Acoustic Control Corporation 220

This is a pretty straight forward Amp. Not alot of bells & whistles. Who needs them?? 5 Band EQ is nice & power Boost gives great Low End Boost. The Bright switch is nice for that popping sound with Round wound strings. With those options What more do you need??

I have had & still have many amps. But when it comes to GIG time the old Acoustic 220 comes out. This thing has Killer Tone it sounds fantastic. I installed my 220 power unit into an Acoustic 126 combo reflex cabinet which fit perfectly with a 15" optional original Altec speaker & BOOM.

I have been using Acoustic Amps for years & will continue to do so. My 220 takes a Lickin & keeps on Kickin. Never let me down.

RIP

I love this amp. I have been playing over 40 yrs & play many styles but mostly rock classic to current & have many Basses several Ibanez/Fender/Peavey/Palmer Deluxe They all sound great through this amp. I have heard alot of guy's say it needs more power. Where the hell are they playing??? I play in a 5 piece band everyone is through the PA except me & I never have to turn up past 3 & we are loud. If we play outside I use my Acoustic 140 as a slave amp or my 126 head as a slave & add a 410 Hartke & a 115 Hartke to my rig (Only until I find a deal on another Acoustic cabinet) which brings me down to a 2ohm load & the 220 works perfect without needing to mic it. I guess these guy's are members of the (If You Can't Play Good Play LOUD Club). It does weigh in around 130 LBS installed in the 126 Cabinet But well worth the effort & you only have 1 amp carry in. Not 2 or 3 parts.

Made in 1974. Pretty solid-
I still have problems with power rating. However, even if it is 125 watts on 8 ohms, it's loud enough to run a good cab and feel audible enough even in large clubs. Comparing with modern amps like Hartke/Ash and so on, these 125/175/220 watts can deal with "modern" 300 if we talk about "volume".

Unfortunately, it's D.I. can't deal with professional use. It's only jack, and the signal is quite weak. You should have good DI on your own or set of microphones to mike your cabs to take this on larger stages.

I play it through a Warwick Corvette Proline Custom and a Fender Precision, combining with various cabs. It sounds really great,especially when you're playing fingered style. I consider it too muddy and "slow" for modern techniques. Sounds great with 12" and 15" cabs- if run through 4-ohm cabinet you can distort it a little bit- and it cuts through a band like Ampeg SVT (if you know Willie Weeks' sound, you know what I mean). So for vintage sounds from rock up to Jaco and Motown- it's a great amp of choice (not being SVT of course). However, if you want to sound clear and transparent, simply don't buy it.

It plays mostly by all kinds of mid-range, has a lot of nice sounding and "cutting through" harmonics. For all Jaco and Bona fans, using bridge pickup- lots of fun. The amp has it's own, distinctive sound, anywhere you take it.

In my opinion- still best sounding amp for the price. But not versatile, for certain.

Build like a small tank. All of the stuff inside like in 1974.

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I've been playing as a semi-professional for 8 years (playing for about 40 gigs a year), various kinds of music- mostly jazz, r&b, funk and rock. My opinion is- a great sounding amp for the price. Pros are definitely- the sound (distinctive) and character- very few of modern transistor amps has this "something". Very reliable. Unfortunately it weighs a lot- like a tube amp (for about 17 kg). What is more, it doesn't have a reliable D.I., tuner out (only simple "preamp out" section) , mute and all of these things a gigging amp should have (well it's a vintage, isn't it?). Lack of gain/master section- only the volume knob- it's hard to voice it properly with some basses (I do prefer gain/volume section).

If it were stolen, I would buy another, but it's still nice to have the second amp if you play various styles. Sometimes when I'm carrying it to elevator after a gig, I hate it ;) but it still sounds nice enough to keep it anyway.

An Acoustic 220 Bass amp head from circa 1980 or so. I bought this amp from a cat who offered it for sale on another music web site. I wanted this amp because I owned one 25 years ago and I needed a reliable backup for my Ashdown MAG300H bass amp head. It has the usual high and low inputs and eq section, but also has a boost switch ( not footswitchable) and a 5 band equalizer which is footswitchable. You all know the shite about Acoustic quality and the fact that they no longer are with us. This is an old amp in fabulous condition and it sounds great and is dead nuts quiet with the eq disengaged or with the eq sliders not turned way up. My preferred use of this amp is to set the rotary tone controls to my 'Low Volume" setting and then to set the 5 Band EQ to my usual playing setting because it gives so much depth and balls to the sound. Oh yeah- I don't have the stock footswitch. I bought a Marshall brand single footswitch with 20 foot cable to do the eq switching. Please note that footswitch has an LED on it which drained enough voltage to not allow it to work- I had to open up the footswitch enclosure and snip the leads to the LED in order for it to work. At 19 bucks, it is still a better deal than making my own pedal. The 5Band eq has an led indicator on the front of the amp to let you know if it is engaged, and of course you will know it from the sound when it is engaged.

I play a Fender Highway 1 Jazz bass through this amp head into an old low watt fender 15 inch bass cab for practice and gigs at our practice place and through an Avatar B212 DeltaLF cab for gigs. If you turn the 'Boost' switch on or if you turn the eq sliders way up you will get some noise but if you play it like I mentioned before it is a fairly quiet amp onstage. It is a great amp for the rock and blues that I play and for the venues we play, it has more than enough power. I like the footswitchable EQ which the Ashdown doesn't have. However, I like the Ash's input level control which helps to dial in the Jazz's growl and I guess I could use a pedal to do the eq on/off trick I get from the Acoustic.

The Acoustic is the backup head to the Ashdown MAG300 head ( and vice versa, I guess..) The Acoustic 220 is about 25 years old and still going strong and ' built like the proverbial tank '. It seems that Acoustic overbuilt these solid state amps and I believe it will last for a long long time.

Acoustic Control Corp has been out of biness for years now, but you can find links to parts, repairs and gurus over the web.

I played my first Guild Starfire Bass through a Sunda Amp 35 years ago and I have played through various amps and P.A. systems with a few basses over the years. Years ago I thumped a Precision bass through the Acoustic 220 head into a 2x15 cab. I loved that sound back then, and I love the Jazz sound now with the same head through the 2x12 Deltas. The Acoustic doesn't have the power of the ASHDOWN, but the size of the rooms I mostly play this is a moot point.

Pretty much Meat and Potatoes. 5 band eq, along with your basic trebel, mid and bass will help you get pretty much any sound. The bright switch helps it to break up a little more. The boost also helps if you want to really bring the house the down, so to speak. I'm so sick of little !@#$%^& complaining about low power this and lack of features that... most of those guys play really lame music (watered-down fusion, lame bar rock, hair-metal, or prog-rock gone wrong like dream theatre or something) and don't know what's good from bad. It's got plenty of features to get you through the night.

Sounds wonderful. It's everything from John Paul Jones to Entwhistle to Punk rock to prog to art punk to kraut rock. This is my main amp right now and it has never failed me sound-wise. I can dial in a tone that I want for any varying styles of music that I dare to explore. It's not for someone who wants that crappy SWR fake overtly-bright sound that some turd like John Pettitucci, or whatever the spelling is, or Nathan East or Victor Wooten type of dudes. It's for someone who wants to sound like a real bass player. It breaks up very nicely, especially when I play my gibson basses. I have this thing paired up with a custom made 4x10 cab and it delivers PLENTY OF MEAT. I have an explorer and a thurderbird that I just got. My thunderbird especially sounds absolutely punishing through this thing. It translates that Gibson ceramic humbucker sound very well. I also play my Gretsch Broadkaster, G&L L-2000, Fender Coronado II, Rickenbacker 4003, fender jazz bass with bartolini's and my Music man stingray and it does tend to like passive type pu's better. But for my basses with active pu's, I just simply plug into the lower-output channel. My rick and gretsch sound absolutely *&^%*$#@ through this thing. I also have a Guild Thunderbass head that I love but it's no where near as reliable as this thing. I totally stand by these things and I know what I'm talking about.

Let me tell you a story. I was wheeling out my rig to go to a rehearsal and this thing was sitting on top of the cab as I was pushing both of them on a dolly. It fell and tumbled down the stairs as I watched in horror. I went to the rehearsal anyway and when I got there and plugged everything in and turned it on, voila! It was as if nothing ever happend. Try that with your ampeg svt head. NOT. It's bit of a cliche now what everyone says about Acoustics but it deserves to be mentioned again. THESE THINGS ARE BUILT LIKE TANKS!!

Sadly, they're no longer around. Makes you wonder how SWR, Hartke, Trace Elliot and other similar "PURVEYORS OF CRAP SOUND" are still around. But then, just take one look at how lame the music scene is today. Cookie cutter metal and every one of these guys wishing for a mesa boogie triple rectifier and putting it on their wish-list and sending it Santa. I hate these modern sounds and looks. No aesthetics. No subtleties.

Sadly, me saying all this isn't bringing this company back.

I love this thing and will get another one if anything were to happen to it. This thing will not let you down unless you're sort of predisposed to not like this sort of sound because of some lame style of music that you play that makes you go deaf and sound terrible at the same time, like nu-metal, heavy metal at large, butt rock (like journey or boston), watered down fusion (like fourplay or somehting disgusting like that), lame punk rock, basically any style that requires you to be either overtly loud and obnoxious without possessing any musical qualities or all spanky and bright and not bass sounding (like victor wooten sound). Whew....

I play in a band that emcompasses all the right elements (post-rock, like Tortoise or Ghosts and Vodka, kraut rock, space rock, free jazz, love (the band) and beach boys informed chamber pop, ye ye (60's french pop a la Serge Gainsbourg), experimental, art-punk, soundscape and good ol' sweaty rock like Stooges, MC5 and 13th Floor Elevators) and it's highly important what gear you're using because even with all the creativity that you have, sometimes you end up sounding like some wanker like Stu Hamm-burger or some other pyro-freak who's just as lame. This thing helps me to sound like a bass player that I am.
Forget all the new $%^& they have at Guitar center and tap into something real by getting this.

MADE IN 1978. ALL BUSINESS, SIMPLE, VERSITLE AND EASY TO USE.
USED TO PLAY ROCK, JAZZ, CHURCH. IT COULD BE USED TO PLAY ANYTHING ELSE. PLENTY OF POWER. NICE WARM SOUND. JUST PLUG IT IN AND GO.

PLAY A FRETLESS JAZZ BASS WITH NYLON WRAP STRINGS. I USE THIS TO DRIVE AN ACOUSTIC 204 WITH 4 12'S AND 2 ACOUSTIC 404'S WHICH EACH HAVE 1 15. PLENTY OF BOTTOM END. MAKES ALL THE NOISE YOU'LL EVER NEED. 5 BAND EQ WILL GIVE YOU ANY SOUND YOU ARE AFTER. STARTS TO BECOME A LITTLE DISTORTED ABOVE 6 ON THE VOLUME BUT THAT COULD PROBABLY BE REPAIRED.

I USE THIS AMP AS A BACKUP NOW. I THINK IT HAS EARNED A LITTLE TIME OFF. I STILL USE IT FOR PRACTICE OCCASIONALLY BECAUSE IT IS JUST FUN.
I HAVE USED IT OFTEN WITHOUT A BACKUP. LIKE I SAID JUST TURN IT ON AND PLAY. BUILT LIKE A TANK.

COMPANY IS LONG GONE.

BEEN PLAYING 36 YEARS. HAVE THIS HEAD AND A HARTKE HA4000. PLAY BOTH OF THEM THROUGH ACOUSTIC CABINETS. IF THIS WAS LOST OR STOLEN I WOULD FIND ANOTHER TO REPLACE IT. STILL HOLDS ITS OWN WITH MOST OF THE NEW STUFF OUT THERE, BUT IT IS SO MUCH SIMPLER.

this amp was made in the 70s. this amp has the perfect sounds for all the music i play. i wish it had a fuzz on it that would be cool.
i also wish i could get a footswich for it (me and my guitarist are trying to build one right now). this amp was found in the trash by the people i got it from so naturally somethings dont work. 2 of the graphic equalizers dont work and the power boost and the bright swich dont work( but i wouldnt really use the bright swich).i must admitt that i am using a PA speaker with it( i really need a new cab), but i am amazed at how well this thing pushes power through that little bitch.

i have read reviews that say that this amp sucks for their sound.
I only have one thing to say to that.... BULL COCKS!!!
this amp has sounds for everyone even with the broken equalizers and swiches. I use an ibanez SR405 with active bass pickups and it works great. it makes a little noise when some of the equalizers are all the way up, but not enopough to matter. there is no distortion at any volume.

i can depend on this thing to save my life. enough said

hahahaha
bull shit acoustic control corporation is no longer in existance

im only 14 and ive only been playing for about 2 years, however in that short span of time i have played many amps and such things. and i have to say this thing takes the cake. i love every thing about this . i hate pick bass players(haha Fuck you mark hoppus).

Plenty.
Enough to get good sounds.It gets THE sound I want.Wish it had a distortion like on the ACOUSTIC 360.
Graphic EQ is best for me with only slight and subtle boosts and cuts.
I avoid the bright switch as it is REALLY bright.
I use this to power a vintage TRAYNOR YCV-18" cabinet.A massive cabinet that features a single "semi-folded horn 18" Cerwin Vega speaker.

This thing is loud as Hell!
I have read reviews on ACOUSTIC 220s that claim this head to be "underpowered"????
Wrong.
People may assume it is underpowered because of the wattage.
According to acoustic360.com the 220 is 125watts @ 4ohms and 160watts@ 2ohms.This is based on a late 70s ACOUSTIC catalog.
However, there is a catalog from 1981 that states the 220 is 170watts @ 4ohms and 210watts @ 2ohms.
Maybe mine is the higher wattage.I suspect that those who claim this head is weak are probably playing it through a modern 8ohm cabinet.
All I know is that through my 4ohm TRAYNOR 18" this thing is thunderous.This head/cabinet replaces an ASHDOWN 400 watt head and two 8ohm 4x10s and I can assure you with 100% certainty that the 220 is much MUCH louder.The tone is great too.Sounds alot to me like a more beefy Galien Krueger.I can nail the thick and tubby John Paul Jones early Zep tone perfectly with my USA Fender Jazz bass.Think "How Many More Times" and "Dazed and Confused."
It also distorts/overdrives very well at higher volumes.

Gotta give it a 10.
This amp was found in the back of a closet at my friend's studio.
He calls me up and "hey,do you wanna a stupid OLD bass amp I found?" and of course I said yes.This amp is over 20 years old and all it needed was a clean up.
It is very heavy and is built like a fortress.

Acoustic control has been dead for a long time.

R. I. P.

This is a superb amp.
I can hardly believe this was one of ACOUSTIC's "lesser" amps.
The 370,360 and 320 were the flagships.
I am totally fed up with modern bass gear.Basses and amplification.
I am also a huge critic of most current bass players/playing styles etc.I play B A S S.I like big booming tone when I play.Show me a bass cabinet with a tweeter or a high frequency horn and I will show nothing but my contempt.When should anything "high frequency" be included in bass amplification?
I play USA Fender 4 string basses strung with flatwound strings.
I am in a three piece(power trio)that plays heavy-psychedelic-blues rock.The combination of the ACOUSTIC 220 and TRAYNOR cabinet is perfect for my needs.Here is a list of past head/cabs that my current rig beats Hell out of:
GALIEN KRUEGER 800RB w/ SWR 2x10 and AMPEG BSE 1x15--way too bright
and modern.
ASHDOWN Mag400 w/ (2)FENDER/SUNN 4x10s--better than the GK but still very modern and clean.
AMPEG SVT-IIIPro w/ same FENDER/SUNN cabs.Warmer but somehow underpowered.
I am totally satisfied with the 220 and am currently somewhat obssessed with vintage ACOUSTIC and other vintage bass amps as well .I look on EBAY daily for other amps/cabs by ACOUSTIC and SUNN,TRAYNOR,AMPEG and even some of the old PEAVEYs look pretty dangerous.

I somehow got that monster in weight from the former bassist from german punk band Terrorgruppe for the ammount of 400.- DM in about 1992.Since then I played it in nummerous gigs with various kinds of bands(Mod bands,Punkrock,Garage and even Reggae and Ska stuff)I never had to turn up the Volume pot to full power,even on big stages.I never intended to become deaf,so I still got no tinnitus and not the slightest reason to turn it completely up.Used instruments were mainly my old 4001 rickenbasstard, but I also played old german semiacoustics,old Ibanez basses and other 4 stringers(but I never had or used a Fender...)I also never used the Bright switch,don`t like to sound like a guitar.I also never did anything between the amp and the bass exept a lead, so I don`t miss an FX loop or other wimpy sh...could sound a little valvier,but its pretty ok.

So, I mainly use my old single coil `73 4001 on this large,heavy thing and that's the main reason that I don`t need any FX stuff to get a cool,snotty and dynamic punkrock or garage sound.And I always use my fingers and I never possessed a pick.Sometimes I use the power boost to get it a little snottier,but when I play with my Ska band, its no problem to use the eq to sound smooth and round.I think, that old and rusty thing really has some character sound,I never liked that hifi sh... amps like Trace E. or similar modern gear.maybe I`m completely old fashioned,but I don`t give a f...

ok.,about a week ago it had a complete breakdown in the master section, but that was all that ever happened.Of course it happened on stage, but luckily during the soundcheck.But up to this point I never had any problems and it really sometimes hit the floor... I also blew more than one speaker cabinet with it, usually JBLs or E-voice 15 Bs...

never needed any support besides carrying my whole heavy gear...

I hate the weight and love the sound.If it would be stolen, I think I would try to get the same again. I also own an old Trace 100, but I just use it for home practising. And there is also an old german Tube amp with lot of watts, but its not half as reliable as my 220,although it sounds better...Besides that,has anyone out there blueprints of a rear loaded horn, that would fit an E-voice 15B? I'd like to build myself one to use it with my 220 in my Ska/reggae band...

I bought this new in the mid to late 70's and gigged with it for a number of years before heading to the U.S. from England. This had to be one of the first bass amps with a five band eq and in its day it, with its Acoustic brothers was THE amp. It has (I still own it) a foot switchable on/off for the eq, the usual tone controls and both bright and boost switches. I played in an eight piece band including a three piece brass section and we did every thing from big band tunes to rock, funk and disco, sorry about that one! It has high and low inputs but they're not switchable.

I used this with my 72 Precision and used it to drive an Acoustic 408 cabinet with 4 15" speakers. The combination was awesome. My previous rig was a Marshall half stack which was simply blown away by the Acoustic. I still use it at home (no more gigging) nd its as quiet as ever and I've never had to have a thing done to it. I still have the P bass but also use a Fodera Victor Wooten Signature which sounds great through anything. I am now driving a Trace Elliot 15 and a 1 x10 which don't match up to the 408 but let's me rattle the pictures off the walls.

I gigged with this for a half dozen years working at least one night a week with at least 4 nights a week in the summer. I still have it and use it and not one thing has had to be repaired. It still looks and plays like it did the day I brought it home. (I still have the original cover too.)

No need for support, which is just as well as they no long exist.

I've been playing guitar and bass for 40 years and have owned a lot of gear. I actively gigged for 15 of those years. I see some people complain about the power of this amp but for me it was and is more than up to the job that I bought it for. With three brass players and only one guitar player my cutting through needs might have been different than most but this amp simply rocks. Coupled with the 408 cab it had the sweetest bass soound and feel I've ever experienced. I've tried Trace, Eden and Marshall all of which are good but none of which are better. I understand these now go for about $200 to $300. Get one if you can. The thing weighs a ton but so does the tone.

I don't know what year the amp was built in, but i know it's got to be at least late seventies. I mainly play at church but sometimes i play in church halls that are sort of large and this amp is always performed well. It only has one channel but is all I need I use a couple of Peavey basses, a T-40 which I have made a fretless bass and a Fury and I get good tone from both of them. I also own a peavey criterion bass head also from the late seventies and the tone doesn't compare, the model 220 kicks its butt.

Like I said, I use two old peavey basses a T-40 and a Fury, I have also used a P-Bass and they all sound good

It is very reliable. I bought it used for 50.00 and never had to have it repaired or nothing.

Acoustic went out of business in the 80's

I have been playing this amp for about five years and is been a very reliable amp. I used combos before and nothing compares to the sound, I use a Peavey 115 cabinet with an eminence speaker and like I said before the thing is got sweet tone. Sometimes i wish it had more power, i run it at four ohms so I only get about 120 watts.

I bought this amp new in 1978 and used it heavily (3 - 5 nights a week) for ten years. In 1978 it kicked some serious butt, but these days it's kind of wimpy.
I'm posting some comments here on Harmony Central about it in case a beginner or someone else interested in buying an old amp comes across one.
For most styles, it's pretty versatile, since it has (passive) three band EQ, AND a 5 Band Graphic EQ. In 1978 having a graphic EQ on your bass amp was considered "de reguer". Unlike the larger Acoustic 370/470 series, the 220 doesn't have enough power to move mountains.
The Acoustic "sound" is very direct, not very colored (unless you drive it into distortion), this amp does not have a "sound" like the Ampeg SVT or V4B.
The Acoustic 220 only has one channel, for bass that's pretty much enough. The Graphic EQ is footswitchable, but you have to use a proprietary (square plug, with multiple pins) footswitch with it. Since you pretty much need to use the EQ to get a decent tone from this head this isn't that big of a deal.
If you come across one of these THAT HAD a footswitch, MAKE SURE the EQ is engaged. Otherwise you can't use the graphic EQ, unless you hacked into the thing and figured out a way to select the EQ in/out switching.
There is no F/X loop per se, but there is a loop between the pre amp and power amp sections. You can patch an effect unit into this loop, or use the preamp, or power amp sections by themselves by using this loop. Pretty forward thinking for 1978...
No headphone jack, this was pretty much a rarity way back in 1978.
WISH LIST (keeping in mind the vintage of the amp)
1. Active EQ - You can only add EQ with this head, not subtract it, UNLESS you use the Graphic EQ. Having an active EQ section with cut and boost would have been nice.
2. MORE POWER - These days, 300 watts is kind of the norm, and this amp, although rated at 160 watts only puts out 160 AT 2 OHMS.
The more normally used 4 ohm output is 125 watts at 4 OHMS.
ALSO - The rated power is AT 5% DISTORTION!!! Yeah that's right, 5%. Since most amps these days are rated at .05% or so, this thing gets furry long before you hit the rated power. 3. SMALLER SIZE - In 1978 having a big amp was cool, but this thing is WAY too wide to fit on a rack and not look stupid, and about 6" too wide to fit on top of a contemporary (23" wide) bass cabinet.
When I took the cover off the chassis, I noticed there was a ton of empty space inside. Now part of this was to accomodate the fact that the power transistors, while mounted on a small heat sink have NO Venting to the outside air, they still could have made the head a little narrower and had enough air space.
Things I never used - the Bright Switch. - WAY TOO BRIGHT and adds a ton of hiss. I guess this switch was designed for use with Fender Precisions or something. Since I used Rickenbackers a lot with this amp, the bright switch was just overkill.
POWER BOOST SWITCH - The purpose of this seemed to be to directly proceed into clipping with having to bother to turn up much.
I guess if you were going for a mondo distorted sound (think Cream with Jack Bruce style) it would be useful, but I found I got more power with less distortion just by turning the volume up.
If you played this amp with the power boost switch in, and turned it up about half way, your speaker life would probably be measured in minutes since the clipping would quickly fry the voice coil.
I used this amp for ten years, driving two homemade 1 x 15" bass cabs loaded with (K130's for the first four years) JBL E-140's. It was pretty loud then, but had a hard time competing with dual Marshall 100 watt stacks. I used to blow a JBL about once a year or so, because I was overheating the voice coils with clipping from the amp.
In the amp's defense, it never shut down, blew a fuse or anything. It just clipped a lot, which eventually would fry the speakers.
I was lucky because with the JBL 5 year warranty, I never had to pay for a recone...
For modern, relatively

I used the amp mainly with Rickenbacker basses (a 4001 for about 6 years, then a 4003). I also used it with a Charvel "Star" bass (P/J pickup config, and with a Kramer Aluminum neck 8 string).
It was a great amp for rock, although a little low on power. Keep in mind I played back then (late 70's/early to mid 80's) in bands with maniac guitar players with 100 watt Marshall stacks who "just had to get their tone by turning it up to 11", so for a more realistic volume it would work well.
It puts out a fair amount of hiss, but not too bad for being so old. It almost NEVER HUMMED, something I find much more annoying than hiss. I guess the power supply was well shielded.
You can get a wide variety of sounds, depending on the bass and the EQ settings - In particular this amp does a bright sound very well, it does not sound tinny when you crank the highs.
The distortion can be kind of cool - I've been meaning to use this amp on a recording, in order to capture a little of that "Geddy Lee" growl in addition to the DI sound. The distorted tone is not a real fat, round sound like with a tube amp of course, but it farts out pretty nicely, it doesn't sound like it's ready to blow.
Again like I said, I abused this amp into clipping for ten years, and it never even blew a fuse...
The sound is more 70's retro though - I go for a loud hi-fi sound these days, so I don't like the Acoustic 220 that much, but for the right kind of band it could work well.

THE MOST RELIABLE PIECE OF GEAR I'VE EVER OWNED.
This thing traveled all up and down the east coast, was dropped, took abuse at practice and gigs (imagine 6 hour practices and gigs where we would play 4 sets all the time), it never even blew a fuse.
One time, at practice I was played and the head vibrated off the top of my bass stack (about 5 1/2 high) ONTO A CONCRETE FLOOR!
The only reason I noticed was that the sound got kind of muffled because the falling head, plugged into the cabs, took the first cab with it onto the concrete. The sound got kind of muffled and I looked around and went OH SH*********. Shut it off, picked everything back up and fired it up, it worked fine. This was when the amp was 3 years old, and it's still working 17 years later.
THE ONLY thing that ever went wrong with this amp was that after it had sat for about 6 years, I pulled it out once to see how it sounded.
I plugged it in and the power came right on, the power switch was not working.
I pulled the chassis out of the cabinet, and found a capacitor across the power switch that had one solder joint broken. I resoldered this and the switch worked fine.
It's funny, but this was the first (and only) time I ever saw the inside of the amp.
You can't beat an Old Acoustic for reliablity - they are just the best

I can't say because I never needed their support.
When I bought the amp (for $330), they had an offer to extend the one year warranty to a lifetime for another $70.
I didn't take them up on it because:
1. I didn't think I would have the amp 20 years later
2. I knew it would be reliable
Acoustic went out of business in the mid 80's, so it looks like I made the right choice. Even if something had gone wrong, the company wouldn't be around to honor the "Lifetime" warranty...

I've been playing for a while (how else could I have bought a new amp in 1978!) and after using this amp for ten years, I graduated to a preamp/power amps setup with the same cabs.
These days I run a pretty large, powerful (1100 watts) biamped rig that sounds killer - the old Acoustic just can't compete with it.
I still enjoy pulling it out though, I use it a lot for just playing/practicing by myself, or messing around. It sounds pretty good actually, and would certainly do better than a 100 watt Crate or Peavey practice amp.
If it were lost or stolen, I think I would get another, just for nostalgia sake. The Acoustic 220 was my first piece of PRO gear, and just like you always remember the first "lay", I have a fondness for this amp because of all the abuse it took and never let me down.
I don't really hate anything about it, more power would have been nice, but hey back then (1978) I thought the power was absolutely crushing - most people that heard this amp agreed that it was pretty loud.
Compared to the amp it replaced (a 50 watt Kustom combo, in black tuck and roll splendor) this amp sounded huge - I was in heaven with it and a new Rickenbacker and two 15" JBL's.
One thing I like about it is the styling. Acoustic had this classy paint scheme (Kind of light blue/dark blue, and white) that still looks good today - you can tell this is an old amp, but it's not embarrasing to look at.
Like I said, for a beginner looking for a fairly cheap, AND RELIABLE head, I highly recommend the Acoustic 220. Also, if you want a piece of Acoustic history, and don't want to pay the high tariff that the bigger 360/370/470 heads command, the 220 is a good bet. Just don't plan on using it as your only amp in a high volume situation.
I compared it to some comtemporary heads (1978ish) made by Peavey nd Road (remember those) and the Acoustic kicked their butts. In those days, there were not really very many choices in bass amps, and unless you had the fundage for an SVT setup, you generally got an Acoustic.
The 220 was a budget model, and a little low on power, but compared to other "budget" amps, it was much better.
ONE LAST THING -
Shortly after the 220 came out, Acoustic came out with another variation, called the 120.
DON'T BOTHER WITH ONE OF THESE!!!!
They are really wimpy, and they just don't have the same bottom end. They are rated at 125 watts at 2 Ohms, but at 4 ohms, I think they are more like 80 watts.
I had a friend in the early 80's who wanted to replicate my rig, because he like the sound of it so much.
He decided to save a few bucks by buying the 120 head, and then bought my old JBL K130's (this was when I switched to the E-140's).
After he built his cabs, and loaded my old speakers, he was totally disappointed in his sound.
He brought his rig by practice, and we A/B'd them, including swapping speaker cabs.
He was bitching about the speakers not sounding right, but quickly realized it was the head. His head sounded totally wimpy compared to mine, running the same speakers.
I think he saved maybe $50/$60 and was sorry that he didn't spend the extra money.
In this case, the extra watts were worth the money...
I'm trying to reign in the nostalgia here, chances are something like a Hartke combo, or SWR Workingman combo will sound better than the Old Acoustic 220. If you find one in decent shape for $100 - $150 though you can't go wrong, I recommend it on reliablity alone.
RATING (in 1978 terms) 8
RATING (in 1998 terms) 5
Being truthful, sometimes the "good old days" turn out to not be quite that good. My 220 has given my a lot of good service and good memories though, so I give it an 8 for "old times sake"