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The Acoustic Club
- Thread starter The Owl
- Start date
Rockin' band. Good job!
@Syncopation that was my objective!
Thanks!
Thanks!
Hello! I've been following the group since I acquired a mid 70's 140 head and was so happy with it that I've started to look for other ACC gear. I have lined up a time to look at a 126 combo and have done some background reading to find out what I can about it. I read that they came with a 4ohm speaker, but as long as the speaker is something proper and working I won't mind too much if it's an 8ohm. Here's a picture of the amp with grill cloth removed. I'm not the most experienced guy, but it looks like a Cerwin Vega. Did these come with that speaker at some point. Owner says it's original, but I don't know how long he's had it. I absolutely love the look of it! Super clean too! I'll join the club, if I can, with my 140 and double down later this week, hopefully. Thanks!
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Pretty sure Eminence had some 15's with orange surrounds. Seen in Peaveys a lot. If indeed it's a CV, it's likely not original. I think ACC only used their 18's.
The original 126 speaker was a 4-ohm Eminence, Acoustic house number 130024. As you obviously know, orange surrounds are most often associated Cerwin-Vega, but I have seen a rare few Acoustic 4-ohm Eminence speakers with orange surrounds. However the black dust cap is a giveaway that something isn't original. I don't know if the owner would humor you and let you pop-out the speaker or stick a camera up the large bottom port to try and see the numbers on the magnet, but that's the only way to know for sure. An original Eminence would have a "67-yyww" (year/week) and the house number stamped on the back of the magnet.
Thank you! I'm sure he'll let me have a quick look at the speaker. I'm gonna take my meter with me to at least measure the speakers resistance. Interesting about Peavey with Orange around it. I have never seen one. I hope it all works out. I really like my 140 and this would be a perfect addition.
https://www.talkbass.com/attachments/9f77979f-b97d-46c5-b4e4-c8061cf66bd3-png.4474627/
That looks like a Cerwin Vega surround.
That looks like a Cerwin Vega surround.
Well, I went and tried the 126 combo today. It was in pristine condition. Fort switch worked the eq, the lights all lit up, it looked sooooo nice. There was a couple of things that scared me off. One, the volume had to be near 10 to get any real volume. We tried a pre amp pedal in front of it and it helped a bit, but it shouldn't have to rely on that. Also, the bass boost switch did absolutely nothing. He was honest and said that it really used to make a difference, but he hasn't used it for so long that he didn't realize it wasn't working. The lack of volume and the boost not working scared me off. I didn't offer a price as I wasn't sure what I was getting into if it needed major work. As an electrician, if the switch for the boost was gone o could fix that very easily. It was the volume I was worried about. I'm not an electronics guy. Does anyone know if that's a sign of something that needs repair? Power section? Transformer or something? I guess if I got it cheap enough I could fix it, but I wasn't sure about it. I wanted it though. What a beauty!
I had two in my youth. Used them stacked on their side, one on the other.
As much as I loved them, they were not a real loud amp. Only 100 watts @ 4 ohms with the original supplied 4 ohm speaker. The Boost switch offered a slight "boost" in volume, and a little (unintended?) grit but not much. I got more tone and volume fiddling with the graph EQ.
At the same time. I acquired a Sunn Beta Bass combo. It was a similar setup as far as power output,100 watts @ 4 ohms, but I thought it had a slight edge in tone and perceived volume base on speaker cabinet design, horn port vs slot port, and the two preamp on the Sunn could be mixed. This is not to say there is nothing wrong with the amp you're looking at though.
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Likely just a bad/dirty switch. It's a very simple circuit, not much else to go wrong. I never really cared for the sound so I never used it either.
Thanks for the feedback. I was really exited of the thought of having it, but I think it's probably just not meant to be. I thought even at 100watts it would be louder. The 140 I have, yes more watts, blows the 126 away and it's got a 115 under it. I'll keep it in mind and if I can get it cheap enough I'll grab it. I just felt unsure to pull the trigger today. He's asking $375(Canadian) which might be a bit high, but then again I've never seen one for sale before. Thanks again for the help! It's appreciated!
How do you use the Electronic Tuning Fork on the 360 Pre-Amp head?
And how do I date my amp?
And how do I date my amp?
There must have been something wrong with the amp if it was that quiet. My 120 and my 126 are easy loud enough to keep up with a drummer. If Im really plucking hard or slapping they distort a bit with the volume at noon, but at that point the volume is significant. I wouldn't hesitate to play small venues with them. Like the other guys here, I never use the boost switch.
It probably is repairable. Maybe you should offer a low price then get it serviced?
You have to tune the fork at home or somewhere else with a tuner on a signal frequency (e.g. on E) . Then afterwards when you engage the tuning fork, it'll make a terrible noise/sine wave and you have to use that to tune your bass on that single frequency. From that point on, you tune your other strings on the reference E. Needless to say, you'll never ever use that feature, and it's completely useless
Well, it's good to know I'm not missing anything then! I've always wondered about that feature. I take it the variamp is just a mid range selector like they have in Ampegs.It occurs to me the later ACC heads with the graphics are actually way more versatile.
The 360 stacks do look amazing though, I must admit. I'd love to play through one some day.
It can work in some situations, like any 100 watt bass amp. Sometimes it's enough, most the time it's not.
And that amp I believe, is not like most older Accoustic amps in that they could run down to two ohms. The 126 is running at it's full 100 watts at that four ohms. It has no more to give.
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Is the control actually labeled "Bass Boost"?
The switch on my 220 is labeled "Power Boost" and according to the manual it "it provides an increase in volume and a reduction in high frequencies and allows more apparent volume"
I suspect it's like the old "loudness" control on stereos back in the day that did boost the lows, but was designed to be engaged at lower volumes to make the sound more "full".
The Acoustic amps back then, the rated power was at 10% total Harmonic Distortion!
So with mine I consider the power boost switch to be the one that just takes you straight into 10% harmonic distortion LOL.
I never used it much because it just seemed like it worked the amp harder and when trying to compete with Marshall stacks it didn't seem to actually get louder.
Frankly the effect is rather subtle, even at lower volumes.
I can't speak for the older amps but with my 220 the volume pot seemed to have most of the gain in the first 50% of the throw of the knob.
Analogeezer
Yes on the 126 the switch is named "POWER BOOST" and yes, it's purpose seem to be to get you all of that 10% total Harmonic Distortion!
Yes on the 126 the switch is named "POWER BOOST" and yes, it's purpose seem to be to get you all of that 10% total Harmonic Distortion!
Yes, you are correct that it was labelled "power boost". This one did nothing at any volume we tried. It probably is an easy fix, but I wasn't going to ask to open the amp up to have a look under the hood LOL! I have the same volume result with my 140. I can barely turn it up for it to be pretty darn loud. Thanks again for all the help!
