Ashdown Engineering
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Ashdown Engineering is a British manufacturer of instrument amplifiers, particularly for bass, but also recently moving into the guitar amp market. The company was founded in 1997 by Mark Gooday, a chief engineer and manager at Trace Elliot during their glory years, but the company suffered large financial loses and Gooday was fired by Trace Elliot's then parent company Kaman but had secretly been planning to start his own company to offer solid, good-sounding, and affordable bass amplifiers. The company was named 'Ashdown' after Gooday's wife's family name, and the logo was constructed from this, the Austin-Healey motor badge, and Mark's insistence on the 'engineering' wording.
The first amplifier that Ashdown produced was the Klystron Bass Magnifier, of which only 200 amps and 100 pre-amps were shipped, since another company had registered the name. Following this, much of the currently available gear was released - the MAG, Electric Blue, and ABM series. Following this, the Acoustic Radiator, Peacemaker, Fallen Angel, and recently, All-Access series of guitar amplifiers have been released, to great acclaim.
Ashdown have gone on to produce higher quality boutique and hand-wired amplifiers, such as the Essex Blonde. Ashdown then set up a separate company called Hayden Amplification who specifically produce hand-wired amplifiers.
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[edit] 2007
Ashdown will be concentrating more on bass amplification in 2007 and will be stopping production of their All Access series guitar amps altogether. Their sister company Hayden Amplification will be producing Ashdown's valve guitar amplifiers.
[edit] Current Bass Amp Range
- ABM EVO II Series
- MAG EVO II Series
- Electric Blue EVO II Series
- Mark King Signature Series
- Superfy Series
- Classic Series (New for 2007)
- All Access Series Series
[edit] Classic Series
New for 2007 is the Classic series line of Bass amplifiers which include the Klystron 500 and 1000 amp heads and the Klystron and Neo bass cabs.
[edit] Other Products Available
- Bass effects pedals
- Acoustic Amps
[edit] Notable Ashdown Users
- Adam Clayton
- Alex Moore
- Andy Bell
- Andy Bennett
- Andy Fairweather Low
- Carl Dulemo
- Damon Minchella
- Dan Sealey
- Dave Swift
- Eric Avery
- Gordon Moakes Bassist of Bloc Party
- Guy Pratt
- James Bailes
- James Dean Bradfield
- James Gregory
- Jerry Meehan
- Jim Rodford
- Jim.E.Sims
- JJ Burnel
- John Entwistle
- Malcolm Maclaren
- Miiko Watanabe
- Mike McCabe
- Nick Seymour
- Nicky Scott
- Paul Jones
- Peter Howard
- Rick Savage
- Rob Malone
- Rudy Sarzo
- Sam Farrar
- Shaun Carrington
- Shavo Odadjian
- Tony Garnier
- Tyson Ritter
- Zev Katz
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Ashdown Engineering Official Site
- Ashdown Engineering at Harmony Central
- Bass Guitar Magazine For tests and reviews of Ashdown gear