Just a point on Soldano SLO100. Nothing sounds like it except itself. As much as Soldano has tried to emulate it by 'claiming' that they can design the lead channel into a any of their other amp line, it simply fails. The secret ingredient seems to be the DeYoung Transformers and I believe a lot of people on the forum have taken it for granted that having a circuit on the SLO is equal to the SLO. No way. I know because I still have an own a Hot Rod 50 which I first got before I got the SLO. Is the difference that big? YES. And if Soldano themselves cannot design a SLO cheaper than it is now which by the way is being sold at almost the same price that it was being sold in 1989 -- 20 years and only a US$300-US$500 price increase, that should be a clue to everybody else here pretending to have a DIY Soldano SLO 100. As for my SLO, it was factory modified for a Depth Knob and a scoop switch for the crunch channel (demartini mod) AND more importantly, upon concurrence the with Soldano dudes, they took out the effect loop for a more punchier SLO. The only other modification I have done is put in some kind of NOS Brimar 12ax7 in v1 and put a pair of my Made in England Vintage 30s into a Mills Acoustics cabinet. It remains to be a favorite amp by not only me but by around 90% of people who come in to test my amps. The other 10% seem to like the Diezel Herbert a lot. Is it worth its US$3000 stock price? Yes. As much as there are known players who use the SLO, it was the last amp that SRV would use. Stevie was about to convert his whole rig to SLOs and in fact they already got to testing it on some of his gigs before he died. I think the final ingredient for me for the SLO was to finally find a matching cabinet for Celestion Vintage 30s which now complements more than ever the high mid bite of the SLO.
