My tone.

Take your bass to a GC and try different amps, cabinets. See if the bass is the problem. if not, take your amp to a GC and try different cabinets. It's a bit of a hassle, but considering your level of ftustration it may be worth the schlepping.
I've certainly done it and found it to be very useful.

Process of elimination..

Regards
mark

I agree. First, take your bass to a music store and try out as many different brands of amps and speaker cabinets that you can.
 
Finding "your" sound takes some time and (unfortunately) some money. Even worse if you're like me and the sound in your head changes over time.

Anyway, as others have said it sure seems like your rig is the issue. Here's what I'd do: ring up your local bass shop and ask them if you can bring in your gear as you want to decide if you want a new cab or a new head.

Play your bass through your Ashdown with a few different cabs and then play your bass through a variety of heads into your cab. Whatever makes the biggest improvement and fits in your budget - buy it.

I know when I was a kid I found the full setup that I wanted (Fender Jazz through a GK rig) and then saved up to buy it. But in your situation you may be better off upgrading one piece at time until you're satisfied.

Good luck.
 
Dumb question - is the Marshall a BASS cab (as in not a guitar cab)? I was not aware they made bass cabs. If it's a guitar cab that could be the problem.

Yep, they sure did. They blow big time. Unless it's an 80s 215. That thing was smokin'.

I didn't read all the posts but that Ashdown into a Marshall is doing you no favours at all. They are both very very average. You are amplifying a combo amp which IMO is not a nice sounding amp into an even worse Marshall.

I didn't catch what your budget, financial situation was but I would maybe invest in a new head first then get a nice cabinet to replace the Marshall.
 
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It's possibly a mismatch between the speaker(s) in your Ashdown and the Marshall. Much has been posted about the tonal risks of mixing different brands/types of cabs and the results have been quite mixed.

Any chance the Ashdown has an extension speaker you can pair with it? I'd give that a shot if possible. If not, another thing to do would be to try some different heads with the Marshall to see if you get better results that way.