The Ashdown Dr. Green The Aspirin is a bass compression pedal from Ashdown's Dr. Green range of bass effects. Compression evens out the difference between a bass's loud and quiet notes, and Ashdown described the Aspirin as "a high quality bass compressor pedal in a compact easy-to-use package, perfect for the bass player seeking consistency in their sound"1. It sits in the Dr. Green range alongside pedals including the Dr. Green OctaDose, Dr. Green Bearded Lady, Dr. Green Doctors Note and Dr. Green Bass Verb1.
What it does
The Aspirin keeps a bass level from note to note, so quieter playing is brought up and harder attacks are tamed rather than jumping out. Delicious Audio's report on the launch described how it works: "Using the Input to drive the amount of signal, the pedal automatically processes the compression after the ratio has been adjusted, and a simple output pot matches the output level to the volume required"1.
That makes for a deliberately small control set:
- Input: drives the amount of signal going into the compressor1
- Ratio: sets how much compression is applied once adjusted1
- Output: a simple pot that matches the output level to the volume required1
The design leans on the pedal doing the work automatically rather than asking the player to juggle many parameters, which is where the "easy-to-use package" description comes from1. For a player putting together a board of bass pedals, it covers the compression slot; the site's compressor pedal page explains the effect type more broadly.
The Dr. Green range
The Aspirin is one of the pedals in Ashdown's Dr. Green range of bass effects, alongside the Bearded Lady, OctaDose, Doctors Note and Bass Verb1. Within that range it is the compressor, and its approach is deliberately simple: using the Input to drive the amount of signal, the pedal automatically processes the compression after the ratio has been adjusted, and a simple output pot matches the output level to the volume required1.
Ashdown also released a later pairing of the compression circuit with a gate, the Ashdown The Tourniquet/Aspirin, which carries the Aspirin name forward1.
Questions
What is the Ashdown Dr. Green The Aspirin?
It is a bass compression pedal from the Dr. Green range that Ashdown introduced in January 2013. Delicious Audio described it as a high quality bass compressor pedal in a compact, easy-to-use package, aimed at the bass player seeking consistency in their sound. It uses an Input control to drive the amount of signal, processes the compression automatically once the ratio has been adjusted, and matches output level with a simple output pot.
What else was in the Dr. Green range?
The Aspirin launched as one of five hand-made Dr. Green bass pedals reported in January 2013: the Bearded Lady, the OctaDose, the Doctors Note, the Bass Verb and The Aspirin. Premier Guitar's press release noted the range included old-school chip holders for the tweakers out there, and the OctaDose was said to track down to a low-B with the utmost precision.
Sources (1)
- Pedal News: Ashdown Dr. Green Bass FX Pedals, Delicious Audio, 2013-01-28
