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Fender/SWR quality

#5
I had a Bass 750 from either 2000 or 2001 that was a dud. I have an SM-900 from 2002 that is a dud. Personally, I don't think the quality control could suffer too much more. The customer support is now pretty much relegated to "see your SWR authorized repair center." And "Yes, we're familiar with it, but I don't know, see your SWR authorized repair center." The technical competence of the customer service phone answering people is a bit lacking. However, there was a guy at SWR who I do not miss dealing with, he was not helpful, arrogant, and ended up charging me for damn thing he possibly could (NEW SWR output section fried, blew all 4 speakers in Goliath cab-charged me full reconing fees). When I dealt with someone else things went much smoother. Fender's people are nice and courteous (as far as I've dealt with them), but don't seem to have a handle on the entire product line.
 
#6
Originally posted by The Golden Boy
I had a Bass 750 from either 2000 or 2001 that was a dud. I have an SM-900 from 2002 that is a dud. Personally, I don't think the quality control could suffer too much more. The customer support is now pretty much relegated to "see your SWR authorized repair center." And "Yes, we're familiar with it, but I don't know, see your SWR authorized repair center." The technical competence of the customer service phone answering people is a bit lacking. However, there was a guy at SWR who I do not miss dealing with, he was not helpful, arrogant, and ended up charging me for damn thing he possibly could (NEW SWR output section fried, blew all 4 speakers in Goliath cab-charged me full reconing fees). When I dealt with someone else things went much smoother. Fender's people are nice and courteous (as far as I've dealt with them), but don't seem to have a handle on the entire product line.
Click to expand...


Sorry but what do you mean with "dud"?

:(
 
#7
Pedro,

Naturally I can't speak for The Golden Boy, but I too have an '02 SM-900, one of the last before the takeover. I received it in the original, unopened factory shipping box, and have had several minor QC issues: Chrome plating on one rack handle was obviously defective at a glance (and completely peeled off in mere seconds with nothing more than a thumbnail), screws on the bottom were loose and more backed out upon first use (fixed with loctite thread treatment), and the power LED works intermittently. All minor QC issues. The amp was recently dropped about 6 feet onto concrete while in a rack case. Though the impact was great enough to warp the load-bearing front panel of the amp, it worked perfectly after that incident.

So, the upshot, I guess is that I was bothered by some minor QC issues on the pre-SWendeR amp, but am impressed with how well it took that fall.

I have owned two "used" SWR cabs that needed new PAS 10" drivers. I have never fried one personally, and abuse will fry any speaker, but these just seem "delicate" in nature and particularly sensitive to abuse.

Aside from that, I have been happy with every piece of SWR gear I've owned. Not happy at all with being thrown in the big dirty pool of 'Fender Authorized Repair' centers -- a list of dealers that may or (more likely) may not have any experience with SWR products. Not happy with the disappearance of the helpful crew that used to be on the other end of my phone calls.

:(

Sorry I can't offer you any comment on the newly manufactured gear.
 
#8
I used to own a 750, Goliath JR, and SOB. I agree that the PAS (or POS) drivers are delicate. I blew two drivers in my Goliath JR in a years time. I said f**k this. I could not afford the down time and $75 bucks each time a driver blows. NTM, that I dont want to buy a driver to keep "in stock" in case one decides to blow.

I now own two Aggie GS112's. I could not happier. They are less expensive new, sound better, and are more portable.

As far as the 750, I would call mine a "dud" as well. I had no tone. It had a lot of mids, no lows or highs. I had to use a external parametric to get a good sound out of this thing. IMO, if you have to use an external EQ to get a good sound out of a $1000 amp, something is wrong.

I sold the 750 and bought a PLX 1602 and a Demeter HBP-1. IMO, this rig is a 1000x's better than the 750 in every aspect compared to the 750.
 
#10
I haven't noriced much difference in the quality of the new SWR gear, (nothing obvious anyway). However, the quality of the new Fender bass amps seems to be much better. Maybe it's not so much the quality as it is the sound. I've always thought that those Bassman combos sounded like complete crap. I'm guessing this is partly because structurally, they're about as deep as a guitar amp. That new 2X10 combo that Fender just released with the built in tuner actually sounds pretty darn good. %100 better than they're older amps. I think this new line of bass amps came out after the acquisition of SWR, although I'm not positive about that.
 

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