Am I the only person who does not like the Soldano SLO?

bananaman

You can hear what I mean on this demo. Clean/low gain it sounds 'kind' of like a polite Marshall, inoffensive enough but not bad. However when he switches to higher gain at about 11 minutes it's right there. Bleurgh! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmfIPELd70g&t=678s

ICBM

tekbow said:

I wouldn't say sweet or polite either, but it is very articulate and "dry" in the sense that it's  unforgiving of any degree of sloppiness.

Can't be. I can get a good sound out of one .

tekbow said:

The Peavey VTM is, according to James Brown, the platform for the 5150, itself heavily based on an actual Jose modded Marshall. It was apparently tweaked to bring it into the SLO sonic ballpark, but is not a similar circuit according to Brown.

Exactly. (As you would expect, given the source.)

TTBZ

shaunm said:

I want to have an opinion but I’ve never tried one of these in person. On YouTube I only hear people doing high gain chugging or shredding. Is that what the SLO is? 

I think Warren Haynes uses the SLO in Govt Mule.. awesome tone. Doesn't have the horrid 80s fizz tone I had in my head from hearing a lot of the demos on YouTube! The Peach Guitars demo sounds pretty good though. 

ICBM

Clapton, Knopfler and Gary Moore all used SLOs, and none of them are high-gain chuggers or shredders.

markr76

I saw/read an interview with EVH. Must have been back in the 90’s. He said he used the SLO as his main amp in the late 80’s right up to when he started using the 5150. So I guess that’s where the talk the 5150 was based off the Soldano. 

I know Richie Sambora was a user of the SLO and he was using them for the Keep the Faith era.
I’ve never had the pleasure of playing one myself. But I’ve heard one being played with a band at a small venue where I used to live and it sounded stunning!

richardhomer

The best lead sound I’ve ever experienced was a Soldano Lucky 13. I’ve never tried an SLO - but EC’s higher gain tones on From The Cradle are great. 

shaunm

richardhomer said:

The best lead sound I’ve ever experienced was a Soldano Lucky 13. I’ve never tried an SLO - but EC’s higher gain tones on From The Cradle are great. 

That’s interesting that you say that as when I asked are these really just high gain amps @ICBM named a few guitarists. I checked them out using the SLO and to my ears it sounds high gain. Not in a chuggy slayer way obviously, but still high gain. It sounds dare I say it, very 80’s blues. 

richardhomer

shaunm said:

richardhomer said:

The best lead sound I’ve ever experienced was a Soldano Lucky 13. I’ve never tried an SLO - but EC’s higher gain tones on From The Cradle are great. 

That’s interesting that you say that as when I asked are these really just high gain amps @ICBM named a few guitarists. I checked them out using the SLO and to my ears it sounds high gain. Not in a chuggy slayer way obviously, but still high gain. It sounds dare I say it, very 80’s blues. 

The tones I’m referring to are on tracks like ‘Someday After A While’ - which is a 335 through an SLO. I wouldn’t describe it as ‘high gain’ - which is why I used the term ‘higher gain’ - to differentiate it from the less driven sounds on the album (which were Tweed Fenders).

digitalscream

shaunm said:

Not in a chuggy slayer way obviously, but still high gain. It sounds dare I say it, very 80’s blues. 

The interesting part about these amps is that with a good, neutral clean boost it's easy to drive the crunch channel into full-on metal, and the overdrive channel into hairy-meltdown lead tones. All you have to be aware of is that more gain = loads more low end, so you have to drop the bass control whenever you stick a boost in front.

tekbow

digitalscream said:

shaunm said:

Not in a chuggy slayer way obviously, but still high gain. It sounds dare I say it, very 80’s blues. 

The interesting part about these amps is that with a good, neutral clean boost it's easy to drive the crunch channel into full-on metal, and the overdrive channel into hairy-meltdown lead tones. All you have to be aware of is that more gain = loads more low end, so you have to drop the bass control whenever you stick a boost in front.

I do this, use boosted crunch for rhythm and the lead for, well, lead.

The crunch channel is one of the best for boosting BTW. IMO, YMMV

shaunm

richardhomer said:

shaunm said:

richardhomer said:

The best lead sound I’ve ever experienced was a Soldano Lucky 13. I’ve never tried an SLO - but EC’s higher gain tones on From The Cradle are great. 

That’s interesting that you say that as when I asked are these really just high gain amps @ICBM named a few guitarists. I checked them out using the SLO and to my ears it sounds high gain. Not in a chuggy slayer way obviously, but still high gain. It sounds dare I say it, very 80’s blues. 

The tones I’m referring to are on tracks like ‘Someday After A While’ - which is a 335 through an SLO. I wouldn’t describe it as ‘high gain’ - which is why I used the term ‘higher gain’ - to differentiate it from the less driven sounds on the album (which were Tweed Fenders).

Perhaps that’s the thing, I’m used to hearing EJ playing through a Fender or obviously low gain Marshall. You’re right it’s not high gain but it’s certainly higher gain than I’m used to hearing from him. It’s not a bad sound by any means. 

My only reference point Tone wise is that is reminds me of Richie Sambora’s Tonemaster sound

ICBM

shaunm said:

My only reference point Tone wise is that is reminds me of Richie Sambora’s Tonemaster sound

The Tonemaster isn't a high gain amp at all.

Yes, I do mean the correct Tonemaster . It does have an overdrive channel, but it doesn't have very much gain - you need to crank the power stage to get it really working, the overdrive sound isn't actually very good at low volume. It's more of a high-power amp with a boost channel than it is like a typical channel switcher.

shaunm

ICBM said:

shaunm said:

My only reference point Tone wise is that is reminds me of Richie Sambora’s Tonemaster sound

The Tonemaster isn't a high gain amp at all.

Yes, I do mean the correct Tonemaster . It does have an overdrive channel, but it doesn't have very much gain - you need to crank the power stage to get it really working, the overdrive sound isn't actually very good at low volume. It's more of a high-power amp with a boost channel than it is like a typical channel switcher.

I don’t know much of the mechanics but I’ve always wanted one. Are they well made? Are they like the supersonic amps?

ICBM

shaunm said:

I don’t know much of the mechanics but I’ve always wanted one. Are they well made? Are they like the supersonic amps?

They're well-made, but very uncompromising and not going to be easy to use for most people. They're a 'complete system' - they need the matching cabinets, which unusually for Fender are fitted with V30s, and they need to be turned up loud. At low volume the clean channel is OK but a bit uninspiring, and the overdrive channel is flat and grainy - the first time I tried one it was at low-ish volume in a shop and I thought it was pretty poor. But later I had the chance to play one (a seafoam green one with matching 4x12"!) at high volume outdoors, and when the master volume got over about 4 it sounded incredible - like a much more powerful blonde Bassman. But it is very definitely a big stage amp.

shaunm

ICBM said:

shaunm said:

I don’t know much of the mechanics but I’ve always wanted one. Are they well made? Are they like the supersonic amps?

They're well-made, but very uncompromising and not going to be easy to use for most people. They're a 'complete system' - they need the matching cabinets, which unusually for Fender are fitted with V30s, and they need to be turned up loud. At low volume the clean channel is OK but a bit uninspiring, and the overdrive channel is flat and grainy - the first time I tried one it was at low-ish volume in a shop and I thought it was pretty poor. But later I had the chance to play one (a seafoam green one with matching 4x12"!) at high volume outdoors, and when the master volume got over about 4 it sounded incredible - like a much more powerful blonde Bassman. But it is very definitely a big stage amp.

Is that why we don’t see many people using them these days I wonder? They sound great to me.

Actually the three amps I can think of from 92/95 from Fender are all amazingly good. The Vibroverb 63 RI, Vibroking and Tonemaster.