Acme Low B Cabs

[Earl Schreyer (eschreyer2)]

Hi All,
Has anyone else tried the Acme Low B cabs. I just wanted to tell you all that I have one, and I really like it very much. I bought the 2x10 B2(2x10, 5, horn) because I was looking for a small cab that packed a major punch. Let me tell you, this cab is awesome for it's size. The sound is excellent as well (real hi-fi type). Let me know if you guys have checked these out yet, and tell me what you think.
http://www.acmebass.com/
Thanks,
Earl
 

[Jonathan Johnstone (stoney)]

Hi Earl,
 
Yea, we've discussed them a lot. Check out the thread Eden vs SWR (input request)under this Miscellaneous listing (or type ACME in the search engine). I have a Low B-2 and a Low B-1, currently.  Will most likely buy one more of each.  What are you driving yours with?
 
Coming to you from sunny Silver Spring, MD
 
Stoney

[Earl Schreyer (eschreyer2)]

Hey Stoney,
Glad to hear you discovered these cabs also, what do you think? I guess you must like them if your considering more. I was thinking of getting one more low b2, I just need to sell my monster 8x10 (Ampeg) before I can justify it.
I use a crown powerbase1 power amp and a Trace Elliot GP12XV (Tube, rare) preamp.
I'm from Maryland too! My parents live in Potomac. Did the snow melt yet?
Talk to you soon,
Earl
 

[Michael Delacerda (dela217)]

Just curious guys, anyone compare the Acme 2X10 to the Bag End 2x10?  I love my Bag End, but I have been hearing  sooo much about the Acme, I would like to know how it compares.  I hear of folks comparing their 2x10 Acme boxes to that of cabinets with 18 inch drivers in them.  Any truth to the bottom end these Acme's produce?  Talk to me.

[Earl Schreyer (eschreyer2)]

Hi Michael,
I haven?t tried the Bag End, so I wouldn?t be able to comment on a comparison. However, I can tell you the low end is incredible for a cabinet this size. The low-mids, mids, and highs are great too. I?ve  played through a lot of stuff in my day (usual suspects), but this is just my favorite. As you know, everybody has his or her own thing, so you?ll have to see if it works for you. Let?s see what Stoney has to say, but I?m sold, these are my cabinets from now on.
-Earl
 

[Jonathan Johnstone (stoney)]

Michael, I'm afraid I cannot offer you a comparison to Bag End either.
 
Earl.  I saw your post regarding Chuck Levin.  You and I had our custom jobs done around the same time. Bet you dealt with Todd or Paul.  
 
Re: Acme Low B-2.  I really like it although I haven't had it out much.  Currently I'm playing just about everything BUT bass with a local band. However, I can certainly attest to the fact that the response to lower frequencies is thunderous and I DON'T play a 5-string. Sometimes I tune down to a D and I'm blown away by what I'm hearing but mostly what the audience is feeling. That little box really puts out some sound.  I'm using an Alembic F-1X, a Stewart World 1.2 (700w @ 8ohms, 1200@ 4ohms)and I use my Trace Elliot as a pre-amp because I really like the tones I get from it. However I've had to go from the tuner out to the Stewart because the TE DI is pre-EQ.
 
Low B-1. I bought one of these recently and decided to drive it with an Euphonic Audio iAmp350. Unfortunately, I have recently discovered that the woffer was bad in the Low B-1.  Andy fixed it and it should be home soon.  However, I also sent back the iAmp 350 and worked out a deal for the iAmp 800.  The Euphonic Audio guys enlightened me a bit regarding the sensitivity of the Low B-1 (rated at 90) the Low B-2's are rated at (I think) 98. So the EA guy told me that their 350amp wouldn't have enogh power to make the Low B-1 work properly. Naturally he suggested I buy a few EA's at around 1,000 each (uuuhhh no thanks for now) But, now that I'm a little more educated, and hopefully you are too, things will work out better with my Low B-1.  I'm considering using a small stack of two of these for my keyboards.
 
My only criticism of the Low B-2 is that I can't seem to get the edgy - ripping sound out of it. At least not YET. I'm still in the R&D stage with the sound so my comment may be way off base.
 
Earl, most of the snow is gone with the exception of the large piles Montgomery County left in the middle of intersections!  We're expecting more on Monday.
 
Stoney

[David Burgess (dnburgess)]

I just bought 2 Acme B1s - the low end is easily better than my old 15 EV t-line.
 
Andy at Acme advised me that a QSC PLX1202 (325 wpc @ 4 ohms 20Hz-20kHz) would be plenty for the B1s (but not enough for B2s).
 
Stoneys comment re the iAmp350 has me worried though. Has anyone else had experience driving the B1s - let me know quickly whether I need to change my power amp order.

[Wally Malone (wally_malone)]

I've come to love the sound of Accugroove  cabinets. I  sold  my Eden 410XLT and 210XLT to buy the three-way 112 made by  Accugroove. It has a twelve, a six and two tweeters.  I'm  hearing  tones that  I have never experienced  with any other cabs. I used it in combination with my Eden Metro, a GK800RB and with a Merlin amp that I had borrowed to try. The Merlin was  absolutely the best. I used it with a casuals band with six pieces that played at a fairly loud  volume and the 112 Accugroove sounded great.  Everyone in the band that night said  it was the best tone I ever had. FYI, the bass I was using was my six-string Orion.
 
Wally

[Michael Paskel (Mikey) (pookeymp)]

Another fan of the Acme cabs here...very sweet sounding.  I own the Low B4 and the Low B2...and have another Low B2 on the way.  These cabs do produce monstrous, clean bottom end, sweet and clean mids and highs...Love 'em!!
 
Mikey

[Michael Paskel (Mikey) (pookeymp)]

 
 
(Message edited by pookeymp on March 10, 2003)

[Jonathan Johnstone (stoney)]

Hey Dave,  
The iAmp350 only pushes about 225 at 8ohms and 175 at 4ohms for each cabinet(that's where you get the 350 watts).  Andy did tell me that the 225 would ge good enough for the B-1 and that 175/cab at 4ohms would be enough to run two but the EA folks said, not likely. You're probably OK with the 350 for your B1.(geeeezzz let's hope so it is, after all, only one 10 speaker)

[Jonathan Johnstone (stoney)]

OOPS////Dave, I missread your post. 325 at FOUR ohms gives you, what, about 200 watts at 8 ohms? Unless you're buying a 4ohm B-1, I don't think that's enough. Can you run your amp in bridged mono and get it down to 4 ohms (using two 8ohm B-1's) That may do it.

[David Burgess (dnburgess)]

My B1s are 4ohm models so will get 325 watts each from the PLX1202. So should be ok - I'll report back once I've got the amp.
 
I think the iAmp 350 would be great with a single B1, assuming you can get the full 350 watts into a single 4ohm speaker - (I am thinking about it for an ultraportable setup) - but would be marginal driving 2 B1s.
 
Another small amp that gets good wraps is the Mesa Walkabout. I tried it (though not with an Alembic) in a store and it sounded nicer than much bigger SWR units.  

[Joey Wilson (bigredbass)]

It's amazing that two 'trends' I've seen forming in other places are materialising here:
 
FIRST, that the ACME products are the real deal,  
 
SECOND, while the old EUPHONIC transmission-line cabs are sorely missed, their amps can indeed be very quirky and less than stone-reliable, including some very mixed signals as far as customer support.
 
It would also seem that there are very few dedicated bass heads with enough steam to push the ACMEs.  I'd also consider that by their nature that they are exceptionally transparent cabinets;  introducing the distortion of a bass head vs. a power amp would be a question of taste.  
 
I've heard a guy here locally that stacks FOUR B-1s in a line array, and they sound great.
 
I've long agreed with EAW that three-ways are just superior to two-way cabinets.

[David Burgess (dnburgess)]

Hmmm..four B1s - thats 1400 watts of amplification needed into 4 ohms. Once upon a time that would have been a lot...