Soldano SLO vs Friedman BE100

[Mr. Willy]

We guitarists live in a great time for choices when it comes to amplification. I don't wanna say that the SLO is the greatest amp ever made because that's subjective, but FOR ME and my style, it's perfect. I don't need a bunch of toggles and switches that change voicings and the like. I want simplicity and reliability. Having a lot of tonal shaping options is great if that's want you want, but I've found that I spend much more time tweaking my tone instead of playing music and progressing on the guitar with an amp like that. Again, this is totally what works/doesn't work for me. It's so awesome that there are so many options when it comes to choosing quality, affordable afflification these days. If I could, I'd own a room full of Marshall's, Boogies, Bogners, Fortins, etc because I think they ALL sound great even if I prefer one tone over another. But I can't afford to do that. Believe me, if I could, I would. I know the price tag of the SLO is very high (luckily I got mine used at a VERY good price) but the reliability and consistency are worth every penny, IMHO. Especially when I consider how much money I've spent over the years on amps. Since snagging the SLO I have zero amp gas, and that hasn't happened in years.

 

[aftec]

Seems like "Bad design and faulty" are the only words stick from my post.
Yes it is a bad design and yes it is still a great sounding amp. Happy crash.
Like the way Champagne was invented. Someone made something differently, in theory it should be bad, but turns out to be great.
The amazing thing is, that this happy crash can be replicated very closely. At least SLOs are one of the best amps in terms of consistency.

 

[SLOgriff]

I forgot about this thread. Still have never tried a BE100(and no longer really interested in that amp), but sold 3 SLO's since this July 2012 post. I'm pretty happy with my Bogner's these days. The SLO is great but finicky with tubes and speaker cabs. I just got tired of tweaking and tube swapping. I've had EVERY flavor of the SLO and it's still one of my favorites and I'm sure I'll have another one sometime soon.

 

[fuzzyguitars]

trust me

as one who owned an slo for a long time and then sold it off.

it was the amp that i always missed.

later, i was able to pick another one up used.

one chord was all it took to tell myself that I would never sell it off again.

I forgot about this thread. Still have never tried a BE100(and no longer really interested in that amp), but sold 3 SLO's since this July 2012 post. I'm pretty happy with my Bogner's these days. The SLO is great but finicky with tubes and speaker cabs. I just got tired of tweaking and tube swapping. I've had EVERY flavor of the SLO and it's still one of my favorites and I'm sure I'll have another one sometime soon.