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Ashton ASR-282 Semi-Acoustic Guitar |
I was pleased to get the chance to review the brand new 'Ashton' semi-acoustic guitar, model ASR-282.
I had been viewing this model in the 'Ashton'catalogue for some time and was curious to have a look. This guitar is aimed at the player chasing a versatile sounding, great looking guitar at a budget price. I'm delighted to report that 'Ashton'has achieved their aim on all counts.
The ASR-282 looked appealing in the catalogue, but I can tell you that it is way cooler "in-the-flesh". This semi-acoustic guitar comes in two colours, a translucent sunburst and translucent deep red, both with flamed maple caps. I was offered a choice, so I went with the translucent red, and it sure looks beautiful. Much more expensive looking than you would think, and on a real par with many other guitars in higher price brackets. Here's the scoop on these great looking, very affordable guitars.
First impression I got was the beautiful finish, the flamed maple cap looks brilliant. The semi-acoustic body has a vintage cream binding around the outside of the body as well as the very vintage looking 'F'holes.
All in all I give this guitar top marks for appearance, especially considering the price tag it carries! More on that later.
The ASR-282 has a set mahogany neck, with a rich rosewood fingerboard, which adds mellowness to the tone. It has 22 medium frets which are tapered, well polished and seated very neatly. If I had one little gripe, it was one single fret, which buzzed a bit around the 8th fret and only on the low 'E'string, which could easily be fixed with a small adjustment with a fret file. To be fair it was a demo model.
It has the distinctive 'Ashton'headstock with three die cast tuners per side. It kept in tune pretty well, even after some pretty heavy bending. The nut was cut well and the action of the guitar straight out of the box was perfect. All I did was re-check the intonation, tweak it a bit and it was ready to play, sounding perfect. Attention to detail has been continued on up the headstock, as the truss rod cover is a vintage cream colour to match the pickup surrounds and the vintage style knobs.
The ASR-282 has two 'Ashton'designed high-output "Custom-500" humbucker pickups. These pickups have a very fat, warm tone, which I found to be versatile with a bit of extra punch and bite when required. They have individual pole pieces and cool looking chrome covers which continue on with the vintage theme.
Simplicity itself is the 'Ashton'BM-115 chrome stop-bridge, otherwise known as a 'wrap-around'bridge. I love the look of these bridges, their solidness and simplicity, and it still amazes me as to how close they are to almost perfect intonation.
A three-way toggle switch, switches the neck, bridge or both pick-ups together and the master volume and tone controls with the vintage knobs finish off the electronics of this package. So let's get down to the playing.
This model is the semi-acoustic evolution of the very popular 'AR-282'solid-body. Ashton has added a new dimension to the already classic sound with an added dimension of warmth and tone. This guitar has the versatility to satisfy all players whether you're into jazz, punk, blues or country.
When you first play the ASR-282, you can clearly hear how loud this guitar is unplugged, the hollow body and the 'F'holes really making for an acoustic sound. I played this guitar through my 60-watt Marshall JCM-600 head and quad-box direct, then I added my 'Ibanez'tube screamer for a little bit more 'over-the-top'grunt. I love the bluesy 'just-breaking-up'tone this guitar has when you wind the volume back a touch. Direct into the Marshall on the neck pick-up, it sounded very warm and creamy, but switch to the bridge pickup, dig that pick in a bit and out comes that "bite-and-punch" that 'Ashton'describe in their custom pickups.
I found that on the clean channel, this guitar really excels. Add a little reverb (or a lot) and switch between the middle or the neck position for a very sweet warm fat sound that jazz players would really strive for. I really like this clean tone. The neck was smooth and upper neck access was pretty good even for those 80's style solos. I found it very easy to play, fast or slow, again amazing me as to the cost of this guitar. (I'm just about there on the price).
Standing with a strap, the ASR-282 felt very balanced, slightly lighter than my other solid bodied guitars (obviously). It would be easy to play a long gig with without having the old 'Les Paul'sore shoulder. At least you would be able to jump around all night with this guitar !
In conclusion, I found that the 'Ashton'ASR-282 to be a great looking and easy to play instrument. It had an excellent finish, with a beautiful original body shape and a very vintage stylised look. (Designed in Australia of course - absolutely fantastic!) The overall workmanship was of a very high standard. The combination of great tone, excellent playability and a very reasonable price tag of $449.00 (Wow !!) make this guitar really stand out as an excellent choice of instrument for any musician to add to his or her collection.