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SWR. Hate 'em? Love 'em?

#121
I'd still be playing my older SWR Eng. Workingman's stuff if it hadn't been lost in a higher-than-normal tide. As such, I was able to purchase the "pro" series on ebay for a fraction of what the WM rig cost when new (1995). My only hope is that prices continue to drop. People: please continue to hate it....you're saving me money.

Mike
 
#122
I have owned a lot of SWR gear--all pre-fender:

Studio 220
Bass 350 Redface
Bass 350 Black/Silverface
SM-400s
SM-500
IOD
WM 10 w/ ext cab
WM 12

Guess you could say I've seen my share of the gear. I agree with the view that it's occasionally left me underpowered. I blew up an Eden cab with a 350, prompting me to ditch both. I agree with points above about making a bass sound good or bad and not masking a bass' nature. I was playing a Modulus Vintage Jazz--a bass many have accused of being way sterile in tone--through the 350. It sounded sterile and dry, so I kept upping the bass. Bye bye cab!

Long story short, Fender has the brand pointed straight into the ground. They are 'readjusting market position' to compete most directly with Crate, Behringer, and others. They're a for-profit company, who can blame them.

I have no doubt that if I was given $25,000 and told to increase profits from the SWR product line, I (if I were your average businessman) would invest the funds in the lower product line by finding ways to cut cost and increase margin on the cheap amps they sell at high volume.

I would NOT waste the money tweaking the high-end stuff or introducing new products. As long as the high-end products EXIST in the catalogues, and they can be spoken of as "massively powerful" and "time-tested workhorse of the pros" and left there for young-uns to gaze at longingly.

Meanwhile, the pro level stuff will rot on the vine.
 
#123
I have owned alot of SWR gear over the years. The only piece that I have held onto is my 2000 SM-500. This amp has been used heavily and has never given me any problems. I have used it to power almost every SWR cab made. I also use it with my Ampegs, and Schroeders. It is one of the best bass purchases I have made.
 
#124
I own 3 $WR cabs- a Big Bertha I usually gig with, A Triad which I used to gig with and a Goliath which I occassionaly gigged with. I love the Big Bertha and the Triad. I like the Goliath. Then again the 10's aren't exactly my thing... baby. The cabs get a thumbs up from me.

I bought 2 $WR amps in 2000-01. When they worked, they sounded awesome... when they worked... A Bass 750 that blew up with about 3 hours of playing time (both at practices, and never at 'outdoor festival volume'), and just never worked right afterward and then an SM-900 to replace the Bass 750. The SM-900 had a litany of problems from the "mystery screw" in the amp right off the bat, to the DI being wired improperly from the factory, to the either bad power LED or cold solder joint, to the bad fuse well, to THE M-F'IN OVERHEATING ISSUES. That amp has overheated or blew output fuses when being used for more than an hour. I ended up installing a fan in the rack to remove the hot air. I also keep fuses taped to the wall of the rack. I haven't had any problems with it since installing the fan.
3639_p47474.jpg



My theory is that someone didn't take into account the air flow inside the amp and inside the rack- The air is passively drawn in the back of the amp, then forced through the heat sinks TOWARDS, not OUT, just towards a grate in the chassis of the amp. Most of the hot air can exit the amp, but some recirculates back into the heat sink fan. Remember the amp is designed to be inside a rack, but the side of the chassis sits around half an inch from the wall of the rack, which is of course resistance to the hot air attempting to exit the amp, so more hot air stays within the chassis of the amp. Then you have the issue of the hot air staying in the rack. After that amp is running, a majority of the air inside that rack has already been blown into the heat sink at some time, go ahead and feel the temperature at the bottom of the rack, or even touch the bottom of the rack case. Unless something is forcing fresh air into that rack case or removing the hot air, that amp isn't going to do all that well.
3639_p47475.jpg



This isn't taking into account the abso-****ing-lutely STELLAR "customer service" I recieved from the company after the Bass 750 blew all the 10's in my Goliath...:mad:

It's my fault I stayed with $WR- I just figured I had managed to get a lemon. I want to pick up either a Mesa Big Block or the new Eden.
 
#129
i've never had an swr overheat and fail, but they do get hot. to be honest, most or all of the times i used swr amps that were two space rackmount they either had nothing racked on top of them, or they were racked in the middle of 3 spaces. (IIRC, swr and other manufactureres might have reccomended doing the latter whenever possible).

I'm curious, thegoldenboy, what era was that sm-900 from, was it an swr engineering unit, or swr sound? a year of production would be neat to know as well. i dont think you said it was post fender, but the original swr was engineering, and later they changed the moniker to sound.
 
#130
I have a Goliath III cab that, IMO, is the greatest cab on the planet :D I've never had any trouble with it. It's loud, has great tone, isn't to heavy IMO (I was previously using an older Trace Elliot that weighed almost twice what my SWR does - so the SWR is light by my standards).

Plus, I love the 'bling-bling' the chrome grill has going on.
 
#131
cgworkman said:
I have a Goliath III cab that, IMO, is the greatest cab on the planet :D I've never had any trouble with it. It's loud, has great tone, isn't to heavy IMO (I was previously using an older Trace Elliot that weighed almost twice what my SWR does - so the SWR is light by my standards).

Plus, I love the 'bling-bling' the chrome grill has going on.
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The Goliath weighs in at 89lbs, but to me it felt fairly light. I think it's a great sounding cabinet. It recently made my wish (gas) list. Sure it's scooped, but just add some mids and it'll cut through the mix.
 
#132
I know many say it's 'scooped,' but I'm not going to complain if it really is. I'm using a BBE BMax pre which has a quasi-parametric mid EQ - tweak that a bit and the GIII is no longer scooped at all. Nice buttery mids! However, I for one, enjoy the clarity of SWR's cabs. If that means scooped or something else - so be it.

What's the opinion on the Son of Bertha?
 
#135
JameelRS said:
I love SWR's to the fullest. I couldn't really afford one so I settled with a Crate. But that turned out to be really good too. I'm just pissed about Fender buying SWR though.
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I would really like to know why you are pissed at the aquisition??????????????? Fender saved SWR from going down the tubes. They saved many of their amps from being failures, completely redesigned, and even scrapped some of the bad ideas that were in production.

For instance, Fender redesigned the LA series, which used to suck hard. They made the X series, improved the 900,500 and reconfigured the Mo bass from a powerless weakling into a nice usable pre-amp (I know its gone now) and made the working pro series. I may be completely off, but the the last year or two of SWR is what pissed me off.
 
#136
seansbrew said:
For instance, Fender redesigned the LA series, which used to suck hard. They made the X series, improved the 900,500 and reconfigured the Mo bass from a powerless weakling into a nice usable pre-amp (I know its gone now) and made the working pro series. I may be completely off, but the the last year or two of SWR is what pissed me off.
Click to expand...
I may be wrong...but I think the x series was already in production and the Mo Bass already changed before the buyout. The 500/900 "classic" series are essentially the same amps they have been since SWR Eng....they have only undergone cosmetic changes. All that aside...axing the WM series and introducing the WorkingPro stuff, while not a stroke of genius, was a good idea. The La series has been garbage from day one (albeit profitable garbage).

Mike
 
#137
I had a SM-900 and two 4x10 Goliaths for years.

I could never direct line to the PA because of a nasty hiss the line out had. Using a microphone on the cabs was the only way to get a clear signal and wasn't a good way to go to the board.

The horns hissed also, at first I loved the amp for its sheer power but it didn't have a "personality", the sound was kind of bland.

It was durable though and was "road-tough". The cabs could take whatever I threw at them.

It was all stolen a few years ago and now I'm going with Ampeg for a sound I like better. I seem to get more tone control/effect with my SVT4-Pro head.

I really don't think Fender is going to improve things.

This was from equipment I bought in the mid 90's. And it's only my opinion though.;)
 
#139
cgworkman said:
I know many say it's 'scooped,' but I'm not going to complain if it really is. I'm using a BBE BMax pre which has a quasi-parametric mid EQ - tweak that a bit and the GIII is no longer scooped at all. Nice buttery mids! However, I for one, enjoy the clarity of SWR's cabs. If that means scooped or something else - so be it.

What's the opinion on the Son of Bertha?
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I agree, add some mids and they really come alive.

The SOB is a great cab, it doesn't add huge lows but it rounds out the bottom end...very nicely.

I've found that the SWR Pro cabs really cut through the mix and project well.
 
#140
mike_v_s said:
I may be wrong...but I think the x series was already in production and the Mo Bass already changed before the buyout. The 500/900 "classic" series are essentially the same amps they have been since SWR Eng....they have only undergone cosmetic changes. All that aside...axing the WM series and introducing the WorkingPro stuff, while not a stroke of genius, was a good idea. The La series has been garbage from day one (albeit profitable garbage).

Mike
Click to expand...
The X production is a Fender thing. Also, the Mo bass did not change until the buy out. And when the buyout was public, Fender already had the reigns for some time. The 500/900 are essentially the same, but not complletely. And you are right the LA series was junk from day one, but that amp was completely redesigned from the ground up when Fender took over. Have you played one lately??? They dont suck as much as they used too.:p
 

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