About Swart Amplifiers

Michael Swart, long time musician and recording engineer who owns and runs a 24 track studio located in Wilmington, NC has been using vintage tube amps of yore for live gigs and studio work.

Vintage Vox, Fender, and Ampeg cycled though. Michael always found something missing in a perfect small recording amp for studio and home use that exhibited great tone and distortion characteristics, all the while, remaining flexible (and quiet) enough for recording use.

Swart then started building custom tube amps to get the exact tone he wanted. The original SPACE TONE is as a result of this need for a small studio or home amp that could provide BIG tone with quality distortion when needed. The Atomic Space Tone followed and the rest is history.

These are now Michael’s most requested amplifiers for studio and gig use. Each additional Swart amp has been building on this success. Indeed, the sound is only equaled by the amazing raves. Yet nothing in this text could prepare you for the tone. You’re just going to have to try one and find out for yourself. You’ll never go back…

Swart Space Tone Reverb Tremolo

The Swart STR Tremolo has the same circuit as the STR Tweed but with the added bonus of Tremolo. This is still in development and may well change slightly but here is what Swart say about it…..

People have been asking for this and now it’s as good as here…

Yep, the STR-Tremolo will have the same soul and basic circuit as the STR-Tweed, just with:

The addition of a great tremolo stage (along with same quality Reverb stage)
The addition of a 3 way EQ Switch that makes the STR-Trem more flexible
As stock in the original STR 60s style cab & a limited run of AST Style Tweed cabs!

The STR-Tremolo will have just slightly less gain than the STR-Tweed as the Tremolo section will take place of the extra gain stage in half of the 12AX7. On the other hand, it will still have much of the STR-Tweed’s great tone, immediacy, growl, and touch sensitivity. Drop in the Atomic Boost, and you get it back and more. I really dig this amp!

After sitting with it for a good 30 minutes and loving it, I personally played a pair of new STR-Tremolo in STEREO and was just blown away. One had a Celestion Gold and the other a BV-30. Moved them five feet apart and dickered with settings and for the love of St. Nick, could not stop playing the beasts. It was so compelling, I’m convinced we need to come out with our own Stereo Pedal just so we can facilitate running these beasts in pairs. I moved to one AST and one STR-Tremolo and was just as blown away, if not more. For those of you with TWO Swarts of any kind, running them in stereo is just amazing and highly recommended.

I tried the STR-Trem with and without an Atomic Boost and loved it both ways. Of note, the new cabs are a touch deeper to fit the Celestion Blue and Gold. There has been interest in the Tone Tubby Hempcone Alnicos as well.

STR-Tremolo Specifications

• 5W CLASS A ~ Single-Ended Output
• Zero Negative Feedback
• 100% Tube Circuit – GZ34 or 5Y3 Valve Rectifier
• Big Swart Tube – Spring Tank Reverb – Foot Switchable
• Swart Tube Tremolo – Foot Switchable
• 3 way EQ Switch ~ Full, Natural, Low Cut
• Powered by choice of 6V6 ~ 6L6 (shod w/6V6)
• JJ 12AX7(2) – JJ 12DW7 – EH 6V6GT – JJ GZ34 Rectifier
• Point to Point Hand Wired Circuit
• Cathode Biased (no need to bias)
• Carbon Comp Resistors ~ Mallory Caps
• Cloth Hook-Up Wire
• Hi/Lo Input for High & Low powered Pickups
• Heaters referenced to ground
• Standby Switch for tube warm-up, extending tube life
• All Swart Amplifiers employ Star Grounding
• 4/8 ohm 1/4″ Out – Drive other Speaker/Cabinet
• Switchcraft 1/4 inch inputs and output
• CTS Potentiometers
• Custom High Quality USA Built Swart Spec Iron
• Speaker: 12″ Celestion Blue Alnico ~ 8 ohm
• Finger-Jointed, solid Pine Cabs w/Two Build Options
• Vintage Jewel Lamp ~ Circuit Fuse Protected
• Two-Button Footswitch for on/off Reverb & Tremolo
• Dimensions: 17″ W x 10 3/4″ D X 16 3/4″ H (w/feet) ~ 29.5lbs