NBD Ashdown 'The Saint'.... kind of.

[Maude]

Here's a once over of my new Saint bass by Ashdown. 

Quick, and odd, back story to this. Ashdown showed this bass on their Facebook photos of their Christmas open weekend. It was stated as being a prototype of a new short scale for release in April. The prototypes used for that weekend were for sale through Reverb for the very good price of £299, compared to the usual pricing of their basses at around £850.

Trigger pulled. 

The bass I received is definitely the one in their Facebook picture as there are a few tell tale things which together are too much of a coincidence to be another bass. This one is 34" scale, not a shorty. 

Now I must stress that the advert didn't specify a scale length, I just put the facebook comments by Mark Gooday together with the Reverb listing. We'll see if the new release in April is shortscale or not. 

This would appear to be a standard 'The Saint' bass in a new colour. 

No problem, I like 34".🙂

I must also stress that this was sold as a prototype bass so any issues I've found can't really be held against Ashdown, but if it was used as a demo at their open day I'd have thought they'd want their best on display and this one looks like it was rushed to be finished. And like I say, I'm convinced this is the bass as there are tell tale marks on it that are also on the one pictured at the open day. 

 

So the bass. It's a bass of two halves, good and bad, and hopefully the bad is down to being a prototype/demo. 

The colour is fantastic, metallic shell pink, kind of a pearlescent silver shimmer to it in the light and a nice amount of sparkle, really nice. As is the finish itself. 

The neck is also lovely. Smooth satin roasted maple neck and fretboard. 40mm nut which is cut and fitted nicely, no sharp edges. Slim neck profile and well finished frets, again no sharp edges. It plays really well. The neck pocket is nice and tight although the paint edges there could be better, but I am being fussy. 

Headstock logo looks great under the lacquer. 

Now the not quite so good, the pickguard is fairly rough around the edges, the curves are a bit like a 50 pence piece, but I'll whip it off and smooth them out. 

I'm assuming the cavities are shielded with the black carbon paint as I can see it all around the edge of the control cavity cover, again just needs a tidy up. 

The control pots are loose, particularly the bridge PU one, just winds itself up on the wires inside, but it has been used by allsorts at the open day, but still. The tuner ferrules aren't pressed in properly, particularly the D which is sticking out 3 or 4mm. Again is it's a prototype/demo but they don't just slide out over a few days. 

The proper Saints have Hipshot Ultralite tuners but mine is fairly generic open gear Fender-a-likes, quite possibly Wilkinson as the bridge is Wilkinson as well, quite possibly the pickups too. 

The pickups are fairly bland, nothing really wrong with them but nothing outstanding. 

The tone control is terrible, all your adjustment is in the first 5% of the sweep, after that it's just wide open, may as well be an on/off switch, volumes seem better but they're spinning on their fixings so it's hard to tell. 

 

So overall, I do like it, I don't mind sorting a few niggles, which is all they are. The actual bass itself is great, just the putting it together seems rushed. But, I like it for the price I paid. If I'd paid full price I be bitterly disappointed. 

But again I must stress this may not be representative of a proper one, who knows? I do know though, I'd have had my best example at an open day, not this one. 

With an hour or twos work this will be a lovely bass but I'm not sure it's any better quality than a good Harley Benton. It's an odd one really as I'm not a sure who they're aimed at. I love Ashdown amps but I'm confused by their basses. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 26, 2022 by Maude

[ezbass]

1 hour ago, Maude said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

🤣

 

I wonder what Reverend think of the body shape? 
 

At the money, it’s a good score and at least it’s little things that can be easily fixed.

[TheGreek]

..and with Ashdown you can be confident that any real issues will be put right by their tech team. 

[peeceegee]

From reading previous posts with confirmation from Ashdown themselves, these are the forerunner for a new line of Chinese made basses rather than Korean. To me, they give off a Sire vibe. Maybe made in the same factory? Anyway, I've bought the Grail/Jazz prototype. Wonder in what condition it'll turn up in?

[Maude]

24 minutes ago, peeceegee said:

From reading previous posts with confirmation from Ashdown themselves, these are the forerunner for a new line of Chinese made basses rather than Korean. To me, they give off a Sire vibe. Maybe made in the same factory? Anyway, I've bought the Grail/Jazz prototype. Wonder in what condition it'll turn up in?

Is that the pink one from Reverb? 

 

I did debate whether to post the bad points as it clearly isn't a full priced production bass. The bad points on mine are easily sorted by any home tinkerer, and the parts you couldn't do at home are spot on. 

It's just the wierd short scale, long scale thing I can't understand, and still haven't got an answer to. I've given up asking as 1, I don't mind it being long scale, and 2, I'm beginning to look like a wierdo trying to pin them into a corner. 

People on facebook seemed genuinely excited by it being shortscale, but it isn't, and Ashdown won't confirmed one way or another. 

Anyway beginning to look like a wierdo again 😁. 

[Maude]

2 hours ago, ezbass said:

🤣

 

I wonder what Reverend think of the body shape? 
 

At the money, it’s a good score and at least it’s little things that can be easily fixed.

It is very Reverend, but at least that means it's not a Fender clone. 

 

Don't look at the pickups 🙈

[peeceegee]

1 hour ago, Maude said:

Is that the pink one from Reverb? 

 

I did debate whether to post the bad points as it clearly isn't a full priced production bass. The bad points on mine are easily sorted by any home tinkerer, and the parts you couldn't do at home are spot on. 

It's just the wierd short scale, long scale thing I can't understand, and still haven't got an answer to. I've given up asking as 1, I don't mind it being long scale, and 2, I'm beginning to look like a wierdo trying to pin them into a corner. 

People on facebook seemed genuinely excited by it being shortscale, but it isn't, and Ashdown won't confirmed one way or another. 

Anyway beginning to look like a wierdo again 😁. 

Yes. It was the one on Reverb. Thought initially that I was getting a Korean made bargain. Hopefully, like yours, it will only need tweaking. May have to put some new pots in if they're as bad as yours.

[peeceegee]

Just now, peeceegee said:

Yes. It was the one on Reverb. Thought initially that I was getting a Korean made bargain. Hopefully, like yours, it will only need tweaking. May have to put some new pots in if they're as bad as yours.

The listing for my mine didn't state short scale so I'm figuring it'll be long scale

[Cosmo Valdemar]

I haven't been too impressed by the look of Ashdown's basses, but I am a sucker for a pink bass! The neck looks particularly sweet.

 

 

[peeceegee]

It was the colour that grabbed me!

[Maude]

1 hour ago, Cosmo Valdemar said:

I haven't been too impressed by the look of Ashdown's basses, but I am a sucker for a pink bass! The neck looks particularly sweet.

 

 

The neck is lovely, in look and feel. The nut width on The Saints listed on Ashdown's website are 44.5mm, but mine is 40mm so there are some differences. I much prefer the 40mm.

[MichaelDean]

Oooh, the 40mm nut width has me tempted... 

[MacDaddy]

The scratch plate looks like it was cut out with scissors 😆

Lovely looking bass otherwise.

[lidl e]

I think it's killer looking, but please repost pics without the plastic film on the pickups!

 

That makes me mental. OCD!

Edited December 27, 2022 by lidl e

[Maude]

22 hours ago, lidl e said:

I think it's killer looking, but please repost pics without the plastic film on the pickups!

 

That makes me mental. OCD!

 Did your not see the tuners then? 😄

 

I've left the films on as it may well be going back. 

 

[Maude]

Well it's going back. 😔

 

As I said, the neck is gorgeous, the body and finish is great, it's relatively lightweight and plays nicely. The hardware is fairly generic and the bad fitment is easily rectified. But, it just sounds so bland. No character of its own at all. 

For £300 it's OK, no better than Harley Bentons for half the price, but OK. Anymore and I'd really struggle to see what you're paying for. The 'proper' Saints are £850 from Ashdown, far more on pre order from some of the big shops, over £1200 from the one of them. 

I think these are a Chinese made budget version of the Korean made The Saint basses, but the only difference I can see is that the tuners are Wilkinson (I think) rather than Hipshot licensed Ultralites. The pickups might be cheaper as well but the proper Saint doesn't specify what pickups it uses, just says P and J style so I'd assume there just a fairly generic pickup set anyway. 

I guess the actual price and level of QC will determine whether these sell or not when they're released. 

As others have hinted at I'm not really sure who these are aimed at, too pricey for beginner/budget instruments, and not high enough quality to be in the over £500 bracket. 

Oh well, nothing ventured nothing gained. 🙂

[Aidan63]

shame that Ashdown don't look on here and pick up the feedback or engage in some market research with some of the market

[BillyBass]

I love the look of these: shell pink, Reverend style body shape/knob placement, roasted maple neck and matching headstock and body.  If they had top quality hardware and were made in Korea I would not see £850 as expensive.  

[meesterbassman]

Just come across this due to a bass coming up for sale. Assuming it’s a prototype as it’s sub £300

might reach out to Mark Gooday on FB as he’s pretty accessible on the Ashdown FB group

[LowB_FTW]

43 minutes ago, meesterbassman said:

the Ashdown FB group

There's an Ashdown Fb group?

Must look for that myself. Ta.

 

Mark