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SWR. Hate 'em? Love 'em?

#81
I'm a hater. I had an Electric Blue head I used for a bedroom amp, and it was OK for that, but it started acting up, and upon closer inspectionit was discovered that the output transistors were never soldered to the board. They just happened to make enough contact with the board to work for awhile. At that time, SWR was considered a premium boutique amp of the highest quality. So much for the hype. I have not considered another SWR product since.
 
#82
xgabriel said:
nice. I have mine running to an avatar 410 neo, and I think it sounds great. I pretty much agree with everything you said, although I never use the foot pedal.
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well, i must admit, i use it only at home. but hey, it gets use :)

regardless if others disagree, i like the way the swr doesn't have a "tone" of its own. cos thats wut i want out of my amplifier. i want to hear my bass. if a certain bass only sounds good with a certain amp, then why buy it? i want an amp thats versatile enuff to handle any bass i like the sound of.

think about it, you don't buy mic equipment to "color" the voice of your singer, why do you want the true sound of your bass covered. transparent sound quality, which some mistake as "sterile" is simply a great great thing. and many brands, including markbass, ea, epifani, etc, strive to make their amps as "sterile" as possible. if my amp significantly changes the sound fo my bass, wuts the point of buying that 2000 dollar american jazz when the mexican one will end up sounding exactly the same.

with the swr, the difference is astounding. thru sum other brands ive played, its hard to tell.

just my experience...
 
#83
vroc38 said:
I'm a hater. I had an Electric Blue head I used for a bedroom amp, and it was OK for that, but it started acting up, and upon closer inspectionit was discovered that the output transistors were never soldered to the board. They just happened to make enough contact with the board to work for awhile. At that time, SWR was considered a premium boutique amp of the highest quality. So much for the hype. I have not considered another SWR product since.
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well, that is one of their cheaper amps. and keep in mind, every company has certain products which somehow pass QC while retaining a problem. just look at fender and gibson. so yea, it sucks that you happened to get a bad one, but unless your looking at something custom made and a great amount of diligence and time was put into it, you always run a risk of a slight problem. that is just how things work with big business, and the same could be had with any other brand.
 
#84
I have an old SM-400, and I used to have the Studio 220. I like SWR's hi-fi tone, basically you get whatever you put into it. I'm using the SM-400 with an Epifani 310UL right now, and the only thing that I would change about it would be to have a bit more power.
 
#85
vision said:
I have an old SM-400, and I used to have the Studio 220. I like SWR's hi-fi tone, basically you get whatever you put into it. I'm using the SM-400 with an Epifani 310UL right now, and the only thing that I would change about it would be to have a bit more power.
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im guessing the 310 is a 4 ohm resistance?

so ur getting the full wattage?
 
#88
adept_inept said:
regardless if others disagree, i like the way the swr doesn't have a "tone" of its own.
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i disagree. with a caveat. anything SWR with speakers has, in my experience, definitely had a tone of its own. i have never had the chance to use an SWR head with other cabinets. i have played the cabinets with SWR and other amps, and i've played only a model of a preamp. so i wouldn't be surprised if the heads are completely transparent.

the cabinets are extremely colored -- no matter how i turn the knobs, the basic, scooped character cannot be avoided or altered in any useful ways (like removing the mid scoop). and that's with the enhancer all the way down! and i've used very versatile EQ sections like a peavey max, or an SWR 550x. i just don't understand how people keep referring to them as "hi-fi" when they're extremely far from transparent. scooped mids and hyped high end is not the same thing as clarity or natural sound!

robb.
 
#89
rcz said:
i have never had the chance to use an SWR head with other cabinets.

the cabinets are extremely colored
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i agree with this. the swr cab w/ the amps i tried it with (including other SWR stuff) definitely had a tone. however, i am refering to the amps themselves, because that is what i own. and i think the people who have been claiming the "hi fi" sound were refering to ethe heads, not the cabs, in most cases.

i believe i eve went as far as to say that i hated the swr + swr cab combo sounded, and definitely wanted the avatars for the perfect transparent sound.
 
#90
I love my SWR Mini Mo' pre. It's everything my esoteric 'lil heart was looking for in an amp (high quality analog effects, multiple routing options) and I shudder at the idea of having to replace it with a "conventional" setup - I can't imagine how much the equivalent in true-bypass pedals and pre or head capable of the outputs that it has (in my case pre-effects "clean" and post-effects "dirty" signals) would cost and weigh. I fully admit that it's a niche product that is too much for most players needs and perhaps it would be better served as a dedicated special order product much like the old Mr. Tone Controls. However, for me it does the job better than anything else on the market.

I'll also agree that they haven't been a "cutting edge" company since the Mo' Bass was beaten savagely upon its introduction and a "bleeding edge" since Steve Rabe left and that they're lacking a few must-haves such as a simple 1-2U preamp like the old Grand Prix. I think, though, that the vast majority of bassist must fall into the vast middle that like the tone at one end or dislike it but understand that it doesn't fit their playing style at the other end of the spectrum. Both haters and fanboys aren't making clear-minded judgements. ;)
 
#92
I use a SM-900 into 2 Gol.IIIs and it kills. Had a problem with a 2 or 3-year old SM-900 and SWR immediately sent me a new one. That was about 5-6 years ago. I've not had any problems since. I run the amp pretty much flat, and the tone is excellent. 900W is 900W! I turn one tweeter off, and crack the other open just a hair. A lot of people who don't dig the tone should try turning the tweeters off.

There wasn't nearly the amount of gear to choose from way back when I bought the rig. It was Eden, SWR or Ampeg. I a/b'd everything at the GC and took home the one I though sounded best. Now there is a TON of stuff, but the SWR hasn't given me a reason to look elsewhere...I think it's great stuff.
 
#93
I played a studio220 for bar gigs for 7 years and the thing was awesome, then I went to Ampeg and more power and couldn't stand it. Now I have a SM400 with a Telefunken pre tube in it and I get a little extra warmth, but the SWR sound and reliability I've always loved! Of course this is all SWR Engineering stuff, and I haven't compared, nor do I want to compare it to Fender stuff.......Most of the "budget" things Fender does contributes to the downfall of everything good.
 
#94
I was going to sell my SWR350 '96 Red Face pre Fender three days ago. I plugged it in to test & realized the tone is really good, it's the power of this model that is lacking. 220 watts @8ohms dosen't begin to compete w/a 60 watt tube guitar amp.
However when I ran it @ 4ohms (350watts) into a Bergie 310 it started to push a little air & sounded really good for med-low sized gigs. I'm keeping it!
An annoying feature of the early SWR amps is the fact that they pop really loud @ start up. You have to remember to unplug cab before start up.:eyebrow:
DON'T ever turn this head off with it still connected to main board (line out). It slowly starts to wind up w/this god awfull noise then takes forever to wind back down. I did this in church when some people were praying one on one w/leaders & I brought that to a shocking halt. It was like a scene from a movie, I just kept apologizing.:eek: :rollno:
 
#95
My current rig is an SWR750x through two Goliath III cabs and I love this sound. I got the head a few years back and sold off my Bass350 in the process. That head was an absolute tank and stood up to about 7 years of pretty heavy use without any issues what-so-ever. One of my Goliath cabs is roughly 8 years old and there to I have had no complaints with the reliability and performance.

I played quite a few head/cab combos when I was originally looking and the SWR was what just sounded best to me, not to mention I got a killer cash and carry deal on the Bass350 on 48th street way back when.:eek:

All that being said, I do think that I am at the point where I may try and find a bit of a different sound, especially since I got my Roscoe 6'er...so the SWR gear may be going bye bye soon.:ninja: :ninja:

Shawn
 
#97
Blues Cat said:
I was going to sell my SWR350 '96 Red Face pre Fender three days ago. I plugged it in to test & realized the tone is really good, it's the power of this model that is lacking. 220 watts @8ohms dosen't begin to compete w/a 60 watt tube guitar amp.
However when I ran it @ 4ohms (350watts) into a Bergie 310 it started to push a little air & sounded really good for med-low sized gigs. I'm keeping it!
An annoying feature of the early SWR amps is the fact that they pop really loud @ start up. You have to remember to unplug cab before start up.:eyebrow:
DON'T ever turn this head off with it still connected to main board (line out). It slowly starts to wind up w/this god awfull noise then takes forever to wind back down. I did this in church when some people were praying one on one w/leaders & I brought that to a shocking halt. It was like a scene from a movie, I just kept apologizing.:eek: :rollno:
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I hope you don't mean you unplug your speaker cable from the head or cab turn your head on and then plug it in. Now that is not healthy for the head! SWR said that if they put in a circuit to still this it would affect the tone. You should have heard what the turn on pop was like on an Acoustic 360. It would blow out candles. Perhaps you can turn it on before people arrive and avoid disturbing anyone. Billy Sheehan said,"I had a really annoying Pop, my Mom divorced him.":)
 
#98
chadds said:
I hope you don't mean you unplug your speaker cable from the head or cab turn your head on and then plug it in. Now that is not healthy for the head! SWR said that if they put in a circuit to still this it would affect the tone. You should have heard what the turn on pop was like on an Acoustic 360. It would blow out candles. Perhaps you can turn it on before people arrive and avoid disturbing anyone. Billy Sheehan said,"I had a really annoying Pop, my Mom divorced him.":)
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\

Yes, I unplug from the speaker, turn amp on & then plug it in. The pop disturbs me & dosen't sound healthy for the cab. It's a SS amp, how can unplugging before turning on damage it?:eyebrow: I've used it in the studio as a preamp w/out ever hooking a cab up. Now w/ a tube amp I would never do that.:rollno: Richard Gear said, "I've purchased all the hamsters".:eek:

Remember the good old days when you used to be able to call SWR & they would pickup w/in a few rings & a human answered?
 
#99
iriegnome said:
What are your thoughts on Pre/Post Fender SWR? Does anyone else in here feel like I do. When SWR was bought by Fender, it was completely lost. It seems to be a company that wants to compete with Behringer. The WM line has become the front line and the "Pro" series has become what the WM line used to be. SWR no longer has the bass player made mentality and it no longer is a Bass rig for bass players by bass players. It is an assembly line made carbon copy of what it used to be. Same with Eden and sadly several others.:(
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(Not trying to get too off topic or to start a flame war) i've seen you take some shots at eden before, but i DON'T see how you can compare eden and swr in this instance. yeah, they both got bought up by bigger companies, but eden has only improved by this. yes, it has taken a few years, but they have introduced a TON of new products, improved on a few old ones (wt550? 800b?), their quality, distribution and availability have all improved by being owned by u.s. music. yeah, it's not as glamorous as an aguilar, epifani, etc. doing their own thing without being part of a giant corporation, but the deep pockets and international sales channels of USM has been very beneificial to them, especially since they haven't made them lose their identity. yeah, they make a lot more lower priced stuff (nemesis, nemesis silver series) but it hasn't stopped the world tour series from expanding as well ... hopefully this will be a similar case with trace elliot/peavey too (and maybe it's not too late for swr/fender) but only time will tell :bassist:
 
#100
I haven't really played much other SWR stuff, but I'd like to stick up for the SWR Grand Prix, which has done a great job as the preamp in my QSC PLX 3002 and two Acme Low-B2 rig. All the features I need, few that I don't, reliable and most importantly it sounds great. Its DI out does a particularly fine job when out through the PA or when recording.

Been using it for almost 7 years and having just listened back to my latest studio recordings it would seem foolish to change to anything else!

Alex
 

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