Warm and deep is right up Ashdown's alley. To answer your question - what type of music is it for: well, IMO, short answer - everything. Usually, they are desribed as rock amps. It's because for instance, today's pop music usually requires a more hi fi clean tone. Or jazz music, seems to go for a cleaner tone. IMO you can play anything on Ashdown and those are just silly "standards" but I've heard them said by bassists. It does work incredibly well for classic rock/rock. I will not lie about that. I can also imagine it working really well for stoner/sludge/doom. They are also popular in UK's indie rock scene.
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Ashdown a good choice?
- Thread starter Jhclark
- Start date
I'm thrilled with the tones (wish this one had overdrive emulation...), and I feel like I'm in good company. Weight issues aside, I might become an Ashdown loyalist.
The ABM I saw used at the store just looked so inviting... I'll have to check out their tube amps if I get a chance, just so I can have something to drool over for a few years...
The ABM I saw used at the store just looked so inviting... I'll have to check out their tube amps if I get a chance, just so I can have something to drool over for a few years...
- Sep 5, 2011
- 774
- 130
- Disclosures
- Uncompensated endorsing user: fEARful
Multiple experiences with Ashdown stuff. I always loved the Trace Elliot sound. Very sticky fat tone, sounds like some sort of glue (I love that).
First experience I had was an MAG300 head. Not utterly impressing, but a good solid head at a decent price for the beginning bassist. I gigged an Ashdown ABM410 for 2 years and always liked the tone. At multiple moments I tested an Ashdown ABM evo3 head with it and always wanted that head to pair with the cabinet. Eventually I got infected with the DIY virus and built two fEARful cabinets, sold the ashdown cab (weight and performance reason) and switched to a poweramp/preamp solution. I still keep an eye on trace elliot and ashdown stuff in the second hand marked and try to get a good pre-amp of one of those brands (seems like nobody makes decent pre-amps anymore)
That ashdown stuff is not the very high class shizzle but ground solid and trustworthy. In my opinion you cannot go wrong with their ABM line. I doubt the prices of the all-tube amps, though
First experience I had was an MAG300 head. Not utterly impressing, but a good solid head at a decent price for the beginning bassist. I gigged an Ashdown ABM410 for 2 years and always liked the tone. At multiple moments I tested an Ashdown ABM evo3 head with it and always wanted that head to pair with the cabinet. Eventually I got infected with the DIY virus and built two fEARful cabinets, sold the ashdown cab (weight and performance reason) and switched to a poweramp/preamp solution. I still keep an eye on trace elliot and ashdown stuff in the second hand marked and try to get a good pre-amp of one of those brands (seems like nobody makes decent pre-amps anymore)
That ashdown stuff is not the very high class shizzle but ground solid and trustworthy. In my opinion you cannot go wrong with their ABM line. I doubt the prices of the all-tube amps, though
I played with a MAGC210T combo.
It´s not bad but just isn´t my thing. I usually find this combos in some tries for hours. It´s a cheaper option and they are hard as a rock.
I never felt allright with his sound, but I can tell you that it´s versatile. I played with this combo several times in my soul cover band with my PBass. I know his equalizer so can get some tones easily. But the quality of all those sounds don´t rocks to me, but really aren´t too bad. Since of the 2x10", the lows are louder than I hoped and found his tweeter a litlle bit noisy for my taste.
It´s a decent choice for a tight budget but I think that any Ampeg is a better choice than this Ashdown, but expensive too.
Well, I payed 300 for my 115, and I could probably get an ampeg 115 for 200 locally, but it's 100 watts. There is also a 1970s solid state flip top near me for cheap, but I'm not sure the wattage.
What I do know, is this Ashdown I got used in the store is almost new condition, except the handle shows metal coming out of one side of the hold-down thing.
What I do know, is this Ashdown I got used in the store is almost new condition, except the handle shows metal coming out of one side of the hold-down thing.
Resurrecting an old thread I see the EVO III heads are now very affordable (IV about to be released) but I do if it would be worth it or not as a backup head as my preference would be for a clean preamp for putting through standard bass, bass with effects or synth bass/pads. I suppose I could just use the effects return. Often that is post EQ and pre-EQ DI, so I'd need to team that up with my own DI and EQ which is OK. So it would be a power amp with a bonus preamp for occasional use. I'd be teaming it up with Tech (now TecAmp) cab
Or I could recover my old EB-180 head. Less power, though, but a cheaper option.
Or I could recover my old EB-180 head. Less power, though, but a cheaper option.
What I have learned since using a few different amps (the EB combo ended up being too heavy for me, I'm not a big guy), is that the speaker is where the majority of tone comes from, followed by the cabinet. Next thing that makes the biggest difference is strings, then pickup type, then preamp, then power amp.
That has been my experience over the past year of experimentation and subsequent experiments with computer simulators to test my understanding.
That said, if you are happy with the way your speakers reproduce the sound you want, as long as the power amp has enough wattage, you will be fine.
Of course in the end, I will end up with an Ashdown setup, because I LOVED that sound, and now I know it was the speaker/cabinet. Now that they are making lightweight combos (to rival TC and Fender) I wonder how much the tone will change now that they're not using solid wood for cabinet construction...
That has been my experience over the past year of experimentation and subsequent experiments with computer simulators to test my understanding.
That said, if you are happy with the way your speakers reproduce the sound you want, as long as the power amp has enough wattage, you will be fine.
Of course in the end, I will end up with an Ashdown setup, because I LOVED that sound, and now I know it was the speaker/cabinet. Now that they are making lightweight combos (to rival TC and Fender) I wonder how much the tone will change now that they're not using solid wood for cabinet construction...
I briefly tried an Ashdown combo (the head was actually the head from the combo after the death of the speaker part of it) and it was too heavy and hard to wield. The sound was ok, if a bit muddy - no horn. Fine for traditional tones, though. I did try the EB-180 head as a preamp for a while, and that seemed reasonably fine, although warm, but I don't have it to hand to test.
My current amp sounds great through the Tech cab. But a cheap backup amp on what seems to be a close out deal might be too good to pass on. The built in compressor is a handy feature for onstage monitoring (assuming main feed might go to FOH depending on venue size) when considering potentially peaky effects/synth, etc.
My current amp sounds great through the Tech cab. But a cheap backup amp on what seems to be a close out deal might be too good to pass on. The built in compressor is a handy feature for onstage monitoring (assuming main feed might go to FOH depending on venue size) when considering potentially peaky effects/synth, etc.
I have been gigging with the same amp you bought for years. IME it is versatile and hard working.
I don't own it anymore, but I wish I still did. If I find another in good condition, I think it will find a home in my recording studio. I'm sure I can catch a few clients off guard with an amp they're not familiar with, and then impress them (and then just use the DI signal anyway haha).
But if you have the strength to lift and cary one, I think they're amazing. Surprised this thread got rezed - I forgot all about it, and now I miss it
But if you have the strength to lift and cary one, I think they're amazing. Surprised this thread got rezed - I forgot all about it, and now I miss it
Well the main reason I got rid of it in the end was that it was a bit much loading it into the back of a small car so I decided to go back to separates. Then after an ebay and post office incident it did become a speaker cabinet and separate head...
Edit: Ashdown was very helpful in talking through a claim with the post office. But it turns out (and Ashdown told me this as presumably they have experience with it) that unless you mark a package 'fragile' it may go over a 6 foot drop at some point and they suggested that a around a 6 foot drop was required to break the top section of the combo. I don't think anyone here is likely to deliberately test that!
Edit: Ashdown was very helpful in talking through a claim with the post office. But it turns out (and Ashdown told me this as presumably they have experience with it) that unless you mark a package 'fragile' it may go over a 6 foot drop at some point and they suggested that a around a 6 foot drop was required to break the top section of the combo. I don't think anyone here is likely to deliberately test that!
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I have been gigging with the same amp you bought for years. IME it is versatile and hard working.
I see you have matching blue tape in case anything blue falls off
When I had a Trace Elliot head I created foam padding to fit snugly in the front and rear of the sleeve to protect knobs and so on, and found some matching bright green duct tape to cover it all. It's definitely something I recommend for people. I built it up out of two or three layers of a yoga exercise mat glued together such that the knobs fitted into recesses, and then covered that in tape to bind it all together.
