ardi100

I can trump them all. 2nd hand (new to me) RM 500 has a horrible crackling noise after getting it home. Email to Ashdown. "Send it back to the retailer," says Dave. "It's used," I reply (and it's well used, too. Scratched, dented, bent bits!). "Ok, send it in," replies Dave. So I do and it comes back but it's not fixed. I then take months to send it in again as I'm moving house, not really playing and can't find the box. Eventually I send it back on a Friday and it returns again on Wednesday (I'm only paying for the postage to Ashdown, by the way, they're paying to send it back to me), but again it's not fixed. I email a video of the fault and Dave calls me a couple of days later. "Throw it in the bin," he says. He then adds, "I'm going to send you a new 800!" I nearly fell over! It's a return, but checked out and fully working and was posted to me 2 days later. Needless to say I'm a massive convert and a proselytising Ashdown convert. I still can't actually believe that happened!

That looks fantastic! How did it sound?

True. I'm struggling to imagine another company in a different industry doing anything approaching this good.

So, when Dave called me he initially said to "chuck it in the bin," which I wasn't really happy to hear. He then told me he was sending me a 'new' (returned) RM 800 as he had one that was perfectly operational but had been sent back and that it would take too long to work out the exact problem with my RM 500. I was astounded! The new amp arrived today, works flawlessly and I am one happy camper! Incredible customer service.

Happy to help. Give us a report when you've got the stack up and running.

No worries, I'm waiting for a new amp to arrive, then I have to sell stuff to buy a cab, so I'm not really ready to buy yet. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/782813433297897/

I'm in the near end of North Wales! One of them was in Telford.

I've seen a couple of K212s up my way for around £150. I'm thinking of getting one myself.

He asked for my phone number today, so I'm expecting a call from him.

So, my RM500 has just been returned for the second time and it's still playing up. I contacted Dave at Ashdown and sent it in, it came back without a headphone button, but still crackling. Same with the last attempt. I don't know what to think, to be honest. I haven't paid anything (apart from postage) for repairs on a well used 2nd hand amp, which is awesome customer service. Equally, it has cost me £30 quid to post in twice and it's still not working. Thoughts?

I saw that on an eBay ad and assumed it was either a mistake or a guitar cab. Do they want you to connect up 4 cabs?

Thanks for all the interesting replies. I asked a few pertinent questions about gigs, rehearsals and where other members lived and was told (respectfully!) that I was probably too far away. Back to the drawing board for me.

I feel like 30-45 minutes is completely fine. In London that wouldn't even get you across town!

Using Google maps, it's an hour and 6 minutes to th centre of town!

A Join My Band wanted post has appeared with the perfect genre for me. It's around an hour's drive away. They gig regularly and I would assume that the gigs are in that area as well, but could obviously be much further away. This is one of the only ads that's really tickled my fancy (and I'm kind of already playing with one of the others) and there aren't many around here. So, how far would you drive for regular rehearsals and gigs if everything else was great?