by 
Mackie SWA1501 subwoofer
Another old school speaker that was the stuff of legends at a fantastic price. I’m a bass freak. I had one of these subwoofers under the desk in the studio for years. And I loved it. It just sat there purring away and giving me an endless supply of those low tones that I can’t imagine anyone would want to live without. I mean, life without bass would be meaningless, wouldn’t it? I don’t know, I’m not going to chance it.
This is a big subwoofer for home or small studio use; it’s really supposed to be for live sound. But, that’s just me. What can I say, I like bass.
We took these out to countless live shows and used them as monitor subwoofers for drumfill or DJs. Hundreds of drummers have played through that subwoofer – including some maniacs who always wanted more. And I gave it to them. Like the guy from Breakestra in 2006 (amazing drummer – and you should have seen the smile on his face when I turned the thing up.) But, try as they might, none of them have ever succeeded in destroying it. My Mackie SWA1501 took a serious pounding – and just kept on going strong.
One of these subwoofers is great, but a stack of two or three is even better… I remember being at a music festival one time and hearing an incredible sound system in the distance. The bass sounded awesome. I said to myself “I HAVE to find out what that is, right now” and marched off over there. It was the Space Cowboys rig at Burning Man if anyone remembers that. The Unimog! To my surprise, when I got there I was like “Ok, where are the subs?” – expecting some big stack. No. All they had was three of these SWA1501s truck-strapped together and flown about three feet off the ground.
When you strap them tightly together and couple them to a heavy mass object, you get an overall mechanical improvement that is not subtle. It subdues cabinet resonance, increases volume and improves transients. And raising them up off the ground gives the bass wave room to couple better with the air mass. You should have heard how good it sounded – I mean, really, it was serious! Way bigger and bolder and ruffer and tuffer than you would imagine possible from just three 1×15’s… I’ve listened to and worked with a lot of big sound systems in my time. And this was way better than it ought to have been. Great little subs and still worth picking up if you can find the old school “Made In Italy” ones. Most of them took an absolute beating but with a recone and a respray you are probably back in business! 🙂
