SLO 100 for sale in Peach

rockmonster

Just spotted this: Cheap as chips! No affiliation!

https://www.peachguitars.com/soldano-amplifiers-hr-100x-w-xl-mod-purple-used.htm?opt=45288

digitalscream

Just as a note...that's not the SLO-100, it's a Hot Rod 100X with factory mods.

Dodge

I don't know anything about Soldano, but that's not a SLO. 

rockmonster

FAIL! I need to wear my specs more! Lol! Thought it was too good to be true!

digitalscream

rockmonster said:

Thought it was too good to be true!

Don't get me wrong, it's still a Soldano, and (to my knowledge) the Hot Rod is basically the SLO without the Magic Fairy Dust transformers and the lifetime warranty.

In a world where you can no longer buy six or seven Jet City amps for the price of a Hot Rod, it's still a great amp

EDIT: To be fair to you, the footswitch says "Super Lead Overdrive" on it.

Nerine

I had an SLO 30, albeit briefly. I’d approach a Soldano with caution. It may sound completely different to your expectations. 

They do sound objectively good, but for me, they don’t really fall into the modded Marshall category. They feel completely different and the EQ bumps are in different places. 

You could literally hear the Dual Rectifier in the SLO 30 which is understandable given the history, and I’d say that the SLO lead sound is actually more similar to a Dual Rectifier, channel 2, Vintage mode, than a Marshall. 

YMMV. There’s a bit of the fuzz right on the edges of the notes and compression you get in the Mark Series, too. 

rockmonster

I didn’t like the 100 I had for a little while!

richardhomer

I might make an appointment…

mrkb

richardhomer said:

I might make an appointment…

Good idea, I assume they’ll let you know if someone else had booked an appt to try that out before your booking.

tekbow

I had an HR50+ XL for a good many years  before stepping up to an SLO.

The XL mod is a bit crap. Mike didn't like it AFAIK, but went with it because NU-Metal was kicking in at the time and more low end for down tuning was the in thing. I found it a bit Farty and wet blankety in the days before I was aware of low end cutting boosts. It was kinda too much. That being said, my 2x12 has the Eminence made Soldano X12000 speakers which are a bit Murky anyway. Funnily enough they seem to get on with my Gower more than the SLO.

I had my XL removed (it's a couple resistors and a cap i think), and replaced with a depth mod installed in the spare speaker jack with instructions sent to me by Mike after a phone call, the depth mod being basically the same thing, but variable via a pot, and capable of being dialled out completely which is where mine stayed.

Without it, it nailed that dirt era Cantrell sound. The big but not too loose bottom end.

@Nerine is correct, Soldanos don't sound like you think they're gona If you've not played one, and are as different from a Marshall as a Mesa Mark is.

That being said, the hot rods do lean in the direction of Marshall in that they're a touch hairier and barkier Than the SLO. Fuzzy around the edges isn't inaccurate either, especially past 6 or so on the gain dial for the OD channel, which is something the 1st gen SLO has too. They made higher gain levels a bit more usable on the current version apparently.

I think there's like 4 or 5 component values difference between it and the SLO excluding the transformers.

The story with them, according to Mike, as told on Tone Talk, was that at one point he was being asked by customers which Marshall's they should buy (in a time when classic Marshall's where cheap as chips) for him to mod, and he decided to just build the mods into an amp of his own manufacture. So I guess he was just Modding Marshall preamps to be a variation of the SLO preamp.

Basically they're their own thing and it's not really fair to call them a budget SLO, because they're really not. They do have a characteristic of their own. I'd own another along side the SLO quite happily.

That's also the wrong footswitch. It's from the current 2nd gen SLO. One button is for channel switching and the other is for defeating the loop or possibly engaging/defeating the loop return level control which gives you a Solo boost.

If it's an XL modded amp then it should put it in the very late 90s/early 00s timeframe, which means PCB mounted pots and preamp tube sockets, with chassis mounted power tube sockets.

Around 06 they changed them to all PCB mounting, and I think the depth mod became a factory standard knob on the front panel.

Catthan

I agree with ^^, HR is like a barky hot rodded JMP and much easier to dial than a SLO. if you play both you will hear they share the same dna but a SLO dialed in right does a slightly different thing. and great as it may be, it’s easy not to like it. 

Devil#20

mrkb said:

richardhomer said:

I might make an appointment…

Good idea, I assume they’ll let you know if someone else had booked an appt to try that out before your booking.

Why is it still appointment only. Can't be because of covid still. Is it more likely because they don't want Demis Roussos walking out carrying guitars out under his kaftan whilst dangling false arms on the outside of it and getting his accomplice to open the door for him?