The Story of My Free Ashdown ABM EVO 300 II

I obtained this amp in September 2023, read about it here: https://gwonchang.blogspot.com/2023/09/free-stuff.html

Since then, I didn't get it back until late October 2025(!), over 2 years later, then I dropped it off November 1 at another guy's house, and finally picked it up on Dec. 26th. And guess what? It works!

When I got the amp in 2023, it was Labor Day, and I met my guy Brian at the Fred Meyer parking lot in Kirkland, where he took it from me. I figured since I got it for free and I had a working amp already (the Trace, and I think I had the Orange by then), he could take his time.

So a few weeks later, I checked up on him and he responded something snarky like, "well, since you paid nothing for it, you're getting the same level of urgency." Whatever, that's Brian being Brian, so I let it go (he's pretty sarcastic and spicy at times).

But every time I contacted him, there was something and since I didn't need it, I didn't push it. After a few more months, though, I started reaching out again and it was more awkwardness. Not that the amp is so special that he was trying to hustle me or anything, so I wasn't worried about that. It was more the principle of the whole thing; I just needed a response of some sort. Even if he said he couldn't fix it, that's fine, let me know, I'd pick it up and move on. I told him I'd pay him for his time, no response. I told him to tell me to f-off, no response. I left phone messages, texts, Facebook messages. I asked Tim and others if Brian was OK; they all said he seemed fine as they'd had him work on stuff.

I think it was January of 2025 when I told Brian that I was done with him and he could keep the amp and just live his live. Whatever, I was only out the pickup and drop off time, and he'd lost whatever business I'd give him.

But over the next few months, I talked to some people to let them know about this interesting story. One of the people was Richard Davidson, who plays bass in Wild Rumours, Mopsey, and formerly, the Young Sportsmen. He has tons of bass amps and we know a lot of the same dudes, including Brian. But he had no idea what was going on. He ended up reaching out to another common friend, Fred Speakman, who decided to get involved on my behalf. As it turns out, another guy got ghosted by Brian and Fred reached out to Brian and got some info in July. There was a bunch of drama for Brian, of which I have no details, and I don't really care. All he had to say was, "I can't fix it, come get it," and that would've been that.

Anyway, Fred got my amp in August, he gave it to Dave Thompson. I picked up from Dave in October and then found a guy on Facebook in Magnolia. I dropped it off on Nov 1 on my way to a PITO show and then finally picked it up on Dec 26. And guess what?

Works like a champ!

The repair guy, Mark L., apparently is an engineer of some sort with all sorts of stories about Steve Jobs, comet rockets, and other super secret nerdy stuff. His workshop is full of all sorts of crap, most worryingly, a janky folding table that looked like it was about to collapse, with my amp on it! Luckily it didn't and I was able to get home with the amp. He said there was some oxidation on the pins of a connector cable from the preamp board to the power amp board. He said to spray Deoxit on it, brush the F out of it, and reseat the wire if it failed again.

But since I've had it at home, it's been great. Plugged into the Avatar, it's loud, round, throaty, and seems to work just fine. I wish we were gigging or rehearsing now so I could put it through its paces, but it's gonna have to wait until probably the 2nd week of Jan. We're gonna have to get together just to dust things off anyway since we have a gig on Jan 31 opening up for Stag as we play our last time at Slim's.

Will continue playing with it and give a more in-depth review soon.

Ioniq 5, one month in

So far so good! Let's just do a brain dump. First, the bad:

• Within the first 2 weeks, I scraped the front passenger-side fender backing out of the garage. Super aggravating, but luckily, no obvious damage. First time, just some paint onto the plastic; Blake was able to buff it out with some rubbing spray. Second time, I heard a snap. I sat in the car and didn't want to get out. Lucky for me, the light damage was to the same spot and what snapped was some trim around the garage door. Not too bad for the house, not bad for the car, we are good.
• I'm still, a month in, trying to get used to the dimensions of the car on the road. I feel like I've had to relearn how to change lanes. I'm not sure what it is. The car has so many bells and whistles that I always have to be on guard, it's sort of annoying.
• The car seems to have no soul. It is weird and I can't pinpoint that either. I've been driving pretty much exclusively in Normal mode and while good, it numbs the steering a little. Sport really tightens it up but it's just too fast for daily use, though I should really give it more of a try. With it being so wet out lately, I've been laying off that.
• The native Nav is annoying in that when I touch the screen to move the map, it treats it as me wanting to add a new destination and I can't figure out how to not do that.
• No dials on the dash and a clock that is tiny and impossible to find. There is a different panel for the clock, but it comes at the expense of more info. I wish they would've put in a bigger digital clock on the main dash. And the speedo number is in a weird spot; heck, the entire main dash is weird. I wish there were even digital analog dials.
• Tinted windows are so dark; it's hard to see at night.
• Auto wipers are hit and miss. They work, but they seem to be picky about the precip and whether or not to wipe.
• The "Confirm" message on the screen every time I start the car. It's annoying.
• Homelink mirror doesn't work. Previous owner removed the power dongle to the mirror and I can't seem to find the right one to replace it. :/

There may be more bad, but it's not all bad. I can't remember much else, don't want to play pile on. So here's some good:

• The looks! Love how this thing looks. The aforementioned tinted window? They look great from the outside! And the matte paint? Love it. Glad the gold blends with the silver trim since the gold is so silvery looking.
• The pickup! Just stepping on the pedal and it goes. Always ready to pass or swoop in. The downside is that sometimes it's a little hot when I get to where I'm going and then it's on the brakes.
• All the space. Lots of room inside. Haven't loaded it up with much yet, but it's all good.
• Ventilated seats! Looking forward to using it in the summer when it's swampy down there.
• Remote start and all that stuff I can do on the phone. Pretty cool.
• No more gas stations? Yes please! Just for a month means I have "saved" about $120 in gas payments. Plugging in at home is great, even though the charge is sooo slow.

That's a quick and dirty download. The car is running great and it is pretty exciting to drive on the daily. I am enjoying learning about it and it'll be cool to see how it does over the time I have it. Payments start soon for both insurance and loan, so that stinks, but it's part of the territory.

Weirdly, I haven't taken many pictures of it, so here it is, backed in and charging in the garage.