Should i buy a Bogner Helios 50 or a Soldano SLO 30?

[Lightning]

Soldano

 

[napalmdeath]

Helios. Splawn.

 

[Sixstringflannel]

If you go the Helios route be sure to check the bias. There’s a lot of tones in that amp. Understand the channel switching and if that is going to be an hindrance or non issue for your application. I have the 100 non eclipse and it’s a very cool amp. Hard nods to the Marshalls its taken its dna from but with that Bogner twist to it. I’m pretty firm in the hard rock/metal vein and it gets the job done there BUT I just got an Intellifex and that + Helios is all 70’s and 80’s inspiration 100%. No experience with the SLO but it gets high praise. If you prefer an extra preamp tube gainstage to Jose style diode clipping I’d also throw the Snorkler into the mix.

 

[CarlF]

If I had to choose between those two, I’d get the Bogner Snorkler

 

[Metlupass2]

I'll sell you my Soldano and you can play whatever genre of music you want!

 

[NoHassle]

I'm 63 years old and went deep down the boutique amp rabbit hole, and for me, nothing beats a good ole 2203/2204 with a SD-1

You hear Gary Moore playing rock and that should be enough to tell anyone what you're saying is 100% correct.

 

[CliffHydro]

If you go the Helios route be sure to check the bias.

Interesting. Why do you say that? What are you setting yours at?

 

[Sixstringflannel]

Interesting. Why do you say that? What are you setting yours at?

It seems the new ones ship on the cold side ~17-18ma 33% and mine was recently set from 45% to ~65% maybe a hair under. I did play with a few in between settings because @ilikehats was kind enough to adjust it for me while we figured out which bias gave the best stank face. I also changed the preamp tubes from jj12ax7’s to some higher gain 12ax7B’s. There’s an amalgamation of different tubes in there for my own personal preferences but v1/v2 adjustments where I starter were enough to have a perceivable impact for me. it’s not like it sounded bad, but it was one of those things where I just knew there was a bit more in there that I personally wanted. Not sure if the 50w is the same bias wise. I traded an SL67 MKI for the Helios 100 and it’s been everything I was hoping for out of a plexi/jcm800-ish amp. It did take me a while to understand the eq but was worth it. I enjoy tweaking tubes though. At the end of the day it just made me want to buy more Bogners.

This is much more than you asked for but hope it helps!