PSA - UK Made Hayden

ThePrettyDamned

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hayden-HGT-A20-20W-valve-guitar-amp-head-rare-UK-made-first-run-w-footswitch-/351229278484?pt=UK_MusicalInstr_Amplifiers_RL&hash=item51c6e57914

Not affiliated, but one of these was in a thread recently and supposed to sound great.  

I've only heard the import Hayden mini heads, not the HGT series and didn't much like them but maybe these are better, and could be a bargain. 

impmann

Fairly sure its the same amp... 

not_the_dj

impmann said:

Fairly sure its the same amp... 

It is.

ThePrettyDamned

not_the_dj said:

impmann said:

Fairly sure its the same amp... 

It is.

Drat, coulda sworn he said it was a keeper! 

Still.  It's now for sale apparently! Demos of them suggest it's a pretty good sounding amp for rock.

thermionic

Shame it isn't a combo. Then you could put a Tayden in your Hayden.

 

Well, it amused me anyway.

not_the_dj

thermionic said:

Shame it isn't a combo. Then you could put a Tayden in your Hayden.

 

Well, it amused me anyway.

Go on then, have a lol. ;-)

I would be tempted by this as a possible back-up, I used a Mofo for a few years (again a Dave Green built one).

IanSavage

Yeah, it's the same one said it was a keeper, had semi-committed to selling my house and moving when the mortgage company said I could port at 95% loan-to-value; they're now only offering me 90% so I've got a few grand to raise in not very long by all means have a look at my other auctions on there, they're all finishing towards the end of the week...

ThePrettyDamned

IanSavage;417952" said:

Yeah, it's the same one said it was a keeper, had semi-committed to selling my house and moving when the mortgage company said I could port at 95% loan-to-value; they're now only offering me 90% so I've got a few grand to raise in not very long by all means have a look at my other auctions on there, they're all finishing towards the end of the week...

I'm watching the Hayden I'll check the other stuff you've got too!

If I did win it, and decided it's not for me at some point, I'd give you first dibs.

Parker

If its anything like my Ashdown, it'll seem no one will want to pay more than 50p for it!!! Such a shame they damaged their name with the Hayden move that then led the company to be associated with cheap, unrelaiable imports. My amp easily rivals the quality of my old Bad Cat - the name seems to mean so much to us fickle guitarists!

not_the_dj

Parker said:

If its anything like my Ashdown, it'll seem no one will want to pay more than 50p for it!!! Such a shame they damaged their name with the Hayden move that then led the company to be associated with cheap, unrelaiable imports. 

Ashdown had a pretty poor reliability image anyway....Crashdown anyone?

ThePrettyDamned

Parker;417970" said:

If its anything like my Ashdown, it'll seem no one will want to pay more than 50p for it!!! Such a shame they damaged their name with the Hayden move that then led the company to be associated with cheap, unrelaiable imports. My amp easily rivals the quality of my old Bad Cat - the name seems to mean so much to us fickle guitarists!

Yeah, reviews are... Quite bad for reliability of some of this sort of kit. I wonder if the UK made ones are any different?

Not read up on the hgt but @iansavage seemed to quite like it. Maybe worth a punt, maybe the first el84 head I like?!

The only Hayden I've played was a mofo 30. It wasn't terrible, it was a bit muddy and dark while also being paradoxically ear shreddingly bright. But for a small, affordable gigging head, it would do the job and looked cool. I've never seen one being gigged, mind.

Ian also has a bass head for sale that... Ooo I want it. I think it'll go quite out of budget though...

not_the_dj

ThePrettyDamned said:

The only Hayden I've played was a mofo 30. It wasn't terrible, it was a bit muddy and dark while also being paradoxically ear shreddingly bright. But for a small, affordable gigging head, it would do the job and looked cool. I've never seen one being gigged, mind.

I gigged my Mofo for a few years (one of the early Dave Green UK built ones). Worked great for me and kept up well with the other guys JVM in a pub covers band. I tended to keep the Mofo setting off and use an OCD pedal upfront....worked great for me. I really have kept that amp as a back-up.

IanSavage

I've had VERY mixed experiences with Ashdown reliability - my first 'proper' bass amp was a MAG200 (or maybe 250, I don't recall; black-faced, anyway) and that one was in the shop more than it was onstage. I finally found out that they'd apparently designed them to be cooled WITHOUT a fan because of the (supposedly) super-heat-conducty-of the magnesium alloy chassis; it, um, didn't fucking work.

 

They eventually swapped it for me for the new model (think THAT was a MAG250, silver-faced) which I never had a spot of bother with, although it didn't seem to have as much power as the previous one, and after I sold that I went for a UK-made ABM300 which was a fucking TANK, it just would not die (typical band touring stuff: dropped down stairs, fell out of vans, ragged by amateur support bands, the lot)...I want that one back again, actually.

stickyfiddle

thermionic said:

Shame it isn't a combo. Then you could put a Tayden in your Hayden.

 

Well, it amused me anyway.

You'd have to play it with a Jaden...

Cirrus

not_the_dj;417974" said:

Ashdown had a pretty poor reliability image anyway....Crashdown anyone?

Crashdown and Trace Failallot - both stalwarts of the bass amplification scene.

ThePrettyDamned

not_the_dj said:

ThePrettyDamned said:

The only Hayden I've played was a mofo 30. It wasn't terrible, it was a bit muddy and dark while also being paradoxically ear shreddingly bright. But for a small, affordable gigging head, it would do the job and looked cool. I've never seen one being gigged, mind.

I gigged my Mofo for a few years (one of the early Dave Green UK built ones). Worked great for me and kept up well with the other guys JVM in a pub covers band. I tended to keep the Mofo setting off and use an OCD pedal upfront....worked great for me. I really have kept that amp as a back-up.

Hmm, maybe the UK built ones are better.  Or maybe the one I played was a bit duff - it wasn't a bad sound to be honest, but the reviews all gave 5 stars, and actually, they were not expensive either - for a 30 watt mini head with two channels, actually pretty cheap! It wasn't UK made though, this one was import. 

Blueingreen

I bought their little 1x 10" bass combo, 300W iirc, on the back of fawning reviews in the UK bass mags at the time, stressing an absolutely astonishing amount of volume for its size as well as great tone. It seemed just the thing to replace my Hartke head and 4 x10' that I was fed up lugging around with a ropey back.  

It turned out to be nowhere near loud enough for a 9 piece funk band, even one that was always miked up through a PA. When I spoke to Ashdown they more or less admitted that the expectations raised by the reviews were unrealistic, and suggested an extension cab, so I spent even more money to not solve the problem.  I never got close to the clear volume, or the punchy tone, of my Hartke, which was a somewhat derided set-up at the time.  I ended up selling on at a chunky loss.  To be fair it sounded good in a little acoustic piano/sax/bass/drums quartet I was in at the time,  but that's not what it was bought for.

Looking back it was a classic case of unrealistic expectations by mag reviewers working hand in glove to boost a favoured manufacturer and I was naive.  But the extra sales you pick up in the short term with that kind of marketing is going to come back and bite you on the rear end - I'd never have bought Ashdown again, and no doubt grumbled on a few bass forums as well.