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Long story short, I have an old style GSS 06B400 amplifier head, one that takes a proprietary adapter when connected to the amplifier: I contacted GSS about buying this cable but unfortunately postage, customs, etc etc made it prohibitively expensive, so in the end I bought myself the end terminal from Amazon and knocked myself up one myself. These little plugs are 5.08mm PCB terminal blocks. I could only buy in packs of 10, so keeping a couple spare in case I break the cable I've just made I have 8 rattling around doing nothing and are free to a good home. If you want to collect from Oxford or want to pay postage for one, some, or many of these please do get in contact. I can help you source these new, but be warned that the clip can come on either side of the mould when you purchase. The ones I have a guaranteed to work in the CH2 slot of an olf 06B400 amplifier.

Think it's the NXTa that has active circuitry. The NXT is passive so will either need a preamp like the excellent Fishman Platinum, or an ultra-high impedance socket on the mixing desk.

Someone at Ashdown said on Facebook that you could indeed choose an original blue faceplate should you wish, so you're in luck!

Personally I wouldn't buy anything musical without playing it first, but I have the luxury of living walking distance from a music shop, and it's a bus ride to London if I feel moved to. Not everyone has that luxury so the shops have to sell the same stuff that my grubby mitts have been all over. 'd like to think I'm a conscientious shopper, but not everyone is so it inevitably gets dinged. Thomann is the new model where the norm is online sales. When you buy from them you're fairly confident that the instrument is still in its wrapping. That kind of shopping is not for me, and when it inevitably becomes the norm I'll be stuck. Places like PMT can't stay in business selling B-stock guitars that people have broken then not bought. Saying that, a missing back plate is a bit much.

Only for heavy metal guitarists.

If it's OP's band then yeah sure do this. If it isn't, then this is a really bad move and I'd be mega miffed to be on the receiving end of this.

Since we're venturing into Spinal Tap territory, "Why not make it go up to 5 or 6"?

This may be true in an abstract sense, but my TV shares a room with my bass amp and my hifi, neither of which exhibit this phenomenon. Now it may be that it just so happens that the TV is situated in a spot such that it causes real-world volume to cap after a certain point on the dial, and this bad luck has followed the TV across house moves, but I ain't buying that. I'm calling marketing shenanigans, particularly when this brand has such a poor reputation already on such matters.

To me it's one of those things where, when asked "what is natural?", the answer would be "I know what it isn't." I own a TV, of a brand that funnily enough has come up in this thread already. I cannot tell the difference in volume once the volume slider passes around 1/3 of the way up. There's nothing natural about that. Whether musical instrument manufacturers do anything quite as egregious as that I cannot say because I've never owned one that does.

Even then it's not simple. Different amps have different scales on their volume. Some are linear in volume (I think EA is a manufacturer that springs to mind), some are more logarithmic. Why does this matter? Well, if you have otherwise identical amps at 50% on their volume dial, then the logarithmic one will sound louder because it's actually at something like 80% of its maximum power. I'd call that a marketing trick for just such a scenario as you describe, but apparently some people like the non-linearity of their volume dials. To each their own I guess.

Don't know if it's been suggested to you before off-list, but bassbags.co.uk do case hire. Don't know anything beyond that I'm afraid. https://www.bassbags.co.uk/double-bass-hard-case-hire-rental/

They're still doing it, with pretty much the same technique. This is from 2022: https://entertainment.slashdot.org/story/22/06/15/0615211/samsung-caught-cheating-in-tv-benchmarks

I have nothing to share other than anecdotes, but I find that when expensive stuff breaks, it costs the same (or sometimes more) than when the cheap stuff breaks. The difference is that the cost of repair relative to the cost when bought new is significantly lower. As I say, this is anecdotal so perhaps I've been unlucky. Should say now that the standout exception to this for me in the bass world is Acoustic Image. I've had multiple failures out of warranty and they've done good by me at no charge other than the cost of postage to them. Suspect that if and when my head breaks again they'll fix it for a nominal fee, but if it does become unrepairable I would buy an identical replacement (while sobbing into my pillow at night.)

For me one obvious tell, at least in the PA market, is where I can see active PAs with some colossal claim as to what its power rating is, and yet when the same company sells passive units the number is a tiny fraction of it (because they're worried you might *actually* attach it to a powerful amp). While it's possible, it's seriously stretching my disbelief that there isn't some marketing BS going on. By no means are they the only ones, but QSC sell the 2000W K12.2 active top, but their E112 is rated for 400W continuous power. Yes yes they're not the same thing, but to me to be different by a factor of 5 is massaging measurements to the point of dishonesty

It's been in PMT Oxford for over a year (I used to glace at it longingly every time I went it), but I think that a recent nick in the tolex meant that they couldn't sell it as new

PMT said the EVO-IV that I just bought had been there for a while (over a year perhaps?) It may just be that I'm deaf, but I'm certainly pleasantly surprised after hearing all the complaints online about the fan noise.

Aww c'mon, at least pretend I got a good deal! In all seriousness the price of EVOs has gone through the roof recently (£749 at PMT for the ABM 600), so the fact I got it at the same price as last year I regard as a victory. Sounds amazing BTW, definitely no buyer's remorse. Cannot believe how alive it can make such a piddly cabinet.

I saw this page this morning .....which led to this..... ....which led to this.... I hope people on here like overhang. The people in PMT seemed absolutely amazed at how much it was selling for. Initial thoughts tailored to this audience of basschatters: The fans are silent. I mean they're not quiet, they are literally silent. I cannot hear them. It sounds great through this 6.5" speaker, which is my only cabinet. The car picture above is for teh lulz. I actually walked there and back and was able to carry it 0.6 miles without too much difficulty.

Well, there's the EVO IV 1200W which is cheaper than the EVO-V, and can go down (or is that up?) to 2x4Ω cabinets. Considerably heavier mind you. If you bear in mind that the valve in the ABM is preamp rather than power amp, you can achieve a similar effect by putting the valve in your pedalboard, then running the output into a return of any old head. Sticking with the Ashdown brand the Original Valve Pre-DI into an RM-800 would be similar price and effect (although let's not go down the class D vs A/B route here). Speaking personally (and this is not an issue I have solely with music gear) I feel there is too much emphasis on performance, features and price, whereas reliability and repairability aren't given their due importance. I mean, how could they? People want to see the reviews of new products, not ones that took 10 years to write because they were testing the reliability. I don't know what the solution is, but for me the reputation of Ashdown is enough for me to compare its product very favourably with its competitors'. That's not to knock the EVO V in any way in terms of what it is. I haven't played through one but it probably will sound amazing.

There's some similarity with headphone amplifiers and hiss. Hiss is such a distraction, particularly when listening to classical music, at least for me. However there are other people who only notice it when I point it out, and really don't understand why anyone would find it such a big deal. I'm in an unusual position that I don't own an amp with a fan. Maybe I wouldn't care about a little whirr in the background but I certainly appreciate the fact they've at least addressed it. Certainly doesn't seem like there's a major downside, particularly if servicing in the UK is so easy (I read that silent fans tend to have a shorter lifespan).

On the one hand that's fantastic for those that want a cheaper ABM, but it does leave fewer reasons to splash the cash on the EVO V UK made New DI 150W Black fascia Extra VU meter Of those probably only the UK build would interest me.

For those counting the pennies, the price of this amp has been reduced from £1545 to £1399 on Ashdown's own website.