Joined: 02 Jun 2017 Posts: 1437 Location: Michigan
Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2018 1:59 pm Post subject:
I’ve seen those when browsing for heads but never tried one. I didn’t know they were tube, the ones I’ve seen were solid state, unless I’m a total idiot and didn’t notice _________________
^no sweat Kingsley, that is a common impression of acoustic due to their history and they have a similar-looking/priced modeling head to this one (G120H)
acoustic have a long legacy with solid-state amps because with the 360 series in the late '60s they made some of the first proper huge 'n' loud bass guitar amplifiers just as the "stadium era" was beginning, which were hugely popular and had an "elite" reputation among professional bass guitarists. Prior to that most bass amps were guitar tube amps with a couple components swapped (like the Bassman, Marshall Super Bass etc) and though Ampeg were garnering lots of attention for their bass-specific rigs as well, and while acoustic were also making tube amps, they really nailed one of the first bass stacks that you could crank to world-ending levels without getting a farty fuzztone out of the preamp. Robby Kreiger and Ray Manzarak started using them for guitars and keys as well, for the same benefit.
Quote:
The volume of guitar amplifiers was on a hyperbolic curve throughout the entire decade that gave us The Boomers. If you start with the guitar volume of the Everly Brothers in 1960 and end with Jimi Hendrix in 1969, the volume differential is similar to the one between a sewing machine and a Saturn V rocket. The Ampeg B-15 was simply not designed to win a head-to-head collision with a Marshall stack set to “kill.” Something had to be done on behalf of bass players everywhere.
In 1967, enter the Acoustic 360, a 200-watt, solid state head designed to drive the 361 cabinet, a rear-firing 18” speaker enclosure modeled, I believe, after the Panzer tank. The 360/361 absolutely towered over the B-15, physically and sonically, and got the bass world ready for the Woodstocks, Altamonts and giant festival concerts to come.
In December of 1967, the Acoustic 360 actually helped The Doors get arrested for noise violations and put them - and the amp - on the cover of Life magazine. This notoriety had a very predictable response, which is that it made the amp a must-have for serious rockers who would love to be arrested by The Man for bass notes alone.
Not that this was an easily accessible piece of gear. The suggested retail price of the 360/361 package back in 1967 was $1250.00, which in 2014 dollars comes to USD$8,850.00 Not. A. Typo. There is not, to my knowledge, another bass amp that costs nine grand, unless you’re cutting an SSL console in half and dragging that around, which is actually a pretty awesome idea.
Nevertheless, price be damned, the best bassists of the era knew that this was a killer amplifier. Larry Graham himself used these towering stacks for the thumb, the stank and the funk. Led Zeppelin’s virtuosic bassist John Paul Jones had to keep up with Jimmy Page, for the love of Pete, and with the Acoustic 360 (or, say, a wall of them) he could. And there was a young bassist from Florida who knew that if he was going to be The Best, he had to play The Best Amp. That’s when Jaco Pastorius saved all his money (legend has it, sleeping on the beach when his bandmates on the road slept in hotel beds) and eventually purchased an Acoustic 360, which gave Jaco’s fretless J-bass that instantly-recognizable bump in the upper-mids that provided him bassdom’s most enduring, original voice.
_________________
Aug wrote:
which one of you bastards sent me an ebay question asking if you can get teh kurdtz with that 64 mustang?
robertOG wrote:
fran & paul are some of the original gangstas of the JS days when you'd have to say "phuck"
Albert King used an Acoustic solid state amp and he had tone forever. In his last days he also toured with a Roland Jazz Chorus. _________________
paul_ wrote:
When are homeland security gonna get on this "2-piece King Size Snickers" horseshit that showed up a couple years ago? I've started dropping one of them on the floor of my car every time.
Joined: 20 Apr 2006 Posts: 8702 Location: Albany, NY
Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2018 8:58 pm Post subject:
Yes, they also bought the Simmons drums name (the trademark actually had already expired on that one IIRC) around the same time.
I believe Mez's is a proper old acoustic bass stack.
The new stuff actually seems to be great value for the money, though I've only played through some of their bass and keyboard amps, haven't tried their tube guitar amps. Can't go wrong with a 50w tube head for $200 tho.
Joined: 20 Apr 2006 Posts: 8702 Location: Albany, NY
Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2018 10:12 pm Post subject:
robroe wrote:
Nick wrote:
Can't go wrong with a 50w tube head for $200 tho.
its used. i might have forgot to mention.
it looks and feels and sounds brand new to me though. fuck whoever played it for 10 minutes and brought it back.
I figured, but lol who cares, as long as nothing's ratting around or microphonic. If it sounds good, you really have the previous owner to thank for breaking in the tubes.
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