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Wooly Ashdown


stingrayfan
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I play my Fender jazz 24 through a Ashdown Mag 600r evo 2 and its great. It goes through a 1x15 with a fane 15 in it, and i dont have a word against. Im going to add a 4x10 though. The only thing i dont like about ashdown is their cabs, i think there the worst thing about the tone.

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I agree their cabs are not the best even the abm range which i have,but the abm heads are the dogs b@@@@@@s in my opinion.As i have stated on here before the amps do need tinkering with to get the sound you are after.They are not plug in and play amps.Bet there is several ashdown rigs at glastonbury this weekend,wooly or not loadsa people love them(and a few hate them!) :)

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[quote name='bassmansky' post='523999' date='Jun 25 2009, 06:46 PM']I agree their cabs are not the best even the abm range which i have,but the abm heads are the dogs b@@@@@@s in my opinion.As i have stated on here before the amps do need tinkering with to get the sound you are after.They are not plug in and play amps.Bet there is several ashdown rigs at glastonbury this weekend,wooly or not loadsa people love them(and a few hate them!) :)[/quote]

+1

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[quote name='bassmansky' post='523999' date='Jun 25 2009, 06:46 PM']I agree their cabs are not the best even the abm range which i have,but the abm heads are the dogs b@@@@@@s in my opinion.As i have stated on here before the amps do need tinkering with to get the sound you are after.They are not plug in and play amps.Bet there is several ashdown rigs at glastonbury this weekend,wooly or not loadsa people love them(and a few hate them!) :rolleyes:[/quote]

Not sure Glastonbury Bassists care about the sound! :)

*Joke in relation to rant about music on the radio that will populate a good 90% of Glastonbury*

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This question has been asked before and [i]never[/i] had a satisfactory answer....in fact,...as far as I know, never had an answer,...so can those that describe Ashdown cabs as sounding[i][size=3] wooly[/size][/i]....describe "wooly",....c'mon surely [b]you[/b] know what [b]you [/b]mean, I don't, so enlighten me. (and others)

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I've been using and Ashdown ABM500 head for rock stuff for several years now, and it took me a long while to get used to it (had an ABM combo before that). With the right cabs it sounds monster. A friend had used Ashdown occasionally at gigs and was really down on it; I kept telling him it was better than he thought and he brought a couple of basses (70s P and Stingray) to one of my rehearsals; I was using my mate's combo. Within seconds of plugging in I had a tone that he was mightily impressed with. I wouldn't use it for everything (my Seis don't like it much) but for some stuff it's great. Kind of depends whether you're after Entwistle circa Live At Leeds or Marcus Miller though....

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[quote name='flatwound' post='525650' date='Jun 27 2009, 01:56 AM']This question has been asked before and [i]never[/i] had a satisfactory answer....in fact,...as far as I know, never had an answer,...so can those that describe Ashdown cabs as sounding[i][size=3] wooly[/size][/i]....describe "wooly",....c'mon surely [b]you[/b] know what [b]you [/b]mean, I don't, so enlighten me. (and others)[/quote]

Indistinct midrange and a low end that isnt "tight", tends to distort and compress when not pushed that far and loses any dynamics.

Thats my experience of ABM and MAG stuff but my superfly gives a better defined and clearer sound from top to bottom.

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[quote name='Spartacus' post='525746' date='Jun 27 2009, 10:02 AM']Indistinct midrange and a low end that isnt "tight", tends to distort and compress when not pushed that far and loses any dynamics.

Thats my experience of ABM and MAG stuff but my superfly gives a better defined and clearer sound from top to bottom.[/quote]
thats not a bad explanation!in my experience with an abm cab it does not seem to cut through the mix as well as it should.

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[quote name='flatwound' post='525650' date='Jun 27 2009, 01:56 AM']This question has been asked before and [i]never[/i] had a satisfactory answer....in fact,...as far as I know, never had an answer,...so can those that describe Ashdown cabs as sounding[i][size=3] wooly[/size][/i]....describe "wooly",....c'mon surely [b]you[/b] know what [b]you [/b]mean, I don't, so enlighten me. (and others)[/quote]

Ha whoa, what grabbed your Ashdown nuts today?
Anyways, here's wooly in my mind:

NO high end zing to start with.
Mid range seems dead and unresponsive
Low end flabby, farty and not defined / tight

EVERYONE knows what wooly means...it's a term called because it sounds like you've put a VERY heavy wooly jumper over it! :)

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[quote name='Kongo' post='526710' date='Jun 28 2009, 01:58 PM']Ha whoa, what grabbed your Ashdown nuts today?
Anyways, here's wooly in my mind:

NO high end zing to start with.
Mid range seems dead and unresponsive
Low end flabby, farty and not defined / tight

EVERYONE knows what wooly means...it's a term called because it sounds like you've put a VERY heavy wooly jumper over it! :)[/quote]
i guess jj burnel of the stranglers does'nt own a wooly jumper then :rolleyes:

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I've never got a sound I've liked through Ashdown gear - but I've only used when it's been house/shared backline. On the other hand though, I've seen a few people (locally, in small enough venues that you hear the backline!) get an absolutely killer sound out of it, so I can't help but wonder if it's just me, or just not having enough time to experiment.

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[quote name='Machines' post='525695' date='Jun 27 2009, 08:15 AM']I think general consensus would be that wooly means lacking in 'sparkle' or top end definition. A bit like when you turn down the treble control on your bass.[/quote]

Personally i found my ABM to sound woolly or muffled in the mids/upper mids. It just seemed "soft" and didnt cut through like i wanted it to. This was compared to my MAG300 and in to my Schroeder 1210R as well as the MAG's speaker (not at the same time ;-)

I think Spartacus summed it up well although I do think the MAG cut through more but the ABM had the deeper, fuller tone. I just didn't like it.

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[quote name='mike257' post='528411' date='Jun 30 2009, 10:31 AM']I've never got a sound I've liked through Ashdown gear - but I've only used when it's been house/shared backline. On the other hand though, I've seen a few people (locally, in small enough venues that you hear the backline!) get an absolutely killer sound out of it, so I can't help but wonder if it's just me, or just not having enough time to experiment.[/quote]

Model of bass used + Finger flesh + techneque = part of how the amp sounds puzzle.

Luke Williams of The Arusha Accord uses Ashdown from what I saw, with the classic VU meter jobbie (that I DO love!) and he has FANTASTIC slap and finger tone...but he DOES use a USA G&L L-2500 though...That could be doing a lot of the tone.

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  • 3 years later...

[quote name='bassmansky' timestamp='1246212114' post='526927']
i guess jj burnel of the stranglers does'nt own a wooly jumper then :P
[/quote]

JJ tends not to use the ABM style VU Ashdowns that are mainly referred to here - he favours the 12 band graphic models that resemble the Trace Elliots. Basically a black Mark King model with a few tweaks. Sounds very much 'Live at Leeds'. Personally I've also struggled to get my sound out of an ABM-style Ashdown but sometimes I hear someone else playing one and I think it sounds great. I think the last [i]great [/i]British bass amplifier was the Trace GP12SMX. I'm always impressed when I plug that in (pre-shape OFF there too). If only the could make one that weighed 5kg.

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[quote name='gazzatriumph' timestamp='1358638493' post='1942794']
No probs with my ABM 500 evo 3 head, takes time to work out the best settings thats all, not a plug in and play
[/quote]
+1
No problems at all with clarity or top end. I did find their 15 speakers less distinct than the 10s - but no suprises there. ABMs are also designed/marketed around a fairly strong signature tone, which doesn't suite everyone (just same as more transparent/uncoloured amps don't suit everyone either). If you try and dial it out you'll get frustrated quite quickly. If you work with it the results can be plenty impressive.

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