Swart Space Tone

I spent the week with Michael Swart's Space Tone and wanted to share some comments before I pass the demo unit on to the next guy.

First, I can't get over the feel of the amp - the perfect amount of give, very elastic feeling, but its not loose on the low end. Very touch sensitive.

Tonally, I can't quite put my finger on it. The mids have a little tweed richness to them, the top has a little blackface sparkle. The overdrive tones remind me of the first Led Zeppelin album. A little Marshall in there too. A very rich, enveloping sound. With the tone knob turned down, there's even a little bit of Z Route 66! Sorry for all the different amp comparisons, but this amp just doesn't sound like anything I've ever played. The sound stage is very 3D, there is some kind of cabinet mojo, the chassis sits in the middle of the open back, but the lower portion of the amp has a small closed/ported section. I'll try to post some pics later to better illustrate. The reverb is very unique, at low to medium levels, it lays back and blends very well with the notes - at high levels it almost sounds like a ducking delay in a cathedral. When I first turned the reverb up, I understood exactly where he got the name for the amp as it does sound very spacey. With the reverb and the cabinet design, the amp sounds much bigger than you would expect coming from such a small box. The trem is very good, not a huge amount of range, but a very hypnotic sound - I think the trem varies the bias on the power tubes as you can see the tube's blue glow pulse with the trem on.

The controls are on the rear of the amp, I can see some guys not liking this, but this really is the kind of amp where you set your volume and tone and do the rest from the guitar. The footswitch controls the reverb and trem. Lots of different shades of tone by varying pick attack and the guitar volume knob.

Bottom line is this is a very fun amp, perfect for around the house or in a recording environment. It doesn't require any tweaking to sound good, just plug in and play - you can get kinda lost enjoying the rich tone. Great amp and I think the guys who have them on order are going to be very very happy.

 

Yep

 

not at the moment...Stu has all of my money from my last 2 amp purchases

 

Thanks man - you're welcome to come by this weekend and try the amp before I send it back. You could bring your magical delay unit!

 

I just spent a couple more hours with this little sweetheart (she goes to Procos tomorrow), and the combination of tone, feel, and touch sensitivity all add up to major FUN. I normally prefer tones that are either totally clean, or heavily distorted - but this Swart amp sounds so great when dialed in for mild breakup (especially on open chords), and the tone stays clear and full when you dial down the guutar volume. So many old school blues tones just pour out. I also tried the amp with my MI Audio Blue Boy and those two were *made* for each other, thick rich tones that make me laugh when I look at how small the box is. When I first plugged the BB in, I immediately thought of RF's Jing Chi live tone (not exact but has that almost bloated exploding kind of distortion) This amp is also one of the few amps where I don't have to adjust the controls/dial down the treble when I step on the pedal. I recorded some noodling with my camcorder that I will post if I can figure how to get the audio to my PC.