SWR Death

[Texan]

Last night my SWR SM-400 died. I had noticed that I was getting a little distortion and the limiter light was staying on more and more so I swapped the tube as a first measure. It sounded great for about 1/2 hour then lost all volume. I'm taking her to a tech tomorrow in hopes of an easy fix. I love this head. I just hope that I have it back by my next gig on the 13th of May. More so, I hope that my back up head doesn't crap out. Has anyone had this happen before? What was the outcome?

[T-Bird]

Hi.

When was the last time the output section was biased?

If the shut-down happened as the result of incorrect bias, the output devices are more likely than not toasted.

IIRC those output devices are still available so it's not the end of the world.

BTW, did You insert a patch cord to the FX loop to eliminate dirty switch out of the equation?

Regards
Sam

[Texan]

Originally Posted by T-Bird

Hi.

When was the last time the output section was biased?

If the shut-down happened as the result of incorrect bias, the output devices are more likely than not toasted.

IIRC those output devices are still available so it's not the end of the world.

BTW, did You insert a patch cord to the FX loop to eliminate dirty switch out of the equation?

Regards
Sam

I tried the FX loop trick with no luck and the biasing was on the list of things to mention to the tech. Thanks for the advice.

[mowburger]

O man I know how you must feel, my amp started acting up last night too! At an open mic


The worst feeling in the world is when your gear messes up.
crappy.



Hope it's something easily repared for you dude. I'm sending mine back for warranty tomorrow, it's only 2 mo old.

[Texan]

Mine is dated 1989. For the age, its expected. I just plugged in Trace backup and it seems ok, but won't know until practice next week. I was having a problem with the Trace a while back, the momentary switch on the Eq was grounding and causing problems. I fixed it, so I think, guess I'll find out soon enough. If all else fails I'll get a loaner, I've been wondering how a Markbass would sound through my two Goliath III cabs.

[Kirk Bryant]

I used one of those for about ten yrs and had it in the shop once or twice every year. As a qualifier I will say I was playing 250 to 350 dates a year for years. I worked it very hard but it was great for me at the time I just moved on to a Glockenklang for the next ten yrs and had that in the shop only once in those ten years.
In my opinion those older SWR's sound great but are more delicate than some other amps. As always YMMV etc.

kirk

peace Kirk