SWR LA-15 Combo

Can't say what styles of music this amp is suited to since it burned up within the first five minutes that it was turned it on. Nice. Actually it does have some features worth mentioning; It holds loose papers down well, is useful as a boat anchor, can double as a small coffee table, and will be an excellent object for target practice with the ol' .44 Magnum.

Since it only worked for about four and a half minutes, there wasn't exactly a whole lot of time to be able to properly evaluate the sound. Mind you, the silence afterwards was ear shattering. Hope this helps.

The amp is quite dependable if you only need it for three minutes or so. Has it ever broken down? Well, YES! So, this being an example of the lack of quality that comes from these SWR (owned by Fender) products I have to recommend that people NEVER buy any bass amp from SWR or Fender! If you have bought one recently, take it back quick! Get a Gallien-Krueger or Trace Elliot or something else that ACTUALLY WORKS!

No point in bothering with customer support. This was a cheap POS $150.00 amp. I would rather sell the parts to recover some of my money and buy a vintage bass amp from a competing company who actually makes a worthwhile product. Way to go Fender! Between this unacceptable BS and your now exceedingly overpriced domestically made products I will never buy anything more from you. You wonder why your sales have been steadily dropping off for the last decade? Maybe it's you!

If it were stolen I would be thankful. In fact if I happened to come across the perpetrator stealing it I would help them load it into their getaway vehicle. And wish them luck. I love the fact that it will be out of my life soon. I hate the fact that I bought it in the first place. Obviously, quality parts, quality craftsmanship, and quality control are all abstract concepts to the fine folks running Fender (into the ground). Hey Fender, I heard you used to be good. So what happened? Oh yeah, you outsourced all of your jobs. Hey good going, why don't you just relocate your whole worthless company over to wherever the hell it is you make that crap you're pushing on us now? You wont be missed!

The amp is one of the older versions of the LA15. It has the standard complement a single input, with volume, bass, mid, and treble controls with headphone and tuner jacks (the tuner jack is a useful feature for me).

I play a wide range of styles from classic rock, to jazz, to country, to original works; tonally it's got enough to give you the tone shaping you need IF you know what sound you're looking for and if you have some good electronics on your instrument. A starter Squire, Epiphone, Samick, or Ibanez will never sound good on this amp. Trust me I've tried.

I feel that sonically it does not even produce an output consistent with the listed 100 V. Once you go past half volume, it's not uncommon to start hearing some tonal clip along with an increasing tinniness of sound.

It also, being an older model is a bit heavy for it's size and awkward to carry.

That being said, as a practice amp or as a VERY small venue amp, it is up to the task.

I currently play a Warwick Corvette Bubinga 5 string with the active MEC electronics and twin J-style MEC pickups. I also play a Michael Kelly Dragonfly III 5 string with a Fishman acoustic pickup. I also have used an old Vantage 5-string that has been extensively customized with upgraded pickups and electronics.

I don't know if I can honestly say that it truly supports the styles I listed above. It really has a limited tonal palette, but is good at what it can do if you have a decent instrument. However, I tend to gravitate more toward a sound more consistent with a vintage Fender Bassman or a solid G-K unit. I think that if this were paired with a good 7 band or more EQ, much more shaping could be acheived.

It does hiss a bit. I play in spaces in which I need to cut low end or boost high end. Either causes a good deal of hiss, which is frustrating.

The further you go past half volume, the more likely it is to distort, and not in a good way. It produces a distortion on the high end of the spectrum that creates a tinny, immature sound. Simply not a lot of headroom and really not a good amp for large or loud venues.

Conversely, you have to be extremely careful when using the amp with an acoustic / electic bass. It projects much more sound with much less effort, sounding much louder than 100 W and likely to feed back. I would recommend taking some time to experiment with the guitar and amp before going live. Since it does seem to do more with an acoustic / electric instrument it is more than acceptable for "unplugged" gig or the coffeehouse scene as the headroom for those sorts of venues is more than sufficient.

It has never let me down in two years, but it also does have a tendency to get very hot, very fast.

Never used.

I've been playing for thirty years and have been blessed with good instruments. However, this amp really does not allow them to shine in a larger or louder live performance environment. It is fantastic in an intimate venue or as a practice unit. As such I'm looking for some gear that will give me at least 300 RMS; likely a G-K or Trace.

Thus far it has been durable and serviceable, which is about all you can ask.

Not bad features. just not good either. I mean, theres 3 knobs. and thats it. Wish it had 5 band eq for the amount I paid for it. VERY light for 100 watts. Beast little guy.

not bad sound quality. I play an ibanez sr500 and the bartolinis sound perfect through it. no complains.

Mediocre at best reliability. Once in awhile, there will be this loud clicking noise itll make while playing it, so I don't feel comfortable bringing the amp to many gigs. Im thinking also about switching out the speaker because its had one or two flukes. Plus I heard that eminence legend speakers are amazing. 300 watt 15 inch speaker that is pretty amazing.

Never dealt with them much. cant really say

I would give it a 8 because its light, not bad sound and still over all I like the amp!

Bought at GuitarCenter used for a c note.... It is a later cube model.Very portable!!! It fits in my Fiero with a Fender HS bass case
1 channel with basic eq controls.. eminently servicable sound controls. Has a haedphone jack.

I used a Fender Mustang reissue and a P-LYTE DELUXE. Sounded good with both instruments. The 15 incher reproduces low notes with ease. I play with a group that does 60's/70's British style rock. No distortion at levels I played at until ultimate failure.

I no longer use this at practice with the band as it gets too hot and has developed some sick sounds at upper end of the now unusable power band.. Sounds ok for personal practice at lower power levels but quickly starts to sound like CRAP if volume is hiked. Amp runs hot even at idle.. Heat is this amps enemy and it is inadequatly ventilated to allow proper cooling of the output stage. I have had a Workingmans 10 which had NO cooling problems with the same output rating. It always worked and yes I was an idiot for selling it.

Bought used so no warranty... It would cost more than it's worth to fix it.

I have been playin for 35+ years and this is the only amp that has ever crapped out on me. I have played Kustoms w/o problems and have tried about every amp out there. I bought this because of my experience with the SWR WM10. This is crap because of INADEQUATE COOLING!!!!!!!! Get with it SWR!!!! The LA series is a great idea but
the cooling reliability issues need to be addressed. I would not buy another but at least it is still usefull as a personal practice but full power is not available to me since it overheated.

Made in 2005. Very simple 4-knob layout of volume, bass cut/boost, mid cut/boost, and treble cut/boost. Has a line-out for a second amp, a headphone jack, and a mix input for pluggin in a cd player to play along with a song.

Features I miss having: an external speaker jack or a second input jack.

The 100 watts are adequate for home practice and playing in a small combo in a club setting. This amp is not intended for live gigging with a loud rock band. Those who complain about lack of power/volume do not understand the intent of this amp -- this amp is not a substitute for a 1000-watt head/cab rig at a rock concert. Plugging in a bass with active electronices, the 100 watts through the 15-inch speaker are plenty loud, shaking the walls of a large room.

The portability of this amp is a major plus.

My unit has no turn-on noise. The cube design makes this amp very portable and manageable. For its compact size, the 15-in Eminence speaker puts out a lot of bass waves. The rear port adds to the low-end response. The 3-band EQ provides flexbility.

By boosting the bass, this amp handles the lowest notes from a 5-string bass with ease. There is no cabinet buzzing from any bass note. The sound is always clear and distinct, not muddy and thumpy. By using the bass and the amp's tone controls, the variety of sounds is limitless.

With its compact cabinet design, you are naturally limited by the amount of volume it puts out. This is just physics. What you gain is the ability to transport a 15-in 100-watt bass combo in the front seat of a small car. That was the major selling point when I bought this amp.

If you don't abuse it, and use it for its intended purpose, there should be not problem. I have not had any issues in the 2 months that I have used it. Could I play it at max for 4-5 straight hours? Never tried it, never needed to, so don't know.

Never had to call the company for support, so no opinion.

I was looking for an easily-transportable bass combo with adquate power for band rehearsals and small club gigs, at a reasonable price, with a reputable brand name. To me, this one filled the bill.

The power cord is not built-in. It is one of those detachable ones you see with computer equipment, so it might be easy to leave it behind.

I wish I could use another speaker cab, but it has no ext. spkr jack.

It is made in the USA, which is getting rarer and rarer for musical equipment these days.

It meets virtually all my requirements, so it gets a high rating.

I've got the old model, without the fancy white that is. I intended to use it in my band but the power was insufficient. I now use it as an combo for home usage. Good controls. I only dislike the noize when you turn it on.

Very nice sound, better sound than my head and 4*10 cabinet.

Yamaha BB604
Warwick Pro Fet IV
Warwick W411 Pro
Dunlop Vry Baby 105Q bass wah

The features have already been covered. They are fine for an amp in this class. 100 watts and a 15" speaker is fine for a small band and the tweeter is a nice bonus.

This am is used by me for recording out of the legendary SWR preamp into my computer. My kids use it in their punk/emo band. It does both well, WHEN IT WORKS...

Bases are four strings: A Fender JP90 and a Squire P bass. Plenty loud in a band consiting of electric guitar, bass, drums and a singer. It rattles my house and upsets the neighbors just fine. :0)

Bought in October 2004, it died exactly a year later. It always ran very hot. When my kids took it to a gig, they set up and did a soundcheck. Five minutes later the fuse blew. Another fuse blew, indicating a major failure. According to the SWR web site, a local shop handles the warranty work. Taking it there, the repair shop was very nice. This model of amp is not serviced by SWR. They exchange them. So, two weeks later UPS delivered a replacement amp to the repair shop.

It's a good thing the warranty is 5 years. The second SWR LA15 died a week later. I think an output transistor died because it sounds like only half the waveform is reaching the speaker. Different problem than the first amp but, the amp is useless... again...

If I could rate reliability lower than 1, I would.

SWR has a great web site listing many warranty repair stations. The one in Palmdale, California was excellent. I hope SWR contacts me after reading this. If I were them I'd be eager to satisy this customer. I understand the nature of electronics. Hey, parts fail. Regardless, two failures in the same model within a year makes for bad advertizing for anything branded SWR. Especially when it affects two live gigs. =[

At the moment, this may be my first and last experience with SWR. I'm a pro musician and music teacher. This amp has been totally unreliable.

An earlier model of this amp, before they made the smaller version with the metal grate. The controls on the amp are: Input, Volume, Bass, Mid, Treble, Tuner (out), Phones (out stereo), and Mix in. it has a 15" speaker and a tweeter. Made in California. Very sturdy and rather lightweight. 100 watts, very loud.

I'm using my Warwick Fortress Masterman with this amp and it sounds fantastic. Very growly lows and low mids and very tight highs and high mids. It suits my music styles which is mostly rock/funk/punk/jazz. I can make this amp really smooth and jazzy or real roaring with searing highs. There is no distortion when I play it. The sound is always very clean. There is no onboard distortion.

This amp is very solid. I have moved it back and forth quite a bit. It can withstand a lot of abuse. I would definately gig with this amp without a backup. I've never had any problems with this amp breaking down.

Never had to deal with SWR, but they do make solid amps!

I have been playing for about 5 years and this was my first bass amp. Its a very loud amp and can cover the small gigs that I do. It has been very reliable and I'm not planning on buying an new one anytime soon. Very good amp.

it's a 2003 model like everyone already noted pretty simple no frills amp. Play mostly classic rock and a christian rock. I opened it up and added a jack for an extention speaker (Kustom KL15)
doesn't really make it any louder but seems to add a little punch. This amp seems ok for smaller gigs. I use it without back up

play a Yamaha RBX 270 ( reworked with bassline QP p/ups) through a Zoom 506II effects pedal it works for me

Built like a tank....in fact it's so tough it's down right ugly.....but hey looks aren't everything

never dealt with them so far everything works....I guess I voided the warranty anyway by adding the speaker extention

been playing since the late 60's but bass only a couple of years (switched to bass after a wrist injury)

Well,my LA15 is the 2001 mod.(i think the first series they built).At the start,it plays pretty good for a so simple amp.It has everything you need and nothing to make things complicated,exactly what i was looking for.(usually i play in small clubs,so i don't need a big sound boost...)I've found nice and useful the possibility to use tuner/mix-in connections as a send/return for ext.effects....At least,small,simple,intelligent...

I use it basically with a yamaha trb5P(94 edition)via a sansamp driver/d.i.This amp is enough "good for all purpouse",obviously if you don't need a great loudness...otherwise,you've choosed the wrong stuff.The active tone controls allows almost any style,from rock to jazz,via etno-music,if you know where to put your hands...I've forgot to tell i play the bass for 23 years in very different bands,as a semi-pro.

Here we come...In two years this amp has worked for no more than two month without a breakage...it's always on repairs(assistance do it constantly for free,but it seems even them are not understanding what's going on inside this"very unlucky product").If you consider that the importer and distributor for my country(ITALY) has changed already two times,it's a sign of great availability from the company...even if it's useless...

As i've sayd before,great service,very available,very "caring",tryin' in every way to fit my necessities.That's to be a serious company,and i must say,i didn't expect less than this....

I already told before about my "long career".For big stages,i use a hartke head and cabinet(four 10 cones),but it's a complete different stuff.....If this thing were stolen,well,it must be done from the assistence,'cause they have it in their hands more than me...of course,i'll never buy it again,even if they told me the new model is different.Nothing to say 'bout the assistance,but i really get bored of all this breakages....