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Acoustic Amplification B200H Bass Head
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Recommended By
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Average Price
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Average Rating
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67% of reviewers
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$199.33
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8.0
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Description:
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200 watts into 4 ohms, solid state bass amplifier
Active and Passive inputs
Effects loop
DI XLR output jack, adjustable level
2 1/4" speaker output jacks, wired in parallel
Fan cooled
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Author
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premiumplus
Registered User
Registered: August 2009
Posts: 76
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Review Date: Mon August 24, 2009
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: $199.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Well constructed chassis, nicely covered wooden cab
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Cons:
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ROHS compliant (I hate ROHS solder)
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This is the 200 watt Acoustic bass head that is being sold by Guitar Center, designed in the USA and made in China. The street price is $249 but I got it on sale. The amp was well packaged and arrived without a scratch, and was promptly unpacked and plugged into the matching Acoustic 4x10 cabinet.
The amp has 2 inputs, for passive or active instruments. According to the well written (but a little bit sparce) manual, the inputs are identical except the active input is padded down by 10dB, for the higher output provided by active instruments. There is a gain control and a clipping LED indicator which lights up when the preamp begins to clip. Next is the Volume control, a sweepable -10dB notch filter (nice!) and a 6 band eq section covering from 63 Hz to 5 kHz. The eq is well executed and very effective at reaching whatever tone you like...from a deep thundering, heavy bottom to a middy, sparkly slap bass type feel, and everything inbetween, it's all there.
The amplifier section is a 'Chip-amp', which is to say it uses an integrated circuit type of archetecture rather than discreet, separate power transistors. I am an old school type of guy, and I've been building amps for years, so I usually don't like these things. But this one sounds really good. I was blown away when I opened it up and saw the internal construction; it is very clean, with a nice big toroidal power transformer. There are three circuit boards, one for the preamp, power amp, and DI outputs. It is clean and well laid out inside. The amp is fan cooled, and the fan is always running. I thought it would be a distraction at first, but really, it is very unnoticable in operation. Really quiet. It does a great job, too. After over three hours of high volume playing with the band yesterday, I felt the chassis all over, and it was completely cool to the touch...I couldn't tell that the amp had been turned on at all. Very good for reliability numbers...Electronics hate heat. I mentioned in the comments section above that I consider the fact that it's ROHS compliant to be a negative thing. The solder is lead-free and I hate it. It is harder to work with and in my opinion doesn't work as well as leaded solder does, but that is the price of environmental progress I guess. It is interesting to note, however, that hospital grade equipment like heart and lung machines, kidney dialisys equipment, monitors, etc., are exempt from the ROHS specification. Life support equipment still gets the good leaded solder! But on with the reason you're reading this. How does it sound? One word.
The amp sounds GREAT. And that's why I wrote this review. Paired with the Acoustic 4x10 cab, it is gutsy, full, fast, and clear. It sounds punchy, and has the ability to push through the mix. And it's got TONE to the bone. I'm seriously considering buying another 4x10 cab because it's such a great value and would make the amp even more massive sounding. An outstanding value, and I wholeheartedly recommend this product. I give it a 10 because I really can't see how this could be a better amplifier and not cost more money.
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Acoustic club #176 - Vintage 150, B600H, (2) B410
Squire Owners Club - VM Jazz
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PZapdos
Registered User
Registered: January 2010
Location: New Hampshire
Posts: 295
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Review Date: Wed February 17, 2010
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: $149.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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200 Watts, 6 Band EQ, 2 1/4" parallell out, Effect Loop, Passive and Active Inputs, Notch nob, Cool Styling, VALUE, Solid construction, Great Tone.
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Cons:
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Could use a bit more power if i wanted to expand, but for the price.. pshaww!
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Ive been unable to get it to clip and ive had it at 3 o clock (way too loud. These are LOUD for 400 watts!) At 12, it can easily cut through a few guitarists and decently loud drummer. I have it paired with the matching B410 4x10 400 watt 8 ohm Cab.
It sounds wonderful. With the 6 band eq and notch, i can dial in pretty much any tone i want. The effect loop is awesome, while The passive and Active inputs are a great option! (-10Db for active).
Retail is $249, and I'd still buy it at that price! I got it during the prez day sale at GC for $149, which is pretty much stealing it! I was searching used and they went for about $180, and i was just praying another would pop up at that price. Needless to say, $149 for new.. This is the BEST value you can find for a good amp head under $300. Theres just no way it could be better and not cost over $300. Period.
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'Wick Corvette 5 -> MXR M-80 -> B200h -> B410
Acoustic Club #197 Wick Club Member #304
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SunburstJazz
Registered User
Registered: January 2012
Location: Dallas, TX
Posts: 8
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Review Date: Mon January 9, 2012
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Would you recommend the product? No |
Price you paid?: $249.99
| Rating: 4
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Pros:
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Very Good Tone even if it is solid state
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Cons:
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Unreliable, poorly constructed.
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I've had this head for almost four years now and while I would've rated this head much higher about 6 months ago I can no longer recommend it. Even before it started having big problems the silver knob faces fell off on most of the knobs. Making it impossible to see what your settings are onstage.
Then about six months ago it started acting up really bad, it would cut in and out, make random drastic changes in volume getting far louder than the settings at times, as well as making scratching/grinding noise.
When it was working it sounded great, but it quickly made me lose any faith I had in Acoustic Amplifiers. Although I still think it sounds better than an Ampeg for a fraction of the price.
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Fender Jazz Bass #848
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