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Ashdown MAG 250 vs 300

#4
no the 250s were made in england! 300s were made in china...trust me you wont notice the extra 50w and the 250s were put together better and more carefully but if you really want the 300w then go for it it is all still great tone and quality stuff. i have a 250 with a 410 cab and im looking to get a 115 cab to get full power but even with one 8ohm cab it runs around 175w and is loud enough to gig easily

good luck if you get one!
 
#5
The 250 was made near to Colchester in Egland - the 300 somewhere in China by guys earning £9 a week! Now I'm not saying that the Chinese amps are different, but

I run a 250 4x10 combo, and it's pretty loud for most indoor gigs and works much better with an extension - if it didn't keep overheating when I do that. Got a fan to install and hopefully get rid of the probelm.

And you could always go for an added active bass bin and keep adding to the volume like that.

Lastly - it's heavy - I have a sack truck - you look pretty wimpy wheeling in your amp - but you look even more foolish with these lumps appearing around your belly due to straining to lift the darn thing.
 
#6
Happy to read this thread as I'm just about to pull the trigger on a MAG 300 for my MAG 410T deep cab.

I got kinda excited with what I just read about the 250 - but then you mention the cooling issue. Looks like it's the fan cooled 300 for me.

I suppose if the manufacturing country mattered all the much to me, I'd wait it out and get an ABM, but as they point out in their literature, I'm a "busy semi-pro player who doesn’t require all the sophisticated tone shaping and connectivity of the ABM range". And I only have 300 bucks to spend.

Pretty great there's a good sounding, decent power, onboard DI head for $300 shipped, huh?

OSF
 
#7
I got the chance to speak to the owner of Ashdown a while back and he was really enthusiastic about what was coming back from China. He felt the product was just as good as UK built amps. I guess the fan / overheat problem was common as they have fixed it free and I've installed a small 12v fan they supplied.

If I were makng this decision again now, I'd opt for a powerful head MAG amp and build the cabs myself with some speaker chassis from Eminence. It's a bit of trouble to do this - but you get cabs that fit your transport exactly and they are a bit cheaper - don't forget that although the timber is cheap and the chassis are about $75 each, there's a whole load of handles, sockets, badges, screws, covering, glue, grill material and tools to pay for. I think a lot of amp manufactuers got into production by this route. In the 60's all cabs were sealed and everyone seemed to just take the dimensions off a Marshall 4 x 12 and put whatever speakers they preferred into the box - change the color of the covering, change the grill from brown to grey or silver or expended metal - and off you go with your own brand.
 
#8
I have owned both a British built ABM and a Chinese built Mag 300 and, ironically, the only problem I have ever had was a mains hum on the ABM which was remedied by Ashdown at no cost to me.

I now run a Mag 300 2x10T Combo and a Mag Deep 1x15 and I cannot fault either in terms of sound, build quality or value for money.
 
#11
Ordered my MAG300 yesterday from samedaymusic.com! Pretty psyched. Should this perform the way I think it will, the next purchase will be the MAG 210T Deep cab. That with my MAG 410T should be a pretty versatile rig. Thanks for passing along the owners comments on the China quality...
OSF
 
#12
side question about ashdown:

on their site, the power ratings are only displayed as 307 RMS, or 575 RMS without stating impendance. however a bit lower down on the list of specs, it mentions minimum impendance, usually 4ohms.

so my question is, on the mag 600r. is the 575 watts at 4ohms? and what do you think it runs at 8ohms? somewhere around 400?

thanks
-Riley
 
#13
so my question is, on the mag 600r. is the 575 watts at 4ohms? and what do you think it runs at 8ohms? somewhere around 400?
Click to expand...

Sorry, an old unanswered question that I too would be very interesting in knowing. I'm currently weighing up whether it's worth spending the extra £200 for a GK 1001RB.
 
#16
I had an early MAG 300 C-115 and it was made in England (it says so on the back)
As pointed out above its 307watts in to 4 ohms and is nice and loud but i would go for the 600H (575 watts in to 4ohms) if you can afford it. the MAG's have a great sound but i would say they are more old school sounding and so arent the cleanest sound around. its easy to distort it once you get past 1 o'clock on the master.
I prefer the MAG sound over the ABM sound (and i always felt that the MAG was louder than the 325watt ABM i had)
 
#17
ukbassboy said:
Sorry, an old unanswered question that I too would be very interesting in knowing. I'm currently weighing up whether it's worth spending the extra £200 for a GK 1001RB.
Click to expand...

It depend on what sound you want and how much power you need
I got rid of my ABM 300EVO II as i felt it wasnt loud enough and i didnt like the EQ as much as my MAG and was going to get the GK but went for a MarkBass SA450 (500watts in to 4ohms) instead and im glad i did.
I think the GK and SA450 are about the same price but the SA450 is such a deep sounding amp that so far ive only used the filters and not the EQ. if you can afford it (£499 from the Bass Center) its worth looking at.
 
#18
Cheers Dave,
I dont mind too much paying £500+ for a clearly better amp but I can pick up the MAG 600R for just under £300 brand new which seems like an absolute steal! I have been weighing up the pros and cons of the ABM 500 Evo, Little Mark 2 and 1001RB but only recently stumbled across the 600. Unfortunately I am nowhere near a GK stockist so I would be buying blind but would really like a nice thick, warm sound from my amp. I am trying to find reason to splash out a bit and buy a 1001RB (£499) but am struggling to justify paying £200 more for only an extra 125w, especially having read some of your past posts supporting the Mags!
I would will be playing rock covers to small/med size venues so 1001RB is probably overkill, but god damn its great fun gassing for better gear than we need!!!
 
#20
ukbassboy said:
Cheers Dave,
I dont mind too much paying £500+ for a clearly better amp but I can pick up the MAG 600R for just under £300 brand new which seems like an absolute steal! I have been weighing up the pros and cons of the ABM 500 Evo, Little Mark 2 and 1001RB but only recently stumbled across the 600. Unfortunately I am nowhere near a GK stockist so I would be buying blind but would really like a nice thick, warm sound from my amp. I am trying to find reason to splash out a bit and buy a 1001RB (£499) but am struggling to justify paying £200 more for only an extra 125w, especially having read some of your past posts supporting the Mags!
I would will be playing rock covers to small/med size venues so 1001RB is probably overkill, but god damn its great fun gassing for better gear than we need!!!
Click to expand...

I would say (and its just my experience with ABM, MAG and MB) that the MAG600H would have a more rock sound but the ABM has a more warm and punchy sound and has more depth to it, plus it has the tube pre amp. The main reason i got rid of mine was that i felt side by side, through the same cab my MAG300 was louder and just a bit clearer. If i could have afforded the 575watt version (and i believe its around £650+) i would have kept it but i was running out of headroom with the 325watts. when my MAG broke down i was already thinking of getting a ABM and then there was a made rush to get a working amp in three days. had i seen the MAG600H i would have gotten that instead
Saying all that i find the SA450 (and i have used the LMII as well) to be the best of the three tone wise(again, for me). it can go really low but it stays clean which i didnt get from the ABM. plus the MB amps have the vintage filter which really does the bussines for a rock sound.
The MAG has the deep and bright switch and i tend to use the deep but not the bright. on the ABM the two are combined and i just didnt want to boost the highs that much. on the MB amps you get the VPF which is variable pre shap knob so its the only one of the three that you can control and i think you will find most users only really use the two filters rather than the EQ as the amps sound great flat. The SA450 has the same sound as the LMII but also has a parametric EQ so is more veratile than the LMII, plus it has a couple of other bits so i would recomend that over the LMII.

But saying all that GK are THE rock amps (well, one of THE) and i doubt you can go wrong with one if your playing rock. most big bands i saw during the mid - late 80's used them, even Iron maiden. If i could have tried one i think i would have got one instead of the SA450 but im glad i didnt because i can get almost any tone i need out of the MB and its smaller and lighter. i play covers ranging from the old RnR through The Darkness, Bon jovi up to the Killers and Franz.
The is a definate advantage to going for louder than you need now although you can always add a power amp if you need more.
most of my gigs i play at just over mid way on the master. with the ABM i started to get a bit of distortion but not really noticable out front, with the SA450 i play with the master just under mid way and the tone is clean and solid (i am using a 1210 though)
Hope that helps. i have a few live recordings of both the LMII and ABM going through my 1210 if you would like to hear them. just give me a email address
 

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