Acoustic amps from the 70s - any good?
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The Acoustic 301/360 head & cab was the bass amp to have in the 70s (along with the Alley SVT). Guitarists, not so many, but if you listen to Albert King or Robbie Krieger (The Doors) you're hearing Gibson guitars straight into Acoustic guitar amps.
I played through an Acoustic 150 head for a few years back in the 70’s….I used to run it into a 2-10” Altec cabinet….sounded fine…and was completely reliable.
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MisterZ
Friend of Leo's
Bass player in my band in high school had an Acoustic bass head and a 2 x 15 cab he built. Sounded great and was LOUD.
A friend of mine used my Acoustic bass head with the slider eqs for small gigs with his bass and a generic 115 ported speaker box. It was rated 125 watts IIRC and it was punchy enough.to gig with unmicced drums. A true 125 watts RMS not peak.
Ringo
Poster Extraordinaire
A friend had an Acoustic SS guitar amp with a 4-10 cab many years ago, my Strat sounded great through that amp, and he had a 70s Les Paul that I thought sounded good through it too. Very clean and loud good reverb. Would be interesting to compare it now and see what I'd think about it.
Sax-son
Friend of Leo's
They were really popular during that late 1968 through 72 era from my recollection. I thought bass players sounded really good though those amps. However, a lot of people started to acquire Marshalls after that and Acoustic just kind of faded away. They were really cool looking I thought. The sort of looked like an old mainframe computer rack.
cousinpaul
Poster Extraordinaire
I had a 2x12 135. It was a great keyboard amp. Headroom for days...
Yeah they were the shizzle back in the '70s before I started playing. The good players loved 'em and swore by those behemoths back then. Never played one of those big monsters but later had an all tube Acoustic 50 watt 1x 12" combo back in the very early '90s and it was OK back then as best as I can remember.
Ricky D.
Doctor of Teleocity
I gigged an Acoustic 150 head for a few months in the 70s. Very loud and clean. Good tone, but had a noticeable background hiss.
I saw Stanley Clark around the same time. Acoustic 140 head. Killer!
I saw Stanley Clark around the same time. Acoustic 140 head. Killer!
Ten Over
Friend of Leo's
I have a real vivid memory of those things, especially that Bass one and the folded horn speaker enclosure. That thing had so much intermodulation and harmonic distortion that the Bass actually sounded out of tune with itself. They voluntarily admitted to 5% THD at conditions that were advantageous to them. Not .05% or 0.5% like you would see with other transistor gear at that time, but 5% THD. Unlike tube gear, 5% THD with solid state is downright obnoxious. It got a lot worse if you started pushing the thing a little.
The guitar one was way below our dignity, also, although the reverb was kind of cool. We were overdriving the output tubes on 100W tube amps at the time and no SS amp has ever come anywhere close to that kind of thing, least of all Acoustic.
The guitar one was way below our dignity, also, although the reverb was kind of cool. We were overdriving the output tubes on 100W tube amps at the time and no SS amp has ever come anywhere close to that kind of thing, least of all Acoustic.
jackleg
Tele-Meister
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i have a 164 model.. never could figure it out.....
Paul G.
Friend of Leo's
Guitar amps? No, not really.
Bob M
Friend of Leo's
I think that the bass amps were really their bread and butter. In the early ‘70s I had a 370 (?) head with the 18” folded horn cab. It was loud but I was never really in love with the tone. I seem to remember a 4 x 10 combo that was popular for a short while. Some guitarists used them. I’m not sure it’s a sound that is awaiting a revival but they were pro quality back in the day.
cousinpaul
Poster Extraordinaire
IIRC, Mike Stern used to play a 4x10 combo.
archetype
Fiend of Leo's
I've had the opposite experience.
In the 70s had a 150 head and matching 6 x 10" cab that I got in a trade for a Datsun 2000 Roadster. It was, IMO:
- Clean toned.
- Had a lot of white noise going on as I turned it up.
- Had a nasty, brittle, 'early solid state' tone.
- Was Louder than the Grand Opening of Hell.
It ate power transistors because they weren't heatsinked, but simply screwed to the chassis in the "dead space" between the end of the chassis and the cab. The short chassis flanges up against the wood created a little oven where the transistors cooked until failure. Utterly brainless design. I had to keep spares on hand.
At the same time, a buddy had an Acoustic bass combo amp that did the same thing. It also had a quirk: occasionally it produced a faint, random, tapping noise, like a tiny person was walking around in the amp. My buddy was a TV/radio/audio service tech of long experience and he could never find the origin of this noise.
In the 70s had a 150 head and matching 6 x 10" cab that I got in a trade for a Datsun 2000 Roadster. It was, IMO:
- Clean toned.
- Had a lot of white noise going on as I turned it up.
- Had a nasty, brittle, 'early solid state' tone.
- Was Louder than the Grand Opening of Hell.
It ate power transistors because they weren't heatsinked, but simply screwed to the chassis in the "dead space" between the end of the chassis and the cab. The short chassis flanges up against the wood created a little oven where the transistors cooked until failure. Utterly brainless design. I had to keep spares on hand.
At the same time, a buddy had an Acoustic bass combo amp that did the same thing. It also had a quirk: occasionally it produced a faint, random, tapping noise, like a tiny person was walking around in the amp. My buddy was a TV/radio/audio service tech of long experience and he could never find the origin of this noise.
eclecticsynergy
Friend of Leo's
I had an Acoustic 150. Loud and clean. Not smooth, nor even as warm as a Fender. But for chime or jangle it was great. At the time I had a Rickenbacker.
That was before amps had master volume knobs, of course. Randy Smith had already used the idea for his Boogie amp, but it hadn't made its way into production amps yet. Many don't realize Randy also pioneered channel switching amps; having a footswitchable lead channel with its own set of gain and volume knobs was his idea.
I had an Acoustic 260 for awhile too, with the big cab that had two Altec 15"s and a blue fiberglass horn. That thing could make your eardrums itch if you turned it up. Really intended as a clean amp. As used by Robbie Krieger.
A friend had the 150 head with a 6x10" cab; it would break up if cranked but didn't have the sweetness and compression of a good tube amp. I think the breakup came mostly from the speakers. As mentioned, solid state power transistors clipping was not a musically appealing tone.
Acoustic bass amps were another story though. The 371 (370 head/301 folded horn cab) was the industry standard for a long time. SVTs may have been superior - and louder - but the Acoustic was much lighter, and cheaper, and it didn't ever need tubes. Plus, everybody knew what they sounded like so getting your sound using one that wasn't your own was never a problem.
Acoustics were the rig of choice for hundreds of bassists, from club level up to top players.
Jaco Pastorius used the precursor (a 360 I think) from when they still had black/baby blue front panels with the big aluminum knobs. Later he combined that with what I think was a later (1980s) 2-channel Acoustic guitar head that had the white graphic. Don't think he ever had a 371 though.
That was before amps had master volume knobs, of course. Randy Smith had already used the idea for his Boogie amp, but it hadn't made its way into production amps yet. Many don't realize Randy also pioneered channel switching amps; having a footswitchable lead channel with its own set of gain and volume knobs was his idea.
I had an Acoustic 260 for awhile too, with the big cab that had two Altec 15"s and a blue fiberglass horn. That thing could make your eardrums itch if you turned it up. Really intended as a clean amp. As used by Robbie Krieger.
A friend had the 150 head with a 6x10" cab; it would break up if cranked but didn't have the sweetness and compression of a good tube amp. I think the breakup came mostly from the speakers. As mentioned, solid state power transistors clipping was not a musically appealing tone.
Acoustic bass amps were another story though. The 371 (370 head/301 folded horn cab) was the industry standard for a long time. SVTs may have been superior - and louder - but the Acoustic was much lighter, and cheaper, and it didn't ever need tubes. Plus, everybody knew what they sounded like so getting your sound using one that wasn't your own was never a problem.
Acoustics were the rig of choice for hundreds of bassists, from club level up to top players.
Jaco Pastorius used the precursor (a 360 I think) from when they still had black/baby blue front panels with the big aluminum knobs. Later he combined that with what I think was a later (1980s) 2-channel Acoustic guitar head that had the white graphic. Don't think he ever had a 371 though.
JPWFaith58
TDPRI Member
Late to the party, but I had to get this in there.
Actually, Robbie Krieger - not.
In his recent autobiography, he tells how The Doors wanted a "wall of sound" for their appearance at the Hollywood Bowl. (Up until then, he was using a cranked Twin Reverb.) Acoustic sent them everything they had at the factory. (Only four of which were actually turned on for the show.) The Doors' "deal with the devil" was that they had to endorse Acoustic amps and use them exclusively from then on.
Krieger hated them, so he had his tech gut out an Acoustic cabinet and put the guts from a Twin Reverb inside. Apparently, the Acoustic Co. never got wise...
BTW - Randy California of Spirit used the Acoustic 6 x 10" model on stage. He used a Bosstone fuzz (the one that plugs into the guitar) for his "dirt." Things were really primitive then.
Fiesta Red
Doctor of Teleocity
Albert King sure liked ‘em, but I have read the horn in his big speaker cab was disconnected or just plain not working.
I’ve never played through a vintage one, so I don’t know.
I’ve never played through a vintage one, so I don’t know.
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