SWR Big Ben

I dont know the year of this cabinet, looks like early 2000's. This is a very versitile speaker, just make sure you have enough power to push it ( at least 350 watts ). This is a very warm speaker cabinet. Mine is one of the very early ones with the fuzzy looking finish and round grill cover.

I'm using mostly humbucking pickup types. I use a Spector NS95, Fender Precision, and a Gibson fretless Ripper bass. My styles basicly range from Contemporary Christian,Jazz,Latin/Reggae. The Big Ben is very warm and loud. For an 18" it is very much full range using the right EQ. settings.

I would give this speaker cab. a ten but one of the speaker wires vibrated loose one night and I could not use the cabinet until I opened it up to find out what the problems actually was. Other than that this cabinet is would be very reliable. You would have to actually try to blow it up.

Never had to use them.

I've been playing over thirty years and I've used a lot of gear doing that time span. I've tried Mesa,Peavey,Sunn,Fender, and others but this one was my best decision. Most of the others were over priced and muddy sounding. This is a great cab. and not too heavy in weight.

Features a large speaker. Also, a HUGE factor in my decision was the fact that this had the SPEAKON connection. I'm also glad that it doesn't have a tweeter (less is more). The funny thing is that the 'ports' are just big holes your cat could crawl into. :) Also has some good handles, and looks pretty to gaze at. Also, I'm glad it doesn't have castors (low end would suffer, and I like how tall it is.

I LOVE THIS CAB!!
I play with an Ibanez BTB 4 string bass with active EQ. I play what could loosely be described as rock. That's sort of the foundation anyhow, somewhat experimental, and oft not typical. A tiny bit of slapping, but not much. I always have loved the low end, even before I played bass (which has been for around a decade, the last 4 years much more serious)
I power this cab with my Gallien Krueger RB700 210 combo, which has the bi-amped Speakon output. (You can visit GK's website for more info on that) I always seem to have to keep boosting my low end to get the deep feeling bass I like, and that gets muddy. As soon as I started playing with this cab my entire range is clear, rich, deep and full. I don't have to boost the bass to get it to sound good. As SWR says on their site, this is a very 'fast' 18. I'm really glad I didn't get just a 15", or go with a 4x10 configuration. I know many swear by that, and I'm sure there's a reason for that. It's sort of the 'standard'. This is NOT the standard. If you are reading this review, you might be thinking about this cab, and so chances are you're not the standard either- you want something different!! This is your cab.
One other thing, I played an outdoor show and I was the only thing that didn't go through the PA (yes, the drums did).

So far so good.

Great investment for me. I tried a lot of stuff in all the stores, did a lot of research, and ended up buying this on hunch online without listening to it beforehand. Happier with my sound than I ever had been before. I bought it used, but it was so good, I'd buy it new again if I needed too. A steal at 599 new. Every bass player should have one.

Probably made in 2000ish. It's a single 18" speaker, no big surprises as to how it sounds. Nice grille, nice corners. It's just a cab, really.

I'm using an Ibanez SR400 strung with the bottom four of a five-string...B-E-A-D... and the cab works GREAT with lower tunings. I have a 215 that I've been using for a long time and the 18 picks up where the 15's leave off. It's not noisy at all. I'm using a 450watt side of a 900watt head to power it, and it's nice to have a volume control for the ass end of the band, if you know what I mean.

This thing looks SOLID. I've dropped it... the grill looks like it could kill a small animal, this thing is built to last.

No idea, bought it used.

I've been playing bass for years now, and I have a few amps and a few cabs, and this is the one that gives me the low end that bass so desperately deserves. It's like a sub, except you can slap with it too.

Made in 2000, I believe; The Big Ben doesn't have a lot of frills other than the mass of air it will move, but it also lacks casters, real tube ports as SWR advertises (there's no tubes, only holes in the rear), and only has a 1/4" jack on the back, which I feel could have been a little higher up the back. Otherwise, looks really cool.

I have 6 basses as follows: Warwick Thumb V Neck-Thru (Active), Fender 5-string P, St. Blues 4-string, Kramer 4-String, Rickenbacker 4-string (strung up as a 5), and a 4-string Acoustic Takamine. Although the specs of the Big Ben show this goes down to about 25Hz, it doesn't seem to get there without a lot of power! Also, there's a terrible muddiness that resonates around the 125Hz range, when I hit an A note on the E strings of any of the basses while using the Ben with a Super Redhead. If the room acoustics are great, and this were a standalone cabinet, and a LOT of power, this will move some serious air. If you've ever been to a recent Yes concert, you would experience what kind of low end you would need an 18" Sub for, especially when Chris Squire uses his bass pedals. But there again, that's a huge venue, which I'm sure that's what this box is made for. I play many types of venues, and I have to say that I like the 18 ok. I'm a fan of some real bottom end (not a pulsating higher frequency), but this cabinet just doesn't quite curb my hunger for that low end in a room with so-so acoustics. I just don't believe the box fits the 18" Bag End driver. So I'm trading it for a Goliath III. Little side note: When I used this cab to get back at my neighbors who live above my apartment for watching their DVDs and having their little puny, annoying subwoofer right over my ceiling, I decided to break out my Rickenbacker which has a truckload of low end with the .130" B-string, plugged it in and set the volume to about 8 or 9 (very quietly), and then...........well, let's just say 3AM on a Monday morning was not a pleasant experience for them, especially having the cops show up 3 times!!! HAHAHAHAAA!!!

Very! The only way I could see it failing from anything other than abuse, would be if the 1/4" speaker cable came uplugged due to the box moving across the stage!

Very helpful. Since I've been back and forth between SWR speaker selections, I have to say they have been very knowledgeable and helpful about their products except for one thing: I can't get them to see that the front, specially cut corner pieces on the bottom do not lock onto the corner pieces of any external cab. The direction of the cleats do not match up.

Don't get me wrong, there is a purpose for this cab, and it's in large venues and outdoors (outdoors, it sounds pretty damn good!), but I couldn't get it to sound well at all in clubs, nor open rooms with bad acoustics (NEVER use in a gym! YECHH!!). Otherwise, if you want a mass-load of air pushed, well, it will do that and make the people down the street wet the bed!

Made in 2001. Very versatile for an 18". It would work on it's own, no kidding. It's got one 1/4" input, no speakon or outputs, but that's OK when every other cab has outputs, this will just go on the end if you need to daisy chain them (watch the wattage, though. This bad boy is rated to 400 watts.)
It has no casters. That's the glaring omission. I'm sure that if you tried to play it while it was on wheels, it'd roll away, but it would be nice to not have to carry it.

I thought that my 4X10 was good, adding this to my rig made everything kick ass. I play an Ibanez Soundgear 6 string through an old (pre-'93) SM-400. I hook it up in stereo with a Goliath III on the other channel. I've tried it with and without the crossover patched in, and it's better without. The crossover causes some overall volume to be cut around the crossover point. Since the Big Ben is a good full range speaker, the crossover is not necessary. I set the EQ to boost the 50Hz and the 120Hz, cut the 600Hz, and boost the highs. It sounds better than anything!

I know that my Goliath has never had any problems.... I wouldn't expect any problems out of it because I dont push it too hard.

I dig this cab. I'd try a 15", but for using multiple cabs, I don't think I'm going to beat this sound. I can't wait to get a SM-900 to plug these into.
I wish it had casters! I guess I could just put it on top of my Goliath III to push it around, but still....