Ashdown FA

[Pierre]

I tried the 60W head and there really wasn't that much gain even with it cranked up. I was a little disapointed. It's very thick sounding though.

[Sifu Ben]

:?  :?  :?  :?  :?
Not much gain?????????????
WTF are you on?????????????????

[Pierre]

Well I was using a SD CoolRails with it... But I was expecting a high gain amp like this to have a lot more even with a low output pickup.

[dave_mc]

I wouldn't say the ashdown is super high gain like, say, an engl powerball, but I'd say it had plenty of gain for most things, assuming (as my amp does) that it gets progressively heavier as you turn it up...

:drink:

[Petre]

yea, i was planning on going for the FA60 combo and then sticking OD infront of it too. That would get me all the gain i needed right?
I remember somebody saying to overdrive a mildly overdriven amp is pretty darn sexy.

I was thinking for an OD to go Maxon OD808 (i think thats what they were). Like £100 but i heard amazing things. This a good move?
Cheers
Petre

[dave_mc]

^ yes and no. It should get you all the gain you need. But if you were overdriving, say, a vintage amp, while you'd probably get most of the gain you'd need, it'd still not be voiced for metal- you'd probably need an eq pedal, and even then, it probably wouldn't sound totally modern.

I don't think there'd be any of these problems with the FA, since it's modern-voiced, but I doubt it even needs an OD, unless you want it for a solo boost, or just to have more tones available at your feet- I'd try the amp first, sans boost. If the amp isn't doing it for you, you might want to reconsider- an OD is there to put the icing on the cake (e.g. "my amp rocks, I just wish it had a smidgen more gain for solos!"), not make a cr@p amp great, lol.

At least in my view. Other people may (and probably will) disagree, and that's fine too.

:drink:

[Petre]

Oh, no soz Dave thats what i meant. the FA60 should hopefully give me all the gain i need, just if its that few steps off and OD pedal could push it that bit more right? Im really dreading that it may not have enough gain. Still humming and harring over this. Might just reconsider all options   EDIT - ...Again...

Petre

[chrisola]

honestly?

I thought my FA 40 didnt have enough without my SD-1 boosting it.

BUT it sounded great with the SD-1 (ebay for lke £30!)

You need to try the amp really... these kind of amps are strange in that they have their own unique sound, not Marshall, not Mesa or Laney, just 'Ashdown' (bit like ENGL's).

[Petre]

I hear ya chrisola. Thats what gave me the idea to get a sexy OD pedal to really get the sound i want. Just a bit of a pain if i wanna switch between clean and distorted. Having to use the footswitch supplied as well as the OD lol.

My other option is to go all summer without a decent amp and save till birthday/christmas and just get something amazing like a ENGL powerball half stack, or peavey 5150 half stack. I need a damn amp now tho!  :x
..... oh and id have to then delay my new guitar by a year too, as thats gonna be saved for straight after my amp.

So chrisola, what stuff do u actually play? And when u stick the Od in front of it do u have stupidly large amounts of gain? Coz my stuff ranges from slightly rugged sounding to full on chaos, so if overdriven its gained beyond what anyone wouldneed ill be happy. I dont NEED all that gain, but its nice to know i have breathing space with my gain  :roll:

Cheers for persistance
Petre

[Petre]

oh an something i thought about whilst in bed last night. Alot of people say the FA is real thick and bassy. But.. it does still have alot of clarity right? I play a hell of a lot of children of bodom and need pretty much every note to be heard throughout. Id hate to get an amp thats muddy/mushy or that is only that great for power chord chugging  :(

Can anyone clarify this for me who has the amp or tried one?
Thanks again
Petre

[dave_mc]

^ i thought it got a bit muddy with the gain too high on channel 2.

also, I wouldn't fork out too much for a great od- if you're spending like £200 or something daft on a boutique pedal, you could nearly have afforded a better amp!

but listen to chris, he owned one- if the sd1 will do it, it's pretty cheap (I've seen it for £30, new!), so that'd be fine.

As always, this is only the way I do things- it may not be the correct philosophy, lol.

:drink:

[chrisola]

i play everything rock and metal..

Children Of Bodom, Iron Maiden, In Flames, Death, Mayhem, Primal Fear, Metallica, Emperor etc etc etc i know bits and riffs for loads of stuff..if i hear something cool i'll try and make a half assed attempt at learning my fav bit ;)

When i had the FA i was using a Jackson RR5 (then a Gibson LP) and it sounded 'ok' with the FA, but really good if i used the gain on the FA boosted by my SD-1 (gain channel, gain boost off though, otherwise it was INSANE and just noise).

If i remember correctly, the FA is aimed at 'nu metal' fans, just like the HK Warp 7 is. Hence is very bass\low end heavy and chunky.

Its a nice amp...perhaps too niche? Its one you need to try with your guitar.

The alternatives... well ENGLs are awesome, my Fireball nailed the CoB tone! But they cost £££.

A good old solid state Marshall Valvestate 8080 series like Death and other metal bands back in the day used will get you a killer sound at a good price aswell... either head\cab or 2x12 combo perhaps.

I'm not too good at describing tones really...

100% with Dave aswell, £200 on a pedal? £30 SD-1 will do you or maybe £100 on a Keeley modded SD-1 or TS9 will REALLY be good... hell even the Digitech Bad Monkey has a good rep and thats cheap.

I always remember: not all metal\rock bands have alot of money to start.. but by spending it wisely and tweaking they created some awesome tones..and alot of bands still swear by things like Boss pedals and the such now they are bigger!

Dont need boutique amps and pedals..of course, they wont hinder you.. if you are prepared to front the £££ ;)

[dave_mc]

^ just to point out, I didn't mean boutique pedals suck- I meant it was a false economy to try to save on the amp and then to have to spend on the boutique pedal to compensate.

If you have a boutique amp as well, THEN go for the boutique pedal, lol.

In my opinion.

:drink:

[Petre]

oooh, the maxon i saw i could get for 100, but yea i am stupid :P coz thats 100 that could get me a better amp lol. Clearly unnecessary too to just drive the amp a little more. The SD-1 sounds fine  :).

But yea, like i said before i got no way of trying one, let alone trying it with my guitar. But Chrisola, you said you really liked it, and i dig all bodom, in flames, tallica, Opeth  etc.  so could be a real good option.

I think im gonna have to bite some sort of bullet sooner or later  :(

Cheers
Petre

[The amazing Phil]

While Ashdown do seem to make an ok budget amp, I gotta say they're not good people to deal with at all if anything goes wrong, and on a cheaper amp made in China this is a distinct possibility, as their reputation shows. They even set up a whole new brand called Hayden to escape this reputation.

When I purchased one of their "pre Hayden" Haydens, they were using a design that they'd supposedly purchased (but not qutie paid for yet) from Matamp. However, the Essex Blonde combo did not work as it should have, so it was sent back. Ashdown denied anything was wrong in my dealings with them and flat out refused to look into it further for me, suffice to say I took a refund. The clincher? When I was at the Matamp factory I heard about them having sent that amp over to them so Matamp could tell them where they'd chuffed up... they obviously didn't know where but didn't fancy telling me, who had paid good money for this amp about that little obstacle in their providing customer service.

And while this might not be an across the board thing, it's certainly assured that I will never purchase an Ashdown product as long as I live, and I will make anyone thinking of purchasing one aware of my experiences with this dubiously run company. If you have one I wish you the best of luck with it though.