For those wishing to configure their own rack-mounting bass rigs, the Ashdown RPM-1 EVO II preamp puts all the ABM facilities in a convenient rack-mounting package. Three straightforward rotary tone controls provide 20dB of cut and boost at 60Hz, 660Hz and 5kHz, and are supplemented by two pairs of additional sliders giving 15dB cut and boost at 180Hz, 340Hz, 1.3kHz and 2.6kHz. The EQ can be switched in/out, and flat/shaped by footswitch, enabling players to go from a flat fretless sound to a boosted sound via a favorite EQ setting. A single input is switchable for passive and active instruments with a blend of solid state and dual triode tube preamps stages which can be preset and selected by footswitch, providing access to a massive range of clean, warm and overdriven tones.

Also footswitchable is the mighty Ashdown sub-harmonic generator which precisely tracks the main signal and reproduces it an octave lower. A sub-harmonic level control enables the player to add just the right amount of low-end reinforcement - everything from a subtle, thickening of the sound to unbridled, bone crushing tone. The ABM RPM-1 EVO II features a balanced DI out with pre or post EQ switching, a sub-bass output, a tuner output, an FX loop and a line input for the connection of an external sampler or sound source. Output muting cuts the signal from the DI output but leaves the tuner output 'live', allowing the player to tune up in silence. The addition of a high-precision crossover with variable… read more frequency from 35Hz to 160Hz and a level control for the low-pass output, enables the configuration of sophisticated bi-amped systems, in which the bass and mid/high frequencies are amplified separately. read less