When Acoustic amps ruled the world...

[gweimer]

I just found this.  Not only is it a very cool live video of Steve Marriott and the Packet of Three, but I like the live sound of the Wal through the Acoustic.  Now THAT'S how a live bass oughta sound...

p.s. - This should get Terri going, too.  Lefty!

[jmcgliss]

Sounds good to me. Wondering how my Decade with Dark Stars would sound (and feel) thru that rig.

[rahock]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Ain't nothin' I've ever played that hits the back of the room like an Acoustic 360
Rick

[Deathshead]

Those old acoustics where just freaks of loudness, even my Acoustic 450, is "supposedly" like 180watts, but is as loud if not louder as many modern ss amps rated at 400...

[saltymonkey]

I lived in a band house with a basement recording studio in the 80's. We had a small stack of acoustic 360s. They were so cheap second hand and fantastic workhorses. Every time we came across a used one at a pawn shop we would pick it up. I wonder where they all are now. Has anyone played through the new versions, especially the B600H? They seem to get mostly positive reviews but I'd like to hear opinions from someone who has maybe played through both an old one and the new version. Great video.

[rahock]

I played through a B200 (I believe that's what it was) at an outdoor party last summer and I was pretty impressed with that. Decent power and loads of bottom, even playing outdoors. I haven't used any of their new heavy artillery, but I feel safe in saying they still build quality stuff
Rick

[saltymonkey]

Thanks Rick.

[gweimer]

I've tried the new stuff, and I like it.  The problem is I'm now spoiled by my Ashdown, and lust after a Reeves.

[Rhythm N. Bliss]

Not bad for a pack of Muswell Hillbillies, huh?
What's with the overalls?? haha

Seriously, I'm lovin' the Bass on this! Who's my fellow Southpaw?

One reason I've been askin' people to call me Terr is cuz so many spell Terry with an i which is how chicks with this name spell it- Terri.
The other reason is cuz I never liked the name Terry much. Terr is so much more macho---like Terr It Up! or Terr you a new one. ha ha haaa

[Lightyear]

I always felt bad for guys named Stacy too. 

Says the guy that has spent his entire life going by a nickname

[Hornisse]

I had a B200 stack with the 410 and 115 cabinets.  We did a run of 5 outdoor summer gigs in a row back in June/July 2008 and it was in the high 90's to near 100 at all of the gigs and the amp never gave me any problems.  Here is a photo from Carlos N Charlies back in July 2008.



This was taken with my camera phone around midnight.  It was still around 92 degrees outside and even hotter on stage with those lights.

[Chris P.]

Strange. Ampeg was always around and still is, as the most important bass amp. Really everybody used Acoustics for a while. Entwistle did, if I'm right, John Deacon of Queen... Strange they disapeared that quickly.

[Psycho Bass Guy]

Acoustic morphed into SWR, Eden and later, Thunderfunk. Lifted from TB:

Over 20 years ago, Russ Allee, who designed the 360 and 370 amps for Acoustic left that company and started a new company called Amplified Music Products with a guy named Roger Smith. Russ had Steve Rabe, another ex-Acoustic guy, help design the preamp for the AMP 420 amplifier heads. The preamp section had an "enhance" switch, fixed frequency bass and treble knobs and four semi-parametric midrange bands. The amplifier also had a variable limiter and a crossover for biamping if you had another power amp. AMP also made a lower wattage version called the 260.

Steve Rabe left AMP at some point and founded SWR. He was across the street from Groove Tubes and designed the bass preamp that Groove Tubes used to sell. The GT preamp was identical to the front end of an SWR studio 220, just no power section. SWR's studio 220 and SM-400 were designed by Steve and were pretty similar to the old AMP design except they used a 12AX-7 tube in the input gain stage, and the enhance switch was replaced with a variable "aural enhancer" knob.

Deciding that he wanted to offer cabinets as well as amplifiers, Rabe commissioned David Nordschow of Eden Electronics to make speaker cabinets for SWR. Up to that point Eden had been making PA speakers. Depending upon who you listen to, the development of the original goliath 4x10 + tweeter cabinet has a couple of versions. Eden claims that SWR wanted a two way cabinet (presumably a 15+horn) and David sent SWR the 410T as an afterthought, wanting to know what they thought of it. The other story is that Steve Rabe and David Nordschow collaborated on the design. In any event, Eden made cabinets for SWR for a while until SWR opted to make its own, presumably due to quality control concerns. The split was not entirely peaceful, but wasn't quite up to the soap opera status of the rift between Nick Epifani and Jim Bergantino. After many years, Steve Rabe left SWR to found Raven labs, and subsequently retired.

Eden improved its quality control, and continued to make cabinets under its own name. Wanting to offer a complete line David released a couple of heads with a preamp designed by James Demeter. The Preamp was very similar to the VTBP-201, with the addition of a DBX-style two knob compressor. Later, David revamped the Eden amp line with the introduction of the "world tour" series, with a preamp designed by none other than Russ Allee. The front of the world tour series amps was very similar to the AMP-420 and SWR studio 220. There were only 3 semi parametric bands, and the compressor was a simple on/off switch. There was a variable "enhance" knob, but a crossover was offered only on the WT-800. Like the SWR, the Eden incorporated a 12AX-7 preamp tube, another departure from the all solid state design of the AMP-420.

Why was Allee available to consult for Eden? Well, AMP folded in 1988 and was reportedly bought by Gibson. Either Russ Allee designed the GB-440 for Gibson or Gibson just continued making the AMP-420 under the new Gibson GB-440 moniker. Rumor has it that Gibson made some changes that destroyed the reliability of the amplifier. (Imagine Gibson doing that to any company they've bought out).  Production of the GB-440 was halted sometime around 1990 and the unbuilt amplifiers remained in a warehouse for some time.

I have an AMP preamp and two Gibson GB-410 cabs, and that's about the extent of my "Acoustic-related" products. Around here, what few vintage Acoustic amps I run across are beat-to-death junk or "case classics" amps that look pristine because they never worked.

[Highlander]

It was still around 92 degrees outside and even hotter on stage with those lights.

MeltdownoRoberto...

Nice looking rig, Robert... still in use...?

[Hornisse]

No longer in use as I'm no longer gigging.  I do have a Mosfet Hartke 7000 head and an old Guild/Hartke 410 cabinet to play along with my favorite records.