End of an era

[JPJ]

So yesterday I sold the last of my SWR gear. This ends what has been a thirty plus year obsession with the brand, started by my love of the bass playing of John Paul Jones. Over the years I have owned and gigged:

1) Black Beauty combo

2) Black Beauty combo with Workingmans 210

3) 750x head with Goliath III (4x10) and Son of Bertha (1x15)

4) 750x head with two Goliaths

5) Grand Prix preamp (twice)

6) SM1500 head with two Goliaths

7) SM1500 head with one Goliath Senior (6x10)

8).SM1500 with one Goliath

9) SM900 with one Goliath

10) Marcus Miller preamp (twice)

11) Marcus Miller preamp with Amplite poweramp (the setup I should have kept).

 

I know that Fender swallowed up the SWR brand and then promptly did nothing with it, but boy would I love an SWR pedal sized preamp with the semi-parametric EQ and the  famous aural enhancer (marmite to many),

[BassAdder60]

Looks amazing and very heavy ! 

[BassBod]

I’ve still got a few SWR’s, but they don’t go out so often.  Logistics for gigging keep getting more challenging, but when I do take the Baby Blue or SM500 they never disappoint 😎

 

I’m sure an SWR preamp pedal is possible.  Valves in pedals are fairly common these days, so someone will do it…

[Bilbo]

I had an Electric Blue amp head. Loved it but the extension can got nicked out of my car at Aust services nr. Bristol (along with a GK MB150 combo) in the early 90s. Someone was in the car as well. I always covetted a Redhead but it never appeared. Ended up with an Eden Metro instead. 

[Lozz196]

I don’t think, in all my years of playing bass, that I’ve ever played through any SWR gear. Nothing to do with the gear itself, just none of the bands I’ve gear-shared with had any.

[JPJ]

1 hour ago, Lozz196 said:

I don’t think, in all my years of playing bass, that I’ve ever played through any SWR gear. Nothing to do with the gear itself, just none of the bands I’ve gear-shared with had any.

If you had, you would have remembered. There is a clarity and authority that you get with SWR that you just can’t get with other amps IMHO. Yes, you can get ridiculously clean tones from other amps but they sound sterile to my ears. SWR has that clean but with warmth and authority (if that makes sense?)

[JPJ]

2 hours ago, BassBod said:

I’ve still got a few SWR’s, but they don’t go out so often.  Logistics for gigging keep getting more challenging, but when I do take the Baby Blue or SM500 they never disappoint 😎

 

I’m sure an SWR preamp pedal is possible.  Valves in pedals are fairly common these days, so someone will do it…

The Baby Blue 2 x 8 combo is on my radar but is fairly rare here in the UK. There is one for sale in Italy at the moment, but by the time you add post-BREXIT import duty and VAT it becomes uneconomical for me. 

[ajkula66]

11 minutes ago, JPJ said:

SWR has that clean but with warmth and authority (if that makes sense?)

 

It makes sense to silly old me...😄...which is why I still own the Studio 220 head. A very specific sound, not for all occasions and definitely not for everyone but quite remarkable IMO.

[Downunderwonder]

The old SWR amps have no sub bass filtering whatsoever unless retrofitted. Push a bass string and watch the cone move in synch. 

[Ruarl]

What are you playing through now, @JPJ? Has something lighter taken the place of the big iron, or are you “between amps”?

[JPJ]

4 minutes ago, Ruarl said:

What are you playing through now, @JPJ? Has something lighter taken the place of the big iron, or are you “between amps”?

Current setup(s) are:

1) Ampless, using a pedalboard with a Jad Freer Capo, Empress compressor, SushiboxFX finally DI (v2), and SFX Micro Thumpinator (although this is only used with amps)

2) Ashdown 400w 1x15 ABM Neo combo (most gigs where I am also running the PA)

3) Ashdown Geezer Butler head of doom into a Vanderkley MNT 2x12 cab. 

 

I also have the fabulous little TC Electronics BG250 2x8 combo that I use for upright & EUB.

 

All in all I’m not spoilt for choice, and all of the above are a lot easier to lift that the SM1500 😂

[JPJ]

7 hours ago, Downunderwonder said:

The old SWR amps have no sub bass filtering whatsoever unless retrofitted. Push a bass string and watch the cone move in synch. 

That’s the reason there is a MicroThumpinator at the end of my pedalboard signal chain. Blowing three out of four cones in 4x10 taught me this lesson the expensive way 😂

[VTypeV4]

I can't see my Goliath Jr III cabs going anywhere - their sound is still so good. They had a good but busy life before they came to me but I'm at least ten years in with them now and have found little else that keeps up tonally. My modded Ashdown 2x10 is very good (fitted with Celestion Pulse - myself and Phil Starr had extensive communication over their suitability plus I took it upon myself to remove the resistor in HF circuit) and is now notably closer to the SWR cabs than the original spec.

 

 

Proper job! 🥰