Ashdown Mag 300

charlyg · Post by **charlyg** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 5:44 am

I just purchased a Mag 300. I had just traded my Ampeg B410sp for a Hartke 4x10 and an Ampeg B2r, but the B2 is kinda beat up, so I thought I'd give the Ashdown a try and take my B2r in to get cleaned up. When that is done, I can play both and see which one I like the best. I'll just sell or trade the other one after the "experiment"!

agplate · Post by **agplate** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 7:01 am

Yeah, keep us posted, I just recieved my MAG 600 yesterday but haven't tried it yet (need to buy a new cabinet)! I'll add my two cents' worth later as well.

charlyg · Post by **charlyg** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 12:52 pm

Well, I played through the Ashdown and the Hartke 4x10 today. I now have an AWESOME sound. All of the tone controls are at 2:00, drive at about 12:00 and the output to 10:00. But, the biggest kick is the new pedal. It is a Boss Cs-3 compressor sustain! Now I see what you guys mean about a compressor. My E string just came alive! And sustain! I can now hold a note for 2 measures without restrumming! I'm a happy guy!

charlyg · Post by **charlyg** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 12:54 pm

Oh, and I'm playing through the bridge with vol all the way up and tone down! I am RICK'ed out!

charlyg · Post by **charlyg** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 12:56 pm

Oh, and Chromes. I have a feeling my settings would sound like **** with rounds!

charlyg · Post by **charlyg** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 6:15 pm

Boy this was a hot topic!

jps · Post by **jps** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 6:33 pm

The others just dont appreciate you.

jps · Post by **jps** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 6:35 pm

I just ordered a Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive, I think that will give me the grind I have been looking for. Oh, I also ordered their Tremolo pedal.

charlyg · Post by **charlyg** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 6:43 pm

Your way ahead of me Jeffrey! But a tremelo does sound intriguing. I used to love the vibrato I could get on that Pedulla fretless I once had. I'm not all that good technically, I just have great rhythm, and know where to accent the groove. But it's mostly root, fifth, octave stuff. I just kinda pass through other notes on my way!

gamera · Post by **gamera** » Wed Jan 18, 2006 10:06 am

I have a MAG 300. I don't really use it as anything but a power amp. I haven't been that ecstatic over the sound. I picked up a really great preamp to run in front of it and it sounds fine to me now. They are very warm sounding amps. They growl a little but don't have all of the mids I was looking for. With a Rick they probably sound great, with my Fender not what I was looking for.

lowendbob · Post by **lowendbob** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 12:47 pm

I've been looking into the MAG C410T-300 Combo. I haven't heard one yet, but I like hearing that they are warm sounding.
My Traynor YBA-200, all but a year old is in for repairs. One of the power tubes blew, and blew up it's cathode resistor.

Good thing for the 2 year warranty.

vito · Post by **vito** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 1:02 pm

Bob, I have a MAG 4x10. I like the way it sounds, and it complements my 4004Cii nicely. I get the sound that is in my head and that's all I care about.

It's rather heavy, though.

throw_this_away · Post by **throw_this_away** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 1:08 pm

How did the blown tube/resistor come about Bob?

lowendbob · Post by **lowendbob** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 2:23 pm

John, I think the one powertube was on the verge of going some time ago when I thought I saw a flash inside the head. It never did anything so I thought I was seeing things. After pushing the amp really hard last week is when it finally went. I realized then I wasn't seeing things when it happened the first time, because it blew at the same spot. Now I don't know for sure, but I swapped out the 2 preamp 12AX7's for 12AT7's to cut the gain a little. I have no idea if this had anything to do with the powertube failing.
The Traynor tech did notice the preamp tubes and said they where wrong, but I thought you could swap preamp tubes out without screwing things up.
Traynor was good about fixing the amp with as little downtime as possible, and there wasn't any hassle with sending it back.
When I get it back (any day now) I will stick the original Sovtek 12AX7 preamp tubes back in place, and I am ditching the Sovtek 6550's for Electro Harmonix 6550's. Traynor would only replace the tubes under 6 months of purchase.
So in conclusion, if I have anymore problems with it, I may be looking into the Ashdown 4X10 combo.

throw_this_away · Post by **throw_this_away** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 3:01 pm

Do you push the master or the gain really hard (or both)? Did you notice a drop in output before/around/after the flash event? Did you notice a difference in the intensity of the glowing power tubes before/after? I'm curious so that I can be sure to avoid a similar situation.

My only complaint with my YBA200 so far is that I have not been able to use it as much as I would like to. Your experience is a reminder to keep things cool with the tube amps. The tone you get is not without it's price. I am confident that the amp is built like a truck... but every tube is fragile.