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NEW Ashdown OriginAL Valve Pre-DI Pedal

#42
New youtube video posted -



Also, there's a good review on Sweetwater. I'm still waiting until I hear more. I'd like to see a youtube video where they slowly change all of the knobs, and adjust gain from clean to overdriven, etc. How clean can it go? Does it do various shades of light overdrive well? Will it slowly go into more overdrive?

I do like the fact that it has low mids and high mids.

Waiting until I hear more or my local shop has one I can try ...
 
#43
So, regarding the gain issue, maybe they used the wrong taper potentiometer? Like used audio taper when they should have used linear taper? or vice versa?

Full on or nothing sucks. I could live with headphone hiss, but the gain issue sounds like a deal killer to me anyhow.
 
#44
Wow this sounds like a bummer. Hopefully it's just launch bugs. If the preamp EQ is anything like the ABM pre, it should provide amazing tweakability.

The subtleness or lack thereof from the tube drive is totally dependent on the input level for the ABM series. I play hard so to have more dynamics and less tube sag/compression (which this drive can deliver in spades), I have to turn the input way down. Never had an issue with it, but I like the design a lot. I'm guessing people may not be used to it, but the VU meter on their amps really help dialing in how dynamic or compressed you want you input to be.

I highly recommend someone who tries one to play around with the input (of the pre, not drive) before giving up on it.
 
#47
I know this thread is old, but I wanted to ask if anyone of you still use it. I'm in love with the Ashdown tone (I am a user of the ABM, the Rootmaster and the Spyder) but I'm going ampless lately and I want to keep the Ashdown. I currently use a Tone Hammer (and I don't have any complain about it) but I want to try this Ashdown OriginAL. I cannot find it anywhere here in Europe, only in Gear4music in UK and it costs 400 bucks, which seems expensive if you look at its direct rivals.

Does anyone use the OriginAL preamp?
 
#49
SaucyJackBass said:
Well I've had it now for a week and.....
1) The unit does not come with a power supply assuming you will run it through a pedal board. Not ideal at all.
2) The valve gain is a very specific sound, it is not very dynamic. It is all or nothing.
3) The DI is clean and sounds great outside of the valve gain

Worth the money? Not for me. I wanted to be able to merge valve in and out of the sound rather than all or nothing. There are other DIs that are much cheaper.
Click to expand...

My experience:
1) my unit definitely came with a power supply. Are there two versions of it?
2) Agreed
3) Agreed.

I think you can definitely merge the tube in and out but it is definitely not the kind of sound you can play lightly and get less overdrive and dig in and get more. It’s definitely all or nothing in that since. Doesn’t bother me, but I could see how some wouldn’t like it.
 
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#51
carsonchilders said:
Has anyone figured out their most ideal input gain setting? I know it varies bass to bass, but it doesn’t seem as intuitive as I would think.
Click to expand...

Granted I don't have this pedal, but an ABM, I always set the input lower. Like 9 o'clock or lower, this was in part due to having most of the EQ boosted and playing with a heavy hand. Any higher and most times it would clip in a bad way.

On a side note, see my reply above about the drive channel. I recently tried lowering the input a bit more and turning the output up. Helped with the fizziness at lower volumes, but when I turned the output up more, the dirt from the drive opened up and would go from lightly wooly to heavy distortion depending on how hard I played. Very dynamic and full. Not sure if that's what you need to do to get useable dirt or if the amps are just different.
 
#52
Novarocker said:
Granted I don't have this pedal, but an ABM, I always set the input lower. Like 9 o'clock or lower, this was in part due to having most of the EQ boosted and playing with a heavy hand. Any higher and most times it would clip in a bad way.

On a side note, see my reply above about the drive channel. I recently tried lowering the input a bit more and turning the output up. Helped with the fizziness at lower volumes, but when I turned the output up more, the dirt from the drive opened up and would go from lightly wooly to heavy distortion depending on how hard I played. Very dynamic and full. Not sure if that's what you need to do to get useable dirt or if the amps are just different.
Click to expand...

Thank you. I think one of my struggles with this is if you don’t have the EQ active the whole pedal is muted instead of letting the dry signal go through!
 
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