Ashdown ABM500

2001-02 model

575 watts 4 ohms
dual preamp
sub harmonizer
pre-shape
built in DI.
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great sounds for fat warm bass, simple controls, VU meter helps track the gain.

i wish it had a groundlift switch on the D.I.
headphone out for personal jamming

Excellent clean warm middy tone at flat 0 with my Music Man stingray 5
Bagend 15s or 2x10 or SWR 4x10
Not so versatile - but it gets one *great* tone.
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Never could dial in a rich but not boomy tone with my Pedulla j5 rapture
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In old buildings the amp buzzed. most places were fine.
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Wasn't a fan of the pre-shape - didn't like the high end, tinny instead of crunchy such as an ALL-tube SVT.
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a lot of head room if you run at 4 ohms, try twin 4x10s both on the floor. hot dang ground effect.

I also really like 2x10 bagend and 4X10 ampeg proline, both very deep sounding cabs.

5 years and finally the vu light needed to be replaced- and pots cleaned.

awesome.

80-100 gigs a year

good guys, 5 year warranty against defects - pots and light not covered.

local repair shop was pricey but fast and friendly.

it's a fine amp - plenty o power and tone for pop-rock
but it's only half the equation - choose the cabinet and bass the fits the sound you want.

EvoII version ABM 500. Cool lookin VU etc, you know what they are!

Stunning shear depth of sound and what can only be described as TONE! no other amp from any other country come close to this.

I do about 150 gigs per year and been using it for around 2 years, never had a problem with it, happily play all the time with no backup.

Sent a few e mails to the guys at Ashdown regarding cabs ad ohmage etc, they were quick replys and answered my questions in good detail. Fantastic.

Ive either owned or played through just about every bass amp over the last 20 years and this Ashdown ABM 500 just blows everything away. LOve it and cant see myself swapping it for a very long time.

I didn't buy this amp for the "features". Actually, I bought it for its lack-there-of. I am overwhelmed by knobs and 12 band EQs on an amp -- its an amphead not a mixing board. So, I can't go too high on the features. I will say that it is the best sounding tube preamp i've ever used -- dare I say it's really close to a real tube amp? Subharmonizer is a bit slow -- but so is the Boss OC-2 and EVERYONE uses that. I can live without it.

Awesome. I play it through an Ampeg SVT410HLF. If you want to plug in and play -- get this guy. I play mostly fenders (72 jazz, 96 jazz deluxe fretless, newer precision) and a warwick. Sounds better on the fenders although i was never that crazy about my warwick in the first place. I play everything -- gig in modern jazz trios, 70's rock, danceable Midnight Vulturish stuff, Dub. I do it all and bring this guy along. C'mon Pino Palladino plays this one live with EVERYBODY. It's a bit noisy but this isn't made for playing in a bass/flute/triangle trio -- amps are noisy -- no ones going care live and in the studio have the engineer take it out. And if you care about it live -- get a noise gate. I'd compare it to an Ampeg svt 3 or 4 pro. It was a tough decision between this and the Ampegs because they make good stuff too. I already have an old V-4 so i went with this one. You really should try this against a Ampeg SVT 4 Pro though -- another great amphead

haven't had any problems thus far. No need for service but it is relatively new. (less than one year old)

haven't had to deal with them yet -- is the customer service in england too? You mean if my amp breaks i have to call the UK and speak to some peppy young female brit with that sweet accent? 10!

refer to my sound section -- at least check it out. May not be for everyone but you'll see more and more people start to use this because it is a great cross between vintage bump-and-grind and modern growl

Features?
There were NO features.More about this later.

Sounded really great.If you like SILENCE that is.
I guess you can't get any clearer than DEAD SILENT!!
More on this later.

Ha!
See below.

I have heard nothing but horrible things about ASHDOWN support.
They would not respond to my e-mails.Thanks guys.

Here is the story:
Musician's Friend was "blowing" these out awhile back for $899.Wow!
The ABM500s I had seen before were always $1100+.
I ordered one.
Five weeks later and no amp I got quite pissed."On back order"
I yelled at some rep so he knocked my price down to $849.Gee thanks dude.Two more weeks later the Ashdown arrives.I open the box.
The Damned thing was in pieces!!
No knobs.This is no joke/exaggeration.There was not a single tone or volume knob present.Wires and pots rattling loose inside the box!!!
HOW DID THIS MAKE IT OUT OF THE ASHDOWN FACTORY LIKE THIS?
WHY DID MUSICIANS FRIEND NOT INSPECT THIS BEFORE SHIPMENT?
I was very upset.Still am.Always will be.If anyone from Ashdown(or MF) should ever see this review I am still awaiting an apology.

went to buy a mag 250 head as a rehearsal/spare amp with a classic 60`s - 90`s rock band but was offered a good deal on an abm 500w 1x15 combo which seemed a good idea at the time.

was great in the living room but when gigged the dynamics were appaling - found myself forever upping the volume and/or the eq to try and cut through the mix, discovered later it had more limiter/compressors built in than a dogs dick... this would be great for jazz/folk etc but not any music with any energy

don`t know as had to sell it after 5 gigs/1 month as it drained any soul from my playing - now use a GK 1001rb - not brilliant but a stellar improvement for the sound i try to obtain.

downloaded a manual from the website and a query about the cheapo #65 300w eminence speaker in a #1000+ 500w combo was replied to quickly so a good score here..

been playing since 1974 - use a GK1001rb head/behringer Bass V-amp Pro, ashdown 2x10+H 300w cab, 300w Hartke 1x15 cab. Gordy hand made bass, wal pro1 bass, + aria sb1000 bass x 2.
Hates = big blobby marshmallow sound and how bad john entwhistle sounded when he started using ashdown stuff. Likes = nothing.
Would have liked it to have a compressor/limiter defeat switch but then ashdown would have had to worry about blown under warranty speakers....

ABM 500RC made in 1999. I bought in August of 2000. I play blues/rock. This amp sounds like a vintage amp with modern power. Single channel unit. I like the adjustable preamp. You can go modern or vintage tone depending on the room you play in. Only use a little of the subharmonizer.

I play a Fender Jazz v American series. The sound is fat and round. Love the adjustable preamp tube. I use two Aguilar 112's so my rig is compact and light.

Very dependable. Has never let me down. I did have to replace the VU meter when I first got it. But, no problems since. A little buzz in the tweeters... no worse than a tube amp...4yrs old!

5yr warranty. Never really needed to send it back. When I got a new VU meter I had them send it to me and I took it to a local repair shop. I didn't want to send the amp back. Love the tone!

Overall rating is a 10! Built for vintage tone. Not a modern slapper tone...

This is a follow-up review - I bought this head in 2000 and have been gigging with it since. You all know the features, they haven't changed. They are pretty much just right.

I still love how this sounds. I usually run this through a epifani 2x10, playing either a roscoe fretless 5 or a Ken Lawrence fretted 5 'brase' and it sounds just great. I usually dial the tube mix back for the fretless to get more definition.

been dead reliable since I got the one fix dealt with. 4 years isn't bad.

My one dealing with the ashdown folks was great. New amp, no hassles.

10. I don't rate anything perfect, but this is as close as it comes. I'm even glad I have an older unit with the DI on the front, since sound guys just love that.

Mine is the EVO II version, so it's pretty recent. 575 watt at 4 ohms, I use one 4*10 and one 1*15 speaker with it, both Ashdown ABM at 8 ohms.
Features include tube preamp blend, 6 band EQ with 3 regulators, octaver, input & output volume knob. It's special, but very ok. Maybe a compressor and/or limiter are missing.

I use a Yamaha bass, and it sounds great. Overall, this amp sounds just great. I play poprock, jazz, bossa, a bit of funk now and then, and everything seems to come quite natural...

Now, this bass amplifier is indeed a BASS amplifier: I have always had to turn the bass up very high on previous amps, but with this one that is simply impossible! The EQ is one of the most efficient ones I have ever seen, and if you turn the bass up just a bit above the normal 50%, wow!

And not just the bass is great, the overall sound is just what I want: with the preamp bland knob turned up about half way, you can go from a clean, warm bass tone to a tone that is distorted just enough so that it keeps the amazing lows but adds a wonderful growl, and that without even touching the EQ. You gotta love that growl.

It also has plenty of headroom: I play a 4 string (a fifth string is most of the time just in the way), and this is the first time that I've heard my E string sound so deep and beautiful... like it should.

Something not so good is that the subwave (subharmonics) does not seem to have a lot of effect, the tone gets deeper but seems to loose some of its richness. But I haven't tried it in a big room yet, probably the effect will be much more noticeable there.
But I probably wouldn't use the octaver anyway...
And maybe the tube preamp could give just a bit more distortion when turned completely open. But on the other side, I probably would never use the distortion anyway, it just would be nice to be able to get it ;)

Overall this is one hell of an amp, I hope it will last me a long time.

Only had it for a 2 months, nothing has been broken yet ;)

Never dealt with them.

My back up amp is a hartke 2115 combo that I've had for about a year and a half now. I thought it sounded quite alright if you mixed the tube and solid state on a high level (I think at about 7.5 and 8.5 respectively), but for twice that money I now have an amp & cabs that are almost three times as powerful and sound about 10 times better...
As Kurt Cobain once sang: I think I'm just happy... ;)

Made in 2003. This is a follow-up review.

It's crapped out 3 times since I bought it. I dont feel like I can trust it any longer. Bye bye Ashdown.

Ha. Thank god for my local music shop- they've been most helpful.

Sounds good. Unreliable. I'd rather have an amp that I don't have to worry about.

Great EQ Great Tone Subharmonic generator lots of features

using Musicman, tone is nice although not as punchy as I would like
Subharmonic generator is slow to reszpond on low notes

Mine has had lots of problems including DI noise and buzz on EQ
still not fixed to my liking but I have to deal with it

ZERO CUSTOMER SUPPORT
HHB are no longer handling Ashdown and as yet Ashdown dont have anyone picking up the product
You are on your own folks so that 5 year warranty is worth about as much as the paper its written on.
If you need a repair you are probably gonna have to shell out yourself
Im done with these guys, Next time Ill buy a product that has full support in the USA and preferably manufactures here!
Buyer beware!

been playing pro 20 years
Im not impressed
SVT is without doubt a better more reliable workhorse and my Aguilar kills the Ashdown for tone
Both SVT and Aguilar are more reliable
So there you have it
My 2cents worth