Yeah, Ive tried a Thermion as well and its a decent sounding amp but not $1100 worth of good sound. Ive also played a tone blaster in a shop and it was an ok sounding amp for its 250 dollar price tag for a SS head.
A few years back I used one on an EP... guitar player in the band owned it and it got used for a few solos & odd overdubbed bits on just about all the songs... always sounded great & I remember it taking pedals well.
I also recall having a pretty decent experience with one of their 4x12 straight cabs in a backline rental... used with several heads & they all sounded decent. The speakers might've been changed but I dunno... the cab looked pretty new.
Yep, they are no longer making Ashdown guitar amps (the bass amps are still going).
But as you've pointed out Hayden now make pretty much the old Ashdown range. I'm wondering if they just got fed up with the quality they were getting from the chinese factory.
My Fallen angel sounds great (perhaps a little heavy on the bass mind) and was really quite cheap for the functionality but the first one I got had to go back as it overheated too quickly and on this one the effects don't work (not that I'd use them) and the boost switch on the pedal board is a bit intermitant. Still it sounds better than the euivalent (and more expensive) Marshal.
Thermion? That's the all-tube head that Ibanez was raving about a year or two ago.
I never thought much of amps made my a company that primarily makes guitars and basses (and I guess effects), unless we're talking about Fender. Most of the time, the amps are just made for beginners, like Timorousme said.