Ashton AB-1100

I'm really not sure when this Ashon AB1100 was made , but it was a while ago. It is a 24 fret , through neck bass made from mahogany and rose wood. The neck is 5 piece laminate. It has a natural finish with a neck and a bridge humbucker. The humbuckers are Ashton pro, basically an EMG copy. It has active circuitry.
I bought this bass second hand (I don't think you can get them new anymore), and it came without any accessories, which is ok.
This bass has all the features that I want except perhaps a highly figured maple top.

The sound is flexible and punchy. It has a very bright, snappy tone with an undercurrent of nasty browness. By experimenting with the pots you can get all sorts of different sounds for all different types of music. Good slap and pop sound, nice ringind harmonics.
If you are after a modern tone this bass isn't for you it has a distinctly vintage tone with growl available.

This bass was second hand and was set up to perfection. No fret buzz or intonation problems, a real pleasure to play.

But it was scratched by a belt buckle at the back, and the plastic cover for the 9V battery was broken (real bad idea using brittle plastic for that). The pots felt a tiny bit loose and sad, not the best quality. The tuning pegs are ok but i might replace them.

I would use the Ashton AB1100 on a gig without a backup it's tough.

I have owned too many basses to list here but none of them have the neck feel of the Ashton AB1100. I wish I had found this bass years ago, it is cheaper than other basses I have owned that didn't offer the same quality.

This is a pretty nice looking Bass guitar made with a natural Rosewood/Mahogany Body & a Rosewood/Mahogany 5 ply sandwich neck through design. 24 frets & 2 active ashton deluxe humbucker pickups. Black diecast machine heads & Bridge. Vol,Balance,Treb,Bass controls the Active EQ. For the $800 i paid for it, Its a steal.. Your not gonna get a bass with this much features anywhere else for that price.
Most bass's with the same features would start at close to $2000 New Zealand, So that its big selling point.

As i said there's 2 active humbacker pick ups, 1 close to the neck & 1 at the bridge. When i first seen the bass in a mag i was a little concerned that the neck pick up was to close to the neck, But when i got to play it, I found that slap 'n' pop bass work was not a problem ( I'm heavy into slap). This bass has a huge phat bass sound, Its almost got to much bottom end & thats saying alot comming from a bassist. In the catalogue thay called there pick-ups the ashton SUPER BASS NINE with OPPRESSOR active eq.... errrrr whatever, To me that means that the pick-ups are made in house & we don't know much about em...lol. They look like a copy of EMG's with ashton stamped on. I really like that sound of this bass but i think that they have focused on getting a huge phat sound so much that they haven't allowed for much else, I can get mid range sound out of it, But it sounds weak. Maybe thats because there's so much bottom end... Who knows. At the time being i'm happy with the sound. It would suit somebody thats into new-metal or funk as the bottom end gives that wicked thud. The bass boost system works really well, with no hiss.

Well the bass was pretty well set up from the factory, In fact its the best set up i've seen on a bass for along time & that were its ends, After getting the bass home, I pulled it completely apart & rebuilt it. Lose machine head nuts, Screws not screwed all the way in, And just in need of some TLC. Its something that i always do to my Bass's, Pull them apart & check em over, I mean at $800 it's not a musicman. Its a really nice bass & the lose tuning pegs & screws are easy to over look, Shit a screwdriver can fix that, for the money there has to be some kind of setback & i'd have to say that the QC at the factory is a little slack. I also rubbed it down with lemon oil to bring the natural colour of the wood back. All in all a pretty well made bass with not problems with the joints or anything like that. Something you have to look for when buying a neck through constructed bass is that the neck/body sandwich is well done & this one is...pheeewww.

I'd have to say it would last any gig without a back up. Its a pretty sturdy bass, All the hardware would last for years, I put strap lockers on mine, The necks well set & i don't think you'll have any problems with that.

Well i know nothing about ashton guitars apart from the fact thay are designed in Australia & made in korea ( CHEAP LABOUR) helps keep the price down. I'd deal the shop you brought it from anyways.

A really nice looking & playing bass guitar, For the money you can't ask for anything more, Its got looks, sounds & style. Its the price that blows my mind, I've seen other bass's around for far more & are crap in comparison, The lose bits & pieces are a piss off, but easy to fix.
I say sit down & play one, your gonna be amazed at what you get for $800 NZD. If there's two, play them both & pick the best one out of them, As i said before, The QC at the factory let this bass down somewhat, But all in all a awesome bass. If its the looks that make the man, then this things gonna impress.