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The Acoustic Club

#61
Hey guys,

Has anyone gigged or at least had a loud jam with the B200 combo? I'm just getting back into playing with a band and my 60 watt hartke can't keep up with 2 guitarists playing 2X12s and a heavy handed drummer (still has his old marching band chops). I know we all 'need' 10,000 jigawatts to truly be comfortable, but I'm just trying to be heard.

I regret selling off my old big rig, but I spent way too much on that so I'm trying to put together a cheap rig that can keep up ($350 I can swing). I don't want anything too big or expensive as I'm just getting back into this and don't want to invest too much after only a few jams.

I stopped in at GC yesterday during my lunch (anyone else have a tough time working the day before a long weekend?) and was doubtful when the clueless salesguy pointed me to the B200. However, this thing seemed loud at less than half cranked. I liked the way the p-bass growl came through and think it would complement the classic/nineties/sometimes proggy rock I've been playing.
 
#62
americanmade said:
Hey guys,

Has anyone gigged or at least had a loud jam with the B200 combo? ....

I stopped in at GC yesterday during my lunch (anyone else have a tough time working the day before a long weekend?) and was doubtful when the clueless salesguy pointed me to the B200. However, this thing seemed loud at less than half cranked. I liked the way the p-bass growl came through and think it would complement the classic/nineties/sometimes proggy rock I've been playing.
Click to expand...

I copped the B200 this morning, and I'll have an answer for you tomorrow afternoon post-rehearsal. Good tone on this thing, right? My instincts are usually pretty good, and I'm thinking the volume will be just fine, too.

Lowbrow
 
#63
Here I am at the Oasis Ballroom in 1981, Sacramento, CA with my Acoustic 360. BTW, the bass I'm playing was a 1979 Music Man Sabre, it would eventually be stolen in 1983.
100_2201.jpg
 
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#69
I was at Guitar Center the other day playing around with some Jazz and P basses. Just for the heck of it I plugged into a new Acoustic head and B115 cab. I didn't expect much after looking at the low price. Usually at such a low price you get a bland, boxy sounding budget amp tone that takes some extreme tweeking to sound decent( i know,not always). While reaching behind the Acoustic display to untangle a rat nest of power and speaker cables I thought to myself "why am I bothering with this wiring mess, just to play through this budget cheap amp."
I"m glad I did! It had a real unique, musical sound that was real fun to play through!

As said in a different Acoustic amp thread, these lower wattage cabs have a quality that I now realize I slowly got use to not having, with the stiffer cone, high power handling cabs we all use today.

The B115 cab only handles 250 watts. Which is probably fine for medium volume jamming. When combined with a second cab may be fine for a stage rig in a medium volume, smallish bar gig (possibly needing some PA support).

But what are these cabs made out of?? Particle board, plywood?

The B115 really has a nice open tone which would probably be lost if you changed out the driver for a higher wattage speaker. I think you most likely need to leave it as the engineers intended. The cab design and tuning combined with that specific driver and it's specific parameters. Throw in an after market speaker and you quite possibly would lose what makes this nice low price amp so unique and attractive sounding. Need more volume ? Just use more of them.
 
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#70
I used to tour extensively with a 360 head and two 361 cabs beginning in 1970...While Iwas in college, my brother borrowed one cab and the head for a gig and left it over night at this pub they had played at, and unfortunately,everything was burned to the ground by the time they came to pick up the equipment the next day...but here's a pic of the 361 cab that survived. Number please :D ...Peace...DAcab :hyper: !! DAcat :cool:
 
#72
One thrilling combination... played a three-hour band rehearsal on my new B200 today, tweaking away the whole time till this little baby gave up the tone in a big way!

A great amp: headroom enough for mid-sized gigs, and a long-awaited step backward to recapture all that was "right" about a sound that didn't necessarily aspire to be "perfect." Add to that the modern technology that makes possible a beefy 200-watter in a compact package, pinpoint EQ section, and tubey characteristics in the gain section, and you've got the sound that many of us look for. Definitely the sound that I look for.

It's a sound that's better than perfect; I call it musical.

B200andP-Bass01.jpg

A killer combo, a rocking combination.

Lowbrow
 
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#73
chiplexic said:
The B115 cab only handles 250 watts. Which is probably fine for medium volume jamming. When combined with a second cab may be fine for a stage rig in a medium volume, smallish bar gig (possibly needing some PA support).
Click to expand...
Two cabs and 250 watts can only begin to handle a smallish bar gig? Man, how did I ever get through the last thirty years with nothing more powerful than a GK400RB? :confused:
 
#74
Lowbrow said:
Two cabs and 250 watts can only begin to handle a smallish bar gig? Man, how did I ever get through the last thirty years with nothing more powerful than a GK400RB? :confused:
Click to expand...
Yup...I also gigged for many a year with...400rb!! But today most guys barely take a second look at anything less than 500watts. Especially with all the high powered ,light weight, mega watt heads on the market.The idea of what a moderate powered bass amp is has changed in a lot of players minds. So if a good supply of headroom is a must for someone, I think they can still feel comfortable running this 200watt B200H at 4 0hms on a medium volume stage. You and I, with our 200watt GK 400rb history, will certainly not hesitate. But I don't think we're in the majority today.
 
#75
chiplexic said:
The idea of what a moderate powered bass amp is has changed in a lot of players minds.
Click to expand...
Perhaps, but my point is about physics, not psychology; the actual volume needed to get by in a given situation has not changed.

I understand your observation regarding today's available headroom, but sound men all over town still groan in agony when someone rolls in a tube SVT, and that's a "measly" 360 watts.

Sure, more powerful amps are available these days, but I don't think that rooms have gotten proportionally larger or somehow harder to fill with bass sound, that's all. A small bar is still a small bar.

Maybe bassists would find more satisfying results by using perfectly adequate, lower-wattage gear and hearing their amps overdrive away happily, then by running a high-powered rig at 2 and engaging a collection of rack gear to achieve the same effect. :smug:

Anyway -- I'd hate to start a tit-for-tat especially with someone who knows just what I'm talking about apparently, but I was naturally a bit surprised to hear the original modest assessment of what this gear was suited for.

Loud, lo-fi, and lugging little,
Lowbrow
 
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#77
I do agree with all of your points.
As far as the right amp for the right job, this reminds me of the situation where a guy buys a GK1001rb and then wonders why the amp never growls the way he expected at the normal volume he plays at. Then he finds out that in order to make it sing with that wonderful GK signature tone he has to run it at twice the volume he needs and actually would have been better off with 400rb or 700rb. Yes a lot of times gobs of unused headroom doesn't do anything to help achieve your desired tone. That's why I try to recommend more speaker area as oppose to replacing an amp you like the tone of. Enjoy
 
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#78
It's the same thing with guitar amps which a lot of bass players probably aren't aware of. My guitar player was always trying to get this beefy heavy tone out of his amp, but he refused to play loud. So he would crank the bass on his amp to fill out the sound at practice, then on stage he would crank it up and his amp would start "whoofing" and he would wonder why.
Bass amps are the same way, the Acoustic B200 I tried at GC seems to have a consistent sound whether it's quiet or loud, that's the exact reason I'm considering getting one to jam on at home.
 
#80
Can't wait to get my hands on this thing; luckily, I only play clubs with good FOHs, so I've never had to worry about extreme wattages, and can worry about tone instead; this thing sounds like a perfect small-stage amp! Bravo Acoustic!
 

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