NAD - Soldano SLO-100 landed!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mr. Willy
  • Start date Start date
Rick Lee":1tjbqr6k said:
Hey, turn the gain to 6-7 and master to 7 and let me know if it sounds like you're standing on the beach at high tide with your guitar volume turned all the way down. Mike S. told me that was totally normal, but it just doesn't seem right to me.
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Just let your tech replace the input resistor from 68k to a (much) lower value. Should solve at least 50% of this hiss.
 
Tell me more about this. Does is take away any tone? There must be a tradeoff, no?
 
Single notes on an SLO sound great but I never really dug rhythm tones on an SLO, that's why for me it went packing.
 
Rick Lee":3mfha1k1 said:
Tell me more about this. Does is take away any tone? There must be a tradeoff, no?
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Most modern high gain amps use way less than 68k on their input tube. It affects two things:
a) the amp may catch radio stations easier (but the cure is simple, add a 100pF in parallel to the "1M to ground" resistor located at the input jack and
b) the amp may interact in a different way with (few) pedals run in front of the it.
 
Rick Lee":2k64zdzi said:
Tell me more about this. Does is take away any tone? There must be a tradeoff, no?
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I forgot what value I used in my clone. But I did lower it a bunch. Maybe 10K? I can't remember. It did lower the hiss a bit and I have't noticed any downsides. Oh, I also elevated the heaters.

EDIT: Just checked and I went with 33K for the input grid resistor.
 
Sounds good. Everytime I tried one I thought they sounded buzzy.
 
Sounds real damn nice. Although i consider myself a fan of Soldano amps (owned two of them), i actually got to A/B an SLO with my XTC. Prefer the XTC. For hardrock lead tones you can't go wrong with either. Yes the SLO cuts better but feel the XTC is a bit fatter. Each have their strengths. In any case you got a killer amp. Congrats!
 
FourT6and2":30kzwr14 said:
Rick Lee":30kzwr14 said:
Tell me more about this. Does is take away any tone? There must be a tradeoff, no?
Click to expand...

I forgot what value I used in my clone. But I did lower it a bunch. Maybe 10K? I can't remember. It did lower the hiss a bit and I have't noticed any downsides. Oh, I also elevated the heaters.

EDIT: Just checked and I went with 33K for the input grid resistor.
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I'd go even lower . . . 10k or so.

http://www.valvewizard.co.uk/gridstopper.html

Sorry for hijacking your thread, Reza. :D
 
I really don't understand Mike would continue to put the effects loop that he does in this amp that had been his flagship and a staple of so many hard rock tones. Mine has the loop bypass, but I am in agreement that the loop on these is a tone sucker big time. I love to have a delay in the loop,,,I need it for several tunes we do in our set. It's the main reason why my SLO has an 1/4" of dust on it right now.
So who do you guys recommend for getting the loop upgraded. I checked with Dave Friedman and he said he can do it, will just take a long long while. He is 'slammed'. Any recommendations on someone who can do this upgrade without holding onto my amp for 5 or 6 months ??
Great sounding clip btw! :rock:
 
That clip sounds great! How would you compare it to the 5153 50 watt?

Sounds like it can give the 5153 50 watt a run for its money.
 
ElectricVoodoo":39zjcuoq said:
That clip sounds great! How would you compare it to the 5153 50 watt?

Sounds like it can give the 5153 50 watt a run for its money.
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5153 50 is great! Made a wonderful door stop for my music room once I had an SLO! Then I sold it. Buyer said it was the best door stop he's ever owned. :rock:
 
All kidding aside, EVH loved the SLO. Soldano wouldn't give him a free one or 10, so he went to Peavey to clone one. The 5150 was born....and the II, and then the Fender EVH....you get the picture. They're all an attempt at an SLO tone. Of course, they don't get there. There's only one. SLO is all over VHs FUCK album.
 
duesentrieb":3rpwtts7 said:
FourT6and2":3rpwtts7 said:
Rick Lee":3rpwtts7 said:
Tell me more about this. Does is take away any tone? There must be a tradeoff, no?
Click to expand...

I forgot what value I used in my clone. But I did lower it a bunch. Maybe 10K? I can't remember. It did lower the hiss a bit and I have't noticed any downsides. Oh, I also elevated the heaters.

EDIT: Just checked and I went with 33K for the input grid resistor.
Click to expand...
I'd go even lower . . . 10k or so.

http://www.valvewizard.co.uk/gridstopper.html

Sorry for hijacking your thread, Reza. :D
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I did this too on your advice. It also makes the amp react better to volumechanges on the guitar.

My Cornfords even came with 100 K, took them out alltogether without any negative side effects.

Giga
 
Sounds awesome Reza! I would love to try a SLO someday. You are a killer player.
 
sounds great man! Nice and articulate. What fx were you using on the clean spacey tones?
 
LanierP":2atyab1s said:
I really don't understand Mike would continue to put the effects loop that he does in this amp that had been his flagship and a staple of so many hard rock tones. Mine has the loop bypass, but I am in agreement that the loop on these is a tone sucker big time. I love to have a delay in the loop,,,I need it for several tunes we do in our set. It's the main reason why my SLO has an 1/4" of dust on it right now.
So who do you guys recommend for getting the loop upgraded. I checked with Dave Friedman and he said he can do it, will just take a long long while. He is 'slammed'. Any recommendations on someone who can do this upgrade without holding onto my amp for 5 or 6 months ??
Great sounding clip btw! :rock:
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It's not that the loop sucks, it just wasn't made for pedals. I run a 2290 in mine and it sounds amazing. But if you're all about pedals then yeah mod it.
 
Shark Diver":hlkp4cip said:
LanierP":hlkp4cip said:
I really don't understand Mike would continue to put the effects loop that he does in this amp that had been his flagship and a staple of so many hard rock tones. Mine has the loop bypass, but I am in agreement that the loop on these is a tone sucker big time. I love to have a delay in the loop,,,I need it for several tunes we do in our set. It's the main reason why my SLO has an 1/4" of dust on it right now.
So who do you guys recommend for getting the loop upgraded. I checked with Dave Friedman and he said he can do it, will just take a long long while. He is 'slammed'. Any recommendations on someone who can do this upgrade without holding onto my amp for 5 or 6 months ??
Great sounding clip btw! :rock:
Click to expand...


It's not that the loop sucks, it just wasn't made for pedals. I run a 2290 in mine and it sounds amazing. But if you're all about pedals then yeah mod it.
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The SLO's loop is placed before the tone stack. Doesn't matter what you use—pedal, rack, whatever. For time-based effects, it will never sound as good as a loop placed after the tone stack and gain stages. This shouldn't be news to anybody. The SLO has been around for like 30 years now and this has been discussed a bajillion times. Will a 2290 sound better than a pedal? Yeah. But compare that to an SLO with a modified loop and I'm willing to bet you'll hear an additional improvement in the wet sound.

Even better yet, forget the loop altogether and run delay in the line out to another amp for a wet/dry setup. Time-based effects always sound better the farther down the chain they go. I'd put a delay unit between the amp and the speakers/cab if I could. Someone needs to invent a delay pedal with a built-in load device so it can go between amp and speaker!
 
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