SWR® WorkingPro 12 Bass Amplifier Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)It labels itself a professional bass amplifier and it has all rights to do so. I have been looking for a bass combo for a while and have been through a few stores to check out what's out there in the mid $500 range. It's a busy segment and specs for most amps read alike. 220W Ampeg, 250W Hartke, 150W Fender, 200W SWR, and the list goes on. Give or take a few watts, they are built around the same concept, take a Class D amp for affordable power, match it up with a pre-amp and a speaker and put it in a wooden box. Some of what's out there actually is exactly that and you can see and hear it. Weed out those comrades and you are left with a very few that are actually designed well and have some substance. For me the choice was down to a small group after a while. Ampeg fell through because of the build quality, features and weight. You are really looking at a rather cheap line with the BA-1xx series. Also, the sound of a 15" does something to the mid range that's not always pleasing. The Hartkes (HyDrive) I got tired of chasing as they are rather hard to come by and I can only judge it by video reviews. It sounded generally too bright but it's hard to assess their potential without playing it with your very own bass. Really only leaves one, which is the SWR WorkingPro 12. Within the WorkingPro line, going with the 12" version seemed to make the most sense. 10" saves you about $100 but you end up loosing more than that, too small. $150 more give you a 15" of which I don't see the added value, and $350(!) more give you a 2x10" configuration with twice the power if using an external cabinet.
The WorkingPro 12 is a bass combo that very much sounds like no other, classic SWR tone due to its great pre-amp section, a bass intensifier that makes it quite clear this really is a bass amp, switchable input sensitivity for active and passive pickups, a 3-band EQ that not only works but is also very effective, a limiter to protect the power amp and speaker, a switchable horn (on, off, -6db) as well as a series of ins and outs to hook up anything from an external foot switch over effects to balance and unbalanced outs. It also doubles up as a monitor with a line in. Attention to detail like nowhere else, such as a dedicated output for a tuner, headphone out, an FX in that doubles up as a CD/external source connector as well as a switchable EQ adjustment in case you tilt it back. This compensates for the lost acoustics due to cabinet floor contact and re-direction of the horn. Features which significantly differentiate this amp from others in its class.
The only drawbacks I see is that the amp seems a bit underpowered as the limiter seems to kick in quite early, with the master dial not even half way. Pushing it much further does not seem to add more punch and only has the limiter getting busier. Then again, 200W can be quickly exhausted when moving a lot of air at the bottom end and of course it is a combo after all. Other issue is that there is no switchable compressor per say. The bass intensifier doubles up as a low-frequency booster as well as compressor, so to take advantage of the compressor only you'd need to tweak the EQ to counter what the booster does to the low and mid range frequencies. Ends up being a sound compromise and an external compressor may be needed.
At the end, still you can quite comfortably work with this in smaller settings, I've seen 100W 10" getting their message across in pubs just fine, and this has enough headroom to even go farther. It's an SWR, yes.

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The WorkingPro 12 is a surprisingly powerful small amplifier, with a 12 in. speaker and a piezo tweeter driven by 200 watts of power at 4 ohms internal.

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