My SWR $.02
I bought ( and still have, but its not that functional) a new Studio 220 when they came out. The tone was great, I ran that puppy into a Goliath III jr at 4 ohms and Never lacked for volume or tone. Maybe a little more power would have been good. When it blew up, replaced it with a Hartke 3500 ( the worst mistake ever, 'nother story) then went back to SWR with a 350X. Nowhere near the same gooey but clean sound that was the SWR hallmark. When I had an issue 1 year down the road, I experienced the headache of SWR's Newly Nonexistant Customer Service, brought to you by the fine folks of Fender. Also found out from the amp techs whoeventually fixed the unit about the sad last days at SWR, where a lack of parts stopped production runs on a lot of amps. Fender bought them for a song and then the changes were put ito motion to keep the technology and put it into Fender gear and let the SWR branded stuff be made overseas and continue to sell it, as it is. Since the Fender takeover, Fender has the new high power amps and they're lining up the right young bass players as endorsees. What has SWR innovated in the last 18 months? The Steve Rabe sound had been gone from SWR for a while. As others have posted, most amp makers have an amp that does the pristine SWR thing, the market dictated that direction for them. SWR didn't remain cutting edge, then went for other lines and diluted their boutique image.
After I had my 350X fixed, I compared it to the spare I bought, and it just didn't justify keeping it in the rotation. I used an Ampeg B2R and then went pre/power. I occasionally used either the Ampeg or SWR as a lower powered power amp and the SWR just didn't distinguish itself as being better sounding. It now sits in its box,i ts pedal, packing materials and manual, squished inside, waiting for me to stop being lazy and sell it or trade it.
My Moral for this story?
Old SWR___legendary
New SWR___secondary
I bought ( and still have, but its not that functional) a new Studio 220 when they came out. The tone was great, I ran that puppy into a Goliath III jr at 4 ohms and Never lacked for volume or tone. Maybe a little more power would have been good. When it blew up, replaced it with a Hartke 3500 ( the worst mistake ever, 'nother story) then went back to SWR with a 350X. Nowhere near the same gooey but clean sound that was the SWR hallmark. When I had an issue 1 year down the road, I experienced the headache of SWR's Newly Nonexistant Customer Service, brought to you by the fine folks of Fender. Also found out from the amp techs whoeventually fixed the unit about the sad last days at SWR, where a lack of parts stopped production runs on a lot of amps. Fender bought them for a song and then the changes were put ito motion to keep the technology and put it into Fender gear and let the SWR branded stuff be made overseas and continue to sell it, as it is. Since the Fender takeover, Fender has the new high power amps and they're lining up the right young bass players as endorsees. What has SWR innovated in the last 18 months? The Steve Rabe sound had been gone from SWR for a while. As others have posted, most amp makers have an amp that does the pristine SWR thing, the market dictated that direction for them. SWR didn't remain cutting edge, then went for other lines and diluted their boutique image.
After I had my 350X fixed, I compared it to the spare I bought, and it just didn't justify keeping it in the rotation. I used an Ampeg B2R and then went pre/power. I occasionally used either the Ampeg or SWR as a lower powered power amp and the SWR just didn't distinguish itself as being better sounding. It now sits in its box,i ts pedal, packing materials and manual, squished inside, waiting for me to stop being lazy and sell it or trade it.
My Moral for this story?
Old SWR___legendary
New SWR___secondary
