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Should I buy a "vintage" Acoustic rig?

dalkowski

dalkowski

It's "rout," not "route."
Supporting Member
May 20, 2009
13,486
23,500
Massachusetts USofA
#1
Have a line on a 220 head/402 cab. Can negotiate a favorable price. Can afford it. Wouldn't be taking food out of my kids' mouth, but I could certainly use the money for other worthy things.

BUT:
I have no practical use for it at the moment.
It would be taking up space in a corner of my cellar.
I've gotten really used to lightweight rigs.

BUT:
I would be the owner of a REAL ACC rig.

In short, a strictly emotional, nostalgia-driven purchase.

What think you, TB?
 
#2
I've grabbed tons of stuff for similar reasons, except I imagine Im gonna use it in real-world, live performance situations- where I discover old stuff is often worn out/ used up and unreliable. Im slowly changing my tude on this, still like old stuff but try to realy examine potential consequences of impulse buys. This may or may not apply to you, but I hope it helps. :)
 
#3
I have played through vintage Acoustic rigs for a long time and like them well enough that I bought a new 360m. I still play through them and don't own anything except ACC or Acoustic USA bass amps. That said, if it would just be taking up space in the corner of your cellar, I would pass. If you are going to play through it, even just around the house, I would absolutely go for it.
 
#4
dalkowski said:
Have a line on a 220 head/402 cab. Can negotiate a favorable price. Can afford it. Wouldn't be taking food out of my kids' mouth, but I could certainly use the money for other worthy things.

BUT:
I have no practical use for it at the moment.
It would be taking up space in a corner of my cellar.
I've gotten really used to lightweight rigs.

BUT:
I would be the owner of a REAL ACC rig.

In short, a strictly emotional, nostalgia-driven purchase.

What think you, TB?
Click to expand...
I think if its not too beat up you should get it and a can of deoxit.:-)
It's not modern or lightweight but it has that sound if its working right.:bassist:
 
#7
Ah, Nostalgia just ain't what it used to be. :rolleyes: :eyebrow:
I had a blackfaced Fender Bassman, Vox Essex, Dual Showman, Kustom 200, Marshall Major, Acoustic 301, Acoustic 136, etc., and used countless others between 1963 and 1978. Fifteen years of Yuck. Crappy crappy sound, super expensive, huge, heavy, generally quite fragile, and hard to fix.

Did I say Yuck? Yup, Yuck, Yuck, Yuck. :spit: I don't buy into the "old amps were better" jive. They were not. I know because I used nearly all of them on gigs with loud live bands in crowded jumping clubs or outdoors at "Festivals."

I AM NOT claiming tubes suck, or that micros are the same as lead sleds, that the SVT is (or is not) revealed truth, or that a Sunn 2000s is as good as it gets only if you have a Ford delivery van. :cool:

I AM saying that they were not BETTER, they generally WERE lousy, and NOTHING that I am aware of is better than the good stuff available now. Want vintage tone? Get a Fender Bass, string it with flats, and play out of tune cliches though an amp that can't be heard without farting. ;) :D
 
#10
Why get it if you KNOW you're not going to use it?

It's one thing if you don't need it now but have a future use in mind, but if it's literally never going to get turned on and is just going to sit in your basement getting water damaged, why not pass it on to someone who actually will use it?
 
#11
I tend to get as much pleasure out of fooling around playing in the basement as I do playing out...I just picked up a 230 head (basically a 220 with reverb) and a 406 cab from the local pawn shop, good shape and pretty cheap. Will it ever leave the basement?...nope. Do I enjoy the heck out of it?....yep. I'm really glad I didn't pass it up.
 
#12
middy said:
No, wait. I agree with Jim! Don't buy ACC amps! Sell them off cheap.

(Rubs palms)
Click to expand...

If I still had my 301 cab, I'd give it away—though I might want to send it down that long flight of metal stairs at Lou's Pier 47.
What a ride! :ninja:
 
#13
I had a 450 and 370 when they were still being made.
They sounded pretty decent then.
They have very little clean output power unless you are driving them well below 4 ohms.
If I had them both now, I wouldn't use them as I can get close to that tone with a lot more power.
OTOH, they were reliable work horses, never let me down, and look really cool.
Great to look at but not anything I would gig with today.
 
#14
If it's not gonna get any use you should pass on the deal to someone who will put that rig to work.

An Acoustic 220/402 is a sweet rig for sure. I've been gigging a 320/402 for the last three years and it KILLS. Easily the most well designed and user friendly amp and cab I've ever come across. Any gig without it always ends in disappointment, bass tone and response wise.

The Acoustics with the graphic EQ are great on gigs because you can dial in the basic one you like with the tone pots, and then use the graphic to fine tune it for each room you play in. The big knobs on the sliders make it easy to do it quickly on the fly. There's also A LOT of boost and cut in all those knobs and sliders so dialing in any tone you like is easy. I've done several tours with a 402. It was the amp that made me realize that I did not, in fact, have to have a tube amp. Shocking to me at the time. ;)

The weight of the 402 cab is modest for how huge it sounds. The side mounted casters make it a breeze to move around and the placement of the handles make getting it up and down stairs pretty easy. Even without help. To top it off, if fits in the back seat of a compact car. I've yet to find a more capable and practical bass cab in 16 years of gigging. As a working bassist, I consider the 402 to be the single most important piece of gear I've ever had.
 
#15
Jim Carr said:
Ah, Nostalgia just ain't what it used to be. :rolleyes: :eyebrow:

I had a blackfaced Fender Bassman, Vox Essex, Dual Showman, Kustom 200, Marshall Major, Acoustic 301, Acoustic 136, etc., and used countless others between 1963 and 1978. Fifteen years of Yuck. Crappy crappy sound, super expensive, huge, heavy, generally quite fragile, and hard to fix.



Did I say Yuck? Yup, Yuck, Yuck, Yuck. :spit: I don't buy into the "old amps were better" jive. They were not. I know because I used nearly all of them on gigs with loud live bands in crowded jumping clubs or outdoors at "Festivals."



I AM NOT claiming tubes suck, or that micros are the same as lead sleds, that the SVT is (or is not) revealed truth, or that a Sunn 2000s is as good as it gets only if you have a Ford delivery van. :cool:



I AM saying that they were not BETTER, they generally WERE lousy, and NOTHING that I am aware of is better than the good stuff available now. Want vintage tone? Get a Fender Bass, string it with flats, and play out of tune cliches though an amp that can't be heard without farting. ;) :D
Click to expand...


Haha ;)
 
#16
If you're not going to take it out and play it, don't buy it. It will be an albatross for you. Somewhere, there's a kid with a big old car, a tiny practice amp, and rock'n'roll dreams, who needs it more.
 
#17
I would pass on it if you're not going to use it. Amps take up a lot more space than basses. I would only get it if you were going to use it as a dedicated practice amp or something. If you're used to lightweight rigs you're not going to gig with it. It will be a dust collector. Unless you have a bunch of cool bass buddies you want to show this off to, nobody is going to care that it's in the cellar. I would spend that money on something else like to add to one of the rigs that get a lot of use or a nostalgic bass because at least that's more likely to go in and out of rotation, easier to store, and easier to sell if you decide you don't like it.
 
#18
Vintage amps cost money to have them checked out and brought up to spec. Rarely can you buy one without having to put some work into it. A little bit of elbow grease of your own can go a long way.

You have to pick and choose what is important in life. If it is something that will make you happy, go for it. On the other hand, sometimes it is better to make someone else happy. Like when I buy some piece of gear for my wife and she lets me use it. :p
 
#19
Thanks for the reality check, guys. I'll use the $ for lift tickets next weekend instead.

If anyone's interested in it, PM me and I'll connect you to the seller (as a favor to him -- nothing in it for me). He's in So. NH.
 
#20
Well sometimes your old ACC can grow on you,:D in all sorts of interesting ways even if the Amp is a bit stone age:eyebrow: how about the best of their monster cabs, the mighty 408 as the bottom end of a three way active system.
Lpm7XS-LeJ02E56J280SjOvJ8tnF0EubUQQKx675wcM=.jpg

Too seismic?:bassist::hyper::hiding:
PS the JBL 2206's and 2445's just sort of just grew out of the top one day.
 

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