I received my new Ashdown combo from The Bass Place on Monday. It was discounted to $435 shipped from the going price of $600 everywhere else. Since it's been a couple days worth of putting it through its paces and I don't see any talk from this combo series from Ashdown, I'm going to give my impressions on it.
First, the build quality structurally: I like the tolex, and the hardware used for this amp. It just feels like a higher quality product. Feels very solid. I really like the single deep dish Handle on top of the combo. You don't have to worry about a plastic strap ripping off, and makes it much easier to schlep from an ergonomic standpoint. Knobs feel very solid. Not a big fan of the push buttons for the overdrive, eq, compression, mute, and shape. I don't think it'll break real easy, but they're kinda dinky.
Features: It has a lot going on. I like the eq points for this amp. I also like that you can turn the eq on or off. So you can go with 2 distinct sounds with a press of a button. Mute is always nice. Compression isn't bad. I won't be using it much since I have a diamond bass compressor which I almost always leave on. I like the range of sounds from the overdrive. It can be subtle, to slight fuzz, to pretty aggressive. The sub octave isn't great IMO. The problem I find with the sub octave is having it at volume levels greater than bedroom jamming. I just can't see that effect being present enough in a live mix. Has speaker out for ext cabinet, line in for MP3 with level knob, and post eq di.
Volume: This is a sealed 12in combo amp. That being said, I don't imagine this having enough volume to play for anything other than small bar gigs. I have the volume at half just practicing at home and it's pretty loud, but with a drummer, and two guitarists, it'll probably get drowned out. With the matching 112 cabinet they offer, I think it could handle the small bar gigs with ease, and maybe some medium sized venues.
Since I also have a rumble 500 combo, let's see how they compare to one another:
They weigh virtually the same ~36lbs. The ashdown is roughly the same width and depth, but is quite a bit shorter. I find it easier to move the ashdown around.
I think the ashdown has better tolex and hardware. The rumble has a cheaper feel to it. I think the push buttons are dinky on both but the knobs are better on ashdown.
The rumble wins on volume. Should be no surprise since it's a ported 2x10 enclosure. Rumble has much more boom to it. It would be interesting to compare the 2x10 ashdown combo, but I'm told it's also a sealed cab.
Feature wise they're pretty even. Slight edge goes to ashdown. I think the overdrive is much better in the ashdown.
With overall quality time will tell. I've only had the rumble 1 year, and just got the ashdown. I think they're both great amps. Overall I'm glad I went ahead and ordered the ashdown when it was discounted. I can get sounds from the ashdown that I can't get from the rumble, and sounds from the rumble I can't get from the ashdown.
Thanks for reading! I hope this helps others!
Pics below with some size comparison:
First, the build quality structurally: I like the tolex, and the hardware used for this amp. It just feels like a higher quality product. Feels very solid. I really like the single deep dish Handle on top of the combo. You don't have to worry about a plastic strap ripping off, and makes it much easier to schlep from an ergonomic standpoint. Knobs feel very solid. Not a big fan of the push buttons for the overdrive, eq, compression, mute, and shape. I don't think it'll break real easy, but they're kinda dinky.
Features: It has a lot going on. I like the eq points for this amp. I also like that you can turn the eq on or off. So you can go with 2 distinct sounds with a press of a button. Mute is always nice. Compression isn't bad. I won't be using it much since I have a diamond bass compressor which I almost always leave on. I like the range of sounds from the overdrive. It can be subtle, to slight fuzz, to pretty aggressive. The sub octave isn't great IMO. The problem I find with the sub octave is having it at volume levels greater than bedroom jamming. I just can't see that effect being present enough in a live mix. Has speaker out for ext cabinet, line in for MP3 with level knob, and post eq di.
Volume: This is a sealed 12in combo amp. That being said, I don't imagine this having enough volume to play for anything other than small bar gigs. I have the volume at half just practicing at home and it's pretty loud, but with a drummer, and two guitarists, it'll probably get drowned out. With the matching 112 cabinet they offer, I think it could handle the small bar gigs with ease, and maybe some medium sized venues.
Since I also have a rumble 500 combo, let's see how they compare to one another:
They weigh virtually the same ~36lbs. The ashdown is roughly the same width and depth, but is quite a bit shorter. I find it easier to move the ashdown around.
I think the ashdown has better tolex and hardware. The rumble has a cheaper feel to it. I think the push buttons are dinky on both but the knobs are better on ashdown.
The rumble wins on volume. Should be no surprise since it's a ported 2x10 enclosure. Rumble has much more boom to it. It would be interesting to compare the 2x10 ashdown combo, but I'm told it's also a sealed cab.
Feature wise they're pretty even. Slight edge goes to ashdown. I think the overdrive is much better in the ashdown.
With overall quality time will tell. I've only had the rumble 1 year, and just got the ashdown. I think they're both great amps. Overall I'm glad I went ahead and ordered the ashdown when it was discounted. I can get sounds from the ashdown that I can't get from the rumble, and sounds from the rumble I can't get from the ashdown.
Thanks for reading! I hope this helps others!
Pics below with some size comparison:
