NAD: BAD SLO100 & Cab Question

Bad.Seed

Bad.Seed

Well-known member
So, after 10 years of gear buying, selling, flipping and trading, I finally got a damn SLO100.

After playing my Avenger 100 and quite honestly, my Jet City JCA50H a good bit recently, coupled with the fact that Mezzabarba is sending me their amps to demo in the near future, I started getting the itch to finally track down an SLO.

I've always been curious as most of my favorite tones come from amps that were heavily inspired by the Soldano. I've always been a little nervous I wouldn't like it because the amp is typically not described as tight/fast and that's a big factor for me in bonding with an amp.

I also knew I wanted a BAD version, just because I wanted the depth mod installed and wanted all the components to be fresh and not worry about 30 years worth of aging if I bought an older one.

So anyways, here it is. So far, I like it a good bit. The low end could be tighter, and I feel the depth frequency is in kind of a weird spot, but tonally, wow. It just has this awesome harmonic content, especially in the upper mids that just makes it sound like it is sparkling, especially when playing big chords. There is also a good bit more gain on tap than I expected, and the brightness was much easier to control than I had read.

My question on cabs is: has anyone tried the new BAD made Soldano cabinets? The 212 looks really interesting to me, being oversized and it also has the Friedman style port on the back. Thought about grabbing one but wanted to see if there are any opinions first.

EDIT: Playthrough is live:



Pics to prove it happened


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That is a great NAD! Congrats and what an awesome wall of sound you have there! Well done! :cool:
 
I’ve owned 3 SLOs and have played a BAD version. The new BAD version is 95% there which is cool and great going forward but the OG does sound better. Depends on how much that 5% matters to you. I’d have no problem buying a new one. But if it’s a choice the original wins.
SLOs shine through Marshall flavored cabs imo. Hated the Mesa V30 cab I had. Amps that have lots of upper mids (Marshall, SLO, Wizards) typically jive best with a Greenback or G12 65 cab or similar. The depth mod on an SLO only helps at low volumes; with the master at 2 or more I didn’t notice it at all on mine.
 
Dealt with and bought some stuff (not Soldano) from BAD.
Top shelf quality and service. No a single negative thing to say.

Great guy to deal with here:

Bladimir Quinteros
Boutique Amps Distribution
3383 Gage Ave , Huntington Park , CA 90255
phone 323-277-4100 ext 104

blad@boutiqueampsdistribution.com
 
Congrats. Cant speak on the BAD cab but I can say as someone who was thoroughly let down by the SLO the cab/speaker choice for that amp makes a HUGE difference.
 
Congrats on the amp!
SLO is an acquired taste, but once you get used to it, it's one of best.
Crunch channel is much like a Marshall 2203. Set it for light ACDC crunch, roll back guitar volume for cleans, hit with a boost for thrash. Tons of pros have used this channel for everything.
Lead channel is one of my fav for solos. Not so much of a chug channel, but a great singing solo sound.
I initially struggled with the eq.
I found pulling back the treble to like 3.5, mids around 5.5, bass at 7, presence to taste was a happy spot.
I much preferred a Mesa 2x12 or Bogner OS2x12 with 2 v30s or a v30/H75 mix to any Soldano cab.
 
A Horizon Precision drive with the gain off but the tightness setting on the second notch is how I run my SLO and it's very tight with no flub on the low end whatsoever and I am running it thru various Friedman/ Mesa/ Soldano cabs with great results.
 
Congratulations!! Nice score. Can’t speak for the cab, but I got the new SLO as soon as I could find one in stock somewhere last year. Love it, just a great amp.
 
Congrats! I had an '88 or '89 SLO long time ago.

Recently have been tinkering with the AFXIII model of the SLO and wondering if the amp really sounds this good? Haha. Kicking myself for selling that amp for a ton of reasons.
 
The absolute most overrated amp for metal I’ve ever owned, by far. Terrible low end, bloated mids, the saturation was all wrong... huge huge disappointment. I’m sure someone will come in and say it’s not really a metal amp, and I get it. I honestly am not sure I even liked it that much for leads... but, instead of lying to myself about how much I liked my 4K dollar amp, I got rid of it, and don’t miss it a bit. Huge nostalgia buzzkill.
 
VESmedic said:
The absolute most overrated amp for metal I’ve ever owned, by far. Terrible low end, bloated mids, the saturation was all wrong... huge huge disappointment. I’m sure someone will come in and say it’s not really a metal amp, and I get it. I honestly am not sure I even liked it that much for leads... but, instead of lying to myself about how much I liked my 4K dollar amp, I got rid of it, and don’t miss it a bit. Huge nostalgia buzzkill.
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Eddie Van Halen, Gary Moore, George Lynch, Warren Dimartini, Vivian Campbell, Steve Vai , Warren Haynes , Jimmy Page, and Clapton ETC ETC... All have used the SLO with killer results so too bad it didn't work for you... Killer , articulate singing sustain lead tone is one of the things always mentioned about the SLO...
 
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Some of the best metal bands I’ve heard played through Valvestates, and they killed it. Heard several death metal bands using JCM900s, and they sounded great for the music they were playing. I wouldn’t associate great tone with metal tone. Turn up the brutz and chugga chugga. The SLO is more of a rock amp than a metal amp anyway. Its tone is more “brown” and sophisticated, imho, than just doing the brutz.
 
Mr. Willy said:
Some of the best metal bands I’ve heard played through Valvestates, and they killed it. Heard several death metal bands using JCM900s, and they sounded great for the music they were playing. I wouldn’t associate great tone with metal tone. Turn up the brutz and chugga chugga. The SLO is more of a rock amp than a metal amp anyway. Its tone is more “brown” and sophisticated, imho, than just doing the brutz.
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Your tone association of "great" and "metal" is purely your perspective on the matter. But to your other point, the player and their ability to play as well as properly set up their gear goes a lot further than the actual gear used, so it's no surprise certain bands can make less respected amps sound great.
 
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