I've had this amp a few weeks now and have played it pretty heavily at home and at band practice so this isn't a "had it for a day-best amp on the planet" report. It's more like a "had it a few weeks - best amp on the planet" report! Just kidding, sort of. The most deceptive things about the STR are it's size and wattage. It is a very small amp. I laughed when I took it out of the box. The surprising thing is the absolute "hugeness" of the sound this little beast makes. It puts out a very dimensional, room filling, almost 3-D like sound. Very cool. I figured it would sound small like it's size, but not at all. It puts out close to the same sound field as my Bogner Shiva size 2x12 cab. At 5 watts I was expecting this to be pretty much a bedroom amp that would break up almost immediately. Wrong again. In the house, with the volume about a third up, it's very loud. At practice, I had the volume up between 1/2 and 2/3rds and it kept up with our drummer on a full set. Granted, this was in someone's house and not playing out. I think in a bigger room it wouldn't make it or it would need to be miked. The cool thing about the STR is that, even at low, i.e bedroom volume, it sounds great. It doesn't sound anemic like some of my other amps when they're not getting pushed. I guess this is where the 5 watts delivers the goods - great tone at very reasonable volume. However, turn this thing up and it roars. The Swart website seems to emphasize the fuzzbox-like sound of the amp when it's cranked. It does break up pretty early on but seems to take a while to really max out. When it's dimed, sure, it sounds like that, but the volume is too loud for me to take. I've been really surprised with how good the clean to just breaking up is on this amp. The overall sound of the STR is a really rich, harmonically complex, organic sound. This is not a high gain amp but more of an old-school break up. The thing that I'm also surprised about it that it stays clean pretty well and really cleans up when the guitar volume starts going down. At about 1/4 up on the amp's volume, the grind sets in. It's more of a hair around the edges thing that keeps ramping up with volume increase. At band practice, I played a LP R7 and it had a really cool grindy bark to it that cleaned up well and had alot of chimeyness and overtones going on. Everyone in the band laughed when I showed up with the STR. After our first practice, the bass player said it was the best sounding guitar amp he's ever heard. I've used it with a 6V6 - breaks up pretty quickly and has a nice, saturated sound, a EL84 - sounds like you would expect with that tube, very marshally, not much clean, and a 6L6- this is my favorite tube of the three: cleaner but still with the grind of the 6v6 and much more sparkle. The harmonics that pop out of the amp are very complex, for lack of a better word, there's just alot going on there. When I changed tubes I took off the back panel (easier this way) and the work inside looks like a piece of art. My other amps are a Carr Slant 6V and a Dr.Z MAZ jr.so I'm used to looking at good work. The tone control has a really wide sweep to it. I've been able to dial in 4 guitars with humbuckers and P-90's all to a place that they sound really good. The reverb is some of the nicest 'verb I've ever heard - really rich and deep. My only complaint is that it comes on to fast and strong. After about "2" on the dial it gets very outer space. I've also run the STR through the Bogner 2x12 with a Scumback and g12H30 and a JDesigns 1x12 with a Blue. It sounds really good through both cabs, not radically different than it does with it's own Mojotone. I keep going back to the Mojotone, though, that's where it seems to sound the best. The STR also absorbs pedals like they're part of the amp - nice! This is the first amp that I've bought in a long time. I've never heard or played a Swart before the STR and it definitely lives up to everything that I've read about Swart and all the clips I've listened to. The STR fits in really good with the Carr and the Z too. Props to FatSound! John Berlinsky
- close window
- |
