You’re right, had to go look at mine. The old non SL had 2x loops, the SL has a single, but it’s the post.
Once you get the boost and other volumes dialed in, the loop volume on the front serves as a good master volume.
That was a non SL gold finger. The original had the pre and post loops. The SL removed that in favor of tailor able boosts for each channel. There is only a single FX loop on the GF SL.
I like the echo plex preamps. Clinch makes an EP preamp with a variable clean boost built in. Has a switch for adjustable brightness too.
https://www.clinchfx.com/ep/
It was fine if you want a stiff upper mid Marshall crunch. I prefer more of a Bogner low mid squishy feel. The GF SL can do the small box bright crunch thing as well, but it also does the typical Bogner thing if you want.
I had a small box, and sold it for a GF SL. The small box is brighter, but I didn’t care for the 2nd channel very much. The plexi channel was a great cleanish channel and I’d hit it with whatever pedals I wanted.
GF SL is a great true clean channel that you can’t really get to break up. Gain...
I wouldn’t jump to clipping caps on the board. Set the treble to 9, assign presence B to where you want it, and use B2 switch. It can be a bright punchy amp if that’s what you want.
If you clip the cap and want to get under the main PCB to solder it back on, it’s a real pain in the ass.
Important to note the NAM is straight freeware. There's a solid facebook group that captures and releases their gear for free. More high gain focused, but that lines up will with this page.
If I recall correctly there are a few screws inside the headshell holding a wooden frame with the grillcloth installed on it. The grillcloth isn't stapled directly to the headshell. The metal grill has a pre installed bogner nameplate on it.
Neural Amp Modeler (NAM) is a freeware plugin that uses the same type of tech as the Neural DSP plugin. There are a few really good 2C+ captures everyone should try to see how good this technology can be.
I don't know which is best, but the freeware plugin is good enough to turn heads...
I did it, really simple with just a screwdriver. Your going to have to pull the chassis out though.
Biggest thing to remember is you'll see the unfinished inside of the headshell through the metal grill.
I'd tolex that part, or paint it. Anything to just make it look black.
You should check out NAM (neural amp modeler). It's complete freeware open source. It's similar to the tech in tonex or the Kemper. There's a massive community dedicated to capturing all sorts of kickass gear and posting it for free.
I have a current helix and NAM kicks it to the curb. Only...