New guy - SWR question

[miggo]

Hi,

 

First, I have been lurking around here for a while and just decided to join in. I have been playing bass for about 15 years. I have a question about my SWR sm400 head. I have owned this for while now nut never really noticed this until recently. The head has a transparency knob on it. Now my question. Everything I can find says they started adding a fan to these units towards the end of the SM400 run, before they started making the SM400S. Mine does not have a fan. The puzzleing thing is everything I can find leads me to believe they did not add the tranparency controll until the SM400S came out. I am sure this is am SM400 and not an S. Even SWR website does not talk anout the transparency controll until the 400s. Anyone know anything about these amps that can figure this out?

 

Thanks,

 

--Mike

[T. Alan Smith]

*bump*(gotta help a fellow SWR'er)

[ARES]

yeah and now i have to research for a fellow SWR'er.

 

swrsound.com mentions nothing about a transparency knob, just when they strated coming with fans. i think your best bet is to contact them with a serial number. i've never dealt with them before, and have no idea if you'll have to deal with somebody from fender now or not.

 

swrcustserve@fender.com

[miggo]

Originally posted by ARES yeah and now i have to research for a fellow SWR'er. swrsound.com mentions nothing about a transparency knob, just when they strated coming with fans. i think your best bet is to contact them with a serial number. i've never dealt with them before, and have no idea if you'll have to deal with somebody from fender now or not. swrcustserve@fender.com

 

heh, been there and tried that. Never got a response. I have heard horror stories about dealing with Fender but always just blew them off. I will contunue to reserve judgement until I need real help from them. I have done a bit of research myself and can not find an answer, not that it is a problem, just curious.

[Subsonicbass]

SWR Engineering re: SM400 Series:

 

Units manufactured after September 1993 and having a

serial number greater than #6125 have an Internal Cooling Fan.

 

[miggo]

 

Originally posted by Subsonicbass SWR Engineering re: SM400 Series: Units manufactured after September 1993 and having a serial number greater than #6125 have an Internal Cooling Fan.

 

 

Thanks, but I already knew that. I am trying to figure out what the story is with the transparency controll.

[Subsonicbass]

Back in the Sylmar days you could have your SM400 modified by

SWR with a DI Pad, Ground Lift, Headphone Jack,

pre-Master FX Loop, and Transparency.

 

SWR did a lot of these mod's.

 

SWR also took 'special orders' to have mod's

completed before shipping when new.

 

Some would request just one Mod option, or two, or four,

or any combination.

 

The 'S' designation came with the power increase to 500 watts

and the most popular mod's became standard.

 

Example.:

 

Brian Bellar - re: his SM 400 The SWR SM-400 this amplifier is the single most important piece of gear I've ever owned. It's been with me since 1990. I added the transparency control as a mod in 1998 and usually set it at 1:30 PM. I also eventually added the XLR variable pad and ground lift mod, as well as the separate pre-master effects loop.

 

 

 

Date: Wed, 26 Oct 1994 04:56:55 -0400 Subject: re:SWR mods I also bought a SWR SM400 about 89 or 90. Sound guys requested I pad the DI frequently so I sent it to the factory and got: 1. a ground lift and pad on the XLR, 2. the headphone jack, and 3. the transparency knob all done at once for not much money (I barely use 2 and 3). It was pretty cheap $25 to 50 each back then (I think).

 

[Deep Bass]

Originally posted by miggo heh, been there and tried that. Never got a response. I have heard horror stories about dealing with Fender but always just blew them off. I will contunue to reserve judgement until I need real help from them. I have done a bit of research myself and can not find an answer, not that it is a problem, just curious.

 

This is why I won't buy new SWR products. I've had my SWR combo for 6-7 years and the few times I emailed them with questions (pre-Fender), they responded within the week. Too bad 'cause I really like SWR amps.

[g.ghost]

I had the same quick response from SWR before the Fender takeover.

 

That's the difference between the smaller "boutique" companies and the huge mega corps.

 

It's too bad in this day and age that huge companies just keep getting larger and larger.

[miggo]

 

Originally posted by Subsonicbass Back in the Sylmar days you could have your SM400 modified by SWR with a DI Pad, Ground Lift, Headphone Jack, pre-Master FX Loop, and Transparency. SWR did a lot of these mod's. SWR also took 'special orders' to have mod's completed before shipping when new. Some would request just one Mod option, or two, or four, or any combination. The 'S' designation came with the power increase to 500 watts and the most popular mod's became standard. Example.:

 

 

Thanks! That explains that.

 

I have had this amp and other SWR amps for quite a while and I have never had a single problem with any of them. Of course, they are/were all pre fender. Hope my luck hold out.