Acoustic Amplification B200H

First of all it is a solid state 200 watt head. It's got separate inputs for passive and active pickups, and the only difference is that the active input pads your signal slightly so that you don't clip like crazy (even though I've played my active pickups through the passive input just to see what would happen and I had to have the gain up to about 6 before it started clipping). It's got the standard gain and volume controls, so you can pick your tone for volume and get it exactly how you want it, however, i will say this, the volume control doesn't do a whole lot between about 5 and 8 except make it a little fuzzy. Not that I'm complaining, I've only ever gotten it that loud twice and both times it was because I was either showing off or my guitarist and I were screwing around. The next fun thing moving to the right on the front panel is a fun little knob for a frequency notch filter. This thing is nice...it lets you scoop out or boost your mids. It's almost like a "warmth" knob. Next down the line is a sweet 6-band EQ, and its got more user friendly(at least to this user) knobs instead of a slider. This is great for me...I play a 6 string and i find that it is hard to find amps that are real friendly playmates with them because one end of the spectrum will be overwhelming and the other end will be non-existent. But the eq helps to keep that from happening. On the back panel there is a effects loop and 2 parallel speaker outputs, both pretty standard. The one thing I really wish it had was a tuner output. That and I kinda wish it was rack mountable. But no biggy...I can work around both of those. I give it a 9 just because it is amazing but it is a little frustrating not having a tuner output.

Overall i think this amp sounds great. I run active pickups out of my 6-string and I get a nice meaty tone but with plenty of high end sparkle. I play in a metalcore band and it is perfectly suited for that, along with sunday morning worship band too. It does both with gusto and doesn't sound out of place in either application. It tends to get a little noisy once it's turned up to about 7 or so but you already know how often i get it there. When i first got it and started playing with it i experienced just about every tone in the book from a solid state amp. When the gain is on REALLY high it will start to distort but not real badly. To really get any kind of fuzz one would need to use an external effect. But overall it has a nice round and punchy tone. I play it through the Acoustic B410 and an Acoustic B115 in a full stack arrangement and it sounds awesome. Overall I give it a 10 just because it sounds exactly how i want it to.

I haven't had this amp for a super long amount of time, but from everything i know about amps i don't expect anything to go badly any time soon. Solid state amps in general, if they don't go bad in the first week then they won't for a while. And based on the fact that these new Acoustic amps are based on the old ones and that many of the old ones are still being used I would wager to say I'll have this one around for a good long while.

Acoustic is owned by guitar center, and from what I know, if you ever have a problem with it all you have to do is go exchange it at one. The warranty is 3 years out of the box, so that isn't to bad. Guitar Center offers a 2 year extended warranty but I personally decided to forgo that. But in my experience and from word of mouth the service for these are pretty good. I'll give it an 8 though just because I'm not 100% sure as of yet.

I think the next thing I'll get gear wise is a BBE Sonic Maximizer to go with this, just as an added boost. As of right now though I'm pretty happy just running my bass dry through the amp. If this were lost or stolen would more than likely get a new one of these. I love the fact that I can get whatever sound I want out of it, and it didn't cost me an arm and a leg. I've played through Fender Bassmans, GK, Peaveys, and a solid state Ampeg, but truly and honestly this did what I wanted more than any of them. It gave me complete and utter control over my sound and I didn't have to get anything external to do it with. Overall, I give this a 10.

This is the 200 watt Acoustic bass head that is being sold by Guitar Center, designed in the USA and made in China. The street price is $249 but I got it on sale. The amp was well packaged and arrived without a scratch, and was promptly unpacked and plugged into the matching Acoustic 4x10 cabinet. The amp has 2 inputs, for passive or active instruments. According to the well written (but a little bit sparse) manual, the inputs are identical except the active input is padded down by 10dB, for the higher output provided by active instruments. There is a gain control and a clipping LED indicator which lights up when the preamp begins to clip. Next is the Volume control, a sweepable -10dB notch filter (nice!) and a 6 band eq section covering from 63 Hz to 5 kHz.

Using a jazz style bass, SD pups. The sound is fat, powerful, and clear. A Beginner's Amp??? I don't think so!!! I'm using the amp in a power trio blues band, and it has plenty of power. It is loud and BIG. It sounds great. Unlike the guy that complained about the build quality of the amp, I find it to be well constructed and very well engineered. I'm an EE, and professionally I am a reliability engineer, so I know a little about the way products are produced, and what it takes to build a quality product. I have little patience for those who measure the quality of an item by how much something costs or where its made. Sorry, but the bottom line is this: Does it perform well, and does it do what you ask of it? I don't have any issues with the quality of the amplifier; in fact, at this price point I'm surprised that it is as good as it is. This is not a lot of money being spent here, and I bought the amp because it sounded so good. I had a lot more money to spend but after going home to think about the purchase, I had to go back and bring it home. It blew the competetion away, and not "For the money." I'll restate my opinion, and the opinion of my bandmates...and everyone that has heard it...it sounds great. An incredible bargain, in my opinion.

I haven't had any issues yet. It's still early in its life, and too soon to tell. But if I had to project the reliability (which is something I get paid to do...) I'll rate it an "8" because it is such a new product. I rate it highly because of the construction and the fact that it is conservatively designed. It's got a nice big toroidal power transformer, and good interconnects on the boards. The amp wasn't even warm to the touch after 3 hours of loud playing in its first band trial.

3 year warranty. I understand that GC is replacing units with new ones if there are problems. I couldn't complain about that if I were treated that way. If I do have a problem I'll post an addendum to this review. Again, time will tell.

The eq is well executed and very effective at reaching whatever tone you like...from a deep thundering, heavy bottom to a middy, sparkly slap bass type feel, and everything inbetween, it's all there. The amplifier section is a 'Chip-amp', which is to say it uses an integrated circuit type of archetecture rather than discreet, separate power transistors. I am an old school type of guy, and I've been building amps for years, so I usually don't like these things. But this one sounds really good. I was blown away when I opened it up and saw the internal construction; it is very clean, with a nice big toroidal power transformer. There are three circuit boards, one for the preamp, power amp, and DI outputs. It is clean and well laid out inside. The amp is fan cooled, and the fan is always running. I thought it would be a distraction at first, but really, it is very unnoticable in operation. Really quiet. It does a great job, too. After over three hours of high volume playing with the band yesterday, I felt the chassis all over, and it was completely cool to the touch...I couldn't tell that the amp had been turned on at all. Very good for reliability numbers...Electronics hate heat. I mentioned in the comments section above that I consider the fact that it's ROHS compliant to be a negative thing. The solder is lead-free and I hate it. It is harder to work with and in my opinion doesn't work as well as leaded solder does, but that is the price of environmental progress I guess. It is interesting to note, however, that hospital grade equipment like heart and lung machines, kidney dialisys equipment, monitors, etc., are exempt from the ROHS specification. Life support equipment still gets the good leaded solder! But on with the reason you're reading this. How does it sound? One word. The amp sounds GREAT. And that's why I wrote this review. Paired with the Acoustic 4x10 cab, it is gutsy, full, fast, and clear. It sounds punchy, and has the ability to push through the mix. And it's got TONE to the bone. I'm seriously considering buying another 4x10 cab because it's such a great value and would make the amp even more massive sounding. An outstanding value, and I wholeheartedly recommend this product. I give it a 10 because I really can't see how this could be a better amplifier and not cost more money.
I just bought a second B410 4x10 cab to make this rig a 'Full Stack' and it is in transit now. The rig sounds terrific now, with an 8 ohm speaker load. It should absolutely rock when I get the second cab and it is driving the full 200 watts into 4 ohms. I can' wait.
This is for an "Overall Value" rating. I have to give it a 10.
Go check them out for yourself. This amp rocks.

see the Acoustic site

Sounds like a cheap solid state amp

Maybe two years if your lucky

Right now very good, but for how long?

This is a cheap made beginners amp , thats made in China. I've had bad experences with amps made in China including Ampeg these days. They use very cheap parts, very bad design flaws, & their QC is down right horrable, as if nonexcendent. Bottom line is you get what you pay for.

Bought one at GC about 2 months ago...GREAT AMP FOR THE PRICE. Active and passive inputs, two outs and fx loop out. It sounds huge for a solid state. I use it for practice and for gigs...I even play guitar thru it sometimes ~and it sounds huge~

Sound quality is awesome for a sloid state. Having the ability to dial in your tone is key. I leave the high ends down, bring the mids up about a quarter and bring the low end up to half way to three quarters. Then I keep it at a thumping frequency with a modest gain. I really love this head!

So far, so good. Seems sturdy, but the road will be the true test.

Never had to deal...

I've been playing bass for 22 years, I've owned SVTs, GKs, Marshalls, Crates...and I've played thru Oranges, Hiwatts and Fender Bassmans -this head kills most solid states, but doesn't have the warmth of a tube head. I'd buy it again if it was lost/stolen. Pretty soon I'll rip the black tolex off and give it a different color.

I Purchased the Acoustic 200H (solid state) with the 410 cab from Guitar center over a month ago. I had a budget so what I could afford was limited, until I found the Acoustic Bass Amp head. The vintage look caught my eye immediately. The blue writing, the big knobs and the shinny metal corners look amazing, compared to the cheap plastic ones that other high-end manufactures put on. It has separate active and passive inputs, 2 speaker outputs, It has 2 loop effects and an XLR out to the board with its own volume control!! Big or small gigs this amp is equipment to accommodate.

It says that it puts out 200watts. But I think it can go pass that with no problem. The 6 knob EQ channel makes this amp very versatile in any style you are playing. There are no limitations on the sound you want to create. Even thought its solid state you can get very warm tube like sounds. I play an American Fender Jazz and it sounds great. Since your limited to really experiment with the amp at a music store, I bought the head and the cab. I took it home and really cranked it and let me tell you that this amp at ?? volumes with the gain had a great punchy clear tone that you felt in your chest. So far I had no distortion issues at high volumes. My band mates could not believe the sound coming from a small head. It held its own with a full band with out breaking a sweat.

I do trust this amp at a gig. I have a gig coming up at the end of this month, so I can???t wait to take flaunt it. I also play keys at gigs so my keyboard amp is my back up but everyone should always have a back up no matter if it???s Ampeg, GK etc?????????.

Did not have to use their customer support, can???t really comment on that. The warranty is good for 3 years.

I play modern to classic rock so this amp will deliver anything you want it to sound. The schematics and design are from the old acoustic format but yes, they are made in China. However, Fenders are also made in Mexico and people rave about how great they are. Look, but the bottom line is that if you can???t see yourself spending $1,100.00 on a bass head only, you are not selling yourself short buy getting the Acoustic line, and thanks to GC Its making a comeback. The money I spent on the head and cab, equals to a lower end combo from the other guys. I???m looking forward to getting another cab to complete to stack.