Rick Lee
Well-known member
It's good to have options. I wonder what the poor people are doing today.
marvcus
Well-known member
Haha - this is easy. ch1, ch2
D
Dfwxjer1
Member
Rick Lee
Well-known member
The next two weekends we're practicing in a large space for the first time in almost a year. Until now we've been doing near silent practice either virtually with Lutefish or using my GK 250ML and IEMs. Love my GK to pieces, but I'll finally get to bring the SLO and wind it up properly with the band. Gonna be glorious.
glpg80
Well-known member
That’s one thing that’s is indisputable about the SLO is that they really wake up at band volumes. I don’t know about the refreshed design that BAD did but the original designs had to be cranked up loud to sound their best. Every SLO that I’ve played loud the cabinets start to tap out well before the SLO is hitting its sweet spot especially when boosted.
I think it was @Racerxrated that said the real benefit of a SLO is that there is no bad sound to be found in them - every knob is usable from 0 to 10 as a tone shaping feature.
Rick Lee
Well-known member
What I know about running my SLO-30 is that it was "meh" when playing alone at home, but with the band it cut like a gamma knife. I lean toward less gain these days, so I think having the headroom of a 100 watter will be a little better with the band. Besides, and this is obviously the most important thing, it just looks cool.
L
Lightning
Well-known member
Soldano goes to 11 not 10
Uzi Nein Millimetah
Well-known member
I putzed around with an SLO30 in a guitar store and wasn't really wowed by it, but I have no doubt it comes alive with more volume.
I have the SLO pedal and it sounds awesome through my Mesas on the clean channel, even at moderate volume. I have yet to play the SLO 100 in anger, but I'm leaning toward the X88-IR anyway since I already have an awesome power amp (aye....but it's not purple.....
).
T
tjnx
Well-known member
popped up in the feed
D
Dfwxjer1
Member
Admittedly I have a BAD version, but one of my favorite aspects of the SLO is that it can still sound great at normal volumes. I have an 87 2555 that has to be really damn loud before it's in the sweet spot, while the SLO is more even across the board. I'm not sure how it compares to the previous Mike built SLOs so take it for what it's worth.
Rick Lee
Well-known member
I had a pre-BAD version and now the newest. It'd have to be next level cork sniffery to say one is better than the other. I don't think Soldanos are like old Marshalls, where some are beyond great and some are ok. Quality control has come a long way and I'm pretty sure Mike would not have let a substandard product out the door with his name on it. YMMV.
rstites
Well-known member
I agree on this. I suppose the oldest ones have aged components, but still, late 80's and early 90's higher end components are far beyond what early Fenders and Marshalls were constructed with. I suspect the variance in SLO's is pretty minimal.
I also never found them a problem to play at home levels. They sound great. They sound better cranked up, but then so does every good tube amplifier.
LPMojoGL
Well-known member
Found it while trying to make the SLO sound like my Marshall.
Dialed an SLO that way in the GC amproom that most pros hit when coming thru Dallas, when Robbie, the amproom man, said, "That's the way Mick Mars dials it in."
Guess I'm onto something.
LPMojoGL
Well-known member
I've found that the amps n pedals that sound best with a band, sound strident at home.
LPMojoGL
Well-known member
Not much of a difference between OG and BAD. BAD is my fav, mostly due to the effects loop.
G
GeoM21
Member
The soldano amps are indeed more scarce and more expensive compared to a lot of other amps in the market, relatives to the circuit or not. I think it should be taken into account.
Add to the fact that Soldano, especially for the slo did not easily or at all accept other people modding it or working on it if unauthorized and could void the lifetime warranty made them even less of a candidate to be used globally. The way he was building them, price point and time I don't even think he could support a worldwide market demand even if it was there. It took years to get to jet city level of affordability.
Let s face it...you have something cheaper, a peavey 5150 for example which is more compressed and gainy and you can buy a lot cheaper, repair anywhere etc...it is probably as good for van halen stuff (hey it was his signature amp!) and even more suited for death metal!!! Why not use that.
Soldano never created or marketed the slo as such. He made his amp how he liked it and used it. He wanted his own version of a jcm style channel one and the second channel able to give him a lead sound for soloing. And was mostly a rock player.
But does this mean it doesn't compare with those amps?
There are guys on YouTube like kyle bull, Nielsen, ola englund, euge vallevirta and the guy with channel name the grease den that have very, very high gain clips of soldano amplifiers. From rock to thrash to downright brutal.
For my taste, they get a really commendable heavy metal sound to downright amazing in some cases, recorded. KSE used them!!! Still it is a miced sound...not the same as in the room or loud in a band.
Judging it through a mic only scope and saying that the engl savage or what was mentioned killed it in comparison or whatever for me is ridiculous. I like engl miced sounds, I only played one up close which I hated, for a bit, in relatively low volume. Should I spread that they are terrible or great?!!! Based on a small sample?
But to read that a tube amp that is hi gain is almost obsolete because it was first invented in 1987 and has a tuby low end without a boost is downright wrong. Tube amps are, well not exactly new technology, especially at their core few things have actually evolved. For me I end up using the same tricks with most of them.
I haven't unfortunately been able to play an slo locally or own one. In Europe they are rare, in my country even more so.
I did happen to own and try a lot of variations of the circuit. I have/had an avenger, rectifier, framus, kettner, jet city 22 and tried the jet city 50 and whatnot.
If the soldano type of bass flub is "baked in" the circuit then what the hell is framus or mesa s excuse which are even less controlled? Through the same cabs mind you. In all fairness, maybe I should try them all side by side with the same tube set...same guitar, humidity and wall voltage regulated. I don't have that much time in my life!!!
The mesa for example seems easier for me to play lead on because of the looser low end but anyway. With some guitars and through specific cabs it can be tight enough to play metal on but not enjoyable. Throw a boost and bam, it will do everything. The joy is there! Easily. Why a soldano should be judged differently is beyond me. It also benefits from a boost!
I end up boosting all of them if I need a thrash tone and then I find the avenger the one to actually be the easier to get a sort of metallica and justice for all tone vs the others. It is the most cutting and precise and to be honest it seems to hold up better than most of them in loud volumes with the band.
All are variations more or less. I liked them more than the mesa triaxis I had as far as voicing goes for metal tones. Should I say that those styles of mark distortion is shittier because I didn't like them so much?
I've read all the mods thread on sloclone forums and tried a few. I like some and fourt6and2 just mentioned the granophyre as having the appropriate mods to make it a more modern metal iteration.
For example the 5153 red channel has been based to the 5152 lead channel, has shaved low end through smaller interstage coupling caps early, has a smaller cold clipping stage at 18k or less and has added a cathode follower tondrive the tonestack etc...most of these ideas are in the mods thread mentioned from way back and I don't think mike Soldano hasn't tried most of them anyway! He should know his circuit by now.
But...some of these mods may favor some scenarios more than other. Shaving bass early in the preamp seem to take away the "compatibity" with single coil strat style guitars and personally I like the sound with them through my soldano a lot. So I end up with an eq and boost before the input instead of messing with 2.2n instead of 22n cap changes or the first cathode bypass to 0.68 etc. Easier with pedals than having those on switches. I like the original voicing to have on demand.
I won't say that Soldano created the perfect amp circuit for ANY use on first try and everybody should lick his balls for all eternity but a few small changes can take it to different directions very easily. To say that because said changes were pretty much implemented if not "inspired" by that mod thread or invented and slapped on a cool looking modern faceplate and chassis makes the slo first edition circuit "a surpassed old design" that "doesn't compare" is simply, not correct for me.
What can be somewhat frustrating or even great depending on how you look at it is that from those amps I've owned or tried, the avenger happens to be the most transparent in all fronts. At least vs the other amps I used based on the soldano circuit.
That is not always an advantage. Whatever guitar and pickups I use shows up immediately as a new result. Sometimes stark differences occur and not always good. It can sound like a broken fuzz pedal to like the best hi gain distortion I've managed to get from an amp, vicious and big and tight.
It is also affected by the cab you connect it to, even the ohm setting. Depending on the guitar and pedals I choose to use I end up using 16 ohms or even connecting two cabs (1x12 and 4x12, same speakers) just to use its 8ohm mode. It does change how the amp sounds. Tube rolling is also said to affect them a lot but it is something I am not even in the mood of trying just because I like how it sounds right now. From all the amps it is the one that will expose my playing the most, reward it or punish me for my mistakes st the same time. Again, not always a good thing and ok not the end all attribute, ss amps can do that too in an even more clinical fashion.
In the end Soldano can and should be credited for creating the blueprint for a lot of the amps people seem to enjoy today for various uses... Copying is the most sincere form of flattery and to put it mildly a lot of amp makers well, did just that. They would not do it if the base engine wasn't capable no matter how they tuned it in the end.
Add to the fact that Soldano, especially for the slo did not easily or at all accept other people modding it or working on it if unauthorized and could void the lifetime warranty made them even less of a candidate to be used globally. The way he was building them, price point and time I don't even think he could support a worldwide market demand even if it was there. It took years to get to jet city level of affordability.
Let s face it...you have something cheaper, a peavey 5150 for example which is more compressed and gainy and you can buy a lot cheaper, repair anywhere etc...it is probably as good for van halen stuff (hey it was his signature amp!) and even more suited for death metal!!! Why not use that.
Soldano never created or marketed the slo as such. He made his amp how he liked it and used it. He wanted his own version of a jcm style channel one and the second channel able to give him a lead sound for soloing. And was mostly a rock player.
But does this mean it doesn't compare with those amps?
There are guys on YouTube like kyle bull, Nielsen, ola englund, euge vallevirta and the guy with channel name the grease den that have very, very high gain clips of soldano amplifiers. From rock to thrash to downright brutal.
For my taste, they get a really commendable heavy metal sound to downright amazing in some cases, recorded. KSE used them!!! Still it is a miced sound...not the same as in the room or loud in a band.
Judging it through a mic only scope and saying that the engl savage or what was mentioned killed it in comparison or whatever for me is ridiculous. I like engl miced sounds, I only played one up close which I hated, for a bit, in relatively low volume. Should I spread that they are terrible or great?!!! Based on a small sample?
But to read that a tube amp that is hi gain is almost obsolete because it was first invented in 1987 and has a tuby low end without a boost is downright wrong. Tube amps are, well not exactly new technology, especially at their core few things have actually evolved. For me I end up using the same tricks with most of them.
I haven't unfortunately been able to play an slo locally or own one. In Europe they are rare, in my country even more so.
I did happen to own and try a lot of variations of the circuit. I have/had an avenger, rectifier, framus, kettner, jet city 22 and tried the jet city 50 and whatnot.
If the soldano type of bass flub is "baked in" the circuit then what the hell is framus or mesa s excuse which are even less controlled? Through the same cabs mind you. In all fairness, maybe I should try them all side by side with the same tube set...same guitar, humidity and wall voltage regulated. I don't have that much time in my life!!!
The mesa for example seems easier for me to play lead on because of the looser low end but anyway. With some guitars and through specific cabs it can be tight enough to play metal on but not enjoyable. Throw a boost and bam, it will do everything. The joy is there! Easily. Why a soldano should be judged differently is beyond me. It also benefits from a boost!
I end up boosting all of them if I need a thrash tone and then I find the avenger the one to actually be the easier to get a sort of metallica and justice for all tone vs the others. It is the most cutting and precise and to be honest it seems to hold up better than most of them in loud volumes with the band.
All are variations more or less. I liked them more than the mesa triaxis I had as far as voicing goes for metal tones. Should I say that those styles of mark distortion is shittier because I didn't like them so much?
I've read all the mods thread on sloclone forums and tried a few. I like some and fourt6and2 just mentioned the granophyre as having the appropriate mods to make it a more modern metal iteration.
For example the 5153 red channel has been based to the 5152 lead channel, has shaved low end through smaller interstage coupling caps early, has a smaller cold clipping stage at 18k or less and has added a cathode follower tondrive the tonestack etc...most of these ideas are in the mods thread mentioned from way back and I don't think mike Soldano hasn't tried most of them anyway! He should know his circuit by now.
But...some of these mods may favor some scenarios more than other. Shaving bass early in the preamp seem to take away the "compatibity" with single coil strat style guitars and personally I like the sound with them through my soldano a lot. So I end up with an eq and boost before the input instead of messing with 2.2n instead of 22n cap changes or the first cathode bypass to 0.68 etc. Easier with pedals than having those on switches. I like the original voicing to have on demand.
I won't say that Soldano created the perfect amp circuit for ANY use on first try and everybody should lick his balls for all eternity but a few small changes can take it to different directions very easily. To say that because said changes were pretty much implemented if not "inspired" by that mod thread or invented and slapped on a cool looking modern faceplate and chassis makes the slo first edition circuit "a surpassed old design" that "doesn't compare" is simply, not correct for me.
What can be somewhat frustrating or even great depending on how you look at it is that from those amps I've owned or tried, the avenger happens to be the most transparent in all fronts. At least vs the other amps I used based on the soldano circuit.
That is not always an advantage. Whatever guitar and pickups I use shows up immediately as a new result. Sometimes stark differences occur and not always good. It can sound like a broken fuzz pedal to like the best hi gain distortion I've managed to get from an amp, vicious and big and tight.
It is also affected by the cab you connect it to, even the ohm setting. Depending on the guitar and pedals I choose to use I end up using 16 ohms or even connecting two cabs (1x12 and 4x12, same speakers) just to use its 8ohm mode. It does change how the amp sounds. Tube rolling is also said to affect them a lot but it is something I am not even in the mood of trying just because I like how it sounds right now. From all the amps it is the one that will expose my playing the most, reward it or punish me for my mistakes st the same time. Again, not always a good thing and ok not the end all attribute, ss amps can do that too in an even more clinical fashion.
In the end Soldano can and should be credited for creating the blueprint for a lot of the amps people seem to enjoy today for various uses... Copying is the most sincere form of flattery and to put it mildly a lot of amp makers well, did just that. They would not do it if the base engine wasn't capable no matter how they tuned it in the end.
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