JGSpector

I have one of the 25th anniversary ABM 400 as well. I called Dave Green to ask some other questions about different amp options and when we got to talking about the 25th anniversary 400 he actually told me that although it's labelled as an ABM 400, it's actually a 500 watt power section. The amp is apparently based around modern pre amp and power sections but with the original EQ section from the original ABMs from back in the day. He also confirmed that the compressor can only be engaged by the footswitch and that the compression settings are fixed. I absolutely love the amp and really appreciate how solid the custom case it comes in is, the amp is well protected that's for sure!

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

oh excellent, thanks for the info, much appreciated

no problem at all. Enjoy the new amp.

Hi Andy. yes it does. I've never had a flightcase combo so i can't make the direct comparison myself. But certainly the smoothing out the signal and making it sound more 3D very much describes my experience with the compressor. I'm not sure that's necessarily helped but hope it's at least confirmed what you are thinking. Cheers, James

Hey all. I've just come into possession of an RM 800 EVO 3 and could do with a bag for it. What are you guys using for yours? I see there is an official Ashdown bag for the RMs but it doesn't mention the EVO 3 at all when talking about which amps fit in it so I'm unsure whether it would be okay

This review covers the SuperMini speaker cabinet from UK manufacturer Barefaced. I have owned a few different Barefaced cabs over the years but I now own a SuperMini so felt that it would only be fair to review a cab I still own and use on a regular basis. Disclaimer: I’m just a dude who gigs in a few projects and bands for fun, 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. Overview. I’m a huge fan of what Barefaced do and I have to say, getting a SuperMini has not changed that. I have owned a SuperTwin, a BigBaby III, a SuperCompact and a 210 and they were all absolutely fantastic cabs that made me smile every time I played through them. I did also have a SuperMidget at one point, which is what the SuperMini used to be called, but I rather stupidly sold it to help fund a new bass or something, yep, you guessed it, GAS again. Around the same time that Barefaced renamed the SuperMidget to SuperMini, they also made it available in two versions, the SuperMini which doesn’t have a tweeter and the SuperMini T which does have a tweeter. I hardly ever used the tweeter on the SuperMidget I had owned previously anyway, so the standard SuperMini appealed to me for several reasons. Mainly because I knew it would sound great but also its small size and weight due to it not having a tweeter really fit with what I need in the real world when it comes to a cab. Small but mighty. The SM is a 3rd generation 12XN model and the build quality, just like the other 12XN models I’ve owned is impressive. It’s incredibly well put together, tidy, very compact and looks awesome. It’s also comically lightweight. All of the 12XN models come with a black powder coated steel grill as standard but there is an option to have the cab built with a high strength silver or black cloth grill. The cloth grill saves some weight compared to the metal grill version as you would expect and the non tweeter version is around 1kg lighter than the version with the tweeter. The quality of sound is superb. Clear, responsive, punchy with nice tight lows and smooth highs. I pretty much always play 5 string basses these days and it handles the low B with ease as well as octave and envelope filter effects. I really like the tight lows as they seem to have more definition but I guess that’s more of a personal preference thing. I play in a rock covers band, a metal/atmospheric instrumental band and a function band. The SM works wonderfully in all three without breaking a sweat. What I particularly like is that, as with all of the 12XN models, whatever sound you put in is what comes out, just louder. I use an amp with a tube pre amp for the covers and instrumental bands and with the instrumental band I tend to use a fair amount of fuzz, octave and chorus. For the function band I use a pure solid state amp but also use chorus, octave, envelope filter, a little overdrive and fuzz, not all at the same time obviously but depending on the song. Because I’m playing all sorts of different sounds and styles the SMs ability to handle them all works brilliantly for me. Cab Specifics. Height: 17.5”. Width: 16.5”. Depth: 11”. Weight: 8.5kg (Cloth grill no tweeter), 9.5kg (metal grill no tweeter), 9.5kg (cloth grill with tweeter), 10.5kg (metal grill with tweeter). Max amp power: 600w RMS. Max output: 127db. Frequency range: 37Hz - 20KHz. Impedance: 8ohm. As a side note, you can even use the version with a tweeter as a high quality PA speaker by turning the tweeter all the way up. Barefaced sell top hat stands for this purpose. Summary. I’ve been using Barefaced cabs since 2017 and I haven’t looked back. They sound fantastic, have a small stage footprint, are easy to move and look great. For the bands I play in these days I just don’t need the big double 12XN cabs like the BigTwin III or SuperTwin. Even the larger single 12XN models don’t quite fit my needs these days because of their size compared to the SM, particularly when 2 SuperMinis will give me more than enough output for the larger gigs that I play whilst giving me a modular solution. The SuperMini whilst not able to give quite such deep lows as its bigger brothers the SuperCompact and BigBaby III, does produce tight thick clear lows that still beat larger cabs produced by other manufacturers. The fact that the SuperMini is small, weighs next to nothing but can handle up to 600w and just one of them can easily keep up with a loud band makes it a no brainer for me at this stage. Can it do massive lows like a BigBaby III can, not quite, but the lows it does are more than suitable for my needs. To find out more about the gear that Barefaced make, visit their website at: https://barefacedaudio.com/ #BlindMusician #BlindBassPlayer #Blindness #PlayingMusicBlind #BarefacedAudio #BarefacedSuperMiniReview #MusiciansWithDisabilities #ExperiencesOfTheBlind #BestBassAmpForTheBlind

i can't find one online no matter how hard i try. I've found the user manual and schematic but can't find the service manual. Any chance you can share a link to the one you found?

I don't think so. If that were the case loads of us would be blowing cabs all over place. For example, someone running a Trace Elliot Elf into an 8 ohm cab rated at 400w is only using the Elf at its 8 ohm power rating of 130w. There are dozens of players who do that and i doubt any of them have blown their cabs doing so. I'm not a tech guy but my understanding is that the power rating of a cab is the maximum power it can take within its limitations. So running 2000w flat out into a cab rated at 400w probably wouldn't be the best idea in the world, but running an Elf into that same cab would be fine as the Elfs power rating is less than the maximum that the cab can take.

Running into an 8 ohm cab that is rated at 600w won't be a problem with that amp because the 1000w power rating is at 4 ohms. So when running into an 8ohm load you roughly half the power rating of the amp. Regardless of that though, you can still blow any cab if you are over doing things like bass boost or running the amp flat out. As long as you use your ears you'll be fine. Might be worth looking at the TC Electronic heads too. A lot of people like them and they are very reasonably priced. I think they do an 800w model which might help ease your concerns about blowing other people's cabs a little as the amp would likely be running at around 400w into an 8 ohm load.