I discovered that that is exactly the same as the DI, except it isn't muted when you press the mute button, like the DI is.

[la bam]

1 hour ago, borntohang said:

 

Yes, the pedalsynth. Actually kind of interested in this as I double on Moog bass and it's always annoyed me that the Return/In jack on my ABM500 is muted unless you plug a lead into the front. Sometimes I just want a clean power amp! The 'Full Range' output on the front is interesting too - presumably that's for sending synth/sub signal to a DI?

 

Just plug a headphone adaptor jack in the IN where youd normally put your bass lead, and it works as a clean power amp if I remember correctly.

Edited October 20, 2021 by la bam

[borntohang]

2 hours ago, Woodinblack said:

By a sneaky technique of 'reading the manual', I discovered that that is exactly the same as the DI, except it isn't muted when you press the mute button, like the DI is.

 So it's just the tuner output with a new label then. Snooze. 

 

2 hours ago, la bam said:

 

Just plug a headphone adaptor jack in the IN where youd normally put your bass lead, and it works as a clean power amp if I remember correctly.

This is usually what I do - or if I don't have an adapter to hand I just used a patch cable with the preamp gain turned off so it doesn't pop if you catch it. 

[funkydoug]

I have to say I don’t really get the point of this amp. It is an ABM with a renamed line in and a fixed rather than variable set of controls. Yes it looks different and is made in the UK factory but is that it? 
 

[eude]

3 minutes ago, funkydoug said:

I have to say I don’t really get the point of this amp. It is an ABM with a renamed line in and a fixed rather than variable set of controls. Yes it looks different and is made in the UK factory but is that it? 
 

It is very similar in many ways to an ABM, but I think you have to think of it as a signature model.
Is there really that much of a discernible difference between any of the signature Fender Strats out there?

At least some serious effort and design has gone into making it look different and very cool, if you ask me, rather than just lazily painting it a different colour and pretending it's new and unique...

 

I expect there's a limited market for this amp, but with it being hand made, in Essex, I expect they won't be flooding the market with them anyway. I think it's rather cool.

[franzbassist]

2 minutes ago, funkydoug said:

I have to say I don’t really get the point of this amp. It is an ABM with a renamed line in and a fixed rather than variable set of controls. Yes it looks different and is made in the UK factory but is that it? 
 

 

I agree to an extent, but I guess it was never going to be a mass appeal product.  I like that Ashdown do the UK-made small bath runs of stuff though.

[Woodinblack]

13 minutes ago, funkydoug said:

I have to say I don’t really get the point of this amp. It is an ABM with a renamed line in and a fixed rather than variable set of controls. Yes it looks different and is made in the UK factory but is that it?

 

Its not a renamed line in, there was never a line in before. But its a signature, it is just a different style with the same power amp and a reconfigure of the preamp. Its nice to have a choice.

[fretmeister]

37 minutes ago, eude said:

It is very similar in many ways to an ABM, but I think you have to think of it as a signature model.
Is there really that much of a discernible difference between any of the signature Fender Strats out there?

At least some serious effort and design has gone into making it look different and very cool, if you ask me, rather than just lazily painting it a different colour and pretending it's new and unique...

 

I expect there's a limited market for this amp, but with it being hand made, in Essex, I expect they won't be flooding the market with them anyway. I think it's rather cool.

 

 

Strats are a good example.

 

Most are just a neck shape tweak or different pickups.

 

But occasionally there is a proper variation - like the Iron Maiden models or the Ed O'Brian sustainer equipped model.

 

 

I would have liked the GP more if they had taken the opposite approach with the compressor - use that blank space in the larger housing to have more controls - threshold / ratio etc but perhaps with a switch to  go immediately to GP's own settings. That would preserve the GP signature element but make it more appealing / versatile at the same time.

[funkydoug]

8 hours ago, Woodinblack said:

Its not a renamed line in, there was never a line in before.

First pic on google of the back of an ABM shows a line in. I must be missing something.  I’m happy to be educated  

Sorry if I sounded grumpy about it… I wish Ashdown well and take the point about strats and signature series stuff, but they’re still called strats. This is an Interstellar 600… 

 

I suppose I was hoping for an ABM Evo5 or some new ideas.

Hope it’s a success for them. 

[Woodinblack]

You are right, I didn't realise that. Which is a little sad as I have an ABM600!

[javi_bassist]

Just curious. do you know if there is much difference between the ABM600 and the ABM Dual VU? I think it's just the look and the place where it is built, but I don't know if there is any more difference. I've always liked the blue.

[funkydoug]

Pretty sure the Dual VU is the same (great) amp in a different housing. It can be racked or can stand alone with the metal case. 

For those troubled by such things, the absence of the wooden sleeve makes the Dual VU ABM narrower, and thus less of a problem to stand it atop a slightly narrower cab. Same is true of the rackmount version of the ABM (https://ashdownmusic.com/collections/last-chance/products/abm-600-rc-evo-iv-uk-custom-shop) . 

Edited October 22, 2021 by funkydoug

[BruceBass3901]

7 minutes ago, funkydoug said:

Pretty sure the Dual VU is the same (great) amp in a different housing. I can be racked or can stand alone with the metal case. 

For those troubled by such things, the absence of the wooden sleeve makes the ABM narrower, and thus less of a problem to stand it atop a narrower cab, like a BF.

The Dual VU is indeed the same amp, but designed for rack use and with input AND output levels being shown. Other than these, the guts are the same, so the same killer sound in a different package, plus built in Essex rather than overseas.

[Woodinblack]

48 minutes ago, BruceBass3901 said:

plus built in Essex rather than overseas.

 

Not sure I want an amp with a built-in Essex, I like to keep all my Essexes very external

 

[Wolverinebass]

I doubt they'll sell that many. Ashdown are probably the only company who can still sell relatively heavy amps and get away with it. However, at almost £1100 it's probably not going to tempt anyone who wasn't going to buy it anyway.

 

The price of the pedals is now eye watering. The new Geezer and Myung pedals are £300. Whether they're good or not, Ashdown isn't Darkglass and I'm not sure how many they'll sell at that price point without the "Nolly/Dingwall" effect.

[JPJ]

4 hours ago, Wolverinebass said:

I doubt they'll sell that many. Ashdown are probably the only company who can still sell relatively heavy amps and get away with it. However, at almost £1100 it's probably not going to tempt anyone who wasn't going to buy it anyway.

 

The price of the pedals is now eye watering. The new Geezer and Myung pedals are £300. Whether they're good or not, Ashdown isn't Darkglass and I'm not sure how many they'll sell at that price point without the "Nolly/Dingwall" effect.

There are still a few of us who are prepared to put up with the weight in exchange for oodles of heft. As to the pedals, I feel a Geezer winging its way to me once they’re generally available. I’ve been a good lad and I’ve sold an amp and a EUB so I’m allowed to treat myself 😊

[BassmanPaul]

Heft doesn't come from the class of a power section. My Class D power amp gives everything I can ask of it in a 2U package that's very light. Everything I own is based on Class D technology. 

[fretmeister]

22 hours ago, Wolverinebass said:

I doubt they'll sell that many. Ashdown are probably the only company who can still sell relatively heavy amps and get away with it. However, at almost £1100 it's probably not going to tempt anyone who wasn't going to buy it anyway.

 

The price of the pedals is now eye watering. The new Geezer and Myung pedals are £300. Whether they're good or not, Ashdown isn't Darkglass and I'm not sure how many they'll sell at that price point without the "Nolly/Dingwall" effect.

or without any good demo vids.

[StickyDBRmf]

4 fans? It looks like an airplane!

I read this thread out of curiosity and then got to THAT picture.

Their website almost sounds like a Benny Hill short.

[JPJ]

On 24/10/2021 at 18:28, BassmanPaul said:

Heft doesn't come from the class of a power section. My Class D power amp gives everything I can ask of it in a 2U package that's very light. Everything I own is based on Class D technology. 

You're probably right. I seem to recall that the outcome of the heft debate was it was not the amplifier topology but the power supply that mattered and that switch mode power supplies were the cause of the lack of perceived heft in modern class D mini form factor amps?