Ashdown Peacemaker 40 112 Combo

N/A- I've previously reviewed it...

N/A- I've previously reviewed it...

OH dear.... that's why I am writing

The warranty seems to last for ever- which is good 'cos this is the second time that I have sent it back. I also had fuse blowing issues at the start.
This time they have replaced a resistor which had died a death and re-did some soldering- and gave me a new VU meter- it all works great again- but that's not the point-
the point is how quick they were in answering my initial email, how polite and helpful that they were on the phone and how the warranty seems to last for ever- oh yeah and how quickly it came back home to me.
things get broken/break- there you go- but it's nice when someone fixes it about three years, maybe it's even four years now, after you bought it- and you just pay for the cost of sending it to them.
I wish someone would do the same for my car.
So that's it- I am just writing to say THE CUSTOMER SUPPORT IS BRILLIANT

N/A- I've previously reviewed it...

If it were stolen or lost, would you buy it again or get something else?- I love it, but I always feel that it's going to break on me.... hell I'd go and buy a solid state- just can't be doing with these tempremental tube amps.

40 Watts Class A - Celestion Vintage 30 - Dual footswitchable master volumes - Auto Bias = SWEET

I guess it's fair to say that everyone expects something different from an amp. When I'm shopping for an amp, I look for a great clean channel and go from there. I use humbucker equipped guitars. The clean is righteous. Very easy to get that on the verge breakup sound. Hit that with an OD pedal, and your in heaven. I think the reverb is pretty good. I barely turn it on though (about 9 O'clock). Just enough to keep it from being completely dry. Ever heard a Fender Bassman, and then thought, "man that would sound good if it had some reverb" ? Nope. You take the crappy stock tubes out of this and install some NOS's and you've got a < $1000 AC30.

Changed the tubes, and never had a problem. Oh yeah, I did change the light to the VU meter after it went out.

Don't know....hope I never have to worry about it.

I am amazed that some of you dislike the sound of this amp's clean channel. Maybe you're used to a class AB amp? Maybe you went to Guitar Center and barely turned it up? Btw, why would you rate an amp that you did not even bring home and test with your own rig? That is the one knock on this otherwise useful site; premature reviews. Maybe you do not know how to dial in the preamp? I do not see how anyone could complain about the sound of this amp after what most here have paid for it. This is a steal!

I think this is a 2002 model. The anp is noit mine, but my best friend owns it and we have all our band practices round his house so I use his ashdown. I know he bought it off a friend for #250 which in my opinion was a good deal seeming how they cost over #400 new and this one was hardly used. It has 2 channels plus a gain boost on channel 2 which they cheekily call 'channel 3' there are volume, treble, mid, bass and gain controls for both channels as well as two footswitchable master volumes and a spring reverb. It has a 12 inch generic speaker and the impedence is switchable from 4 to 8 ohms. (very usefull for changing between decent practice volumes to gigging volumes)
3 preamp valves, 4 output valves, generic and later changed to electro harmonix items.

oh yes and not to forget the classic ashdown VU meter on the front. legend!

I use this with a fender lite ash stratocaster and a customised tele. Also use american strat, SG, and Gibson LP DC with P-90s. I play Blues and rock, as well as country, jazz metal, funk and any other style you can name. This amp handles the blues and country well, but I found the channel 1 very weak with an over low-middy bias, even with the treble whacked up and mid down low (the way it should be) it just doesn't have the sparkle. However, adding an EQ pedal and an overdrive (a cheap one will do the job perfectly) and I saw a vast improvement. I use in this order: dunlop crybaby wah, dod FX-40 eq, Boss SD-1 super overdrive, boss OD-3 overdrive, boss DF-1 distortion/feedbacker, Electro harmonix USA big muff and an old DOD chorus. kicking the boss SD-1 in for a FAT gritty overdrive (this pedal is THE beast, Original and reissue tubescreamers don't even come close) gives the best sound, and I use the OD-3 for a tone/solo boost. SRV tones all around! usually I keep the eq on permanantly with a treble boost and a low mid cut to just clear up the otherwise dissapointing clean channel. The dirty channel I use for a rock overdrive/distortion and has a good sound, but not as good as the boss SD-1. The reverb is very weak and just doesnt come through, rather than just muddy the sound up with an inapropriate echo.

I would not use this for a gig. It is so unreliable. It doesnt have a fan, so the valves heated up and melted some of the wires, causing them to short out the circuit. a good slap on the top sorts this out dudring practices, but would not be too good for gigs. My mate had it services and he put new wire in and changed the valves. the new ones SUCK but thats just how it is. Now it is more reliable but the sound peaks so easily and takes the bass and top end off everything so not good.

never dealt with them, as amp was bought second hand.

I have been playing for nearly 3 years and have tried plenty of amps, but i would not buy one of these. it is cheap, and that is exactly how it sounds. it may be very well performing the riverdance all night to get a good sound, but a good amp should be good without pedals.



PS. BUY A BOSS SD-1!

pd 216.dollers

u.s. bought it from hermes music in brownsville texas as is..!!!

hello everybody this is the 2nd review i do in harmony central for a product and i would like to share my views on this amp..i like it alot..but boy was it messed up when i found it played it and bought it ! ha ha
my asdown peacemaker is a old classic looking one very nice look to it a blueish grey grill cloth and the cool retro red ashdown logo..black hide..1x12 celestion vintage30
its the typical control layout of all peacemaker 40 amps..
i used it by itself next to a old boogie 60 watt 1x12
and an old vox ac30 kept up really nice ..both clean and in overdrive mode..but it really sings with a marshall 4x12 hooked up to it..

i have tons of guitars but i used a 2002 or 2001 gibson faded flying v that is stock with this amp i also used a jackson flame graphic dinky soloist stock while testing this amp...i have only owne d it a couple of days but i have played the hell out of it in this time frame..!
i play classic rock ...power trio.... space rock and psych rock though i also play reggae a little country and jazz ...and funk...

if i get the guitar to close it is a little noisy but i can deal with it...i used a behringer gdi 21 with this amp and get a great distortion sound wow amazing...i also use a tube screamer and a johnson paramatric distortion ...little tweeks and all pedals sound good..

i can make this thing sing like 1980's rory gallagher at full tilt..my brother who is my drummer was amazed...
we were messing about last night with an original composition..kinda of like long train running by the doobie brothers and man o man this ashdown peacemaker has a real spanky punchy clean tone that really cuts through a tiny bit cleaner and sparklier than an ac 30 its great ! the lead tone by itself needs a little help but the amp is great ..if needed be only with the amps own distortion...i saw on the new hawkwind album dave brock the guitar player singer of hawkwind is using ashdown so i bought one also ha ha ! hes my hero ! that guy is kool!
the overdrive of this ashdown peacemaker 40..going through a marshall4x12 is very classic rock or space rock...it fits my music very well...

now here it gets funny and crazy but true....
i bought the amp from hermes music because it was trippin bad at the shop...it had gone from san antonio..hermes music to the brownsville hermes music and had been kinda abused..dusty and dirty but new old stock the amp had a price tag from 2002 !! and i bought it this past week october 2005 !!!! dave the head honcho at hermes brownsville texas gave me a great deal on the amp as it was fizzing out droping in volume and generally acting up i got kinda mad as a guy at the shop was banging on the poor little ashdown amp to try and get it going as if that would fix the problem ..i told the cat to chill out..and i offered 200 bux and made the deal and walked out with an amp i knew i could fix and plus dave brock of hawkwind used them ...hell they gotta be good right??? ha ha ..!!!

well my buddy john douglas out at south most acviation helped me open the amp up and we looked around...saw alot of little problems to much texas dirt inside (bad for any amp..ha ha !)
broken solder joints ..the amp had been open before probably in san antonio hermes music..brownsville dont have a repair shop.. all the pots were very gummed up ..got that cleaned quickly...but one thing that pissed both me and john off alot is that the ...tube sockets were mounted on the p.c. board we think that is a no no ! and what made matters worse is that the holes drilled on the chassis for the el 84 valves are too damn tight...so there was a hell of alot of heat on the chassis man u could fry an egg or sizzle a steak on the ashdown with all that heat on the chassis we both burned our fingers trying to check the heat of this amp wow too much heat..! so we drilled out the chassis and made the el84 valve holes bigger less heat on the chassis now..!
we accidently broke the vu meter we love it ! great idea ashdown...totally trick many ppl who have seen the ashdown amp here in texas at the store and at the aviation center loved the vu meter very kool thumbs up ashdown ! maybe ashdown will get us another vu meter..it is kool..! the tubes in side were electro harmonix el84 new..and sovtec12ax7's new ..also..
now that the peacemaker is fixed its running great less heat and it really sings in the overdrive channel ..!!! sweet and nice it has its own charachter...bravo ashdown..
i would use a back up at a gig but i will start a show with the ashdown..!

we have not called ashdown yet but im sure i will email them soon as i need the vu meter the website looks awsome !

hope they are friendly other ppl here say ashdown is kool..hell im gonna try and see who sells them here in texas these amps they sound great !
hermes dont sell them any more..this amp was old stock//....

folks i have been playing for a long time maybe over 20 years im 40 yrs old now..i know tone i have bought and sold gear to pro and begiiners alike all my life since i was 16 !! i know a good amp when i see one and i do not hesitate to advocate ashdown amps one bit try um there very kool..!

i got tons of gear lots of tube amps...the ashdown peacemaker40 has a sound all its own ..classic rock..to the bone..its gives and takes like any good valve tube amp...hope it does not blow up on me..i wish ashdown would make some adjustments..on thier lay outs inside the amps..its not to much to ask cuz the amps really do sound very very good..! i have boogies vox marshalls vampower..carlsbro and this ashdown has its own slice of the british tone holy grail..i would recommend this amp to any body that is looking for something differant but can also weild a soldering iron ha ha !
feel free to contact me on my website as ill have pix of my ashdown on thier soon i am using it on my new album in the recording studio it has a sweet overdrive sound and a really singing chimy clean sound ..! by itself or with a marshall4x12.cab...

I have one of the early manufactured onec. There are a number of people complaining about problems below, seems like an unfair number. My amp is used almost daily and has never had a problem.

This amp has 3 footswitchable channels: clean, OD1 and OD2. The clean is a typical British EL-34 Class A tone, like a vintage Marshall instead of Fender-type clean. But the overdrive channels are what it's all about.

The #1 and #2 Master Volume controls are a great feature! They give you 2 overall volume settings that are independent of the gain controls and footswitchable. Just an incredible feature for live playing. Makes you wonder why someone hasn't done this before. This feature alone is worth the price of admission for a working guitarist in a band.

I was able to easily and quickly dial up great tones with a Strat and Les Paul for all styles of music except metal. For metal I prefer to a clean channel a disortion pedal.

The overdrive is what makes this a great amp. The distortion on these is the smoothest and creamiest that I have ever heard. Especially for leads, Ashdowns are an incredible sounding amp. I could not get a bad tone out of this amp on the overdrive channels.

This is a LOUD amp! 40 watts into the ver efficent Vintage 30 is loud! I've had no problem gigging with it in small clubs. Plug it into a Marshall 4x12 cab and you can play anywhere.

I have owned the amp for almost 2 years and gig with it all the time. I have never any problems with this amp.

I broke the VU meter, and the factory sent me a replacement from England. For free!

This one is a keeper!

Standard Peacemaker 40 but more of this later. Features already covered adequately. Has all I want apart from a standard half power switch is usually the domain of boutique amps.

Guitars used are USA Deluxe Strat, Yamaha MSG, Tokai Love Rock, Tokai Custom Tele; Jap Squier Strat etc - whatever. I ws a little disappointed in the lead channel until (a) bought a THD hotlate allowing me to crank the amp and still keep within acceptable sound levels for neighbours; (b) dug out my old 80's original Marshall Guvnor which adds just the right amount of extra drive and harmonics. This providesthe sound I was looking for apart from one small issue. My old 80's Sessionette (solid state) provides almost the same sound quality when treated the same as a valve amp (e.g volumes at full and adjust eq to taste). never realised this until now.

No probs so far. Not gigged.

Not used.

Playing 25 years plus. Not in bands or professionally - just for kicks. Haven't owned many high end amps - tend to more attracted to guitars but the Ashdown (with extras) hits the spot for home use. Gigging musicians obviously won't necessarily need the hotplate. Very underated amp but would also check out the Ashdown Essex range if using for home and gigs.

This is an update on my rather grumpy review of a year ago (Anonymous at 05/30/2004 16:22). My P40 had suffered woeful reliability problems, with the amp going back to Ashdown twice for major attention. Since then, it has performed perfectly reliably for over a year of doodling at home and the occasional, fairly gentle gig. So I've put in revised ratings for reliability and overall. I still keep my fingers crossed and always take a back-up, but it still sounds perfect for what I want to play (blues for preference and everything else when requested). Oh, and I mistyped the year of purchase, which was 2002 not 2001.

I still haven't installed LEDs on the footswitches, either...

The Peacemaker 40 Class A tube combo is well spec'd, with two channels (clean and overdrive) and a 'third' (boost) channel. The usual tone knobs plus reverb complete the set. A 12" Celestion and a reasonably small cab make for a neat and versatile package with a reasonable bit of poke.

I bought my first one in the early days, when Ashdown started branching out from just doing bass amps - so it was about 4 years ago (2001-ish). At the time I was very pleased with it.

My workhorse guitar is a modern American Tele, with an added SD Lil Screaming Demon in the middle. I'm mostly a rhythm player, funky by nature, so I tend to prefer a clean sounding amp - which the Ashdown is quite good at - not quite a Fender, but for the money, not bad. I'm growing more into bluesy lead work at the moment, so the middle pickup, coupled with the overdrive of the Ashdown, comes in real useful too - and sounds pretty good.

Unfortunately, within days, the first amp went 'fizzy' on the overdrive channel (but only when it felt like it, which was unpredictable, but often).

The guys at my local shop (PMT Southend, UK), where I'm a regular customer, gave me a replacement amp (same model), which performed consistently well for the best part of four years.

I think the high running temperature of the class A circuit must have finally taken its toll, however, as the amp suddenly lost volume - then burst back into full voice, only to loose it again. I must admit that my band had been getting louder on this particular night, and maybe the amp got tired of competing with a 100 watt head of my other guitarist.

PMT sent the amp off to Ashdown - who sort of lost it somewhere along the way - so the weeks ticked by while I awaited its return. Meanwhile, the amp turned up in another branch of PMT, in another part of the UK - despite clear and repeated instructions to Ashdown from PMT as to where it belonged.

At last, I received my repaired amp, nicely re-boxed, and took it home - and plugged it in - noticing, as I did, that the mains connector was really loose (which it never used to be) - curious. After about 20 minutes, I managed to get sound out of the amp - rather a long warm-up time, I thought.

The valves seemed remarkably microphonic, the reverb was very buzzy, and there was a dirty mark on the front where some sticky label had been badly removed by someone with half a brain cell. The more I looked and listened, the more problems I found - and eventually came to the conclusion that this wasn't actually my amp ! Unfortunately, I hadn't noted down the serial number of the one I sent for repair, so I couldn't prove it.

I rang PMT, who asked me to bring it in immediately, as the Ashdown rep was in the shop at the time. He was very apologetic about the runaround I'd had, and the shoddy condition of the amp - and at least he agreed with me that this one was not my amp, and he arranged with the shop to give me a replacement amp there and then.

So that bumped up my 'customer support' rating by two points (from zero).

The 'new' amp is actually a refurbished one, but with the modern logo and a cooling fan (too noisy for home use). I haven't yet tried it 'live' - and I'm not sure I want to.

I've been playing - on and off - for about 40 years (ouch !)- so I've tried a great range of guitars and amps - some of which I still own.

I used to have a Fender Twin Reverb with JBLs, which was pretty darn good, even if it was a 'Silverface'. The Ashdown is 'Fender-ish' in looks and (clean) sound - but for a lot less money, so I'd always been prepared to tolerate its weaknesses. . .

However, I've just had the loan of a Cornell Rambler (15 Watt, Class A, with the same 12" Celestion as the Ashdown), so I did an A-B test - and the results were startling. The Ashdown sounds flat and lifeless next to the Cornell - and I've just discovered, after all these years, what a really good, hand-wired amp sounds like (I've found the Holy Grail of great amp tone !!!).

So, if the Ashdown were to be stolen or lost, I'd jump for joy - and I'd use the insurance money as the deposit on a Cornell !

Purchased in April 2004. Exact specs have already been discussed. I'm an old amp type of guy - Fender 135 Bassman and Marshall JCM 800 Super Lead. Those amps were great live but seeing as I just play at home now I was after something smaller. I brought the amp mail order for #200 from Coda music (normal retail is #380). I'd never tried one but knew I could sell it without loosing money if I didn't like it.

On the features from it's fantastic - master volumne, spring reverb, 2 channels, boot foot switch on 2nd channel. Great stuff considering what I was used to.

The 1st thing I noticed when I turned the amp on was the sound of the fan wiring away. Valve amp hum I can cope with but an amp that sounds like a PC just bugged me. I tired various guitars with the amp - Gibson SG, Gibson Les Paul, Fender Strat, Ephiphone Sheraton. The clean sound never sounded as good as the Bassman through a 70's Marshall 4 x 12. Clean sound was OK but I was never happy with it.

Turning up the gain on the clean channel gave quite a nice just distorting sound but still nothing to write home about. As for the overdrive channel, the only way I could discribe that is raspy, like something grating. I didn't like it at all.

I only ever played the amp in the house so it was never cranked up, perhaps it sounds better at high volume?

Only had it for 6 months. Never had any problems. Never took it appart so can't comment on its construction.

Never tried to talk to them.

I've been playing for 25 years. In that time I've only had old school amps - Fender, (old) Marshall, Northcourt, HH, nothing with this many knobs and nothing with a master volume (the Fenders don't count as you can't overdrive them). I know what I like and this isn't it. After 6 months I sold the amp for #240 and got myself a second hand 6W Cornford. The Cornford is right for what I want - good sounds at low volume and less knobs :)

No matter what I did with the Ashdown every time I plugged it in I wanted to get rid of it. A definite try before you buy.

Ok, just a little context to set the stage. This amp shares floor space w/ a DSL 50 on a 1960ax, JCm 900 4102 and an "Evil Twin" (blackface), so these are the amps it gets compared to. The main guitars are a quilt top wolfgang and an american standard strat, though there are others ( additional info later). With that said, the short answer to the question does it sound good, is yes, but don't think you've heard or played with anything quite like this before.

I mentioned the guitars before, and with good reason. Neither of my main guitars inspire this amp or visa-versa. The tones with the wolf, and I'm talking all channels, are o.k., regardless of EQ or gain settings. The strat is an improvement, and will even get a good rating, though still, it doesn't make the hair on my arm stand up.

There is, however, a place where the little guy truely comes to life. Plug in a 335. I 'bout fell out of my chair. The clean channel sounds like angels live there.. Lovely for smokey jazz and the like. Crank the gain here and the break up is smooth and very pleasing to the ear.

Channel 2 was always quirky at best with my main guitars, due to the fact that I was constantly tweeking the EQ and messing with the gain. Again, step in with the 335 and BINGO! Set it and play. The are some great sounds on this side.

The thing to keep in mind with this amp is this: It aint a Marshall or a Fender, so don't expect to find those here. This amp has its own personality, which is quite a kick in the ass once you get to know it.

Works every time I turn it on.

Been playing for 20 some odd years, and though it will probably never be my main amp, it's a great horse to have in the stable. I'd buy another one without hesitation.