Acoustic bass 361 amp reissue question

[bassgod76]

I've recently noticed that everything in the vintage bass world that was successful is being remade via "reissue". Maybe it's already been done, and I never noticed, but has or will Acoustic reissue their legendary 361 stack with the folded horn and 18" speaker? I fugure there would be a demand for this do to the model being used by JPJ and Jaco. Hell, Fender just reissued the Bassman series. I figure now is a good a time as any.

 

[NecroticImbecil]

There were rumors going around when Guitar Center appropriated the name to stick on their disposable imported amps, but I haven't heard anything since.

In any case, as everyone knows, modern technology has rendered these dinosaurs as obsolete as tube amps. You can get better sound from a micro head and a 1X12 NEO cab nowadays; just read some threads in the AMPS forum. There'd be so little demand that mass production would make no sense. Maybe feasible on a per order basis, for huge amounts of money. It would no doubt be cheaper to find one of the originals. I've noticed when they'r efor sale, they are either for $10,000 and marketed as pieces of history (which don't actually sell) or for a few hundred bucks because somebody wants to get rid of them just to get back the space they take up.

The Fender Bassman reissue, like all Fender (and Marshall) amp reissues, is geared toward guitar players trying to buy into a legend. You don't see many vintage bass amp reissues. Before it was put on life support Ampeg had a few, but that's all I can think of.

 

[KPAX]

Nobody ever re-issues anything correctly anyways.
If there is a 360/361 reissue it won't have the same driver, the circuit will be different and it will have upgrades and improvements. They'll try to make it all things for all people and it will suck royal.

 

[bassgod76]

Nobody ever re-issues anything correctly anyways.
If there is a 360/361 reissue it won't have the same driver, the circuit will be different and it will have upgrades and improvements. They'll try to make it all things for all people and it will suck royal.

Sigh. Both responses are probably correct. Oh well.

 

[Taxt]

Id atleast like to see the vintage styling. That would be nice.

 

[KJung]

I've recently noticed that everything in the vintage bass world that was successful is being remade via "reissue". Maybe it's already been done, and I never noticed, but has or will Acoustic reissue their legendary 361 stack with the folded horn and 18" speaker? I fugure there would be a demand for this do to the model being used by JPJ and Jaco. Hell, Fender just reissued the Bassman series. I figure now is a good a time as any.
View attachment 138438

There is a picture of what they consider the reissue in this month's Bass Player (in an ad). I think the newer Acoustic stuff sounds MUCH better than the old stuff. I had the chance to play an old Acoustic 220 head yesterday, and while interesting, and loud for its rated wattage, it got loud through an extremely attenuated low end and some very rough, distorted midrange. It was cool for what it was. I can't quite figure out why anyone would want to go back to that though

 

[bassgod76]

There is a picture of what they consider the reissue in this month's Bass Player (in an ad). I think the newer Acoustic stuff sounds MUCH better than the old stuff. I had the chance to play an Acoustic 220 head yesterday, and while interesting, and loud for its rated wattage, it got loud through an extremely attenuated low end and some very rough, distorted midrange. It was cool for what it was. I can't quite figure out why anyone would want to go back to that though

I have no idea how the old Acoustic sounds, but after reading the Jaco book, the author talks about how the speaker was reversed in the cab which filled any room, due to the non-direct attack. Being that I knew nothing about them; I figured I'd ask the TB community.

 

[KPAX]

You might get that much but I don't know ...
"Ampeg" still can't make an "SVT" that looks like an SVT.

Id atleast like to see the vintage styling. That would be nice.

 

[KJung]

I have no idea how the old Acoustic sounds, but after reading the Jaco book, the author talks about how the speaker was reversed in the cab which filled any room, due to the non-direct attack. Being that I knew nothing about them; I figured I'd ask the TB community.

It was a 'folded horn' (I think that is the term), and again, for its day, 30 years ago, it was amazing (of course, it was also a couple of hundred pounds). The very mid-nasal and low end attenuated voicing of the original Acoustic heads (which is one of the reasons they seem quite loud... like the old GK800's... very little 'deep bass' which takes a lot of power to reproduce), worked pretty well with that big folded horn 18, which had nothing much more than mid bass and upper bass coming out of it.

Again, 'classic' rig from 30+ years ago... things have gotten MUCH better IMO!

 

[billfitzmaurice]

I have no idea how the old Acoustic sounds, but after reading the Jaco book, the author talks about how the speaker was reversed in the cab which filled any room, due to the non-direct attack. Being that I knew nothing about them; I figured I'd ask the TB community.

With driver technology as it existed back then there was justification for the 360, although the design was seriously flawed by not being a two-way. The lack of mids that resulted in is why it gained a reputation as a cab you couldn't hear until you were 30 feet away from it. With today's driver technology there's no justification for it at all.

 

[Shindig]

I bought a 360/361 in '72 or '73 and sold it around '85. Even bought a used second bottom (which changed the tone so much I sold it).
It's exactly as the above posters have said. IMO at the time it was a good alternative to the SVT (lighter and cheaper) but newer designed amps and cabs are so much better today.
If you were on a big concert stage it was OK (if it was many feet behind you), but on a crowded club stage I couldn't hear myself (standing in front of the amp) and yet my volume was killing people in the club.
I sold mine, with a road case, for $400 and was glad to get that about 25 years ago. Only reason I'd get one now would be for a collection of old classic amps.
Good luck.
Shindig

 

[bucephylus]

It just seems to me that there are a lot of folks who get off on dumping on gear that they never gigged with.

The 360/361 had a deservedly good reputation for what it did really well - which was to amplify a Jazz Bass played with a pizz approach for R&B acts. It still does that well, and my experience has been that none of the new gear does it "better."

On the downside, they require a truck or station wagon to go to the gig - but, they do roll fairly easily on the heavy duty casters.

Some of the comments are from players who favor the Marcus Miller slap sound. As the 360 stands by itself, it does not do that tone very well, for the previously mentioned comments regarding mids and high end. However, the amp had a biamp capability built into it, and with a 4x8 plugged into the high end biamp output, it smoked for that sound.

This was an amp that lacked no booty, was an integral part of some useful tonal systems, was actually quite versatile with its unsung biamp capability, and was on the large side for moving around. The newer technologies are great, but, IME, the new micros with a 1x12 aren't even in the same dimension. Not even close.

IMO.

 

[Eight_Stringer]

I bought a 360/361 in '72 or '73 and sold it around '85. Even bought a used second bottom (which changed the tone so much I sold it).
It's exactly as the above posters have said. IMO at the time it was a good alternative to the SVT (lighter and cheaper) but newer designed amps and cabs are so much better today.
If you were on a big concert stage it was OK (if it was many feet behind you), but on a crowded club stage I couldn't hear myself (standing in front of the amp) and yet my volume was killing people in the club.
I sold mine, with a road case, for $400 and was glad to get that about 25 years ago. Only reason I'd get one now would be for a collection of old classic amps.
Good luck.
Shindig

You and Bill are correct. Heard a one of these rigs in about 1976, not been playing long and i thought the sound while ever present in the audience, where i was standing, it was not a "good" sound...it was a cabinet ( worked on many PA's with folded horns later on ) and design of the times. It has no place in modern times save for curiosity value. Legend is not a reality in many cases.

As for above post, the sound i heard was an 18 inch speaker in distress, maybe because the bass player could not hear himself and cranked it up. Know the difference between amp clipping and speaker cone breakup or Xmax over extension, it was a speaker distress i was hearing on that night, sounded awful.
Regards.

 

[KJung]

The newer technologies are great, but, IME, the new micros with a 1x12 aren't even in the same dimension. Not even close.

IMO.

Duh! You need to compare this stuff 'apples to apples'... i.e., large rig to large rig. Of course, a little combo amp or whatever is not going to move the air of a big box, even if that big box is an old, poorly designed one

 

[SanDiegoHarry]

I've gigged with those old Acoustics and they in no way compare to modern gear at any level. Tone, volume, reliability - Good stuff now is SO much better than the "good" stuff then.

Sometimes old is just that: OLD.

 

[D.A.R.K.]

i hope they do it.
i played through a lot of acoustic gear growing up,
it was no worse than some stuff on the modern market right now.
it is what it is, you either appreciate it or you don't.

 

[air_leech]

Again, 'classic' rig from 30+ years ago... things have gotten MUCH better IMO!

but what if some one is set on getting these old tones from 30 years ago?
with all due respect modern gear sounds, well, modern...
I really love the articulation of modern day digital power supply micro amps and neo cabs but sometimes I want that mushed up tone I hear on old recordings.

IME, not every bass and amp can do it all, and certain gear which produces certain tones will affect the way I play completely.
what I'm trying to say is that there's a reason people still play plain vanila Pbasses and Ampeg 810s despite the fact there is a boat load of supposedly technologicaly superior stuff out there.

 

[bassgod76]

I was just curious. Lots of good opinions here.

 

[KJung]

but what if some one is set on getting these old tones from 30 years ago?
with all due respect modern gear sounds, well, modern...
I really love the articulation of modern day digital power supply micro amps and neo cabs but sometimes I want that mushed up tone I hear on old recordings.

IME, not every bass and amp can do it all, and certain gear which produces certain tones will affect the way I play completely.
what I'm trying to say is that there's a reason people still play plain vanila Pbasses and Ampeg 810s despite the fact there is a boat load of supposedly technologicaly superior stuff out there.

+1 If you don't mind a couple of hundred pounds, and for some reason want that specific tone, of course, that's a personal choice.

My (and others') point above was that there surely is nothing 'magical' about the old Acoustics. They were very cutting edge 30+ years ago, and they surely don't sound completely horrible today.

 

[Marley's Ghost]

There were rumors going around when Guitar Center appropriated the name to stick on their disposable imported amps, but I haven't heard anything since.

In any case, as everyone knows, modern technology has rendered these dinosaurs as obsolete as tube amps. You can get better sound from a micro head and a 1X12 NEO cab nowadays; just read some threads in the AMPS forum. There'd be so little demand that mass production would make no sense. Maybe feasible on a per order basis, for huge amounts of money. It would no doubt be cheaper to find one of the originals. I've noticed when they'r efor sale, they are either for $10,000 and marketed as pieces of history (which don't actually sell) or for a few hundred bucks because somebody wants to get rid of them just to get back the space they take up.

The Fender Bassman reissue, like all Fender (and Marshall) amp reissues, is geared toward guitar players trying to buy into a legend. You don't see many vintage bass amp reissues. Before it was put on life support Ampeg had a few, but that's all I can think of.

Wait...what? Tube amps are obsolete?

I had the 360/361 in the mid 70's. It was deep but muddy by today's standards. And the Cerwin-Vega couldn't be heard clearly closer than 25 feet away.