SWR Mini Mo'

I use active and passive four, five, and six-string basses with P/J, J/J, and soapbar pickups all to great effect with the Mini Mo'. With no effects it gives you the classic SWR punchy and solid tone, but with more than enough lows and low-mids to generate onstage "rumble" while balanced highs that allow fretless basses to retain their "sparkle" and "mwah". SWR's Aural Enhancer circuitry, which bring out the fundamental low notes of the bass guitar, reduce certain frequencies that help mask the fundamentals, and enhance the high end transients is included and is a wonder for slap-style playing. Dial in a touch of Overdrive, however, and you're very close to traditional "rock" tones.

The Overdrive/Distortion effect is a real tube circuit (no digital simulation here) that's variable from a touch of Ampeg-esque grit, to Geddy Lee-type overdrive, to Pete Steele's full-on fuzztone distortion. The Chorus effect is pretty close to the TC Electronics Chorus, which very well might be the gold standard of choruses, bass or otherwise. The "Subwave" effect creates a signal one octave lower than the played note, which is wonderful for filling out your sound when playing upper-register lines, and can be varied to produce a "clean" tone or one with a bit of "electronic synth" noise to it which helps to comp a keyboard line. The "BassSynth" effect simply cannot be described in the space I have - indeed, it takes up a goodly portion of the 40+ page manual. Suffice to say it can shift from classic 70's analog synth to envelop filter sounds with a ton of unique tones in-between. The last effect, the "Mo' EQ" may be the most underlooked part of the preamp: on it's own it is a somewhat simple "band-pass equalizer" - it boosts or cuts fixed points, as opposed to the primary equalization which is semi-parametric that allows you to vary the frequencies involved. However, it's true power is when used in combination with the other effects: you can drastically change the tone of the Distortion, Chorus, and most of all BassSynth by altering the points boosted or cut. It almost gives you two of each effect in one.

Unit is used with a QSC PLX 1602 Stereo Power Amplifier into Avatar B210 Neo and B212 Neo 8 ohm speaker cabinets running 300 watts each. into

Made in 2002 as the revamped/preamp-only version of the Mo' Bass head. Classic SWR tone with bass/treble/midrange with variable frequency boost/limiter and SWR's signature Aural Enhancer for EQ, and four studio-quality effects built it: tube overdrive/distortion, SubWave (an sub-octave), "BassSynth", "Mo' EQ (an additional shelving equilization for use with the effects), and Chorus. Additions/changes from the Mo' Bass head include better front-face construction, increased headroom and dynamic range in the preamp and EQ sections, additional gain controls on the effects for unity gain and boost control, the "Mo' Control 2 Master Footswitch" included instead of a separate purchase, and pre-everything tuner outputs on both the unit as well as the footswitch for silent tuning. From this you can activate each of the effects, program four separate "patches" of different effect combinations, switch Dual Mode on-and-off, mute your complete signal except for the "Tuner Out" for silent on-stage tuning, and bypass everything should you get overwhelmed... all housed in solid Aluminum and heavy-duty switches.

However, if there's one single feature in the Mini Mo' that sold me, it's "Dual Mode". One of the main drawbacks of running a clean/effected amp is that balancing both the signals is a major task and that when the effected sound is switched one it overwhelms the clean, and all of the traditional "bass" sound is lost in a sea of effects with nothing holding down the bottom end. "Dual Mode" solves this problem with the absolute minimum of effort. With one click of a switch, you can route the "post-EQ pre-effects" signal to one side of a stereo power amp, and from there to it's own cabinet. At the same time, a "post-EQ post-effects" signal is routed to it's own side and cabinet. The short version? With Dual Mode engaged, you always have an uneffected cabinet running regardless of that effects are being used at the time... and balancing (or favoring one of) the signals is simply a matter of turning up the individual volume on either the Mini Mo' or the power amp. No muss, no fuss, all bass. And if you want to have a complete "Wall of Sound" using both sides, Dual Mode can be switched off with one click. What professionals have spent tens of thousands of dollars and years to perfect, I can do it a moment's notice for under $1000.

I've used my rig for everything from the prototypical rock show to dance/industrial gigs where the distortion and synth effects have stolen the show and made for a better band experience as opposed to running backing synth tracks. 13 audio outputs give you the ability to route the signal literally any way you can possible imagine in both the live arena as well as the studio.

I've never had a problem with the unit in the 16 months I've owned it. No heating or power problems have occured.

SWR has been very good at answering e-mails simply for questions, repsponding in under one day. No repairs has ever been needed, and the warranty is good for two years from date of purchase.

16 years experience playing bass. My main basses are a pair of fretted and custom fretless Yamaha RBX-775's, and other gear includes a Fender Jazz Plus V, Ibanez SR-1206, Ibanez SR-800 fretless, Digitech Bass Whammy, QSC-PLX 1602 power amp, Avatar Speakers, and D'addario strings.

If it were lost or stolen, I'd absolutely purchase one again - it's become that much of *my* personal sound. I love just about everything about it, and my only negative would be that it's takes a while to tweak to your satisfaction - "plug 'n play" it isn't. However, this is to be expected with a preamp with so many features. I compared this to SWR's 750X head with outboard effects, and decided that having all in one package was worth the learning curve and would sound better in the end.

It may not be for everyone, but it's certainly for me.

I used fretted and fretless Yamaha RBX-775 five strings, a Fender Jazz Plus V five-string, an Ibanez SR-1206 six-string, and the best thing I can say about the Mini Mo' is that it lets the best qualities of each instrument shine. Its basic "clean" sound is very punchy and solid, but with more than enough lows and low-mids to generate onstage "rumble" while balanced highs that allow fretless basses to retain their "sparkle" and "mwah". SWR's Aural Enhancer circuitry, which bring out the fundamental low notes of the bass guitar, reduce certain frequencies that help mask the fundamentals, and enhance the high end transients is included and is a wonder for slap-style playing. Dial in a touch of Overdrive, however, and you're very close to traditional Ampeg-esque "rock" tones. It's a real tube circuit (no digital simulation here) that's variable from a touch of Ampeg-esque grit, to Geddy Lee-type overdrive, to Pete Steele's full-on fuzztone distortion. The Chorus effect is pretty close to the TC Electronics Chorus, which very well might be the gold standard of choruses, bass or otherwise. The "Subwave" effect creates a signal one octave lower than the played note, which is wonderful for filling out your sound when playing upper-register lines, and can be varied to produce a "clean" tone or one with a bit of "electronic synth" noise to it which helps to comp a keyboard line. The "BassSynth" effect simply cannot be described in the space I have - indeed, it takes up a goodly portion of the 40+ page manual. Suffice to say it can shift from classic 70's analog synth to envelop filter sounds with a ton of unique tones in-between. The last effect, the "Mo' EQ" may be the most underlooked part of the preamp: on it's own it is a somewhat simple "band-pass equalizer" - it boosts or cuts fixed points, as opposed to the primary equalization which is semi-parametric that allows you to vary the frequencies involved. However, it's true power is when used in combination with the other effects: you can drastically change the tone of the Distortion, Chorus, and most of all BassSynth by altering the points boosted or cut. It almost gives you two of each effect in one.

Custom-ordered in the Spring of 2004 from SWR via Musician's Friend.com. I can quite simply say that for my purposes, the Mini Mo' is absolutely everything I've ever desired in a preamp - the classic SWR preamp circuit (think 80's "punchy bass" - SWR was the innovator of the studio-quality clean preamp with their groundbreaking "Aural Enhancer" circuitry), five studio-quality analog effects including Overdrive/Distortion, Subwave, BassSynth, Chorus, and Mo' EQ, and the ability to route your signal *13* different ways to an outside source (power amp, soundboard, recording console, ect.)

With the Mini Mo's "Dual Mode" that splits the signal into effected and uneffected, you have the ability to run an "effects" cabinet while retaining your low-end running an clean cabinet. In mono... or stereo. Like I stated above, with 13 different methods to route your signal it's hard to thing of a way you're *not* able to - you can run it as traditional clean/dirty two channel amp, meld varying degrees of clean and/or dirty to your liking, along with the other effects in the mix. If the original Mo'Bass was groundbreaking, this is a refinement of that, clearing off any rough edges and polishing your sound to a shine.

There are very few features I wish it had and can understand why they would be left out of the design for failure and other issues (the only one I can thing of is access to the effects loop from the "Mo' Control 2" pedalboard for any additional floor-based effects) and as for the question "Are there features you never use?", I prefer to think of it as "They are features I haven't had the opportunity to use yet". Every single function is laid out in a logical manner, and if you haven't used it you simply haven't had the need for it.

Of special note is the "Mo' Control 2" pedalboard. Constructed from metal and not flimsy plastic with top-quality parts, it feels extremely solid and professional under your feet. You have access to the individual effects, 4 preset-by-you patches of effects, a master mute that leaves the tuner-out open for silent onstage tuning, a "Dual Mode" activation switch, and a master bypass that will shut off all effects with on press of the button. This along is work several hundred dollars, and is included with the preamp.

Completely dependable, especially considering the upgrade/redesign SWR made to the unit in it's transition from the "Mo'Bass" head to "Mini Mo'" preamp. All of the construction issues have been addressed and improved upon (read "Bass Player" magazine's September 2003 issue for their take on this specific issue as well as a very high overall review) and several improvement had been added, such as individual effect levels for better unity gain, the included "Mo' Control 2" pedalboard, and added signal routing. Given proper racking, I would have no problem using this on a gig without a backup.

SWR was very helpful in the custom ordering of the unit, as the dealer I was "locked into" ordering it from didn't normally carry it. My wait time was every shorter than estimated by two full weeks. 2-year limited warranty on both the preamp and pedalboard.

15 years experience playing bass. Other gear includes Fender Jazz Plus V, Ibanez SR-1206, Ibanez SR-800 fretless, Digitech Bass Whammy, QSC PLX 1604 power amp, upcoming Avatar Speakers.

I would most certainly search for a replacement if stolen/lost - this has become an integral part of "my sound". It's not a "plug in and play" amp, but if you take the time to work out the sounds you want, you certainly won't be disappointed.

The manual is good and all of the knobs are set out in a user friendly manner.

I guess we should break this down into two parts the preamp and the effects. This part of the review is very negative, so I would like to point out that I have used SWR products in the past and I do like SWR.

If you are going to spend all of this money .... the effects better be great.

First off. If a multi effect unit is what you really want/need I would go digital because the good effects processors have way more options and paramters that are worth the time it takes to go through the manual.

Preamp (7): When I give something a 10 in sound it is because of two things, A: it sounds great and B: it adds something new that no other piece of equipment has come up with before. I rank this a 7 because it just doesn't get warm. The sound reminds me of an early solid state amp. You can warm it up a bit with the overdrive, but that is an effect not really a part of the amp/preamp in my book. Just about any hybrid Eden, Ampeg, SWR or Mesa Boogie has more warmth than this amp.

Effects (3) I know that analogue is back in vogue these days, and the amp is a beautiful piece of eye candy, but these effects just aren't that good. In short, I am keeping my pedals! These effects just don't cut it. Let's go through them.

Compressor, Not much to say here. It works, but it does not have the options of a good compressor. The elbow is also a little square for my tastes. This compresor can't hang with a Carl Martin.

Overdrive, just about everybody has their own personal tastes when it comes to warming/dirtying up their signal. So I wasn't going to be too upset if this effect wasn't tops. But what I did expect (for the price) was something that would be on par with SWR's wonderful Interstellar overdrive...but it was not. The overdrive was a little too muddy and was never tight enough or chuncky enough. It could be used to add some warmth to the amps cold but that is about it. Depending on the OD/Dist. you want I recommend stick anSWR Interstellar overdrive a 70's MXR distortion+.

Subwave, I don't really use this effect much. It is fun to play around with when you are by yourself, but it is pretty useless in a band situation. Someone earlier mentioned that it didn't track well, it seemed fine to me. I have found that either a BOSS OC-2 or OC-3 is better because it has options for multiple octaves instead of just 1 as in the MO BASS.

Chorus, An effect often abused by some bass players :). For an analogue stereo chorus this is pretty good so I have no complaints about it. However, I do prefer a multivoice chorus. Some people may beg to differ with me, but if you are a person who uses chorus sparingly...the Digitech BASS ?multivoice? stereo chorus is much better.

Envelope filter/Synthesizer; If there is one effect I feel I can really speak about it is this. I have owned just about everything when it comes to an envelope filter. This one is just bad. You never get enough tone or a good tone from it. In the manual it talks about how it gets a Moog LPF sound when turned on normally and how it gets a Mutron III sound when you add distortion. I have owned a Moog and I still have my Mutron...I don't know what they were saying when they said they could get these sounds...no way. If you want an envelope filter buy the Mutron.

In summary, the preamp sounds ok, but the effects are lacking. If you buy this (for big bucks) you will be back for your effects in no time.

SWR/Fender support is slow and may take days/weeks.

Ya, this is a cool looking rig, but it is a LOT of money for something with a very average sound....and once you find a new effect that you like better, this slick multi-effect unit will have a bunch of pedals hanging off of it and you will be back where you started.
...and as a preamp...forget it just about every other name brand preamp would be better.

Basically what I think happend is that the Mo'Bass amp that this was based on, flopped and they didn't want to can the whold R&D effort, especially when Fender was looking at buying them...so there you have it...the Mini MO