Ashdown Sub-Octave Plus

Set up is straight forward, basically idiot-proof. Controls have nice fell. Manual not really very useful. It was more of a sales description of what it does and not "How" to get the results you want.

This section and "Reliability" are my basic areas of dis-satisfaction. In the upper range of my basses (I tried 3 different ones with it) it had a "cool" kinda synth sound as the lower octave kicked in, BUT as I moved down to the middle and low end voice, the sub-octave just kicked right out or came in and out intermittently. Very very disturbing and just ruin the whole idea of having a sub-octave.

Reliability?? See above comments for "Sound Quality" Since it just "quits" I would have to say very Unreliable. Sorry, but that's the truth

The guys at sutomer support are very quick to try helping out and offer suggestions. Unfortunately, nothing seems to fix it. Either I got a lemon or this is just not one of their better products.

I'm pretty well-rounded and easy going. I play classical upright, teach in school, play all kinds of rock and blues: Yes to Stevie Ray Vaughn, jazz: Jaco to big band. I've got lots of pedals and effects. I was really hoping for a great sub-octave pedal and this was a Christmas present. Problem is, it basically stinks. Again, sorry to be so blatantly truthful.

This unit is pretty straight forward. Very simple to use.

unfortunately This pedal sounds terrible. I got it as soon as it came out. I read about it before it came out and pre ordered it online. Thank god it was returnable. I play mostly with 5 string basses. I hit an open B. All I got was mud no matter how I messed with the controls. Then it got worse same with an open E. The tracking is totally slow too. The overdrive feature sounded like total crap and was totally useless. I messed with it a lot for 3 weeks and ended up returning it. I am an Ashdown fan but was very disappointed in this pedal. Oh well can't win every time.

Built like a tank. Too bad it sounds like crap!!!

I did send them a few emails seeing if maybee i was doing something wrong. They emailed me back very quickly and were very nice and very helpful. Too bad the pedal is just terrible. :(

Overall built like a tank sounds like total crap!!!!!!

Five control knobs Input from your bass which can be seen on VU meter. Sub Octave volume level. Distortion Drive (how much distortion on the sub octave) Distortion level blend control for the original clean and distorted signal. Output volume
Yes it is easy to use but knowing what they makes a lot of difference. There was no manual with this but I downloaded the info from Ashdown web site.

I use a Burns Bison (reissue) and a Peavey Nitro Bass 400 with a matching Peavey 4 x 10 cab.
I agree with the other write up this sound really muddy when I first pluged in. As this produces a note below the note you are playing anything on the E string just sounds muffled. The tracking is also poor on this string and very indefined. On the other strings if you play about a bit the tracking and clarity is better although a little slow almost like a mild delay pedal. The Distortion would be a great feature but again it's really wooley on the E string. I can get lots of sounds out of the Burns Bison and it takes a lot of playing around to get the right sound.

It's an Ashdown. Look after it and generally Ashdown stuff it quite reliable. Love the look and styling....big pedal? your a bass player you probably will only using one or two pedals so it's not going to crowd the stage :-)

I have not had this pedal that long and it doesn't come out the box often so I would expect it to last. I have in the past had dealings with Ashdown when my old Mag 200 head blew it's output stage. They invited me over to Essex from Kent to have the repaire done while I waited as I had a gig that night. They were EXTREMLEY helpful and the engineers make nice tea.

I've been playing bass for 20 years now.I play original music in sixties garage / mod band (Small Faces, Kinks, Spencer davis group etc..)and I was looking for a quirky dual sound for some of our material. I don't think I found it in this pedal. Maybe the Octave produced should be one octave higher this would sort out the low E problem and give a nice tone to the high G. It must be murder with a five string on the low B.
All that said I think that the price I paid new 45 pound sterling was good value for money to try the pedal. It's not worth selling on again so I'll just keep it.I am looking at getting a new distortion pedal and the Ashdown Drive Plus is not out the question.

I found it a little difficult to use due to the fact that I was never able to get a good sound out of it.

Sound quality was horible. I had to cut all the bass out of my tone and play way high up the neck to even be able to tell that the pedal was producing the slightest ammount of octave. It sounded more like a really muddy distortion than an octave. Very dissapointed.

I was very impressed with the build of this thing though. It was build like a sherman tank! The inputs were very solid and the chassis was very sturdy. The VU meter was actually functioning and there were two metal tabs on either side of it to pick it up with.

Never dealt with them.

I play mainly rock with a jazz mindset. I have been playing for almost five years and have a good ear for tone. I play a stingray through an ampeg v4bh and 2 svt-410he's. I use an aphex punch factory and a fulltone bass drive. After returning the sub-octave pedal I bought the Fulltone Bass Drive and am very Pleased with the sound of it. i wa blown away by the versatility of it and clear tone, as opposed to the muddyness of the AShdown sub-ctave. Unfortunately i will probably never purchase another ahdown product because of this. :-(

On/off switch, and the knobs left to right are: input/sub level/dist drive/dist level/output. Built like a tank, and couldn't be easier to use. One 9v battery or adapter (not included).

The tracking is excellent, very fast and accurate. The distortion sounds great, and being able to adjust both the amount and level of distortion is very cool. Note, the original signal remains unaltered, only the sub-note gets distorted. On full this provides an almost synth-bass effect.

No noise what so ever, true bypass. No clicking sounds when turned on/off.

I haven't had it for long, but it appears to be very sturdy.

Never had anything to do with the company, no need to so far.

20+ years of experience, Status and jazz basses, Eden amp. It tracks better than other octave pedals I've tried.