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Ashdown ABM owners club

Guest BassAdder27

By Guest BassAdder27,
in Amps and Cabs

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Chaddy Community Regular

Chaddy

Posted
Posted
10 minutes ago, Ander87 said:

Wondering if you guys could help me.

 

I'm considering changing my bass head (Eich T900) for an ABM 600 EVO IV. I'm running it with a Barefaced Big Baby 2 that I'm planning to keep.

 

I've a couple questions over an offer I've seen for one ABM 600 EVO IV 20th anniversary:

 

1. Seller claims it's UK made and hand wired - is this the same for 'regular' ABM 600 EVO IV's?

2. Is £400 a good price in good condition?

3. How useful is the compresor? I don't abuse it but like to keep some 'always on'

4. Heard from a trusted BC'er that Ashdown and Barefaced is a good pairing but happy to hear more on this!

 

(more on this here)

 


My ABM 600 is Chinese, but they do unique ones UK wise. I believe they were made here first before manufacturing was moved on the "standard" models.  ( someone please correct me ) . But as it states these are UK built which I would believe. 

£400 is a very reasonable price. I paid around £330/350 for mine and had todo a service on it, for less then two crates of beer by ashdown. The support is mint I have to say. Proper happy. 

The compressor is not for my taste due to the ratio, It's okay as a standard but if you want to be more direct in what you're doing and understand WTF it all means...1/4 2/4 attack? ratio? release?.... I use a TC pedal as I wanted more accent on the lower strings overall for volume control. in summary its alright and does a job if you want it to. (this is an after signal compressor to boot, I have mine at stage 1 before it runs into the amp etc)

For point 4, Yep! As the amp is what I would call very clear, the sounding of it should compliment each other. You can really get a nice sound quite easily with lots of headroom. Drive that valve and enjoy. 

Good solid bass amps IMO. I won't be getting rid as it ticks the boxes. 

( Running it with a ABM 1x15 or Ampeg 4x10 SVT ) 

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Ander87 Grand Master

Ander87

Posted
Posted
4 minutes ago, Chaddy said:

My ABM 600 is Chinese, but they do unique ones UK wise. I believe they were made here first before manufacturing was moved on the "standard" models.  ( someone please correct me ) . But as it states these are UK built which I would believe. 

£400 is a very reasonable price. I paid around £330/350 for mine and had todo a service on it, for less then two crates of beer by ashdown. The support is mint I have to say. Proper happy. 

The compressor is not for my taste due to the ratio, It's okay as a standard

 

Ha! well that does clear it for me in many ways... I found this confirming from Ashdown it is UK built and UK hand wired... https://ashdownmusic.com/products/20th-anniversary-abm-600-evo-iv

 

Not to diss out on the regular ABM 600's but this is also cheaper than the regulars I'm seeing currently so I guess at this point in time it is the best call.

 

Compressor wise it seems like it'll do the job - I get too confused and scared to touch all those knobs the dedicated compressors do 😁

 

Seems like this ABM and the BB2 will be a great match thanks!

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Ander87 Grand Master

Ander87

Posted
Posted

Oh and well, yeah, when it comes to amplifiers, I'm a bit disappointed with Darkglass... I had the last 500w Microtubes and whilst warm I found it to have a fairly generic character, something in it wasn't moving me to be honest...

 

... Not to mention the pricing they have is getting more and more ridiculous!

 

... I do love a microtubes X distortion though, I won't lie...!

 

Ander.

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Chaddy Community Regular

Chaddy

Posted
Posted
8 minutes ago, Ander87 said:

 

Ha! well that does clear it for me in many ways... I found this confirming from Ashdown it is UK built and UK hand wired... https://ashdownmusic.com/products/20th-anniversary-abm-600-evo-iv

 

Not to diss out on the regular ABM 600's but this is also cheaper than the regulars I'm seeing currently so I guess at this point in time it is the best call.

 

Compressor wise it seems like it'll do the job - I get too confused and scared to touch all those knobs the dedicated compressors do 😁

 

Seems like this ABM and the BB2 will be a great match thanks!

Better buy before someone here pips you :D 

 

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ern500evo Mentor

ern500evo

Posted
Posted
44 minutes ago, Ander87 said:


Hmmm! Really interested in the ABM with a Microtubes…!

Sounds fantastic, even though I don’t really use it all the time. To be honest the X Ultra is way overkill for what I need, I only really crank the distortion on a couple of songs. For a low gain drive I tend to use the EBS pedal more. For me though, the XU is the best pedal they do. You can really fine tune the drive to suit your needs. 

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ern500evo Mentor

ern500evo

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Ander87 said:

Thank you @ern500evo!

 

im thinking of going down the path of ABM plus a Darkglass programmable pedal like the Adam - vintage tones and fuzz with compressor etc? Yes please!

 

Best,

 

Ander. 

The ABM600 is a cracking amp, I’m loving mine so far, but, if you’re using one of the programmable Darkglass pedals like the ADAM/Photon/Infinity, do you need an amp? If the pedal is going to be always on and taking care of all your tone shaping, you could just use a small power amp. 

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Ander87 Grand Master

Ander87

Posted
Posted
5 hours ago, ern500evo said:

The ABM600 is a cracking amp, I’m loving mine so far, but, if you’re using one of the programmable Darkglass pedals like the ADAM/Photon/Infinity, do you need an amp? If the pedal is going to be always on and taking care of all your tone shaping, you could just use a small power amp. 

 

Ah, very good point... my train of thought is:

 

1. Currently using a HX Effects - should be enough to just replace my amp head, and continue using the Darkglass simulation in the HX Effects. Problem is I only use that in my chain pretty much, a b7k simulation and a bit of compression. All the other effects I don't touch them more than to fool around if ever.

 

2. Form factor... I'm adding bulk with the ABM vs my Eich, so can do with saving space against the HX Effects in favour of a single Darkglass pedal

 

3. Price...! I can probably do with a Microtubes X7, but the price even second hand is just a £100 difference and for that I can get the 3 different presets and just... 

 

4. I still do some gigs where regrettably I am forced to use the house amp and want to put as little as possible tone on those.

 

Agree the latest programmable from Darkglass may be overkill, but I know I want only one pedal so a pedal board (other effects, power supply underneath etc) is something I've tried and not loved... 

 

... I will get the head this weekend and try it, god knows, maybe I am happy with just the foot switch and an X7 so I'll hold my horses... Having said that, I've seen an ADAM in this forum I could well consider...!

 

Best,

 

Ander.

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Ander87 Grand Master

Ander87

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, Ander87 said:

 

4. I still do some gigs where regrettably I am forced to use the house amp and want to put as little as possible tone on those.

 

... Plus, there is a ton of times at home where I don't want to set up cables and power supplies etc back from rehearsal and just want to plug right into the amp and play straight from the bass :D 

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ern500evo Mentor

ern500evo

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Ander87 said:

 

... Plus, there is a ton of times at home where I don't want to set up cables and power supplies etc back from rehearsal and just want to plug right into the amp and play straight from the bass :D 

I know what you mean. I aways used to have a drive pedal of some sort, engaged most of the time. With the Evo4, I also just love the sound of a bass straight into the amp. 

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alexa3020 Experienced

alexa3020

Posted
Posted

I no longer use the valve drive on my ABM. I've switched to using a JPTR FX Jive pedal which I set right on the point of breakup - it fattens up the tone and I prefer the breakup over the built in valve drive in the abm.

I've also recently acquired a Source Audio aftershock. I'm just using the presets for more overdriven sound, but something like that might be worth considering. Its a super versatile pedal and my first impressions are pretty good.

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Ander87 Grand Master

Ander87

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, alexa3020 said:

I've also recently acquired a Source Audio aftershock. I'm just using the presets for more overdriven sound, but something like that might be worth considering. Its a super versatile pedal and my first impressions are pretty good.

 

Oh I've always heard great things about this Aftershock... will dig in further!

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alexa3020 Experienced

alexa3020

Posted
Posted
16 minutes ago, Ander87 said:

 

Oh I've always heard great things about this Aftershock... will dig in further!

There's so much you can do with it via the neuro App - Its a bit overwhelming to be honest! Fortunately the out of the box presets are good. I picked one up for £80 so its a bit more budget friendly in comparison to Darkglass stuff

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Chaddy Community Regular

Chaddy

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, alexa3020 said:

I no longer use the valve drive on my ABM. I've switched to using a JPTR FX Jive pedal which I set right on the point of breakup - it fattens up the tone and I prefer the breakup over the built in valve drive in the abm.

I've also recently acquired a Source Audio aftershock. I'm just using the presets for more overdriven sound, but something like that might be worth considering. Its a super versatile pedal and my first impressions are pretty good.

Not much about on videos, reminds me of a quiet big muff with the saturation. 

Will check out the aftershock though! hmmm 

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Ander87 Grand Master

Ander87

Posted
Posted

Yep… from Microtubes X7 to Ultra or B7k/Ultra to the programmable ones… I’ll shop around!

 

I’d like the clean to be the ABM, then a distortion with the Darkglass and a boosted/fuzzier setting that I can access on the go with the Darkglass… without needing more than a single pedal or making a pedalboard 😆 

 

Ander. 

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alexa3020 Experienced

alexa3020

Posted
Posted
40 minutes ago, Chaddy said:

Not much about on videos, reminds me of a quiet big muff with the saturation. 
 

Here's the video that got me interested. I just use the gain and none of the clipping diodes. Sounds great to my ears and sits really nice in a mix in a rock setting

 

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DaytonaRik Proficient

DaytonaRik

Posted
Posted
On 04/11/2022 at 18:37, King Tut said:

You’re not in a Lizzy tribute by any chance are you?!

 

I was at the time.  The main worn 'Precision' is a lovely Limelight that I have since moved on...the back up was an early Tokai that has also now found a new home and I'm back to Thunderbirds

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