Apparently I'm to ask about Ashdown

[Sibob]

Love my ABM 500 head, have had no problems at all in 4 years heavy gigging!


Also use the mini48 and mini15 cabs to great effect!

Si

[colda]

I'm no fan of Ashdowns, although I've heard some sweet sounds come out of some of them, just as a general rule they are wooly and just not a nice sound (subjective), conversely a bassist has to work hard to make a Trace sound bad

...just my opinion of course

[warwickhunt]

[quote name='PaulMartin' post='102803' date='Dec 11 2007, 05:24 PM']If the retailer says so it must be true.

Odd that mine never has.[/quote]

I think at the time Ashdown did a recall on a batch of ABM's as they had a problem with the adhesive not bonding the ply and the tolex. As for the mute, I tried the one in the shop when I returned mine and it did the same.

[Machines]

Yeah my mute is like that too . It's more of a really effective volume drop - certainly no louder than the bass acoustically.

[Sibob]

[quote name='Machines' post='102830' date='Dec 11 2007, 06:14 PM']Yeah my mute is like that too . It's more of a really effective volume drop - certainly no louder than the bass acoustically.[/quote]

Mine to, which is why use my tuner pedal as a mute, 100% more useful

Si

[Beneath It All]

Was told by someone at Ashdown that all their heads are now made in China??....Not very reassuring...Personally, I MUCH prefer the old Trace stuff.

[OldGit]

[quote name='Beneath It All' post='102879' date='Dec 11 2007, 08:24 PM']Was told by someone at Ashdown that all their heads are now made in China??....Not very reassuring...Personally, I MUCH prefer the old Trace stuff.[/quote]


What's the problem with Chinese production?
Just about every major coperation and some hifi boutique bass gear companies like PJB have plants there.

[ashevans09]

[quote name='neilb' post='102688' date='Dec 11 2007, 01:38 PM']Ashdown do have good customer support IME.[/quote]

Ashdown have pant-wettingly good customer support. Absolutely stellar in that department. I had an ABM rig for a while and had no reliability issues, it just wasn't the right tone for me

As has already been said, go out and try the amps you're interested, apart from finding out which one you want it's also an excuse to play with some veeeeeery pretty gear

and hello! Welcome to basschat

[largo]

Hi Ash

I've heard it said that Ashdown are like the Ampeg sound, only better.
Seeing as you have an SVT-3 PRO what didn't you like about the Ashdown that you do in the Ampeg.
I'm curious as I've always thought about the SVT-3 PRO with it's additional 9 band EQ as a different option to my Ashdown.
I love the Ashdown tone though, and I have the ABM 500 EVO II RC.

I'm also curious to as to why Ashdown prices have dropped like the proverbial big lasses knickers again, in the last year or two.
ABM 500 EVO II for less than £500 and yet an SVT-3 PRO is £750 at the cheapest, or an SWR 550X or Eden WT500 or whatever are all about £1000.
I'd put my Ashdown on a level par with these other brands in terms of professional amps.

[MB1]

MB1.

Welcome!..... i use the ABM 575w Evo2 2x10H Combo i think your asking about .Mine is Made in Britain,and i havent had any problems with it at all, ive had it for nearly two years and regularly practice and gig with it.I cant vouch for the gear thats assembled in China to be honest, although from whats been mentioned previously i'd stick with the U.K made stuff.

[Beneath It All]

[quote name='OldGit' post='102887' date='Dec 11 2007, 08:44 PM']What's the problem with Chinese production?
Just about every major coperation and some hifi boutique bass gear companies like PJB have plants there.[/quote]......Something called Quality Control I suspect...Dunno about you,but when I'M doing a show,I like my gear to stay working until the tabs go down.Met very few people who haven't had problems with chinese ashdown stuff......

Edited December 11, 2007 by Crazykiwi
Rascist content removed.

[s_u_y_*]

[quote name='Beneath It All' post='102922' date='Dec 11 2007, 09:32 PM']Aren't the chinks still sending us toys that are apparently poisoning some of our kids..........To each his own I guess - you may want to check this out....http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/6269318.stmn[/quote]

I'm sorry, but I find that borderline offensive. Mattel is an American company, and they are just as responsible to ensure that QC checks are in place.

Besides, Phil Jones Bass and the Lakland Skyline series are examples of outsourcing to the Far East, whilst able to maintain QC. All it takes is a bit more effort on the part of the company.

Whereas I agree that QC has suffered in Ashdown since they outsourced (I've heard a few tales of owe on these very boards), to purely implicate the "chinks" as you refer to them is slightly unfair. Ashdown has to bear the brunt of the blame, as they probably went for the most "competitive" supplier to cut costs. Unlike, PJB and Lakland who make it publicly clear that they invested considerable effort that QC is maintained at their suppliers. Their reputation represents this.

Edited December 11, 2007 by s_u_y_*

[Dread Bass]

i WOULD SAY DOWN RIGHT OFFENSIVE

[99ster]

[quote name='metaltime' post='102982' date='Dec 11 2007, 10:58 PM']i WOULD SAY DOWN RIGHT OFFENSIVE[/quote]

+100.

[Kiwi]

Rascist comments aren't going to be tolerated here I'm afraid.

I can tell you from personal experience of living and working in China that the issue of quality control is usually because of inadequate supervision. With the proper level of training and good communication Chinese manufacturing is as capable of high quality as much as anywhere else. Most of the circuit boards in your computer are probably chinese manufactured and thats not the end of it. Point is, you're already depending on Chinese manufacturing quality whether you're aware of it or not.

FWIW Warwick have been manufacturing their Rock Basses in China for the last 4 or 5 years and the quality of them is nothing short of superb.

[Ou7shined]

Another Ashdown fanboy here.... more specifically the ABM series. I occasionally use a MAG 300 2x10 at our practice rooms and it's obviously not in the same league at all. I almost went with Hartke before getting my 2001 "English" ABM but having since tested out an H3500 with accompanying Hartke 4x10 I'm reeeeeally glad I didn't. I'll tell ye how good it is - I always used to play through my GT6-B in an attempt to model the sound I was after, since discovering Ashdown it's more or less just a very expensive tuner now.
I've pestered Ashdown CS with my noob questions on a number of occasions and had the replies and helpful pdf files back within hours... sometimes minutes. I have swapped out the noisy Sunon fans for "silent" ones for home use (time will tell if this was a good idea or not) and I use in conjunction with an extra ABM 410T cab for really loud gigs.

What I think I've noticed on BC is that Ashdowns are really good value for money and are a pretty decent stop gap before getting into the really superior stuff by which time you don't make any mistakes... or you'd better not as the really good stuff will make your imperfections in playing stand out. Yes? Having said that there are a lot of high profile musicians using Ashdown. The Foo's were on the telly the other night and I turned to the Mrs and smugly said "look there's my amp"........ yeah well she doesn't know any better

My mute isn't 100% either but I only noticed this yesterday when I was playing my ipod through it - I've never heard my bass or power "pops" come through the mute ever.

[Beneath It All]

[quote name='metaltime' post='102982' date='Dec 11 2007, 10:58 PM']i WOULD SAY DOWN RIGHT OFFENSIVE[/quote]..........If people call us Brits 'cos we're from Britain,what should we call the Chinese people?...That withstanding, I DO apologise for any offence caused...

[thedontcarebear]

[quote name='Beneath It All' post='103045' date='Dec 12 2007, 07:32 AM']..........If people call us Brits 'cos we're from Britain,what should we call the Chinese people?...That withstanding, I DO apologise for any offence caused...[/quote]

Call them chinese maybe?

[colda]

[quote name='Beneath It All' post='103045' date='Dec 12 2007, 07:32 AM']..........If people call us Brits 'cos we're from Britain,what should we call the Chinese people?...That withstanding, I DO apologise for any offence caused...[/quote]

how dare you insult me by refering to me as a 'Brit'!



personally, I think all this PCness is totally arse

why is it that words which are used in a descriptive manner are continually compromised so much giving people who seem to have no sense of levity to start shouting 'racist!' - do you not think that it could be creating an intolerant society by restricting free speech?

of course there is a need for responsible use of the language but this minefield of mentioning colour or creed is just stupid

target the real issues rather than taking the easy option - i remember reading a quote somewhere about the way animal rights protesters seem to attack lone women in fur rather than taking on a gang of bikers in leather

yeah, i'm very much against racism, and yeah, with me and my family being victims ourselves I do have an idea of how it feels

get it in perspective

[DirkThrust]

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='102820' date='Dec 11 2007, 05:51 PM']I think at the time Ashdown did a recall on a batch of ABM's as they had a problem with the adhesive not bonding the ply and the tolex. As for the mute, I tried the one in the shop when I returned mine and it did the same.[/quote]

I see

Edited December 12, 2007 by PaulMartin

[Dread Bass]

Im sorry but refering to a british person as a brit and a chinese person as a "chink" are just not the same thing. The conatations of the words are totally different the word "chink" [b]is[/b] a racist slur and to me it would be the same as calling a black person the N word.

I am all for free speech but if people cant use it to treat each other with respect then where is the point.

[Dread Bass]

sorry to the OP for hijaking your thread

[Sibob]

Ampeg's are made in China now to!

Si

[cheddatom]

I wasn't offended by the language at all. I was offended by this notion that because something is produced in china, it's of poor quality. I had a massive argument with someone about this on another message board, and they had no good reason for saying it.



I know we should really be talking about this 'cos someone's going to get offended etc but.....

Chinese people are not a seperate race, they are a nationality. If you group all chinese people together, in a negative way, it's not racist, it's just anti-chinese, and bigotted etc.

Maybe that's pointless, but I don't think many chinese people are going to take an abbreviation of their nationality as a racist slur. Obviously, i'm not chinese, and so I wouldn't know, but with respect to the actual word, which is causing offence, it has much more in common with "brit" than that other racist slur you mentioned.

[Dread Bass]

well maybe its just me but ihave heard that word used loads to describe people from all over east asia. Thats why i find it offensive. To me it is a racist word used to describe the colour of someones skin so to me it is exactly the same.