Similar to the SLO but...

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Variable said:
KSR Gemini or Colossus. Kyle started out building SLO clones and it shows in his amps. They're a little less hairy than a SLO, but still have that chunky goodness that makes your guitar sound huge. Kind of like if a SLO had more Mark series midrange and smoothness to my ears. A lot more versatile, too, with the modes on the Gemini.

Slaving my Gemini to my Axe 3 via a Fryette PS2, I can get it to sound very close to the SLO models in the Axe, both on the Crunch and the Lead modes.
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Absolutely. I had a Gemini and an Ares. Definitely SLO-esque. I think they sounded great.
 
FourT6and2 said:
Absolutely. I had a Gemini and an Ares. Definitely SLO-esque. I think they sounded great.
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I have had an Orthos and I should have an Ares in the next couple weeks. I had Kyle do the clean mod on it(I don't really use cleans so I'm not picky). I definitely can see the resemblance of the SLO lineage (5150, Dual rec, etc).

I've never played an actual SLO only profiles or modelers of it. And I know that's nowhere near the same. But I've always felt it's kind of like the old Marshall's. Like you go through life hearing how great a Plexi or 800's are then you play one and don't get it loud enough or boost it so it gives up the goods. Then you are walking away thinking "that sucks". Again I'm just saying that cause of not ever liking any representation of SLO. Maybe I need to try one in an actual room where I can crank them.

Having said that people always say that this component or that component is the key to the sound. Then the manufacturer loses the source and all the sudden Classictone can do the same magic the Deyoungs did. It's exactly like Crazynutz said it's a the sum of all the parts. Like any other recipe you can tweak to find the right blend to replicate the "fairy dust". I mean yeah there probably was a lot of benefit of that particular brand but who would stake their entire product line on one vendors component?

On my next build I really want to try FourT6and2's method of trying different components and values to find the right blend. I've been so busy lately I sold the last 2204 build I've done then I just finished a plexi that has classictone iron a few weeks ago. I haven't even bothered getting it up and running. I turned it on and everything powered up then I turned it off and set it to the side. Hopefully later this year I can sit down a tinker more.
 
ClintN667 said:
I have had an Orthos and I should have an Ares in the next couple weeks. I had Kyle do the clean mod on it(I don't really use cleans so I'm not picky). I definitely can see the resemblance of the SLO lineage (5150, Dual rec, etc).

I've never played an actual SLO only profiles or modelers of it. And I know that's nowhere near the same. But I've always felt it's kind of like the old Marshall's. Like you go through life hearing how great a Plexi or 800's are then you play one and don't get it loud enough or boost it so it gives up the goods. Then you are walking away thinking "that sucks". Again I'm just saying that cause of not ever liking any representation of SLO. Maybe I need to try one in an actual room where I can crank them.

Having said that people always say that this component or that component is the key to the sound. Then the manufacturer loses the source and all the sudden Classictone can do the same magic the Deyoungs did. It's exactly like Crazynutz said it's a the sum of all the parts. Like any other recipe you can tweak to find the right blend to replicate the "fairy dust". I mean yeah there probably was a lot of benefit of that particular brand but who would stake their entire product line on one vendors component?
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What people don't really understand is that a lot of the components of the SLO have changed over the years. The amp has been around longer than many component manufacturers' brands and product lines. Resistors, capacitors, and other passive parts have come and gone and have gone obsolete and yet... the SLO still sounds like an SLO. Even with different transformers. Let's not forget that Soldano and/or DeYoung at one point asked O'Netics to take over manufacturing. There's nothing magical about transformers. They are simply some wire wrapped around some iron. And any company can duplicate the specs of any other company's transformers if they have the recipe. O'Netics declined the opportunity to build the iron as a gentelman's/professional courtesy. The O'Netics iron I used in my build, and that many others use for clones, is top quality. It's not the exact same as the DeYoung, but that is by design.

Anyway... changing components here and there as part of a build is fun. But it's not going to drastically change the sound of the amp. It will change the tone some... but it's like the final seasoning on a dinner entree. It won't change the core recipe.
 
FourT6and2 said:
What people don't really understand is that a lot of the components of the SLO have changed over the years. The amp has been around longer than many component manufacturers' brands and product lines. Resistors, capacitors, and other passive parts have come and gone and have gone obsolete and yet... the SLO still sounds like an SLO. Even with different transformers. Let's not forget that Soldano and/or DeYoung at one point asked O'Netics to take over manufacturing. There's nothing magical about transformers. They are simply some wire wrapped around some iron. And any company can duplicate the specs of any other company's transformers if they have the recipe. O'Netics declined the opportunity to build the iron as a gentelman's/professional courtesy. The O'Netics iron I used in my build, and that many others use for clones, is top quality. It's not the exact same as the DeYoung, but that is by design.

Anyway... changing components here and there as part of a build is fun. But it's not going to drastically change the sound of the amp. It will change the tone some... but it's like the final seasoning on a dinner entree. It won't change the core recipe.
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I haven't experimented too much in my builds. What little bit I have, have been due to noticeable differences in ease of use or footprint not necessarily the sound.

Kyle Rhodes had mentioned building transformers at one point and I wish he would have. It would be interesting to see someone do their own. Daniel at Deadweald had been winding his own for his noise gate pedal. With Classictone gone it might be a smart move to build in house if possible.
 
panhead said:
Mike stated along time ago an SLO has more in common with a fender twin than a superlead
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I have a bridge over some swampland I'll sell anyone who believes that.

I don't know why this type of nonsense gets reposted when anyone who knows even the most rudimentary electronics knows it isn't true. (I have my doubts that Mike ever said anything remotely like this, as the man always comes off as pretty straight-forward, and the statement is obviously not true.)
 
FourT6and2 said:
What people don't really understand is that a lot of the components of the SLO have changed over the years. The amp has been around longer than many component manufacturers' brands and product lines. Resistors, capacitors, and other passive parts have come and gone and have gone obsolete and yet... the SLO still sounds like an SLO.
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Passive components have changed quite a lot in materials over the years, but mainly become less expensive, longer lived, and having tighter tolerances. In other words, have become just better all around. There are definitely some very slight sound differences in capacitor dielectric materials, but in the big scheme none of that is remotely close to simply switching a value out, and you can get all the same values now (and more) than you could in the 80's.

FourT6and2 said:
Anyway... changing components here and there as part of a build is fun. But it's not going to drastically change the sound of the amp. It will change the tone some... but it's like the final seasoning on a dinner entree. It won't change the core recipe.
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Correct. The actual schematic/component values are 95%+ of what it'll sound like. It's probably more like 99%. Most of what you pay with for more expensive components is durability and background noise. That last 1% can be chased and be fruitful or not.
 
rstites said:
Passive components have changed quite a lot in materials over the years, but mainly become less expensive, longer lived, and having tighter tolerances. In other words, have become just better all around. There are definitely some very slight sound differences in capacitor dielectric materials, but in the big scheme none of that is remotely close to simply switching a value out, and you can get all the same values now (and more) than you could in the 80's.



Correct. The actual schematic/component values are 95%+ of what it'll sound like. It's probably more like 99%. Most of what you pay with for more expensive components is durability and background noise. That last 1% can be chased and be fruitful or not.
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Yeah. We're saying the same thing :)
 
rstites said:
I have a bridge over some swampland I'll sell anyone who believes that.

I don't know why this type of nonsense gets reposted when anyone who knows even the most rudimentary electronics knows it isn't true. (I have my doubts that Mike ever said anything remotely like this, as the man always comes off as pretty straight-forward, and the statement is obviously not tru
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rstites said:
I have a bridge over some swampland I'll sell anyone who believes that.

I don't know why this type of nonsense gets reposted when anyone who knows even the most rudimentary electronics knows it isn't true. (I have my doubts that Mike ever said anything remotely like this, as the man always comes off as pretty straight-forward, and the statement is obviously not true.)
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I read it in a guitar mag in 89-90, probably because it has 6l6 variant 4 and an output transformer that wouldnt distort if its life depended on it.
 
VESmedic said:
If you want that sound as close as possible to the original, the jet city HDM100 is probably your ticket. I had one that was modded to SLO specs, Atleast the schematic ( of course there is more to the SLO than that, but it’s something). And it was 90-95 percent the same tone and vibe as the real thing, as I owned the real thing as well. Hearing both, for me it’s hard to justify the soldano, but I’m not a fan of the amp really as it is, so take that for what it’s worth. There’s nothing closer for actually getting that sound but on a budget. I may even like it more personally.

Similar vibe but tighter and overall better ( Atleast to me)??? 5153 all day.
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That is good to hear! lol

I just SLO modded my JCA100HDM last month, and I also moved the loop to after the tone stack, and changed it to instrument level with an aditional post-loop master on the back. The amp sounds great now! I have been using it a lot the last few weeks.
 
Shask said:
That is good to hear! lol

I just SLO modded my JCA100HDM last month, and I also moved the loop to after the tone stack, and changed it to instrument level with an aditional post-loop master on the back. The amp sounds great now! I have been using it a lot the last few weeks.
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Yea man, I mean for the price, it’s an absolute no brainer. If you like the tone of the SLO and don’t wanna spend a lot of cash, it’s by far the best no brainer option I think. If you are obsessed with the SLO tone and won’t sleep until you have it exactly, well, only the real thing will do I suppose.
 
Been mentioned already about the 5150's but what about the 6150+? (probably already implied by the 5150 though)
 
Any of the Soldano "lesser"amps, SL60 Series II, the Hot Rods, Avenger, Decatone, Jet City, Yamaha designed by amps, etc...
 
I realized we got off topic there for a bit. But my vote is definitely a KSR. Probably the Ares. You can get one used for a great price and they are sick, versatile amps.
 
paulyc said:
Any of the Soldano "lesser"amps, SL60 Series II, the Hot Rods, Avenger, Decatone, Jet City, Yamaha designed by amps, etc...
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The 2-channel HR's have the same preamp as the SLO, I believe to the component. They sound very similar too, perhaps a bit more Marshall-like even which isn't a bad thing. They're incredible amps that are built on par with most company's flagship amps. They get undervalued because of the SLO.

The single channel HR's are Mike's Marshall 2203 mods. It ended up being less expensive to have him build them from the ground up, rather than buy a Marshall and then pay him to do the mods. They are different, but not in a bad way.

I assume the Avenger is the above single channel HR's with some tweaks. I've never played one, but heard great things about them.
 
I have an SL60 which is like the precursor to the single channel HRs, I bought it cheap all jacked up and bought the C3 Amps SLO circuit boards and had a guy build me a single channel SLO inside it. Waiting to test it out now…
 
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