[EVOL!]

Last year a coworker gave me his old, unused Acoustic BC-1 bass combo. It's been laying around my house for the past year so last night I decided to test it out before bringing it up to the rehearsal space. When I turn it on, the light above the power switch just says "TEST" and no sound comes out. I looked at the fuses and both appear to be OK, but I am not ruling a blown fuse out.

Any bass players out there own an Acoustic amp and can give me some idea what TEST means? The amp is old and discontinued so finding info on it on the internet has been tough. Here is a photo of what the BC-1 model looks like

[Reilly81]

While I don't have an Acoustic Bass amp I would open it up, unplugged of course and check all connections to the speaker, the board, search for visible breaks on the board or by any component. Then plug it in and check with a meter, grounded to the amp chasis, for voltages going through points of the circuit. Work one-handed to avoid shocks and/or disaster. Did you check the Acoustic site. Many manufacturers will have a discontinued section for info or links to forums that may have something. For the heck of it also wire the speaker so you can use as an extension cab. Have fun and learn because it's a great opportunity if nothing else....

[EVOL!]

Issue is resolved. That TEST light is the amp saying, "I am warming up so relax, skippy". I had to leave the amp on for a good five to ten minutes before the blue Acoustic face plate lit up. Now it turns right on.

I still did not get any sound at that point so I plugged another cab into the speaker extension and got sound. Turns out that with this amp the head is not internally connected to the speaker. You have to run a cable (that's what that mysterious jack at the bottom of the back is) from the head to the cab. Strange setup for a low wattage bass combo.

[gsgbass]

Some of the Fender Bassman Combos had the same plug in for the speaker. On the Bassman Combos, the speaker had to be disconnected to use the headphones jack, or it still sounded through the speaker. Some or most of the Bassman Combos could power a separate cab in place of the internal speaker. The ohms of the cab had to match the ohms of the disconnected speaker. Your Acoustic may be able to power a compatible cab as well.

My current Marshall MB4410 has the speaker plugin, and the second out for cab options. With having the two out jacks, the MB can totally disconnect the internal speakers, and power two separate compatible cabs. Using the Combos amp as an amp head for the cabs.

[pfox14]

Nice to knw that just letting the amp warm up was all it needed. Now you have a nice working bass amp and no REPAIR BILLS!!

[vincentw]

how does she sound?