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It sounds like you could tell us if that’s the case.

Overview. This gear review covers the Ashdown Limited Edition ABM 400. Up until this year (2025) I had never owned an Ashdown amp. I had played through a few that were provided as backline over the years, who hasn’t right, but I never formed an opinion on them if I’m honest about it. They were what was there, were what I had to play through and that was that. I had been using amps from another manufacturer up until January but after experiencing a complete lack of customer care and service from that manufacturer I was completely put off from using their amps. This isn’t the first time this has happened either. Back in 2012 I was having problems with an amp from a different manufacturer and getting it sorted out was so difficult and stressful, not to mention incredibly expensive and time consuming, that I moved away from using them at that time. I’d been thinking about Ashdown amps on and off as I had been hoping that, given that they are a UK based company, in theory getting issues sorted relatively quickly and easily should be achievable. After emailing Ashdown to ask some questions and the esteemed Dave Green giving me a call to discuss them I pretty much made up my mind that I wanted to go with Ashdown amps. The fact that their UK HQ is 90 minutes down the road was also a bonus. I now have 2 Ashdown amps, the Limited Edition ABM 400 that I’m reviewing here and a 12-Band 600. I got the 12-Band 600 first and it was pre owned but I shall review that in another post. It’s worth mentioning however, that it was how impressed I was with the 12-Band 600 that encouraged me to go for the Limited Edition ABM 400. Disclaimer: I’m just a dude who gigs in a few projects and bands, I am by no means a professional reviewer. All views are my own and I have not received any payment or other incentives to write this piece. Build Quality. The Limited Edition ABM 400 is made in the UK and comes with an FS4 footswitch and all in a custom flight case that is numbered and signed by Ashdown founder Mark Gooday. The flight case is a serious bit of kit with heavy duty metal corners and catches. The inside is custom cut for the amp so it cannot slide around, meaning that the amp is very well protected indeed. Although I haven’t weighed it, I would be surprised if it weighs less than 20kg once the amp and footswitch along with power cable, speaker cable and footswitch cable are inside. Although I was a little shocked by this when I first received it, I actually don’t mind because it’s got a strong comfortable handle and the amp is so well protected. The amp itself is built like a tank. It’s reassuringly weighty but not so heavy it’s too awkward to move, which is helped by it having a sturdy handle on the side. It has a nice textured coating and everything feels very solid. The footswitch is a standard FS4, so again, solidly built with a bit of weight to it so you don’t end up accidentally kicking it across the floor. As an interesting side note, when I was chatting with Ashdown’s Dave Green and asking about this amp, he told me that although it’s called a 400, it’s actually a 500. Basically, it has the modern pre amp and power amp as found in other modern ABMs but has the EQ features from the original ABMs. Dimensions & Power. Width, 19.5” (49.53cm) including rubber feet and handle. Depth, 13.5” (34.29cm). Height, 6” (15.24cm) including rubber feet. Weight: 12.2kg (just the amp, not in the case). Power: 250 watts into 8 ohms, 500 watts into 4 ohms. Knobs & Switches. One of the things I love about this amp is that, apart from the VU metre, it is so incredibly tactile. As a blind player this is fantastic as it makes my life so much easier. All of the buttons are of the push button type that stay in when engaged, making it incredibly easy to feel what’s what. The power switch is a rocker style and again, nice and tactile with a positive clunk when switching on and off. The knobs are all nice and large with a clearly defined indent to indicate what position they are set to. The EQ sliders are also nice and solid feeling with a centre detent. None of the knobs have a centre detent however, not even the Bass EQ, Mid EQ and Treble EQ knobs, which felt a bit weird to me given that the sliders do have a centre detent. Not that I’d expect the Valve Drive and Sub Harmonics knobs to have one of course. The Input Gain and Master Volume controls are notched which I honestly thought I’d hate. I have to say however that the notched Input Gain control in particular has been a revelation for me given my needs as a totally blind player. What it basically enables me to do is set the input gain for any of my basses incredibly easily simply by counting the notches. I got my long suffering wife to sit and watch the VU metre so that I could take a note on my phone for the optimum input gain control position for each of my basses. No more messing around with approximate positions and/or relying on other band members to help me get them set each time, brilliant! Amp Controls. Front Panel, from left to right. Input gain knob (top). Instrument input 1/4” jack (bottom). Flat/Shape push button (to right of instrument input jack, top): In position is flat EQ, out position boosts 50Hz and 4KHz by 8db and cuts 400Hz by 8db. Passive/Active push button (to right of instrument input jack, bottom): In position is active, out position is passive. Input level UV meter. Valve Drive knob (bottom): Blends valve drive tone with clean tone. When at the 9 o’clock position warmth is introduced to the overall tone. When at the 12 o’clock position some edge is introduced to the overall tone. Advancing this control past the 12 o’clock position introduces more and more valve overdrive/distortion. Note that the amount of valve overdrive/distortion will depend on the setting of the Input control. Valve Drive In/Out push button (to right of valve drive knob): In position engages the valve drive, out position disengages the valve drive. For this to be foot switchable this button must be at the out position. Bass EQ knob (top): Cuts or boosts 45Hz by up to 15db. 180Hz EQ slider (top): Cuts or boosts by up to 15db. 340Hz EQ slider (top): Cuts or boosts by up to 15db. EQ In/Out push button (underneath EQ sliders, bottom): In position engages the EQ section, out position disengages the EQ section. For this to be foot switchable this button must be at the out position. Middle EQ knob (top): Cuts or boosts 660Hz by up to 15db. 1.3KHz EQ slider (top): Cuts or boosts by up to 15db. 2.6KHz EQ slider (top): Cuts or boosts by up to 15db. Treble EQ knob (top): Cuts or boosts 7KHz by up to 15db. Sub In/Out push button (underneath treble EQ knob, bottom): In position engages the sub octave, out position disengages the sub octave. For this to be foot switchable this button must be at the out position. Sub Harmonics knob (bottom, to right of Sub push button): Turning this control clockwise increases the level of sub octave applied to the signal. DI XLR socket (top): Balanced DI to send to recording console, front of house etc. Pre/Post EQ push button (underneath DI XLR socket): In position is pre, out position is post. Mute push button (underneath Pre/Post EQ button): In position mutes output to any connected speakers, line out and DI. The tuner out is not affected to allow for silent tuning. Muting is only available using this button. Master Output knob: Controls the overall output volume of the amp. This does not effect the output volume of the DI. Tuner Output 1/4” jack (underneath master output knob, left). Line Out 1/4” jack )underneath master output knob, right). Rear Panel, from left to right. Power switch (top). IEC power cable socket (bottom). Footswitch 1/4” jack (top): Always connect the FS4 footswitch to the amplifier before switching the amplifier on. Line Input 1/4” jack (top): You can connect external sources such as mp3 players to this jack. FX Send 1/4” jack (top). FX Return 1/4” jack (top). 2x Speak-on speaker outputs: Minimum load is 4 ohms, class 2 wiring. FS4 Footswitch controls, from left to right. Valve footswitch: Engages or disengages the valve drive section. An LED illuminates when engaged. EQ footswitch: Engages or disengages the EQ section. An LED illuminates when engaged. Compression footswitch: Engages or disengages the internal compression circuit to a fixed compression level. An LED illuminates when engaged. Sub Octave footswitch: Engages or disengages the sub octave. An LED illuminates when engaged. Sound Quality. This amp is incredibly versatile. It does clean and crisp very well and because of its high head room, it has a wonderful level of responsiveness. It also handles anything from warm subtle valve tones all the way to full on valve drive thanks to its real valve stage. I particularly like that between the valve drive control and input gain control, there’s a lot of flexibility with what you can do with the drive section. The controls are sensitive to small adjustments making it very easy to find the tone you’re after. My absolute favourite settings are to have the input gain set so that the VU metre flicks into the red if I dig in hard, the pre shape engaged, valve drive at around the 1 o’clock position, EQ adjusted for the room and the sub octave not engaged unless the room really needs it. Regarding the sub octave. It’s not an octaver in the traditional sense, according to Ashdown it’s designed to be more of a tone thickener. To be honest, I haven’t needed to use it at all either in a rehearsal or gig situation. I have the tone I like already with the settings I mentioned above and it already sounds massive. I can imagine however that on an outside gig the ability to dial in some sub octave to thicken the sound could be incredibly useful. There are of course players who use the sub octave as part of their main tone and that’s all good too, it’s just not for me. Despite what I said a moment ago about the sub octave not being an octaver in the traditional sense, I have actually had some success in using it as such. We have a couple of tracks in my instrumental project that have parts featuring bass octave so as an experiment I cranked the sub octave on the amp up and used the footswitch to toggle it on and off and it worked a treat, particularly when playing higher up as you would with an octave pedal. Over all, this amp is powerful, can be clean and snappy, can do solid full tones and can get pretty filthy if you want it to. Obviously it’s a solid state amp so it will go damned loud and will not quit if you push it hard. Conclusion. I’m seriously impressed with this amp, it’s solidly built, goes very very loud if needed, is versatile enough to cover every style of music, has more features than you can shake a stick at and even comes in a very smart and extremely robust case. I’m only disappointed that I didn’t check out Ashdown amps much sooner than I actually did. I’m a big fan of solid state amps and this does not disappoint at all. If I were forced to find one thing that I would change about it, I’d prefer it to have centre detents on the Bass, Mid and Treble controls so that they and the graphic EQ sliders are consistent with each other. Having centre detents on EQ also helps me as a blind player, so it’s a personal preference thing really. The fact that it doesn’t have them is absolutely not a big issue at all though, it’s just me being extremely picky. If you are a blind player then it would be worth checking out any of the Ashdown ABM amps, as in terms of tactile controls that are nicely spaced out and chunky enough to actually find, they are all pretty much the same as far as I can tell. To find out more about Ashdown gear, visit their website at: https://ashdownmusic.com/collections/ashdown-bass-amps #BlindMusician #BlindBassPlayer #Blindness #PlayingMusicBlind #Ashdown #AshdownLimitedEditionABM400Review #AshdownABM #MusiciansWithDisabilities #ExperiencesOfTheBlind #BestBassAmpForTheBlind

I do that when I am quoting a quote.

I always add a line under a quote (apart from here)

As much as I love my Ashdown ABMs--which is a lot--I can't get away from the magic of my tube heads (Ampeg). Such a wonderful tech that still kills today. I know a person who uses a Bugera 100 guitar head for a bass amp. Sounds great.

Hi Steve, It's a tricky one, and I guess it all depends on what kind of a sound you personally prefer. From what I've heard of the M6, they sound slightly gritty, but better than the Ibanez EHB models. I really liked the sound of the Hils Next Bass BN5 models, but the Cort is still my personal favourite. They have a polite and hifi-sounding quality which is more up my street as a Status, GB & Jazz bass player.

I might have to get one of them myself

I do that too. Space space!

I don’t know what I am. I find it very awkward pushing my own creations, but will happily talk all day about other’s work, which I can’t help but be incredibly enthusiastic about. I like being a bassist and working with others, in a team for the betterment of a project or an inclusive passion; but I work alone as a teacher and am more than confident in my realm knowing both my worth and my sh*t for which I expect to be compensated for. I write, compose, journal, review, produce columns, professional videos, music and bass material for myself, session or freelance work. I get to do my ideal job, passion and hobby as my gainful employment and run my own business.Well over 35 years playing bass, over 15 it has been my sole income. Educator? Influencer (eurrghhhhh), Artist? Oh, I know, as my career’s officer actually said, “that’s all well and good Daniel, but what will you do for a real job?”

Hit the road Jack - Ray Charles

I keep wondering to myself how they stack up against the Sire M6. I still can't decide which (5 string) one to get ? 🤔