sk8 Posted July 9, 2010 Posted July 9, 2010 fair shout. Very tempted by one of these. Love my LB but need more power and as this shares the Pre it could be a good compromise Quote
franzbassist Posted July 9, 2010 Posted July 9, 2010 (edited) Did you have a tuner out added as well Hooky? And are these made in the UK? Edited July 9, 2010 by walbassist Quote
hookys6stringbass Posted July 9, 2010 Posted July 9, 2010 [quote name='walbassist' post='890164' date='Jul 9 2010, 10:06 AM']Did you have a tuner out added as well Hooky? And are these made in the UK?[/quote] Yes I did. As far as I know these are UK made. Quote
eude Posted July 9, 2010 Posted July 9, 2010 [quote name='hookys6stringbass' post='889505' date='Jul 8 2010, 01:49 PM']No they didn't charge me for it - I just had to pay for postage....[/quote] Great customer service there. Hats off to Ashdown Eude Quote
MythSte Posted July 10, 2010 Posted July 10, 2010 [quote name='eude' post='890326' date='Jul 9 2010, 12:28 PM']Great customer service there. Hats off to Ashdown Eude[/quote] Yup, really gotta give them that. Part of me thinks these are things they should have addressed before releasing them. But this really is the second best thing. And in the long run, might actually make their reputation better than if they'd have just sorted it pre-release. Cynical? Maybe... Quote
hookys6stringbass Posted July 21, 2010 Posted July 21, 2010 (edited) After a lot of thought i've decided to put my Spyder up for sale. It's a great amp but I should've thought about it more as i've realised I'm not going to use it as much it should be used .... I've really got to stop impulse buying! anyway the Spyder can be found [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160458137609&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT"]here[/url] Edited July 21, 2010 by hookys6stringbass Quote
Matte_black Posted September 13, 2011 Posted September 13, 2011 So... was it possible to have a "crunchy" sound with the tube preamp or not? How is the eq.? Powerful? Quote
franzbassist Posted December 19, 2011 Posted December 19, 2011 Ashdown have just added [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3fFvTSqNsw"]this[/url] to their Youtube feed. Quote
phatbass787 Posted December 20, 2011 Posted December 20, 2011 Sounds sweet, pure Entwistle at the end! Quote
franzbassist Posted December 20, 2011 Posted December 20, 2011 Having one delivered tomorrow, thanks to Pete Academy.... Happy Christmas to me! Quote
BluRay Posted December 22, 2011 Posted December 22, 2011 [quote name='walbassist' timestamp='1324330602' post='1473186'] Ashdown have just added [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3fFvTSqNsw"]this[/url] to their Youtube feed. [/quote] Finally a decent amp demo from Ashdown. Wonder why its taken so long? I hope they do more like this with their other products. Quote
skidder652003 Posted December 22, 2011 Posted December 22, 2011 [quote name='voxpop' timestamp='1276537918' post='867288'] No, I put in Mullard M8136 which is a rare military version of the ECC81 / 12AT7 which has a gain of about 60-70% of a ECC83. I like the lower gain, non overdrive, but very warm sound a Mullard gives. [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2NOS-Mullard-M8162-Special-Quality-ECC81-Valves-Tubes-/230486276363"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2NOS-Mullard-M8162-S...s-/230486276363[/url] Check out Watford vales for gain advice..... [url="http://www.watfordvalves.com/products.asp?search=8137&man=&page=2"]http://www.watfordvalves.com/products.asp?...man=&page=2[/url] [/quote] wow those M8136's are £50 a pop at Watford valves! Quote
BigBassBob Posted December 28, 2011 Posted December 28, 2011 Hi guys, I'm really curious about this amp. I've been using an ABM evo II for years but I never really use its fancy bells and whistles and I've had the valve itch for a good while. Are these amps pretty clean until you start to push the preamp hard? That youtube link makes it mighty tempting I must say! Quote
BigBassBob Posted January 4, 2012 Posted January 4, 2012 Any feedback guys? Really itching to pull the trigger on one of these Quote
franzbassist Posted January 4, 2012 Posted January 4, 2012 According to Guy at Ashdown the amp is designed first and foremost to provide a clean valve tone. Obviously if you push it hard it will break up, but by just how much will be influenced by a lot of variables in addition to where you set the gain knob (i.e. pickup height, strength of signal from bass etc.) Cheers Gareth Quote
BigBassBob Posted January 4, 2012 Posted January 4, 2012 Ah that's good to hear; I'm not after loads of grind but just a touch of warmth with a clean-ish sound. Quote
BigBassBob Posted January 5, 2012 Posted January 5, 2012 Out of curiosity, has anyone compared this to the ABM series? Quote
franzbassist Posted January 6, 2012 Posted January 6, 2012 [quote name='BigBassBob' timestamp='1325805225' post='1488227'] Out of curiosity, has anyone compared this to the ABM series? [/quote] Yes, I have. The 550 is naturally warmer, but it isn't boomy, just lots of lovely creamy tube goodness. The top end is especially nice, bright but not brittle or harsh. When you turn the gain up and push the volume it's very punchy, really cuts through nicely and gives that big "umph" people like to feel. To my ears at least, the ABM sounded thinner when I was A/B'ing them against each other. OK, so the EQ is nothing like as comprehensive as the ABM series, and the passive EQ takes some getting used to, but for what it is the 550 is a great amp. I certainly liked it enough to sell my ABM. Cheers Gareth Quote
BigBassBob Posted January 6, 2012 Posted January 6, 2012 Thanks very much Gareth. From your words I think this amp may have to be ordered lol. I noticed you said that it's naturally warmer than the ABM; to me that's a good thing but is it warmer to the point of having far less clarity overall in comparison to the ABM? I didn't mention it but I run my amp practically flat with a slight boost across everything (essentially 13:00 on all EQ, some valve dialled in for warmth.) I've never been a big fan of extreme EQ-ing (I EQ to the room usually) and I like to think my tone comes from the hands. So long as the flat frequency response is similar to the ABM I should get on with it. What do you reckon to its sound flat? I'll probably end up ordering it from somewhere with a 14-day returns policy or something. Either way, I'll be keeping the trusty ABM as a backup. Cheers, Bob. Quote
BigBassBob Posted January 6, 2012 Posted January 6, 2012 Also, are you running your Spyder into a 2x12"? Quote
franzbassist Posted January 6, 2012 Posted January 6, 2012 It's warm but certainly not muddy. Like you, my ABM spent most of its time with a flat eq, and the flat eq on the Spyder is very nice, in fact so far I have just used it flat, or with a slight increase in bass and treble and a slight mid cut, nothing extreme at all. I've used my Spyder with my LB212 and one or both of my Mini-Neo cabs; sounds great through all! Should also mention that a tube upgrade is well worth it. The stock Chinese ones really didn't do it for me... Quote
BigBassBob Posted January 6, 2012 Posted January 6, 2012 Thanks for the response! Okay, I'm practically sold on this head now. Funnily enough I've been looking at various 12ax7s/ECC83s for a while now so I have a few ideas of what could go in the pre. What didn't you like about the stock tubes and what did you replace them with? Quote
franzbassist Posted January 6, 2012 Posted January 6, 2012 I was struggling to get any overdrive from the amp so was just experimenting with other valves. I've just popped a couple of JJs in there for now, but I have loads of vintage Mullard, Brimar and Phillips (which I got for my LB30), so will try different ones over time. Might try new Tung Sol too, as they worked well last time I tried them. Quote
BigBassBob Posted January 6, 2012 Posted January 6, 2012 Ah cool. I like to get my slightly overdriven sound by pushing a preamp with a boost or using a hint of OD. I'll see how I get on with it stock and then look at changing the tubes (thinking about some JAN Philips 5751s as I'm after a clean sound.) Are the preamp tubes a pair of ECC83s or an ECC82 and ECC83? I've seen two different specs online and as far as I know 82s and 83s are actually spec'd differently. Did you replace yours with ECC83s? Quote
franzbassist Posted January 6, 2012 Posted January 6, 2012 I put in ECC83s as they'd been stock in my LB30 and I thought they'd be a good match. I've just shot a quick video using my new Zoom Q3HD camera which I'll upload in a minute. Quote
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