Ashdown After Eight Combo

Ok, bought this amp because I needed a practice amp that had tone & to some extent, a pedigree. I'm new to the bass playing game after graduating from acoustic, mandolin, mandola (trust me, a different instrument), electic guitar then to bass.

This amp has all you could need control wise;starting left to right: input gain (volume input to you & me), bass, mid, treble & output level (volume). In between there is a little nifty switch called "Deep" which in adds a little more "oomph" to the overall sound.

I use this amp only for home practice/recording duties - 15w is perfect for this.

I use a Fender Precision Lyte (the first & only bass I have - very nice BTW). I play mainly blues/rock/some folk - jazzy stuff (think Pentangle).

This amp is no way noisy until you start to crank her up. Careful use of the bass's control knobs & the amp's input/output control have led me to find some really sweet tones, as well as out & out distortion. Quite versatile for such a small amp. For an eight inch speaker she handles things really well.

Only just got her, so can't really say.

Ashdown (here in the UK at least) DO have a good rep. I year ltd warranty.

I suppose that its because it's a UK company & I live in the UK - I've always found US company's crap at customer service over here so I guess the same is for those guys/gals in the US who buy Brit products such as Marshall etc. over the other side of the pond. Product support over a few thousand miles can be a little dificult my friends!

Superb amp & excellent bang for the buck. This is a PRACTICE AMP people, not something to shave the eyebrows off a horde of metal merchants at twenty paces! I will never tell any of you reading this review to buy one but at least do yourself a favour & check it out if all you want is a small output practice amp that can provide some really nice blues, jazz or rock tones. This one is a keeper!

Ashdown's smallest practice combo, 15 watts, 8" speaker, bought in April 07. Easy to access top mounted controls, input gain, bass middle and treble, output level together with a pre-shaped 'deep' switch. One input jack, one headphone and external speaker output and a CD-in input.

So far so good, but Ashdown had to spoil things by placing the on/off switch at the lower rear of the unit which is a total pain to get at especially if you have the unit parked up against a wall.

Using a passive Yamaha BB414. Tone was initially disappointing but after experimenting with different EQ and pickup settings I can get some pretty good sounds out of it. Virtually no buzzing, hissing or humming can be heard. The sound also seems to have improved with age probably now the speaker has been broken in a bit. Just don't expect an SVT style thump, this amp is good for nothing more than bedroom practice.

In a word - overbuilt. This amp is very well built, perhaps too much so as its very heavy for a small practice combo. No problem with electronics so far and the carpet covering has held up well despite my other use for it as a foot rest.

Not had to deal with Ashdown, but have heard nothing but good things about their customer service.

I only bought this as it was the only small combo the store had in stock at the time. I'm not at all disappointed with it but if it were lost or stolen I would use it as an opportunity to upgrade to something larger with perhaps more features. The only really bad thing about it is the location of the power switch, which is something that has not ceased to annoy me. Despite that, this is a solid amp and I would recommend it for a beginner or bedroom bassist.

I bought this amp new for $99 from a well known bass only store. It never worked right. Buzzed and distorted right out of the box. The store I bought it from said to send it back for repair or replacement( good nw store) but it would cost me $$ to ship it across the USof A. so I just took a loss and will never buy another ashdown product again.

No good sound from this thing. I tried replacing the speaker to no avail.

What can I say did not work out of the box.

Ashdown was very concerned about this problem however I was still left with the option of paying to return it or mark it up as a loss

I will never buy another ashdown product. I choose to get this amp for practice and if it work as well as advertised I would have considered the amb line for my big rig upgrade. I chose SWR.

This amp is perfct for me I love the fat tone of this amp great for rock, blues, indie anything really, Though the features on this amp (Gain Volume 3 band eq + Bass button )are fairly basic it has everything you need!

I use this with a variety of basses fender p bass with seymour duncan quater pounder spb-3 pick ups alla steve harris, musicman stingray, steinberger, sandberg jj california use what ever you have this amp will sound very good, It is also very loud for its size perfect for practicing at home alone ( not quite enough with a band ) I can't recommend this amp enough I really love it, I have a full mark bass set up for gigs but the sound and tone I get from this little fella blows it away, If you are wondering which practice amp to go for look no further!

Had this for a couple of years never had any trouble it seems pretty bullet proof, build quality is excellent, I don't think it will ever break!

Never needed it!

Been playing 8 years I own lots of basses lots of amps, marshall, hiwatt, ashdown, mark bass, and the ashdown is my favorite by far such a warm tone, I have only one bad thing to say about the amp and that is that the on/off switch is on the back at the bottom so when you have it against a wall or in a corner you have to pull it out to turn it on and off, just a little gripe but i thought i'd mention it, But to sum up this is a fantastic practice amp, I have had and got rid of many others,big names all, and now I am not looking, Well maybe i'll get one of this guys bigger brothers so I can get the same great tone when I practice with my band

This is a bass practice amp, made around 2004-05, bought new. It has 15 watts output, an 8 inch speaker in a solid state cube design. Has top mounted controls for Input Gain, Bass, Mid, Treble and Output Level, as well as a Deep switch for some extra bottom end. Also has a headphone jack and an 8ohm extension speaker output, Ashdown obviously feel there's a lot more you can do with it other than just practice.

I use this mainly for home practice and jamming with friends with acoustic guitars and a few vocals. The amp is great for this. It wouldn't be loud enough for playing alongside drums or for gigs.

The only downside is that it's 15kgs in weight so it's a pain to carry to mate's houses.

As I only use it for practice I don't run my effects through it. I use a Fender Japan 1975 reissue Jazz Bass with vintage pickups and a Fender Japan Fretless with Duncan design pickups. Out of all the practice amps I tried this was the best. The deep cube design cabinet gives really good low end, perfect for a nice warm thick tone. I play all sorts of music from Rage Against the Machine style riffs to laid back van Morrison stuff. This covers the lot.

There's no distortion or buzzing, the speaker seems pretty secure although I haven't driven the nuts off it - yet!

It's really solid, will probably outlive me! Never use it for gigs just because it wouldn't have the power.

I e-mailed them a question about the extension output. They got back pretty quick but not a great deal of detail in the answer.

I've been playing bass for about 7 years. My main rig is:
Fender Jazz - Dunlop CryBaby Bass wah - Digitech Bass Driver - Marshall Guv'nor - Big Muff - Boss OC3 - Boss DD3 - Ampeg STV3Pro with Classic 4x10 and 1x15 Cabs. Also have Korg DTR1000 rack tuner.

I also play guitar, mandolin and keys, but not that well!

If lost or stolen I'd try out some more amps so see if anything comes close to the sound and was more portable.

This amp sounds wicked, I compared it to Laney, Peavey, Kustom and Fender practice amps and it was the best. The only thing I don't like is the weight as it makes it inconvenient to carry around.