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SWR cabs

K

klejst

Oct 5, 2010
6,647
3,676
#1
After a lot of thinking I believe my next bass will be a Epiphone Thunderbird IV bass. Found one in very nice tobacco burst color with a little road ware but for $150. I have been playing Fender Precision's for a long time and looking to change it up. As for rig, I am still throwing around some ideas with that. Before I had a Peavey Tour 450 amp which was alright, but I also had a Mesa Powerhouse 610, that thing simply ruled! Sadly though due to some hard finical times that came out of no where I was force to sell my rig. Anyways jump to now and I am looking at buying a new rig and get into playing more again.

I have really started looking towards SWR cabs, I have never used any of them before however in my research for reviews I have found they get very positive reviews. I have been currently looking into used Goliath II and Goliath III 410's and also found a Goliath Senior 610 floating around as well. I remember hearing or reading somewhere that the Goliath Sr 610 can compare pretty close to a Mesa PH610. Another Mesa PH610 is not really feasible, however I have thought about looking into a older Diesel 410 or 215 cab I have found.

SWR has got my interest though. Like I said I have been looking into the Goliath II 410 (older model?), the Goliath III 410 (newer model?) and the Goliath Senior 610. Anyone have any experience, input, advice or something to say about these three cabs or even the Mesa diesel 410 or 215 I also mentioned?
 
#2
I got a SWR goliath iv used for a good price and so far it has been the best cab I've owned. Good nuetral sounding cab that can be adjusted to whatever sound I want and it projects well. I'm sure some of the new super cabs would be better but for what i paid for it I am happy and likely wont be looking for another cab for a long time. Well worth a test drive.
 
#3
A Senior is louder with slightly less low end. Designed to be loud and present.
The GII is a good cab with a sweetness.
The GIII benefits from the front porting and more power handling.
All SWR cabs can benefit from you turning tweeter barely on. Then you get a balanced warm response. Please do when you test!
Use as large a gauge of speaker cable as you can. Very little difference in cost. The speakon connectors on the GIII and Senior are a plus.
None of them is a bad choice.
 
#4
I bought A goliath III 4 ohm 4x10 six years ago and still like it alot. Very solid cab! Although at really loud volumes for extended periods (read: backlining other bands) you can expect to eventually pop a dust cone or two after a while (it also endures 200+gigs/year at loud nightclubs, so there's that, too). Also had a driver seize up from a light fall, so watch your crew! :) . The casters that came with it were crap tho (broke in a month) but a simple trip to Home Depot fixed that right up. Other than that, it's loud, punchy, and can handle some decent road and stage abuse. I would recommend it!
 
#5
klejst said:
After a lot of thinking I believe my next bass will be a Epiphone Thunderbird IV bass. Found one in very nice tobacco burst color with a little road ware but for $150. I have been playing Fender Precision's for a long time and looking to change it up. As for rig, I am still throwing around some ideas with that. Before I had a Peavey Tour 450 amp which was alright, but I also had a Mesa Powerhouse 610, that thing simply ruled! Sadly though due to some hard finical times that came out of no where I was force to sell my rig. Anyways jump to now and I am looking at buying a new rig and get into playing more again.

I have really started looking towards SWR cabs, I have never used any of them before however in my research for reviews I have found they get very positive reviews. I have been currently looking into used Goliath II and Goliath III 410's and also found a Goliath Senior 610 floating around as well. I remember hearing or reading somewhere that the Goliath Sr 610 can compare pretty close to a Mesa PH610. Another Mesa PH610 is not really feasible, however I have thought about looking into a older Diesel 410 or 215 cab I have found.

SWR has got my interest though. Like I said I have been looking into the Goliath II 410 (older model?), the Goliath III 410 (newer model?) and the Goliath Senior 610. Anyone have any experience, input, advice or something to say about these three cabs or even the Mesa diesel 410 or 215 I also mentioned?
Click to expand...


For over a year, I gigged with a PH610 while using a Goliath Sr at our rehearsal space - IME, the Goliath Sr provides better than 80% of the PH610's performance, at a very reasonable price on the used market... If you really liked the PH610, you won't feel let down with the Goliath Sr - I never did... For 410s, I prefer the G III over the GII, but also prefer Ampeg's SVT-410HLF over any of those... I'm not really a fan of Mesa's 410s - they're decent cabs, but never worked that well for me as a stand alone... The Deisel 215 is a good cab, but is more midrange voiced and has considerably less low end than the PH610 you had - it also won't take as much abuse as a PH61- or Goliath Sr... Hope this helps,


- georgestrings
 
#6
If you really liked the PH 6x10, you might not like the GIII. It's just not voiced the same... doesn't have the thickness in low mids or the spaciousness on the low end (though I use a 5 string and the bands I play in are in B). It's a good cab, very punchy but as soon as I got my PH 4x10 I sold it off... no comparison.

You might like the Sr. I use a Megoliath currently... it slays. With a bigger boost to low mids, tiny cut around 500Hz (which I'd normally boost on the PH) and tiny boost around 1K (with I'd normally cut a dash on the PH) it can pull off the same voicing of the various Mesa PH cabs I've owned except more enormous.
 
#7
Thanks for the responses and insight guys. Yeah the Goliath Senior cab really has my interest right now, especially if it does come very close to the PH610. I guess my next question is, and pardon the less then technical terms, however should I shop for one of the what I would call newer models with the silver flashy grill and what's to be newer logo in the top left or one of the older I guess black grilled with what looks like a old school black and white SWR logo plate in the top left if you are getting what I am saying.
 
#8
I have one of the newer Junior III's. I drop out the uber lows with my EQ to stop it from farting out and it gets quite loud for what it is. Two of them in a vertical setup would be a great rig. I sometimes use it on top of my 15" and it does well but matching cabs would be better.

A vertical pair of 2x10 slays a 4x10 for projecting your sound evenly into the room.
 
#9
Not to totally take away from my already above response, but I also found a guy selling locally the SWR Workingman's 210 and 115 bass cabinets, he wants $200 for both. I get this may not be a popular bi-amp setup, but it does not seem to be as frowned upon as the 410 and 115 cab pairing. They both are in great condition and are both 200w at 8ohms with both having tweeters. I know this setup would probably not stack up against the previous mentioned Goliath Sr 610 I am still very interested in, however what say you all of this rig? For $250 (but can probably be talked down to $200) for both it has me at least interested. And it would allow me to get my feet wet with getting back into a rig again and also offer some options to use one or both cabs as well as be able to play small to medium sized gigs with or without PA support. Transport is not a problem since I drive a truck, however I also noticed the Goliath Sr is close to 20 lbs lighter than the PH. Ah the rig choices.
 
#11
The Goliath series is pro level gear - the Workingmans, not so much... they're "OK", but nothing I'd choose to play thru - whereas, I didn't mind switching between my PH610 and the Goliath Sr at all... My advice - spend the extra $$$ and get the Goliath Sr - in the long run, you'll be glad you did...


- georgestrings
 
#12
Avoid the Workingmans. You can see by the price that you get what you pay for.
Purchase quality once and have no regrets.

I preferred the dark grilled SWR pro series.
I played the chrome faced Bass 750 and two GIIIs for years. Yet I do some gigs where the roadside biker bar look is a little out of place. :)
Conversely the dark grills don't matter at the roadside biker bar.
 
#14
klejst, I realise you probably play 4-strings, but when shopping for any cab, (but especially a used one): try to barrow a 5-string and see how the cab handles those loud/open low-B notes. If It'll handle that without farting, you've got a pretty good indication the speakers are still in good shape.

I learned this lesson from my pair of SWR Goliath-II cabs I'd bought new back in 93 or so. I gigged those cabs (with my 4-string) for well over a decade without noticing any farting, or any other problems. But when I attempted to trade them in at an SWR dealer, they tested them out with the open-B on a 5-string and let me hear how my speakers were close to being worn out because they couldn't handle that Low-B very well anymore. And then when they Demoed one of their very lightly used Goliath-II cabs (just as old as mine), it handled those same low-B's no problem...
 
#15
Thanks for the responses. I was just merely asking about the Workingman's cabs. I figured it was a good deal, however sure I believe you get what you pay for. And good call I do play 4 stringers :)
 

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