Wow! I noticed that this old thread has found new life, so I thought I'd toss in my 2-cents. I have an Ashdown product, but I got it in February 2005, which was long after this thread went to sleep... until now.
My Ashdown is a ABM500-RC Evo-II. I have two 4-Ohm cabinets: an Eden D410XLT, and a Bergantino NV215. Because of the handling capabilities of the amp, I can use one, or the other cabinet, but not both at the same time. The type of venue dictates which cab I'll use, but I seem to bring along the 215 most of the time. I also have a Marshall VBA400, which allows me to use both cabinets whenever I have the opportunity. Recently I bought a slightly used Aguilar DB750 from a friend who got shipped off to the Persian Gulf, and I can use both cabs with this amp, too.
What do I like about my ABM500-RC?
1. Price. I paid $999 for mine, but I've recently noticed these can be had for about a hundred bucks less than that now...
2. Power. This particular model is loaded with plenty clean, articulate power. They say it can pump out 575 watts... I believe them!
3. Tone shaping. There are enough dials and sliders in the EQ bank to get any tone your ears are listening for. I'm still fooling around with my tone with this particular amplifier, and, depending on which cabinet I take along, I know I'll be dialing-up a different EQ pattern each time. I like doing this...
4. Valve Drive Dial. To my ears, this thing works very well. I usually run it up to the 10 o'clock position, and leave it there. That seems to bring-in an underlying vintage tone. When I use my 215 cab, I'll usually push this dial up to 12 o'clock... or beyond
...and the Bergie cab really starts sounding like an old 60s / 70s classic rig!
5. Sub-Harmonics Dial. I've noticed where some have found this feature to be "...useless." I, on the other hand, have found some use for this knob. However, I do find that it sounds a whole lot better when I play with the 215 cabinet... a nice low-end rumble eminates from those drivers.
6. Looks. I think the Vu-Meter is just too cool! It gives this amp a throw-back 50s look, and I think it's very practicle, too. The chrome face of the RC model is also nice. Stage lights reflect off of it with a sparkle. I rack-mount this amp with a Korg tuner, and when I put the tuner in display mode, the running red lights of the tuner, along with the reflected stage lights off of the amp's chrome face are pretty impressive...
What is there not to like about the ABM500-RC... IMO?
1. Power Switch. It's located in the back... don't like that (my newly acquired DB750 has its power switch in the rear, too...
).
2. Tuner-Out. It's located in the front... I say it belongs in the rear (the Aggie has her tuner-out in the rear where it belongs!
)
3. Print Fonts. The printing on the face of the amp is way too small; particularly on the chrome-faced RC model. Now I realize some could argue that a true professional bass player should know what each and every switch, dial and slider is supposed to represent on his/her amplifier, so given that statement, who needs labeling on an amplifier face in the first place?
Well... the older you get, the more you'll need reference points. Trust me on this all you young little whippersnappers!
4. No Ashdown Authorized Dealers in Hawaii! This will be clarified below...
Okay... now comes an issue I am currently having with my Evo-II: 
As previously mentioned, I purchased my Ashdown back in February. I bought it online from zZounds.com, which I've found to be an excellent online company for music gear!
Not quite a month ago, during our weekly Sunday practice sessions, my Evo-II started giving us that "ozone" smell... like there was some kind of electrical burning going on inside. BTW, I started a thread regarding this very issue, but, unfortunately for me, no TB'er has responded.
Anyway, I shut-down the amp, felt around it looking for some excessive heat, but didn't feel any. We took about a 20-minute break, I fired the amp up again, and we finished our session. The smell seemed to go away, but you know I'm still wondering what the heck is going on with this thing...
Since there's no Ashdown dealer here in Hawaii (please reference what I stated above), I fired-off an email to Ashdown over there in Jolly Old England. I received a response the following day from a Martin B. In my email I explained in as much detail as possible, which included settings. Martin suggested I try a few things with my settings, and, should the problem with the "smell" persist, to email him again.
The problem definitely persisted, so I contacted Martin B. again. He replied the following day (gotta be the 12+ hours time difference between the two of us) by saying he felt I had a "weakened" transformer in my particular unit. Martin said he would send me a new transformer directly from Jolly Old England. He aplogizes to the fact that Ashdown has no Authorized Dealer out here, otherwise I could've simply taken my unit there for full warranty coverage.
I checked back with Martin about 10 days after he stated in his email that he was going to send me the transformer. He again responded the following day by saying they shipped it; however, he said they did so via Parcel Post. Well... I'm figuring that's going to take about 4 weeks to get to Hawaii!
So... a couple of conclusions here:
1. Customer Service. Thus far, Mr. Martin B. has immediately, and effectively responded to my emails; therfore I have to say that Ashdown cares about their end users... thus far.
2. I'm Still Waiting... Enough said there. I told Martin B. that, since we Yanks had a national holiday, Labor Day, in the mix, I would give my transformer until the end of next week for its arrival. He said that, if I don't get it by then, then I was to let him know. He would FedEx me one via Priority One, if that is the case... again, Customer Service is looking pretty good to me... thus far.
So... still have some time to give here. However, what must be kept forefront in the mind's eye:
is the "Weakened Transformer Diagnosis" the true culprit here???
If any of you that read my response to this thread are sincerely interested in the outcome, please reply. I only state this because no one responded to my initial thread regarding this matter...
Please stay tuned, and I'll let you know what happens...
