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SWR Collectors Thread

#201
chadds said:
While scientifically true I used to love a G3 roar when cranked. I had two and they could be big loud but polite. Depends on your other players and your bass. I’d have the tweeter barely on and treble slightly dialed down. I’d stack my Jrs. and it would sound okay but not fill the room. Onstage would sound tepid. I could hear it but no warmth and push.

Might a good cart like a Rack n Roller help you?
Click to expand...
Thanks @chadds! Every time I use the Goliath III I think that I will never have a cab like this, BUT in some little venues it's too much. At the moment I'll keep the two cabs and using one or another depending on the venue.

Rack n roller doesn't solve the weight problem, as GIII has it's own casters. The problem is load and unload from the car, etc... thanks anyway.
 
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#202
Cranking the lows up to 2 o clock is actually a pretty good amount of boost. What kind of bass are you using?

I would say if the sound guy is telling you you're too loud, but you can't hear yourself, the answer is not to go to a smaller cab, but to make the one you have work better for you. You could try raising it up, or angling it back. You could try standing further out in front of it. You could experiment with adding more mids and/or highs. In other words things that get more sound to your ears, without necessarily being "louder" in the room. You could also experiment with adding a bit of tube overdrive, which with the right EQ curve can sometimes make a bass sit better in a mix. Especially for a classic hard rock tribute, you have a fair amount of leeway with that kind of stuff. Just don't overdo it or you'll make the bass muddy/spongy which is the opposite of what you want.

But I will also say, it could actually be the reverse. The sound guy is out front directly in front of your cab, getting all the mids and highs which you have set flat, PLUS a lot of bass, and that is contributing to a "too loud" perception. You could go the other way with lows set flat, and then do a modest low mid cut and possibly a deeper high mid cut. The high mid cut keeps the bass from sounding too harsh or aggressive, and the low mid cut makes more space for the guitars and drums (ie snare and toms). The key is to not overdo it. So if you dial in the cuts like that while playing solo, back them off a bit (less cut), and then you will likely be right where you need to be.

And yeah, the other thing about the GIII is figuring out a way to make moving it easier. Mine has casters, which I wouldn't be without. Even if yours doesn't and you can't find the right ones, you can probably just get a cheap small furniture dolly to move it around on. In the states, there's a company called Harbor Freight that has all kinds of stuff like that, I've bought a number of the same small dolly (maybe 15-18" long and a foot wide) for about $12. So I think I have 3 or 4 of them now, because I use them for guitar combos and bass cabs and then keep at least one "free" for general usage. And damn, your bandmates should really help with load in/out. That's BS if they don't, as long as you're willing to also help them. At home, sure, you may have to just deal with it. But at the venue it really shouldn't be an issue.

For now, if you gig the Jr, especially since it's 4 ohms, I would definitely get it raised up on something, so that every watt you put into it goes straight to your ears. And you may have to ask the sound guy to put a little bass in the wedge. The idea is not to get blasted with bass, because unless you're dealing with old school giant 15" wedges, they're not really designed for that. But just to fold in a little bit, so you have some definition. People try to just add everything to their monitors and that is the complete wrong way. You only want to add what you absolutely need, and if one thing on stage is way too loud and causing you to need everything else, the one loud things needs to come down instead.
 
#203
Omega Monkey said:
Cranking the lows up to 2 o clock is actually a pretty good amount of boost. What kind of bass are you using?

I would say if the sound guy is telling you you're too loud, but you can't hear yourself, the answer is not to go to a smaller cab, but to make the one you have work better for you. You could try raising it up, or angling it back. You could try standing further out in front of it. You could experiment with adding more mids and/or highs. In other words things that get more sound to your ears, without necessarily being "louder" in the room. You could also experiment with adding a bit of tube overdrive, which with the right EQ curve can sometimes make a bass sit better in a mix. Especially for a classic hard rock tribute, you have a fair amount of leeway with that kind of stuff. Just don't overdo it or you'll make the bass muddy/spongy which is the opposite of what you want.

But I will also say, it could actually be the reverse. The sound guy is out front directly in front of your cab, getting all the mids and highs which you have set flat, PLUS a lot of bass, and that is contributing to a "too loud" perception. You could go the other way with lows set flat, and then do a modest low mid cut and possibly a deeper high mid cut. The high mid cut keeps the bass from sounding too harsh or aggressive, and the low mid cut makes more space for the guitars and drums (ie snare and toms). The key is to not overdo it. So if you dial in the cuts like that while playing solo, back them off a bit (less cut), and then you will likely be right where you need to be.

And yeah, the other thing about the GIII is figuring out a way to make moving it easier. Mine has casters, which I wouldn't be without. Even if yours doesn't and you can't find the right ones, you can probably just get a cheap small furniture dolly to move it around on. In the states, there's a company called Harbor Freight that has all kinds of stuff like that, I've bought a number of the same small dolly (maybe 15-18" long and a foot wide) for about $12. So I think I have 3 or 4 of them now, because I use them for guitar combos and bass cabs and then keep at least one "free" for general usage. And damn, your bandmates should really help with load in/out. That's BS if they don't, as long as you're willing to also help them. At home, sure, you may have to just deal with it. But at the venue it really shouldn't be an issue.

For now, if you gig the Jr, especially since it's 4 ohms, I would definitely get it raised up on something, so that every watt you put into it goes straight to your ears. And you may have to ask the sound guy to put a little bass in the wedge. The idea is not to get blasted with bass, because unless you're dealing with old school giant 15" wedges, they're not really designed for that. But just to fold in a little bit, so you have some definition. People try to just add everything to their monitors and that is the complete wrong way. You only want to add what you absolutely need, and if one thing on stage is way too loud and causing you to need everything else, the one loud things needs to come down instead.
Click to expand...
MM Stingray 4 HS. Bass bosted on the head, not in the bass. HPF set somewhere between 30 and 50 Hz. I tilt back the cab a bit, taking off the rear casters while maintaining the front ones. When I raised the rig I lost all the lows, and my perception wasn't much better. I believe the key will be setting better the mids, as the TH350 has some controls
 
#204
Omega Monkey said:
Cranking the lows up to 2 o clock is actually a pretty good amount of boost. What kind of bass are you using?

I would say if the sound guy is telling you you're too loud, but you can't hear yourself, the answer is not to go to a smaller cab, but to make the one you have work better for you. You could try raising it up, or angling it back. You could try standing further out in front of it. You could experiment with adding more mids and/or highs. In other words things that get more sound to your ears, without necessarily being "louder" in the room. You could also experiment with adding a bit of tube overdrive, which with the right EQ curve can sometimes make a bass sit better in a mix. Especially for a classic hard rock tribute, you have a fair amount of leeway with that kind of stuff. Just don't overdo it or you'll make the bass muddy/spongy which is the opposite of what you want.

But I will also say, it could actually be the reverse. The sound guy is out front directly in front of your cab, getting all the mids and highs which you have set flat, PLUS a lot of bass, and that is contributing to a "too loud" perception. You could go the other way with lows set flat, and then do a modest low mid cut and possibly a deeper high mid cut. The high mid cut keeps the bass from sounding too harsh or aggressive, and the low mid cut makes more space for the guitars and drums (ie snare and toms). The key is to not overdo it. So if you dial in the cuts like that while playing solo, back them off a bit (less cut), and then you will likely be right where you need to be.

And yeah, the other thing about the GIII is figuring out a way to make moving it easier. Mine has casters, which I wouldn't be without. Even if yours doesn't and you can't find the right ones, you can probably just get a cheap small furniture dolly to move it around on. In the states, there's a company called Harbor Freight that has all kinds of stuff like that, I've bought a number of the same small dolly (maybe 15-18" long and a foot wide) for about $12. So I think I have 3 or 4 of them now, because I use them for guitar combos and bass cabs and then keep at least one "free" for general usage. And damn, your bandmates should really help with load in/out. That's BS if they don't, as long as you're willing to also help them. At home, sure, you may have to just deal with it. But at the venue it really shouldn't be an issue.

For now, if you gig the Jr, especially since it's 4 ohms, I would definitely get it raised up on something, so that every watt you put into it goes straight to your ears. And you may have to ask the sound guy to put a little bass in the wedge. The idea is not to get blasted with bass, because unless you're dealing with old school giant 15" wedges, they're not really designed for that. But just to fold in a little bit, so you have some definition. People try to just add everything to their monitors and that is the complete wrong way. You only want to add what you absolutely need, and if one thing on stage is way too loud and causing you to need everything else, the one loud things needs to come down instead.
Click to expand...
First reherseal session with the Jr. was GLORIOUS. I must admit wasn't a fair comparison, comming from a TC electronic BG250 112 and the guitar combos weren't the ones used live. But it serves me to understand how the cab works with the head (Aguilar TH350), what I must cut and what raise. Next test: small stage in a rock bar. Now I'm confident to bring this cab to this kind of venues.

One think I notice about the drivers is that there not seemed the same installed on the Goliath III 4x10: the Jr. has ones with the surface kind of black painted, while the 4x10 has ones that you can see the paper structure and are grey. This weekend I'l try to check if these were the same or not
 
#205
Those cabs never had black drivers so those are almost certainly replacements. Hopefully they're more capable than the originals rather than less. But you should also open it up check to make sure the cab is the impedance you expect it to be.
 
#207
Omega Monkey said:
Those cabs never had black drivers so those are almost certainly replacements. Hopefully they're more capable than the originals rather than less. But you should also open it up check to make sure the cab is the impedance you expect it to be.
Click to expand...
Thanks @Omega Monkey. Just checked, and it seems these are original PAS. Here are the pictures. Maybe the black isn't "dark black" but for sure is darker than the ones in my Goliath III 4x10.

Goliath III jr. drivers:
IMG_20191017_082209_2380.JPG IMG_20191017_082209_2379.JPG IMG_20191017_082208_2377.JPG IMG_20191017_082208_2378.JPG

Goliath III 4x10 (during the weekend I'll check this one, to see it's the same part #)
 
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#208
Goliath III drivers checked. These seem to be in very good condition, the back of the cone has some stamps on there (maybe the week and year of construction), opposite to what I found on the drivers of Goliath jr. At this point seems to me that Jr's drivers were reconed or repaired at some point:

GOLIATH III 4x10, 16 ohms driver: Grey cone, stamps on the back

tbGoliath1.jpg IMG_20191018_180254.jpg

GOLIATH III 2X10, 8 ohms driver: black cone, black back cone, some kind of suspicious irregular circles (repaired?)
tbGoliath3.jpg IMG_20191017_082209_2379.JPG

Any help about what happened before it's appreciated, as I wiil tell the last owner and try to evaluate if returning to him. Thanks.
 
#213
I had an SWR rig that survived 8th grade, high school, college, law school, and several cross country moves.

SWR 750x head
SWR Goliath Jr. 2x10 cab
SWR Son of Bertha 1x15 cab

While I was never in love with the sound, it was bulletproof and never let me down. I sold the final piece of it last year and bought a Bass Block 800, still on the hunt for a new cab.
 
#214
My SWR rig made it through middle/high school/college as well. Also replaced with a Bass Block 800 (though I also kept my SWR rig). Currently running a Phil Jones Bass Compact 8 with the BB800. The PJB compact series cabs have been popular with Bass Block owners. Probably the second most popular cabs behind the Quilter cabs for the BB800 from what I have seen in the bass block threads.
 
#215
First gig with the Goliath III jr. No PA support for the amps, just drums and voices. Musical bar with a decent stage, 40-50 people attending. MORE THAN ENOUGH volume with this cab. Also, Aguilar TH350 head allowed me during the show to dial correctly the mids (a minimal umpf at 180 Hz), and the cab responded gloriously.

La Grange 5.jpg
 
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#216
Just found this thread. Currently I've got an Electric Blue head which I love, a Goliath III jr, and a Bass 750. I also had an original Redhead (non super) that I loved but after 3 back surgeries it had to go. Always got compliments when using this gear.
 
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#218
Christanto said:
- Goliath Jr III
- Baby Blue II

i just use BB II head for GIII. its hard to find SM 500/400 here. (jakarta)

please give your advice, what head i can use for GIII??

i play pop, jazz, RnB. play often at small cafe.
sound preference: bright, clean (like SM 500/400)

thanks in advance
Click to expand...
I use the same rig ! Well, basically. My SWR Baby Blue II through my Golight 410. It's been my main rig for years.
TFfeMaf.jpg
 
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#219
Not to brag , (OK, who I am kidding ! )
I THINK I presently own (might have more..)
- Henry 8x8
- Goliath 610
- Super Redhead combo
- Goliath III 410
- Marcus Miller Golight 410
- Marcus Miller Golight 210
- SWR Baby Blue II in rack
- SWR Baby Blue in rack
- SWR Burgundy Bass 350
- SWR SM900
- SWR 6 piece beer pint glasses 20th anniversary
- SWR Store banner
- SWR Posters
- SWR badges
- SWR Keychains, one with LED light !
- SWR T- Shirts
... and maybe more I forgot.
Yeah, I kind of like SWR stuff...
 

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