Soldano people, help with my loop (i.e. do I need a MiniMix)

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cardinal

cardinal

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Hi guys,

Got a SLOr a few months back and love it. Since it's in a rack I thought I'd be fine to use rack units in the loop. Picked up a Chandler Stereo Digital Echo for delay because that and wah are about all I use.

Here's my thing: the repeats on the delay sound great, but the SLO isn't quite the same with the SDE in the loop. Not sure if tone is actually different or if it's just intangible things like "punch" that are changed, but I noticed it immediately.

Would running the SDE in something like the Suhr MiniMix give me the SLO back, or am I really stuck with w/d? I know I'm spoiled because my last rig was VH4S based and the loops were killer and I ran w/d by default.
 
I know the mini mix worked great for me with my CAA, but it has a great loop. I heard the SLOs FX loop were not that good. So maybe the mini mix may not work. Maybe a mod on the loop may help.
 
It might, if any device in the loop knocks down the signal at all it will be noticed. The slo loop is line level plus is a little quirky. Make sure whatever is in your loop is sending a signal back out that is just as hot as the one it received. If the minimix will let you run a line level signal and then just mix in your wet signal I would think that would work great.
 
Hmm, maybe the Lehle Parallel will work better since it has send and return level control, too. Though I'm not noticing any volume drops or anything like that. Just seems like some "oomph" is gone with the Chandler in the loop. I can run wet/dry but really, really want to avoid hauling the extra cabinet and power amp.
 
You know, it may be my lack of familiarity with the Chandler than anything else. It sounds cool, but it's not a pristine digital delay like I'm use to. So I dialed it back a bit, and the SLO came back, too.
 
I really can't understand why the loop on a $4000 amp isn't any good :confused: The Metro Loop is less than $100 and people seem to like it. Would it work for this?

Maybe SharkDiver or some Soldano expert can explain the situation ?
 
A couple of things about the SLO Loop. It is taken from the last gain stage of the amp before the tone stack which is pretty unusual but not unheard of. This creates 3 issues.

First the signal is attenuated to line level signal approx +4dB which is what most rack gear will accept. Most pedals are set up for -10dB to -15dB assuming a weak guitar signal is being fed into them. When these pedals are used in the loop, massive tone suckage occurs because the SLO overloads them.

So if you solve that issue, with rack gear or pedals that can handle the levels, the other issue is since the loop is pre-tone stack, you end up EQ-ing the effects as well, and they don't sound as pronounced. You usually really have to tweak the effects quite a bit. Almost all other amps have the loop post tone stack, this is good for several reasons but the biggest is the effects are not altered coming from the unit.

So many have asked why is the SLO loop this way???

Well the SLO loop actually is part of the preamp in how it works. The SLO loop is not a linear loop in that it does not color the tone, it colors it big time! The cathode follower send on the SLO has enough output to clip and compress the effects return stage. This adds sustain and smooths out the raspy clipping caused buy the cold clipping stage. The SLO's that have had the loop removed have less sustain, and gain and and are a little tighter.

A good effects loops job is to take the high voltage high impedance signal from the preamp, and change it to a low voltage low impedance signal (buffering) and then amplify it back up again on the return stage and feed it to the phase inverter.

If you want a killer SLO with a killer loop, add a Metro style loop after the tone stacks and leave e the stock loop in the amp but don;t use it. This would be a great solution to all SLO issues, but would kill re-sale thus the reason most won't do it.
 
I have the Mini Mix II. It works well with my SLO.
 
I'm fine with the sound of the stock loop; but it seems a touch "softer" with something in there. Does the MiniMix preserve the "punch" and feel of having nothing in the loop?

I played with it some more and I"m very happy with it again, even with the slightly softer feel. Basically I just need to run the amp up a bit louder than I use to and it punches like a ton of bricks again.
 
I've never had a problem with the loop. I have run a TC2290 in my SLO with a loop and it was great. I've run other preamps in the loop with a switching system - it worked great. It's been said a million times - the loop was made for professional rack gear. So, some pedals and gear won't work well. Nothing wrong with the loop. It was made with a specific purpose, and it does it well. It is not made to be a all encompassing loop. I'd be curious how many touring guitarist use a loop at all?
 
Shark Diver: the TC2290 is analog dry through, that may be why it works so well. The Chandler SDE seems to be a great unit (one of the reasons I bought it is because I read Lynch and Satriani used them at some point in the past), but I don't believe it's analog dry through, though the MiniMix would fix that.

Anyway, mountain out of a mole hill. I've got it now to where I'm extremely happy with it again. The Chandler SDE isn't the type of delay I'm use to (more "analog" sounding, not pristine digital), so less is more. Otherwise it seems to take over the SLO. I dialed it back and it's sounding and feeling great. I almost pulled the trigger on a Lehle Parallel L, but played for about an hour today and am completely satisfied.
 
Shark Diver":18yokduz said:
I've never had a problem with the loop. I have run a TC2290 in my SLO with a loop and it was great. I've run other preamps in the loop with a switching system - it worked great. It's been said a million times - the loop was made for professional rack gear. So, some pedals and gear won't work well. Nothing wrong with the loop. It was made with a specific purpose, and it does it well. It is not made to be a all encompassing loop. I'd be curious how many touring guitarist use a loop at all?
Click to expand...

^^^^ This (for people that don't get it) ^^^^
 
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