Abandoning my dream amp. Am I crazy?

[Rackman]

From your sig, it appears that you already have the Synergy SLO. I would stick with that and use the money for something else. I didn't love the SLO30 that I had, but I do love the Synergy SLO and SLOII.

Yes, they are really good. My SLOII/LXII (or Hammer 320 but it's a heavy beast) rig is easier to get good tones out of than any other SLO-like I've ever used.

I will say though that one of my synergy 1u docks was a lemon. The other one and the warranty replacement have been 100%.

 

[the rossness]

The answer to all questions is

From your sig, it appears that you already have the Synergy SLO. I would stick with that and use the money for something else. I didn't love the SLO30 that I had, but I do love the Synergy SLO and SLOII.

TBH, I’ve been struggling with my Synergy SLO. It has these high mids which I can’t quite dial out, and it lacks the growly low-mids of an actual SLO amp. I’ve tried to EQ it every way from sunday. I tried it with an EQ in the loop. With the power sections from my old 5153 50 watt/ Laney Ironheart 60/ Splawn Competition which was biased WAY TOO HOT for the SLO/ with my Fryette PS100- but no luck.

On a side note- I’ve also tried the Astro 20 a few times and haven’t liked it.

 

[harddriver]

I thought you might find this interesting...

 

[SoooRad]

Mostly going by clips.

However, there’s a shop nearby with the SLO 30 combo, but I can only play it on like .5 on the volume in the shop.

I also played a Mezzabarba Skill 30 locally too. That one at least, I was able to play at a reasonable volume. And dare I say it, but I liked it more than the SLO 30 for those heavy/ thick tones (especially at a lower volume). Fwiw, the SLO felt a little more touch responsive and played more like a blues amp that could be used for high gain (at least that’s how I remember it)

That said, I’m not in love with the crunch settings on either amp.

If you think you're willing to go for the thing, I'd go in and crank the amp to whatever volume you like. For something that expensive if the shops want to make sales they have to be willing to let customers check the gear out. It wouldn't hurt to let them know, if they are unwilling then you know where to not spend your money in the future. Its always tough because what you get in your hands is never what you think you're hearing on a record. A friend of mine who has since passed thought SLOs were God's gift to the earth because of the lead sound on Wicked Sensation, come to find out that was mostly a Plexi and a boost pedal.

 

[7704A]

Its always tough because what you get in your hands is never what you think you're hearing on a record.

Even when it is, things seem to be different when you're actually playing it yourself. Thought I didn't like Marshalls until I played one in person through EVs.

 

[SoooRad]

Even when it is, things seem to be different when you're actually playing it yourself. Thought I didn't like Marshalls until I played one in person through EVs.

100% We had a little tone fest yesterday and its always cool to hear a guitar be passed around to a few people plugged into the same rig/same settings and hear how different the sound is. We had cabs with different speakers point in opposite directions so you could walk to one side of the room and the other to hear what we liked more.

The flip side to this of course is, you don't know if you don't know. So you could check it out just for the hell of it. At least in this day and age, if you buy new, returns are easy and crazy common.

 

[the rossness]

I thought you might find this interesting...

I’ve watched that video about a dozen times now. Euge is a killer player! I got a few of his albums after finding his youtube channel. He’s got a song called Uncle Joe off his 2nd solo album. Cool song! Anyways…

As far as I can tell, The SLO has a better clean channel. Tons of bloomy notes. The 5150 wins for the green channel in crunch mode. Head to head, The SLO is that classic thick lead sound and the feel is better than a 5150. Then again, the Peavey is no slouch. Its not quite as thick, but if yo dial up the mids, it almost gets there. And If I ever want to go full-on metal…

 

[marvcus]

Will you have remorse if you DONT get it?

You can always flip it. But if you don’t want the hassle, try starting with the SLO pedal in front of your 5150

 

[Fusionbear]

I've owned OG SLO's three times and I love them as lead only amps. For that one sound, they excel. Everything else on that amp sounds mediocre at best. If I had the ability to have a ABC system with three different amps like Eric Johnson, I could see myself wanting one. But, it's just too much hassle... realistically, for me, there are more reasonable choices...

 

[Techdeth]

out of your list vh4 is by far the amp to go with . By far

 

[harddriver]

I’ve watched that video about a dozen times now. Euge is a killer player! I got a few of his albums after finding his youtube channel. He’s got a song called Uncle Joe off his 2nd solo album. Cool song! Anyways…

As far as I can tell, The SLO has a better clean channel. Tons of bloomy notes. The 5150 wins for the green channel in crunch mode. Head to head, The SLO is that classic thick lead sound and the feel is better than a 5150. Then again, the Peavey is no slouch. Its not quite as thick, but if yo dial up the mids, it almost gets there. And If I ever want to go full-on metal…

If you are not liking the Synergy SLO modules maybe your tastes are indeed changing even though the Synergy stuff does not have the power amp section exactly like an SLO. You would almost have to find a way to play one in person to make the final decision to commit to a purchase like that. That's alot of money to throw down without being exactly sure if you are going to love it or not... so I fully empathize with your situation.

I wanted a very specific Cameron HG Jose mod so much that I reverse engineered it from pics and built it, even collected identical components. It turned out great in every way but now I seem to like my plexi's and boosted 2203's just as much. It is cool to finally hear what you have built up in your mind over the years.

This may not be practical but maybe find an SLO at a GC if possible where you can spend some time with it turned up and really give one a listen????

 

[tallcoolone]

I get the wanting one “just because it’s an SLO100” because that’s exactly why I bought mine—I had lusted over the damn amp my whole life.

That being said a 5150 (Peavey/EVH50/EVH100) and/or a Mesa Rec are nothing like an SLO100–those clips are lying

 

[tallcoolone]

I find the SLO great *in theory* but in practice the layout is not conducive to playing gigs with one un-augmented

Why? Shared eq? I will say the past few gigs I’ve grabbed the XTC over the Soldano

 

[Rackman]

Why? Shared eq? I will say the past few gigs I’ve grabbed the XTC over the Soldano

Shared EQ is a minor issue. But the inability to have clean, rhythm, and lead sounds is a bigger issue. In the studio it's no problem but live it's a bigger deal. And yes you can use pedals, but there's something inefficient about getting your distortion from diodes when you just paid for a SLO.

The Synergy module is very convenient. So it the X88IR. Right now I think I prefer the sound of the Synergy, although both are totally workable.

 

[rstites]

Even when it is, things seem to be different when you're actually playing it yourself. Thought I didn't like Marshalls until I played one in person through EVs.

Even with classic Marshalls, they sound much better in the mix with a full band than by themselves, at least in my experience. Sometimes, they're a bit shrill and too much presence (high mids) when isolated, but set perfectly in the mix.

Really, the SLO is a lot like that in it's own way. It sounds great on its own, but it's the mix where it really comes alive. It just has the huge bonus of having a lead channel on top of the killer sound.

 

[rstites]

Shared EQ is a minor issue. But the inability to have clean, rhythm, and lead sounds is a bigger issue. In the studio it's no problem but live it's a bigger deal. And yes you can use pedals, but there's something inefficient about getting your distortion from diodes when you just paid for a SLO.

The SLO handles clean-to-crunch very easily with volume change on the guitar in my experience. It's like a classic Marshall in that sense in that it's mostly about the player controlling it for live use. Really, it works best when played like a classic Marshall, with the bonus of having a dedicated lead channel.

In the studio, I'd just select different amps for different tones as needed. The SLO really is in it's element live. I'll grant though that it's not for those who want to channel switch between tones. It's more for the player who sets on the volume control the whole time and plays with lots of dynamics. (I use my MKIII's much the same way, though they've got a hundred more switches on them.)

I also don't mind boosting with a pedal though. With the SLO I don't really need it, but with Marshalls I did. No big deal. If it sounds good, it sounds good. I'm not a purist about it.

 

[tjnx]

Take 1k of the saved $$ and make a trip to Nashville and try out as many amps as possible. You can always wait a bit and save another 1k if you want to buy new or get a used one but I think some perspective would be worth it.

I finally got to play a slo 100 with cab and it didn't blow me away at first. There was kind of a slow creep until I got it and now its on the list of things to get. I really like it but both it and the 30 need some volume and some space for the sound to develop. I would budget for an appropriate cab too.

I always wanted one but now I know why I want one. It feels different under the fingers than a 5150 and does its own thing. Its ok to both try one and like it or fall in love with something else.

 

[marvcus]

We all know all roads lead back to Marshall and the predictable pedal and mod friendly JCM800 so just save yourself the hassle and come back to the chosen one.

This is such an astute comment.

Funny, I remember in the Peavey Monitor magazine when the Wolfgang came out around 1995-6, it talked about the history of working with EVH. James Brown went to 5150 and Ed had an SLO100 slaved into a Marshall power section and said “thats what you have to beat” to James.

So, it seems to me to get a Marshall as the base and when you want a different flavor, get the SLO pedal or whatever and do what EVH did.

 

[Rackman]

The SLO handles clean-to-crunch very easily with volume change on the guitar in my experience.

Tonally this may be true, but the 10-15dB volume change is a bitch from a practical perspective.

Plus there's a difference between "rock cleans" and "cleans" and the two shouldn't be confused.

Luckily there are solutions that do not have the same problems the SLO does in this respect. Including some good ones done by Soldano.

 

[tallcoolone]

Shared EQ is a minor issue. But the inability to have clean, rhythm, and lead sounds is a bigger issue. In the studio it's no problem but live it's a bigger deal.

Meh, I never use three channels on an amp at a gig. Usually clean (or kinda clean), rhythm and then a boost or EQ for leads. With the SLO I tend to roll down my guitar vol for rhythm just because of what you said--seems a shame to use a dirt box with an SLO100. It'd def a lot easier than doing a gig with just a 2204