Anybody played a Brit-Tone SLO?

jchrisf

jchrisf

Well-known member
I'm curious if anyone has played or owned both a Brit-Tone SLO clone and a Soldano SLO and how they compare? Is Brit-Tone still making amps?
 
ClintN667 said:
I asked about amps from them. He said he isn't taking orders but will post them to reverb occasionally
Click to expand...
How much do they usually go for? I saw a used one for sale for $900. It had already been sold but wish I would have seen it first.
 
Here's a copy/paste from a TGP forum post asking about the Brit-tone stuff.

Bruce is local~ish to me and I've played several of his amps in my studio and on stage and they are all monsters. I've used a couple of his 100w SLO clones and a 50w slo clone and the 50 was just SUPERB on stage. It honestly is my favorite amp I've ever gigged with for a couple reasons. It's got tons of gain. No need to boost like my Jubilee and Nitro to get the sound and saturation I want. There's also basically unlimited headroom on the clean channel. It's big, loud and can be set with the preamp gain so that there's zero breakup but still very full and punchy.

Then there's the other reasons to consider it
  • Impeccable build quality. I've seen inside a couple real SLO's and the guts shots of the C3's and this is right there with them. Both Bruce and Mike claim the wiring affects the sound so adhering to the clean layout I guess is not just for looks.
  • Customization - Bruce is pretty open to new ideas and tweaks to the circuit. I bounced a few ideas off him for some prototype stuff like a built in solo boost, FX loop level control and a linear taper preamp gain control for the lead channel. That gain control seemed to be pretty well received because the typical SLO circuit lead channel preamp control goes from low gain to rip your face off in a hurry. The linear taper mod gives you WAY more control over the saturation so you can have less than what you'd typically get and then slowly increase from there until you're at full gain like the normal control would give you.
  • Lower wattage options. He can build it 25~100w depending on what you need. If his 25w "Quarter-Plex" that I played is anything to go by, a 25w SLO would be the real sounding deal just not as loud.
Eventually I'll own a 50w version. It sat so perfectly voiced in a live rock mix, had effortless cutting power for solos, a gorgeous clean channel and a great FX loop. They're not cheap by any stretch but nothing out of the ordinary vs any other hand-made amp and cheaper than something like a Friedman.

If Soldano's arent your thing, he does a lot of cool work with marshall circuits. his M4 is pretty badass. It's basically a low gain/clean plexi channel combined with the cascading gain "plexi about to catch on fire" lead channel sound. He's got another frankenstein amp called the SVO that has a 2 channel plexi type thing going on but with the power section of a SLO. It's a totally bizarre to hear the voicing of that classic marshall sound but with the punch and clarity of a SLO.

Right now, he's not taking orders but knowing him, is certainly open to discussing a build. He said that the pandemic has completely wrecked everyone's supply chains for parts so hopefully that will get back to normal for him soon.

Here's a vid I did of one of his 50 watters



WSuNm7.jpg


W7eq27.jpg
 
FastRedPonyCar said:
Here's a copy/paste from a TGP forum post asking about the Brit-tone stuff.

Bruce is local~ish to me and I've played several of his amps in my studio and on stage and they are all monsters. I've used a couple of his 100w SLO clones and a 50w slo clone and the 50 was just SUPERB on stage. It honestly is my favorite amp I've ever gigged with for a couple reasons. It's got tons of gain. No need to boost like my Jubilee and Nitro to get the sound and saturation I want. There's also basically unlimited headroom on the clean channel. It's big, loud and can be set with the preamp gain so that there's zero breakup but still very full and punchy.

Then there's the other reasons to consider it
  • Impeccable build quality. I've seen inside a couple real SLO's and the guts shots of the C3's and this is right there with them. Both Bruce and Mike claim the wiring affects the sound so adhering to the clean layout I guess is not just for looks.
  • Customization - Bruce is pretty open to new ideas and tweaks to the circuit. I bounced a few ideas off him for some prototype stuff like a built in solo boost, FX loop level control and a linear taper preamp gain control for the lead channel. That gain control seemed to be pretty well received because the typical SLO circuit lead channel preamp control goes from low gain to rip your face off in a hurry. The linear taper mod gives you WAY more control over the saturation so you can have less than what you'd typically get and then slowly increase from there until you're at full gain like the normal control would give you.
  • Lower wattage options. He can build it 25~100w depending on what you need. If his 25w "Quarter-Plex" that I played is anything to go by, a 25w SLO would be the real sounding deal just not as loud.
Eventually I'll own a 50w version. It sat so perfectly voiced in a live rock mix, had effortless cutting power for solos, a gorgeous clean channel and a great FX loop. They're not cheap by any stretch but nothing out of the ordinary vs any other hand-made amp and cheaper than something like a Friedman.

If Soldano's arent your thing, he does a lot of cool work with marshall circuits. his M4 is pretty badass. It's basically a low gain/clean plexi channel combined with the cascading gain "plexi about to catch on fire" lead channel sound. He's got another frankenstein amp called the SVO that has a 2 channel plexi type thing going on but with the power section of a SLO. It's a totally bizarre to hear the voicing of that classic marshall sound but with the punch and clarity of a SLO.

Right now, he's not taking orders but knowing him, is certainly open to discussing a build. He said that the pandemic has completely wrecked everyone's supply chains for parts so hopefully that will get back to normal for him soon.

Here's a vid I did of one of his 50 watters



WSuNm7.jpg


W7eq27.jpg
Click to expand...

Awesome Drew! So you never owned one? It is a beautiful build and a beautiful sounding amp. Any ballpark pricing on these if they come available again.. like what was he selling them for when he had some available?
 
Oh man, that 50w sounds awesome. I really don't need it, but I want it. I'd like to do my own build of this. Is SLOclone comparable?
 
I checked out your vids Fastredponycar and that got my interest piqued. I emailed him and said that he didnt take orders anymore. Honestly I was relieved cause I was g.a.s'n for one. I want one bad.

Do you know how much he charges for a 50 watt when he does have them?
 
SLOclones have been around for quite a while. They can look great and sound good but a lot of the magic of the real SLO is in the custom Deyoung transformers that only Soldano can get, or at least that's the legend.

That build looks clean and that was a great price at $900. I built a SLOclone about 12 years ago and recently sold it for $1400 and still kind of regret it.

No offense but that clip above is missing the SLO magic imo. It doesn't have that rich decadence to the saturation (lol esoteric much?). But then again, I practically dime the Presence and lower the Treble to make those mids juicy and forward.

IMG-0300.jpg
 
I had a real SLO and, while it had its moments, you had to have it louder than a Marshall to really get the squishy. I only got to do that once at a big outdoor gig. Otherwise, it sounded great, but didn't move me like my Marshalls do. That Brit-Tone sounds like it has potential. The new SLOs don't use DeYoung trannies anymore, so they are replaceable. Though I understand the new ones are built exactly as Mike wanted them. I'm sure something from Chris Merren would do just fine in a SLOclone.
 
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