Acoustic Amps, Need feedback.

Jr555 · #1 04-02-2010, 09:36 AM

Hey all,

Just out of curiosity, how many of you own or have owned an Acoustic Amplification amp ? Has anyone owned their more recent rigs ? I'm curious as to whether or not the new 300B head has any of the crazy distortion of some of the older Acoustic amps ? Are there any of their other heads that compare in terms of dirt and tone to the 450 ?

Also, does anyone own one of their new cabs ? How is the midrange on these things ? What would you compare a 15" + 4 10"s of theirs to ?

Thanks again !

grayhawk1853 · #2 04-02-2010, 01:47 PM

I own some of both the old and new. The new stuff is good for it's price. The old stuff was state of the art at the time and is still quite dependable. I generally look for the old stuff when I want something.

epic! · #3 04-02-2010, 02:15 PM

new stuff isnt anything like the old classics unfortunately. as grayhawk said the new stuff is good for the price. i have one of the 810's and am pretty happy with it. speakers distort at relatively high volumes but i believe that is fairly common with 10' speakers (please someone correct me if im wrong about that).

seamonkey · #4 04-02-2010, 06:30 PM

New Acoustic amps are not related to the old amps at all.
Old amps were from "Acoustic Control Corporation"
New "Acoustic" amps are a house brand from Guitar Center.
GC seems to be supporting the new Acoustics well. Some people really like the new amps. Try them yourself. GC will give you 30 days to try them out.

A few times a year - you'll see posts about a new Acoustic USA amp made by someone associated to the old Acoustic Control Corp - but these amps never seem to materialize.

vinxbass · #5 04-02-2010, 06:55 PM

I played thru an Acoustic 360 from 1975-81, it was a great rig during that period of time.

Jr555 · #6 04-02-2010, 11:49 PM

Excellent information, I think I'm going to wait it out and see if I can get my hands on an old Acoustic Control Corporation model... I'm guessing the company changed hands in like the 80s or 90s ?

Either way, I've heard a few bands where the bass is playing through a heavily distorted 450, does anyone know if that heavy, dirty tone from the 450 is present in the 220, or even the 360 ?

Again, thanks so much for the replies guys, it's amazing what I've learned here.

JimmyM · #7 04-03-2010, 02:41 AM

it's in the 360 for sure. jaco used to use that sound sometimes.

epic, that distortion is common in 810's that don't take a lot of juice, not very common in those that do.

Buster Brown · #8 04-03-2010, 01:24 PM

Like many others here, I, too, mainly played the "original" Acoustic amps. The current Acoustic products (GC) are real nice "entry level" products, but bear absolutely NO comparison to the old 360/361, 370/371 amps and cabs (and the various models that ACC made). None whatsoever.

If your budget allows, you might check out the older Acoustic products (yes - many are still rockin after 40 years! I know, I STILL play a 370 from 1972)

But, if you want to jump in a little easier, the Acoustic gear at GC has been fairly well received....lots of good reviews here!!

Yes, there have been persistent rumors of a new Acoustic USA. They are not rumors. There IS an Acoustic USA that has been planning on re=introducing the products, but nothing has come to market as of yet, but they do exist. Here is a pic from a show a while back using the "new" 360/361 configuration and a totally new configuration with a 15" driver:

Good luck in your decision!!

Pearly Gator · #9 04-03-2010, 01:44 PM

No experience with the "new" Acoustic company but I love the old Acoustic gear. My Bass amp is a 220 Head and 115B bottom with the original EV speaker. IMHO, it sounds excellent.

I also have an original Acoustic 150 g**t*r amp head with matching 6X10 cab that is so loud, it hurts!

Like old tube gear, the electrolytic caps need to be replaced on original Acoustics. Remember that if you score an old one.

Jr555 · #10 04-03-2010, 02:25 PM

Thanks for the advice everyone. To Buster, I pretty much force my budget to bend to my bass demands haha. I recently picked up a new Bassman 300 Pro head though, which means for the next couple of months, I'll be carefully lurking through ebay and various other websites, checking prices and such, getting my wits about me, but I feel like its pretty likely Ill be looking to invest in one of these soon enough. P.S. Those cabs look amazing.

JimmyM · #11 04-03-2010, 02:29 PM

if i had a bassman 300 pro, no way i'd be looking at guitar center acoustic stuff. that's like going from a limo to a nissan sentra. nice car for what it is, the sentra, but the limo has a bar in the back and you can make out with chicks

Buster Brown · #12 04-04-2010, 02:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimmyM

if i had a bassman 300 pro, no way i'd be looking at guitar center acoustic stuff. that's like going from a limo to a nissan sentra. nice car for what it is, the sentra, but the limo has a bar in the back and you can make out with chicks

HAHA!!!

Man, I'm pushing 60...but I gotta say this...........

Dude!!!

Jr555 · #13 04-04-2010, 10:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimmyM

if i had a bassman 300 pro, no way i'd be looking at guitar center acoustic stuff. that's like going from a limo to a nissan sentra. nice car for what it is, the sentra, but the limo has a bar in the back and you can make out with chicks

HAHA okay this is amazing mostly for 2 reasons... well the obvious, that its just a sweet analogy, and 2. ... I own a nissan sentra

lol but yea you're right, I've been playing an SVT-410, and I'm really leaning towards a Traynor 410 an 115, just cause they seem to have the Mids I'm looking for, and they look pretty sweet, but I wanted to look into a few others, I was also considering EBS, Aguilar, and Markbass, but I'm not sure theyve got the sound I'm looking for... if you guys have info on these again I'm all ears, but I do have to thank you very much for the tremendous help thus far. Rock on.

bottomend! · #14 04-05-2010, 05:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jr555

Excellent information, I think I'm going to wait it out and see if I can get my hands on an old Acoustic Control Corporation model... I'm guessing the company changed hands in like the 80s or 90s ?

Either way, I've heard a few bands where the bass is playing through a heavily distorted 450, does anyone know if that heavy, dirty tone from the 450 is present in the 220, or even the 360 ?

Again, thanks so much for the replies guys, it's amazing what I've learned here.

The 360 was more of a "fuzz" sound where as the 450 is really more of whats considered a distorted sound. When you listen to Jaco crank up the fuzz on his 360's it kinda gets "buzzy"... but I can assure you that the 450 does NOT buzz - it GROWLS and SNARLS like nothing else out there.

BassLife77 · #15 04-06-2010, 07:20 PM

Acoustic amps rule as far as tone. Those amps are loud as f*** too. If you crank them they will max out your eardrums. If you set them up right you can get a nice "character" from them.

MadMan118 · #16 04-06-2010, 07:26 PM

Ive got a B100, which is their 100w combo. Great tone considering the price i paid for it. Cuts through well compared to a lot of other 100w combo's out there. The frequency notch is a nice touch. Turning the gain down you get a nice warm tone, and turning it up affords some nice grindy rock tones. All in all a good amp for the money.

Gaolee · #17 04-07-2010, 10:51 AM

I play through a 126 combo. It was made in 1981, and it is more or less bomb proof. It's good enough I just bought a 165 tube guitar amp and I'm looking at other pieces of older Acoustic equipment. I don't know anything about the new stuff, but the 320/408 rig I'm considering would end the band's amp arms race immediately. The 126 sounds good, but it doesn't push quite enough air to keep up with a couple of 100w guitar amps. It is pretty close, though.

MarshallLaw · #18 04-07-2010, 10:57 AM

i've got one of the new B20 combos. it is my practice amp. i got it on sale for $100 and it's the best $100 amp ive ever played. i love it, personally.

a guy i know in a band that my band plays with sometimes has an old Acoustic head from the 70s (not sure which one). it sounds awesome though. nice grindy vintage rock tone. he's played it through my old Sunn 2x15 a few times and it sounds sick.

BassLife77 · #19 04-07-2010, 08:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gaolee

I play through a 126 combo. It was made in 1981, and it is more or less bomb proof. It's good enough I just bought a 165 tube guitar amp and I'm looking at other pieces of older Acoustic equipment. I don't know anything about the new stuff, but the 320/408 rig I'm considering would end the band's amp arms race immediately. The 126 sounds good, but it doesn't push quite enough air to keep up with a couple of 100w guitar amps. It is pretty close, though.

the amp probably needs a cap job. those oil and paper caps dry out after a few decades. If the caps are changed the sound and output would improve dramatically

lug · #20 04-08-2010, 08:09 AM

Gigged for almost 30 years between me and my brother. The power switch broke in the "on" position so we had to unplug it to power down. That is the only problem it ever had. Still works fine to this day.