Markbass vs. SWR

[bassplayer125]

Hi everyone.... I want to upgrade my rig, from Hartke, to one of the above. Ive had ampeg. peavey, crate (go ahead laugh), and notice alot of people use Markbass products with their MM's. I actually was thinking about the SWR Red Head anniversary combo. Im wondering how everyone compares MB to SWR. Until I saw all the Markbass usage with MM's, I was leaning towards the RedHead. Thanks for the input!

Juan

 

[five7]

Lmt 800!!!

 

[mynan]

Nothing wrong with SWR, but IMO they can be a little more harsh-sounding in comparison to the Markbass stuff.

 

[bassplayer125]

Thanks for the replies guys. I should probably add, if it matters, I am primarily a modern country bassist, but I occasionally find myself doing dance/party/horn stuff as well. Thanks again.

 

[Basswave]

Nothing wrong with SWR, but IMO they can be a little more harsh-sounding in comparison to the Markbass stuff.

+1 to that.

I personally never like SWR (although the cabinets where ok) but I always thought they where on the brittle side.

I use mostly Markbass and I'm really happy with them.

 

[oli@bass]

I used to have a lot of SWR gear. Probably stuff that would be considered "vintage" by todays standards... a Studio 220 amp, the Grand Prix preamp and Stereo 800 power amp, several Goliath II cabs, The Henry cab, an LA8 combo... I really liked it.

Until I took my SWR setup to a MarkBass dealer and did a 1:1 comparision of amps and cabs. The MB stuff sounded either exactly as good or even better. Comparing my SWR Henry (8x8) to a MarkBass 104HR, I found that the MarkBass cab sounded clearer and had more punch.

I went MarkBass all the way and am lugging around a third of the weight since then...

 

[MudvilleStomper]

the SWR Interstellar Overdrive is an amazing preamp. in my opinion it is about this -><- close to being perfect. it can do crisp and clean, it can do girthy grit, it can do deep tubey phat. i have no idea about the Redhead, but as I recall it was big in studio circles for a while...

 

[VenousPlatypus]

i use a SWR la15 at the moment. its a bit small, but HUGE sound

 

[Manfloozy]

I prefer Markbass. I had an SWR 750 for a very brief time. It was heavy and not really as "thick" in the lows/low mids. Still good stuff but not worth the extra pounds IMAO.

If it matters SWR is now owned by 7ender and EBMM has a close relationship with Markbass and Marco himself..... I respect Sterling and crews opinions, so this means a lot to me... YMMV

 

[Holdsg]

i have exact same feelings as Manfloozy. Though, the redhead is a slick looking combo, and I prefer Red to the bumblebee yellow/black. For a still light and rockin 2X10, I now pair my LMTube with a Bergantino HS210 and I am fat and happy with that setup. perfect size for rehearsal or small rooms. Add my MB 1X15 for my "big rig".

 

[bassplayer125]

Ok, I tried out a Markbass 210 combo with my new stingray.... Damn it sounded sweet..... I didnt get to try out the SWR redhead cause its at another music store quite a distance away. But I cant imagine it sounding better than the MB and the MB is about $200 cheaper. So I think Im gonna take the plunge this week sometime.

I do have a question. What kind of settings are you guys using to get the tone of the notes between the notes..... kinda hard to explain.... I guess its kind of like a muted note, like a rythmn note kind of that just keeps you in place.... let me see if I can find an example on youtube............ ok heres Victor Wooten....he does it ALOT.... I know hows he's plucking it, but Im looking for the tone that he (and others) get when they hit these muted notes.....Thanks for all the help!

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suaH-NJm12U]YouTube - Victor Wooten bass solo[/ame]

 

[Freddels]

He's muting the notes with his left hand. It's a technique that you can learn to do easily enough. You just have to reduce the pressure on the string with your finger. It takes practice but it's not rocket science.

 

[strummer]

SWR was, once upon a time, a well renowned manufacturer of high end bass amplification. Nowadays it's a BRAND.

Get a Markbass rig. Both Craig Young and Jack Williams uses them, and they are very country oriented

 

[strummer]

He's muting the notes with his left hand. It's a technique that you can learn to do easily enough. You just have to reduce the pressure on the string with your finger. It takes practice but it's not rocket science.

Yep. I think it's commonly referred to as ghost notes, no? Chuck Rainey is the mf king of that

 

[Freddels]

I've got the 210 combo and it's a really good sounding combo. Just for giggles, I wanted to try the cab part out with some different amps that I have. It's a really good sounding cab. I don't get why the cabs don't much respect. In the future, I'm either going to add another 102HF or 104HF cab to go along with it.

 

[Jim C]

I have both.
The SWR if you want very clean surgical precision that can be somewhat harsh or strident at certain settings.
Mark Bass if you want to maintain the SS tonality but warm it up a bit.
Mesa Walkabout if you want what is reasonably close to a 13lb SVT (clean tube tone)

 

[DTG]

I had a redhead for a year or so. Nowhere the same volume or headroom as the mb stuff. Was fine for small gigs but would break up at larger ones.

I really liked the swr tone, crisp and clear but very unforgiving. I changed to mark bass I have a 4x10 4 ohm and a mb tube head and love it. Light,unreal headroom and saveyou a few quid too.

 

[oli@bass]

SWR was, once upon a time, a well renowned manufacturer of high end bass amplification. Nowadays it's a BRAND.

That sums it up quite nicely! Once upon a time, Steve W. Rabe was for the bass world what Marco De Vergiliis means to us today.

Get a Markbass rig. Both Craig Young and Jack Williams uses them, and they are very country oriented

Which would actually be a point against MB... especially that CY dude...

 

[Norm66]

I recently replaced my Super Redhead (my amp the last 10 years) with a Markbass rig. IMHO they don't compare, the MB is better. I spent years using a SansAmp BDDI to get the SWR to sound how I wanted. The Markbass (tube 800) does it with the EQ set nearly flat.