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Who here owns a Soldano SLO100?
~How do you like it?
~Whats the tone like?
~Any gripes or complaints?
~What are it's strengths/weaknesses?Just curious... Im always on the lookout for my future super amp.


Originally Posted by B2DWho here owns a Soldano SLO100?
~How do you like it?
~Whats the tone like?
~Any gripes or complaints?
~What are it's strengths/weaknesses?

Just curious... Im always on the lookout for my future super amp.

Have owned two of them....

1. Loved them both.

2. The tone depends on the guitar. It is an articulate, clean gain that is unlike other high-gain amps. You can vary the timbre with the quot;presencequot; control or vis-a-vis their mods from the custom shop. Mine were all standard. If you want an example of tone listen to the following:

A. quot;Pleasquot; by Widespread Panic on their quot;Everydayquot; album -Dually Red Lace Sensor in a Tele
B. quot;Badgequot; by Eric Clapton on the quot;24 Nightsquot; album -Gold Lace Sensor in Clapton Strat
C. quot;Mother Earthquot; by Warren Haynes on his self titled Gov't Mule album -Pearly Gates in a '59 Reissue
D. quot;End of the Linequot; by ****ey Betts on quot;An Evening with the ABB set Iquot;. -Real PAF in ****ey's '57 Goldtop

3. Gripes? Very loud amps...they are meant to be run on 5-6 to get their maximum potential of tone. Listening to them at 1.5 doesn't do a lot for you and you will be disappointed if buy one and bring it home. I know I was when I first plugged it in at that level.

4. Strengths?
-Industrial grade parts, circuitry (sp?) and tone. The amps sounds great with just about every guitar and can take a beating on the road. Look at the people who have toured with them....Clapton, Warren Haynes, ****ey Betts et al.

5. Weaknesses? The tonal character doesn't truly come out until you get to 5-6 on the volume knob (using 4x5881 power tubes). That aren't many venues where you can do that...it is hard to that at home, too. That is why I had to sell mine. Also, depending on how quot;roundquot; you want the tone, you may need to swap out the power tubes to KT66's. The 5881's are not quite as glassy and round. Lastly, the shared EQ on both channels of the SLO is kind of a bummer, but if you are buying the SLO then you are probably just going to use it for your lead tone, anyway. The cleans (which are good) may be a sacrifice.

Anyway, they are great amps, but you should be cognizant that the amps needs to be run at full-blast to get maximum tone. I can assure you that 50W from an SLO-100 is really f-ing loud.

Call me if you want to talk about it in greater detail. If you e-mail me, I'll provide my work number.

DLM

I've got a Yamaha T-50, which is very similar to the SLO circuit, but obviously it doesn't sound quite like a real SLO because of the transformers and lack of a choke (among other things). The Yamaha's do have independent EQ's. While the construction is not as good as the SLO, it's miles ahead of Marshall current production (I'm not talking about the reissues of the PTP's). Also, Soldano still supports those amps, and they will mod it. I got mine for about $400 and I like it a whole lot better than my Bogner Shiva.

If B2D won't mind me asking a question as well: How does it compare to the HR50( )? I can get one for a reasonably good price, but I'm still now sure whether it has the bottom end and punch of the SLO I've heard in clips and will sound better with lower volumes than the SLO. I'd love to own a SLO one day, but they cost a pretty penny and I can't think of any nearby venues where I could crank it let alone my bedroom.

*digs up old thread*

1. I've heard these amps sound real round (which I like) with KT66's, which repeats what Lee said. I've also heard that getting the quot;Warren Haynes modquot; is a preferable thing to do. What is this and how do I get it done and by whom?

2. Do they make a 50-w version of the SLO?


Originally Posted by B2D*digs up old thread*

1. I've heard these amps sound real round (which I like) with KT66's, which repeats what Lee said. I've also heard that getting the quot;Warren Haynes modquot; is a preferable thing to do. What is this and how do I get it done and by whom?

I believe it's just a high-cut bright switch.


Originally Posted by mridI believe it's just a high-cut bright switch.

Yes, at least that's what they say in the FAQ section on the Soldano website

I personally don't see why you should have a quot;brigth cutquot; switch when you have the treble and presence controls, oh well . Maybe im just stupid

the haynes mod gives you a fatter sound at lower preamp settings, so more low mids with the gain set at 4 or lower


Originally Posted by mrid

I got mine for about $400 and I like it a whole lot better than my Bogner Shiva.

Did you sell your Shiva?

I've had one for over 10 years, and love it.

The sound is like a hotter Marshall to me, but way better allround.
Very god for overdrive but the clean lacks a bit, especially now that I've borrowed a Bad Cat.

Top grade part all over.
And it is LOUD!!

It is one of the best amps around in my eyes, as long as I got another amp for clean.

Though I haven't owned a SLO, I've have owned a HR50, Yamaha T100, and a Decatone (in that order).
IMO, the T100 didn't sound nearly as good as either Soldano-built amp. The thing had very limited low-end, even after installing a depth mod. My favorite feature on that amp was separate reverb settings for each channel--very useful.
I loved the gain on the HR50 and the Decatone. The only reason I sold the Hot Rod was because when I dialed up that wonderful gain, I couldn't get a decent clean tone rolling off the volume and wasn't up to a dual amp rig at that point. Though the Decatone's crunch channel was what really differentiated it with the Koch Multitone that it replaced, over time I grew quite dissatisified with it. Though the timbre was great, I found it awfully compressed. The cleans on the Decatone were surprisingly good for a high gain multi-channel amp but just adequate overall IMO.
My big gripe with every Soldano-designed amp I've owned is the FX loops. None of 'em would play nice with the big Line 6 stompboxes. I'd turn 'em on and lose all my treble. I went rack for a while until I discovered the Yamaha Magic Stomp, which did fine in the Decatone's loop.
Now for your specific questions...
~How do you like it?
Aside from the compression, I was pretty happy with my Soldanos. Per-channel EQ made dialing in clean/dirty tones a bit of a compromise.

~Whats the tone like?
The cleans were pretty good but definitely not great. Crunch mode had wonderful tones but was very compressed. OD mode is where the amp was made to go. Clapton used 'em through the 90s as did a EVH and a lot of metal bands. It'll do a lot of high gain flavors though it won't go into Recto territory without outboard EQ in the FX loop.
~Any gripes or complaints?The FX loop (as mentioned above).
High plate voltage (500V) limits your power tube choices.
Compressed tone in crunch mode.
Shared EQ results in tonal compromise across channels.
The Decatone was very sensitive to cabs. It would sound great through some and raspy through others.
~What are it's strengths/weaknesses?
Wonderful OD tones. Nice but compressed crunch. So-so cleans. Lame FX loop. Surprisingly broad palette of tones available. Solid construction.

the fx loops have always been a problem with those amps

FWIW I'm extremely happy with my Hot Rod 50 . One change I made was having the depth mod put in for the XL (enhanced bass) option. I've had no issues with the FX loop with individual pedals or my Digitech GNX3...so it's either been resolved or I got lucky.

I did have two more mods to the amp. I had the clean channel tweaked since it wasn't great (as mentioned). So...I had Voodoo Amps essentially add some Fenderesque chime to it. Now I'm satifisfied with that. As well, I thought the distortion was a little dark for my tastes, so I had VA make the gain channel a little more open and Marshallesque. Now I'm good to go.

hey B2D, I'm looking to sell my T50-C (50 watter 1x12 combo), Ironically the bass is pretty powerful on mine that I usually turn it down low. Another thing is you can get a very good distorted tone at a really low volume. I don't know if this is just my amp or every model. I can give it to you for $500 shipped. PM me if interested.


Originally Posted by fatigueofhearthey B2D, I'm looking to sell my T50-C (50 watter 1x12 combo), Ironically the bass is pretty powerful on mine that I usually turn it down low. Another thing is you can get a very good distorted tone at a really low volume. I don't know if this is just my amp or every model. I can give it to you for $500 shipped. PM me if interested.

Thanks, but I'm not really in a position to switch amps right now.

I'm just gonna hafta go down to the local boutique shop (I found one that carries them) and fire it up and see what I get out of it.


Originally Posted by B2DThanks, but I'm not really in a position to switch amps right now.

I'm just gonna hafta go down to the local boutique shop (I found one that carries them) and fire it up and see what I get out of it.

That's what I had to do with my Soldano. Nearest shop was 130 miles away.
Stood up at work at 9:01 a.m. and declared I was burning up a day! Engaged ctrl-alt-del and hit the road.


Originally Posted by jeremythe fx loops have always been a problem with those amps

Apparently the Soldano effects loop (at least the SLO one) when using the lead channel run at a dB level which is too high for most stompboxes including the good line 6 ones like my DL4. My DL4 works well on the clean channel but sounds like cack with the lead channel...god knows why such a high end amp would have such a limiting thing in their effects loop

Apparently there is an easy mod that can get around this but I haven't done it to mine.

Be sure to check out the Yamaha T50/T100 amps - designed by Soldano, and apparently sound damned near an SLO.

Man this thing sure was resurected from the dead. It's almost 2 years old. LMAO!!

Effectloops and stompers....well in the 80's...we ran stuff through a linemixer in parallel...some may think that TB is the way...but running effects in loops...well bad sounds.
Imagine all that nice ampsound going through all that circuitry, below linelevels,
no real way of getting the effect all wet and mix it upon the signal...
We used 19quot; stuff back then, which could run at linelevel, fully wet, mixed on the signal from the preamp to the poweramp, thus leaving the normal signal there along with the mixed signal....no loss.