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SWR Baby Blue I .... Should I do it?

vin*tone

vin*tone

Oct 19, 2008
4,685
1,024
Ballaarat, Ostraya
#1
A SWR BB1 has popped up near me. I've ALWAYS wanted one of these but am scared it won't be loud enough for my small gig situations (eg: brotherpopcorn's Channel - YouTube) which is currently nicely taken care of with a GK MB112. The GK is a good work-horse - light, compact and great for rehearsals & these little wine bar gigs...but little dark and boomy at times. I'd also be using it for upright work as well. (I have an RH450 + Berg410 for louder situations)

Anyone with Baby Blue gigging experience think it would work for me?
 
#2
vin*tone said:
A SWR BB1 has popped up near me. I've ALWAYS wanted one of these but am scared it won't be loud enough for my small gig situations (eg: brotherpopcorn's Channel - YouTube) which is currently nicely taken care of with a GK MB112. The GK is a good work-horse - light, compact and great for rehearsals & these little wine bar gigs...but little dark and boomy at times. I'd also be using it for upright work as well. (I have an RH450 + Berg410 for louder situations)

Anyone with Baby Blue gigging experience think it would work for me?
Click to expand...

WOW...love your music.....thats my kind of tunes right there!! Great job!!
 
#3
I like so much the Baby Blue concept (too bad it has been discontinued!) that currently I am assembling myself (for pure fun) a parallel 2x8 Fane Sovereign 225 w vertical cab to be used with my LM II!!! For small gigs the BB should be one of the best rigs around (as far as I know). Two 8" have the same moving surface of one 12" but they should have a faster response to the transients.

If the price is tempting... snag it: life is short and you can always resell it at the same price... you know you are going to buy it, don't you??

:D
 
#4
I had a BabyBlueI that had replacement speakers from LDS. That little puppy cranked. Probably louder and lower than my Markbass 12 combo was for sure. But ultimately, I sold it off after many years of enjoying it because it did not have enough power for gigging. Wonderful combo though. It would be great for dinner party gigs.
 
#5
I gigged three times a week for years with a II. Put the LDS long throw 8"s in there and you can crank it.:)
Call LDS and describe your exact application.
Some folks want it to just be a combo for loud. This thing was designed to sound excellent.
Unless you are using it where you should be using a larger rig anyway it's great.
 
#6
I don't know if the twin 8's will give you enough oomf to be really heard on gigs but the BB head is so jam packed with truely valuable features for studio use I'd recomend it just on the convienence and sound of the head.

I've used my 110 combo on small gigs with a quiet drummer without issue and added a Big Ben 18" extension cab to be able to play with louder drummers. It worked great. I've modified mine with a couple of small cooling fans to expell heat generated by the heat sinks and noticed I got more headroom out of the amp by keeping the transistors cooler.

The oldest of the Baby Blue amps had Bag End drivers with foam surrounds that have mostly deterioated by now and usually been replaced with Celestions. SWR started using Celestions after the Bag End drivers.

If your getting a good price it's a great amp just to preview and if you do any recording, I think you'll keep it no matter what. You should be able to get your money back out of it if you don't wish to keep it because there's a decent following for these amps.
 
#10
I use a Baby Blue II for 95% of all my gigs -- and that's in a loud four-piece blues band. I mainly play upright, and it sounds fabulous. If it's a really loud gig, I'll run an XLR out of the back and into our PA. Whenever we play outdoor festivals, the sound guys are amazed at the preamp out on this thing.

Somewhere down the line, I MIGHT swap the Celestions for LDS speakers -- but I'm afraid it might change the tone. And right now, it's perfect.

Not sure what price you're looking at, but if it's sub-$500, you'd be wise to snag it.
 
#12
If I remember correctly, the best bass tone I ever played myself was a Fender Stu Hamm "Urge" bass through a BBI (back in like 94 shortly after I first started playing guitar/bass). The tone of that setup was magical.

Unfortunately I don't have either of those elements yet, so my vote is you do NOT get the Baby Blue. ;)
 
#13
vin*tone said:
A SWR BB1 has popped up near me. I've ALWAYS wanted one of these but am scared it won't be loud enough for my small gig situations (eg: brotherpopcorn's Channel - YouTube) which is currently nicely taken care of with a GK MB112. The GK is a good work-horse - light, compact and great for rehearsals & these little wine bar gigs...but little dark and boomy at times. I'd also be using it for upright work as well. (I have an RH450 + Berg410 for louder situations)

Anyone with Baby Blue gigging experience think it would work for me?
Click to expand...

It's funny, I just listened to your link to youtube and based on what your playing I would think the Mesa Scout would be right up your alley. I know from the Walkabout Mega thread you've had or still have one. I play some of the same music as your link and would never choose my BBII over my Scout. Do you still have the Walkabout?
 
#14
Wow. So much love for the BB!
Mulebagger said:
I had a BabyBlueI that had replacement speakers from LDS. That little puppy cranked. Probably louder and lower than my Markbass 12 combo was for sure. But ultimately, I sold it off after many years of enjoying it because it did not have enough power for gigging. Wonderful combo though. It would be great for dinner party gigs.
Click to expand...
Louder than a Markbass combo? Then it will probably be fine for me.
chadds said:
I gigged three times a week for years with a II. Put the LDS long throw 8"s in there and you can crank it.:)
Call LDS and describe your exact application.
Some folks want it to just be a combo for loud. This thing was designed to sound excellent.
Unless you are using it where you should be using a larger rig anyway it's great.
Click to expand...
I have a larger rig when I need it. It's unlikely I'd ever use an extension cab - I'd just bring the RH450 + Berg 410.

I believe this one has the older Bag ends in it - but there's no mention of the speaker deterioration issue. If they die I could replace them down the track.
thejumpcat said:
I use a Baby Blue II for 95% of all my gigs -- and that's in a loud four-piece blues band.. ...
Click to expand...

This is encouraging - sounds similar to my situation. I'm playing EB mostly.
Avezzano said:
... life is short and you can always resell it at the same price... you know you are going to buy it, don't you??

:D
Click to expand...

Yes.... probably. You guys are twisting my arm beyond recognition. :smug:

And thankyou for the kind words on my band...:D
 
#15
thejumpcat said:
...and your clip sounds great. Reminds me of a Detroit band, Brothers Groove. Very tasty stuff.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the tip - Listening to their myspace site now ;). I love hearing about these less mainstream bands.
MuthaFunk said:
It's funny, I just listened to your link to youtube and based on what your playing I would think the Mesa Scout would be right up your alley. I know from the Walkabout Mega thread you've had or still have one. I play some of the same music as your link and would never choose my BBII over my Scout. Do you still have the Walkabout?
Click to expand...
I had the Mesa head but the combo is next to impossible to find in Australia... and when you do - it costs an arm & leg. I loved the head but needed more oomf for the larger gigs I do - so I had to let it go.
 
#18
I had one of the BBII for years.
It's designed as a "studio reference rig," very uncolored.
I really liked it for double bass.
I found it a bit sterile for electric, and the 5" doesn't go terribly high, so, if like like a more modern electric sound, it's not that.
The DI is awesome though...

I too went the LDS long throw 8's.

It was never "loud," but for db/jazz it was fine.

While it would run at 2 or 2.67 ohms, there's no fan, and it got plenty hot; so I never did that beyond once.
 
#19
thejumpcat said:
I use a Baby Blue II for 95% of all my gigs -- and that's in a loud four-piece blues band. I mainly play upright, and it sounds fabulous. If it's a really loud gig, I'll run an XLR out of the back and into our PA. Whenever we play outdoor festivals, the sound guys are amazed at the preamp out on this thing.

Somewhere down the line, I MIGHT swap the Celestions for LDS speakers -- but I'm afraid it might change the tone. And right now, it's perfect.

Not sure what price you're looking at, but if it's sub-$500, you'd be wise to snag it.
Click to expand...

There was a subtle change for me in sound as I went through what was available. The Bag Ends were great but didn't hold up you know. The Celestions were sweet sounding and were my fave. They didn't blow. :) One speaker lead was touching the cone making that buzzing sound. It all worked out. The LDSs were a huge improvement and a Celestion went into my LA-8. Now it's a monster.:)
The LDS long throws got sweet after breaking in. They removed any hint of fragility the BB had. You can play it soft or loud. It doesn't sound strained.
 

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