Ashdown ABM owners club

[Nickthebass]

On 07/01/2022 at 11:36, CJPJ said:

I played my ABM600IV for the first time in the studio last night. Just a wonderful thing with amazing sound - the band commented on how much better I sounded 🙂 . The change in tone with the EQ boost and Asdown magic button on/off is really noticable. I'm not 100% on the match with my recently aquired Epiphany cabinet - its a fantastic speaker but I need to A/B against the K410 I was previously using to really feel its its a keeper - changing cab and amp at the same time makes it hard to track how and why your sound is changing.

 

One thing I did notice was the reasonably loud buzz when I had the valve drive botton pressed in. To be fair, the chap who sold me it told me about it but now that I have it I think it needs a service and I might send to Ashdown to take a look.

Do you think this might be needing a replacement valve or maybe something related to grounding? There is a underlying grounding noise from my P Bass as it's single coil which I'm OK with but this was a deeper and louder 'hum'.

Apologies if this has been sorted but wanted to share. 
 

I had a very similar issue (deep buzz with the drive on - no noise with the drive off). It turned out to be short/failure on a component (capacitor I think) in the Valve Drive circuit that was sending too much current through the circuit. As a by-product it was over overdriving the valve (made it extra hairy extra fast which I was sort of enjoying).

[CJPJ]

59 minutes ago, Nickthebass said:

Apologies if this has been sorted but wanted to share. 
 

I had a very similar issue (deep buzz with the drive on - no noise with the drive off). It turned out to be short/failure on a component (capacitor I think) in the Valve Drive circuit that was sending too much current through the circuit. As a by-product it was over overdriving the valve (made it extra hairy extra fast which I was sort of enjoying).

Thanks @Nickthebass - I sent it back to Dave at Ashdown in the end and they serviced it - seemed to resolve the issue ok. 

[uk_lefty]

On 16/07/2022 at 21:39, chyc said:

Aww c'mon, at least pretend I got a good deal!

Yup. I bought mine, not B stock, from a retailer in Belgium and paid VAT on bringing it in because that was very cheap compared to anything in the UK... If I'd have waited your PMT deal would have blown that out the water for value.

[Chaddy]

On 16/07/2022 at 20:03, fretmeister said:

 

they have a new fan system. Same one that is now on the Evo5.

 

I was chatting with Ashdown about it. They said there aren’t many Evo4 in the wild with the new fan system yet, but all newly built ones are properly quiet now.

Any idea what the fan's are/look like? - My mind is going down a re-bladed design? 

Still need to send mine down to Ashdown for a service, why oh why did I throw the bloody box away it came in...  

[chyc]

On 16/07/2022 at 20:03, fretmeister said:

I was chatting with Ashdown about it. They said there aren’t many Evo4 in the wild with the new fan system yet, but all newly built ones are properly quiet now.

 

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.

[Woodinblack]

1 hour ago, chyc said:

 

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.

 

Just checked, mine was £379 in November 2020, so maybe they always have one. However, I am pretty sure that i looked a few months ago at their B-Stock and it wasn't there then. Maybe they just put it in the shop for a while and if it doesn't sell they then put it on the web?

[chyc]

34 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

Just checked, mine was £379 in November 2020, so maybe they always have one. However, I am pretty sure that i looked a few months ago at their B-Stock and it wasn't there then. Maybe they just put it in the shop for a while and if it doesn't sell they then put it on the web?

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

[Woodinblack]

5 minutes ago, chyc said:

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

 

Mine was a nick in the tolex too. Its pretty good for the price reduction.

 

They also had a Head of Doom reduced to half price for a while. just when I was thinking maybe I should get that, it sold!

[uk_lefty]

Played my ABM set up at Friday nights gig.... Soundman had to walk out front and ask me to turn down a few songs in. Volume was barely near 10% 😎

[Marky L]

14 hours ago, uk_lefty said:

Played my ABM set up at Friday nights gig.... Soundman had to walk out front and ask me to turn down a few songs in. Volume was barely near 10% 😎

I'm sure your correct response to that request was a simple "No".

[Chaddy]

Snares are over 120db! 

[uk_lefty]

2 hours ago, Marky L said:

I'm sure your correct response to that request was a simple "No".

Ha, maybe in my youth... We get a great gig there every quarter, private parties and they've got a sister venue in another town so I never want to rock the boat in any way.

[BassAdder60]

Played an outside event yesterday with my ABM600 and two 210H cabs 

 

No PA support needed and it sounded fantastic ( volume up to 12 o clock ) loudest I’ve ever had it !! 
 

The sound on stage was superb 

[uk_lefty]

23 hours ago, BassAdder27 said:

Played an outside event yesterday with my ABM600 and two 210H cabs 

 

No PA support needed and it sounded fantastic ( volume up to 12 o clock ) loudest I’ve ever had it !! 
 

The sound on stage was superb 

Stingray+ ABM 😎😎😎👍

[BassAdder60]

2 hours ago, uk_lefty said:

Stingray+ ABM 😎😎😎👍

I agree .. although my PBass sounds pretty dam sweet too.

 

Normally with an outside event like this we would use the organisers PA rig with everything miked up. As it was a charity event we had to use our own PA 1000w per side rig but we don’t mic up the full kit or DI the bass etc. 

The Ashdown rig sounded great and carried well into the field and the mix wasn’t too bad ( heavy hitting drummer ) 

The Ray34 was a nice match and everything just worked 

No worries from booming rooms or windows rattling !! 

[spyder]

On 25/04/2022 at 11:51, chyc said:

Oh hello ABM-400, I didn't notice you slink into the Ashdown website!

 

I wonder how much the internals differ from the ABM-600. Website is light on the details unfortunately.

 

https://ashdownmusic.com/products/abm-400-ltd-edition

 

I've just bought one.

Will report when I get it.

 

[fretmeister]

On 18/07/2022 at 09:18, Chaddy said:

Any idea what the fan's are/look like? - My mind is going down a re-bladed design? 

Still need to send mine down to Ashdown for a service, why oh why did I throw the bloody box away it came in...  

 

not a clue. It was a Facebook chat.

[ern500evo]

What sort of price are used ABM600’s fetching at the moment. One has come up for sale, but the guy wants me to make him an offer for it. It’s reasonably clean, the tolex on the case has a few scratches and battle scars. I don’t really know what’s an acceptable offer 

[Lozz196]

Around £350 to £450 depending on condition (and good fortune)

[Woodinblack]

I got my B-Stock but new from PMT for £375

[ern500evo]

20 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

I got my B-Stock but new from PMT for £375

That’s an absolute bargain 

[Woodinblack]

5 hours ago, ern500evo said:

That’s an absolute bargain 

 

Thats what I thought when I got it!

[Chaddy]

15 hours ago, ern500evo said:

What sort of price are used ABM600’s fetching at the moment. One has come up for sale, but the guy wants me to make him an offer for it. It’s reasonably clean, the tolex on the case has a few scratches and battle scars. I don’t really know what’s an acceptable offer 

I payed £331 with Postage. Drive channel is clean. Handle had a small chew in it & tolex was fine.
Just a de dust & some polish on the front for that shine. Only issue was  a internal rattle I'm sorting out ( no biggy ) 

Still sending it for a once over to Ashdown once I remember, as I write this to stop throwing out cardboard fking boxes!!!

[Muppet]

I bought my 600 EVO IV RC for £300 but it did need a service by my tech as a couple of things weren't working. Cost me £50 to sort. 

[BassAdder60]

Even my brand new ABM600 EVO IV which I recall was nearly £700 I had to swop the preamp tube as it was crackly. I popped a new JJ ECC83 and it’s perfect.