glassmoon

I've played with the Shape, and I find I can't quite make it up with the high mids - so I will just boost a little onboard too - besides, disco and funk is not all boom is it hahahaha

Wow, very lean on the low end, eh? My bass is at least at 10 past hahaha But that's awesome. Thanks nate, much appreciated 👏

Hey @Lozz196- happy new year mate! Quick one, what settings do you use for your clean?

Yeah @Merton, I agree that the input gain plays a massive role in how the drive sounds. It's definitely not an ABM preamp, which is a pity (IMHO). I've owned a few ABM heads (and would still own were they not so heavy) and I never found the drive so dependant on the input gain. I've no experience with the other heads, besides my Retroglide, so I don't know if the input gain influences the drive on those heads, or not. I'd be interested to know. But this is the best sounding preamp I've owned, and I've owned the MXR M81, Aguilar Tone Hammer, Fender Downtown Express, Radial Bassbone and a couple of others. Only the MXR was as transparent (again, just my opinion). I think this is a keeper....

Greetings and a very Happy New Year to you lot. Here's hoping that 2022 is a great deal better than the catastrophic year that 2021 was. My missus blessed me with the OriginAl for Christmas. As we were with family up in t'North for the last week, I've only just now been able to get 5 minutes to play with the unit. Now, I'm very much a first impressions kinda chap. If I don't get the hair standing up within a few minutes, I move on. Well, I had a few minutes, then a few minutes more... No hair standing.... Buuuuuuuuuuuut.... Then I realised that I was hearing the Ashdown sound, nothing more, nothing less. Then I got it. It's the classic Ashdown sound in a pedal format. It delivers 100% that classic sound. It is more subtle than I was expecting, but it's all in how powerful the mids are. The bass and treble tame the tone more than scope it, while the mids do a lot of the heavy lifting. The overdive....? I think it's safe to say that I'm a bit of a drive snob. I like precious little in the drive arena. The EBS multdrive being probably the best I've heard (for the record, I absolutely cannot stand anything in the D@rkgl@ss ilk). I've read a fair bit that some recommend swapping out the tube for something more subtle, and going on what I've just heard, I'd say that's probably a fair assumption. Having said that, I'm not going to be sweating it... I wanted Ashdown at my feet, and I've got it. Tomorrow I'll put this through its paces running into my Ashdown Retroglide head into the two 210 cabs. I play with the graphic flat, so I'm guessing things can only be bigger and better with the OriginAL up front. More to cone... Glassmoon aka Julian

Thanks guys. Yeah, I'm, as always, 100% behind Dave and the Ashdown lads,but I thought I'd run this up a flagpole and see what you all thought. This is going to be epic...Ashdown OriginAL into Ashdown Retroglide into 2 modded 210 Ashdown cabs (thanks @Lozz196). Now to get MORE GIGS!!!!!

Hi all I was blessed by my awesome wife with an Ashdown OriginAL pedal for Christmas. The paraphernalia in researching the unit, stated that it didn't come with a power supply, so we ordered an 18v unit from Amazon. Well, the unit did actually come with a 15v power supply. I emailed Dave at Ashdown who said to use the supplied unit, but I'm curious to know what supply is used by the players from basschat.co.uk. 15v or 18v? The unit says 18v on the chassis and nothing else in the manual (not supplied but downloaded). Anyway... My thanks in advance. Julian

3D print...hmmm 🤔

A. I am supremely jealous (in a good way of course) of that absolutely gorgeous bass. Wow, there really is nothing finer in my opinion. B. Thank you so,so,so much for the information. That is stellar of you. That has made my day, month and year @Ectoplasm.

Ah, many thanks @Pukie. I have seen something like that before... I will head over there right away

Perhaps a strange question, but I've been in love with the Ken Smith BT6 since I first saw John Patitucci'videos back in the mid 90s. Unfortunately, I've never seen one up close, let alone that I'll never be able to afford such a prize, but I am interested to know as much about these basses as I possibly can.... (dons geek cap) Body dimensions, overall length, etc. etc. Any information really would be so very much appreciated. Is there anyone who is ready, willing and able to pull out of tape measure for my bass nerdery? Kindest regards, Julian

Right... Quick (late night) post-rehearsal check-in. Positives: This unit is the real deal. It delivers better than expected. The EQ is solid, the compressor is better in the band mix, and the drive, coupled with an octave, delivers a usable amount of sizzle without too much "noise". It took me a while to dial in the kind of drive tone for the job (both with octave a la synth vibe and on it's own for the whole driven tube effect), but it does deliver more than less I believe. Not perfect, but usable. Negatives: I miss the musicality of my Carl Martin compressor and the MXR pre. Buuuuut, that is just because I was spoiled with those two units. Drive would be better served with a blend rather than a level control. I would like to have the ability to push the drive, with a fairly dark (less treble) tone. The drive I have is more than I'd like in order to actually hear the effect...and more can equal a less than "clean" sound. But that's a long way away from a real downside I'd like to believe. All in all, size, weight, ease of use and "the ear factors", make it a definite winner. I'd like to A/B this against the TC Electronic SpectraDrive. The TCE does have a 4-band eq, but no mute. And no tuner out to take advantage of the mute. I use a clip on which negates the mute, but as I use an active bass,the ability to save battery life by unplugging....well, you can see where I'm going. Happy boy here....

So, a new pedal - one to replace a couple - to lighten the load (my 50+ year old shoulders will thank me later) - and in general, as I strip away all the "need for more gear" part of my personality... Firstly, a huge thanks to @MattW for coming through on this deal - you are the man!! So I haven't played this in a band context (that's tomorrow evening), but these are my first impressions A. Build quality there is literally nothing I can say that is a negative on the build. Besides the fact that it is not lightweight as in, it's not a BOSS pedal if that's what you're wondering the brushed aluminum shell is stellar - and looks really classy B. Sounds The EQ is very usable. I particularly like how the mids sit with the SD MM pre in my bass - almost like they are doubling up on the frequency response... Bass: +/- 17 dB @ 35 Hz (This is a shelving EQ , not a peaking equalizer, so 35 Hz indicates where the boost is highest) Mids: +/- 19 dB @ 500 Hz (This is an RLC resonant equalizer, so there is a peak at that frequency. The inductor in the circuit creates some pleasing artifacts, particularly in the “cut” or CCW settings) Treble: +/- 14 dB @ 4.5 kHz (This is also a shelving EQ) I have used an MXR M81 for a long time now, and those are just gold IMHO, so doing a before/after comparison is perhaps not fair at all - the MXR is just lovely.... .... but I think if you want a nice EQ to add some smoothness and perhaps to boost the lows a little, this does the business rather well. The compression is very usable, but sensitive (I need to get used to the RMS thing) Having used a Carl Martin comp/limiter for the last 15 or so years, I have been unbelievably spoiled, but it's all about swings and roundabouts, and I can't say this is a massive step backwards. It is just not as musical ... I think that's it. But as I am playing with less and less (obvious) compression these days, I think this is a win. The overdrive is something that for me was just a "nice to have, maybe I'll use it, maybe I won't"... but it works really well with my octave to create a pseudo-synth vibe, which for things like Stevie Wonder and Bruno Mars, is actually now a big plus. On it's own, there isn't that much of a blend, so your own sound is not really "there"... but with the octave, it's a thumbs up. So yeah - not the most "bass the world" kind of review... more my first impression and opinion. I think this is definitely worth every penny of it's price tag, especially if you, like me, are looking to consolidate into a smaller, easily transportable footprint. if you want the best EQ, the best compression and the best OD, then sure, individual pedals are your thing - but that requires (more than likely) a pedal board, and that means weight... a compromise, absolutely... a worthwhile one, absolutely Julian

What an absolute beauty of a bass - I have seen many Sadowskys and this one is simply breathtaking!!!

Woah! What is that 5 string jazz???

Hey @M@23... Many thanks for the kind words. Yep, the stock pickup was replaced with the Delano and the 2-band EQ with a Seymour Duncan STC-3M3 3-band EQ. It is absolutely impossible to describe the richness of the tone! The 2nd cab is indeed a twin of this one. I've not yet played them in anger, but hopefully I will be able to soon. I am certain that you will be more than happy with yours, and yeah, you'll probably want the second one hahaha

First gig ever in the UK. A very big day for me. After years of playing in South Africa, I finally join the UK gigging scene, in Sarf Essiixxxx no less. Anyway, my rig. Ashdown Retroglide 800 head (what an amazing piece of gear). RM-210T-EVO cab (Ashdown upgraded the drivers to bring this up to 500W @ 8ohms). I could've brought both cabs, but there was plenty of gas left in the tank (volume at 9 o'clock). Excuse the lo-fi mobile phone picture.