SWR Redhead Combo

1 Channel Bass Amplifier 350 Watts into tow 10" speakers with a Foster Horn wich has an attenuater
+100 watts to an extension speaker
2.Tube Driven direct out for recording purposes Able to switch the EQ on or off for recording also a Pad to get a good signal level to your recording device.
3. Tube Pre amp
4. Effects Jack
5. Active EQ with a Semi Paremetric Midrange
6. Aural Enhancer
7. Active and Passive inputs

Bought This one new in 1999-2000 at the time my "main" gig rig was a Hartke 410XL with a Trace Elliot GPMX12 head. I played at the time 5 string active basses exclusivley (had a fender Jazz-plus 5 string and a Warwick thumb bolt on 5 string.) Replaced the Trace Elliot head (Wish I hadn't) when we added another guitarist, with a Hatrke HA 3500 liked the EQ points on both the Trace and the Hartke but wanted a "Different" amplifier...Enter the SWR. I went down to the local Music store with my trusty Warwick and started playing. The super Red Head was simply amazing. it could get that Marcus Miller tone that I so loved. It was 350 watts+ it could handle an extension cab if needed. I plunked down my $1600.00 and took it to the gig that night. Learned one thing, This amp does not like to "compete" for sonic space especialy when the two guitar players are using Fender Twins (They Scooped thier mids at the time and really didnt need a Bass player in my opinion lol) I liked the amp too much to let it go though. So I put it to use at rehearsals and one offs. It did lots of things very well. Acoustic gigs, low volume rock band rehearsals, it excells at recording because of its very sweet sound. I at one time ran it as my "Clean" amp when I split my signal to two different amplifiers when I played in a Bass heavy Funk band I sent a MXR distortion box, A Digitech Synth Wah, A Crybaby Bass Wah, A Boss Bass Chorus, and a host of other effects to the "Dirty Amp" the Amp excelled at this too. Now I play Primarily Blues and Roots Rock I tend to gig 3 to 4 times a week. I use that Old Hartke 410XL as the extension cab I play with Passive Basses and Fretless Basses Primarily now (Still got that fender Jazz-plus though equipped with EMG's) This amp does very well I run a dbx compressor and a Aphex aural exciter into the Effects send, EQ for the room and most of the time I am very pleased with the tone.
Be careful with this amp it is very easy to blow it up. I never have because I tend to dislike distortion. I run the Pre Amplifier at around 10:00 and never ever past 12:00. I wont let myself push it too hard. I Dont go past say 2:00 on your master volume. I use just a hint of the Horn and I do not boost the treble at all, I tend to boost mids quite heavily any where between 400 and 500 some times I'll boost a little lower. And I bring the Bass Knob up to about 4:00 sometimes I pull it out (smaller rooms) or leave it in (Larger Rooms) I do use the Aural enhancer but I never go past 10:00 because this can be the your really loud but your not audible knob (commonly referred to as the Suck button)

Amp does need a bit of servicing but then so do all the basses because when you live and gig in the northeast it can be -15 degrees and 110 degrees within three months + I do tend to leave the Amplifier in the car overnight if I get in around 3:00. So having to service it might just be my own damn fault! I use it all the time dont need a back up but I do always have the Hartke head at the ready because hey, you just never do really know. THIS AMP HAS NEVER I REPEAT NEVER LET ME DOWN ON A GIG. I cannot say that for my Trace Elliot, My Hartke, or My Galien Kreuger. The only other amp that I have had that has been as reliable was a Peavey Mark VIII, and a Fender M-80.

Never Dealt with SWR. Hope I never have too. always have had it serviced at my local store, which is an authorized fender amplifier repair center. I do Find it curious though how Fender Bass Amplifiers have "evolved" from BXR combos into "SWR" style high end amps since FMIC bought out SWR.

Been playing about 25 years give or take. I might buy a SWR 700 watt head with a Goliath Cab or maybe that new Fender Pro 300 (cause its got tubes.) if this one were ever stolen. But Puhlease do not steal my Red Head cause I'd hate to have to kill you. I own lots of amplifiers right now I have a late eighties Fender BXR 100 15" combo then I have an Ampeg BA 100 tilt back combo, My Rehearsal room has an Ibanez SW65 Tilt back combo, I have a Hartke HA 3500 Head from the early 90's I have an Ampeg 410 cab, I have a Hartke 410XL cab, I have a SVT III pro head I have a Crate 15" speaker cabinet and I just got my hands on an old Ampeg flip top amplifier. I play mostly fender and fender style basses. I have a 5 string Jazz-Plus equipped with EMG's and a BTC control, I have a Fender Mexican standard Precision Bass, a High way one Jazz Bass (2008), a Yamaha B-400, an American Jazz bass 4 string, a Mexican Fretless Jazz Bass, and a Yamaha TRB 6 Fretless Bass.

I bought the amp in 1990 and have not considered purchasing another since. I'm more of a weekend warrior, playing classic rock, pop, soul and jazz. This amp can do it all. You can get spec's @ SWR.

I use a 5 string Music Man Stingray fretted and a Carvin 5 string fretless. Both with low B. Sound is super clean w/o any noise. This amp is perfect for funk and soul.

This amp never required in house service. About 3 years ago I replaced the tube and cleaned the pots. That's it.

never have.

This is a great amp to have in just about any situation: live, studio, pratice, etc. If your band plays at a reasonable volume on stage look no further.

Plenty of tone shaping features allthough not very useful. Also, no limiter or compressor. Weak on low end but the highs will hurt you (and the audience).

Obviously enough, I am not a fan of the SWR super modern tone but was stuck with one of these while on a recent overseas tour. I can't believe this amp does not have some type of limiter! You have to crank the bass EQ knob most of the way to get anything resembling a bass guitar tone and when you run out of headroom, the amp lets you know it with cracking distorted clipping. All of the EQ center points seem very narrow banded to me. You have to really cut high mids to get anything resembling the sound of your bass to come through and the "all tube" pre-amp consists of one tube. As far as I'm concerned, the pre-amp consists of all gain stages before the power amp including the EQ. It seems like they should call this a treble amp not bass amp.

I know several players who own and use this amp(to each his own)and they have had more than their share of expensive problems. Bad solder connections seem to be a common problem as well as output transistors shorting out(due in part to the lack of limiter ckt)and power transformers shorting and woofers blowing. Also, due to the hand wiring, servicing can be difficult and expensive. It could cost as much as $50 to replace a input jack.

Before they teamed up with Fender they were very responsive but now??

Let's see, harsh sterile tone, very little low end, no limiter, high failure rate and expensive repairs, I would imagine fans of brittish sports cars would love this amp. Not me. Give me an SVT or even an Eden rig for modern tones. This is useless to me.

Same as all the others, look it up on the SWR website. Mine is the original Redhead, 240W into 4 ohms. Bought it around seems like 1984 used.

I've been playing for something like 30 years, currently playing a '67 Fender P with a Tele neck and EMG pickups; an '87 Fender Jazz Special fretless with no modifications, a '72 Rickenbacker with an onboard FET preamp, a Hohner acoustic/electric <strung piccolo, no less>, and a '90 Rickenbacker factory fretless <no kidding!>. Simply put, the amp kicks ass with every bass I have. I even use it with my stand-up. Theres enough eq to tailor the sound to any bass I have, and enough volume to be my idea of a MightyMouse of amplifiers. As long as I pay attention to the preamp section I can't make it distort, and when I need it to crunch for the rickenbackers I boost the preamp to clip it a little. Can't say enough good things about the sound and flexibility.

Here's where it's fallen down for me, or maybe I should say I've fallen down on it. I've blown it up three times, each time by lighting it up with an effects unit inline to the preamp sending a hot signal in at startup. Blew out the horn twice, and the third time blew out one of the 10" drivers and had to have a circuit board replaced because of cracked solders? I know this is my fault, but the amps I've had in the past were bulletproof. I think this is like a car that's been hotrodded into being just a little touchy about how you treat it. I've learned to make sure I've got gain and volume shut down, and speaker turned off, and nothing else hot when I turn it on, and I use the effects loop instead of inline. Still, based on my past experience with Acoustic, Ampeg, etc, I think it's a little touchy. But as long as I don't do something stupid to it that other amps would forgive, it's never let me down.

Outstanding support. Like I said, I blew it up three times. I live within driving distance of SWR, so twice I took it to the factory and once to an independent authorized repair. Factory service is superb, guys play bass there and both times I picked it up it was repaired quick, ready on time, the guys pointed out to me that the preamp tube does indeed need to be replaced from time to time <ok, I'm a mechanical engineer, not an electrical engineer?>, and took time to plug a bass in and put it through it's paces to make sure I was satisfied. And no one ever made fun of me for anything stupid I'd done to it. The Authorized repair was just as professional. Repair costs seem on the high side, but hey, spending over $700 bucks on a used tiny combo ten years ago sounded pricey too? Dayam, I spent $600 to buy a full used SVT not so long before that?

I've been playing huge rigs for a long time, and this amp gives me all the sound, nearly all the flexibility, enough volume to hold stones in anything but an outdoor venue, and a lot less stress on my back than my other rigs. Plus I don't need a pickup truck to gig. Added to that, the effects controls, the balanced out, and the great eq sections make this a perfect studio amp. I can thumb and pop with my fenders, growl and mwuuaa with my fretless, and get crunchy with my rickenbackers. I just wish I could really get the hang of the aural enhancer, or maybe bypass it altogether since it's kind of like a mystery to me what it actually does. When I was looking for a high-tech combo <at the time, mid 1980's> I overlooked Fender, Ampeg, Peavy, because I was hearing new amps like SWR, Hartke, Trace-Elliot. I couldn't BELIEVE how much bucks these amps were bringing, but I went to clubs and heard bassplayers using them, I also couldn't BELIEVE how much sound they were getting out of them. The only thing, and I mean the only thing I'm curious about, is Hartke's aluminum speakers. I'd like to try a 2-10" Hartke extension speaker with this amp, and I'd like to have onboard compression. Other than that, hands down, I love the amp. Lost or stolen, I'd be back for a SuperReadhead, since I've heard those are only better than the original... ok, I confess, I'd check out Hartke, and I'd check out Ampeg's latest offerings, but it's like owning dogs. You have a few muts, and you have a purebread of a certain breed you love, and when it comes time to find another, you go for what you know. I'm rating it a nine only because it's a fantastic amp, but you pay for what you get. I can't call it a fantastic value. You can get better bucks to performance ratio from other amps, but if you want the best, be ready to pay for it.

For a combo this amp is hi on studeo features and also has an external speaker out. The SWR website does these fratures more justice than I can.

I rarely give 10's. I have been playing bass for about 25 years and palayed through and owned several new and vintage top name amps.

When people ask me if they could buy either a good or good amp, in the past, it was always buy the guitar. That was until I found this baby. This amp could make a piece of junk sound good. All the cliche things people about warm lows, punchy mids and clear highs absolutely come through in this amp. My speaker size of choice
has always been 10". I like the punch and clarity they can bring. However, for the life of me, I can't figure out how those 2 little 10" speakers can produce an enveloping sub bass sound. Maybe it is in the cabinet design? This amp will warm up even the oldest pair of strings.,,and trhat's not all. It's mids are as punchy as you want to make them and plenty highs are available through it's tunable horn....I just can't believe what a big sound this thing produces.

You can forget all of thiose sound contouring effects. You don't need them. In addition, it truley does take no time to get your sound out of this.

One of the things that really makes this amp great is that it works for so many different basses. It can get a beautiful vintage sounbd from my 61 p-bass, rich smooth sounds from my thumb fretless and some reakl punch out of my thumb fretted.

Last what I really like about this amp is that it colors your tone but it doesn't over color it. SOm other amps have a great sound, but that sound dominates the guitar's natural frequencies..that is, all basses will sound the same. Not so with the Super Redhead it adds beautiful, adjustable color and let's your bass ring true.

I have read some things about people blowing the speakers...and getting really upset about it. They need to read the manual. It talks about why that happens...and it is for a reson. You can download the manual at the SWR site....the section is near the end.
So far my amp is still operating at 100%.

The only bad thing I can say is that it is expensive. Otherwise this amp is the combo that I have always wanted.

One of the first, build in '89 - AND STILL GOING STRONG !!
Check out the other reviews for the features, in my humble opinion this amp is the essence of the SWR-Tone. It's bigger than its size, simple to get your sound with and fits just right from the point of versatility.
It's my main "BIG" Amp for seven years now and does the job even on open-air stages with a loud drummer - AND WE`RE ROCK'N'ROLL !!
I only miss a vent sometimes - it's getting quite hot after two hours on stage and that can't be very healthy !!

TUBE STAGE PREAMP - do I have to say more ?
Fits perfect for any kinda "Rock"-Gig and the studio performance is outstanding. Made a whole record using just the D.I.-Out from the preamp - and my trusty '62 P-Bass, of course ... !
If the stage is wide he's "piggy-backed" with a SWR "Triad" (3-way; 15"/10"/HF-Driver)and I LOOOOVE this tone - 350 Watts shaking my bones !!
My main gigging bas is a '88 Guild "Pilot" with active Duncan PUs - a dream-team with the "Redhead". I'm critical with the high-range response of bass-amps, often having problems there with lush or weak "attack". The "Redhead" serves just right in this point.

Really dependable - no alternative !!
The van's too small for spares so I do push my adrenalin every gig - I've been the lucky one by now !
Just needs "biasing" of the output stage every two years, otherwise it starts humming more from gig to gig. Well, it's just 20 bucks in two years for service, no sweat !

SWR Ing.'s Website is including the whole manual and some sound suggestions for the amp, that's the only thing I ever looked for. Other companies just save their money and don't employ that kinda service, which is quite important i.m.h.o.

Seven years of (ab)use - no worries, where would I be without it ??
My "Portaflex" is the ideal partner for the small gig in pubs or elsewhere - when it gets bigger the "Redhead" fits in perfectly. It'll be hard to spend about 1500 $ for a new "Super Redhead" if this one's "disappearing", but I even thought about it !!
The only things keeping it away from the "10" are the missing vent and the non existing "Interstellar Overdrive"-section !! Tried that preamp one out once - AWESOME !!!!

Mfd. Oct. 1993, purchased Oct. 1999. I bought this thing used in a pawn shop, because I needed an amp that could get me through "small" gigs that I didn't want to haul my Mesa/Boogie rig to. I play at a lot of churches, and I can never count on having any kind of quality sound system. Or a quality sound guy for that matter.....

So this amp is perfect for me, as a monitor with a quality DI, or as my only sound source. It really exceeded my expectations, and when it came time to record our band's second cd, it once again proved it's worth. I think it's very appropriate that the graphics use the same colors as a Swiss Army knife; because that's what this amp essentially is. I do wish the Aural Enhancer could be bypassed, though, just because I'm curious to hear the difference it makes. The only failing on this amp is when you try to do too much volume wise with it; it's not a very pretty thing at very loud volumes. Maybe that's why SWR made the Super Redhead....

I own two Stingrays, a fretless Stingray 5, a Sabre, and a Moses/Sadowsky Jazz bass. I also have played a BSX electric upright & a '66 Guild Starfire through it. They all sound fine through this amp, though the fretless is the weakest (I think the bass needs a better preamp). I play mostly rock, but I get a little bit of everything thrown at me from time to time. When I use a compressor with this amp, and keep the volume below 6, I have never failed to get a great sound out of it.

When I bought it, this amp looked like hell. It was missing it's cover and castors, and it was covered with spiderwebs and the black covering was so full of foreign matter I though it would have to be recovered. Surprisingly, it didn't smell like beer or vomit or anything. After I cleaned it off, I took the head out to replace the tube, and was amazed at the "beefiness" of the circuit board and components. This thing was built to last. And last it has. I have no doubts whatsoever as to it's reliability. I can take it anywhere, anytime, and it will get the job done.

Well, I had to get a new cover for the amp, but when they sent me it, the part of the clasp that was on the cover didn't match the part that was on the amp. SWR had changed their style of clasps over the leas six years! I called them up, and the shipped me a new set of clasps fright away or free.

I've been playing for 20 years. My favorite bass amp is, of course, an SVT, but it wouldn't be fair to compair this to that. I will say that the Redhead is about as dominant in it's field (as well as ahead of it's time) as the SVT was. Only in the last few years has it received any competition from the likes of Fender, Peavey, GK, etc. I bought my Redhead because I was worried about playing out with my old B-15, and I ended up selling the B-15 because I just didn't use it anymore once I had the SWR. I thought about a Hughes & Kettner amp, as well as the Mesa/Boogie combo; but the SWR was better, and this particuler one was way cheaper.

Mfd. 1990, purchased 1991.Versatile as anyone could want, save a Rickenbacker owner (MEEEEEEEE!!) Basically one channel with active and passive inputs, gain, aural enhancer (basically "smileys" your EQ profile), bass w/ pull-out "Turbo", parametric Mid Treble w/Pull-out "Transparency", I guess those are boosts, the tone knobs are plus/ minus 15 dB boost/cut, Master Volume, switchable DI, being pre/ post FX loop, plus "pad" pot, effects blend knob, front panel outputs to tuner, 1/4" DI, XLR DI, and 1/4" stereo headphones, and it makes a sweet headphone amp / practice amp too. 240 W RMS into 8 ?, 350 into 4 when an extension spkr. box is used. Power? I've never had occasion to run mine wide open. Has everything I could want, except maybe KT88's.

I play rock, rock, rock, and once in a while, some other stuff. Now, I have to admit the old grrrrl needs a bit of help with making a BIIIIG sound, so I fill the rack space with a '96 Behringer Ultrafex II signal processor, which gets 'er quite close to the ultimate bass guitar sound, believe it or not, not The "Ox", but bass played thru a quality home stereo system. This old Kenwood quad unit I bought during my GI days was the best I've ever sounded. Back to the SWR, at 11 yrs. of age the glue joints sing on D thru F, as is to be expected, and the speaker sound is quite clean. My two re-issue Fenders sound to die for thru this amp, as does my 5-String Warwick. My Rickenbacker? I believe that bass wants a bit more grit than the Redhead can deliver, but it plays Ricks well otherwise.
I've never pushed this amp to deliberate distortion points, though, as with transistor-power-stage amps, the signal is either Clean or NASTY- NO in-between.

Reliability I would deem absolute. I would take this 11-year old amp without a backup without a second thought.

Never dealt with SWR, nor felt the need to.

It is unusual for me to keep gear this long- it's got to be solid for me to go this long with it. Thogh I would replace it with something else if the need arose, if you were looking at one and planning to play Fenders or other high- end gear thru one, I would definitely encourage you.

Anything else I wish it had? maybe a full rack of 6550's, maybe?

This is the old Redhead, been replaced by the Super Redhead. I thought these comments might be useful anyway. 250 Watts, 2-10" speakers and a tweeter horn. You all know the spcs, or can view them on SWR's sight. Two of the most usefull features are the built in cover and the casters. It also has some feature where, if the juice is too hot, or there is something funky in the electrical circuit, it diffuses the energy by light up something behind the horn, instead of allowing the amp/speakers to blow. This has probably saved the amp many times. One thing that is missing that I believe they added to the Super Redhead is an EQ bypass (by pulling out the Aural Enhancer.) I have this on a newer SWR Baby Blue and it is very useful. I would like to see SWR put a built in Gate/Compressor like Carvin does.

Very versatile on sounds that can be produced.

This is what I wanted top comment most on. You CAN NOT destro this amplifier. I bought mine used about 9 years ago. Since I have had it it has fallen off of a truck, banged around inside of trucks, had some bad electricity go through it, and most recently my little boy plugged a cable from some input to some other input. This one sent it screaming and smoking, followed by the smell of burning silicon. I thought it was gone. Took it to the shop, no problem. Since everything was hand made, hand saudered it was easily repaired and the parts were readily available from SWR. Most other (cheap import) amps would have had to have been replaced, or would have been cheaper to replace than repair.

NA

Playing for 20+years. Play mostly Carvins. Also Fenders, Alembic, Yamaha, and old upright bass. Amps owned... several Fenders, Several Ampegs, Peavey, Vox, Univox, Yamaha, and others. SWR is heads above all of them. The only other amp that I can see myself ever using besides an SWR is the old B-15.