Essex Blonde 8W Combo | musicradar.com

Ashdown Essex Blonde 8W Combo £499

The MusicRadar Team, Tue 23 Oct, 12:08 pm BST

Overall, it's a high-quality, versatile combo.

Manufacturer's description

Simple and gorgeous - it has to be the Essex Blonde 8. An all-tube preamp drives a mono 6V6 tube output section, with power delivered via a classic, 12 inch Celestion Vintage 30 speaker. The spring reverb is footswitchable, while a built-in power soak, which operates via the DI, output with the speaker disconnected, makes the Essex Blonde 8 perfect for recording.

Effects send and return sockets are located on the front panel, along with straightforward master, treble, middle, bass, and reverb controls, plus an attack control which drops the gain and decreases the dynamic range to make the amplifier cleaner and more precise. And in a perfect example of Hayden's exhaustive attention to detail, controls are labeled on an angled panel, which can be viewed clearly from the front or above.

Clean tones are pure and sweet with a smooth and articulate overdrive readily on tap as the gain is increased. Owners can customise the amplifier further by experimenting with alternative output tubes including 6L6 and EL34, and with other loudspeakers.

Add to my profile

print
e-mail

Share:: StumbleUpon; Digg; Reddit; Del.icio.us; Facebook

Verdict

MusicRadar rating: 4 of 5

Pros

Wide tonal range. Cool looks. Ultra low noise. Price.

Cons

The cabinet needs some more styling work to completely finish it.

The bottom line

For a hand-built amp, the price is very reasonable indeed. Capable of handling almost any musical style, this new Ashdown should find a lot of admirers.

Review Policy

All MusicRadar’s reviews are by independent product specialists, who are not aligned to any gear manufacturer or retailer. Our experts also write for renowned magazines such as Guitarist, Total Guitar, Computer Music, Future Music and Rhythm. All are part of Future PLC, the biggest publisher of music making magazines in the world.

SpecificationShow

Essex Blonde 8W Combo

Price:: £499
Additional Features:: Capable of running virtually any octal power valve (6L6 / 6V6 / EL34 / KT88 etc.) without re-biasing. Series effects loop. Unbalanced recording out. Dummy load for silent recording with speakers disconnected. Reverb spring.
Amplifier Type:: All valve single channel class A combo with solid-state rectification.
Audio Output Power:: 8
Available Controls:: Attack, Bass, Mid, Reverb, Treble, Volume
Built-in Chromatic Tuner:: false
Built-in FX:: false
Cabinet Material:: MDF with ply baffle
Channels:: 1
Country of Origin:: UK
Depth (mm):: 250
Drum Machine:: false
Drum Machine Patterns:: 0
Footswitch Included:: false
Height (mm):: 440
No of Effects:: 0
Price at Launch:: 499
Valves:: 3 x ECC83/12AX7
Weight (kg):: 17
Weight (lb):: 36
Width (mm):: 360