Acoustic 136 Bass Amp - Folded horn? Decent amp?

[SGS]

There is one of these Acoustic 136 combo amps for sale on Craigslist locally. The Harmony Central reviews are great. Comments about it here on Talkbass are few and far between but all good.

The seller told me that the switch is blown. I have no problem picking up a switch to wire in so I can test the amp and I'm waiting for the seller to reply on that.


I'm looking for some more opinions on this amp, so lets have them!

Plus, I'm very curious about the folded horn design. It doesn't appear to be the easiest thing to find a lot of details on, at least I've been having problems with it. What are the pros/cons of this design? Where does it excel and what are its limitations?


I'm still searching for "my" sound as my Dean Markley isn't quite doing it. I recently bought a VT Bass and I'm still trying to dial in the sound that I want with it so I'm thinking about giving the Acoustic a shot.

Gimme your feedback and opinions.

[Mr. Foxen]

I had the very similar 126. It isn't a folded horn, it is a flared port. I liked the sound of it for oldschool stuff, but it wasn't loud enough for what I do, limitations of the old speaker.

[christw]

The usual vice of a folded horn cab is that you can't really tell how much air it's moving unless you stand (way) back. A lot of guys will tell stories about not hearing themselves on stage but drowning out the rest of their group off stage.

[JimmyM]

the 136 isn't a folded horn. it's a ported direct radiator. i used to have one from 77-90. i never cared for it back then, but in retrospect, it's really not a bad combo at all.

[uglyrumor]

My only problem with it is that it is a combo, which I personally dislike intensely for bass. Other than that, I would love to have it. Great amp, great cabinet design.

[bottomend!]

Nice balanced tone at low to mid volume that will fill a small club well. At higher volumes the sound becomes compressed. This is not a product of the amp but of the cabinet. I've used the head (140/150) with different cabs and it will knock you out(!) but mated with this design it's power output is hampered for louder stuff.

[Jim C]

I always wanted this amp to sound good when I tried them years ago but thought them just OK;by todays standards
* They don't sound all that great
* They will not play clean and loud
* Way to heavy for the amount of performance delivered

[mulchor]

I think of folded horns for hi-fi loudspeaker design... umm not sure what you kids call it nowadays but it used to be your stereo

What I remember of them is you could get kicking good subwoofer response with small drivers and/or fit into a small type space. Do they work well applied to instrument/bass cabs?

[GeneralElectric]

Look into Phil Jones cabs if you're looking for a ton of tiny speakers