| SWR Mo' Bass Tube Bass Head/Preamp When it comes to bass tones, Mo' is mo'
by the Harmony Central Editorial Team
July 28, 2000
With so many new effects processors, bass cabs, 15-string instruments, and other bottom-heavy baubles, you might forgive a bass player for a short attention span these days. But judging from the buzz at the SWR Engineering booth, the Mo' Bass head had enough going on to stop gaggles of bassists -- who hung around patiently to play it themselves, or just to keep listening to its colon-quaking, deep thunk.
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| Leave the synth behind on your next tour -- SWR's Mo' Bass brings the world of phat analog synthesis to the fretboard.
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An early prototype of the Mo' Bass was shown at last January's Winter NAMM show, but the final production version, on display here at Summer NAMM, has been buffed with an expression pedal input and other electronic improvements. The company expects the unit to ship in September.
The Mo' Bass promises to be a tweaker's delight. Sure, the onboard tube limiter, tube overdrive, and chorus processors are cool. SWR's real innovation, however, was to include a "subwave" (subharmonic) octave generator and a waveform-tracking bass synthesizer, putting bassists on a level playing field with their sinister-handed keyboard bandmates. Sole-tingling lows and classically phat analog synth tones -- conjured with filter, resonance, and bass/synth blend controls -- define the Mo' Bass's tone. We were also impressed to hear Moog-like filter sweeps controlled by a standard expression pedal.
Judged solely on its bridgeable 400-watt power amp, 12AX7-driven tube preamp, dual 3-band EQ sections, external/internal effects bypass switches, MIDI/tuner/Speakon cable outs, and sidechain stereo effects bus merits, Mo' Bass is a worthy contender. Add the synth and the subharmonic generator, and the $1,799 price tag looks even mo' bettah.
Special thanks to HC contributor Randy Alberts for his assistance with this Hot Pick.
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