Anyone Like SWR LA 10 Amps

Big Ron · #1 12-29-2009, 05:39 PM

In many cases I like the sound of a guitar running through a bass amp. I just feel like it gives it more "stuff" to the tone. Whatever the heck "stuff" is (breadth, color, flavor,)

I've been considering adding a small easy to carry around amp; but, am looking for the super bargain of the century.

Does anyone play through an SWR LA 10 bass amp? And if so what are your opinions of it for a blues and jazz guitar amp for small cafe gigs and the like?

Ron

Big Ron · #2 12-29-2009, 10:40 PM

Guess not huh!

Ron

Meggy · #3 01-02-2010, 01:03 PM

Guess not Ron! but I do agree that bass amps are cool! And why not use them for jazz? After all they have things that jazz players often want such as great tone shaping facilities, bags of power, and lots of clean headroom also. No distortion channel of course, but us jazzers don't necessarily want that do we?

If you do get to try this amp out, please let us know how you find it, cheers!

Big Ron · #4 01-02-2010, 02:50 PM

Thanks for the reply. Happy New Year! - Actually not that you mention it. I had one before, and had an extention 10" speaker cabinet. Which made up a two box twin 10" 35watt bass amp. It sounded absolutely great. It had a low line hum, which I really didn't like, but - duh! after selling the rig I found out you can get little electrical filtering gizmos to go between the wall plug and the amp that stop line hum.

Anyway I already had one, but at the time had chronic and almost terminal bigampitis. I sold it and bought a huge 100@ twin 12" cabinet monster. It had a half power switch. So I would sit at home practicing at 50W level with my wife constantly asking if I could turn it down.

Now I'm going full circle and thinking that a good little SWR LA 10 would make the almost perfect small 10" amp. It's a lot more amp than a Micro Cube or one of those things.

Ron

Meggy · #5 01-04-2010, 01:54 PM

Cheers for that Ron! I don't like hum either, but as long as it is fixable, not a problem. It does look like a smart little amp though - I do like that kind of neat modern cube look, and from what you say it will do the business sound-wise also.

derek · #6 01-04-2010, 02:55 PM

I have a couple of bass player buddies who have had bad experiences with SWR amps, so I have steered away from them. I currently have a Hartke set up for bass. I have often wondered about the 500 watt Little Mark bass head. The thing weighs like 5 lb. Might be a cheaper version of a Clarus.

jelle99 · #7 01-05-2010, 08:45 AM

Hi Ron,

I've played bass on a SWR LA-12 for some time for small gigs/rehearsals. Very warm and fat sounding but still rather heavy to carry around. Never played a guitar through it but it should work if you adjust the EQ. You won't find reverb or chorus on it though.

Today I play a Markbass for all sorts of gigs. It weighs almost nothing compared to the bass amplifiers I used before. On its own it's not as good sounding as SWR, but it has better defined mids which is nice in group settings. Should work for jazz guitar to.

Hope this helps!

Recurve? · #8 11-24-2010, 03:03 PM

So did you get the Cube? And is it pretty good?

I've been studying this topic a bit for my own personal reasons.
I was looking for a rig I could use for both Bass guitar and Carved Archtop.
But I was not interested in sacrificing sound . I bought a LM250 And I am now in search of a bass cab (I think found one). I am slightly concerned I won't get the sound that I want, But mind you Some of the archtop guitars I will be playing won't have a humbucker, just a piezo under the bridge. So I feel this is the right choice.

What I always come back to, I have a peavy bass combo, and my archtop sounds pretty darn good through it! I have a Carvin MTS, but I have hurt my back several times moving it.