SWART

“After eight months of development, the latest greatest beast is currently under the iron, cabinets in the making, soon to be on the floor of your nearest Swart Dealer. Michael's all fired up about this new amp and I told him I would maybe give it back if the sun ever came out.

So take some of our favorite qualities from the MOD84 and mix it with some of our favorite takes from the AST with that venerable 6V6/6L6 3D holographic, ethereal voodoo... What do you get? Frankly, it's like no other Swart while being like EVERY Swart. It's the ANTARES and we are smitten with this beast, even if a bit biased about our youngest child.

It's more than an 18w AST on steroids, more than an AST with top mounted controls. It's the Swart Magic worked on twin, push-pull 6V6 with a bit bigger reverb, deeper bottom-end foundation, with a new custom output transformer borrowed from the MOD84 Lineage. It has our killer three-way EQ ala STR-Tremolo, our single-ended favorite. Toss in the AST's all time favorite, super sweet tube bias tremolo and you have the makings of an addiction. And yes, it does have top mounted controls for easy access. And to top it off, it's all housed within an all new Pine cab with tilted back baffle.” – From the Swart website

As a boutique amp manufacturer, Swart has done a wonderful job at making their amplifiers sound just a spaced-out as they look. They house uniquely voiced reverbs that stir up inspiration with ease. This particular model has a tremolo that adds to the vibe of the sound by pulsing in a way that is quite uncommon. All together, this Antares pushes the boundaries of what a boutique amp is typically capable of.

It is near impossible to sit down with this amp without using its reverb. Perhaps one of the most notable features of this model, the reverb has a “soak” to it that dwells for long durations after a note is struck. It is voiced in a way that makes the guitar’s signal and the reverb sound as one, as opposed to a dry signal being sent to a wet FX send. The tremolo on this amplifier bears the same level of quirkiness and originality. Even when turned all the way up, it is still an incredibly usable sound. Just like the built-in reverb, the tremolo blends into the sound very well.  The depth doesn’t necessarily go from 0-100, but instead oscillates in the way that breath does. It pairs especially well with the reverb to create a washed-out, shoegaze-like sound. It doesn’t take long to realize that this exact blend of effects is where this amp shines.

The control panel is relatively simple to operate with just a single tone control, tremolo depth/speed, reverb level and volume/master volume. Albeit simple, this amp offers a vast array of tones that would have any producer or musician jumping out of their socks to use!

Condition:

This amp exhibits no visible signs of wear and was kept in immaculate condition by its original owner. NEAR MINT condition.

• 18 Watt Combo (or 22 Watts with optional 6L6 tubes)
• Hand-Made Finger-Jointed Solid Pine Cabinet
• 12" Celestion G12H-75 Creamback Speaker
• Tube Tremolo with Custom Speed Sweep/Depth
• Hi / Lo Inputs
• 2 x 6V6 Power Tubes (Cathode Biased)
• 2 x 12AX7 Preamp Tubes
• 1 x 12DW7 Reverb Tube
• 5AR4 Rectifier Tube
• Carbon Comp Resistors
• Mallory, Sprague and JJ Caps
• 16.75" Tall  x  17" Wide  x  10" Deep
• 34 lbs
• Dedicated 2 Button Footswitch