Old School SWR Son of Bertha (Gray Grill)

[chaosMK]

I've been rebuilding a rig on the cheap and came across a deal on a Son of Bertha. I was surprised when I actually saw it- I was thinking it would be all shiny and silver grilled. This is apparently pretty old school (no doubt pre-fender) and says "SWR Engineering" on the back, next to some ancient looking speaker wiring nubs (I guess in case you wanted to plug your home stereo into it). The only time I can remember seeing this font was probably in the late 90's. Looking at images for this model on Google, there have definitely been quite a few small variations to its look.

This combo with the M-Pulse sort of works. I remember reading a few years ago that some SWR cabs aren't tuned well for below E-string range, but it seems fine (I don't push huge low freqs anyway). It's not quite my dream rig but for $100 I can't be complaining.

[MuthaFunk]

Another fine example of how SWR was ahead of the pack with one of the first full range 112's of the time. I don't remember anyone else having one back then.... Bag End?

[CamMcIntyre]

Originally Posted by MuthaFunk

Another fine example of how SWR was ahead of the pack with one of the first full range 112's of the time. I don't remember anyone else having one back then.... Bag End?

Son of Bertha was a 1X15, the smaller version of the SWR Big Bertha (2X15).

I do agree about them being ahead of the pack. They have introduced & discontinued several interesting/unique cabs over the years. Henry the 8X8, the Wedge 12 (forget it's exact name), the Triad, and Big Ben (the 1X18) all come to mind. At this point only Son of Bertha, Triad, and Big Ben are still being made.

[MuthaFunk]

Wow that's a small box for a 15"! Thanks for the correction. I still think the Son of Bertha cab was in a class on it's own for the time because of the full range tweeter. Again, I can't think of any other cab manufacturer that did that with a single 15 when this was released.

To the OP, how does it sound.

[chaosMK]

It's legit- clear and fast for a 15, nice full range, thick lows of course if you want them. I used a WM 1x15 years ago, which I really liked (especially for the price.. $150-200 used at the time). This has a lot of a similar character with a much smoother tweeter and maybe a little bit less coloring of the tone.

It's not tiny.. 22w x 19h x 19d.

[chadds]

Originally Posted by chaosMK

I've been rebuilding a rig on the cheap and came across a deal on a Son of Bertha. I was surprised when I actually saw it- I was thinking it would be all shiny and silver grilled. This is apparently pretty old school (no doubt pre-fender) and says "SWR Engineering" on the back, next to some ancient looking speaker wiring nubs (I guess in case you wanted to plug your home stereo into it). The only time I can remember seeing this font was probably in the late 90's. Looking at images for this model on Google, there have definitely been quite a few small variations to its look.

This combo with the M-Pulse sort of works. I remember reading a few years ago that some SWR cabs aren't tuned well for below E-string range, but it seems fine (I don't push huge low freqs anyway). It's not quite my dream rig but for $100 I can't be complaining.

Those are banana plugs. You plug directly into them with a male version which is your speaker cord end.
They give better contact then a 1/4 but have been superceded by speakons. Still great. If you have two cabs with them keep the polarities the same.