Just shoot me now

[thesjkexperience]

I have just bought a Swart SST-30, after a big gear sell-off, and the seller has been great. I got the 2x12 cab faster than expected, and it is dead mint, but before the head arrived (the day it was to be delivered to me) it was sent back to the seller due to "damage". FedEx wouldn't tell us what happened, or allow us to stop the shipment and let me check the package out down in Denver.

It turns out the seller used the original box it shipped from Swart. It got a water mark during storage in his garage and now that the head is back at the seller it appears nothing is wrong, which is fortunate as it has been modified by Michael Swart to accept not only 4 x 6V6, but 4 x 6L6 as well, but now it will likely be 10 more days until I get the head back. I am also afraid that FedEx will want to charge again for shipping to me that wouldn't have been necessary if they had let me inspect the package before being sent back.

Just needed to vent a little!

[Seiche]

lol, that sucks! fedex are idiots.
they probably do this to make more profit.

[thesjkexperience]

HA! And to think I asked to use FedEx because of my bad luck, and other's horror stories, with UPS. My biggest beef is there is no one that can let you know what was wrong, or let me come and see the package before shipping back.

3n83mf3o45Y15Q65S1b6a9f758cad68c21b37.jpg (7.42 KiB) Viewed 952 times

[Seiche]

finally getting it will be all the more worthwhile

[jonnyrocket]

Sorry to hear that Scott.

I have also had problems with most shipping companies and use FedEx because they are just a tiny bit better than the rest here in NYC. They should offer complimentary shipping, to say the least.

Good luck and let us know how you like the amp!

[hawaii121]

WOW! Cool amp!

[thesjkexperience]

WOOHOO! it was supposed to be here Tuesday and it is on the delivery truck today!!!!

[Donner]

Very cool piece there !!! look forward to hearing how the peds work in with it .....

[Seiche]

any news?

[thesjkexperience]

any news?

I have had the amp for about 10 days and have played it enough to make a report. I did buy a Evidence Audio Siren II speaker cable which really brought up the midrange you couldn't hear well with the lamp cord.

The amp is fat and juicy, but is grittier than the sweeter sounding AST PRO which does not have a Master Volume. The SST-30 is very touch sensitive for a Master Volume amp and sounds a bit like MHv1 when the preamp volume is above 7 or 8. (Which is why I am selling the MHv1) The Tremolo sound superb and you can really feel it in your gut when the depth is 7 or higher! The reverb is not Fender like at all and actually works well with distortion/OD. The amp can get a bit fuzzy, in a good way, with the preamp volume above 9.5 or so depending on the Tone setting. It is super easy to get a great sound and the simple knob layout keeps the signal path clean and rich with harmonics.

I did put in some NOS preamp tubes to replace the nasty sounding JJs originally in there and also put in a NOS 5ar4 Rectifier. I am using new production 4 x 6V6 tung sols, but will likely get something nicer later this year. I tried my NOS Tung Sol 5881s and while the harmonics were crazy I didn't like the harder sound which I do like in my AST PRO. I will also mention it is not a very loud amp for 30 Watts nor does it have a ton of headroom, but it is as loud as you will ever need these days.

All in all I am very happy with the amp and both the head and cab are under 40 pounds each, so I can move it around easily enough. If you ever get a chance to play a Swart give it a shot. Just understand if it is loaded with JJs it sound many times better with Tung Sols.

I think even Bobby D did a demo of the AST PRO and was impressed. I am getting more amp OD these days, so I am letting go two of my BJFEs as I just don't use them when I have the EGDM and the MHvT and the D*A*M Red Rooster. The SST-30 prefers the BJFE and the AST PRO prefers the RR.