Should I pull the trigger?

Depends on your needs. Sounds like your budget is pretty stretched. Bring your bass and try it.

 

No. Those disappear in a band mix, in my experience.

 

For that kind of money I think you could do better. Probably get a nice used 410 for around 100 and put the rest towards a head. Instead of a combo.

 

If you you don't even remember the model, are you really that interested?
You are telling us things that are wrong with it but not describing anything about it that you like.
You are making a decision without having even tried it with your bass?
(Most of us aren't that lucky to have the item available locally to try out.)
And you have to ask the opinion of others if you should pull the trigger?

You say you are "talking yourself into it."
It sounds to me like you are trying to get us to talk you out of it.
That is neither fair to you or fair to us.
I think you need to do more homework to figure out what you really want/need.

It would be different if you were trying to choose between Amp A and Amp B and you told us what you like and dislike about each of them, and what kind if music you play and with what other instruments and what venues and then ask if we think one would be more suited to your needs than the other. But that's not what's happening.

Dig down really deep and ask yourself, is this the thing you can't live without or can you wait to see what else comes along? This has to be about you, not us. You don't get to justify a purchase that you end up not liking, based on a bunch of different opinions from folks who have no real vested interest in this.

Sorry to have gone on like this, but I see so many people asking, should I buy such and such amp and we know nothing about you. I just don't get how it is that people put so much importance in someone else's opinion to the point of relegating the decision to complete, strangers.

Ask what we think about this amp or that amp, but please don't ask us to make a purchasing decision for you.

Good luck in your search.

 

Life is short ... go for it.

 

Redheads in my experience, don't like 5s or 6s. The one I played trough years ago didn't anyway. It farted out at a volume that wasn't that loud at all.

 

If money is tight, rather than an expensive direct box, why not get a decent used class D head, such as a GK MB500, which works decently for that purpose. Lots of these heads on sale here. Then look for a used 410. Again, lots of them out there. Heavy, but sound good. Much more versatile, and a better use of your money. Start saving those $150 installments, and don't go layaway.

 

That amp was a huge disappointment to me in the 90's. Super tubby low end, no cut at all. Like above comment, disappeared in the mix. YMMV

 

I'd pass. The ones I used in the 90s were new, and didn't cut it live, and they were new. ;-) This one is much older and possibly even more lame. There's a reason they stopped making them.

 

I gigged one hundreds of times for about 7 years. A few observations.

1) It is indestructible. You just can't kill it.

2) It runs HOT! I have no idea why the fur on top didn't melt. It got that hot. Even my bass cable tip would be hot to the touch at the end of the gig. Like, make you drop it and say bad words hot.

3) By itself, it isn't enough in most cases. I ran mine with an SWR Triad cab under it. I had the combo modded and wired in parallel (I think.....it's been a while) so it split wattage evenly. From the factory it is wired to send 100W to an extension cab and 250W to the combo (or something like that). Together they were enough in most cases.

4) As stated earlier, by itself it will not take a low B very well.

5) It wants to be scooped. I happened to have a bass with a mid frequency control at the time. So I was able to dial in some low mids to punch through. But that rig wants to sound like Marcus Miller.....which is great if you play laid back jazz and solos. But if you need to punch through a band it is tough to dial in.

So, it's well built. But it's "funny" to dial in. And, by itself, it will not knock you over with boom and volume.

For coffee house gigs on a four string, it would be ideal.

By the way, I loaned it to a guy to play acoustic guitar through once. It sounded INCREDIBLE for that, oddly enough. I don't know why it doesn't have a cult following in the acoustic guitar world.

 

Well, it could be a really killer bargain. I think I'd want to get to know that combo better before pulling the trigger. If it's in good shape, I wonder why it's priced on the low end?

Good luck!

 

I had access to one of these for a while and absolutely hated it. It's one of the few amps that I just could not get a usable tone from. I would rather pay through one of those old peavey keyboard amps than this thing, at least then you'd have some bottom and mids.

 

Had pass. For $400 you can get a LOT more amp than that.

 

Re #2:

IIRC, some SWR amps used the chassis as the heat sink. So it was "normal" for the case to feel abnormally warm.

Re #5:

I auditioned one in a music store, and considered buying it. But it seemed too much like a one-trick pony for my purposes, and I passed on it.

 

I had two different SWR combos, and have encountered the heads/speakers in a few backline-provided situations. I never got an acceptable (for me) sound from any of them.

 

Pass.

 

Pass. There are a few nifty combos that could be had new in that range. Probably finance too.

 

My buddy left a new one with me in the 90's.
He tried a Triad cab and either a 15" or 18", can't remember what they had at the time, to add lows for drop D.
It didn't work, and tended to overheat the amp section.

They are stupid heavy, even for their time we were shocked.

The Super Redhead wasn't much louder.
It didn't like 5's, tho there weren't many at the time.

I didn't love the sound vs an Electric Blue head.

You really should play it, and buy something else.