Stacking up against vintage Acoustic amps

[topcat2069]

Back when they first came out I switched to Acoustic (from Marshal or Fender Showman heads). First a 150b and then a 140b and and I ended up with a 450 head for most of the late 70s and the 80s. I never used their cabs. I had either one 2X15 cab (later) or 2 1X15 cabs... speakers of choice were EV SROs or Altec 421s. I toured all over America with the 450 and a 2X15 Cab loaded with the Altecs.
The sound was always louder than you would think for 125 or 175 watts and the tone had more presence than other amps I had or did own ( a midrange thing??) ...until I switched to a SWR ST220 with 2 Mesa 1X15 cabs. it had a cross between a Fender Showman amp pre and the Acoustic power section (which I loved because it seemed to control the speakers so tightly....) I played everything from P to Jazz Basses, Rics to early Ibanez and finally settled back on The Fender like Basses.

My take is that the Trace have a more scooped mid sound when set at "flat" then the Acoustic did... a more modern sound. I favored a very Treble sound (bright switch on and G.EQ set from left to right in a climbing curve. The three EG knobs set Bass=flat, mid=1 o'clock and treb= 3 o'clock. (i didn't have tweeters back then)

I now play GK stuff and is a good approximation of what I was looking for in an amp back then..... only better control of the speakers... it should it's 700 watts !! LOL !!
Still 2 1X15 cabs....

[LowNotes]

Had a 320 head and matching 2x15" cabinet back in the early 80s.
I didn't really need it for the gig I had at the time, but I was never going to refuse the offer of a setup "just like Jaco's".

The cabinet was surprisingly light, but had a sticker on the back which basically said "careful now, this thing could kill you".

It wasn't wrong.

At one particular gig where I thought I was just about loud enough and no more, the guitarist invited me to go to the back of the room (about 50 feet away) and the sheer grunt making its way back there could knock a wall down.
Wonderful wonderful setup which I only got rid of to begin my long affair with Trace Elliot.
Would happily have another.

[PDGood]

I played a 370 rig for many years and loved it - especially in large venues. Some bandmates complained that the sound on the other side of the stage was muddy so I eventually put a horn on their side which made everyone happy. The folded horn takes quite a distance to achieve its sound, but from there on out it's an amazing cab. The head has a lot of flexibility with the 5 band graphic and always seemed more powerful than it was rated. Eventually I sold the folded horn and got two 1-15" cabs and had a smaller but equally powerful rig. No complaints ever.
After 30+ years I finally had some trouble with the head and while it was being repaired I tried out some modern gear. Wow. We've come a long ways since the good ol' days. The new stuff is much smaller, lighter and just as powerful and there are lots of tonal options from one brand to another. I bought new and sold the old rig. I prefer my sound now and portability is amazing. I'd still like the 370 rig for stadiums but I'm not playing stadiums and P.A. support is everywhere these days. In the old days you had to do it all yourself.

[sturoc]

Pre-Fender SWR amps were designed by Steve W. Rabe hence the ' SWR' He previously worked for Acoustic Control Corp !

Quite a theory that Folded Horn design. Really was needed -at that time- to fill large halls, festivals etc due to the lack of long throw highly efficient PA cabs.

fyi: the Woodstock PA was mainly for vocals, acoustic guitars.
It did not reinforce the electric instruments. But that's for another thread.

[HOOLIGAN]

My rig for my Doom band consists of a Trace V6 through an
Ampeg 810e W/ a Rusty Box Pedal combined with an
Acoustic 370 through an Ampeg 1540 (410 & 15 in fridge cab, split into head to run at 2 ohms) w/ a Fulltone Bass Driver-Different tones, but volume-wise the old Acoustic
keeps up with the Monster V6 (without destroying the 15"
speaker!)