SWR Big Rig

I bought this "stack" about a week ago brand new from Musicians Friend. It is an incredibly versatile stack that sounds amazing. It would seem to be versatile enough for any style of playing depending on your EQ settings.

Head:
It has input and output jacks (on both the head and the cab) for daisy chaining multiple amps/cabs together, that come in both shielded 1/4", and speakon cable type (speakon cables are the big beefy ones with the "twist-lock" type input). It has an effects loop, with an adjustable effects blend control on the front panel (i.e. adjusts the level of the effect coming through the cab). It also has a tuner out, a preamp out, a power amp out. It has a balanced XLR out (useful for lining out to a PA system or mixing board). The front panel has (from left to right): XLR mute switch (mutes the signal coming from the balanced XLR output on the back panel), passive/active input jack (more hi-gain), active input jack (lower gain than the passive/active jack), gain control, shape control (go to http://www.swrsound.com for more info on the shape control), bass control, lo mid control, high mid control, treble control, FX blend control, master volume control, speaker mute switch (mutes the cab so that you don't get that annoying pop when you plug in instruments/equipment), and finally the good old power switch. It was co-designed by Tower of Power bassist Francis "Rocco" Prestia.

Cab:
Features 8 10" speakers, black carpeting, midnight blue grill, cut-away top and bottom along the backside, two heavy duty casters on the backside, two recessed handles on the sides, one recessed handle in the top. Its all very solid, and weighs approx. 110 pounds.

I'm running it with a Dean Edge Q5 bass. It handles the low B very well, and I've even drop tuned down to a low G, and it didn't have any signal loss or distortion. I play mainly "modern" rock, but will play classic rock, metal, jazz, punk, funk, ska or other similar styles from time to time. It handles all of them very well. It produces a very clean tone that is very versatile.

Very dependable. I could stand to use it at a gig without a backup, but as a rule of thumb I always have a decent combo amp ready in case something bad happens. Its never broken (but I've only had it for a little while).

Never dealt with them.

I've been playing for about 2 years, and this is my first full stack, but while I was shopping for it, I tested countless other stacks. This is the one that I liked the most that was in my price range. The only one I would recommend more would be the Pro series SWR stack (an SWR Megoliath 8x10 and an SWR 750x Head). If it were stolen I would not buy another one simply because the shock of losing such a wonderful piece of equipment would likely cause me a fatal heart attack. Absolutely stunning bass stack. I highly recommend it for any semi-pro bassist. If you're a pro, than shell out the big bucks, and get the Pro stack I recommended above.