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Ashdown Drophead


Muzz
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Was in PMT Mcr with a bit of time to kill while Steve finished some work he was doing for me on the Fortress, so I had a bit of a play, firstly on a PF500, then the Drophead.

To be honest, I was disappointed with the PF, probably because there'd been a lot of posts from people who like them. I'm bang-on target audience for one of them, too - ex-SVT-back-in-the-day, Precision, rock/pick player. It was a good enough amp, and they're great for the money, but if I did ever change my RH450 for it, I'd be looking at it as a money-saving downgrade. Anyway, IMHO, YMMV, etc, etc. I'm glad I played it, tho, because it popped a little GAS bubble that's been building up recently.

The Drophead was a different beast altogether. Loverly, loverly tubiness, couldn't find a bad sound in it. Not very loud, tho, and at £2k for a 15" combo, I'd have to have at least 5 numbers on the Lotto. And even then I'd never use the cab.

So still no amp GAS, but if Ashdown brought the Drophead out as a head only for £5-600, I'd be in trouble...

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[quote name='Muzz' post='1311657' date='Jul 21 2011, 03:38 PM']- but if Ashdown brought the Drophead out as a head only for £5-600, I'd be in trouble...[/quote]
Isn't that the Little Bastard? :)

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[quote name='Jondeeman' post='1311679' date='Jul 21 2011, 04:02 PM']Ashdown do both the heads for the Dropheads separately - the Little Bastard and the DP200H? The DP200H is £1500ish

Glad to here it's a goody...[/quote]

Well, that's the staff at PMT talking out of their collective hats. Which isn't really much of a surprise, TBH...

If the 200w Drophead wasn't very loud, the LB doesn't sound like it would be particularly giggable. Although I'm sure someone will put me right on this...

£1500 for the head? Woops, GAS gone... :)

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[quote name='Musicman20' post='1311724' date='Jul 21 2011, 04:34 PM']200 tube watts is seriously loud...is it all tube?![/quote]

That's what I was expecting, and unless there's mayhem waiting in the last quarter of the dials, it wasn't that loud.

It was the 200 version.

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I've been a proud owner of the prototype one (the one without serial numbers) since Nov 2010, and still love it to bits, never had a problem with volume issues, I either mike it up or go d.i.

Best sounding amp I've ever had.

[url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=110827&hl="]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=110827&hl=[/url]

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[quote name='Grand Wazoo' post='1311889' date='Jul 21 2011, 06:56 PM']I've been a proud owner of the prototype one (the one without serial numbers) since Nov 2010, and still love it to bits, never had a problem with volume issues, I either mike it up or go d.i.

Best sounding amp I've ever had.[/quote]

I don't have a Drophead, but I do have a UK LB30 and LB212 cab. It is plenty loud enough for the two bands I play in, and one of those is a Jam/Weller tribute band with a very keen drummer!

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[quote name='Grand Wazoo' post='1311889' date='Jul 21 2011, 06:56 PM']I've been a proud owner of the prototype one (the one without serial numbers) since Nov 2010, and still love it to bits, never had a problem with volume issues, I either mike it up or go d.i.

Best sounding amp I've ever had.

[url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=110827&hl="]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=110827&hl=[/url][/quote]
Snap - almost :lol:
I've been the proud owner of Little Bastard Number 1 of 100 (first one out the factory front door) since March 2010 & still love it to bits! No volume problems here - through LB112 + ABM Mini 48, abfab old school all tube goodness :D
Best sounding amp I've ever had :) :)

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[quote name='KiOgon' post='1311933' date='Jul 21 2011, 07:24 PM']Snap - almost :)
I've been the proud owner of Little Bastard Number 1 of 100 (first one out the factory front door) since March 2010 & still love it to bits! No volume problems here - through LB112 + ABM Mini 48, abfab old school all tube goodness :)
Best sounding amp I've ever had :lol: :P[/quote]

There's a bit of an echo here... :D

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No worries it's a good echo, keep it going so it won't be just a bunch of us understanding it but more and more people. What baffles me is the fact that people think that unless they have 200 to 500 watt they can't gig an amp, yet the 30 Watts this thing has seem to be a lot louder than you expect and manages to get away with most average sized venues and when you need more there's always a D.I. output that will save the day.

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[quote name='Grand Wazoo' post='1313914' date='Jul 23 2011, 04:07 PM']No worries it's a good echo, keep it going so it won't be just a bunch of us understanding it but more and more people. What baffles me is the fact that people think that unless they have 200 to 500 watt they can't gig an amp, yet the 30 Watts this thing has seem to be a lot louder than you expect and manages to get away with most average sized venues and when you need more there's always a D.I. output that will save the day.[/quote]

Any idea why the OP should have thought that the 200w version should have been so quiet then? Was it a faulty unit?

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Aaaand I'm back in the room. :)

Well, I'd had a play with the PF, and then straight away moved onto the Drophead. PF vol/gain was on 3/4 (or 9/10pm if we're talking in those terms), but to get to a similar volume I had the Drophead vol/gain about halfway (midday) which surprised me. Maybe the cab's not very sensitive, maybe the gain has more of an effect on volume on the Drophead, I dunno.

It did sound fantastic, tho. I'd love one.

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[quote name='KiOgon' post='1311933' date='Jul 21 2011, 07:24 PM']Snap - almost :lol:
I've been the proud owner of Little Bastard Number 1 of 100 (first one out the factory front door) since March 2010 & still love it to bits! No volume problems here - through LB112 + ABM Mini 48, abfab old school all tube goodness :D
Best sounding amp I've ever had :) :)[/quote]


Agreed great amp I thought the UK one sounded a lot more detailed and smoother than the Chinese one, both are good though, I don't think you would notice unless you a/b. Maybe UK versions have better tranformers. Just don't let any Blues guitarists near them (they have fantastic cleans for bluesy / hendrixy stuff with a 'verb pedal), if you do will never see it again. (I think they have missed a trick here as a lot of 6 stringer like a nice low gain preamp. But I think this is the way amps are going, as pa sound quality capability is improving you don't need a big amp any more, just a great focus on great sound quality, these do the preamp is genuis, I also think the 30watts rating is conservative, they have 4 el84's pushpull which can be good for up to 50watts and the power and output transformers are way overated they are huge for the rated power, so i guess everything will come through pretty clean and clear.

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More love here for the LB.

Unlike the others I have a Barefaced Midget-T which is not very sensitive (& 8ohms), as a result it is quiet and thin.

When I stick it through my MAG 410T and it sounds gorgeous rich, creamy & silky smooth. Through my old ABM 115 I was regularly having accidents in my trousers. Why oh why did I sell the cab?!?!?!?!

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