Acoustic Control Corporation 370

The Acoustic 370 Bass Head is the ""BOMB"" just vol.,bass, mid.,treble and brite switch which is way to much and a 5 band EQ. is all you need. Came out in 74' with just the right amount features for any gig. This thing is powerful: rated 365 R.M.S.@ 2ohms ; 275 @ 4ohms will run all day long and blow the doors off any new amp on the market today!! Sample to opperate E.Z to use with no frills; 2 speakers outputs, pre-amp out, and power-amp in; handle in the side and a long power cord. 40 lbs.

Sounds fantastic; other bass players always come up and tell what a great sound I have,[ I just smile and thank them ] It really sound like a tube amp. I've owed old Sunn Model-Ts and Ampeg SVTs and it really sound like they did""Great"" dial it in and smoke !! I've been playing for 30yrs, I use a P.bass,Dan Armstrong,gibson explorer.They all sound Great with this amp. It's a little noisy, wouldn't record with it. But what ever style rock, jazz/country it will""Nail it"" and it's got that great grind that my tube amps have, GO FIGURE !!

Acoustic Control Corp. Has gone the way of the DooDoo, but 30yrs and still kickin is the real test[""RIGHT""] GiG with it all the time instead of my classic tube amps!!!!!!

Any Good amp tech, enough said.

Players Amp"" ROCKS"" loud,clear,fat and punchy with grind< What a bass amp was ment to be"" THE BOMB""

The amp was originaly manufactured in the early 1970's. Its got everything you need...volume, treble, mid, bass pots, bright switch and EQ....did I mention power/volume!! Man does it have volume!!I've owned many different amps...but always come back to my trusted 370. In the PA world one rule of thumb is "theres no such thing as too much power". And in the "Bass World" theres no such this as too much power. Thats how and why this amp works/sounds like it does.....lots of headroom before distortion. Hartke, SWR, Trace, GK..why don't you get your hands on a few of these and learn how to make a "Real" Bass Amp again. If acoustic made this amp today (2004)and added a "direct out" I'm sure it would Dominate, the Bass amp market.

You can use this "thumper" for anything you want. I've been playing Bass for over 30 years. All styles or music, played in dives, concert halls and recording studios. Tried most of the new stuff out there and nothing, nothing beats an acoustic. I play a 1972 Ric 4001, 1985 Ibanez PL5050, 2000 Fender 5 string Jazz Bass...you can't make this amp distort..as if a Bass player would want distortion. Clear/clean & mean. Lots of low end thump/punchy mids/ and high end that can part your hair. I use this amp with a EV 2-15/HF Driver cabinet. With this amp you can put Guitar players w/100 Watt Marshall Full Stacks in their place...if you know what I mean!!

Bought mine in about 82, used..finally cooked a resistor a few months ago...but it was "rode hard and put away wet" for 27+ years before the first problem.....they just don't make them like this any more. Decided it was time to restore mine back to factory fit and finish. (Yes you can still find most parts, even original Tolex..original knobs/sliders are Rare!!) For awhile it was my "backup" got kicked around the back of a trailor (no case or cover) for 5 years. Rattled the screws right out of it....but still worked/sounded great!! I'm pretty sure thats why the resistor finally failed, cracked solder joint.. Its built like a tank!

I have heard that Samick purchased the "acoustic" name..but haven't seen any new amps?? The orginal warranty was LIFETIME. Never needed it though. Mines been through 2-3 lifetimes with one small problem. If you can find one....buy it!!

Been playing 30 plus years, Lost or stolen...must have another..period. It plain kicks butt..if you have one...you will compare all others to it..its the "benchmark" bar none. I also own a acoustic 150 and B-3, the B-3 has more modern features..but is not as reliable...and doesn't have that raw power and "in your Face sound".

I bought this amp used in about '85 for $175. I've been playing for about 35 years, and in that time I have covered a lot of different styles and used a lot of different equipment. I've played mostly Fender basses, and gone through Bassmans, SVTs, B15s, V4Bs, I used a Sunn Coliseum for many years, and also a variety of rack-mount setups, including an Alembic preamp and an Ashley preamp. This is my favorite amp of all! It's clean and has a nice friendly bottom, and the EQ is really cool for bassists in that it's all in the bass range. You can shape your sound a lot.
You know how every room you play in is really a big bass cabinet, which has always driven me crazy trying to get my sound across without drowning out the band. I have filled notebooks up with amp settings for this amp, but the point is that it comes through everywhere. Great controls for me.

I play a Precision with PJ pickups, and a stock Jazz. I play mostly blues, country, and older rock styles, sometimes jazz. I'll play with my fingers, a pick, and often muting with a pick for tic-tac style. I plug into an old SWR 4x10 and turn the tweeter off. Ilike my sound kind of dark, but with punch. This amp is great for that.

I've had this amp for almost 20 years. I didn't play for a while and so it sat in the basement. Still works and sounds great. I took it to a party recently where somebodyelse's Trace Elliot died, and a bunch of guys played through mine instead. Everybody was real complimentary about the amp. In the whole time I've had it I only needed to have it repaired once, when some resistor died. I think that's pretty good for 20 years.

The company is history, but I have a great repairman and he tells me which amps are worth the money. He doesn't have a problem with the 370.

This is a great BASS amp! If it got lost or stolen, I'd find another. How often do you hear somebody say that about anything?

Features are extremely stripped down on this amp. You have Volume, Treble, Midrange, and Bass, as well as a very handy Graphic EQ. There is also a Bright Switch which I prefer to never use, but could be useful for bassers (hehe) who need that brighter sound, for slap style bass or whatever. Single channel, 365 watts, two speaker outs, two monitor outs. I think one feature that would seriously put this amp over the top (in a good way) would be to have built in distortion, ala the 360 head. However, simply throw a good distortion pedal, like a Rat (my personal fave) or a Big Muff in front of it and VOILA.

The sound is indescribable, but I will do my best. The setup is as follows: Fender Mexican Jazz Bass--->Proco Rat Vintage--->Electro Harmonix Deluxe Electric Mistress Flanger--->Acoustic 370 head--->Ampeg B25B 2x15 and Sunn 6x10. I'm playing in a noisy, aggressive indie rock band, similar in ways to Shellac, the Jesus Lizard, the Monorchid, Queens of the Stone Age, et.al. It can get a little noisy (negative feedback, hum) with the Rat engaged, but it is controllable.

I'll be honest...The first time I plugged the amp in and played through it, I was at my band's practice space by myself. And to my ear, the amp sounded best with all the mids scooped out. Um...well, to anyone who knows the first thing about amplifiers, scooping the mids is a MISTAKE, and it is a mistake millions of guitarists initially make. So, we practiced a day or two later, and I was completely and utterly disappointed. The bass was thin and almost inaudible, with the volume set to 6! Fortunately, the next day I stumbled upon the Acoustic products website. They had the manual for the 370, as well as recommended settings for certain sounds. I immediately went back to the space and reset all the tone controls and the graphic EQ. Holy shit! It was a whole new world. Punchy, deep, bonerattling, etc etc etc, all the while remaining clear and articulate. And LOUD! Dear god is this amp loud. I still turn the volume to about 4 or 5 simply because we are an excessively loud band, but I can imagine 2 being more than sufficient for someone in a slightly, um, quieter band, hehe. Oh, the amp does fine without the Rat in the signal too. Totally clean, deep, and again, loud. We played our first show last night, and all night and into the day today, I have gotten nothing but compliments on my bass tone. This is one of the greatest amps ever!

I've only owned it for about a week and a half. But it has delivered like a true champ thus far. I can't imagine ever being careless or absent-minded enough to drop this amp, regardless of it's supposed "bulletproof-ness." Anyway, no signs of anything giving out anytime soon. The amp has obviously been around the block a few times, i.e. it is pretty scratched up on the faceplate and the rear. But...yeah. It works, it rocks, enough said for now.

Acoustic went out of business when I was in kindergarten. But I'd be willing to bet I could find a local amp repair shop that could service it should anything eventually go wrong. But from what I've read on this site, apparently Acoustic offered a lifetime warranty for all their gear. Regardless of them being defunct now, that alone makes me give them a 10 in this category. Way to go Acoustic. You are sorely missed.

I've been a guitar player for the past 10 years. Only recently did I pick up the bass. But I knew from day one that if I was going to play bass in a band, I wanted the perfect bass setup for my style. Ladies and gentlemen, this is it. The only gear I will even consider using for bass is Acoustic and Sunn (and some older Ampeg stuff as well). If this were stolen, I'd have to revert back to the amp I was using for bass initially: a Traynor 100 watt solid state guitar head. And believe me, this 370 head has 1,000 times more, um, "balls" than that amp or any other I've tried out. I absolutely love everything about it. It sounds phenomenal, like the earth is crumbling beneath your feet. It also looks very, very cool onstage. I even almost FEEL cool for a brief second whenever I turn around and look back at it. Because I know that I'm playing through the finest, loudest, and yes, most visually pleasing amp in the world.

this is a great amp especialy for he blues players mongst you doesn't quite have the top end for slap though but. I use this beast for gigs an large venues through out the UK and it has loads of juice if you use a big enough CAB to handle it, it will blow your head off!.

this amp can take you from the big beefy sounds that as a bass player we all love right down to those occasions when you need to make your bass sound like a guitar and it can do it all with that big retro sound

all i can say is 35years and it still has all the same parts that it had the day it left the factory how many amps can have that sort of problem free life

the company died in the early 80's or so i believe so!!!!! not alot to say there

for #150 i got a 1x18 bass reflex acoustic 301 cab an acoustic 403 4x12 cab and the acoustic 370 head all in full working order for the price it is a must! only down side was no manual but you can find them easy enough you really have to try one out if you like your bass to be heard and have a big car, and long for that big retro sound try one of these bad boys out personally i think they can blow swr eden ampeg trace etc out of the water.

This amp is about 1973. It is 365watts into 2 ohms according to the owner's manual. It is single channel, with a strange bright switch (4db/octave boost from 200Hz-5KHz) designed to force some highs out of a folded horn 18" cab. The input impedance is only 33k, but plugging a dummy plug into the unused input jack raises this to about 500k. This is a classic, in-your-face thumper.

I gave this amp to my girlfriend to replace her GK1001RB...a good amp but GK service messed it up bad, so it sits in the attic, unplayed. She is thrilled. It is loud, with an authority not present in the GK. I will update the bright switch to match modern amps, and add an effects loop, and it needs all the electrolytics changed, but it is a keeper. This will surfice until we get her toroid transformer all tube bass amp built...using ceramic radio transmitter tubes.

Input stage distortion, if the input is pushed too hard, is brutal. There is a crude AGC limiting (automatic gain control) that seems to keep the power amp clean.

The edge connectors have been removed and the boards are hard wired...which indicates a previous owner had problems. I'm a tech, and have the owner's manual and schematic, so I'll keep this beast running. All the electrolytics should be replaced.

Acoustic is gone...

My girlfriend is an 80's metalhead. This will be a great amp for her. I have no idea where we'd find another. This one was given to me to use for parts...and it was working just fine. I'll beef up the power supply a bit with bigger electrolytics, and changing out the many other electrolytics should make a happy, and cleaner amp.

1977
I am a R&B, Jazz, Funk player, Studio musician, Recording Engineer.
This amp has never failed me for 25 years!
But it's starting to distort a little, Does anyone know where I can get a repair manual? This amp Is a badd Boy!! Email me at:
cngpage@surfsouth.com

I have a '74 Fodera Butterfly(The 70th bass fodera made) with a musicman pickup, A custom '77 fender Jazz with Alembic series 1 bass pickups and electronics(a one of a kind bass). About 6 or 7 other basses. A custom made 2-15 bass cab with 4 piezo tweeters.
For all you Thumb slappers, I recommend these tweeters, You dont have to worry about burn-out, plus they give you all he highs you need.
The 370 bass head is the most reliable amp I have ever used. Have you ever Had a head quit in the middle of a major gig? I have and the amp is made from a well known company. Its very embarassing!. I wanted to retire the 370 but after that show, I have never used anything else but "ol Bulah"

100% if you take care of it!!

Im tring to find a repair manual with parts list so I can do an overhaul.

Please email me at:cngpage@surfsouth.com

I have been playing for 27 years now.

My acoustic 370 is a 1970 model i believe. It is a very stripped down beast but it has what is important...tons of relentless bass. i bought it 10 years ago with a peavey 1x18 ($400 for the rig)....didnt use it much, just ocassionally for recording direct. recently, the 18"er died and now i am using an Ampeg svt-4x10 in my band Lactose Quervo (go to mp3.com to hear us!)and it sounds killa! i can finally be heard...i was playing through a fender bassman 100...nice combo, but too small for medium clubs and it isnt very present on the stage.

i play a 73 P-Bass with original pickups and i added a baddass tailpiece. the sound this amp cranks out with the addition of the Ampeg cabinet is just what i've been looking for. I have kind of a strange ,simplistic (for the most part) rock style. i like to create a big thick deep warm pocket for the band to play within. i cant imagine cranking this thing up over 3.5. i played it with a chorus peddle and it sounded awesome. i have a big muff thay i want to try on it next. it's gonna be scary... hehe. for me this amp is it...if i was a jazz or funk player i would want to add a serious pre-amp for more tonal variation

i had to take it to a repair shop a few months ago because of a strong hiss problem and one of the eq bands didnt work. i also had a grounded cord added , because it still had the original 2 pronger. it was $90
for all that, and i hadnt really played it hardly at all(for the last 10 years ) and only at very low volumes. i only started playing bass regularly like 7 months ago. time will tell... i think i might have my luthier give it the once over because we have a lot of gigs up and coming.

the acoustic company used to offer a lifetime warranty...the guy that owned this before me bought it used and had the same hiss problem i had (probably 20 years ago) and the repair shop did it free even after acoustic had gone under. there is no support any more, but the fun thing is how excited the folks at electronic repair shops get when they see the acoustic 370. it's as if they were a seeing an old friend.

hated thing: it's HEAVY!

love: it puts out so much bass and has more volume capacity than any other bass amp i have played through. i compared it to similar wattage SWR's, Hartke's, trace elliots, ...none could compare.

I don't know the exact year this amp was made. I do know that these were made in the late 60's early 70's. Bought mine used yesterday. Been looking for one of these for a long time and I finally lucked out. Friend of mine had been given this one and he never used it. I got it for a deuce. So many reviews here I don't need to be redundant.

I play a Fender Precision with both pick and fingers. I'm an older guy who's taste runs to Rainey, McCartney, Carol Kaye, JOe Osborne, Duck Dunne, and Will Lee. I use Thomastic flats and I don't "snap, crackle, and pop". I play BASS...and this amp does exactly what it is supposed to do for me. The tone controls are fairly 'moderate' and smooth. The EQ points on the graphic are kinda strange....50, 100, 200, 300, 400...but then again, this amp was designed over 30 years ago when playing bass was something totally different than it is now...

All you Hartke folks.....open up your amp head and take a look inside. Then if you can, look inside an Acoustic 370. That will explain why there are so many of these amps are still around and still working. There is no substitute for hand-wired, point-to-point circuitry. How many Hartkes will last 30 years?

The company is history like so many other companies who sacrificed a profit margin to build something GOOD. The warranty for these amps was LIFETIME when you bought one. I don't ever anticipate having to have it repaired. These amps simply do not crap out.

I've been playing bass casually about 35 years. I'm actually a guitar player who just wants to keep his bass chops up so I play bass in a band on weekends. There simply is no other amp to compare this with. I borrowed 370's for gigs from everyone I knew who had one because there was nothing out there I trusted or could afford. I waited for the right 370 to come along and now I own it.

This amp was purchased in late '76 or early '77 as a package along with an Acoustic 408 4x15" cabinet to replace my existing GMT 200B/18" folded horn setup. The amp was always sufficient for the country rock bands I worked with and the equalization gave enough tonal flexibility that I would occasionally get complements on how my playing "sounded just like one 'a them bass fiddles". I liked the well-marked controls and the no-nonsense styling-other than the EQ the amp had just the necessary controls I needed and nothing else.

I've had a '65 P-Bass since about 1968 (no mods to pickups except losing the weird chrome pickup guard)and have always felt that the amp's tone quality blended well with what I attempted to put down as a backing player-a solid melodic bottom that "disappears" into the band's collective sound but propels dancers around the floor like mind control. Not having a ton of experience with big tube amps, I can only compare it to tube amps like Fender Twins etc. and it has always been nearly silent at all volume settings-no 60 cycle hum, ringing or squealing. Since I alway strove for a pretty clean tone at "reasonable" volume, I've never noticed any distortion at all and am not sure how high you'd have to go to get some. Let Mikey try it, he likes everything...

Life's been good to me so far. I've never had a backup for this amp and have never been let down. It still has the original fuses in it as far as I can recall, everything works like new and the pots and EQ sliders are quiet. It's a stone to carry around, though-Acoustic didn't skimp on material when they made it.

As above, I never needed any repair, but I think the company stood by the perceived quality of their product. Acoustic (the Company) is long gone but the amps play on.

I've been playing since about '67 (that 'ol devil rock 'n roll got me and hasn't turned loose yet). I still have my first bass-a Domino (Hofner "Beatle Bass" copy) that I bought in Japan for $35. Also have a Gibson Marauder and a little Crate GX-15 to noodle around on. Plus an old Bogen ported 2x12" cabinet (2 really smoooth Jensens inside)that works nicely for bass/guitar both. In fact, I've got a little blues gig tomorrow afternoon, and that 24 year old amp is gonna be right behind me, like always. I may have paid more at the start, but 24 years of service for $0 maintenance is hard to beat.