SLO-100 Super Lead Overdrive 100-watt Tube Head - Metal Grille Review

Holy cow!!!

So I already have three Marshall's, two vintage 1982 jcm800 2205's(the great years), a 59 handwired plexiglass Modded with EVH Mercury Trannies and a Friedman Small Box 50. I bought this amp because it seemed to be a modern upgrade to the Marshalls I played all through my Ice Water Mansion Days until now. What I immediately noticed were several things. The 6L6's hit hard. I thought… read more I loved EL34's. I do and love the midrange grind. The Soldano cleans are incredible. The crunch channel is enough to do everything I need alone. The drive channel has so much gain, I only need it to be 5. If it turn it to 10 or I mean 11, I can still every single note clear as a bell. It just has more low end and saturation. The amp takes every pedal excellent although there is no need for a single anything besides you, a guitar and some good hands. The effects loop is beyond killer. It also has a direct out with a level which is perfect for my rack for wet dry wet. The tone no matter where you set this amp is so killer, it is amazing. It only makes me appreciate the Marshalls and my awesome Friedman amp more. I did want to mention, somehow my Marshall 50 waters seem to fill the room a little more in a great way when mixed. I think because the rich and full tone of the Soldano is so good, it is more ear pleasing. Same with the Friedman. Put those together and you are done seeking tone. I have found my holy grail. I owe David Friedman everything for this. He helped me get out of thin and get that in your face balls. He was never afraid to let me in on a few secrets and I will likely buy his BE100 Deluxe next too. Both Mike Soldano and David Friedman rule in the world of todays top players. I'd stick with their products. Friedman 4x12 with greenback/vintage 30's are spectacular tOo. I have not bought the Soldano cabinet yet but using greenback or vintage 30's are great no matter what. This Soldano goes to 11 and I had to chuckle but let me tell you, I give this amp 110! Life is short, get one….

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Oh yes, finally!!!

I've been wanting this amp since about 1991, so let's say 30 years. I've been through a Fender twin, Kustom stack, Marshall, Line 6 (several versions), Peavey JSX 120 watt stack which is the amp I just disconnected yesterday. On the JSX, I switched from EL 34's to 6L6's and then switched again to a matched set of preamp and power amp tubes. Big improvement, but it never really cut… read more the mustard for me. I've also had a few other amps over the years, but the ones listed stand out the most.I decided last week to go ahead and pull the trigger on the SLO 100. Last night I hooked it up and my first impression was hmmm, I'm not so sure this was a good idea, $$$ maybe no amp will ever meet my standards. I played around tweaking for about an hour and I decided I like it a little better than the JSX which sucks because the JSX sells used for about $ and I just dropped multitudes of hard earned scratch for a little better amp. Anyway, I cut the grass this morning and went back down to the pit and fired this beast up again with a different approach which was concentrating on blending the master and channel volumes with a fresh ear. My intentions were to get a tone shaped for a live band setting so it was let's say, loud. To my delight it came together pretty well, I was impressed. One thing I like to do when dialing in a tone is walk to the area where the drummer and bass player reside so I can hear what they hear. With my JSX it always sounded muddy or lost...no highs or midrange. With the SLO it was all there, I mean these guys are going to hear this thing loud and clear. I went to my son's house today for his son's birthday party, then came home and plugged in again for another hour or so. What I found was very small tweaks between the master and channel volumes make substantial differences in the grain of the overdrive which was interesting and I can't wait to tinker with this again. The clean channel is very nice and I dig the crunch switch which works well with it. Warm Plexi like tones and the bright switch is a plus. The effects loop does the job well, the noise is low for a high gain head and very manageable...no plans for a noise gate. I'm glad they added the depth knob because I would not like the amp without it. The depth knob fattens things up when using a Floyd Rose with a maple fingerboard, big plus. I've only played through this 3 times now and it's hard to turn it off, tone for days and I see that I'll be figuring this thing out quite easily over time. All in all I think it's going to be mine from here on out. I doubt this will be sold and I'm very picky about tone, always have been. We are getting ready to restart my recording project and I'm chomping at the bit now. I would recommend this amp for certain, it just stands tall and gets the job done. The Sweetwater rep I deal with is Lindsey Becker, she always answers the phone and is very professional, no BS.

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The best amp

This amp is amazing. Obviously the high gain tones it produces are well known to be incredible and I must they they truly are. What I was surprised by was the clean channel tone. It is so so good. You can push it with a transparent drive and get more flavors of gain. The one thing I noticed about this channel is it is noiser than the gain channel but you can dial back the master… read more volume and up the gain to fix that. A added bonus is you can use the effects loop as a boost or to cut the volume since it has its own volume control. I love this amp so much!

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New Soldano SLO amp

David Hess and his team went beyond what was expected to get me this amp. I have been tweaking the EQ and gain settings and finding the SLO to have a plethora of tones and Overdrive. Small movements of the EQ knobs can change the overall tone. I have owned a Soldano SLO years ago and the improvement's that Mike Soldano and Boutique Amps Distribution did on these new SLO's make… read more it more user friendly. Even at Higher gain setting the amp is very quiet. The loop is transparent as it should be. Thanks again to David and Tray at Sweetwater. ..by the way, the Koa Top EBMM Axis Ball Family Reserve also came from David Hess at Sweetwater

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Tone for days

I own a 2005 Soldano SLO and I have owned this since new. I have owned so many combos, heads and rack gear, amp modelers over the years and none seemed to live up to my expectations and did not have them long. I had a Line 6 pedal and I seemed as if the only amp I used in it was the SLO as to me it sounded the best. So I decided to just buy a real SLO and I have not looked back… read more sine then. It sounds way better than the amp model I also own the matching cab to go with it. I do have the Haynes and DeMartini mods along with depth mod. The EQ on this thing is awesome just a minimal move can make a big change. not like most amps where you need to turn that EQ know more to make a tone change. I also switched to KT66 power tubes to me they sound the best in ths amp. I have thought about getting rid of this a few times when playing other amps at guitar stores but get home and play through the SLO I just can't let it go it sounds that good. The one benefit users will get from the new one is that it does not have +4db loop that does not work well with some gear as the signal is way to hot for them to handle but with that said this amps sounds incredible without effects and doesn't really need them as the tone speaks for itself. To me this is an amp you will have for many years and may never let it go as is the case for me. Don't forget it does go to 11.

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