this post was submitted on 01 Aug 2024
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Oh yoooo I just picked up their SLO pedal and it sounds really good! I run it into a Matamp for the old Matt Pike tone, but it works p good into the return loop of a peavey windsor too.
Caveat - I am a soldano fan but not connesiour, so idk maybe theres better stuff out there for getting that tone. Wanted to get something different for recording tones.
Oh hell yeah. I got the solid state mini SLO head just before the pedal came out, and I've been wanting to try running its effects loop send into the return on my Laney Ironheart. I've also got a Blackstar AMPED 1 for pairing with various pedal preamps, and I'm 99% sure that setting that to flat preamp/6L6 power amp emulation mode should identical to (if not better than) using the IRT120's loop. I need to try it once I get time to clean all the stray computer parts out of my studio room.
Rabea Massaad did a shootout comparison between the 100 watt SLO head, the 30-watt SLO, and the solid state mini SLO head, and yeah, there's definitely something missing in the treble/presence bands on the mini SLO/pedal circuit, but I think they're close enough that you won't be able to tell the difference in a mix, especially if you mix in a bright/brittle sounding high-gain blend amp track just behind it to compensate. At that point, it's probably less effort to just use an amp sim and be done with it, but sometimes you just need an excuse to reamp a phase-inverted DI track through something ridiculous like a 6505 MH purposely dialed in to sound like fried assholes (not difficult), or maybe a Rocktron Piranha on the "broken AM radio" setting (yes, it actually shipped with this).
Hell yeah a lot of that Laney gear is super sick. Have fun! What do you think of the 6505 mh? I've got my eye on one of those Victory class D amps, the Kranken one sounds like it could be cool
The 6505 MH is one of those EL84 jobs -- IIRC, you hate those, so you probably won't like this either. The 5150 Iconic is better overall, does that block letter chugga-chugga a lot more easily, and it sounds like they just released an EL34 version recently that addresses some of the complaints with the 6L6 model's voicing. As for the MH, yeah, you can EQ out the EL84 honk with a 7- or 10-band in the loop, but I'm also worried about reliability on mine. I've had it open and didn't see any visibly leaking electrolytic caps and the power tubes look fine, but it sure as hell acts like something in the power amp stage is near the point of failure. With no guitar plugged in, I can make the red channel oscillate just from internal circuit noise by turning the pre-gain above 3 and the post-gain anywhere past 5. Some amount of that is normal on a 5150/6505, but this is pretty absurd. Maybe it's just worse on the mini head because of PCB layout or something.
The Kraken is great! I was eyeballing the preamp pedal version at one point until I realized it was just a 5150 clone on steroids, and I've already got that covered. I was looking for something JCM800/JMP-adjacent, and ended up going for the Carvin X1 preamp pedal to pair with that Blackstar power amp. It's pretty cool having a Fender blackface clone for a clean channel and a hot rodded-to-hell-and-back JCM on the lead with a switchable 5-band EQ, but mine also seems to pick up local radio stations. I'm remembering why I mostly stick with solid state heads; I can see the fucking broadcast tower from my front yard.
Edit: Oh yeah, the Laney. The Ironheart was their attempt at a "modern metal" amp -- it's closer to a Dual Rectifier/5150/SLO circuit than any of their legendary doom metal/Marshall clone stuff (Supergroup, Pro Tube, GH100, etc.). Funny thing is, the EQ section on it is so absurdly tweakable that you can pass it off as a Dual Rec or a 5150 just by fiddling with a few (well, a half dozen) knobs. Unfortunately, something about the output wattage control causes the amp's "sweet spot" to move around drastically depending on where you set it, so it can be an absolute pain in the ass to get dialed in. And the "boost" feature is just a flat volume boost with no bass/treble cut, so it can cause the input buffer stage to fart out if you already have a drive pedal in front of it. And I think mine needs some solder joints reflowed on the green channel because heat from the power tubes causes some intermittent volume drops. Amazing cleans, though, and the distortion is brutal once you get it where you want it.
Yo, I can literally get you custom pedals. You'd have to throw down for materials shipping and to pay the dude, if you know how to build a pedal sending a circuit board is cheap af. Like, literally just send links to bands you want a pedal to sound like and you will get something that does that. My engineer pal is really really good at this.
Me and my former roommate have been getting real into harsh noise and industrial and this guy is the 3rd Beatle, custom amps, modded dumpster gear and handmade pedals
Hell yeah will take you up on that when I'm working again!