A method and device are shown for detecting the characteristics of a cement annulus between a casing in a borehole and the surrounding earth formations in a slickline cement bond logging operation. An acoustic logging tool is utilized which produces a pure signal downhole. The received acoustically transmitted energy produces electrical signals indicative of both the amplitude of the received energy and variable density log data. Both the amplitude data and the variable density log data are captured in memory downhole by the use of a time amplitude matrix which stores a limited number of data points for producing a cement bond log at the well surface.