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New gear from Acoustic

#41
spigmu said:
Unfortunately, GC's problems at this stage have much less to do with how much gear they sell than dealing with the terms they have with Bain Capital who acquired it and subsequently passed the majority onto a partner, Ares Capital. Ridiculously complicated, especially if one is trying to find some aspect that has to do with music hardware sales since there's practically none. But the short of it is that GC was bought by a private equity firm, so they have only one product and that is money. The whole idea of a private equity firm is NOT to run a successful company. Their sole reason for existing is to get investors to fill the pot, which is used to buy a suitable company, which gets a short term new coat of paint and fairy dusting, which can be many things but is usually simply cost cutting measures made by people who not only don't know the specific business they're dealing with, but don't care. They don't care about the market of the company and they don't care that they don't care. Their job is not to make GC successful. Their job is to make short term money for the equity firm. In short, it's a losing battle. I'm not saying GC is going out of business or anything like that, but they are owned by a company who is waiting to flip them, and that's not done here by increasing sales, it's only done in that world by cutting costs.

So vendors went X months without getting paid, and then it was twice as long, and some said we can't survive if you don't pay the invoices, and it's killing us to send you more stock. This and how the communications went over that period caused some manufacturers to simply pull out. Much has been smoothed over since then but it hurt GC. Haven't kept up on the details, but it's supposed to be a bit more on track now. If you've been to one and the mood was somber it also might have been due to a visit by the Union buster that Ares pays to make the rounds and squelch the recent attempts by employees to get fair wages and paid for past labor abuses.

Also Musician's Friend is a sister company, and had a liquidation of a large amount of slow moving stock that was characterized harshly in the financial press, who delight in writing obits early so they can say I told you so when it happens, whether it happens in 2 years or 200 years.

So if GC makes it or doesn't make it through this it won't be because of anything gear related. It's just the ugly part of finance referred to as "Vulture Capitalism".
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GC good, Bain evil? All you have to do is go back a few years and all you heard was EVIL CORPORATE GIANT GUITAR CENTER IS KILLING ALL THE WONDERFUL LOCAL MUSIC STORES!!!! DON'T SPEND YOUR MONEY THERE!!!
 
#43
ExGinger said:
Ok. What am I missing? The 300 and the 600 amps have only one speakon connector. The speakers have only one speakon connector. Really? I'm going to build a rig with two bins and one speakon and one quarter-inch speaker cable? At least the photos on MF indicate this. Maybe I'm overlooking something. . .
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Yes the cabs have two regular 1/4" inch plug and one speakon plug. Let's not get your knickers in a twist about it. It's adequate and standard for cabs of this power.
What maters to me first and foremost is the tone and these cabs have it despite their moderate prices.
 
#44
Here in Denton, TX, where there are more bassists per square mile than in Brooklyn, NY or Austin, GC just opened a small store.

No sign of new or older GC Acoustic amps.

Small? Yes, I would say about 1/4 the size of most GC stores I have visited. They had 2 Markbass cabs (1 was used), a Littlemark head, and 3 Fender bass combo's on display. For instruments, there was one American Standard P-bass, and half a dozen Ibanez basses, and 4 or 5 squires and a couple of Epiphone starter basses. That was it.

Strings? DR, D'addario, Rotosound, and one other I had never seen. Very few audio plug-ins, and no power amps. They did have a nice selection of instrument straps and cables, though. ;)
 
#45
Gaolee said:
To be clear, the GC stuff is not Acoustic Control nor is it Acoustic USA. If you find a big folded horn, you can be assured it did not come from GC. Unless it's used gear.
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Also, to muddy the water even further, about 10-15 years ago Samick issued an "Acoustic" line(maybe built in Korea, I don't remember) that, similar to the GC stuff, mimicked the cosmetics of the classic ACC stuff, but had more modern appointments. I don't recall much about the amps, but the cabs were built solidly and didn't look cheap. This stuff never really got off the ground, and disappeared within a couple of years.
 
#46
There were some of those Samick cabinets floating around eBay for a while. The ad said they were made in USA, so maybe they weren't Korean. Samick is a Korean company, so who knows. At any rate, they were a little bit quirky, which is appropriate considering the history of Acoustic Control, but the reports I heard back from people on the unofficial Acoustic Control website was that they weren't great. Apparently somebody found a stash of them in a warehouse somewhere and sold off about a dozen cabinets. I haven't seen one on eBay or anywhere else for several years.
 
#47
Laurent said:
Yes the cabs have two regular 1/4" inch plug and one speakon plug. Let's not get your knickers in a twist about it. It's adequate and standard for cabs of this power.
What maters to me first and foremost is the tone and these cabs have it despite their moderate prices.
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Let's just say I disagree. I think a 600-watt amp should be quite capable of driving a couple of cabs. And my knickers are fine. Thanks for your concern :-)
 
#48
we went to hollywood GC - they call it their flagship store - last weekend for the first time since the end of december. i don't recall ever seeing so much empty floor space - i noticed some missing brands - danelectro was gone, among others, TC was only represented by a couple 2x8 combos that hadn't sold yet. there was a lot less of most things, although lots of acoustic and markbass and some GK in the bass section, as well as lots of cheapish ampeg combos and 3 PF500s stacked on top of each other on a cab. on the one hand, i know stock costs money, but if you don't have what people want to buy, that's not healthy if you want repeat business.

MUCH less used gear (hardly any except in the vintage room), too.

i've been shopping at hollywood GC since the seventies, but this was the first time it ever depressed me...
 
#50
10cc said:
This stuff sucks just like the fender rumble crap. There I said it. I've heard them I've felt them and yep pure crap. Bring on the flaming. I could careless. :D
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Booooo your subjective opinion in gear at least re the new fender rumbles is completely different from mine and I completely respect that. Yeah, I showed you ;)
 
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#51
Crater said:
Gotta love how they copy the style & look of high-end equipment. The slant-face head with the graphic EQ in the middle? Copy of a Phil Jones bass head. The combos seem to steal some styling cues from Mesa. The linked webpage says the new bass cabs feature "rugged plywood construction", good for them. Sounds like they're stepping up their game and trying to improve their rep for quality.

I have one of their little practice amps and I like it. I think it's good equipment for what it is: low end, low cost stuff for beginners and hobby players.
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Just how many different ways could they put an array of knobs and switches and controls? I'm sure that most designs Ave been Sen before, after all a bass amp is still a bass amp....... right?

Big plusses for plywood, altough I've not had any trouble from my pre-MK II type MDX cabs. They're still tight and square and I pound on them all the time and put them away still sweating.

They DO look Peavey-is though, don't they?
 
#52
Mantis Tobaggan said:
The owner of a local music shop where i live has a beautiful acoustic rig. The cab has an 18" speaker and a horn. He let me play through it once and sounded gooood. He says it was built in pennsylvania and he knows the guy that built it. He says that acoustic is going down in quality however and using more Chinese components. Says gc is largely to blame. The guy who built is rig is no longer contracted by acoustic apparently.
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I talked to "that guy" a few years back when he sent me some pixs, supposedly from Florida. The GPS tag on the pixs led me to a Google Map search which showed me a vacuum cleaner store, certainly NOT in Florida.

At that point I relegated him to my "Blocked email" file and haven't thought of him since. He has groused on about GC spoiling all his action; that GC's "Acoustics" are phoney and that he was the only one with the name logically and legally. I say sour grapes!

If he built a good rig for a decent price, then I'd still say that he declared a war on GC and their Chinese "Acoustics" and everybody just yawned.

At this late date, I'd say that very few companies can NOT buy something Chinese for their sub-assemblies at least.

That's not saying that HF wil everl be selling Fender Twin Reverbs in any future time -----but my crystal ball spontaneously updated to Windows10 and I don't have a touch screen crystal ball.

As for accessibility to a GC for me .... well, there are no stores in Montana at all, so somehow I just KNOW they aren't expanding into virgin territory for now. But then again, we prolly have fewer residents in Montana than Garden Grove CA, and they don't have their own store either., (hint, hint GC)
 
#53
Jim Carr said:
Here in Denton, TX, where there are more bassists per square mile than in Brooklyn, NY or Austin, GC just opened a small store.

No sign of new or older GC Acoustic amps.

Small? Yes, I would say about 1/4 the size of most GC stores I have visited. They had 2 Markbass cabs (1 was used), a Littlemark head, and 3 Fender bass combo's on display. For instruments, there was one American Standard P-bass, and half a dozen Ibanez basses, and 4 or 5 squires and a couple of Epiphone starter basses. That was it.

Strings? DR, D'addario, Rotosound, and one other I had never seen. Very few audio plug-ins, and no power amps. They did have a nice selection of instrument straps and cables, though. ;)
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Wow hard to believe i remember playing Dr Smiths and some place next to a pizza joint but being a college town I guess it was bound to happen
 
#54
bassrich said:
Wow hard to believe i remember playing Dr Smiths and some place next to a pizza joint but being a college town I guess it was bound to happen
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Well, at least still have Sky Guitars/Warped Neck, and Little D Guitars—for now!
 
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#55
They just cleaned neatly the floor in Lawrenceville, GA ;)
Seriously, I walked in the store. Bass section is cleaned of all crap that was around. Chinese Gray Uniform Designer designed these GCAcoustic amps. They were all in. I was afraid to turn on! There are million watts on the labels.
If you play outside, put a large rock on it. It may be blown by the horn section. I use my old peasant way of checking quality: lift it up. Is it heavy? YES. Good. I am done. I feel sorry for the new generations.
 
#58
Had the opportunity to play one the other week while at GC. Not a bad tone, but I didn't like the interface or controls. I'm not a big graphic EQ guy, personal opinion, so that was a bit of a turn off for me. Plus the panel, knobs, switches, etc. felt much cheaper than their previous offerings.

That said I have a little B10 and it's been a great little amp.
 
#59
wcriley said:
Actually, it is (was?) an abandoned shoe store.
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I think it was (is) an operating shoe store. He's a character, no doubt about it, but those amplifiers are the real thing. I'm not sure what happened, if anything. The new GC ownership may have leaned on him. I haven't talked to him for a while, so I don't know and don't want to spread rumors about things I know next to nothing about.
 

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