Hey guys- first post since stonerock.com died. Nice to be home.....
I own an 1978(?)Acoustic 220 bass head with an 1973 Acoustic 406 Transducer 1x18(Gauss speaker) cab. The cab is not very common.Both look good and work pretty well (knobs on the head are a bit scratchy). I bought this this for dirt cheap and have had it since May 2010. A guy i know(3 states away btw) who collects Acoustic gear wants to trade me for a Peavey Firebass 700 with a Peavey 2x15 cab. I am not really attached to the Acoustic and wouldn't mind something better and maybe newer. But i am not sold on Peavey gear either. I know they are built like tanks and i have owned some Peavey stuff throughout the years. I have never heard a Firebass head or used one. I don't mind keeping the Acoustic but i will trade if the Peavey is better. So far my poll has yielded a neck and neck race between the two rigs.
Opinions please?
shit man, if you can't compare the tone and/or volume how you gonna know if the trade is worth it? general consensus is Acoustic has primo tone.
Well obviously i will have to play the Peavey to make my final decision. I wouldn't just buy it. I am asking if anyone has either one of these amps and how do they compare? Is the Firebass and cab worth trading for the Acoustic?
I may have a Hartke 4x10 to add to the Peavey setup...
QuoteI may have a Hartke 4x10 to add to the Peavey setup...
Gah!! Run away...
It's my gut reaction that you should stick with the Acoustic. It will only ever increase in value, whereas the Peavey most likely will not. There is such a huge glut of Peavey gear out there that even the prices of the vintage stuff plateau really low.
Plus, the ghost of John Paul Jones' pageboy haircut would want you to keep it.
Ha HA! I wouldn't want the Ghost of John Paul Jones' haircut to haunt me...maybe possess me to help play better!
Is the hartke bad btw? There is a guy selling an Ashdown 300 mag, Hartke 4x10XL, GK 115BPX and a Digitech Compressor for $300 in my area that i may pick up just to piece out. All i want is the 4x10...unless it is bad....
Keep the acoustic as Jake said. If your not too into the acoustic wait for a better trade or sell for cash.
Acoustics are just now starting to peak in value after years of being neglected. When that happens, prioces tend to go WAY up like Sunns and blackface fenders have over the past couple years. People are starting to "collect" acoustic gear, buy on ebay, etc whereas they used ot be $100 pawn shop scores.
no dilema here.
That Hartke cab turned out to be 410 Transporter btw. Not the best cab ever made but it was in great shape as was the rest of the gear the guy had.
I like Peavey for the most part--never heard of that particular model--but I'd say you're much better off with the Acoustic...
The Acoustic 220 into a two-ohm load sounds like the voice of god, to my ear. Get another 2x15 cab(I assume your 1x18 is 4 or even 8 ohms), plug'em both in, and smile!
i picked up a Hartke 4x10 Transporter, a GK 1x15BPX, and an Ashdown MAg 300 last nite for dirt cheap. I plan on re-selling most of it (i only wanted the 4x10) but i had time to ABY the Acoustic rig with this one...oh my! They both sounded great in their own ways. I like being able to compare like that. The only problem with it is , the Peavey rig won't made available to play until it actually gets here from 3 states away. I hate to turn the guy away after driving that distance and honestly the Peavey head with power the 4x10 and the Peavey 2x15 that its coming with. Hopefully a better trade will come along anyway.
Check that....I just found Sunn Concert bass w 2x15 cab! It will be mine!
Schweet! I'm jealous already!
now if the guy would just email me back! I have Sunn fever again....
I have some pics of my Acoustic rig that i will post once my technology efficient wife teaches her barely-able-to-use-email husband how to upload them!
Here is the head and cab.
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I know the guys on Talkbass.com really like the Firebass head and if the 2x15 has Black Widow speakers in them it would be a tempting trade. I've never played on an Acoustic rig so I couldn't tell you either way but stay away from Hartke's metal speakers. They sound terrible.
the Widows were taken out of this cab and replaced with Delta 15A's.
Stick with what you've got then. That deal isn't all that awesome.
Actually this guy started screwing around with deal yesterday anyway. He was trying to sell the Firebass to someone else and replace it with a Nitrobass that I REALLY don't want. I said i dont' want any of your amps and I told him cash or nothing. I asked a fair price (under $500) for the Acoustic head and cab. He said that he would trade me the Firebass and i would give HIM $50....uh .....NO...
I have decided to hold on to it at least until a decent trade comes around(preferably a Sunn). So dilemma over....I managed to avoid owning a Peavey again! haha!
You ever thought of just adding a power amp and more cabs to your rig, the Acoustic should have a preamp out jack. Power amps can be found dirt cheap in some places, you don't need a huge 3000W sucker for running a couple of extra bass cabs.
No I never thought of that actually. I have never used a preamp and have no idea how to. I am a kind of ignorant to the bass amp side of things so if you could tell me how that works maybe that could be something i could try.
You don't need a pre-amp, your Acoustic is the preamp, hence the preamp
OUT.
If you imagine in music electronics there are 3 signal levels
- Instrument: the signal level from your guitar/bass/microphone
- Line: the signal level from a preamp, a CD player, a drum machine, a mixer
- Speaker: the level of signal required to drive a speaker
A power amp expects a line level signal in, from say a mixer or a preamp, and it will put out a Speaker level signal to drive your speakers.
You have a bass, which produces Instrument level signals, you require a preamp between the bass and the power amp to get the signal level right, this is what your Acoustic will do for you (it also has tone controls etc. to make the signal sound nicer).
You hook your bass to the Acoustic, the preamp out of the Acoustic to the power amp, and the speakers to the power amp.
You can still plug other speakers into the speaker out of the Acoustic too.
Do not hook the speaker out of the Acoustic to the power amp.
The Firebass is just loud and doesn't sound remarkably anything. It's just kinda blah. It doesn't sound good or bad... Just kinda sounds. The Acoustic has more mojo for sure.
It has been a glorious day for G.A.S. and my bass rig is nearing completion(somewhat). So scratch the Firebass and everything other avenue i have searched, I went a different route!
So i did sell my Acoustic 220 and got enough dough to finance a Sunn Coliseum 300 head . In this deal i made out money wise(pretty much an even trade). I am trading my '73 Acoustic 406 for a '68 Sunn 2x15 even up. And i am trading another cab(Hartke 4x14 or Gallien 1x15) for a Peavey 2x15 with EV's. In the midst of all this I picked up a Bass Big Muff for $60 as well. The Sunn cab may need some speaker replacement but that is no big deal. Needless to say i am really excited to acquire all of this gear and still be in the clear money wise