Swart Atomic jr. head headroom and loudness

[Smeigel_12000]

Hi all,

I'm considering buying a Swart Atomic jr. head and play it over a homemade 212 cab filled with a WGS Veteran 30 and an ET65. I love the tones on the clips I could find on YT but I have some doubts about loudness. Unfortunately the nearest shop selling this amp is located a 3 hour drive away.

I want to use it for bandpractice and small gigs in pubs. I play in a country/folk/rock band where I play mostly clean on the edge of breakup. I use a tubescreamer and 2 boost pedals for different stages of overdrive.

What are your thoughts, anyone have experience gigging with this amp?

Cheers,
Michiel

ps. for what it's worth I now play a Brunetti Singleman 35 combo on its low setting (supposed to be 2W) :-O

 

[KC]

great amp -- best reverb ever -- but 5 watts is 5 watts, you'll run out of gas pretty quickly on a live stage. And your drive pedals may reduce the whole thing to guitar mush. I'd look for something in the 15-22 watt range for playing out.

 

[Wildeman]

5w is not much in the headroom dept, your clean, edge of breakup tone will quickly become fuzzy mush trying to get the volume you want. I agree with KC, you need more, i wouldn't go less than 10 or 15w myself. Fyi, i have some great 5 watters and they are always cranked when i try to play them with others.

 

[MuddyWolf]

To me, you need at least 15 watts to gig. You cant count on being milked up and hearing yourself only from the stage monitor is a very cold, dry experience. And it sux not being able to go back to your amp to turn it up if you need to.

 

[Whoa Tele]

I've got the STR Tremelo which is 5 watts with a 12 inch speaker and while it sounds glorious, there is no enough clean headroom to gig IMO. I also have a FSR Fender Pro Jr. In western tolex with a 10 inch Canabis Rex that has a lot more clean headroom. That amp with a good reverb pedal works well for practice and small gigs.

 

[naveed211]

If you mike it through the PA you’ll be fine. If you don’t you’re going to run out of headroom quickly.

I played 5-6 watt amps into bigger cabs for my last two band amps, and it was (just) loud enough to keep up unmiked, but I don’t really care about clean headroom as much. They sound great like that in a live setting, just not “pedal platforms.”

 

[baiff]

If you want headroom you should go with the Antares, MOD84 or AST.

 

[Smeigel_12000]

Hi all, it's been a while but yesterday I went to the store to try out both the Atomic jr. and the AST. Boy is the jr. loud for a 5W amp. For my purposes it seems loud enough to play with the band. We don't play hard stuff though so I could understand if some find it to low.

I also bought the 112 cab with the Celestion Gold. Great combi. The efficiency of this speaker off course helps a lot.

 

[arthurfranca]

I've got the STR Tremelo which is 5 watts with a 12 inch speaker and while it sounds glorious, there is no enough clean headroom to gig IMO. I also have a FSR Fender Pro Jr. In western tolex with a 10 inch Canabis Rex that has a lot more clean headroom. That amp with a good reverb pedal works well for practice and small gigs.

maybe changing tubes to 6l6? would it increase the wattage and cleanish volume enough?

 

[old wrench]

I played through a Swart STR a few months ago, I was seriously thinking about buying it - it was the head version, and the owner had a cab with a single 12" Celestion Gold speaker - I really liked it - sounded great!

I know it's not quite the same as the Atomic Jr, but its close.

I don't think the Swart amps are built for clean head-room.

But, they are still loud 5 watt amps.

Use one in a small barroom?

I think it would work, but when spaces and crowds get bigger you need more power.

When you start adding more square footage to a venue, and more people - even a loud 5 watt amp with good speakers is going to start sounding kind of faint - especially when things start to get going.

They are good-sounding amps though - I really like the STR


.

 

[old wrench]

maybe changing tubes to 6l6? would it increase the wattage and cleanish volume enough?

It may seem like a "bigger" tube might give more volume or more clean head-room - that would be pretty cool, but that hasn't been my experience.

I already have another single-ended 5 watt amp that I can change the output tube type in - it's basically a souped-up, single output tube design Champ, much like the Swart.

I can run a 6L6 or EL34 output tube in it - it doesn't get any louder than it is with a 6V6, or get more clean head-room, but the tone does change slightly.


.

 

[TunedupFlat]

As much as I like Swart amp content, the post was from 2020...

 

[helmiriffs]

As much as I like Swart amp content, the post was from 2020...

No disrespect intended, and surely nothing personal, but I’ve never understood why people feel the need to point this out, like your breaking one of the ten commandments, or commiting some heinous act, or turning someone in for a reward. If the last several participants are still active on the forum, what does it matter?

 

[TunedupFlat]

No disrespect intended, and surely nothing personal, but I’ve never understood why people feel the need to point this out, like your breaking one of the ten commandments, or commiting some heinous act, or turning someone in for a reward. If the last several participants are still active on the forum, what does it matter?

None taken.

However the question the OP asked, the Op himself answered when he replied that he bought a Jr and paired it with a 12" Celestion gold.

I rarely make a point of showing that a thread is dead, unless the question asked was answered by the OP... which this most certainly was.

 

[helmiriffs]

Good explanation sir.