sonic differences between the Ashdown ABM500 EvoIII and the new 600 Evo IV?

[gillento]

Has any one compared both amps in a band setting?
I am trying to decide if it is going to be worth to upgrade to the Evo IV 600 from my beloved ABM500 UK made EvoIII3 ....

[grenadilla]

Keep your amp unless you can compare it with the same cabinet, bass, songs and band, in the same room. I may get an ABM 600 myself but I will be jumping from a MAG 600. You pose an interesting question. Has anyone compared the Retroglide 800 to the Rootmaster 800 ?

[BruceBass3901]

I've compared the two at practice with the same bass/strings/cab and the EVO IV seems to have more 'heft' to the sound to my ears. It just sounds fuller and richer than the EVO III and the 2 additional EQ bands are really useful for fine tuning your sound.

The valve drive has been reworked as well and has more grit on tap than the EVO III

If you like the EVO III, definitely check out the EVO IV

[Merton]

[quote name='grenadilla' timestamp='1441488401' post='2859267']
Has anyone compared the Retroglide 800 to the Rootmaster 800 ?
[/quote]

Two completely different beasts - one is meant to be clean with lots of tonal variation, the other has a more standard Ashdown tone goal. But it would be fun to A/B them

[gillento]

So Merton, can the RM800 do an ABM?

[Merton]

Yeah I think it can! It's a bit cleaner and brighter in its natural core tone, partly down to the preamp and partly down to the power amp (and power supply I suspect) but you can dial in the darker ABM-ness pretty easily. They are two of my favourite amps now

[Kevin Dean]

It may be of interest that the Bass lounge have for sale a ABM 2 x 10 neo combo The head is normally £695 & cab £540 , I have the head & it's flipin fantastic , you could also take the head out of the combo & get a rack kit for it .

[BluRay]

[quote name='Kevin Dean' timestamp='1451424217' post='2940424']
It may be of interest that the Bass lounge have for sale a ABM 2 x 10 neo combo The head is normally £695 & cab £540 , I have the head & it's flipin fantastic , you could also take the head out of the combo & get a rack kit for it .
[/quote]

I was sent 210 NEO combo by mistake when I ordered my NEO cabs. I had it out of the box to check it out before being good and returning it - it took some serious willpower to give it back

[BruceBass3901]

I've gigged my ABM 600 EVO IV and ABM NEO 210 setup quite a few times since my previous post and can safely say that I am noticing more body and heft to my tone compared to my ABM 900 EVO III. This comparison is still being made with the same bass/string combo and playing similar sized gigs with identical PA setups.

I think the EVO IV has just taken everything that was great from the EVO III and just given it a bit more oomph. A truly great sounding head, and the NEO cab is stonking as well.