Ashdown - Roasted Saint Soap Gloss Black

One bass, one pickup, two knobs - the premise of the Ashdown Roasted Saint Soap Gloss Black is absolute clarity. It eliminates any interference between your intention and the sound coming out of the amp. Here, the unique soap bar pickup, fitted with an Alnico magnet and hand-wound, doesn't have to share the limelight. It picks up the entire vibration of the strings, giving a surprisingly rich tone for such a streamlined configuration.

Take this roasted maple neck. Torrefaction isn't just a question of aesthetics. This heat treatment dries out the wood, making it denser and less reactive to climatic variations. In practical terms, your truss rod adjustment becomes a rare formality. Combined with the standard 34-inch tuning fork and a 350 mm fingerboard radius, it gives you a playing surface that's both fast and reassuring when you're on the move.

The poplar body, often underestimated, is the ideal partner for this philosophy. Lightweight, it prevents fatigue during long sessions. Resonant, it transmits maximum energy to the pick-up without excessive coloration. Components, such as the CTS potentiometers, are selected for their transparency, ensuring that your tone adjustment is musical, not a loss of signal.

So, who's on board? The live bassist who needs a reliable instrument with a sound that effortlessly cuts through the wall of guitars. The home student in search of a raw audio source, perfect for re-amping or software processing. It's the answer when you've had enough of active preamps that whistle and batteries that fail at the wrong moment.