Lozz196 Posted January 7, 2022 Share Posted January 7, 2022 Probably something simple but best get it to Ashdown HQ for diagnosis 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodinblack Posted January 7, 2022 Share Posted January 7, 2022 1 hour ago, CJPJ said: One thing I did notice was the reasonably loud buzz when I had the valve drive botton pressed in. To be fair, the chap who sold me it told me about it but now that I have it I think it needs a service and I might send to Ashdown to take a look. Do you think this might be needing a replacement valve or maybe something related to grounding? There is a underlying grounding noise from my P Bass as it's single coil which I'm OK with but this was a deeper and louder 'hum'. For reference, I have no hum at all on the drive button on mine. Obviously there is more of whatever noise was going in due to the drive, but there is no additional noise introduced. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJPJ Posted January 7, 2022 Share Posted January 7, 2022 3 minutes ago, Woodinblack said: For reference, I have no hum at all on the drive button on mine. Obviously there is more of whatever noise was going in due to the drive, but there is no additional noise introduced. Thanks - helpful and confirms my suspicions! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaddy Posted January 7, 2022 Share Posted January 7, 2022 11 minutes ago, CJPJ said: Thanks - helpful and confirms my suspicions! Does the Amp hum with no Jack input? - Or with a jack in etc Tubes are pretty cheap tbh to replace, Sometimes its a give away or could just be a dirty pot etc. - Usually summit simple! - Not sure how much their servicing is but from what I gather on this long thread is this Customer Support is fantastic so at least it wont be hit with a hammer on top too hard... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJPJ Posted January 7, 2022 Share Posted January 7, 2022 (edited) 2 hours ago, Chaddy said: Does the Amp hum with no Jack input? - Or with a jack in etc Just checked now. Nothing at all - even at full volume - with no jack input. Hum/buzz only present with jack in - gets louder as volume is cranked. Have tried with an active and passive bass and result is the same. I'm just emailing Ashdown now to get their view - I'm not averse to giving a good service anyway as I intend to hold onto this. Edited January 7, 2022 by CJPJ typo 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichaelDean Posted January 7, 2022 Share Posted January 7, 2022 6 hours ago, CJPJ said: I played my ABM600IV for the first time in the studio last night. Just a wonderful thing with amazing sound - the band commented on how much better I sounded 🙂 . The change in tone with the EQ boost and Asdown magic button on/off is really noticable. I'm not 100% on the match with my recently aquired Epiphany cabinet - its a fantastic speaker but I need to A/B against the K410 I was previously using to really feel its its a keeper - changing cab and amp at the same time makes it hard to track how and why your sound is changing. One thing I did notice was the reasonably loud buzz when I had the valve drive botton pressed in. To be fair, the chap who sold me it told me about it but now that I have it I think it needs a service and I might send to Ashdown to take a look. Do you think this might be needing a replacement valve or maybe something related to grounding? There is a underlying grounding noise from my P Bass as it's single coil which I'm OK with but this was a deeper and louder 'hum'. I had this on mine. I couriered it to Ashdown who fixed it and had it back to me in about a week or so. I love the valve drive now mine is working. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJPJ Posted January 7, 2022 Share Posted January 7, 2022 (edited) 5 minutes ago, MichaelDean said: I had this on mine. I couriered it to Ashdown who fixed it and had it back to me in about a week or so. I love the valve drive now mine is working. Thanks for this - that's really encouraging. Did they tell you what the issue was? Edited January 7, 2022 by CJPJ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichaelDean Posted January 7, 2022 Share Posted January 7, 2022 No, they didn't. I didn't ask though to be fair! I had tried a different valve before I sent it to them to see if it was that. When that wasn't it, I decided to call in the big guns. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJPJ Posted January 10, 2022 Share Posted January 10, 2022 (edited) So another question, has anyone here put an OBD-3 through their ABM? I've recently bought one and I'm getting so much noise interference - have tried it through the front, FX loop and with active/passive bass and changed cables but no difference. Clearly it could be the pedal but I boiught it off here and I trust that its working fine. I also put it through a practice amp I have and it was completely silent. I know these do have some reputation of being noisy but just wondering if this combination of amp and pedal is particularly troublesome??! I wonder if it is somehow linked to the potential issue with the valve button. Edited January 10, 2022 by CJPJ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodinblack Posted January 10, 2022 Share Posted January 10, 2022 25 minutes ago, CJPJ said: So another question, has anyone here put an OBD-3 through their ABM? Not that pedal specifically, but do run a lot of distortions through the Helix to the ABM. Its about as noisy as you would expect from a distortion pedal, ie, same as any other amp really. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassAdder60 Posted January 10, 2022 Share Posted January 10, 2022 I had tried various drive pedals up front into my ABM600 and nothing noticeable in extra noise. You need to perhaps turn off the valve drive and make sure your treble isn’t too high on the amp. The rotary treble control doesn’t add much in tone to a typical bass but if you’ve got a noisy pedal it would highlight it even more. Another point is don’t over do the input gain to the amp, just going into the red is the ideal on your loudest notes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexa3020 Posted January 12, 2022 Share Posted January 12, 2022 (edited) On 07/01/2022 at 10:51, Woodinblack said: Even if you are 100% hard over in the red all the time you will be fine. You are not going to damage it. Spoke to Dave Green at Ashdown. He said you are likely to damage the input stage if you hard over in the red all the time Edited January 12, 2022 by alexa3020 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodinblack Posted January 12, 2022 Share Posted January 12, 2022 3 minutes ago, alexa3020 said: Spoke to Dave Green at Ashdown. He said you are likely to damage the input stage if you hard over in the red all the time Really? that is a surprise, but then he is the one that knows. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexa3020 Posted January 12, 2022 Share Posted January 12, 2022 3 minutes ago, Woodinblack said: Really? that is a surprise, but then he is the one that knows. Yep, surprised me too a bit. I figured guitarists are often overdriving amps without issue, so I assumed it would be similar for bass amps too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassAdder60 Posted January 12, 2022 Share Posted January 12, 2022 Yep I asked Dave the same question and he said to try and keep only loudest notes touching the red . Thats why I now use a compressor before the amp to limit my signal. The result is I get a louder overall volume and protects the low E peaks from pounding the Red Zone I use the Ampeg Opto Comp and it plays really nicely with the Abm600 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJPJ Posted January 12, 2022 Share Posted January 12, 2022 1 hour ago, BassAdder27 said: Thats why I now use a compressor before the amp to limit my signal. Does the onboard comp feature before the pre-amp or in the FX loop do you know? Get complicated(ish) having a compressor into the front of the amp and an FX loop coming out of the back no? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassAdder60 Posted January 12, 2022 Share Posted January 12, 2022 Not sure where the onboard compressor sits ( on the internal input circuit I would imagine ) The onboard one isn’t very good and muffles the tone I find. An external compressor before the amp input works better at limiting the bass signal etc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexa3020 Posted January 12, 2022 Share Posted January 12, 2022 I’ve got on ok with the onboard compressor - just use it to reduce dynamic range and even out the signal, but then again I’ve never really used a pedal - I’m thinking I might be missing out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassAdder60 Posted January 12, 2022 Share Posted January 12, 2022 27 minutes ago, alexa3020 said: I’ve got on ok with the onboard compressor - just use it to reduce dynamic range and even out the signal, but then again I’ve never really used a pedal - I’m thinking I might be missing out! If you listen carefully when you disengage the Compressor the amp tone sounds clearer. For that reason I avoid using it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted January 12, 2022 Share Posted January 12, 2022 Yep I’m not a fan of the onboard compression, but have been considering a pedal compressor, and the one I like the look and sound of is the Aguilar DB 599, the clips of it with a Precision really work imo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassAdder60 Posted January 12, 2022 Share Posted January 12, 2022 11 minutes ago, Lozz196 said: Yep I’m not a fan of the onboard compression, but have been considering a pedal compressor, and the one I like the look and sound of is the Aguilar DB 599, the clips of it with a Precision really work imo. Wow they are mega pricey !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJPJ Posted January 12, 2022 Share Posted January 12, 2022 Yeh, just looked at that. Little thing too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonse Posted January 12, 2022 Share Posted January 12, 2022 I went from using a Diamond BCP1 (couldn't really tell what it was doing) to using the onboard Ashdown compressor and I gotta say I'm a fan. Nice little bit of smoothing out and with the FS-4 I can switch it off on the fly for the more rocky numbers. Using the onboard comp means it's another pedal that I don't have to worry about really. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted January 12, 2022 Share Posted January 12, 2022 1 hour ago, BassAdder27 said: Wow they are mega pricey !! Yeah but they sound so good, still undecided as to whether I want any pedals at all though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexa3020 Posted January 13, 2022 Share Posted January 13, 2022 I’ve heard good things about the TC spectracomp which looks similar size to the Aguilar and available for around £40-50 used. I currently have a TC vintage compressor (a copy of T. rex comp nova) but have not been using it because it’s a big pedal and I dont have much space on my board. A small easy to use compressor is definitely appealing to me. But with me not really being an expert on compression, I don’t know how much difference a decent one would make to my tone & therefore couldn’t justify spending huge amounts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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