Demo of the SLO modded JCA100H by Zach at TITAN Amplifiers.
Email Zach for more information (cost of mod is $250 last time I checked)
The amp also has a quartet of matched JJ’s KT66 power tubes from Laura at http://www.Valvequeen.com
The JJ’s KT66’s operate at the same plate voltage as the stock 6L6’s so they are safe to use in the amp and offer a bit more clarity and clean headroom overall with less compression at high volume.
Basically the 100H and 50H amps are low cost clones of the Soldano Hotrod 100/50. The “normal” channel of both the hotrod and the 100/50H have what is virtually the same normal channel of a SLO100 with the “bright” and “crunch” switches that the SLO gets actually hard wired into the ON position in the Hotrod and 100/50H.
The lead channel on the Hotrod and 100/50H are very similar to the SLO100 but a few components are different.
This “SLO Mod” essentially changes a few components inside the amp to make the circuit more similar to that of the SLO100.
***Here’s the important bit though***
Do not mistake this mod for a substitute of a $3500+ hand wired boutique amp. It simply does not work that way. The magic of the SLO is a sum of all it’s parts working perfectly together all the way down to the DeYoung Transformers that will cost you $3500+ to get your hands on (they’ll be attached to a SLO100)
What this mod aims to do is simply to improve the voicing of the LEAD channel on the 100H and 50H. The amps are identical inside other than the 100H simply having 2 more power tubes.
From what my ears can tell me about the mod, the lead channel is a bit less compressed when the preamp gain is pushed up to half way and beyond. The bass knob is a lot more usable as well. You can get more low end grount from the amp without it getting too thick/muddy/compressed.
Another thing is that the amp really comes to life when the volume knobs are at about noon. It’s good with the volume lower but once the volumes hit half way, this amp really turns into a beast.
As the video shows, the amp (to me at least) sounds the best once the gain is at about 10 or 11 o’clock and hit hard with an overdrive boost.
Guitar used was the tokai LS150 with sheptone BK sig’s and a splawn 4×12 with V30’s and k100’s and a hardwire reverb and ISP gstring in the loop.