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SWR Workingman 4004

#2
Had one for about 10 years now. I used to practice, rehearse and gig with it all the time.

I've used all kinds of speaker cabinets, but mostly an SWR WM 4x10T or an old 1x15 Hartke combo which I turned into a speaker cabinet.

It's a clean, straightforward, solid state amp with a powerful EQ-section. You can get useful sounds with just about any cabinet.
 
#3
Right on. This is very helpful. For the past many many years it was SUNN. It was the only gigging set up I have evre used. Found what I liked and kind of stopped reading/learning about other gear. Thanks
 
#5
Glad to be of help :)

Some more tips:

The amp's passively cooled. In other words, it has a heat sink instead of a fan and therefore is completely silent. Which makes it useful for low volume practice, low-noise gigs (think theater-stuff) and studio applications.

You can use a standalone preamp and have the 4004 act only as a poweramp by plugging into the effects return. The master volume and limiter remain active!

The heat sink will get real hot, but it's nothing to worry about. I've only managed to overheat mine once, and that was by running it for quite some time at 4 ohms, maximum volume, bass boosted, in a corner of a room without any ventilation. The sound stopped, I turned down the low frequencies a little, waited a minute and the sound came back on and I continued playing for the rest of the night.

The main reason why I bought a new 'main gigging amp' was that you can't put it in a rack. I was always worried that it would get damaged during transport.
 
#6
Good to know. I will now be going to the studio and see whats there for a cabnit. I was kond of worried about not having a fan but now I ubderstand the system. Cant wait to get some type of cab going..:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:
 
#7
Okay, I have a question..so on the 4004 I am confused about the active/passive input. I think Im reading too much into it. So is there a input for both types of pups?

Next, the Aural Enhancer, does it just make everything more clear and pronounced if set properly? I'm trying to find my old SUNN manual to compare things too. Even the Colisium was way simple compaired to this.
 
#8
Active input is -15 db if I remember correctly.

Aural Enhancer apparently boosts very low freqs and highs while cutting around 250 hz after about the 2 o clock position.
Before that it's just a low/high boost.
You can also compensate somewhat by boosteing the low mids at 250 hz using the parametric mid control.

There are more details available about specific AE function in the 'AE bypass' thread.
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f15/swr-aural-enhancer-bypass-643201/

It's actually a pretty versatile amp and very reliable.
You just need a little time to get familiar with it.
 
#10
Wow, that link is beyond my knowledge....But thanks....I get your post.
I think once my head gets here I' ll have a ton of experimenting to do. I Struggle w change, I will learn it though...
 
#11
philvanv said:
Okay, I have a question..so on the 4004 I am confused about the active/passive input. I think Im reading too much into it. So is there a input for both types of pups?

Next, the Aural Enhancer, does it just make everything more clear and pronounced if set properly? I'm trying to find my old SUNN manual to compare things too. Even the Colisium was way simple compaired to this.
Click to expand...

The inputs are actually labelled 'passive/active' and 'active'. Just plug into the first one, it'll probably work just fine. If you have to keep the gain very low to keep the input from clipping, then try the active input.

Set the AE at minimum, gradually turn it up and listen to what it does to the sound. First it adds a bit of clarity, or so it seems. After that, it'll get you that modern, Marcus Miller-like, slap tone.
I don't like how it makes the mids disappear, so I keep it under 9 o'clock.


The amp gives you some options, but it's not rocket science. Just turn the knobs to where you think it sounds good :)
 
#12
As far as cabs go, i use the workingmans 410T ran from a GK 400rb. The cab is 8ohms so i think that the amp is only putting out about 180 watts. but they are very loud watts! The WM410T holds up just fine. Its extremely loud for what the amp puts out and does everything from slap to grind with no back talk! Very underrated cam. Also they arent very expensive, I think GC has a used one for $249.
 
#14
So, I've been using this head daily a few hours a day and a show every month or two. Love it with the Dr.Bass Cab and my insainly poweful Gamma Alpha Black Beast.
I've dialed my sound in. So funny when using my bass I can keep my tone and volume set very low, and when using any other bass I have to mess with the tone and crank up the volume to at least 7.....pending model. My Gamma pups are "hot"....
Another thing, you guys with the experience with the 4004, are right on about zero noise and the eq settings. It may seem like just redundant info to you guys but it was way helpful and exactly as you stated. There was a few threads I asked questions on re: the 4004...
I hope, since being SS and cared for it will last as long as my SUNN....
 
#15
OK so we will be doing an acoustic set with me still plugged in. In all my years I've never played or had any interest in doing an acoustic set.
I'll be using my regular setup, but as professional as we aren't (hahaha) we will not be running through our set with me plugged in. Any suggestions on how/where to set up my head...anything to change specifically for use with an acoustic poppy, garage-y fast set?
 
#16
You could say so

Actually, last experiences of mine with the 4004 were with my acoustic bass, and I initially started adoptin' almost same pedalboard configuration (and steel strings) of my electrics.

Then I discovered I could do much better with coated strings and no effects whatsoever, just tweakin' eq, compression, enhancer at my likings.

But I started spendin' a lot with combinations of Goliath jr (2x10") and son of Bertha (1x15") for rock moments and-when switchin' to extensive acoustic use-I preferred above mentioned Workin'Man 4x10"

kinda mellow a head

Cheers,
Wallace
 
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#17
Well that's good to know. I began using coated about a year ago and I don't use any effects......As for the other info I will be messing with set up during this week. I haven't moved anything on my amp. I will have a couple hours a night to mess around with a different set up, sounds like I get to have extra fun with my settings.
Thanks for the response...
 

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