John Paul Jones and his Acoustic Amp

[blues_bassist]

I saw an ad for Acoustic amps with John Paul Jones' Accoustic amp next to a new Accoustic Amp, and the ad said that John Paul Jones played a 200-watt head. Now do any of you know if this is true and if so, did he have to mic his stack or could his 200-watts keep up with Jimmy Page and John Bonam?

 

[bassplayer8953]

I first saw Zeppelin in '69, supporting LZ II, I believe. Semi-large concert hall in Chicago, on N Clark St...I forget the name of the venue, but it was large enough to host The Who, Zep, Joe Cocker, & many other of the larger acts of the day. LZ 's amps were miked. Later, as they became more famous, they graduated to still larger venues, all of which required the amps to be miked. The Acoustic (360 I believe it was called) was one of the largest & most powerful amps available at the time. But, just like today's 1500 watt monsters, large enough venues require everything to be miked, for a proper balance.

 

[4Mal]

He used several 361 cabinets. Each was a folded horn 18 that had a 200 watt amp in the bottom. Not sure if he mic'ed or DI'ed but clearly playing at Madison Square back in those days they used FOH.

The thing you really have to remember is that the sound you associate with those guys was done in the studio. When they recorded the live stuff, you can be sure that you're hearing mic's and DI's and processing gear, re-mixed and produced... this wasn't the era of 4 track tape and bouncing after all and those guys worked the studio and their engineer like a 5th band member ... Page after all was one of the guys who pointed out that little tube amps cranked to heck and back can sound great...

So yeah, in a way the ad is true. he actually did use the 360/361 setup live. In some small to medium club's he probably only used cab. In a club environment, that rig will pound out the db's - it wasn't the best sounding amp of the day, but it was loud...

I bit the romance and bought one, took it back about a month or six weeks later and traded on an SVT & towel bar fridge. Never looked back on the 360 ever...

Now there is an interesting thing happening over in Massachusettes. A guy stripped down his 360 preamp and reduced it to a smallish little box. Baby Blue and black. Big Silver knobs form the original. It sit's on a berg IP 1x12 stack (2 cab's). I'll bet that sounds really darned cool and I'd love to hear it. The issue with the 360 for me was always the folded horn 18. Maybe they worked in MSG but it never ever worked on a small to medium club sized stage for me. there is a thread on that pre over at Link Removed in the Harley's Hang area. it really does look cool as hell!

 

[rcarraher]

I saw an ad for Acoustic amps with John Paul Jones' Accoustic amp next to a new Accoustic Amp, and the ad said that John Paul Jones played a 200-watt head. Now do any of you know if this is true and if so, did he have to mic his stack or could his 200-watts keep up with Jimmy Page and John Bonam?

This is probably true. When Ampeg first came out with the SVT it was 350W and was the most powerful bass ampp available. Typically then pro amps ran between 100W and around 200W was LOUD. JPJ probably played massize stacks of these Acoustics tho' as most acts that adopted the SVT did. On tour the early SVTs were arranged in "walls of cabs and amps" and factory techs travveled with the show, changing out amps as they got to hot. I would imagine they were also miced. Gots to remember, the early Beatles, Beachboys and other rock acts were still playing B15 Portaflex were like 25W amps.

 

[JimmyM]

I don't know, 4Mal...JPJ's bass tone sure sounds like a mic'ed amp to me, but who knows? I can't find any info on the net about what he did in the studio, but I'd bet money that all of Zep's recordings included a mic'ed amp.

 

[KPAX]

JPJ's 361 cabs were mic'd, as were Jaco's. JPJ didn't have any DI in his Fender bass / Acoustic 360 days.
You can see the mic'd 361 in some pics.
Those cabs mic'd up quite well.
JPJ used a maximum of two 361 cabs in his 360 rig. That was plenty of stage volume, as Page used only one 100W (Marshall or Orange) head at a time (he had several but used them for different guitars and songs).
JPJ also used the Acoustic 360 in the studio on the 3rd thru Physical Graffitti albums at least. On the first album he used a tube amp. I'm not totally sure about the 2nd album. That might have some of the 360 on it. I believe that album was recorded in pieces during the same American tour that he bought his Acoustic 360's.

I saw an ad for Acoustic amps with John Paul Jones' Accoustic amp next to a new Accoustic Amp, and the ad said that John Paul Jones played a 200-watt head. Now do any of you know if this is true and if so, did he have to mic his stack or could his 200-watts keep up with Jimmy Page and John Bonam?

 

[bucephylus]

IME, I prefer the 360 with a Jazz Bass and the SVT with a P bass; for tonal reasons in each case.

But, that's just me.

Oh, and I used my 360 in everything from Holiday Inn gigs on up with no volume issues.