Ashdown ABM 750 Evo V!

[fretmeister]

Sounds lovely!

[Lozz196]

And def puts to bed the “woolly Ashdown” doubters.

[Sparky Mark]

2 hours ago, fretmeister said:

Sounds lovely!

It's that Trace Elliott valve, I'm tellin' ya....

[la bam]

That does sound nice. Nice and bright and cuts through that mix.

 

With evo standing for evolution I'd have hoped theyd have listened about putting a tuner in it for its 5 evolution - the VU meter is right there and perfect for a tuner! - Then itd be a real all in one amp. It's me being lazy, but I dont want to have to plug in tuners, cables and extra power supplies, extension leads or plugs. I just wanna plug one plug in and play.

 

It does sound like the best abm so far though going off that video alone.

Edited June 25, 2022 by la bam

[ern500evo]

That does sound really nice. 

[Sparky Mark]

It sounds exactly like my old ABM600 Evo IV. I'm pretty sure the preamp is identical. We don't really know how Ashdown recorded the sound on that video but I'm confident if they made one for the Evo IV it'd sound equally impressive. It is an advertisement after all.

Edited June 25, 2022 by Sparky Mark

[chyc]

4 hours ago, Sparky Mark said:

It sounds exactly like my old ABM600 Evo IV. I'm pretty sure the preamp is identical. We don't really know how Ashdown recorded the sound on that video but I'm confident if they made one for the Evo IV it'd sound equally impressive. It is an advertisement after all.

 

Perhaps, or maybe the sound would be drowned out by the jet engine noise coming from the fans at the rear.

 

At least you'd think that given the complaints I've seen about them. Heck even the Andertons video mentions the fan noise.

 

Edited June 25, 2022 by chyc

[fretmeister]

49 minutes ago, chyc said:

 

Perhaps, or maybe the sound would be drowned out by the jet engine noise coming from the fans at the rear.

 

At you'd think that given the complaints I've seen about them. Heck even the Andertons video mentions the fan noise.

 

that’s why the new one interests me! New quiet fan control.

[Sparky Mark]

21 minutes ago, fretmeister said:

that’s why the new one interests me! New quiet fan control.

I've only ever considered ABM's as tools for gigs where fan noise is irrelevant. I've got fanless amps for low volume requirements. 

[chyc]

For those counting the pennies, the price of this amp has been reduced from £1545 to £1399 on Ashdown's own website.

[Muppet]

39 minutes ago, chyc said:

For those counting the pennies, the price of this amp has been reduced from £1545 to £1399 on Ashdown's own website.

Just another £400 to go and I’m in…..

[Muppet]

41 minutes ago, chyc said:

For those counting the pennies, the price of this amp has been reduced from £1545 to £1399 on Ashdown's own website.

To be fair, I bought that horrible Darkglass Microtubes 900 V2 thing for £1,100 and it sounded like a billion insects trapped in a Kilner jar.  I could only play it if I had a seven string bass, long hair and wore shorts on stage.  £300 more gets me Ashdown quality, sound and customer service. Might not be such a bad thing after all….

[fretmeister]

On Facebook Ashdown confirmed the fans are silent AND that newly built 600 have the silent fan upgrade too! 

[chyc]

41 minutes ago, fretmeister said:

On Facebook Ashdown confirmed the fans are silent AND that newly built 600 have the silent fan upgrade too! 

 

On the one hand that's fantastic for those that want a cheaper ABM, but it does leave fewer reasons to splash the cash on the EVO V

 

• UK made
• New DI
• 150W
• Black fascia
• Extra VU meter

Of those probably only the UK build would interest me.

 

[Merton]

42 minutes ago, chyc said:

 

On the one hand that's fantastic for those that want a cheaper ABM, but it does leave fewer reasons to splash the cash on the EVO V

 

• UK made
• New DI
• 150W
• Black fascia
• Extra VU meter

Of those probably only the UK build would interest me.

 

The ABM 600 EVO IVs are UK built too I believe. So even fewer reasons!

[Clarky]

4 minutes ago, Merton said:

The ABM 600 EVO IVs are UK built too I believe. So even fewer reasons!

I understood that they are PRC built.

 

Edit: Just looked on Ashdown website and the 'regular' ABM 600s (in the black tolex sleeve/case) are built in China. Only the rackmount ABM 600 is made in the UK custom shop

Edited July 9, 2022 by Clarky

[alexa3020]

Am I the only one not bothered by the fans 🤷

 

[fretmeister]

1 minute ago, alexa3020 said:

Am I the only one not bothered by the fans 🤷

 

on Facebook Ashdown said they were getting plenty of customer feedback about them being too noisy hence the new quiet system.

 

But no doubt it depends on what your use is. 

[Woodinblack]

52 minutes ago, alexa3020 said:

Am I the only one not bothered by the fans 🤷

 

I hadn't actually noticed there were fans, but I only use mine in practice or playing loud, so I guess I wouldn't have had the opportunity to notice them.

 

[chyc]

3 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

 

I hadn't actually noticed there were fans, but I only use mine in practice or playing loud, so I guess I wouldn't have had the opportunity to notice them.

There's some similarity with headphone amplifiers and hiss. Hiss is such a distraction, particularly when listening to classical music, at least for me. However there are other people who only notice it when I point it out, and really don't understand why anyone would find it such a big deal.

 

I'm in an unusual position that I don't own an amp with a fan. Maybe I wouldn't care about a little whirr in the background but I certainly appreciate the fact they've at least addressed it. Certainly doesn't seem like there's a major downside, particularly if servicing in the UK is so easy (I read that silent fans tend to have a shorter lifespan).

 

[Lozz196]

1 hour ago, alexa3020 said:

Am I the only one not bothered by the fans 🤷

 

I’m def not, in recording studio we always isolated the miked cab anyway, so whatever the fan is doing it’s not in the same room as the sound being recorded.

[Woodinblack]

18 minutes ago, chyc said:

There's some similarity with headphone amplifiers and hiss. Hiss is such a distraction, particularly when listening to classical music, at least for me. However there are other people who only notice it when I point it out, and really don't understand why anyone would find it such a big deal

 

I would certainly notice hiss. But I play in a 4 piece rock / covers band, by the time the fan got loud enough to be noticable it would probably be broken. I would presumably hear it loudly at home but I don't use the amp at home at all.

[Clarky]

I was expecting the worst when I bought a used ABM 500 but in truth the fan noise really is not intrusive. Yes, its there but its way quieter than some other amps I have owned

[CJPJ]

So, what else is available in the market with valves at this level of power output at the £1k - £1.5k mark? 

[chyc]

On 10/07/2022 at 18:26, CJPJ said:

So, what else is available in the market with valves at this level of power output at the £1k - £1.5k mark? 

Well, there's the EVO IV 1200W which is cheaper than the EVO-V, and can go down (or is that up?) to 2x4Ω cabinets. Considerably heavier mind you.

 

If you bear in mind that the valve in the ABM is preamp rather than power amp, you can achieve a similar effect by putting the valve in your pedalboard, then running the output into a return of any old head. Sticking with the Ashdown brand the Original Valve Pre-DI into an RM-800 would be similar price and effect (although let's not go down the class D vs A/B route here).

 

Speaking personally (and this is not an issue I have solely with music gear) I feel there is too much emphasis on performance, features and price, whereas reliability and repairability aren't given their due importance. I mean, how could they? People want to see the reviews of new products, not ones that took 10 years to write because they were testing the reliability. I don't know what the solution is, but for me the reputation of Ashdown is enough for me to compare its product very favourably with its competitors'. That's not to knock the EVO V in any way in terms of what it is. I haven't played through one but it probably will sound amazing.

Edited December 16, 2023 by chyc