Workingman’s 8004
T/O/P
OWNER’S MANUAL
SWR • CORONA, CA • USA
2 • WORKINGMAN’S 8004 T/O/P
INTRODUCTION
Congratulations on your purchase of the SWR Workingman’s 8004 T/O/P Bass Amplifier! You now own the
top-of-the-line amp in SWR’s Workingman’s Series of products for bassists who expect professional tone
and power at a price they can afford.
The story of the development of this particular amplifier is unique. Often in the past when creating new
models from the ground up, SWR has consulted with a wide variety of professional players, many of whom
have differing opinions but all of whom are considered experts in the field of bass tone. This amplifier was
done a little differently, as it was created by SWR’s engineering team (led by company founder Steve W.
Rabe) and guided by extensive consultation with one of the most important bassists of our time: Tower Of
Power’s Francis “Rocco” Prestia.
The goals were clear from the outset: simple, loud, fast response, all solid-state, and easy to use. We saw
early on that it would be a perfect addition to our Workingman’s Line, which we launched in the mid-’90s in
response to numerous requests from our customers to produce a line of products that would incorporate
the same great SWR sound, high reliability, and hand-made craftsmanship, at an overall lower price than
the Professional Line. Regardless of price, the Workingman’s Series offered no compromises of the essential SWR design and construction philosophy. Corners weren’t cut from a more elaborate model: rather,
each product’s design parameters were conceived from the ground up and the best available components
were selected for each application. As a result, it became and continues to be our highest-selling line of
products.
But working with Rocco gave us a chance to explore some different tone circuits and voicings in the preamp and EQ controls, and after six months of intensive development and several prototypes, the
Workingman’s 8004 T/O/P—that’s Tower Of Power—was born. While staying true to the basic elements of
tone that have made SWR famous, it literally sounds different than anything else we offer. The midrange is
less present, the bass response is more “pillowy,” and the solid-state circuitry is lightning-quick to the
touch of your fingers. With a brutish 750-watt mono-block power amp, a custom-made rack case for easy
housing and transportation, a wide variety of audio and speaker outputs, and circuits like the brand new
“Shape” control, we’re proud to say that it’s the new top-of-the-line piece in the Workingman’s line. Along
with the perfectly-matched Workingman’s Tower 8x10 speaker cabinet, you’ve got a rig that can do the job
anywhere—as Rocco has been demonstrating on stages around the world.
Please take the time to read your User Guide thoroughly and completely, so that you can realize the full
potential of your new Workingman’s 8004 T/O/P Bass Amplifier. Everyone at SWR thanks you for your purchase, and for believing in our continued efforts to bring the best possible products to bassists of all levels. Including Rocco’s level.
Sincerely,
SWR
WORKINGMAN’S 8004 T/O/P • 3
Note: Please take a moment to verify that the following items were included in your Workingman’s
8004 packaging: AC Cable, SWR Catalog.
WORKINGMAN’S 8004 T/O/P FRONT PANEL FEATURES
• Steel chassis enclosed in custom carpeted rack case (with stack-lock corners and side strap handle)
• Discrete solid-state front end
• XLR Mute Switch
• Hi and Low Sensitivity 1/4" Inputs
• Gain control with LED peak clipping indicator
• Shape control
• Bass control
• Lo-Mid control
• Mid control
• Hi-Mid control
• Treble control
• Effects Blend control
• Master Volume control
• Stereo Headphones Jack
• Speaker On/Off switch
• Illuminated Neon Power On/Off switch
WORKINGMAN’S 8004 T/O/P REAR PANEL FEATURES
• Balanced (XLR) Output jack
• Ground Lift Switch for XLR Output jack
• Line/Direct Switch for XLR Output jack
• Tuner Out jack
• Side-Chain Effects Loop (Effects Send and Effects Return 1/4" jacks)
• Unbalanced Line Out jack (pre-master)
• Preamp Out jack (post-master)
• Power Amp In jack
• Cooling Fan On/Off switch
• Two 1/4" Speaker Output jacks
• Two Speakon Output jacks
• Speaker Fuse (10 Amp Fast-Blo)
• Line Fuse
• A/C Receptacle
4 • WORKINGMAN’S 8004 T/O/P
ELECTRICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Note: All measurements were taken with a line voltage of 120VAC. All voltages and watts are
“RMS.” All measurements are taken with tone controls set flat, Shape control at minimum.
Power Ratings (minimum):
750 Watts @ 4 ohms
450 Watts @ 8 ohms
Power Bandwidth (frequency response):
(@ 850 watts RMS) -3dB @ 20 Hz and 40 kHz
Dimensions: 23 1/4" W x 7 1/2" H x 13 1/2" D
Weight: 37 lbs.
WORKINGMAN’S 8004 T/O/P – GETTING STARTED
Connecting Your Speaker Cabinets
The Workingman’s 8004 is a mono amplifier, which makes things fairly simple. Locate the “Speaker
Outputs” section on the rear of the amp. You will notice that there are four different speaker output jacks:
two 1/4" type and two Speakon type jacks. The Speakon jacks are preferable if your speaker cabinet is
equipped with Speakons as well; however, you can use any of the four available jacks to connect your
speaker(s) to the Workingman’s 8004.
Using One Speaker Cabinet
Using a speaker cable of 18 gauge or heavier (the heavier the cable, the lower the gauge), simply connect
any one of the Workingman’s 8004’s Speaker Output jacks to the input jacks of your speaker cabinet. If
your cabinet is a 4 ohm enclosure, the Workingman’s 8004 will deliver 750 watts into it. If your cabinet is
an 8 ohm enclosure, it will deliver 450 watts into it. This is a loud amplifier. Be sure to check the power
handling capabilities of your speaker cabinet before connection and operation.
Using Two Speaker Cabinets
Using a speaker cable of 18 gauge or heavier (the heavier the cable, the lower the gauge), simply connect
any of the Workingman’s 8004’s Speaker Output jacks to the input jacks of your two speaker cabinets.
(You can use one 1/4" and one Speakon Output jack each if you wish; however, it is always best to use
speaker cables with similar type ends.) If the cabinets are the same impedance, the same amount of
power will be sent to each enclosure. If the cabinets are different impedances, more power will flow to the
cabinet with the lower impedance. Since the Workingman’s 8004 is a mono amplifier and individual cabinet levels cannot be adjusted, it is recommended that you use cabinets of the same impedance when
using more than one cabinet. If you use two 8 ohm cabinets—the two-cabinet setup recommended by
SWR—the resulting “total” impedance will be 4 ohms, and the Workingman’s 8004 will deliver 750 watts
spread across both cabinets. Needless to say, in all cases, be sure to check the power handling capabilities and impedance of your speaker cabinet(s) before connection and operation.
Note: The minimum total impedance when operating the Workingman’s 8004 is 4 ohms. This means
you can safely use:
1) A single 8 ohm cabinet
2) A single 4 ohm cabinet
3) Two 8 ohm cabinets (total: 4 ohms)
More details are available in the “Speaker Outputs” section of this guide, and we strongly recommend that
you read the entire guide. However, this should be enough information to get you started.
WORKINGMAN’S 8004 T/O/P • 5
Turning The Unit On
Remove the AC cable from the accessor y pack and connect it from the amplifier to a standard wall outlet.
Make sure that the both the Gain and Master Volume controls are set to the minimum position. Locate the
power switch on the right side of the front panel and turn the amplifier on. The power switch should then
illuminate in red. Upon powering up, if the Speaker On/Off switch is set to the “On” position, don’t be surprised if you hear a small pop. This is absolutely normal. (Eliminating this “power on transient” would
require a component called a relay. SWR chose not to incorporate this type of component due to the fact
that relays degrade signal quality and often fail, causing the unit to have no output and requiring a trip to a
local service center. It can be eliminated by setting the Speaker On/Off switch to the “Off” position upon
powering up, after which point you can set the switch to “On” for operation.)
Getting Sound Out Of The Workingman’s 8004
Make sure that the Speaker On/Off switch is set to the “On” position. Plug your instrument into the
desired input jack (please refer to “Front Panel Features” for more detail). Turn your instrument’s volume
up to at least 75% of maximum and slowly adjust up the Gain control to the halfway point. Now turn up the
Master Volume control to an equal level or less (given that the amp can deliver such a large amount of
power, it would be wise to adjust the Master Volume control up slowly). You should now hear the sound of
your instrument amplified through the Workingman’s 8004 into your speaker cabinet(s).
FRONT PANEL FEATURES
XLR Mute Switch
This switch can be used to defeat the signal present at the Balanced (XLR) Output jack on the rear panel.
When set to the up (“XLR”) position, the signal will be present as normal. When set to the down (“MUTE”)
position, the signal will be defeated. This way you can choose to tune between songs during live performances without the house P.A. amplifying your harmonics, and you still have the option of hearing your signal onstage in your rig depending on the setting of the Speaker On/Off switch (located on the right side of
the front panel). The XLR Mute is also useful for preventing the “pop” sound that sometimes occurs when
you plug or unplug your bass—especially if the front-of-house or studio engineer has forgotten to bring the
faders down on the mixing board (which, as we all know, happens on occasion).
Input Jacks
Both input jacks accept a standard 1/4" phone plug and both inputs can be used at the same time. Since
the two inputs are totally independent, no loss in volume or tone will occur by using two instruments simultaneously. However, the main applicational use for the two separate input jacks is their difference in level,
as the Passive/Active input has over twice the gain of the Active input. In other words, it’s not necessarily
intended as a “submixer” for two instruments, but no harm will come from having two instruments plugged
in at once. Please read below for more details.
Passive/Active Input Jack
This input jack is designed to accommodate both “passive” instruments and most “active” instruments. A
passive instrument has no built-in preamp and does not use a batter y, while an active bass utilizes a battery-operated preamp for gain, tone controls, or both. The Passive/Active Input will work with all instruments
having a maximum output of less than 1 volt RMS. Some active pickups such as EMG, Bartolini, etc., use
batteries for operation and will work perfectly using this input. Instruments made by MTD, Sadowsky,
Modulus, etc., have active electronics that are suited for use in the Passive/Active input.
Generally speaking, try this input first. If you hear a small amount of distortion and the Preamp Clip LED is
not activated, try using the Active input jack. If the Active input does not correct any audible distortion,
check the battery in your bass.
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