Jestermab

Well if you got it from Drew then, yes you did have my old VS212! That cab was brilliant with the Ashdown.. I didn't really want to separate the set but as i'm selling the Ashdown drophead theres no need in having both. I have an AD200 and an orange bass terror with orange isobaric and a 115 Markbass.. One thing I have definitely noticed is that the mids and the warm tones I was getting have vanished. I'm searching for a setting to mimic this but not having much joy. Its a shame as the tones the ash down could produce are what I love so much about it. Just the 30w head could not cut it in medium sized gigs.. Of course 200watts of valve power and 1000w of cabinet headroom give me plenty of power, those sweet discernible tones are being sorely missed!! I hope you enjoy it!

I have a Little bastard drophead, which is currently for sale at Drews (Manchester Bass Lounge) it is a brilliant bit of kit and when teamed up with the 212 it has plenty of power. Ive gigged with it at Soundcontrol, Drybar and a few other places. I get the sound engineer to mic it up rather than DI as it bring out the best tone that way. The DI built in is too hot after halfway. The best thing about the amp is the tone... I have record with this through a 8x10 ampeg and it sounded ridiculous. Amazing quality sound. I have an Orange AD200 mkiii and 500w terror and the sound/tone doesn't compare.. Depends on what you want I guess

Please see my entry in Little Bastard on another thread re the drophead combo.. Sweet little amp!

I have the Ashdown LB-30 Drophead and owned it from new. I use an active German Warwick Streamer $$ bass. The tone I get from this combination is [i]ridiculous[/i]. Ive gigged at small to medium pubs and clubs and lovely big venues.. This amp is great but you need to do a few things to it to make it really shine in a gig situation. [list] [*]The first thing is to get the Ashdown specific 2 x 12 cab. I have tried others, BF GB TE Vanderkley etc but the VS 212 is the one that brings out the best tone. [*]Buy a clip on fan and aim it at the output valves, and remove the metal shroud. (This keeps too much heat in the valve zone otherwise) [*]Buy 4x matched Cryo Electro Harmonix EL84 output valves (15% bigger vacuum tubes) and replace the wooly sounding smaller JJ Tesla valves - Which IMHO are better in AC30's! (Watford valves provides the cryo EH tubes for £75) [*]Buy a phillips ECC82 (12AU7) valve approx £45 and replace this in the ECC82 slot (the other two ECC83 work fine) This give more definition in the played note and allows the amp to be driven HARD [*]Use a DBX compressor and dbx eq. This boosts the specific waves as a concentrated source - but dial out the clipping on the EQ and watch for the threshold breach on the compressor, keep the noise gate low. [*]Make sure your using proper heavy duty speaker 1/4 jack cables and speak-on to speak-on from the 15 cab to the 2x12 cab (helps with sensitivity) [/list] On average I used to go through output valves every 6 to 8 months at least... or i did until I fitted a clipped on fan to the handles on the side and pointed it at the output tubes. The tubes will last ages now, and I can drive it at virtually full power and get a nice warm sound with hardly any noticeable clipping. It gives great harmonics and can perform well. However, if at a large venue, the DI feed is very very hot and theres no ground lift or pad, it simple terms the amp volume has to be at noon and be heard through a monitor (which is totally crap) so I get the sound engineer to put a pencil mic on the horn and if possible two mic's for the 15 and just one on the 12. This is not always possible so I get them to mic just the 12. (That way you get to have a monitor of the 15 and 2x12 ) I have had the 15 mic'd and have destroyed PA speakers before now (SO stick to the 12). Also pedals make a great addition, I use a BOO instruments tremolo, Digitech chorus and TC electronics reverb and delay. I place in a 3 piece band and get a great sound from this set up. Sound engineers love this bass amp! Thanks, Mark