Help me pair a cab to my Accoustic 370

[CannyBusDriver]

I dont have the slightest clue how to pair a cab with a head. How many watts do i need atleast for this head? I recently ordered an accoustic 370 online and only have a 400w behringger Ultrabass cab.
i need an upgrade to let this 370 really shine.

Any recommendations of bass cabs that typically dont have static buzzing or constant humming?

[Oren Hudson]

First - nice grab on the 370 - one of the greatest heads ever. Any Acoustic guy will tell you to use the Acousric 301 cab with it. That was the combination that was designed by engineers to work the best together. Others will work pretty good too. Some folks like the Ampeg SVT fridge with that head. As far as wattage, the head is capable of well above 300 at 2 ohms. Your Behringger cab will not be the ulltimate for this head. Good luck in your hunt.

[garmenteros]

I use mine with a mesaboogie powerhouse 1000 and I love it. Any 4ohm high quality cab should do. My pics would be a mesa powerhouse 1000 or newer 1200, 2-15, or one of the newer fender 2 15s.

[Lazarus.Bird]

415-RFL earth shaking 4x15 bass cabinet by MONOLITH Loudspeakers - " W E** S P E A K** V O L U M E S* . . . "

[KJung]

Classic head! The 370 is low power and VERY mid range voiced, with LOTS of midrange distortion. So, stay away from tweeters, and stay away from low efficiency cabs. Some sort of 4ohm multiple 12 cab or multiple 15 cab with no tweeter would probably be your best bet.

Somewhat similar to the GK800RB, that head can get quite lot through the right cab, and will grunt and grind.

[Crater]

I dont have the slightest clue how to pair a cab with a head.

Don't forget to use a proper speaker cable and not a shielded instrument cable between the bass head and cabinet.

Any recommendations of bass cabs that typically dont have static buzzing or constant humming?

Wait, is this a serious question?

('static buzzing and humming' come from the amplifier...)

[chillerthanmost]

4x12, 6x12, 2x15 or 4x15 will sound great. Sunn, Acoustic, Emperor or, like posted above, Monolith.

The 370 is an awesome head.

And the wrong cab can definitely buzz or fart out.

[Alex1984]

I'd grab a 301 if that's an option.

[zon6c-f]

As an oiginal owner of a 1974 ACC 370, I recommend (1) 301 @ 4 ohms or better: 2 (301) cabs to get to 2 ohms, which is optimal power, although 1 is sufficient to keep up with Marshall stacks. Acoustic 408 is a 4x15 cab @2 ohms.

I own a Sunn 1-18 vh, which is a 4 ohm folded horn variant, but not a w-horn like the 301. With the Sunn, I can hear myself well onstage and give an audience gastro-trouble at 40 feet and play high D# on G-string as well, with no loss.

Monolith offers a "re-issue 408-type" cab. Acoustic USA offers their 362, which is a 301 with a mid-horn. 301, 408 and other Acoustic Control Corp choices are no longer in production and may be found used/ for sale in various condition and pricing. There ar some 2-15 ACC cabs available, although I am not familiar with them.

You may choose to see the Acoustic Club site here on TB for opinions or view<www.unofficalacousticcontrolcorp>
[apologies if this is incorrect link] or enter: Acoustic Control Corp to visit that site, where all models have mention.

[grimniggzy]

I use mine with an old Sunn 215B and approve of the pairing. That's the only cab i've used my 370 with so far.

[johnk_10]

Originally Posted by KJung

Classic head! The 370 is low power and VERY mid range voiced, with LOTS of midrange distortion.

IMO, it's NOT low power at all, nor is it midrange voiced. it has way more low end than most current amps that are rolled off at 50hz.

here's a frequency sweep of mine with all of the tone controls at 12 o'clock and with no boost or cut on the graphic eq:



and even thought it's only rated at 205watts @4ohms and 325 watts @ 2ohms, it's also alot louder than my Genz Benz GBE600 and my Eden WT550-B. i would compare it to most 600-700w rated amps of today. IMO, the 370's ratings were VERY conservative back in the 70's.

IMO, any good 2x15 cab would sound great with it. they also sound great with an old acoustic 406 (2x15), and you can find them for very reasonable prices if you look around.

[KJung]

Originally Posted by johnk_10

IMO, it's NOT low power at all, nor is it midrange voiced. it has way more low end than most current amps that are rolled off at 50hz.

here's a frequency sweep of mine with all of the tone controls at 12 o'clock and with no boost or cut on the graphic eq:



and even thought it's only rated at 205watts @4ohms and 325 watts @ 2ohms, it's also alot louder than my Genz Benz GBE600 and my Eden WT550-B. i would compare it to most 600-700w rated amps of today. IMO, the 370's ratings were VERY conservative back in the 70's.

IMO, any good 2x15 cab would sound great with it. they also sound great with an old acoustic 406 (2x15), and you can find them for very reasonable prices if you look around.

Something about that sweep surely doesn't match the tone profile I hear, AT ALL.

It is loud per watt, but that is due to a massive amount of midrange distortion and an even more massive midrange spike.

To match the relatively flat output of my LMII at a somewhat recent GTG, the graphic was set at an almost linear negative slope (i.e., bass boosted, mids and treble cut), and the midrange control was dialed completely off. That got the head pretty close, and at that more neutral EQ, it sounded as you would expect, somewhat like a 200 watt LMII.

Again, nice head, but something VERY wrong with that plot you put up versus all the 370's if heard, some quite recently.

I think that voicing and the low output is why this headed sounded quite good with those old acoustic 18 folded horn cabs. That tight low end and massive upper mid grindy spike balanced out that woofy, boomy cab. Nice rig for its time.

[jungleheat]

I bet an Acoustic 406 (2x15) would be pretty sweet, although that is a lot of cab to work with. Depends on how much volume you need, what kind of gigs you play, etc...

As far as that chart not seeming to reflect what you hear, supposedly a lot of amps have a built in mid cut, so if you're used to that, true "flat" would seem very mid heavy. It could also have to do with the type of cab usually used with a 370 vs other more modern heads, etc...

[johnk_10]

Originally Posted by KJung

Something about that sweep surely doesn't match the tone profile I hear, AT ALL.

It is loud per watt, but that is due to a massive amount of midrange distortion and an even more massive midrange spike.

To match the relatively flat output of my LMII at a somewhat recent GTG, the graphic was set at an almost linear negative slope (i.e., bass boosted, mids and treble cut), and the midrange control was dialed completely off. That got the head pretty close, and at that more neutral EQ, it sounded as you would expect, somewhat like a 200 watt LMII.

Again, nice head, but something VERY wrong with that plot you put up versus all the 370's if heard, some quite recently.

I think that voicing and the low output is why this headed sounded quite good with those old acoustic 18 folded horn cabs. That tight low end and massive upper mid grindy spike balanced out that woofy, boomy cab. Nice rig for its time.

nope, there's nothing wrong with the freq chart. it is what it is. IMO, i think that most of the heads that you're comparing it to have a dip in the mids.

the 320 has much more mdrange, but not the 370, and i've owned and gigged with four of them and they were all the exact same sounding. and BTW, the 301 isn't boomy, it's very midrangy.

[KJung]

Originally Posted by johnk_10

nope, there's nothing wrong with the freq chart. it is what it is. IMO, i think that most of the heads that you're comparing it to have a dip in the mids.

the 320 has much more mdrange, but not the 370, and i've owned and gigged with four of them and they were all the exact same sounding. and BTW, the 301 isn't boomy, it's very midrangy.

Something not right here, but whatever. Great head for its time, and still sounds good in its own way.

[johnk_10]

well, since i've owned and gigged with alot of them, i'm guessing that the ones that you've tried weren't working to spec. either that or the cabs had alot of mids in them.

[CannyBusDriver]

I was looking for something no more than 500 dollars, used price of course. I looked for the 310 and 215b online, havent seen much in my price range, if i found anything at all. They seem pretty rare, the monolith was also pretty far out of my price range.

I dont need any more watts than necessary, i dont gig just the occasional jam with friends.

Any ideas? Im tempted to go into a guitar center and ask if i can try the head with some of their cabs (i dont know if they let you do this, but seeing i got this head from guitar center, i'd think they'd make an exception. I gotta see if its trash or not, my accoustic purchase was kind of a blind impulse buy online.)

[77PBass]

Great chart John.

Great, classic head....it screams for for 2x15 although I bet it would be awesome with a Berg NV 610, loud and tight.

[pbassnut]

Originally Posted by johnk_10

IMO, it's NOT low power at all, nor is it midrange voiced. it has way more low end than most current amps that are rolled off at 50hz.

here's a frequency sweep of mine with all of the tone controls at 12 o'clock and with no boost or cut on the graphic eq:



and even thought it's only rated at 205watts @4ohms and 325 watts @ 2ohms, it's also alot louder than my Genz Benz GBE600 and my Eden WT550-B. i would compare it to most 600-700w rated amps of today. IMO, the 370's ratings were VERY conservative back in the 70's.

IMO, any good 2x15 cab would sound great with it. they also sound great with an old acoustic 406 (2x15), and you can find them for very reasonable prices if you look around.

I had an Acoustic 370 back in the late 70's that I paired with a Sunn Concert Bass 2x15 loaded with a pair of JBL K-140s. It was a 4 ohm cabinet and if the 370 was "only" putting out 205 watts at that impedance, then it was VERY conservatively rated cuz that bad boy really screamed. On the other hand, I've lost a certain amount of hearing acuity after playing a good 5000 gigs since then ... so it's hard to say. It was a good rig to be sure. I eventually unloaded it for an early 70's "blue line" SVT which, along with that Sunn cabinet, was easily the best sound I ever had.

[Buster Brown]

I play mine with a 8X10 Heritage cabinet from time to time and it SCREAMS!!! It is (by a wide margin) the best backup head I have ever used...

Just had it looked over by a HIGHLY respected amp tech and his verdict was telling... "This thing should be kicking ass 40 years from now" it's already 40 years old.....

It's a helluva thing to think that your damn amp will outlive you...............