SWR LA12 Combo 112 Combo

Features? Not Many. Input jack, volume knob, EQ with low/mid/high. Tuner out, mix in, headphones jacks. The EQ actually allows for real sound control, even though it has only three knobs. Well-chosen frequencies, I guess. The mix input allows for connecting a CD player. The manual says, it can also be used as FX return, and the dry signal can be adjusted by the volume knob then (using tuner out as FX send). I don't believe this is really handy to use.

I'm using this amp as a practice amp only. It stays at home. I'm not using FX on the bass, I got a little pedal tuner between the bass and the amp. I don't miss anything. It just does the job.

I doubt it has enough power for jamming or gigging.

If you need more EQing possibilities or if you want to have a real FX loop, look for something else.

The sound is just great. Especially for the price. Well, one might call it nit-picky. This amp lets you know when your fingers don't do an exact job on the fretboard. Choose your option: learn how to play clean or do not use this amp. Actually I bought it because I started to realize that the Trace Elliot BLX 80 I had been using so far does not reveal the details, especially due to the lack of a tweeter. I got stuck with my practicing. The LA12 has a tweeter which can sometimes be annoyingly sharp. The tweeter cannot be turned off or adjusted to a volume level.

The tweeter reveals some slight noise - which is not too loud, but if you're in a very quiet environment you might find it disturbing.

Concerning the music style: This amp amplifies what your bass delivers. So it's up to you.

Mine was broken. I sent it back to the dealer, and they said it wasn't broken. After re-soldering a part of the circuit board it works. Thinks like that happen, and it's just bad luck that the dealer wasn't more co-operative. However, I feel that SWR should improve on quality control!

Warranty things are usually dealt by the dealer here in Germany, so no comment on SWR and support.

I've been playing this amp for a couple of months now and still every day I'm enjoying it. I would get the very same one again if it was stolen. I tested other small amps, e.g. the Ashdown Five 15. You can forget about those without a tweeter in comparison, they just don't compare to the LA12.

For the price I paid the only thing I can say is: If you need a plain and simple practice amp, just get this one.
If you want to do gigs or have a lot of fancy features, do not buy it.

2006 model. Very versatile amp and very reliable...have dropeed it down a flight of stairs and it also got beer sprayed all over it...ALL OVER IT, also got rained on during outside gig. No problems.

Just has the basics but wish it had di direct out...really needs this to make it a 10. used to have a small gk head, peavey head, polytone, hartke combo, old kustom tucknrolllllll, etc....surprised at how good this sounds.
Ok, its not made for stage playing, its a PRACtice amp!

Have active and passive. There is a review that says it s not so hot with active pickup basses....????? This person does not know how to dial in the tone! Yes, you have to dial it in a bit, but it IS there...with my guild pilot w/emg's I gotta say nothing has sounded sweeter since my old gallien krug....
WIth my passive tele-bass (single passive pickup)...KABLAM!

Now, i only use this for recording and small gigs....used with a PA for a larger gig....great great great.

For sound quality, and understanding that this is a PRACTICE amp... i gotta give it a 10. People need to spend some time getting the tone, learning how to play near the fretboard etc...sounds very very good...esp. for the price.

IF you record, this is excellent as it gives a lush sound down low on the volume....main reason i got it, ...hartkes were noisy, ampegs too loud and mushy down low, peaveys ok, ibanez ok, eden nemesis very nice (almost got)....fenders...damn, what happened to fender?, marshall ok, vox bulldog not bad,,,,,but this beatem all for low sound recording.

and hey! try it as a jazz guitar amp...wooowooo...nice.

never had a prob.....you saw the beer and h2o incidents...gotta love it. cant give it too much cause have only owned it for a year.

i dunno?

overall...i guess an 8 but could easily be a 10 if based on sound quality only.
I would definitely get this again. I Like low, motown type bass, and even though this is touted as a mid-bass amp, and it definitely has plenty of mids....(prob. really good for metal!)..you can dial in a oldschool bass sound with no probs. and no pedals needed.

Tried various peaveys, nemesis, ibanez, etc...just looking for a non-house shaker, but turned out to get one anyway. THIS THING IS PERFECt for recording!

I diggit.

Very basic features and controls (volume, 3 tone controls, tuner / line out, line in, input), but that's part of the charm -- nothing you don't need.

I can get some excellent modern sounds out of it, and at a pretty decent volume too. The tweeter, while a bit hissy, really brings out the high end. Great for slapping, tapping, or pick-style playing (a la Chris Squire). Not as good for more mellow tones, like playing blues or blues-rock fingerstyle (a la John McVie). Not bad, just not great -- doesn't quite have the low-end you'd like, though that's to be expected with a smaller amp (12" speaker instead of, say, 15").

So far so good. I'm using it as an at-home practice amp, so I'm pretty gentle with it. I did notice a little rattle when I first got it. Turns out the input jack was a little loose. Tightened it, rattle went away. Cabinet does shake a little bit if you play with the bass eq and the volume up fairly high, but hard to hear over the music.

Don't know, haven't ever contacted them.

As a practice amp, very good, though I suspect you could find something similar (60 watts, 12" speaker) a bit cheaper. You could use it for small gigs if you were sticking to the modern playing styles I mentioned above, but you can't get enough bass and volume out of it for more traditional styles for anything other than personal practice.

I destroyed the speaker of a Fender combo, so Guitar Center let me try one of these as a replacement. Overall, the amp was decent, but not really what I wanted. Too basic.

I used this with a standard Jazz. Tones weren't satisfactory. I always preferred Ampegs, but lacked the money to own one.

I had one of these for about three months when the speaker blew out. Got a new one from Guitar Center and it lasted about the same amount of time as the last. I played at medium volume at the very most, so I am not sure how I managed to destroy two of these.

Under warranty, I took it to a repair shop, and it took them a month to tell me what I told them when I took the amp in: the speaker is blown out. When I returned to take the amp back home, the power cord was missing. The head repairman insisted that he included it with the amp, but he was obviously lying. After I confronted him, he begrudgingly retrieved the cord.

The tone is not worth the trouble this amp has put me through. I ended up getting a check for $250 from the company and I put it towards an Ampeg BA115, which I have found to be a flawless product.

I'm gonna compare the old LA 12, which I own, to the new one, released december 2003. They both have the same eq and 'hidden' effects loops, but the new version has alot more cool features which make me jealous. It has a power amp limiter, which is great for gigging; it also has the built in aural enhancer circuitry, which I would really like to have. The look is alot better with the new version as well. I really really REALLY wish that it had a gain control. It always seems that the best signal to noise ratio is not achieved cause the gain is preset too low for my active bass. My friends crate 50watt 12" combo can get louder by a mile.

The sound of the LA 12 has forever impressed me. I like its sound much more than my Workingman's 12, for more than one reason. I like its slapping sound, and I also like the crunch that I can get from it with a little boosted mid and treble.

Heres the funny thing. I have abused this amp beyond what I thought imaginable. Within a year some punk yanked out the power cord from the wall, taking the whole plug and fuse plate out, had to glue that back on. I also tapped the speaker output so I could use an extension speaker (probobly past its impedance rating). I make the mistake of drilling a hole in the metal plate for the extension speaker jack, so now theres a hole there which I taped up to keep it an enclosed box and an open jack on the top panel. I have more than once pushed it all the way, and that can't be good for the power amp, but it keeps on truckin'. I lent it to my friend to that he could learn bass, and who knows what happened there? I have disconnected the tweeter time and time again to play distorted.

Customer support is a frenzy at SWR. read my WM 15 review to hear the story on that.

Value is great, tone is great, versatility is great; you might want to go right ahead into the LA 15, because it is actually capable of gigging without turing it up to max, and its only 50 bucks more from Musician's Friend.

60 watts, 12"speaker, simple tone cotrols.
Very minumalistic.
Features who need features? Not fancy save the money for what's important, what goes in the amp.

I was very impressed by the quality of the sound, very clean, got fairly loud considering it's modest power.
9 is relative considering it's Power, size, and price, excellent.
very Good tone even on a low B

This is the kind of amp I would get for my school. Every kid could beat on it and it would still sound good.
I teach music.

I checked out one of these because I was testing some basses and needed a demo amp. I played a Modualus 6 six string through it and was so impressed I though it must be misstake. So I started picking up other Basses,Fender, Musicman, Yamaha, they all sounded good through this little amp. If all I had to spend was less than 300 bucks this would be my amp. I teach music and work as a professional musician, over 20 years in the biz and you forget all the hipe. This amp reminds me of the old polytones, no one was impressed with those either till they heard one all night long.

OK as strictly a practice amp, if you try to jam with it you will be disappointed. Doesnt get very lood and gets real muddy when you go about half way on the volume. Full volume is total distortion. SHould have saved my money and bought something bigger that I can get some clean volume out of. I will use it with headphones.

This is a very basic well built little amp. Just the essential controls but it definately does what I want it to. Hey I only paid $250 new from Guitar Center and for that price it kicks. It also only weighs about 25 lbs and has great SWR recessed handles just like the big boys.

The sound from this little guy is beyond good. I needed a small practice amp and after fooling around with little Hartkes and Ampegs I bought this one on impulse, good impulse. The tone is fantastic just don't try to play it out as your main bass rig unless you are in an acoustic group (minimal volume). I play mainly fretless (Alembic and a 71 p-bass) and the midrange bump from the 12" driver is great. For a whim I started playing it in conjunction with a 67 Deluxe Reverb and my Telecaster. The sound with this combination is nothing short of amazing. The SWR adds just the low end pop that the Deluxe lacks and then the Fender mid and high tube sound cuts through. Neither one is particularly loud but the combination screams for country or blues. Ths first time I pulled it out on stage and set it on a stand next to the Deluxe the bandmates thought I had seriously lost it but the sound is truly amazing, not what it was meant for but who cares.

N/A

N/A

I have been playing for 30+ years and have owned a ton of gear. Currently I'm down to a 72 Tele Bass, 83 Alembic fretless, 67 p-bass, 71 fretless p-bass, RIC 610-12, 75 Tele, and an 83 HMT Tele w/ a reissue 63 maple tele neck and a single lace sensor by the bridge (a really cool guitar / ultra clean sound). I use a black face Fender Deluxe Reverb and the little SWR for guitar and an Ampeg B100r or SVT100T for small bass gigs and an Ampeg SVT w/ 4-10" and a single 15" for big stuff.
I also have a 70 Champ that is great around the house and a 1999 VOX Cambridge twin reverb (don't buy one, it's the worst sounding thing I have ever owned).
I have never used any pedals or effects in 30 years and don't intend to start.

Made in 2001
60 Watts, 12" Speaker, Tweeter
Has a VERY simple sound adjustment. Just gain, low, mid, high.
Has tuner out, headphone jack, input (of course), and mix-in jack.

I am playing a spector 5 string neck thru. I have active pickups (EMG-HZ) It sounds jsut great. It makes a good little practice amp. Unfortunately, for a 60 watt amp, it doesn't get real loud. It works good for a small room, and maybe in a garage or something. I wouldn't suggest using it for a gig unless it's a real small one.

I like SWR's sound. Unfortunately, this little amp gets a bit overdriven if you turn up the low knob, but this is mostly unnecessary anyway--in my opinion.

I think my one experience with it breaking was a fluke. loose speaker wire. It came like that. I haven't had any other problems with it.

It came to me broken. A loose speaker wire. They repaired it for me because it as still under warranty. It took them a while though.. like a month. I wish I could have fixed it myself without voiding the warranty.

For $350, you can get some other combo amps that are alot louder. BUT this amp just sounds good, and feels good to play on. I suppose that that's the tradeoff you make. Maybe you could just mic it if you need more sound at a gig or something. You won't get a better deal out of a company like SWR.

Made in 2001
60 Watts, 12" Speakert, Tweeter
Very basic, Gain, Bass, Mid, High, no Master volume, Tuner out, Mix in, Headphone

Play a Warwick Streamer Bolt-on, has active electronics which is too much for this amp. if you turn in bass, the amp will easily distort.
you can only use it at home or in a session with acoustic instruments. not very loud. with a drummer in a rock band, forget it!
perhaps very good for a fretless, because it has a lot of mids, due to the 12" speaker. also it has a lot of highs, which make it sound a bit harsh. havent tried a passive bass with it, this will probably work very good together. but with my active bass, this is not a good match.
although it has characteristic mids, very modern sounding. also a bit boxy

seems solid.

no idea

been playing for three years. only at home (home-recording). this is my third amp. first one was an ampeg B-100 rocket. good sounding, but very heavy and not versatile at all. also own a peavey microbass.
with the swr im very dissapinted. it just cant handle its own power.
with a vintage passive bass, maybe this amp will be good, but not with an active bass.
swr should have done a better job.
will buy the ebs multicomp-compression pedal in the near future. with this one on in the tube-sim mode, i hope the swr will sound much better.