Anyone played both an Ashdown CTM100 and an Ampeg V4b?

[wneff]

So...has someone found something that sounds like the LB30 but is louder?

 

[RoadRanger]

So...has someone found something that sounds like the LB30 but is louder?

I have the TAD EL84-STR tubes in mine plus a Fdeck Series 1 HPF in front of it into an old Peavey TVX 4x10 - loud enough for a band rehearsal and sets the max volume nicely . One of the high efficiency RevSound RS212 cabs with the "S" drivers would be my next step if I needed more.

 

[Wasnex]

So...has someone found something that sounds like the LB30 but is louder?

The CTM30 an LB30 are supposed to be the same amp wrapped in different cosmetics. For a short time Ashdown made a LB550 that paired the Lil Bastard preamp with a solid state power amp. No idea what it sounded like.

If you want all tube, the Ashdown 427 Small Block is probably about as close as you will get. The 427 was part of the Dual Tube Series which included the Touring 330 and Touring 550 which were hybrids

The 427 preamp is almost identical to the LB30 preamp, but some of the component values in the tone stack are a different. The 427 is the loudest tube amp I have ever played. Mine was benched at 425W clean before a precautionary mod recommended by Ashdown dropped the power to 375W. The preamp is not set up for drive and neither is the output section. Basically if you want the sound of the LB30s pushed output tubes, this is not the way to go, but the clean sound should be fairly close.

The CTM100 and CTM300 share a preamp design that uses 12DW7 tubes. It sounds a lot different than the Dual Tube Series in my experience...I own a 427 and a CTM300...I also own a couple of SVTs.


In my opinion the CTM300 has more lows and low mids than even my SVTs, but the highs are very subdued. Its as if the intent is to somewhat mimic the sound of an SVT and 810E through full range flat response speakers.

I find the CTM300 EQ is very challenging and frustrating unless you keep the controls under about 10 o'clock. The Mid shift actually changes the knee of the bass control rather than the mid range control. The bass control maxes out around 10. The Mid control becomes dominant around 10...meaning if you set it much higher than 10, the Bass and Treble control have no effect.

The Treble control is almost completely useless. In a way it kind of works backwards, depending upon where the Bass and Mid Range control are at. With Bass and Mid around 9, as you increase the Treble from 7 to about 10, the highs decrease slightly and there is a barely perceptible increase in low mids. As the control approaches around 2 o'clock, the bass starts thinning out. The bass become slightly thinner as you turn the Treble control to its maximum setting.

If you set the Bass and Mid control off and sweep through the range of the Treble control, it kind of makes sense. The Treble control reaches way down into the lower mids instead of just acting on high frequencies.

I recommend starting with the tone controls at 9 o'clock and keeping them between 7 and 11.

The other quirky part of the preamp is the Hi Low inputs work opposite of what you probably expect and the gain is very high for a bass amp.

Despite its quirks I think the CTM300 is a very desirable amp. It's bit lighter and slightly more powerful than my SVTs and seems intentionally designed to produce a heavy thick tone with lots of distortion. Tonally it has the SVTs low mid push but goes a bit deeper and doesn't produce the same grind in the upper mids.

The SVT and V4 EQ in comparison is very functional and intuitive. The controls all do exactly what you think they will do, and they do it very well. IMHO very few tube amps have a better EQ.

 

[freshbass]

Looking at getting either an Ashdown CTM100 or an Ampeg V4b, but unlikely to find both in a store locally. Can anyone give me an idea on similarities or differences between the 2 in terms of tone and volume?

They are both priced the same in the UK
BTW, i currently own an Ashdown Little bastard 30 and am happy with the tone, but the EQ isn't the easiest to work and it could do with a tad more juice

No experience w/ ashdown but I did own a brand new V4B reissue for about 2 days and took it back. Signal to noise ratio was above 80db.

 

[Mostyn]

No experience w/ ashdown but I did own a brand new V4B reissue for about 2 days and took it back. Signal to noise ratio was above 80db.

How does someone go about measuring such a thing? I wouldnt mind knowing how my amps perform too.

 

[Haymaker]

In my opinion the made in the U.K. Ashdown is the only choice based on the fact that the ampeg is Chinese junk. I dont care how good it sounds, it’s still made in China with lesser quality parts by lesser qualified people under poor quality control standards. $1800 for U.K. quality or $1500 for China? Haha come on ampeg, pretty sure you have lost.