PRODUCT REVIEW
headlite and
Amplite Bass Amps
SWR
BY DAN BERKOWITZ
Certain iconic bass amps are known for
their signature sounds that astute bassists
can tell apart the same way a guitar-amp
gourmet can tell a Fender from a Marshall
while blindfolded. Ampeg equals warm and
aggressive. Gallien-Krueger tends toward an
edgy bite. SWR is known for its modern, hi-fi
sounds defined by clear highs, deep lows,
and scooped mids.
and feature set. I was amazed at how SWR
managed to sneak a 3-band EQ (with adjustable frequency centers), a compressor, an
enhanced Aural Enhancer, an effects blend,
and an XLR direct out (with adjustable output
level, pre/post selection, and ground lift) into
an 8. 5" x 9. 75" package that weighs less than
4 pounds. The Headlite even sports a 12AX7
tube, just like its bigger siblings.
design. For example, a tone knob’s inner ring
cuts or boosts a frequency band, which is set
by the knob’s outer ring. Likewise, another
knob has FX Blend on the outside, and Comp
(compressor level) on the inside. Although a
careful bassist would have no problem with
the Headlite’s durability, I didn’t feel it would
be as sturdy as a typical full-sized rig.
Over the years, I’ve owned two classic
SWR amps, the Bass 350 and the SM-400.
Both provided high-fidelity, authoritative
tones. So when I received the Headlite
and Amplite heads, my first question was,
would these new designs capture the
trademark SWR sound?
The quick answer is yes. And more. Let’s look
at some of the details.
headlite: The Tiny Amp
with Full-Sized Features
Nearly every major bass amp company has
come up with a mini rig. SWR may be fash-
ionably late to the party, but they’ve put this
extra time to good use. Though it’s tiny, the
Headlite remains true to both the SWR sound
The Headlite offers another of my favorite
features—a front-panel mute switch con-
nected to a rear-panel tuner out (although it’s
labeled “Direct Out”). The mute also cuts off
the XLR direct out, so you’re not tuning into
the house sound system. A light on the front
panel serves double-duty, flashing yellow
when the compressor engages and blinking
red when the input clips. A power-amp clip
light indicates when the amp is hitting its
maximum level. In fact, the front panel is jam-
packed with lights—six lights and four colors
(red, yellow, blue, green) in all.
As you might expect, shoehorning all these
features into such a diminutive package
necessitates a few trade-offs. For example,
many of the controls use a knob-in-knob
Upon first glance, the other question most
bassists would have about the Headlite is
whether there’s enough power in this tiny
box. It all depends. The amp is rated at
400 watts RMS into 4 ohms. The manual
doesn’t spec 8-ohm output, but typically that
would be about 250 watts. Because the amp
doesn’t go down to 2 ohms, you can plan on
using one 4-ohm cab or two 8-ohm cabs to
hit maximum power. Given the right cabs—
which would need to provide sufficient cone
area and greater than 100 dB efficiency—the
Headlite should be able to keep up with most
bands playing at moderate volumes.
PREMIER GUITAR SEPTEMBER 2010 177
headlite Tones:
Looks Little, Sounds Big
To test the Headlite, I plugged in my G&L
L-2500, a 5-stringer with plenty of highs,
