Ashdown ABM owners club

[Lozz196]

1 hour ago, Minininjarob said:

Thanks for the heads up but that’s too much for me I’m afraid. 

Keep your eyes on the Amps For Sale section, you see them go from £350 upwards 

[Minininjarob]

21 minutes ago, Lozz196 said:

Keep your eyes on the Amps For Sale section, you see them go from £350 upwards 

Still a bit much, I’m looking at that for the whole rig. 

[Reggaebass]

I had one a long time back then switched to the RM range, very good amps, there was an ABM 500 watt EVO 111 in the for sale section for £175 I think a while ago 

[Lozz196]

4 hours ago, Minininjarob said:

Still a bit much, I’m looking at that for the whole rig. 

In that case - and depending where you are of course - I’d be looking at the ABM500 that’s on here for £175. Slightly less flexible eq but still very good amps. You’d be able to source an Ashdown MAG410 with the rest of your budget, possibly an ABM410 if lucky.

 

Edit - I’ve just seen the Spyder & cab that @Pow_22 has up for sale, also worth checking out if near enough.

Edited July 6 by Lozz196

[Pow_22]

22 hours ago, Minininjarob said:

I see you have one for sale….. 😀

I do. They are definitely more ‘valvey’ but id caveat that by saying the ABM’s are far more flexible EQ wise

[umcoo]

I joined this group yesterday, picking up an ABM 600 Evo IV DR. Holy heck, this thing has some volume. Still dialing it in, but sounds great so far.

 

[Bassybert]

15 minutes ago, umcoo said:

I joined this group yesterday, picking up an ABM 600 Evo IV DR. Holy heck, this thing has some volume. Still dialing it in, but sounds great so far.

 

Now that looks like the sort of rig I’d love to play. I can feel the trouser flapping from here!

[BassAdder60]

2 hours ago, umcoo said:

I joined this group yesterday, picking up an ABM 600 Evo IV DR. Holy heck, this thing has some volume. Still dialing it in, but sounds great so far.

 

Ampeg SVT112AV cabs x 2 I think ?

 

I liked mine a lot and still not sure they are in the for sale section at 1/2 the cost of new with zero interest??!! 
 

 

[Jim Bob Wilkenson]

On 10/05/2024 at 06:36, NAS Bass said:

I always send Pre to FOH to give the engineer the cleanest possible signal to work with. Any colouration can come from your cab and if the venue requires it, this this can be mic'd up and mixed on a separate channel. I wouldn't get to wound up about losing "your tone" by going Pre EQ. Work with the FOH engineer. 

Nope. I’ve sent pre- to the FOH engineer for the reasons you’ve mentioned…until I heard the crap coming from the FOH! Now, it’s post- or mic’d. A good engineer will know what to do with the signal I send them.

[umcoo]

19 minutes ago, BassAdder60 said:

Ampeg SVT112AV cabs x 2 I think ?

 

I liked mine a lot and still not sure they are in the for sale section at 1/2 the cost of new with zero interest??!! 
 

 

Yeah, I saw you had them for sale. I'm surprised as they're a great, affordable way to get a reasonable sized gigging rig, fit in back of the car, easy lift. Picked mine up a couple of years ago. Good luck with them! 

 

Need to get down to a practice space and crank the ABM. 

[BassAdder60]

45 minutes ago, umcoo said:

Yeah, I saw you had them for sale. I'm surprised as they're a great, affordable way to get a reasonable sized gigging rig, fit in back of the car, easy lift. Picked mine up a couple of years ago. Good luck with them! 

 

Need to get down to a practice space and crank the ABM. 

I may just keep them as they look a handsome pair stacked and nice sounding rig. Very convenient having the extra four feet fitted to the ends for tall stacking and preventing damage when sitting them down on their end ( opposite side to single handle ) 

[dagrev]

Another Ashdown. ABM this time.

I have been having trouble with a couple basses not sounding full with with my Ampeg tube heads. I always liked the warmth of Ashdown (had a MAG years ago I took on trade then sold). Used a RM-300 evo ii I bought used and that really helped. Was offered a great deal on an ABM EVO III and jumped on it. I've only had it a few weeks, but I love it. Big, warm and punchy.  High praise from me since I strongly dislike virtually all SS heads, which seem to sound two dimensional. Ashdown has the only hybrid amp I've even used that isn't just a gimmick. 

 

I used the ABM with the '55 Pbass (w/SIT Power Wounds) last evening via Ampeg Heritage 410. It was to the fantastic level. The '55 never sounded so good. I'm still learning what to adjust on the head, but after a couple songs, I had it about where I left it the rest of the night. I can't emphasize how much an improvement it was for that bass. I was super impressed and wasn't expecting anything like that kind of amazing tone.  So far I have only used the ABM with the two basses that were troublesome, so I'm really curious how something like my '64 Thunderbird will sound with it. I'm not sure how it can be improved upon since it didn't need any "fixing," but who knows. Maybe even it can sound even "more betterer!"

 

[NAS Bass]

4 hours ago, dagrev said:

Another Ashdown. ABM this time.

I have been having trouble with a couple basses not sounding full with with my Ampeg tube heads.

 

Same. I kept two ABMs and sold the SVT

[dagrev]

Question for ABM users. (If I should ask this as a new thread, please let me know.)

I'm not sure if this is normal or not and need insight. When I run mine (500 evo iii) at home with an Ampeg 212 or a Fender 115 I can get some tube grind and break up more easily than when using my Ampeg Heritage 410 live. At home I still have to run the input at 3:00 or more and the tube drive at ~2:00 or mroe to get some grit, depending on the bass. When using the other cab live or at rehearsal I basically need to max the input and go to 3:00 or more on the tube drive. Just seems the grit is much less noticable and easily achieved when not at home and at higher volumes (but nothing crazy). Is that typical or is it possible the tube (Eden 7025) is getting weak? It's well over 10ys old. Could very well be as it should be, I just need the voices of experience. 

Edited July 19 by dagrev

[Woodinblack]

No, the tube in the ABM is in the preamp, it doesn't know or care what speaker you have connected, which is dealt with by the power amp. If the response you get out of the speaker is different it must be to do with driving the power amp.

So no, changing the valve won't do anything.

[dagrev]

16 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

No, the tube in the ABM is in the preamp, it doesn't know or care what speaker you have connected, which is dealt with by the power amp. If the response you get out of the speaker is different it must be to do with driving the power amp.

So no, changing the valve won't do anything.

Thanks much for the reply. The response isn't differences in volume, but amount of tube grit in the volume as it goes up in the 410.  It is bigger and warmer, I suppose it could be the different voicing of each cab to some extent causing the variation in grit showing up and what it takes to get there.

 

Are the input and drive settings above typical to achieve grit and breakup? Meaning I'm not turning those up more than others to get to breakup am I?

Thanks again! 

Edited July 19 by dagrev

[Woodinblack]

1 hour ago, dagrev said:

Are the input and drive settings above typical to achieve grit and breakup? Meaning I'm not turning those up more than others to get to breakup am I?

 

Virtually impossible to say, they are different on all my basses, between the bongo and the acrylic bass they are almost the other ends, so it really depends, sorry it isn't more helpful!

 

[dagrev]

11 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

 

Virtually impossible to say, they are different on all my basses, between the bongo and the acrylic bass they are almost the other ends, so it really depends, sorry it isn't more helpful!

 

Oh, no. Quite helpful, actually. Seems my settings don't appear crazy or out of the norm, so that's good to know. I thought I was needing to set things a good bit beyond anything normal. 

[Lozz196]

Drive is one of those things that when you set it for home levels once loud and in a band mix it virtually disappears, so you need to up it a fair bit. I have this thing with my drive pedal, at home settings I consider far too much are unnoticeable in my band.

The ABM amps are great in that it’s fine to push any of the controls to get the desired tone, not the type of amps where you have to worry about overloading (well I wouldn’t use the Shape and then boost all bass sliders fully but I’m sure you get my meaning).

[dagrev]

4 hours ago, Lozz196 said:

Drive is one of those things that when you set it for home levels once loud and in a band mix it virtually disappears, so you need to up it a fair bit. I have this thing with my drive pedal, at home settings I consider far too much are unnoticeable in my band.

The ABM amps are great in that it’s fine to push any of the controls to get the desired tone, not the type of amps where you have to worry about overloading (well I wouldn’t use the Shape and then boost all bass sliders fully but I’m sure you get my meaning).

Thank you. I don't notice getting into the red with passive basses even with the input maxed, thus far anyway. I don't play very hard, so that no doubt is a factor. Haven't tried an active G&L yet.  I was also not sure if not getting into the red when maxed was indicative of anything or typical. Even maxed, my needle doesn't get too excited (but that would have nothing to do with the tube). Thanks again! 

[PigBass]

Just an added pointer to the comments above (I got this from Ashdown when I had a similar question). The ABM drive works differently to the way I expected so when you select "drive on", the preamp signal is sent through the tube and the Drive control is a blend rather than "how much" drive. So fully off = tube effectively bypassed, fully on = all signal goes via the tube. The Gain is what controls the signal strength to the tube, so actually as you increase Gain (with drive on) the valve will break up more (I had assumed the drive control did this, but I was wrong). Hope that makes sense.

 

What Lozz says above is exactly what I found in practice, a subtle grind/drive that sounds just right at home will be likely lost completely in a live situation. 

 

Darren

[dagrev]

6 hours ago, PigBass said:

Just an added pointer to the comments above (I got this from Ashdown when I had a similar question). The ABM drive works differently to the way I expected so when you select "drive on", the preamp signal is sent through the tube and the Drive control is a blend rather than "how much" drive. So fully off = tube effectively bypassed, fully on = all signal goes via the tube. The Gain is what controls the signal strength to the tube, so actually as you increase Gain (with drive on) the valve will break up more (I had assumed the drive control did this, but I was wrong). Hope that makes sense.

 

What Lozz says above is exactly what I found in practice, a subtle grind/drive that sounds just right at home will be likely lost completely in a live situation. 

 

Darren

Thanks, I kind of understood that (how the tube and blend works, but the way you explained it really clicked and made more sense. Given what you said, I'm going about it wrong. I'm setting the input first then blending the tube in, and adjusting volume and input again if needed. What you said helps my thinking. Thanks.  

Edited July 22 by dagrev

[PigBass]

I had the opposite problem, I was turning the gain up really high so the signal was often in the red, and then adding drive. In my case that made the tube break up to the point it was just too gritty for my liking. Turning the gain down and increasing the blend gave a lower level of that tube grit.

 

I found my sound by setting the drive on full and then adjusting the gain up until I heard the right amount of grit/drive.  Adjust the master for overall volume. Worked for me anyway. 
 

Good luck, the sound you want is very likely to be in there, you’ve just got to find the right settings to get it out. 
 

Darren

[Bassybert]

14 hours ago, PigBass said:

Just an added pointer to the comments above (I got this from Ashdown when I had a similar question). The ABM drive works differently to the way I expected so when you select "drive on", the preamp signal is sent through the tube and the Drive control is a blend rather than "how much" drive. So fully off = tube effectively bypassed, fully on = all signal goes via the tube. The Gain is what controls the signal strength to the tube, so actually as you increase Gain (with drive on) the valve will break up more (I had assumed the drive control did this, but I was wrong). Hope that makes sense.

 

What Lozz says above is exactly what I found in practice, a subtle grind/drive that sounds just right at home will be likely lost completely in a live situation. 

 

Darren

Thanks for this @PigBass, makes a lot of sense, I’ve definitely been using this a different way 😂

Edited July 22 by Bassybert

[dagrev]

8 hours ago, Bassybert said:

Thanks for this @PigBass, makes a lot of sense, I’ve definitely been using this a different way 😂

It sounds like some of us were doing what Ashdown suggested, as I understood it.

   1. Set your input as high as needed/desired.

   2. Adjust everything else.

 But what PigBass said really sounds like the better way to go about it.