In praise of Ashdown Engineering support

[AlexMUK]

I just wanted to share a very positive experience I had with Ashdown, following purchase of a second-hand ABM-600 IV.

The unit I purchased was used from Gear4Music. Unfortunately, it had a few faults... broken VU meter lamp and some distortion that shouldn't be there. To make matters worse, the distortion appeared to be intermittent, so when I returned it to Gear4Music they couldn't replicate the fault I spoke to Dave Green at Ashdown Engineering service team to get some pointers and he suggested that I send it to them so that they could see what the issue was. Unfortunately the problem didn't manifest itself while it was with them, and it showed up again when I was using it, so I sent it back to them for another look.

Within two days, the amplifier was returned to me fully working, with a complete set of replacement pre-and power boards. Of course, is working fine as it is essentially brand new. This unit was just out of manufacturer's warranty, so this work was done FOC as a goodwill repair.

I think this is an exceptional level of service and care for end customer satisfaction that is very rare nowadays. I understand that Ashdown have repatriated their manufacturing to the UK from China, so they are in a position to continue to provide long term service and support for their products.

I did choose Ashdown, because of their design and construction, having been burnt by a Class D amp that was unrepairable out of warranty because the repair process for the ICEPower module was to replace it, no component level repair was supported and the boards were obsolete!. If you want to get long term value and service out of your gear, bear this in mind.

Anyway, wanted to share this with the Basschat community and thank Dave Green and Ashdown Engineering for their customer care and integrity as a company!.

Best regards,
Alex

[walshy]

Ashdown are second to none on customer service and have just damn fine gear! ABM600 is a class amp too

[AlexMUK]

Certainly works very well with the Big Twin 3 - a bit of amp tone to go with the Hi-Fi sound of the cab.

28 minutes ago, walshy said:

Ashdown are second to none on customer service and have just damn fine gear! ABM600 is a class amp too

 

[agedhorse]

Good for Ashdown’s willingness to support their products and do the right thing.

 

Since you made the same post with the same inaccurate information over at TalkBass, let me add my response to you here:

 

Just to set the record straight, ICEPower modules are not to be repaired at the component level (with a very few exceptions), because doing so voids the safety certification on the module. This is their official policy and most manufacturers using these modules follow it closely. Besides, it’s usually less expensive to replace than repair do to the high amount of highly skilled labor required to diagnose these faults in high technology.

Also, replacement modules are available for all ICEPower modules that have been used in the bass amp industry going back to the very beginning. There are no unavailable modules in their product line, so that information is incorrect.

Additionally, Ashdown has used ICEPower in some of their lightweight amps.

[AlexMUK]

OK, no intentional misrepresentation and your clarification is helpful!.

 

What you stated about component level repair was what I was told by ICEPower themselves. And in my case, at least, the manufacturer was unable to offer out of warranty repair, which is why I contacted them directly to see if they could help. I am accurately relaying what they said to me first hand. ICEPower were actually very helpful considering I'm a consumer and I understand their policy.

Edited 3 hours ago by AlexMUK

[Beedster]

Ashdown are a very special manufacturer and Dave is an outstanding guy 👍

[Lozz196]

Agreed

[jezzaboy]

Dave and the team are great. I had a wide boy 500 head that I stood on it`s end after a gig in the Hard Rock Cafe in Glasgow, I turned my back and heard a thump and down it went. Gubbed.

 

Spoke to Dave and I sent it down to them, they repaired it and sent it back via TNT and wouldn`t take any kind of payment so sent them some sweeties. I would still use an ABM of some description but having to lug about the band pa means I have a Rumble 800 but Ashdown`s service is second to none.

Edited 1 hour ago by jezzaboy

[agedhorse]

2 hours ago, AlexMUK said:

OK, no intentional misrepresentation and your clarification is helpful!.

 

What you stated about component level repair was what I was told by ICEPower themselves. And in my case, at least, the manufacturer was unable to offer out of warranty repair, which is why I contacted them directly to see if they could help. I am accurately relaying what they said to me first hand. ICEPower were actually very helpful considering I'm a consumer and I understand their policy.

Correct, what I said earlier is that there is no approved component level repairs for the ICEPower modules. Your problem is with the amp manufacturer not offering out of warranty repairs, but almost all manufacturers have approved service centers that handle out of warranty work. This is what I am puzzled about, did you not contact one of the manufacturer's service centers?