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Anyone tried the Ashdown min-rig?


molan
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Vaguely looking for a practice amp and spotted the Ashdown min-rig selling for next to nothing in a few places and wondered what it's like.

65w & a 1x10 would be fine for practice use but I also wondered if it was useable for rehearsals?

I wouldn't usually try to rhearse with anything much less than a 150w head but maybe having a pair of cabs will give bette definition and spread of sound?

Or is it just Chinese rubbish - hence the crazy price offers out there!

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[quote name='Soulfinger' post='154163' date='Mar 9 2008, 08:28 PM']I got to try this unit recently and was very disappointed. No real volume and a very indistinct, muddy sound.

To be honest, I wouldn´t even want it for home practice. It looks cool, but soundwise there are lots of better amps out there IMHO.[/quote]

Thanks for that, I haven't actually tried one and wondered why they were selling for so little money!

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ive got one of these, as has been said they do look swish, and sounds ok to me for the bargainous price i bought it for.

i took it to a sort of messabout thing yesterday and it did ok, but i wouldnt like to put it up against a drummer.
it normally resides in the corner of my room as suitabe amp to doss about on and still looking swish and with the bit more presence than my other little amps
the fact that it splits up into 3 parts is ok if you stuck for boot space but a pain when you have to make several trips for something not so powerful.

im not sure of the leads ashdown provide either look abit flimsy for head-cab leads but theyv not posed a problem so far...

si

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I've got the 20w guitar version in my office that I use for noodling on an 8 string bass when I have break. It's not great. Even with a guitar, the tone is pretty naff. Unfortunately one of my cats used the bottom cab as a scratching post and destroyed the tolex so I can't sell the thing....

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[quote name='molan' post='154075' date='Mar 9 2008, 06:33 PM']Vaguely looking for a practice amp and spotted the Ashdown min-rig selling for next to nothing in a few places and wondered what it's like.

65w & a 1x10 would be fine for practice use but I also wondered if it was useable for rehearsals?

I wouldn't usually try to rhearse with anything much less than a 150w head but maybe having a pair of cabs will give bette definition and spread of sound?

Or is it just Chinese rubbish - hence the crazy price offers out there![/quote]

MB1. :)
Made under license in the republic of china,dont let this put you off though, these are great for practice and dont look too bad either ...........Almost FURNITURESQUE!. ........Not as loud as most drummers though! :huh:

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[quote name='wateroftyne' post='154476' date='Mar 10 2008, 12:54 PM']Unfortunately, Ashdown seem to think that putting this type of tat out is acceptable, and it's murdering the brand IMO.[/quote]

Hmm I disagree. It's an entry level practise amp that has the vibe of a proper stack, kind of. For a 14 year old who loves <insert Ashdown bassist> it's a great amp for them that won't break the bank. They would then in a few years move up to a MAG/ABM etc..

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[quote name='Machines' post='154487' date='Mar 10 2008, 01:01 PM']Hmm I disagree. It's an entry level practise amp that has the vibe of a proper stack, kind of. For a 14 year old who loves <insert Ashdown bassist> it's a great amp for them that won't break the bank. They would then in a few years move up to a MAG/ABM etc..[/quote]

Fairy nuff, but Ashdow *used* to be the pinnacle of British bass amplification. That's quite a brand to have.

They should have come up with a sub-brand for this stuff, similar to Squier, so there's a clear distinction. I'm not being snobbly, but there's a hell of a difference in quality between a Mini-Stack and a big ABM. They shouldn't have lumped 'em all together.

As it stands, between these things, the flaky Superflys and a dodgy acoustic amp I had, I wonder what's going on with their QC.

Edited by wateroftyne
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[quote name='andy67' post='154613' date='Mar 10 2008, 03:19 PM']I had one of these for a while and really liked it! It was used as a practice amp as well as for acoustic sets performing admirably in both!

Sound Control £79 thats a lot for a little...[/quote]

MB1. :huh:
Dont you mean a little for a lot? :)

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[quote name='Machines' post='154653' date='Mar 10 2008, 03:56 PM']I remember them being £149 in SoundControl..[/quote]

They are currently quoting £79 for a Perfect 10 Mini-Stack but this may be the guitar rather than the bass version.

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[quote name='wateroftyne' post='154491' date='Mar 10 2008, 01:06 PM']Fairy nuff, but Ashdow *used* to be the pinnacle of British bass amplification. That's quite a brand to have.

They should have come up with a sub-brand for this stuff, similar to Squier, so there's a clear distinction.[/quote]

But why should there need to be a sub brand?

fair enough Ashdown used to be Seen as a better brand, but if their producing the same quality amps higher up the market as before then what has them producing smaller more affordable amps got to do with their reputation, surely its just people having this opinion that 'because they do cheap amps their crap' that affects the reputation, not the acctual amps. Shouldnt it be Ashdown not producing as well made top range amps that tarnishes people opinion of them as a high end amp not the fact they do Cheap amps.

I think in many cases, people Judge Ashdown amongst other brands before trying them because they have got this opinion of them.

Obviously just my opinion. :)

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[quote name='bassboy115' post='154718' date='Mar 10 2008, 05:04 PM']But why should there need to be a sub brand?[/quote]

[quote name='bassboy115' post='154718' date='Mar 10 2008, 05:04 PM']surely its just people having this opinion that 'because they do cheap amps their crap' that affects the reputation, not the acctual amps.[/quote]

[quote name='bassboy115' post='154718' date='Mar 10 2008, 05:04 PM']I think in many cases, people Judge Ashdown amongst other brands before trying them because they have got this opinion of them.[/quote]

You just answered your own question...

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haha, but what im saying is that alot of people judge Ashdown without even trying them, In many cases it is only because they do cheap amps that affects people's opinion not necessarily the quality of the amp.

I dont disagree the quality of Ashdown has fell since they started making them outside of the UK, but unfortunately i havent been playing bass long enough to own a UK made Ashdown( i have played some) and it just seems that a lot of people have a very unjustified dislike to ashdown gear other than that they cater for all standard of players.

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[quote name='bassboy115' post='154731' date='Mar 10 2008, 05:29 PM']haha, but what im saying is that alot of people judge Ashdown without even trying them, In many cases it is only because they do cheap amps that affects people's opinion not necessarily the quality of the amp.

I dont disagree the quality of Ashdown has fell since they started making them outside of the UK, but unfortunately i havent been playing bass long enough to own a UK made Ashdown( i have played some) and it just seems that a lot of people have a very unjustified dislike to ashdown gear other than that they cater for all standard of players.[/quote]

As someone who works in marketing - it's very common for a large well know brand to produce a few top of the range products that really help to sell their "ordinary" ranges. Obvious examples are things like cars, BMW make the M3 because the image and kudos of such a fast machine rubs off on the entire range and make people think more favourably of them.

However, when a brand starts flooding a market with inferior product it can equally work the other way and the cheap products can damge the rep of the better ones. A lot of this depends on volume of course and BMW sell ver few M3's relative to a bog standard 3 series whilst I'd suggest that theeven the bulk of the BM range are still fairly "mass" market within bass circles.

This is precisely why brands like Fender have Squier & Gibson bought Epiphone etc. Allows them to use the more expensive brand to add a bit of glam to the lower end brand without damaging the rep of either.

Personally I would say that it seems like Ashdown are damaging their brand at the moment and almost certainly losing sales of their higher end products. However, if they are selling the cheaper ones buy the crate load and the balance sheet looks good then who can blame then?

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My son has the ashdown mini stack version for geetar and loves it, but then again he is only six.

It makes a blummin' horrible fuzzy racket, and much improved by running it clean and using a behringer v-amp as a preamp for proper distortion tones, but I s'pose that defeats the object.

I looks really cool though next to his squier mini-strat though.

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