SWR Bass 350 Red Face

[arbiterusa]

All of my experience is with pre-Fender models.

As is mine, and the flagship SM400 routinely caught on fire. If you didn’t leave room to vent both the bottom and top of the rack unit, and cranked it, yours would too.

Marketing speak indeed.

The only one of them that I never found got too hot, simply because it didn’t have enough juice to, is the old ST220.

They are great sounding amps, they are my personal favorite amp, but if mine ever goes to the great amp smokeyard in the sky it’s not fixable. So I haven’t gigged with it for close on a decade. I play it at home. I’d kill for a modern equivalent but that does not seem to exist. I would not be in the market for an old one.

 

[avi]

As is mine, and the flagship SM400 routinely caught on fire. If you didn’t leave room to vent both the bottom and top of the rack unit, and cranked it, yours would too.

Marketing speak indeed.

The only one of them that I never found got too hot, simply because it didn’t have enough juice to, is the old ST220.

They are great sounding amps, they are my personal favorite amp, but if mine ever goes to the great amp smokeyard in the sky it’s not fixable. So I haven’t gigged with it for close on a decade. I play it at home. I’d kill for a modern equivalent but that does not seem to exist. I would not be in the market for an old one.

I've seen 2 of the 220's in my travels recently. One was in Boston and one was in Philly I think. I was interested but wasn't in the market for one bc I had recently picked up a walkabout. It's funny, Whenever I see an SWR I feel the tug of wanting one again or to at least play through one. But after the issue with my Sm400 I'm a little gun shy on the older ones. I see a lot of people ha ing issues with the x's. Is this a thing? I need a lower cost amp that sounds good. I'm seeing the 350 between $200-$300

 

[Jeff Scott]

As is mine, and the flagship SM400 routinely caught on fire. If you didn’t leave room to vent both the bottom and top of the rack unit, and cranked it, yours would too.

There was plenty of room in the 4-space rack to allow heat to escape out the top and back of the amp. Additionally I used a 4" Rotron Whisper fan to help exhaust the inside of the rack case.

 

[Count Bassie]

As is mine, and the flagship SM400 routinely caught on fire. If you didn’t leave room to vent both the bottom and top of the rack unit, and cranked it, yours would too.

The manual is specific about leaving a space around the amp for air flow. Racking it tight top and bottom in an enclosure is a problem.

 

[avi]

Reviving the old thread here as I just picked one up tonight. It is in amazing condition without a scratch on it. It is the early Burgundy basic 350 without the fan switch. Any thoughts on helping to keep it cool?

 

[Count Bassie]

Reviving the old thread here as I just picked one up tonight. It is in amazing condition without a scratch on it. It is the early Burgundy basic 350 without the fan switch. Any thoughts on helping to keep it cool?

Not really. It gets hot, that's what it does. Should be fine.
You can put a little clip-on fan pointed at it... But I wouldn't sweat it.

 

[szyzk]

Reviving the old thread here as I just picked one up tonight. It is in amazing condition without a scratch on it. It is the early Burgundy basic 350 without the fan switch. Any thoughts on helping to keep it cool?

I use a pre-Fender SWR Bass 750 stuffed into a 4U rack. I screwed two 80mm intake fans into the top rear corners of the rack and I ziptied (with aluminum) two more to the rear vents on the 750 as exhaust. Each set have independent voltage controllers to adjust their speed. It's overkill but I no longer worry about air circulation or temps.

 

[MIMike]

Reviving the old thread here as I just picked one up tonight. It is in amazing condition without a scratch on it. It is the early Burgundy basic 350 without the fan switch. Any thoughts on helping to keep it cool?

I gigged with this same amp as yours for a few years w/o any issues. I had it in a three space rack with a space (or half space) blank above the top of the amp. It always had a 4 ohm load on it and never shut down for any reason.