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"OFFICIAL" SWR Mo' Bass Club

maddrakkett

maddrakkett

In Memoriam
May 8, 2007
340
4
Glendale, AZ
members.firstinter.net
#1
Yeah, it's a discontinued product, but they're still popping up on eBay and I know there's lots of happy owners still out there. As some have mentioned in other threads, the Mo' Bass and Mini Mo' are essential to your personal sound. That's my experience as well, since buying my Mo' Bass w/ full Mo' Control pedalboard last November. I run mine through an 8ohm Goliath III cab, and hopefully today, I'll be adding a Goliath Jr. III cab as well for the effects channel and rewire my 4x10 for 2ohm to handle the clean/lows!

Post your Mo' Bass and Mini Mo's here (the "Mo'," the better) and I'll check often and assign numbers in order or per request...

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Club Member #'s list:
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maddrakkett #001
Badmuthaplucka #002
Mo' bass #003
dsanders #004
Ian Perge #005
MaddAnthony_59 #006
Rob L #007
Thunkinfunder #008
jimmyjam #009
Chizzops #010
 
#2
Okay I'm in! I have a mini Mo! Love it to death! My signal chain is form Fender 5 string precision (or my trusty Bob Mick Costom 5) in to a Sennheiser wireless (1/2 rack) to the Mini Mo a Boss VF-1 in one of the loops then into a QSC PLX 2402 power amp. I think I have almost any effect I need. The boss is controlled by the Mo Controll via midi. I still have an effects loop open, though I think I may get a digitech whammy pedal on the out of the wireless and controll it with midi. Over all it's the most complete rig I'v ever had. And last it's going through my Eden 410XLT. :bassist:
 
#3
Cool, we have a club! I'm in too! Although I don't use the effects al that much it's great to have them available when wanted/needed.

I have blown 2 Mo' Control pedal boards.. and gotten my money back.. so I'm just using the bypass switch.

I used to run stereo into 2 Jr's and an SOB, now I run bridged into the 2 Jr's and leave the SOB at home.

I do feel that the Mo's 900 watts don't seem as loud as my Trace's 350, probably due to the more middy sound of the Trace and the headroom in the Mo' Bass for the synth and octaver.

Hope to see Mo' people here...
 
#4
Good to see some Mo' users and definitely hope we get Mo' people to join!

Got your numbers posted in the first post, but here they are again:
Badmuthaplucka #002
Mo' bass #003

I just got back from picking up a Goliath Jr. III. I have an older Goliath III with the black/gray speckled grill "SWR Engineering" from 1996, and the other day at Sam Ash, I saw a used Goliath Jr. from the same vintage. Now I have a matching set! Here's my Mo' rig:

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I'm running the effects through the 2x10 and clean through the 4x10. Problem is, the 2x10 is 4ohms, so it gets a nice matched 400W, but the 4x10 is 8ohms, so it is greatly underpowered at only 250W. I plan to rewire the 4x10 with a switch to select between its original 8ohm and 2ohm, which will run at 600W - much closer to the cab's rated 700W... Still, just playing it in my room, the split clean/effects to separate cabs make for a great sound experience! :D

PS: I think the effects are the most useful and toneful I've ever had and the only thing I added was my homemade "Cosmic Stone" unit that has a Nano Small Stone analog phase shifter and a Maxon 900ms Analog Delay - controlled via MIDI from the Mo' Bass/Mo' Control through an Axcess Electronics CF4 MIDI switcher. Pure funk, sweet grind, and anything else I need or want!
 
#7
maddrakkett said:
Come on, I know there's more Mo' Bass users out there... "Show me the money!"
Also, we need more pictures and stories of your sweet Mo' Bass rigs! :D
Click to expand...

This needs a bump!

Well as far as stories are concerned, I sold my Deep Impact Synth Bass pedal to buy my Mini Mo and I will tell you I have no regrets! The combination of effects really make for a more organic synth experience. It really reacts nicely to your dynamics.
 
#8
Badmuthaplucka said:
This needs a bump!

Well as far as stories are concerned, I sold my Deep Impact Synth Bass pedal to buy my Mini Mo and I will tell you I have no regrets! The combination of effects really make for a more organic synth experience. It really reacts nicely to your dynamics.
Click to expand...

I keep a modded Fulltone Distortion Pro pedal and an E-H Q-Tron to use with my Genz-Benz Shuttle, but when I go to my Mo' Bass, nothing can touch the tube compressor, tube overdrive, the funky vibe of the Sub Wave and Bass Synth, and the lushness of the analog chorus. And when I put them via Dual Mode and Stereo into the Goliath Jr. 2x10 and feed clean, fat bass into the Goliath 4x10, it's a sonic slaughter of sweet organic magic! :D
 
#11
Ahh, a club I can wholeheartedly sink my teeth into. I fell in love with the tone(s) and possibilities the Mo's gave you years before I was able to buy one for myself. I'm a friend of Bryan Beller, formerly of SWR who helped design it along with Mo' West, and heard what it could do before it hit stores when Beller was touring with the prototype. As a result, I pretty much designed my entire signal pathway and rig around the Mini Mo' and what it could do.

I'd always used effects both live and in the studio and like many of us was frustrated by the lack of ability to get my effected tone heard while still having a uneffected "bass" signal without running dual rigs, bi-amping, or ways that would double my load-ins - I'm disabled w/ multiple surgeries under my belt with a major back surgery as well, so weight and size are a major concern. So finding out about "Dual Mode", what it did and could do for me, and realizing this was the answer to my problem - I pretty much run Dual Mode and send the Effected Out to an Avatar 2x10" (although I might pick up a used Avatar 4x10" here or on eBay for huge-volume gigs and to up the Effected Out's speaker area compared to the Clean) and the Clean Out to an Avatar 2x12". The end result is god-like tone, especially since I've upgraded my basses by a fair degree this past year.

Although I've since added what I call a "Secondary Pedalboard" (for unique sounds that I can't get from even the Mo', and for jams and sub gigs where I still want a large percentage of "My Sound" while using the House Rig or PA) I still consider my Mini Mo' a huge part of my sound, and would be devastated if anything were to happen to it. So give me my number... I've been a proponent of the Mo's on TB since the moment I got mine.:rollno: :smug:

My signal chain...

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Not the best pic of my Rig, but it'll have to do. Mentally replace the Fender Jazz and insert a [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] with a Flame Maple Transparent Red top. Nice trade-up if you can do it (I scored on a barely-played bass and a seller who need to move it quick) ;)

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I know, I should put Buzz Lightyear, Disco Stu, and The Mah-Na Mah Na Monster in my chain... :D
 
#12
Awesome stuff Ian!

I've been following Ian's posts and reviews and he is a true fan of the Mini Mo'. Plus he's friends with Bryan Beller - another person who I've followed through his own blogs going back to his days with SWR.

I know people have been slamming the quality and sound of the Mo' Bass, but most of those comments have either been speculation ("With all those effects and a lower price than the SM-900, they must have taken shortcuts") or they connected it up wrong, or didn't set the levels correctly ("My practice amp is louder than the Mo' Bass"). But I stand by my experience when using the Mo' properly, and I stand by Bryan Beller and Mo' West, who put their reputations, as well as SWR's reputation on the line when they came out with this beast. Then there's the list of professional bass players who fell in love with the Mo' and Mini Mo'. They can have any amp they want and their careers depend on reliable, quality gear. Finally, though Fender may not provide good customer support, the majority of the guys at the SWR plant that were involved in manufacturing and quality control when the Mo's were made, were guys who had been building quality SWR amps from the beginning. As of 2002 (the year of the Mini Mo' and two years after the Mo' Bass was introduced), founder Steve W. Rabe still owned a small percentage of the company and even came into the office to offer designs and help. He even created the Bass 750, which is a basis for the Mo's power section. President/CEO Daryl Jamison chose to marry Mo' West's effects to Steve Rabe's amp rather than to try and design a new amp section. This is a true SWR amp built off the old platform with the founder's approval!

Anyway, enough of my rant. As you can tell, I'm exstatic to have the rare privilege of owning one of these, and I am glad to welcome Ian Perge, a friend of Bryan Beller and a true fan/user of the Mo' platform, to this club of ours!

Mo' Power to ya and to all who have joined in! :D
 
#15
Mo' bass said:
Question for all Mo' users... Anybody use the limiter? I can't seem to find a usable setting where it limits the pops on the g-string without messing up the the low B.
Click to expand...

The preamp gain and the limiter are very interactive (the way a good tube circuit should be). I love the limiter on the Mo' because it can be very transparent or nice and squishy. Switching basses however requires me to change the preamp level. Watch the overload and limiter lights to get a ballpark idea of where your levels should be, then trust your ears for the final tweak. I find a fair amount of preamp, say 6-8 and a small amount of limiter, 3-5, does a nice job for me.

Also, are your strings and pickups adjusted properly for even response funder the different attacks such as popping on the G and thumpin' on the B? That will play a factor too.
 
#16
Mo' bass said:
Question for all Mo' users... Anybody use the limiter? I can't seem to find a usable setting where it limits the pops on the g-string without messing up the the low B.
Click to expand...


Great question :). I have used both the Mo'Bass & Mini Mo' for years with the same settings. I play primarily a Lakland 55-02, gain on 5, which pushes the pre into clipping when I chord, or hit the B hard. I keep the limiter on 2, to smooth out the clipping and keep the bottom clean. Bass set flat, Treble set flat, mids boosted 5db @ around 250mhz. Aural Enhancer set to 7. This cuts the mids, but I compensate by boosting them as described earlier. This is a really nice clean, SWR tone that cuts.

Efx are a totally different issue, but I keep them set the same as well. Grap a Mini Mo', throw in a Crest CA series, and boom instant Yeayahhh!
 
#17
Well, I've been homebound for medical reasons (long story you can read about at the warwick forum http://www.warwick.de/forum/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=6120 )

So, I decided to change up my rack to incorporate my original blue face Interstellar Overdrive (64th unit made). I modified it to turn the Tuner out into a rear input. I then run it in the right side effects loop to add tube warmth to the end of the effects chain.

I can now run the Mo' Bass Overdrive at minimum to turn the BassSynth into a clean envelope follower/wah and the "Stella" gives an incredibly sweet pre and power-amp tube grind (12AX7 and two EL84's for full effect) to juice the analog effects. I connected the drive on/off footswitch jack to my MIDI switcher, so some patches on the Mo' Control engage the Stella, the Small Stone Phase Sifter, and/or the Maxon Analog Delay. Or I can use either the Mo' Bass Overdrive or the Stella for full on fuzz distortion. Talk about versatility, but the tone with the Stella following the effects is out of this world!

I dumped the Samson Power Strip and went with a Furman Power Block to make room for the Interstellar Overdrive. The rear is not as clean as before, but still not too bad. Here's the new pics:

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#20
My friend and coworker who helped me out when I was switching from guitar to bass came over to get his taxes done on Saturday. While I ran my tax program, he jammed out on my Warwicks and Mo' system. Eventually he stumbled on some cool sounds with the analog delay and Interstellar Overdrive in the Mo' bass loop. Needless to say, he was blown away!

Mo' and 'Stella make a very nice couple! :D

It's also been suggested I go into business doing taxes for local bass players; instead of being bored while they wait, they can jam on my gear while I make some extra money to pay for it! ;)
 

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