Noisy Fan in SWR working pro 400 bass head

#2
replacement would be a good idea. some fans have bushings some fans having bearings. some are real noisy some are not. then again its been around awhile. had a good life. technically still working but the bearings/ bushings are getting worn.

heat is a amps worse enemy. SWR had fairly decent heatsinks so it doesnt completly rely on the fan. but then its designed to have forced air cooling so fan in good shape is ideal and alot safer and should be addressed.

i would never recommend a half ass attempt at possibly removing the sticker and see if there is one exposed bushing under that sticker and then squirting in some lube. that of course is a horrible horrible thing to do lol.

yeah just replace the fan
 
#3
looks like 3 or 4 revisions for that amp. definitely looks like a Fender take over design. looks nothing like the usual Swr. looks like they added the fan later on. not sure. soon as i find the revision with the dam fan controller board. i could possible recommend a fan replacement. probably fairly typical fan.

Fender may or may not stock parts for it. doubtful. but worth a try.

not sure if you plan on replacing yourself. otherwise any decent local tech should be able to identify and replace a fan. should be 15 to 20 mins tops. 45 ish labor and then parts.

id definitely change it though with a fendarrr design lol
 
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#7
BogeyBass said:
heat is a amps worse enemy. SWR had fairly decent heatsinks so it doesnt completly rely on the fan...
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IME with several SWR amps I've owned, and/or borrowed to check out, their heatsinks are totally inadequate for the task, even with the built-in fans. I had to resort to an additional fan to ensure those amps did not get too hot.
 
#8
Jeff Scott said:
IME with several SWR amps I've owned, and/or borrowed to check out, their heatsinks are totally inadequate for the task, even with the built-in fans. I had to resort to an additional fan to ensure those amps did not get too hot.
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Oh yeah totally agree. After looking at the schematic i realized this was most likely a Fender Era SWR. And yes majority of good designs of this era were using the better Toshiba transistors. But yes technically the Safe operating area of those transistors is met with the design. But the number of output devices is absolutely minimal and completely relies on the forced air cooling to keep things safe. Looks exactly like alot of fender amps at the time.

Meaning in english. Definitely clean the heatsink from any dust. And replace the fan. Good news is its probably a fairly typical fan. And fan technology has improved. So plenty of " computer" type fans of the same size and voltage rating will work and most likely provide more CFM than the original fan.

I just dont know the size and voltage or if its a DC or AC fan. So i cant recommended a fan. Ill assume at the time it most likely has typical redundant speed control to reduce fan noise. Most likely a DC fan.

Dont get me wrong. id be more than happy to own this amp. and prefer it over many newer ones
 
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#9
When Fender too over SWR, Fender was faced with the prospect of taking a product line that had struggled for years with sales and reliability as well as not keeping abreast with changing safety regulations. All of the Fender (which was also identified by SWR - Corona, CA ) reworks addressed these issues, including making them UL60065 compliant. This required a redesign of transformers, cooling systems, failure mitigation, and just fixing all the niggling issues that had plagued these amps for years. I'm quite familiar with the amount of effort it took, and as a bit of interesting trivia you might recognize the name of the engineer responsible for much of the project... William Hughes... the same engineer who was responsible for developing the SVT. Few people realize how much he has contributed to the bass amp industry, including the Fender/Sunn 1200.

Regarding SWR parts, in general Fender no longer stocks any of the SWR parts, BUT sometimes there's a FMIC part number that is shared with other Fender products and if ordered as a Fender part it very well may be in stock.

The fan used is a 24VDC fan, as an educated guess, this fan would probably work well and track the controller ok: FFB0624VHE though I don't recall the Fender fan being anywhere near that thick.
 
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#10
For anyone following this thread, I have a question:

My background sound level is around 30 dB, my WorkingPro 400's fan ups this to around 60 dB. Assuming this info (Frequently Asked Questions : What is the combined noise level when two machines/noise sources that each measure 90 dBA individually are running simultaneously?) is correct and the FFB0624VHE's specs have the noise level at around 46 dB, is it reasonable to expect I could reduce the SWR's fan noise level by around 15 dB by replacing the existing fan?
 

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#11
No, the measurement method for the spec fan versus the fan in the chassis must be the same. Comparing your random measurement without knowing the distance and the effects of the chassis and static pressure to the anechoic measurements of the spec fan will result in a totally random comparison.
 
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