phasel linear 400

To add to a pointless thread: A friend knew Gene Cerwinski and had a pair of home speakers with a 15 and a tweeter…late 60s. Interesting if somewhat overkill speakers for his small cabin.That Acoustic 360 beast of a bass amp became the ubiquitous go-to amp for many bass players, and was notable in that you often could’t hear it on a loud stage until you were 30 feet away. My band in the 70s opened for Loggins and Messina and they were a "state of the art" act utilizing Clair Brothers multi driver PA cabs (18s, mids, horns, tweeters…all JBL or something) with stacks of Phase Linear amps. On stage Messina used 2 pre CBS Fender Twin Reverb amps as preamps (really…2 of them in a sort of double Dual Showman Reverb cabinet) running into Phase Linear amps powering 4 Cerwin Vega 2X12 rear loaded (for efficiency or something) cabs…loud as HELL. Those were the days, and concert sound levels were insane for a while. I currently use a couple of relatively low powered guitar amps (a 15 watt push pull or an 18 watt single ended), and my hifi rig is now efficient speakers with a single ended 12 watt per side amp…things have changed.

Somehow I just couldn’t resist on this one. I’m sure a slip of the typing hand, but it is Phase Linear. In my early days of audio I owned and greatly enjoyed a “Phase 400” driving stacked Advents and yes even triple Advents for a time. I can still hear (what?!). Selling hi-fi at the time while in school, I thought Bob Carver delivered amazing value in the Phase Linear 400 and 700/B amplifiers. Never a reliability problem, ever… And no, I’m not a Carver “fan boy” just stating factual experience. And as others have mentioned, what’s really the point?

The point is the fact that this thread is pointless, which somebody pointed out.

hey guys, don't be personal. if my comments don't mean anything i apologize. i'm just stating my experience with the400.

Wolf, Dem daze the back line was loud for sure. Interesting about Massina's setup. Mid 60's Bass amplification didn't cut it for me. Using a Fender Reverb as a preamp feeding two Marantz 8Bs driving two JBL 4530 scoops (I think D140s) was a real pain in the butt setup but it carried well even outdoors. Lots of DIY on stage back then.

Compared to that rig the new 360/361 was like a holiday, for a minute anyway. As you say on any stage smaller than a half court I couldn't hear the acoustic without blasting the mix. I sold the 360 when the SVT came out and I regretted it every day. The SVT was boring but I could hear it in most situations. As coveted as they've become I don't miss it a bit. I played through the modern 360 with the 10" forward facing driver. It's the perfect solution very well made and even louder but who really needs a trunk anymore?