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NOAD (new-old-amps-day)

#21
I used to see Jaco at the Lonestar Cafe here in nyc with Hiram Bullock and Kenward Denard. Jaco used a 408 (can't remember which acoustic head he used) there and beat the hell out of it. The whole place filled with his sound. The bar held maybe 150 people. Sometimes it was unbearably loud.
 
#29
They sound great. I play through a 361 stack or a 370/408. There's never been a reason to run both as a stereo setup or with the 360 preamp running both the 361PP cabinet and 370 power section into the 408, but when it's time to cause Armageddon, that would work pretty well to do it. Moving them is a pain, but an old Chevy van is cheap and effective. A mover's blanket on the bumper makes tipping the bit ol' cabinets into the back of the van a one man operation, even if the one man is heavily reliced. The old behemoths are heavy, a pain to move, and absolutely worth the effort. The best part about them is you don't have to play loud through them, but you can.

As a comparison, I played a P-Bass and an EB-2, both with flats through the 361 recently. The sound filled an outdoor area with warm, immediate bass sound. The two instruments sounded very different, as you would expect, but both were articulate, distinct, and clean. The next band got up and their bass player played a Jazz through an Ampeg rig. It was harsher sounding. Not bad, not louder, not more distorted, just harsher. The difference was audible to me as a bass player, although I'm not sure anybody else noticed or cared. The upside of the Ampeg is it probably weighs a few pounds less. We all need exercise anyway, don't we?
 
#30
i would descibe the 408 as having a sound (at any level) that surrounds and envelops you (even outdoors), whereas, and especially outdoors, my SVT/810 rig sounds like the sound is definitely coming from a specific point of origin and much thinner. needless to say, i prefer to be enveloped and inside of the bass's sound.
 
#31
Killer rigs John! I like those old acoustics. I got to play through this one for a little when my band was recording this summer:

P1010648.jpg


Great sounding setup!
 
#32
Damn, JohnK_10. I have been looking for a 408 for over 2 years, even a beater that I can re-speaker, and you find TWO useable ones ? You wouldn't want to sell one, would you? I had the original 320-408 rig in 79, but sold it. found another head 4 years ago, but have never been able to get a 408 cab. Totally agree with you on the sound surrounding you. You can actually feel the pulse of the bass and with the 320, I usually ran the volume on 3. I'm in a 6 piece blues band ( horns, etc ) playing ever larger venues and need to punch through to the back of the room, like I used to. Monolith is too expensive. Any help out there ? :help:
 

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