Ashdown FA-60 Fallen Angel DSP 60W Head

Probably 2005 or so. I play rock and metal, and this amp is made for it. 2 ch, FX loop, and simulated line out. Don't use the effects much. It has more than enough power, and if I needed more, I'd just mic it.

LTD FX260, LTD H500 and Ibanez SZ320, all with humbuckers, and the LTD's with coil splitting abilities. Its great for rock and metal. The cleans can get 'crunchy' at higher volumes with more gain; the distortion is heavy, but not death metal heavy or brutal. With a TS9/808 and/or EQ in front, it gets pretty brutal. The amp has quite the definition in it's tones [which has to do a bit with whether it's noisy or not]. IE, doing a chug on the low E and stopping quickly won't have that bit during the pauses that make or break some modern distortion amps.

I could depend on it, but I would still take my Peavey Rockmaster and a pedal or two. My friend just gave it to me; he's had it probably about 9 months or so, and has more experience with it. I think the only thing people on H-C are saying is that the transformers may need replacing. That could've been a different amp review, though. I gave a five because of only having it a week. [I have played it off and on for the past 3 months though when jamming at my friends house]

Next day, they responded to my inquiry about a foot-switch. For that sole experience, they get a 7 [they'd get a higher score with further positive dealings with them, btw].

I've been playing 7 years, and I have too much gear to list. You might be able to find some of my other reviews. If it were stolen or lost, and I had a way to buy it cheap, I would get it again. I like the tone, and the look of the amp is cool too. The fan is also a nice touch. I hate that it isn't the 120w or whatever Fallen Angel model. :D

I wish I got it from my friend with a foot-switch, but I'll buy a Marshall 4 button. The customer service said it should work.

The FA-60 dsp head is an 60 watt all Valve amp , it was flogged off as having 3 channels but realy it's 2 and a boost (I call it 2 1/2 chanels and the boost is only available with the footswitch).Each with independant EQ and gain. it also has reverb and a bank of effects, and my fave feature,2 master volumes, all of wich (except the reverb) are foot-switchable.

It has a decent effects loop though a quirk of design is you nee a jack plug in the front for it to work, just a not if you are only using the power amp section. There are outputs for 4,8,and 16ohm cabs and it can power a full stack.

There is a four way footswitch supplied with the amp, it can switch between clean and overdrive, the boost on and off, the effects on and off, and between the 2 master volumes.

I find the amp versatile enough for the music I play (Black,power and folk metal)though the effects are quite nice there isn't much scope for adjustment on them, they are just presets of delays, chorus, flange.

Cool red VU meter!!!!

I gave it a 7 as there are a lot of features but not as many as say a line 6(not that it needs them).

I'm using 2 guitars a 1972 Antoria les paul custom set neck, with kent armstrong ultra distortion in the bridge, and an Ibanez SZ320 with stock pickups, I'm playing through a 1960A cab with 4x100 watt speakers from a Hiwatt cab in it.the amp still has its stock tubes!!

With both guitars the cleans are very nice, though with a little breakup if you pick hard on the les paul due to the huge output pickup. I like a nice deep/mid clean with the trebble backed off little for a nice warm tone. The clean has good clarity, even at high volume, that can break up to a nice crunch when the gain is turned up, with a decent guitar and pickups you get a nice mild overdrive from it. The EQ is good with lots of scope for getting the sound you want.

The overdrive it where this amp is at for me its a very different sound that may not be to some peoples taste, Its a very dark tone with a smooth and heavy gain, without the boost engaged the drive is very controlable but even turned right up the amount of gain on tap isn't huge, just enough to give a good heavy rythm crunch.

Turn on the boost and this amp sings!! the overdrive becomes brutal and the tones are deep and powerful, there is a lot of EQ there, and it will do anything from Rock to Death Metal, but the tone always has a deep quality to it, think MESA mixed with Marshall. some people have said there isnt enough gain on tap, I've only found that with low output or entry level guitars. No matter how much drive you use the sound is alway really smooth.

here's a link to a you tube demo of the amp (not by me)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9bGMPshlXk

Just so you can have a listen for yourselves to the overdrive.

as I said before the DFX are good but have very little adjustment they are usable though and good quality sounds.

The amp's reliability has been great, though it broke down once through no fault of its own, I leant it to another band and they plugged the 8ohm speaker out into the 4 way footswitch jack, blowing the switch.

I've had it apart and it's very neat inside and looks good quality throughout. Before I bought the amp I spoke the engineer at ashdown and he said that the DSP have none of th reliability issues that the earlier model had( a transformer prob which was fixed very quickly).

When the guy blew my amp I rang ashdown and they were great! I was on the phone chatting about the amp for ages with the engineer, they fixed it for ??25 labour and the parts for free!! which I thought was great (yes they still repair them contrary to what some people say) they also talked me through a minor reverb problem over the phone, fixed in minutes!

I think thats pretty good personally for an amp out of warranty.

I think this is a great amp that sometimes get and undeserved bad rap.I've been playing 19 years now, and I've owned lots of gear Ive had a Marshall TSL 100, a Peavey Renown 212, a Marshall avt150 full stack, a Marshall MG100, and line 6 Flexitone, and Ive played through loads of others, I'm a proffessional musician and music teacher so I know a thing or two about sound.

These amps rock!! I was very suprised how good they were the only amp its not quite as good as that i've owned is the TSL100 but I think with a tube change it may even match that, though in a different way.

The only thing I would change is adjustments for the DFX, other than that its fine. If it were lost or stolen I'd buy another no qualms at all.

This is a 2006-2007 Ashdown Engineering Fallen Angel 60 DSP head that is equipped as follows:
Power Output (RMS): 60W into 4, 8 or 16 Ohms
Line Input: Impedance 1M Ohm, Level 100mV to 1V
Effects Send: Impedance 4.7k Ohms, Level Nominal 0dBu
Effects Return: Impedance 50k Ohms, Level 0dBu adjustable
Speaker Emulated Line Output
Treble, Middle, Bass Controls for each channel (independent)
Pre-amp Tubes: 4 x 12AX7 with DC heaters for low noise
Output Tubes: 2 x EL34 fixed bias 120W at rated supply voltage
Traditional passive, interactive tone control network providing classic guitar tonal adjustment
Digital Effects- Delay, Chorus, Flanger, and independent digital reverb that can be used with any other effect chosen simultaneously.

This amplifier is designed to be at home in a variety of music genres but it really excels in Heavily overdriven tones with clarity and definition. Extra heavy duty power supply and transformer allows this amp to easily produce extended bass response without mushing out or bottoming out. Extended gain response will delight any metal or nu-metal guitarist who desires harmonically rich and heavily saturated, searing lead tones and crushing rhythm textures too. Clean tone is not sacrificed for all of this gain madness; however. The clean channel is alive and evocative of many colored textures from country bright to jazzy dark.

This amplifier is the absolute best amplifier I have ever played through! Clean channel can be used very loud without breaking up. The distortion channel is the most usable, butter smooth, saturated tone I have ever experienced from a tube amplifier. It is brutal without being scratchy. Extreme while being musical and usable. Touch sensitive to the player's picking technique but forgiving to some extent. With an early 70's Malmsteen Stratocaster, it produces dead-on Yngwie-ish tones. With my Les Paul loaded with MM Motherbuckers... The voice of God will speak to you through your 4x12 cabinet and you will likely lose control of your bodily functions.
I play progressive metal in the vein of Dream Theater and Symphony X and this is the ideal amplifier for this music. It is flexible, quiet, and absolutely irreplaceable!

They say that these things are outstandingly rugged. The guy that started the company used to be a lead engineer for Trace Elliott. These heads are designed in the UK and built in the People's Republic of China. Wiring looks clean and neat. Electrical components are ruggedly designed and mounted to the chassis. Seems to be well thought out and put together. Quality through and through. I've not had a problem with it.

This amplifier is no longer made. Never dealt with the manufacturer.

I've been playing for 27 years. I've owned Line 6, Mesa Boogies, Marshalls, Fenders, etc... This amplifier is the Holy Grail. If it was ever stolen or lost... The person who stole it would be subjected to the terrors of the traitor's death! Check it out in English history. Get one while you can!

My amp is the new 2006 version, 2007 made. All tube 60watt with slant ed 4 by 12 fallen angel cab.
Its primarily built to be heavy what with the bias to the bottom end and the closed back cabs. I play mostly solo and heavy styles so this suits me fine, and i always have that clean channel to play other style on.
The amp has 2 channels, clean nd disortion, theres also a boost feature that i haven't tried out yet and delay, chorus and flanger effects, which are all usable. What stands out about this amp is the VU meter that charts your progress into those loud 60watts, i've added sum sirens to the top of mine and created a wannabe tank show off piece with tone to boot.

Theres a lot of variety in those 2 channels, what stands out most is the tone, theres always huge amounts of tone on tap, and that tube spongy volume swell feeling when you pick notes will remind you why tube will always be better than solid. The clean channel will stay clean with a strat getting bluesier towards the full gain setting, using my jb pickup it will break up past 2 clock. The distortion channel can go from overdrive at 1 oclock setting to full out beatdown at full gain. The distortion can be brutal but its controlled. A tip for better distortion would be to replace those el34s with some of a better make such as jjtesla or shaunghang el34Ls.

Im not sure about the reliabilty, its built like a tank (and is nearing the same size ;) yet im sure the pcb is a single sided affair and it being tube theres always a chance of something going wrong, in a maintenience sense.

The warranty is at best confused.. And they have no direct line.
Not sure on this one.

If it were stolen or lost i'd cry while wishing i had enough money for another amp, since the fallen angel line is discontinued and i got one of the last in the UK. This truly is a fantastic value tone filled tank of an amp.

I purchased this amp brand new in early 2007. It's 60w all tube and I got a sale price of 240GBP so for an all tube amp that was fairly amazing. The amp is made in China.

I play mainly blues and rock. I use a Gibson Les Paul Standard and
Fender USA Strat mainly.

The amp has two channels with identical controls for each. Each channel has a Gain control as expected but also has an overall volume control. This is great for balancing the clean/lead levels relative to each other. The Lead channel has a boost which is probably equivalent to a clean boost foot pedal. The output stage has two master volumes which govern the overall volume irrespective of channel selected. The 4 button footswitch included with the amp allows you to switch between these two overall volume levels as well as switching the channel and the boost. There is a footswitch for effects on/off also. There is a cooling fan which can be switched off for recording! The rear of the amp has send and return sockets and a return level control. The fotswitch has a special Ashdown socket but there are regular switch sockets also so you can use relay switching from say a G-major or similar. There is an emulated line out also. The front panel has a standby switch.
Things I hate about the design
1. the meter on the front.
2. can't read red lettering on black on a dimmly lit stage
3. the knobs need more visible pointers - in dim lighting it is hard to see where the tiny dot is on a chrome top
4. the effects are selected by a rotary switch you can't really see what you are getting. Can't quickly change mid song.

The sound was disappointing. I bought the amp mail order so had not tried it but as it was cheap I just went for it! The lead channel seemed to be swamped by bass and the overall sound was horribly mushy. In a band situation this was awful and did not cut through.

I almost gave up on this amp but as a last resort I changed the two output tubes. The Electro-Harmonix EL34EH that came with it were replaced with a matched pair of Svetlana EL34(winged C).

The differnce was staggering. The amp now sings! The sound is wonderfully focused in the midrange and sparkles in the highs. The bass end is tightly under control with just enough bottom to rattle the windows. It's actually quite amazing what a transformation this was. I wonder if I was unlucky with the original tubes.
The clean sounds using the Les Paul are wonderfully warm and rich. Switching to lead channel gives a great rock tone for riffing and chords and the switching in the boost gives a supreme smooth singing lead sound that is just so easy and controllable.

The effects are OK. Chorus is usable and the Delay is excellent but there is no direct control of parameters.

The amp I have was a replacement. The first delivered amp crackled when I switch it on and later that day just stopped working - this was returned. So far the replacement has been OK

Not used.

I have been playing for 36 years. I bought this amp to use at a local jam session.
I normally use Marshall JMP-1, Marshall 8008 Power Amp, TC-Electronics G-Major effects. I also have a 1979 Burman Pro 501 all tube combo.

This is a new 2006 model amp- I bought it from a liquidator three weeks ago, and am very pleased with it. Two and a half channels: 1 is clean, 2 is crunchy, 3 is an extra overdrive on channel 2. Has 16 built-in effects that may be marginally useful, but aren't controllable enough for my taste. I love the concept of an all-tube head with more ass to the preamp than the power amp. Four 12AX7s power the pre; two EL34s power the backside. I'll replace the tubes soon with matched name-brand versions of the same, and i expect that to make this really good amp a real gem. The 60 watts is plenty for me- I use a Hughes & Kettner 4x12 cabinet onstage, mic'd with a Sennheiser e609 silver mic that runs into the house mix. The head pushes plenty of power to run my cab, and I can hear it fine even with a heavy-handed drummer. I'm not crazy about shared reverb- I'd prefer reverb on my clean channel and none om my high-gain, but it's not too hard to find a comfortable compromise.

Gorgeous clean sparkles til the gain gets past noon, then comes in with a little Fender-esque crunch. The distortion is infinitely variable from mild crunch thru bone crunch. Lots of variety, easy to use. I'd prefer the knobs to be labeled above rather than below, because I don't like bending over to try to read whan I'm adjusting... so I solved that problem with color-coded chickenheads. I use this amp for everything from Abba to Dream theater, and it does a great job for the proce. I actually prefer it to my much pricier Hughes & Kettner Warp X! It's better mannered, and its tonal buffet keeps me happy. I don't know why the effects volume had to be on the back- that seems silly. I play Parker guitars- primarily a Fly Artist, but also PM20s, PM20Pro, Nitefly SA, & P-42. The single coil tones are incredible- sparkle and shimmer to make you weep. Humbuckers and high gain are really nice too, and sustain with the Artist and PM20Pro would make Nigel Tufnel hock his Les Paul.

I think it'll be relieable, but I'm afraid to say- it might blow up tomorrow. As of yet, no problems aside from getting used to unfamiliar knob arrangement. I keep my H&K handy just in case- NEVER play without backup! I've had no problems, but have heard of others who did, and nothing's perfect, so I'm giving this category an 8.

Warranty is either a year or five years, but not really either one, because the copany doesn't make guitar amps anymore- they've turned their guitar amp division over to Hayden Aplification, who allegely now own the rights to everythning Trace Elliot did as well. Hayden doesn't make a direct replacement for this amp- you get a tube pre with solid state power amp. I've got a local guy who can fix it if it needs fixing, and I would invest the money rather than risk losing it to a poor deal with Hayden.

Played 32 years, lots of styles, lots of bands, lots of gigs, lots of guitars, blah blah blah.... like there's any REAL credibilit on here... My name is John Petrucci. Could be, but you'll never know. Amps are all about opinions. If you like the way it sounds, it could be a 30-year-old Kay 15-watt combo, and it's a cool amp for you. This is a cool amp for me. No, it's not glamorous. but I think it'll do the job for a long time, and I LOVE the tones it give me with my guitars and my cabinet. It might suck with your kit. That's how these things work. Or your tastes might be just that differnt from mine. Still, if you can get hold of one form the price I did, you'd be a fool not to. This thing has the tone and features of a thousand-dollar amp, for well under half that price. Buy one.

This is a brand new amp. I purchased it with both Fallen Angel 412 enclosures. It has two independant channels, boost, 16 built in DSP effects, effects loop, included four button LED footswitch (I think they only recently started throwing these in) 60 watts, 4 12ax7 preamp tubes and two power tubes. The channels are switchable via the footswitch and the transition is generally smooth with an occasional pop, a cool illuminated VU meter on the faceplate, stereo and mono configuration for the cabinets and the usual power and standby switches.

Where to begin? I turned the amp on as soon as it was unpacked and allowed the tubes to warm up in standby for a few minutes then plugged in my Epiphone Les Paul Standard. I put the amp through it's paces and was very pleased with the sounds. I haven't played through a tube amp in decades and didn't realize how much different the cleans are. The sound is so warm and rich. The clean channel on this amp is great. I played blues riffs for what seemed liked hours. Then, I switched channels and dialed in the most brutal distortion it was capable of. Without question this amp is optimized for heavy styles of rock. It was bone crushing! and the louder, the better. All ranges of rock are in this amp. Very nice classic rock distortion, new rock over the top types of distortion when everything is maxed out and everything in between. I play a wide variety of music centered mostly in rock. This amp suits my varied tastes to a tee. When I get a little nostalgic I can get a perfect old EVH type sound using the good DSP effects. There is a little background noise and there is some audible popping when activating the effects and switching channels, but nothing I consider an issue.

Well, It will probably never leave my bedroom and will be pampered. I will say that the build quality is stupendous. I recently sold a Marshall Mg100HDFX full stack, a nice amp to be sure, but the backs of the cabinets were just black painted, exposed particle board and the side walls were quite thin compared to these. This amp and associated Fallen Angel speaker cabs are built very well. Heavy materials, solid construction, very thick walls, more attention to detail and completely covered with no exposed or spray painted wood. Based on the superior craftsmanship alone I would be confident in this amp. The head is very beefy. I guess as with any tube amp there is a measure of frailty, but I don't see any other amp being more sturdy. Ashdown evidently builds british tanks too. (ha)

I have read "one year warranty" and the back of the book says "Five year limited lifetime warranty" What the hell does that mean??!! Do they anticipate that your life expectancy is five years from the date of purchase???? Maybe the name "Fallen Angel" implies that I signed some sort of agreement with "you know who" and in five years I have to repay the debt with my mortal soul. Who knows? I doubt I'll need any service in the near future, but if I do there is a local "authorised" (as the brits spell it) dealer to perform it. Ashdown has a comprehensive websight and manuals etc.. downloadable in PDF format.

OK, to sum it up, these cabinets had to be delivered by a semi to my front door. They are heavy, look great and sound incredible. The head is loud, sounds unbeleivable and built much sturdier than most of the competition. One look at this amp and you know you're in a whole new league. The winged medusa logo tells you that this amp is designed with metal in mind but capable of satisfying even the most discriminating palate. For the price, I think you'd be hard pressed to beat it. I have been buying and selling amps for years now. I think I'm finished. I picked this up from Musician's friend in a half stack config for $599.00. The extra straight cab was a bargain at $229.00. They are currently throwing in a free case for the head too. The amp looks and sounds wicked. Just based on the name alone it's worth looking into. I would be quick to dismiss any bad reviews on this amp. Barring a defective unit, There's nothing to complain about. Ashdown is mostly known for bass amps, but they have definately won me over.

This is one of my main reasons for buying the amp. This is a late 2005, first in the country (UK) i had to wait three months for it (eek!). This amp is the god of all versatility. The Clean is great, going from sparkling 'nothing else matters' tone, to bluesy overdriven tone. The Second channel is monstrous, this thing really roars, and the with the boost on, the only thing comparable to this is a mesa dual rec (which wins obviously). I was playing some expensive randall and marshall recently, none of them gave me the same feeling the Ashdown does on full pelt. I dont want anything more, or less. It has effects loop, emulated line out (headphone or PA jack socket) channel switching, two masters, reverb, on/off effects (16) all footswitchable.
I use this amp everywhere and it is perfect.

I also got the footswitch as standard with mine, i heard there was a mix up, but was sent one for free by emailing Ashdown, it took about a month for it all to work out though. There weren't any footswitches in the New chinese factory apparently, but if you buy this head now, you will the get the 4way footswitch standard.

I use this amp with a Japanese Jackson SLSMG Soloist and EMG Hz H3 pickups, which only suit this amp. It's a great setup and i love it. the distortion on this thing is violent, its quite bottom heavey (which is what attracted me to it) and feels like it's guna break the windows. I have the master volume on full, the mid on full, the treble between 1o'clock and 4o'clock and the bass and about 1o'clock. I use this amp mainly to emulate Lamb of God tone, which it does perfectly. With the master on ful and by the adjusting the channel volume independantly, you get the best distortion and it doesn't make the clean channel louder. This amp does just aout everything. With the master oin full and the channel volume on full, this thing makes very little noise, producing little feedback, but this WILL break windows. So loud infact, you can hear it from my house up to about a hlaf mile away. maybe further.

Hasn't failed me yet, would absolutely gig without a backup. The only backup I'd want would be another FA60DSP which i can't afford.

Never broken down, is six months old now.

Have dealt with htese guys lots, as i said, it took 3months also for me to get this. Martin Burrows was extremely helpful, try him, lol.

This is my first HUGE amp, but i could have had just about any (you name it, marshall, randall, ibanez, peavey), this just suited me down to the ground. I unfortunatelyt could not afford the 180, or id have had that. I use it with a small FA412c closed cab (the oner with the red tubing round the inside)and im trying to find a second. Matches my soloist like a charm, will take anything and make it sound like heaven. Ive used this also with my kelly (ke3, crappy pickups) and it really brought out a great voice, which i couldn't find anywhere els e(cept with mes, of course).
This just had such a high elemnt of clarity, punch and super high gain. Best decision i ever made.
BUY ONE, YOUR LOST WITHOUT ONE.

I think this has a great amount of features. The only thing i wish it had was spring reverb. But it is very versatile. You can do a lot of tweaking. do yourself a favor and get the 4-button footswitch. the gain boost is great.
It is 60 tube watts and that is loud enough for me. My band plays clubs and the stage volume is good enough to combat my other guitar players fender twin which is 100 watts.

I love this amp. It is the first all-tube head I have ever owned, but I took about 6 months to try out all the possible ones i could afford. I tried a marshall dsl100, a genz benz el diablo 100, a randall rh50t, and a fender supersonic head. Now all of these i tried out in various stores, so i was only able to play them at medium volumes and through the cabs they provided.
I went with this one due to the price,sound and ratings on here. I have had it two weeks and it is great.
I play a strat with no mods, and a gibby flying v with a duncan 59 in the neck and a bill lawrence xl500 in the bridge. My pedals are a budda bud-wah>boss ph3 phase shifter>yamaha fl010 analog flanger>boss dd-20 giga delay. The cab I am using is an avatar cab loaded with 2 12" eminence red coat wizard speakers.
This amp sounds better than anything i have ever played.
I wanted a high gain amp and this delivers that, especially with the gain boost from the footswitch. But it also can deliver some sweet blues type of distortion.
The clean channel has plenty of headroom and will only break up when you want it to.
This amp is VERY bassy I keep the bass on both channels at about 3. And I keep the mids higher than the treble.
Not very noisy which is great.
I don't play metal, but I love that high gain sound for solos. That is why this is great, I can play all the rhythm stuff with good chuggy distortion and then hit the gain boost and go into dimebag heaven for the solos.
I wish it had spring reverb, the digitl is ok but you gotta love the boing. The effects are great sounding. The delays are cool but I've got the dd-20 for that, I love the chorus on here, that is the only effect I will use, but If I find myself without my pedalboard I will not have to worry.

Seems solid. No problems so far.
I won't bring a backup for local gigs, but for out-of-town gigs i will bring my hartke solid state head along, just in case.

Don't know. 1 year warranty, english company, there is an ashdown dealer around the corner from my house, and he said they could repair anything without having to ship it out so that is good.

I have been playing for about 5 years. I have been upgrading my stuff whenever I can afford it. It was time to go to all-tube. And this will be my rig for a long time now. I love it
This was actually an easy choice for me once I read all the reviews.
The randall was cheaper, but sounded very unreliable, sounded ok though. The marshall was expensive and sounded the worst. The el diablo sounded the best, reviewed the best, but cost the most. Maybe someday. I don't think I need 100 watts right now though anyway.
The fallen angel sounds amazing and if anyone stole it I would buy another the next day.

2005-2006 model.....This amp is very versatile, it has two channels. Clean and overdrive...I mainly use the clean channel though, i have no need for the overdrive channel. I don't have a footswitch either..It has a headphone jack, three amp jacks, a selector switch for 4-8ohms, effects send-return jacks..e.t.c...Everything you need, basically. I use it at home, but i will be gigging with it soon...It has two output tubes, and four pre-amp tubes. Beautiful...i actually plug my guitar into the effects send jack, i find i get a better sound that way..and you can hear the tubes humming in the background, even though that sound does stay at a constant level of sound no matter how high the amp is switched on. It's a very nice sound, to my ears anyway...The power is immense.

I use two SG's..both epiphone. G400 and the G310, i've modded both..pickups and everything else. I use Seymour Duncan pickups, a set of 59's in the G400..although, i'm taking out the the neck pickup and replacing it with the JB, since i love it so much. And in the G310, is a JB/Jazz set...alright, the G310 is a great practice guitar and for taking out places..Put good pickups in there. It sounds great..anyway, i play heavy rock, this amp can cover it all! I've had it for about a month, possibly two. It's fantastic...I can get the big crunch i want out of my guitar, The cleans are beautiful, lots of harmonics e.t.c...I can get any sound i want out of it, with help from my Boss GT8, of course. It can handle anything. Also, i use the Effects Send jack instead of the input jack, i find it's alot cleaner that way...i can get the sound i want. In the input jack, it sounds a bit too distorted on the clean channel. Perhaps i did something wrong? I don't know..it works for me anyway. The distortion is "brutal"...brutal enough for any metal head, unless your fussy. I use my GT8 for distortion and everything though...But the amp gives me a beautiful smooth sound, and fantastic crunchy distortion..I honestly wouldn't use anything else. And i'm fussy about my sound!

Well, i'm not sure how reliable it is..i'm very careful with it anyway. I don't have a backup, but if i did, i'd take it with me..just incase. Better safe than sorry! I'm sure it's reliable though....The tubes work fine, i take good care of the amp. I let it warm up before playing e.t.c e.t.c...It's good stuff.

Not had to deal with them..hopefully i won't ever have to. From what i've read/heard they're very helpful....All you have to do is a ring number.

I've been playing for four years, i know that doesn't sound like long, but i play for five-six hours everyday..i know my stuff! I research before i buy e.t.c...I know my guitars/pickups/effects/amps...this is a fantastic amp, worth the money! I remember someone said it's like Marshall and Mesa Boogie mixed together..they were right. I've compared it to Marshall amps, HiWatt, Laney, Mesa e.t.c....If i could afford Mesa, i'd buy one..but i can't. This does the job just fine :-). It really is awesome, it has everything i need! I'd buy it again if it was lost/stolen..god forbid. Buy one if your into heavy-rock or whatever, you won't regret it! Tube amps = Fecking Awesome!

This amp is full of features. 2 channels, clean and dirty, of course. What makes this amp RULE is that it has a gain control on the clean channel! I've never seen that anywhere else. You can literally dirty up the clean channel. Nice. It is a good clean as well, if you leave the gain down, its quite sparkly. But, you can turn it up, leave the dirty channel alone, and it still gets bluesy and nasty. One drawback - the clean channel does seem much louder than the overdrive channel. You can easilly tweak this though, due to the sheer tweakability of the amp. You can select between two different master volume controls, and each channel has its own volume control along with the two master volumes, so you can balance things out no matter what. The amp also has DSP effects which I don't really use. They add a bit of noise, which I don't like so much. I will say this though, there are a couple of very nice chorus settings! The flanger and delay settings I don't need - I have a Boss DD-20 for delay, can't be beat, and a Guyatone FL-3 for flange - again, can't be messed with. If I didn't have such a nice Maxon chorus, I'd use the included one. I use lots of pedals. The amp has an effects loop with adjustable level. 3 footswitch inputs - I've been using two 2-button switches, but there is another for an Ashdown 4 button switch, I haven't been able to locate one yet. There is a separate speaker input for a 16 ohm 4x12 cab, or two inputs for either 2 8 ohm cabs or a single 4 ohm. I mean, basically, try finding a feature this amp doesn't have! It would be nice if the 4 button footswitch was available, it seems to have once come standard with the amp, but I got mine 2nd hand almost new and didnt' get one. Their 180 watt heads come with one, but those are almost $2000! Oh well. That is a bummer, because even with two 2-button switches, you can't fully make use of all of the channels and volume controls in the best way. IE - channel 2 has a boost function, but I can only use the switch to change from channel 1 to channe 2 with the boost automatically turned on. I would like to be able to go from clean(ish) to distorted, to over the top. But using pedals I can do this anyways. Everything is great except for the somewhat limited footswitching capability. But again, this doesn't matter much if you're using pedals. This is a 60 watt head that can get really, really loud. Don't be discouraged by wattage rating. My other head is a 200 watt solid state Sunn concert lead. It does get louder overall, but not by too much. On the whole, great features, esp. for the money.

The sound is really varied. A lot of people love the distortion of this amp, and it is good, but the real story is channel 1. As I mentioned before, it has both a gain and a volume control, not to mention the master volume as well. So, even if you only ever use channel 1, you have a ton of options. With the gain all the way up, you have serious tube blues tone. Sustain, grit, bite - it sounds great! For the time being, I just use this channel with pedals for high gain. I use either a Gibson Blueshawk or a Washburn WI66 Pro which is my primary guitar. The Washburn has 2 seymour duncan humbuckers, and the Hawk has the 2 P-90s. My pedal chain for those who care is - Guyatone tuner -> Maxon Compressor -> Digitech Expression Factory -> Boss OD-3 -> Zoom Hyper Lead -> modded Boss BD-2 -> DeArmond Weeper -> Maxon CS-01 -> Marshall VibraTrem -> Guyatone FL-3 -> Boss DD-20 -> BBE Sonic Stomp. Obviously this gives me a large range of sounds and tones to choose from. I just specailly order two EarCandy Vagabond cabs to go with my Fallen Angel - one with 2 Eminence Delta 10B speakers and one 1x12 with an Eminence Black Powder. Both cabs are at 8 ohms so I can make full use of the 60 watts. I occasionally use a stereo setup with my Sunn Concert Lead paired with an EarCandy Buzzbomb with 2x12 Eminence Legend 125s. In this configuration, I use either the stereo output from the Marshall VibraTrem or the Boss DD-20. Sounds amazing. But generally I use the 2 Vagabonds with the FA60 as my rig of choice. Its hard to drag all of that equipment around in NYC, hehe. On to channel 2. It does seem to have less power overall than channel 1, but it is really brutal disotrition with the gain and volume properly adjusted. The EQs on this amp are also excellent. Both channels are highly adjustable, esp. channel 2. As people have noticed, this is a bass-heavy amp which was, according to the manufacturer, designed for nu-metal. Whatever, don't let that turn you off of the amp. I can achieve those sounds, but the guitar sounds I like which are in the range of - Pixies, My Bloody Valentine, Pavement, Sonic Youth, Television and similar stuff are all achievable. This is an innovative amp, very modern, not really retro at all. I use it because it can further the sounds I've been into all my life. I've gone through a lot of amps in my time, and this one's a keeper because of its tonal variety. I'm only giving the 9 instead of 10 because the overdrive channel mysteriously is less powerfull than channel 1. I am not sure why, maybe replacing tubes would change that. We'll see. I've played several gigs with this amp by now, and it has come through with flying colours...

So far I find it dependable. I'm always worried with tube amps, you know? They're more delicate that solid state amps. But, I've read a lot of complaints about the Fallen Angel's reliability, especially the Chinese made one, which is what I have. But so far, no problem, and I have to haul mine around in the back of sketchy cabs in NYC. So, I can safely say that the particular one I've got is well made. Treat it well and it will treat you well.

Mixed. Ashdown is a UK company. I wrote to them seeking the 4 button footswitch. My 2nd try elicited a response from a customer service rep who said they'd try to locate one for me. That was about a month ago and I haven't heard anything further. I think they just stopped making them though, except for their top of the line heads. That is silly though, because I would pay top dollar for the thing, it would make the functionality of the amp a lot better, and I want one dammitall! Mine is registered and under warranty though, so on the whole support is OK. Its hard, what with them being across the ocean and all. They seem OK, I'm sure if I was in the UK I would have more access to their help, that's not really their fault.

I've played for 16 years. I play in a rock band in NYC, and this is my main gigging amp. I lent it to another guitar player at my last show, and he raved about its sound up and down. And I don't blame him, I was out in the audience saying "damn! my amp sounds f-in' great!" I've pretty much covered my views on the thing. I love its sound, its features, its tweakability. It has that flaw that a lot of cool & unusual amps have of being limited by short-sighted footswtich configuration, but that can be overcome with a bit of ingenuity. I A-B-C'd this amp along with my Sunn Concert Lead, and the new Epiphone Triggerman 100 Watt solid state DSP amp. I have such great cabs that they all sounded pretty much amazing. But I wanted to end up with 2 amps, one to have as a backup or 2nd amp for stereo setup. This one came out #1 in terms of pure sound. This company seems to be relatively unknown in the States, which is a shame, as they're making good guitar products. I think they should increase their presence here if possible. A lot of other amps are available here with abut 2/3 of the features that this one has. If something happened to it, I would probably try other heads, just cause there are so many out there and I haven't heard them all yet! But that doesn't mean that the FA60 doesn't rule, it does! It is a serious piece of equipment.

The amp is a new 2006 model, with a new look front panel, which I like more than the one which was around for a while just after the dsp range were released, although I only saw this in pictures so maybe no actual heads were sold looking like that.
anyway, this amp suits all styles of music I play, ranging from bits of punk, through blues and into hard rock bordering on metal, it really is versatile.
It is a 2 channel amp with gain boost, DSP section with flanger, delay and chorus effects and a seperate dsp reverb level. it also has an effects loop with a mix level on the back panel. It also has switchable master volumes so you can get a volume boost without stompboxes or changing channel.
It is a 60W all tube head, with 4 12ax7s in the preamp and 2 el-34s in the power amp. Mine came with electro-harmonix el-34s but I haven't taken the cover of the pre valves yet so don't know if they're e-h as well, they sound great though.
I will use this amp in gigs, just got it and haven't used it but I can't see it falling behind even un mic'd in the largest venues I've done (200-400 people) as it has power on command.
4 way footswitch (supplied) available for channel switching, gain boost, dsp on/off and master volume 1/2. or you can split these into 2 seperate footswitches (first 2 functions on one f/s, last 2 on another) as it has 2 more ports on the back for this, any 2 way footswitch will do.
I base this score on features for the money, in which this amp excels, as it is just over #250 for a 60W all valve, independant channel amp with features beyond that, which really is value.

It is sold as having 3 channels, but really only has 2. there are clean and overdrive channels, both of which have independant gain, e.q and volume controls, with a gain boost footswitchable on channel 2 (this being the so called 'third channel'). Despite this strange advertising the amp can cover pretty much anything I ask for, as the clean channel ranges from bright-ish clean through darker clean, into crunch and a nice lightly driven rhythm or blues lead sound. like the ads say, the 2nd channel is where this amp really shines, with a really sweet overdriven sound ranging to higher distortion, and I love using the gain boost, just goes that last little bit. I do occasionally wish for a tiny bit more gain, but that's what pedals are for and you cant expect a mesa triple recto for 260 quid, and even then its only occasioanlly.
I like my really chugging bass sound alot, and this amp gives that. It has a really nice, deep low end that I don't ever turn up to full, which I do on all other amps. It can be tight and articulate or loosen up with slight adjustment on the eq or even a simple pickup change.
I like to play queens of the stone age, which this amp does perfectly, as well as deep purple (blackmore and morse) and other, cleaner stuff like peter green in fleetwood mac and it can even do that really punchy 'funky monks' chili peppers sound if I use my Jag (just like John's). This amp does them all really well.
But one thing I must warn about: bass. If you do not like your bass frequencies much, then steer clear of this amp (or maybe try and it will convert you) and try the Peacemaker range, equivilent models are available (except the dsp option and the 180watt option) as they are much brighter.

I have not had this amp long and am going to gig with it in a couple of weeks and so do not know yet, but am going to use it without a backup when I do gig as I really can't afford a spare amp of even similar spec.
I am hoping it will prove to be reliable as I have used Ashdown bass amps and was really pleased with the way they played and how they stood up to lots of use.

I have dealt with the company, almost immediatley as my amp was supplied without a 4-way footswitch. I am not sure if this was the shop that I bought it from as they are selling the 4 way footswitch for 35 pounds even though ashdown themselves don't sell it seperatley, so maybe they take out the footswitch and sell it. But the amp was a better price than anywhere else, even considering the missing footswitch value.
Despite this, I contacted Ashdown saying that my amp was missing a footswitch and they just asked for my address and said they'd send me one within a couple of weeks no question. The service, quick response and general friendliness were great and I was really impressed. I am still waiting on the f/s as its only been one week and they said it will be 2-3 before the supply come in from the factory abroad, but everyone I know who has dealt with them says that they have received great service.

I've been playing about 2-3 years, and I own an old beaten up encore strat, which I love, a tanglewood les paul, which really does sound best with this amp, and a MIJ fender '62 reissue Jaguar, which sounds great clean but a bit weak overdriven because of the low output.
If it were stolen I would definatley buy a new one, the 180h head would be nice but a bit expensive, and the 2x12 combo is around #450 upwards and it seems senseless to pay #200 for a 2x12 cab when a marshall 4x12 with the same speakers is only 180-200, or cheaper if you wan't to go for a 2x12 which I did, so I stand by my decision on this model.