King Tut

Yeah man!

Cheers Dave - yeah I get all that, but comparatively, my other heads with similar rating cope admirably (as I remember) through the single 4x10.

I picked up an Ashdown MAG600 from here earlier in the week and was keen to try it out last night. I think the model is an EVOIII although it's not labelled as such, it just has the 15th anniversary logo on the front and all the facilities found on the later MAG's. It's well equipped with the usual Ashdown VU meter and passive and active inputs. It has a five band EQ entered around very useful frequencies and deep and bright switches. The EQ can be switched in and out from the front panel. It has a one knob compressor and an octave down facility and overdrive, again switchable from the front panel. The distortion can also be operated with a foot switch. The Octaver is a bit of a waste of space - sure it works well and sounds good but without being able to foot switch it in and out you could only really use it for a whole song. On the back it's just got an IEC mains in and switch, two big fans and usefully, a pair of Speakon/Jack combo sockets - so all round, a pretty well equipped amp. I played with Stray, a fairly loud but not stupid loud, Classic Rock five piece at Leo's in Gravesend. It's a nice rock venue with a medium stage and a good sound engineer and PA. I was running the amp through an Eden Nemesis 4 x 10 which is an 8 ohm cab rated at 500W. I've used the cab with other heads and it's never been lacking volume, but of late, I've been running a 2 x 12 stack to get the sound closer to my ears (which are protected with ear plugs). Tonally, I bloody love the thing. The EQ, as mentioned is really useful and the tone is solid and clear but warm with a hint of grit when pushed. I played the first set with a Jazz Bass and the second with a Ric 4003 - two different beasts and the Ashdown really brought out that difference. In isolation I was over the moon with the tone. I had the deep switch in and each EQ knob pushed a bit past noon with a bit more top and high mid than the rest. Once we'd kicked off sound checking though, I had to really crank the master volume and by the end of the night it ended up around at around 3 o'clock. Bear in mind that with my Class D heads (A GK MB500 and a Bugera Veyron 1001T) I seldom get the master volumes past 11 o'clock - so this surprised me a bit. Having said that - the tone did not break up at all - it was sweet. I think - having not used the 4x10 for a while, the perceived lack of volume may have been down to all the sound coming past my knees. I know I was pretty loud cos the Jazz fed back a couple of times. I'm also going to experiment with not having the deep switch in, so I can drive the front end a bit more. To summarise - the amp is well equipped and easy to dial in great tone, but the verdict is out on for the time being on volume. I'd be interested in the collective opinion on my observations.

Played with Stray at The Red Lion in Gravesend. We had a reasonably sized and very enthusiastic audience - a great night. One young lad turned up with his dad and a bag full of LPs. He told Del he'd been listening to them all his life and asked him to sign them as they were his inheritance. I used a new (to me) Ashdown MAG 600. It was paired with a Nemesis 4x10 and I was keen to try it out. The tone was absolutely to die for, but to be honest I had to massively crank it to hear myself. To be fair, I wear earplugs and I was standing close to the cab so mebbe it was all passing my knees, but it didn't sound like a 600W head to me (or whatever it is into 8 ohms). I'll persevere with it though and try it with a taller 2x12 stack next time. I think having the deep switch in might also have limited the amount I could drive the front end - hope I can make it work for me as it sounded schweet. Anyway - last gig of the decade for me, next up we'll be supporting Hawkwind in January at Minehead 😎😎

I've just bought a MAG600 Evoiii off here for not very much. Sounds amazi g at home so gonna gig it tonight in Gravesend with Stray. Fingers crossed!

All those classic recordings with J's and P's wit BBOT bridges . . . . Oh my they sound dreadful 😉

Was wicked - my first!

Lent mine to our support act at The 100 club last Friday. A Classic Rock band. Sound engineer asked him to turn it down!!

This one's really nice, taken at Stray's recent gig at The Stables in Milton Keynes.

Following!

In my current band, my band mates are best friends. In most of my other bands they've been friends. I've had a couple of 'colleague' band mates. I've been pretty lucky.

Just thought I'd post on here for anyone doubting whether an Elf is loud enough to gig with. Last night we were playing at The 100 Club in Oxford St. Hugh - The bass player from the support band - the excellent 'Pig Iron' had asked if he could use my rig, obviously to save bringing a car into London. I'd set up my Elf as a spare and sat it on top of the amp I was using. After we'd sound checked, I had the idea of swapping the amps over so that Hugh could use the Elf and dial his sound in without us having to worry about getting my settings back at changeover. I put this to Hugh and he was quite happy - I was more than willing to let him use my main rig if he didn't think the Elf would be loud enough. Anyway - it was set up going through a Barefaced Big Baby 2, which was sat on top of a little Eden EX112. Hugh was playing a Rik straight into the amp. It sounded like a Rik should in a rock band, warm - defined and growly. Any worries I had about it being loud enough were dispelled when the sound engineer asked him to turn the rig down! It sounded great. So if you're playing with PA support and the stage isn't mahoosive, and you're using efficient cabs - then yes - the Elf is plenty loud enough.

Beauty

Wowser!

I've recently bought a Bugera Veyrom 1001T, planning to write a review soon. Cost about £260 - the 'M' version is cheaper (and probably more versatile). I wanted an old school tubey warmth and this delivers. It's as loud as you'll probably need - I'll be using it for all kinds of venues - and judging by users comments, seemingly pretty reliable. Gigged it for the first time at Cornwall Rocks festival on Sunday and had s number of compliments on my tone!

Welcome Aaron.

Loved playing there. Had a gig cancelled once when a car crashed into the side of the pub!