wanted built in, while retaining the simplicity of
the circuit. Most of the designs that I found used
more than one tube to get reverb alone. It took some
inspiration from Ampeg and this old Gibson Skylark
I found, employing only three preamp tubes and the
usual two push-pull power tubes to get both reverb
and tremolo.
“It sounded ‘okay’, so I knew this was at least
possible. So, I made it my task to get three preamp
tubes to bring great reverb and tremolo in a cool
package. After a number of months, the Atomic
Space Tone was born.”
Through the course of wending his way toward
the circuits that would populate his creations –
partly gleaning inspiration from vintage classics and
old valve-audio gear, and partly divining his own
trial-and-error route toward superior tone – Swart
developed both a discernible ‘house style’ and an
innate feeling for what works in his builds.
Part of the thing is natural output-valve breakup,
rather than preamp-valve-generated sizzle. Another
is found in the simplicity of the circuit and the
veracity of the components. “We shoot for the best
of what a totally hand-wired, all-tube circuit should
be,” says Swart, “with zero transistors and point-to-point turret-board wiring.We are big believers in tube
rectification, too. It’s been 15 years and I’ve still yet
to make a single solid-state-rectified amplifier. Not to
say they can’t be done well, but there is something
about tube rectification that is part of what defines
our take and what we prefer sonically.
“We’ve always been about less-is-more,” he adds,
“keeping the circuit as simple as possible, avoiding
extra traces of wire, keeping a short signal path. You’ll
not notice our amps laden with tonnes of controls,
either. We usually prefer a simple tone cut vs tonnes
of EQ knobs. With careful selection of the best of the
older component types mixed with the new, you can
get a great result that is reliable and problem-free.”TEARING UP THE RULES
Quizzed about which components and build
techniques are most essential to the Swart sound,
the maker declares, simply, “It all matters! It’s just
some differences are small and hard to ascertain.
The art is in honing in on these very differences,
deducing what is the cause. There are so many
variables, including your own perception and bias.
Cabinets, speakers, transformers, on down to the
resistors and capacitors – all make a noticeable
difference when it comes to making something
stand out from the masses.
“And finding the right combination of parts is
not always easy,” Swart adds. “There’s a tonne of
trial and error. The heart of every tube amplifier
might just be the transformer, but you can break
rules within any of these old saws and sometimes
be surprised with the result. Sometimes a smaller
transformer is better, depending on your quest.
You have to open your mind up and wipe out
preconceived notions at times. Don’t be afraid
of tearing up the rules.”
And what’s in the pipeline for the amp maker
at the moment? As it happens, an indulgence of his
love of golden-age recording gear that’s both out of
the realm of amplification, yet entirely related to it.
“I wanted to make my own, custom, proprietary
take on a ribbon microphone,” Swart reveals. “I
wanted it to be affordable, something our customers
who had fallen with love with the amps could use
to mic our stuff, something that would add to that
recording of the Swart experience.
“I still have my studio and use so many types of
mics, but have become enamoured with ribbon mics.
And I wanted to see if I could make one from scratch,
all the way down to the hand-wound transformer.
These mics were just so cool and I’m really excited
about this thing. I’ve already used the prototype in
recording and it’s killer. We hope to have it available
to the public this fall.”Find out more about Michael Swart’s creations at
swartamps.com“WITH CAREFUL SELECTION OF THE
BEST OF THE OLDER COMPONENT
TYPES MIXED WITH THE NEW, YOU
CAN GET A GREAT RESULT THAT IS
RELIABLE AND PROBLEM-FREE”
ABOVE Michael Swart,
founder and head of North
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SHOP TALK
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