Anyone tried Ashdown Fallen Angel 60 head?

SickBoy

SickBoy

Croatian Panzer division
Apr 9, 2004
2,061
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Split, Croatia, Europe
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It's not expensive, I've been reading many praises about it, but I'd really like your opinion. I really like its specs, 2 channels, the 2nd having a Boost option, as well as 2 master volumes, all footswitchable, enabling you to use 2nd master volume for raising volume when playing leads, for example...
I like the thing that it's 60W even more, I think it's useless to have 100W monster when I can't crank it properly in the venues where I play. I suppose high wattage would suit for those seeking pure clean sounds (larger headroom...) but I'm primarily interested in good tube distortion sounds for (you'd never guess... :tickled: ) metal...

I already have a '76 100W Marshall and I'm considering buying that head when I gather some cash and plug it in my Marshall cab, but I'm interested in how Ashdown's cab sounds as well, since it's loaded with "Ashdown custom designed" speakers.

Thanks people!
 
Moonlapse said:
1000USD? Jesus man, I've found a 5150 head going for $900AUD. I don't think that's the kind of price I'd wanna be paying for an Ashton.
Click to expand...

It's Ashdown :)

Let me explain a few things about Croatia. We're a small country (some 4,5 million people) and not very strong economically. Thus, the demand for things like tube amps is not that big, and if it was, there still couldn't be as many folks who could actually afford it. So the prices are always much higher than in EU, especially than in USA. Majority of US products cost twice as much here, when I compare our shop prices to the webshops. Most of the shops offer Fender and Marshall, the two biggest and most popular brands. One stocks Laney and Ashdown and the other began working with Mesas, but only by orders, they don't keep them in store.
Our second hand market is mainly narrowed to a few models by (again) Marshall and Fender, as far as tube amps are concerned. There are very rare Mesa or some other "weird" amp ads, but the prices are waaay too high.

For example, Marshall JCM2000 TSL60 head costs some USD 1400 here and it's sort of a direct competitor to FA60. You now can understand my interest in the Ashdown model... ;)

I'd gladly try out some Peaveys, Mesas, Engls or whatever - but I don't have a place to try them out at. Only abroad, but I don't feel like spending huge bucks on the trip only to try the amp(s)...

That's how it goes here, lower standard - higher prices. So try being a musician here and having a good equipment... *sigh* :erk:
 
I understand how it is there, I'm Bosnian :). My uncle used to own a bit of gear back in the day...

But anyway, why don't you just ebay all of your gear then? It must come off being MUCH cheaper that way. We get some huge markups here in Aus aswell and I find imports in some cases really take the price down.
 
Moonlapse said:
I understand how it is there, I'm Bosnian :)
Click to expand...

You're kidding? :tickled:
Ain't this a small world... Check yer PM. ;)

As far as eBay goes, a few problems always remain. First, I wouldn't like shopping the expensive amp via internet, when I can't try it first. Leaving a negative feedback for someone is not satisfactory enough, if fraud should be the case... Then, PayPal doesn't support Croatia and it's the payment most people accept, since they can have the payment almost instantly. That leaves me only with US sellers, since I can at least use BidPay for payment. Then the shipping charges would be "nice" as well, since the average tube head weighs around 30kg. Too many points "against" IMO and (unfortunately) not worth the trouble.
 
.via
SickBoy said:
You're kidding? :tickled:
Ain't this a small world... Check yer PM. ;)

As far as eBay goes, a few problems always remain. First, I wouldn't like shopping the expensive amp via internet, when I can't try it first. Leaving a negative feedback for someone is not satisfactory enough, if fraud should be the case... Then, PayPal doesn't support Croatia and it's the payment most people accept, since they can have the payment almost instantly. That leaves me only with US sellers, since I can at least use BidPay for payment. Then the shipping charges would be "nice" as well, since the average tube head weighs around 30kg. Too many points "against" IMO and (unfortunately) not worth the trouble.
Click to expand...

Trieste is 451 km from Split.
ok is not so close to Split, but there you can find very good shops where trying good amps (peavey, mesa etc etc)

Maurizio
 
kaomao said:
Trieste is 451 km from Split.
ok is not so close to Split, but there you can find very good shops where trying good amps (peavey, mesa etc etc)
Click to expand...

We have customs, you know... ;)
They charged me the customs rates and taxes when my tubes arrived yesterday, and the package was declared as 20$ worth.
I'm not sure if I could sneak in a bulky 30kg amp head... Tnx for the tip! ;)
 
Ashdown's bass amps are absolutely amazing! But I haven't tried their guitar stuff... defintely try before you buy, but if their guitar amps are half as good as their bass amps, then go for it!
 
Kazrog said:
Ashdown's bass amps are absolutely amazing! But I haven't tried their guitar stuff... defintely try before you buy, but if their guitar amps are half as good as their bass amps, then go for it!
Click to expand...

Yeah, I've also heard nothing but praises for their bass stuff, they really are more known for them than for guitar amps... A guy I know over another board bought a FA 40W 1x12 combo and he's delighted, says it pumps so much bass he keeps it at 1. ;) But I'd definitely try the head before buying it, let's just hope they have it in store when I gather the money...
 
ok, back to the amp. It is a good amp, as far as sound is concerned. The FA will do the Metal thing to a tee but you have to turn the distortion RIGHT up, as you probably would expect. The 1st overdrive channel does the AC/DC rock sound perfectly and the amp is possibly at it's best in this more rock and heavy rock area. As far as construction goes, it's not so good. At this price the electronics are all PCB and some might say 'shoddy' thin fibreboard construction. We had a peacemaker in our shop for repair and weren't impressed wih construction. The amp looks pretty good, I have to agree. It's also designed to sound really good and gainy at low volumes, which is a bonus for a valve amp. The clean sound's pretty good, but their is no parallel switch for the effects loop.
Yes, it is Very bassy, but what would you expect from a bass amp company?!

You can find it ridiculously cheap here http://www.coda-music.com/ashdown.html
but again you might not get it from the UK. We decided that they are having trouble selling them, that's why they're so inexpensive. the 4x12 cab is also very cheap here.
 
Ravenous Enemy said:
As far as construction goes, it's not so good. At this price the electronics are all PCB and some might say 'shoddy' thin fibreboard construction. We had a peacemaker in our shop for repair and weren't impressed wih construction.
Click to expand...

I've seen some sarcastic comments on build quality where some named them "Breakdown" ;) So, do you think it could fail easily, eh? :err: Not that I'm some heavy touring musician, but I don't like the idea of repairing an amp no one's ever worked with...

The amp looks pretty good, I have to agree. It's also designed to sound really good and gainy at low volumes, which is a bonus for a valve amp.
Click to expand...

It seems like they designed the amp to sound very good, but not so expensive at the same time. Obviously, the quality of the materials used in design had to be cut...

We decided that they are having trouble selling them, that's why they're so inexpensive. the 4x12 cab is also very cheap here.
Click to expand...

From what I see their 4x12 cab uses Ashdown Custom speakers.
Dunno, never liked those "custom" speakers...
Did you play Ashdown plugged in a Celestion loaded cab by any chance?
I have a Marshall cab loaded with G12H speakers.
 
1. I don't think it's that bad - the amp would stand up to gigging fine if you are careful imo. I agree that it might be more difficult that no one has worked with them, because I doubt they're the same internally as most amps. It's just annoying when people call them 'boutique' amps (pretty annoying description in any case...) when you would expect pretty high quality construct. from a 'boutique amp'.
2. Not tried with celestions - I'm guesing that they would sound better... but I'm also guessing that the 'custom' speakers are specialy designed to be better with the bass that that thing pumps out! so, if you get a chance I would try it with both. The 'Closed back' Ashdown cab has 'hot' Celestion speakers - I think this has seven stringers and super-downtune-ers in mind.
 
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