Oh the choices.....Mesa vs. SWR

[spectorbassguy]

A good friend of mine who has played bass professionally told me that I could get better, cleaner sound with an SWR head and Goliath III cab. Now I love my Mesa 400+ with 1x15 & 4x10 cabs setup but I'm always looking for ways to improve my sound.

Has anyone played both Mesa 400+ and say SWR SM900 or 750? How about Goliath III cabs and Mesa cabs? Any thoughts?

 

[shaver]

from my point of view, i think what you have is the best you can have

 

[bassmonkeee]

A good friend of mine who has played bass professionally told me that I could get better, cleaner sound with an SWR head and Goliath III cab. Now I love my Mesa 400+ with 1x15 & 4x10 cabs setup but I'm always looking for ways to improve my sound.

Has anyone played both Mesa 400+ and say SWR SM900 or 750? How about Goliath III cabs and Mesa cabs? Any thoughts?

Well, it only matters if you think cleaner IS better. Yes, an SWR will have a cleaner sound to it than the Valve Monster that is the Mesa 400+, but is cleaner what you want?


If you love your sound, then what are you worried about? I mean, if you need an excuse to buy more gear, be my guest, but don't fix what ain't broke, dig?

 

[spectorbassguy]

I mean, if you need an excuse to buy more gear, be my guest, but don't fix what ain't broke, dig?

I dig, and I thank you and especially my wife thanks you for that comment!

 

[spectorbassguy]

How about just the cabs? Mesa uses E-V speakers. Does anyone know what kind SWR uses?

 

[Aragorn35016]

SWR uses P.A.S. Drivers. If you like a really clean piano like sound the SM-900 is very good at producing that to also being able to simulate an old acoustic amp sound. I currently use one of these with either my 12-stack or a 4 ohm Goliath III cab and am quite pleased with them.

Incidentally the Goliath III may be up for sale soon to anyone who might me interested.

 

[LarryNJ]

The only reason I can think of to give up on the Mesa would be if you are tired of the weight, and hate having to retube. Other than that, the 400+ is the holy grail for a lot of players. I play thru a Mesa Buster, which has the same tube attack and tone, and it is the sound for me.

The SWR's certainly are good heads, but are voiced differently, I've played 'em as backline, and tho I like them. I don't think they have the resonance and phat tone you can get with tubes.

I believe that the new Mesa Powerhouse cabs use PAS drivers as well, the older models, including my Diesels, had EVM's.
I always say that the sound depends on the player-his style, his bass, his feel, etc. so you can only determine which rig fits by playing your way and deciding.

My advice- Keep your Mesa gear, take some of the money and buy your wife something nice....Maybe your playing will lose some edge, but I'll bet your basslines will sound real happy!

 

[Deaj]

A good friend of mine who has played bass professionally told me that I could get better, cleaner sound with an SWR head and Goliath III cab. Now I love my Mesa 400+ with 1x15 & 4x10 cabs setup but I'm always looking for ways to improve my sound.

Has anyone played both Mesa 400+ and say SWR SM900 or 750? How about Goliath III cabs and Mesa cabs? Any thoughts?

In my opinion the SWR and Mesa amps are different animals entirely.
Mesa = warm, colored, punchy, fat tones
SWR = clear, clean, articulate, uncolored tones

SWR gear seems to be designed to let the voice of the bass itself speak with as little coloration as possible. This may be a good thing with some basses and perhaps not so good with others. I personally do not care for the sound of a light swamp ash jazz bass through an SWR rig for instance. A Roscoe sounds pretty fat through an SWR rig (sounds fat through any rig really ). Think hi-fi.

The Mesa 400+ is an old school, brute force approach to bass amplification. Like Ampeg amps, the Mesa is definitely a colored tone with its own voicing evident regardless of the bass being played. The 400+ will likely break up before the SWR and more gradually as well. This can be a good thing depending on what type of sound you're after. That same jazz bass will sound pretty fat through the Mesa rig and the Roscoe will cause structural damage to the building.

If you like the tone you get from the Mesa 400+ the SWR will likely be a culture shock as it doesn't even vaguely resemble the Mesa sonically. There are other solid state and hybrid (tube & s.s.) amps that will provide warmth and punch, in varying degrees, and offer a cleaner tone than the Mesa 400+. Gallien Krueger RB series, Eden WT series, Fender Pro series, and Ashdown ABM series are a few worth mentioning.

That's my $0.02
Deaj

 

[MM Scarborough]

Im in similar postion myself. Playin an SWR 4004 wk head. It's from the cheaper range but represents the SWR sound. Agree with all the points mentioned here about SWR, but I will say this. SWR only sound good with good quality basses. They simply voice the bass. They do not add any addtional colour to the sound, all be it smooth it out a little. Im after an SWR valve pre-amp to warm my sound a little, other than that Im happy. As soon as I can upload some sounds I will. When the trebble is pumped up on my SUB it sounds like you are hitting thick glass, no distortion growl, no tingy noises just pure glass. I would describe there sound as pure clean bass, but voice stingrays perfectly

 

[Mantaray]

If you like a really clean piano like sound the SM-900 is very good at producing that

If you want the cleanest sound around(and if your budget permits it) definetly go for the Glockenklang range. You have a killer head(mesa) so IMHO it'll make a killer combination.

 

[Psychicpet]

I've never owned any SWR but when I have used them it seems like I remember having to boost the bass alot in the eq , as for the 400+ .... mmmmm , tubes
If you're really wanting to overhaul your sound and want un coloured tone (SWR does have it's own colour btw) then either get an EA iAmp800 or if you're wanting to get a second mortgage go the hi-fi route and instead of Glock or Aguilar for that matter (not dissing them, I've only heard great things)for a few bucks more get a smokin' studioe pre like oh.... umm.... an AVALON Vt-737sp and a nice power amp but all that seems quite convoluted so as to tie up this rant.... KEEP the 400+ and maybe audition a Bergantino cabinet?(and Eden's finally got it right with their XST series too)

happy hunting T!

pd

 

[TSanders]

Or you could just go to the GREAT Gallien-Krueger stuff. They have some new Neo series cabs coming out in the following configs: 1x12, 2x12, 1x15, and 4x12. I have a 2x12 on order and my artist relations guy Dan said they sound GOOOOOOD.

 

[Deaj]

Or you could just go to the GREAT Gallien-Krueger stuff. They have some new Neo series cabs coming out in the following configs: 1x12, 2x12, 1x15, and 4x12. I have a 2x12 on order and my artist relations guy Dan said they sound GOOOOOOD.

My GK 1001RB-II is the cats PJ's! Warm, punchy, clear, LOUD, and clean! Could do worse.

 

[spectorbassguy]

Thanks for your input - I'm gonna stick with Mesa for now.

 

[TSanders]

Well you know I had to throw the GK out there. My 1001RB-II is smokin too. i love it.

 

[MM Scarborough]

excuse me a minute, i belive this thread is a discussion not a rant about comparing two different amps. I agree however you do have to boost the bass e.q with the SWR. Although, suprisingly i have the bass eq less when using my 5 string OLP and opposed to my SUB!

 

[Psychicpet]

excuse me a minute, i belive this thread is a discussion not a rant about comparing two different amps. I agree however you do have to boost the bass e.q with the SWR. Although, suprisingly i have the bass eq less when using my 5 string OLP and opposed to my SUB!

I did discuss(apparently what you're calling "rant") my opinion of the Mesa vs. SWR choice. Like I said in my post I wasn't slamming any manufacturer just merely giving my 2bits on the topic.... I'm glad you're digging your SWR rig.

...just re-read my "rant" and i guess due to the joking nature of me writing "rant" just because my post was a little long is where you picked up on that, but I still don't see any inflammatory remarks I made in there to warrant my post being the only one seen as a rant??

(I do believe all of the above can be classified as a rant however )

 

[bassmonkeee]

Im in similar postion myself. Playin an SWR 4004 wk head. It's from the cheaper range but represents the SWR sound. Agree with all the points mentioned here about SWR, but I will say this. SWR only sound good with good quality basses. They simply voice the bass. They do not add any addtional colour to the sound, all be it smooth it out a little. Im after an SWR valve pre-amp to warm my sound a little, other than that Im happy. As soon as I can upload some sounds I will. When the trebble is pumped up on my SUB it sounds like you are hitting thick glass, no distortion growl, no tingy noises just pure glass. I would describe there sound as pure clean bass, but voice stingrays perfectly

Actually, SWR does add it's own color to the sound. I don't even think Fender would tell you that the SWR sound was uncolored.

 

[MM Scarborough]

sorry no offence meant. The SWR does add some colour, but not necesarilly growl, I find them very smooth, punchy and precise, I set the e.q with plenty of upper mid's to add a slight airy distortion, otherwise the sound can be a little bland. Like I said earlier, all it does is take the voice of the guitar and voices it exactly as it comes in, ideal forr MM i think

 

[Calaveras]

sorry to resurect an old thread, just searching for mesa 400 info and found this.
I have to chime in and say that the bass 400(+) can sound perfectly clean if you run it flat and roll back the gain. I usually have the opposite problem with mine. I wish it was more tubey like a YBA-1A.