Ashdown ABM owners club

[Jono Bolton]

4 minutes ago, BassAdder60 said:

I don’t think Ashdown come on here these days !  
 

Im fairly sure if it’s wider then it would have been an amp pulled out of a combo. 
 

 

Fair enough, I didn't think to check, I just knew they had a login for here. I assumed they were taken out of combos but even if they were short on heads I would've thought it would be a pain in the backside for Ashdown to have to create chassis to put them in to sell as heads.

[Jono Bolton]

I collected the head last night and it's a big unit, much bigger than I envisioned. It's a wide version of the ABM EVO III 500 head, but the seller told me that the sleeve had been damaged so he contacted Ashdown who said they no longer made replacements for this particular model, so it's housed in an ABM EVO IV 900 sleeve instead, hence the sizeable gap at the bottom. It doesn't bother me, certainly not for £170; it all works fine and sounds good and is in excellent nick. ABM EVO II 300 C110 for scale:

 

[Lozz196]

It’s wider than the stage!!

[jezzaboy]

  @Jono Bolton Re the wide ABM head.

 

I owned a 500 a few years back and speaking to Dave he explained that the "wide boy head" as he called it, was due to Ashdown running out of the normal sized casings and having the casings lying around from the combo`s which are wider so they just stuck the chassis in them.

 

Simples!

Edited November 21, 2023 by jezzaboy

[SteveXFR]

I'm looking for a new amp. I'm currently using an Orange Terror 500 mk1 and not really liking it at all. It does one sound very well but only that one sound and for a high gain amp it doesn't do overdrive sounds at all well. 

Anyway, Ashdown are looking like a good choice due to price and durability. My main requirements are plenty of power, 8 ohm cab compatibility and a decent EQ. I play in quite a loud metal band so I need to get plenty of volume through my 4x10

Is the ABM 500 EVO 3 any good? I've also seen ABM 900s for similar prices, how do they compare? 

Edited November 21, 2023 by SteveXFR

[DaleASmith]

27 minutes ago, SteveXFR said:

I'm looking for a new amp. I'm currently using an Orange Terror 500 mk1 and not really liking it at all. It does one sound very well but only that one sound and for a high gain amp it doesn't do overdrive sounds at all well. 

Anyway, Ashdown are looking like a good choice due to price and durability. My main requirements are plenty of power, 8 ohm cab compatibility and a decent EQ. I play in quite a loud metal band so I need to get plenty of volume through my 4x10

Is the ABM 500 EVO 3 any good? I've also seen ABM 900s for similar prices, how do they compare? 

 

Any ABM500 will be a great amp. I've had the EVO 1, 2 and 3. Into 8ohms ( with most decent speakers ) that's plenty of volume. 

 

The 900 is pretty much identical, but with twice the power. That's nowhere near twice the volume though, but given how loud the 500 is, that might be overkill. ( but still nice to have )

 

[alexa3020]

I do prefer the Evo 4, I think the eq is better, a bit crisper & clearer and cuts through the mix better with more control of the high mids. As for how it would sit in a metal band I don't know. Cuts through nicely in my heavyish rock band. Remember with ABM 900 or 1200 it's 2 different power sections so you can connect 4 speakers in total, you can't for example get the full 1200w to one 4 ohm cab

[SteveXFR]

15 minutes ago, alexa3020 said:

I do prefer the Evo 4, I think the eq is better, a bit crisper & clearer and cuts through the mix better with more control of the high mids. As for how it would sit in a metal band I don't know. Cuts through nicely in my heavyish rock band. Remember with ABM 900 or 1200 it's 2 different power sections so you can connect 4 speakers in total, you can't for example get the full 1200w to one 4 ohm cab

 

Is there an EVO 4 500 or is that the 600?

[alexa3020]

1 minute ago, SteveXFR said:

 

Is there an EVO 4 500 or is that the 600?

For Evo 4 it's ABM 600 & 1200

For Evo 3 it's ABM 500 & 900 

Pretty sure that's correct 

[Lozz196]

30 minutes ago, alexa3020 said:

I do prefer the Evo 4, I think the eq is better, a bit crisper & clearer and cuts through the mix better with more control of the high mids. As for how it would sit in a metal band I don't know. Cuts through nicely in my heavyish rock band.

My impressions of the ABM600 were the same, the extra couple of sliders make a real difference in the sharpness of the sound. I also found it to be quite a bit louder than the ABM500 that I had.

[SteveXFR]

Maybe I should spend the extra to get a 600. It's not so much the power that will get me through the mix but the right EQ settings to boost the right frequencies. 

How does the mk4 sound with the gain wound up? The Orange is horrible so I'm having to get all my drive from pedals but it be nice to get some dirt from the amp and lose a pedal 

[Woodinblack]

33 minutes ago, SteveXFR said:

How does the mk4 sound with the gain wound up? The Orange is horrible so I'm having to get all my drive from pedals but it be nice to get some dirt from the amp and lose a pedal 

 

It sounds fine, but it also has a tube overdrive so you can use that.

[alexa3020]

The valve drive is quite a nice low gain overdrive and adds warmth, I definitely wouldn't describe it as being able to do high gain or distortion. The bass channel did quite a good demo of the ABM Evo 4 300w (which I'm not sure they make anymore?) recently. It'll give you a good idea

 

[NAS Bass]

1 hour ago, Lozz196 said:

My impressions of the ABM600 were the same, the extra couple of sliders make a real difference in the sharpness of the sound. I also found it to be quite a bit louder than the ABM500 that I had.

I actually found the 600 that I tried to be a bit bland. It didn’t seem to have that thick “woof” that my EVO I and II have. Suppose it all comes down to the sound you are looking for

[Lozz196]

Yep, adds some drive, warmth and harmonics making the sound bigger but nothing like the OTB, having had both I’d put the gain/drive of the ABM600 on full to be less than the OTB at 10 o’clock. 

[MichaelDean]

I really like the EQ on my ABM 600. I play in a loud metal band and I cut through nicely. I tend to have the valve drive on to warm it up a bit, but I wouldn't say it would for sure replace an always on overdrive. 

[ardi100]

I was all set on an ABM 500 Evo iii, but an RM 500 has turned up, literally up my road, for a tiny amount more when fuel is added.

 

So, I've read that the RM can do an ABM impersonation with some accuracy. What would do? The ABM is a 2.5 hour drive each way.

[Lozz196]

Depends on the size of the stages you play, in regular pub sized venues there’s not much between them but get on a very big stage and the depth of sound from the ABM becomes apparent.
 

That said due to back issues I sold my ABM and kept my RM and it doesn’t concern me at all playing big stages, it’s not that the RM isn’t up to it, it is, it’s just that the ABM is more up to it if that makes sense.

[NAS Bass]

1 hour ago, Lozz196 said:

Depends on the size of the stages you play, in regular pub sized venues there’s not much between them but get on a very big stage and the depth of sound from the ABM becomes apparent.
 

That said due to back issues I sold my ABM and kept my RM and it doesn’t concern me at all playing big stages, it’s not that the RM isn’t up to it, it is, it’s just that the ABM is more up to it if that makes sense.

 

Spot on. As well as the ABM's and Trace SMX, I have a Markbass head for the easy haul/regular/small gig use but despite the "it all gets DI'd to FOH" etc arguments, there's a reason you don't see the smaller, digital whatever amps on the big stages. I don't believe it's all aesthetics, amps like ABMs just 'open up' when cranked a bit in big spaces. Thats what I've found anyway. 

[ardi100]

I'm not playing any gigs yet, not even playing with anyone else, I'm anticipating getting involved soon so it's academic really.

 

I'm checking out the RM tonight. If they're so close then saving 5 hours of driving for an extra few quid seems like a no brainer.

[Lozz196]

In that case the RM makes perfect sense 

[gjones]

1 hour ago, ardi100 said:

I'm not playing any gigs yet, not even playing with anyone else, I'm anticipating getting involved soon so it's academic really.

 

I'm checking out the RM tonight. If they're so close then saving 5 hours of driving for an extra few quid seems like a no brainer.

 

I own an ABM 500 EVO lll and the Rootmaster in my local rehearsal room sounds as good as the ABM......maybe better.

Edited November 22, 2023 by gjones

[SteveXFR]

Thanks for all the advice everyone. I should have an ABM 600 IV tomorrow which I'm picking up from another member of this forum.

Can't wait to get to rehearsal and turn it up loud

[BassAdder60]

3 hours ago, SteveXFR said:

Thanks for all the advice everyone. I should have an ABM 600 IV tomorrow which I'm picking up from another member of this forum.

Can't wait to get to rehearsal and turn it up loud

Make sure you understand the “ shape button feature” it makes a huge difference to a good sound or a buried sound with a band !! 

[ardi100]

Thanks for everyone's input into my amp choices.

 

I'm the proud owner of an RM 500 Evo ii.