It’s 25 years since Ashdown Engineering shook up the world of bass with its iconic ABM (Ashdown Bass Magnifier) bass amp. The warm glow of the ABM’s retro illuminated VU meter became a regular sight on stages with players like Mark King, JJ Burnel, Adam Clayton and the late John Entwistle, and the ABM has remained the amplifier of choice for top bassists pretty much ever since.
To mark Ashdown’s 25th anniversary, the UK-based company is producing a limited edition of just 100 special ABM-400 heads, hand numbered and signed by Ashdown founder Mark Gooday and each supplied in a custom flight case. Along with a personal note of thanks, purchasers will also receive a video of their amp as it’s packed for dispatch.
A fitting tribute to a milestone in bass technology, the ABM-400 Ltd Edition is, first and foremost, a terrific bass amp. Central on the front panel is the 7 band EQ section that helped make the ABM an instant classic, combining simple rotary controls for Bass, Middle and Treble with pairs of sliders between the knobs to deliver more sophisticated control for players looking to tailor their own signature sound.
An on-board sub-harmonic generator and a 400-Watt, high-headroom power stage gift the amplifier with effortless ABM clout, and the variable Valve Drive control delivers a range of core tones from clean and punchy to warm and grinding.
There’s a balanced DI output on the front panel, and FX send and return on the back, along with a pair of Speakon speaker outputs, a line input and a jack for the included 4-way footswitch controlling EQ, sub harmonics, valve drive and a fixed level of soft compression. The rear panel is also home to ABM’s low-noise, twin fan intelligent cooling system.
“Owners of this landmark amplifier will join a stellar community of ABM fans including Nate Mendel from the Foo Fighters, Pink Floyd’s Guy Pratt, Geezer Butler from Black Sabbath and countless others” comments Ashdown MD Dan Gooday. “A lot has changed in twenty-five years, but the essence of the Ashdown Bass Magnifier has remained constant, and the ABM-400 Ltd Edition is the perfect celebration of this iconic bass amp.”
For further information on the Ashdown ABM-400 Ltd Edition, visit ashdownmusic.com
