Ashdown Rootmaster 610. Anyone use this bass cab?

[MadAsAHatter]

They're on sale for a stupid low price (40% off) and I was thinking about picking one up. I cant find many reviews, but the few I've seen were positive and Ashdown has a good reputation for bass amps. Taking a shot that maybe someone here has used one and can give some feedback.

Ashdown Rootmaster RM610T EVO II

 

[RaceU4her]

cant say i have but that is cool looking at least.

 

[GlideOn]

I picked this up about a year ago, also have companion amp RM EVII 800w model.

I have nothing but praise for this cab, it is handled everything I have thrown at it and more, including five strings and low tunings. Deep without being boomy, tight without being clinical. Hangs in a room with 50w Marshall style amps and 4x12s.

Voicing overall is very balanced if somewhat on the darker side of things. To me it sounds best with the Tweeter up on its highest setting, then all the frequencies just seem to come alive. I do have a very insulated and treated room so that may be part of the equation. Could also be the amp, I do have treble and upper mid knobs fairly high too. YMMV.

Perhaps the most notable limitation of this cab is that it is 4ohm and that's about the limit of what most amp heads can go. You won't be able to easily daisy chain or have multiple speaker outs unless your bass amp can handle 2ohm loads. I tried plugging in a Hartke 2x15 and my amp wouldn't even push them. Not really an issue if you're a garage band or small club as it fills either venue with ease.

I got mine B stock on sale for $580. That's an absolute steal, but it is worth the $750-$800 asking price even still. If you can find one...

 

[MadAsAHatter]

View attachment 419304

I picked this up about a year ago, also have companion amp RM EVII 800w model.

I have nothing but praise for this cab, it is handled everything I have thrown at it and more, including five strings and low tunings. Deep without being boomy, tight without being clinical. Hangs in a room with 50w Marshall style amps and 4x12s.

Voicing overall is very balanced if somewhat on the darker side of things. To me it sounds best with the Tweeter up on its highest setting, then all the frequencies just seem to come alive. I do have a very insulated and treated room so that may be part of the equation. Could also be the amp, I do have treble and upper mid knobs fairly high too. YMMV.

Perhaps the most notable limitation of this cab is that it is 4ohm and that's about the limit of what most amp heads can go. You won't be able to easily daisy chain or have multiple speaker outs unless your bass amp can handle 2ohm loads. I tried plugging in a Hartke 2x15 and my amp wouldn't even push them. Not really an issue if you're a garage band or small club as it fills either venue with ease.

I got mine B stock on sale for $580. That's an absolute steal, but it is worth the $750-$800 asking price even still. If you can find one...

Thanks for the feedback. I ended up taking a chance on it while it was on sale back then. I'm glad I did. I have the same opinion, deep and punchy without being boomy or sterile. It fits my style of playing well and sound excellent with all of my bass amps. I generally run it with the tweeter off, but I also play a good bit with overdrive/distortion and don't want to fry it. I just push the treble & presence up a little more on my amp(s) and it sounds just fine. Even with the tweeter off it's a decent bit brighter than my GK Neo 412 cab. The GK is much warmer/rounder sounding.

With my tube bass amps it gets more than loud enough to cover anything I would do. I'm mainly a bedroom player these days, but I'd be confident it could handle most anything if I played out. So being limited to 4 ohms isn't much of a problem and most of my amps can handle 2 ohms if I ever wanted to hook up an extension cab.

I ended up paying about the same as you did. It was on sale for right at $650. When it arrived it had some minor damage to the tolex on one side during shipping and Sweetwater gave me an extra $100 off. Considering they're selling for around 1K new; if anyone still has them, I think $550 is pretty much a steal.

 

[DanTravis62]

I haven't heard the 6 speaker one, but a friend in another band plays the 4x10 with the ashdown head - IIRC its a little dark sounding but quite nice

 

[MadAsAHatter]

I haven't heard the 6 speaker one, but a friend in another band plays the 4x10 with the ashdown head - IIRC its a little dark sounding but quite nice

This is my SonicTone BA300 through the Ashdown RM610. It's a shitty cell phone recording, but kinda captures how it sounds in the room.