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Ashdown ABM 600 IV or 500?


BarelyL4
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4 hours ago, BarelyL4 said:

Hi, might be in the market for an Ashdown ABM head and was wondering whether the ABM 600 is worth the extra cash over an ABM 500? Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated :)

@Lozz196

Edited by lownote12
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1 hour ago, lownote12 said:

@Lozz196

Cheers for the prompt.

Yes, I’d say it’s def worth it, having had both. The 600 has more eq options, has more power, and just has a better overall sound to me. Re the power, although it’s only a difference of 100 watts it feels like much more to me, and the weight/heft to the sound just has a better feel to it. I’m no longer in a gigging band (and no intention on being in one anytime soon) so am selling mine, but if I were still gigging it would be going nowhere.

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I was under the impression that the ABM500s are actually 575watts, so there's only a 25 watt difference. I have a lovely original ABM500 in chrome which I picked up for about £170. There is a lovely ABM600 in chrome for sale for £450 (with foot switch).  As much as I would love to upgrade, I am struggling to justify spending nearly £300 extra for essentially the same amp?

Would genuinely love to know the differences as well. 

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I'll reiterate my comments on Facebook for here as well :)

I own an ABM EVO from 1999 which I adore, but the EVO IV is something else. More voltage to the valve means more valve dirt, extra frequencies on the preamp means more control, and the power section upgrade is something to behold. Great amp.

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On 05/06/2020 at 10:01, Lozz196 said:

Cheers for the prompt.

Yes, I’d say it’s def worth it, having had both. The 600 has more eq options, has more power, and just has a better overall sound to me. Re the power, although it’s only a difference of 100 watts it feels like much more to me, and the weight/heft to the sound just has a better feel to it. I’m no longer in a gigging band (and no intention on being in one anytime soon) so am selling mine, but if I were still gigging it would be going nowhere.

And now having a buyer I`ve put it through its paces this afternoon as you do, and I`ve been reminded why I think this is such a good amp. 

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I had the ABM900 EVOIII (essentially two of the 500s in one unit) and thought it was a very good amp. Classic ABM tone, so warm and full with a nice flexible EQ.

I got an ABM 600 EVOIV and this absolutely blows the previous generation out of the water. There is a lot more oopmh and power, it has a lot more presence, the EQ seems even more flexible (and not just because of the 2 extra bands), the drive sounds better... The EVOIV is just a better overall amp I think.

Ashdown clearly had a lot of high level players using the EVOIII, and it was much loved, but they chose to overhaul it and they did a fantastic job; the EVOIV is a fantastic amp that takes everything I loved about the previous ABM generations and gave it a serious boost.

I don't think it is worth comparing the spec sheet with regards to output power because the presence of the EVOIV compared to the EVOIII is so much more than the spec sheets would suggest.

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Just picked up said ABM600 from Lozz, (socially distanced but good chat by the way!), and had a quick chance to put it through it's paces, (Barefaced BB2 & Yamaha ATT2) - Wow! some really great sounds right out of the box and the thing "pumps". Thanks Lozz, thoroughly nice chap, great amp in great condition :)

 

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On 05/06/2020 at 11:26, pbasspecial said:

I was under the impression that the ABM500s are actually 575watts, so there's only a 25 watt difference. I have a lovely original ABM500 in chrome which I picked up for about £170. There is a lovely ABM600 in chrome for sale for £450 (with foot switch).  As much as I would love to upgrade, I am struggling to justify spending nearly £300 extra for essentially the same amp?

Would genuinely love to know the differences as well. 

Yes that's correct - the 500's are 575w.  I had an ABM300 Evo ii combo once that was crazy loud, and when I spoke to Dave Green about it he said they were always badged as being less than they really were - under promise and over deliver was the ethos.  Pretty sure thats true of the old UK made Trace amps too.  I think he said the early Evo 300's were actually 400w.  It was awesome anyway and regreted selling instantly when I changed to a Class D amp which I can only have gigged 10 times before going back straight back to an ABM.

On that note it was my EVO IV for sale.  I have a CTM 300 now and I should really move it on.  However after a lot of interest I just couldn't bring myself to sell so I have withdrawn it.  Having had an EVO II I have to agree the EVO IV is a massive step up.   It's what everyone says, more punch, the EQ is better, Drive gets grittier etc.   I like the Compressor and despite a lot of folk not liking the Sub feature, used sparingly on a low setting I think it can be quite nice when switched in/out for backing guitar solos. 

I'm going to keep if as a spare or for when it's too tight on space or risky to take the CTM out - thats how I've justified it to the Mrs anyway 😄

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58 minutes ago, MattW said:

I'm going to keep if as a spare or for when it's too tight on space or risky to take the CTM out - thats how I've justified it to the Mrs anyway 😄

This is the correct and only approach. And at some point you will need a back up of the back up, etc.... it’s a slippery slope 😂

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