Ashdown ABM broke down at the gig...

[CaptainWally]

there seems to be no rhyme or reason to it..... the ABMs seem to have the most problems oddly....


As far as bashing Ashdown...... I gave them a fair shake... and still endorese them for the most part..... but I cant in good concience reccommend them without a stern warning.....

I've spoken to Martin on many occassions. Awesome guy... will do anything for you.

Hi Pablo - thanks for chiming in. I reread the "taco sauce" thread this morning with great interest, and I agree you gave them a fair shake.

I'm going to take a cue from your example and just proceed in good faith. They are really friendly folks at Ashdown and that goes a long way. Let's see what they can do for me...

 

[emjazz]

I bought the damn thing cuz you kept recommending it.... so really its all your fault!!


hahhah JK bro you're the best

Ha! Yeah, that's true. I sure do love those amps.

 

[JAUQO III-X]

They are really friendly folks at Ashdown and that goes a long way. Let's see what they can do for me...

If you follow thru,you will be taken care of.

 

[J.Wolf]

I guess it'd be a good time to take a long look at that Thunderfunk you've been pondering over eh Wally?

In all seriousness that SUCKS dude. What did you end up doing for the gig?

 

[FaithNoMan]

If you go on Harmony Central, you can see that Ashdown has greatly improved their reliability, but those early ABM owners have many "breakdown" stories...

 

[CaptainWally]

I guess it'd be a good time to take a long look at that Thunderfunk you've been pondering over eh Wally?

In all seriousness that SUCKS dude. What did you end up doing for the gig?

I ended up playing to over 200 people for 1.5 hours through the PA and it sounded like sonic poop. But the show must go on!

Don't think the the TF hasn't crossed my mind! First I want to see if I can get this rascal functioning again, then I'll decide how to move forward. The Ashdown sounds can be pretty sweet, so I'm not in a hurry to give up on it yet.

 

[ErnieD]

I hate to see these bad stories on the ABM's cause a couple years ago I returned a new SWR 750x when it crapped out at a gig the same nite I bought it. They offered me the Evo 500 II RC in its place ( I will not shop at a no cash refund store ever again) and I just loved the sound of this amp. My bandmates and even some audience all mentioned they loved my sound on stage, no PA support for me back then so I was pushing some air thru my SWR 4x10 & 1x15 cabs, and I too loved my sound. I was beaming with pride over coming across this amp by chance after my SWR problem. I've said here before though about 2 mos later VU meter lite went out. No biggee I know but I wanted it to work darn it. Called Ashdown in NY, I believe it was Mark, maybe Martin sent out a new bulb for free, cool. Then a few days past 12 mos of ownership the whole amp just fizzled out at a gig. Took it back to store they sent it off to Ashdown NY, a few weeks later again Mark/Martin sorry, called me at home to say they would try to do it under waranty, again cool. Got more calls several months later saying it came back to store but had not been fixed so it went to the Dallas, TX repair center then back again to the NY repair center, not too cool. Luckily, back when I had returned the Ashdown to the store they let me take a GBE 600, about 10 months into it the store called to ask,"Did I want come get my now repaired Ashdown or just keep the Genz-Benz". Still have they GBE 600 to this day, still lovin it, no worries and geat customer support. But now I am looking for a combo amp and see alot of Ashdown combos online that could fit the bill but man my experience gives me great pause to buy Ashdown again, sure would be nice to have that tone again, so we'll see. More leaning to an Ampeg combo due to reliability and mainly low cost to purchase new. Good luck with that, sure hope they can take care of you, they sure seemed to try with me back then, that amp just would not cooperate. Peace.

 

[CaptainWally]

I hate to see these bad stories on the ABM's cause a couple years ago I returned a new SWR 750x when it crapped out at a gig the same nite I bought it. They offered me the Evo 500 II RC in its place ( I will not shop at a no cash refund store ever again) and I just loved the sound of this amp. My bandmates and even some audience all mentioned they loved my sound on stage, no PA support for me back then so I was pushing some air thru my SWR 4x10 & 1x15 cabs, and I too loved my sound. I was beaming with pride over coming across this amp by chance after my SWR problem. I've said here before though about 2 mos later VU meter lite went out. No biggee I know but I wanted it to work darn it. Called Ashdown in NY, I believe it was Mark, maybe Martin sent out a new bulb for free, cool. Then a few days past 12 mos of ownership the whole amp just fizzled out at a gig. Took it back to store they sent it off to Ashdown NY, a few weeks later again Mark/Martin sorry, called me at home to say they would try to do it under waranty, again cool. Got more calls several months later saying it came back to store but had not been fixed so it went to the Dallas, TX repair center then back again to the NY repair center, not too cool. Luckily, back when I had returned the Ashdown to the store they let me take a GBE 600, about 10 months into it the store called to ask,"Did I want come get my now repaired Ashdown or just keep the Genz-Benz". Still have they GBE 600 to this day, still lovin it, no worries and geat customer support. But now I am looking for a combo amp and see alot of Ashdown combos online that could fit the bill but man my experience gives me great pause to buy Ashdown again, sure would be nice to have that tone again, so we'll see. More leaning to an Ampeg combo due to reliability and mainly low cost to purchase new. Good luck with that, sure hope they can take care of you, they sure seemed to try with me back then, that amp just would not cooperate. Peace.

Word up....I think everyone is rooting for these guys.

I hope they can get me fixed up and I can turn this into a good (at least not bad) data point.

 

[emjazz]

Best tones I've ever had were with the Ashdown. Actually, the best tone I ever had was going directly into the Ashdown's power section bypassing the preamp. Unbelievable tone all night long. I was just listening to clips from that night again and I still can't believe how perfect my sound was. I was grinning from ear to ear all night. That power section is incredible. For my pop stuff the preamp was it.

 

[CaptainWally]

Best tones I've ever had were with the Ashdown. Actually, the best tone I ever had was going directly into the Ashdown's power section bypassing the preamp. Unbelievable tone all night long. I was just listening to clips from that night again and I still can't believe how perfect my sound was. I was grinning from ear to ear all night. That power section is incredible. For my pop stuff the preamp was it.

Dude, just get another one and keep your little Mark in your shirt pocket "just in case...."

 

[emjazz]

Dude, just get another one and keep your little Mark in your shirt pocket "just in case...."

If money allowed that's exactly what I'd do. I will own another 500EVOII. It just works in a group so well. It was also the biggest sounding amp I've ever owned. I constantly got comments on my sound with that amp.

 

[ErnieD]

I sorta heard that after my experience with that Evo 500, the store back in TX started carrying more Genz-Benz and pretty much stopped carrying Ashdown. Ouch never good, but I've not been in there again to verify that. Again, good luck to you and let us know how it turns out. Not to hijack here, but can anyone say if those MAG combos sound as good as the ABM's and are they holding up any better?

 

[JAUQO III-X]

The EVO's are not made in China yet, but they will be, The PCBs have always been made in China,at the same time as the current ABM moves to China a NEW EVOIII
range called Klystron is being 100 % made in the Uk and the Klystron will be FULL UK production They are the same power with a 4 way f/s and Compression switchable plus a few other changes.


NOTHING ABM has actually ever left China Directly yet, it all goes to the UK first, ALL cabs and Combos have been made in the UK totally as well as ALL speakers, however Ashdown have had ABM heads and electronics come to the UK first where they are tested and UK transformers are put in.

 

[BobWestbrook]

Can any good thing come out of the UK?

 

[JAUQO III-X]

Can any good thing come out of the UK?

Of course

I've been using Ashdown since they first came on the scene(close to 10 years) and I love the product and I have no plans to stop.

 

[McHack]

Can any good thing come out of the UK?

Elizabeth Hurley!

 

[CaptainWally]

So I put a new fuse in the power jack. I put in a 1A fuse. Guy was saying it would be a T8A, but I don't think that is right for the power jack is it? Can anyone comment?

Anyway, after putting in the fuse, I fired it up without the fuses in the output module. The amp fired up, which I believe is an indication that the problem lies in the output module.

So questions:

- My transformer says 110V on it. How would I be assured the output module is also intended for 110V usage? I couldn't see any writing on it. It does say "400W bass" on it, but I guess that's just a legacy printing issue?

- Do you think requesting a new output module is a good way to go? (assuming Ashdown confirms this is probably the problem) Has anyone swapped one of these out before? It doesn't look too bad.

I went to bed to early too call Ashdown last night, but I'll drop them an email today about this.

 

[JAUQO III-X]

So questions:

- My transformer says 110V on it. How would I be assured the output module is also intended for 110V usage? I couldn't see any writing on it. It does say "400W bass" on it, but I guess that's just a legacy printing issue?

- Do you think requesting a new output module is a good way to go? (assuming Ashdown confirms this is probably the problem) Has anyone swapped one of these out before? It doesn't look too bad.

With all due respect the best thing you can do is to contact Martin Burrows of Ashdown at
[email protected]

and all your questions and any other concerns you may have will be taken care of.

 

[Ste_m3]

I'll go with what everyone else said: Call Ashdown!


That said, do these problems, whatever they are, only occur in certain lines or across the board?

I have a ABM 900 EVO that I love and I've never had a problem with. I'm the original owner and that thing has seen a lot of stuff, so I'm curious. I am actually, once I get the money, going to take my amp to get it cleaned up (get the dirt and dust out from so much work and moving). I'm hoping all is well.

If it aint broke dont fix it!!! youll kick yourself if it satops working after that...

 

[CaptainWally]

With all due respect the best thing you can do is to contact Martin Burrows of Ashdown at
[email protected]

and all your questions and any other concerns you may have will be taken care of.

Already did, although I'd still like to hear any experiences or insights TB'ers want to offer.

Martin is probably in the pub or asleep at the moment...