Real Amp Vs. Plugin: Neural DSP Soldano SLO-100
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 ก.ค. 2024
- With Neural DSP releasing the Soldano SLO-100 plugin, I thought we could compare it to a real Soldano SLO-100!
Time Stamps:
0:00 - Intro
1:10 - Settings
2:09 - Neural Isolated
2:32 - SLO Setup
2:56 - SLO Isolated
3:24 - A/B Comparison
3:47 - Thoughts
4:21 - A/B In A Mix
4:46 - Final Thoughts & Comments
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pull a little out of 250 & 500hz and boost 8k on the included 9-band EQ and there ya go! Neural DSP rules great video as always!
I just downloaded this plugin and, moving to more of a digital amp work flow. After owning several Marshalls, Peavy, Fenders, Mesa etc. I have to say the digital process has caught up with amp modeling. As another person who posted "For me the mix is the tale..... What I walk away with is I can save roughly $3800.00".
Also, from a strictly financial point of view-I am not a touring musician-I have a small home studio. So I need sonically perfect (as close as I can purchase) plugins to replicate the hardware-without spending thousands of dollars. The end point is to record music. Happy with my choice.
came for the guitar tones, but found myself drooling ur drum tones
great video, miss you ole friend
That intro riff was begging for the snare to be on 3 instead of 2 and 4.
The video we've all been waiting for! 😬 Great!!!! Thank you! 🤘💪
I was excited to try this plugin last week as I too have the pleasure of the company of an SLO100. Was particularly looking forward to this one as I've never really given much thought to what the other NDSP plugins are based on, I enjoy just diving in and seeing what's what - but this time I could make a comparison with the real thing. Initially I was surprised at how different the settings need to be to get the same kind of sound - e.g. crunch mode in normal channel the gain needs to be higher on the sim to get the same level of gain as on the amp (I guess that could also be impacted by various other i/o factors/levels though). Overall they can be made to sound very comparable in isolation and I'm sure the differences in a mix get even smaller. But, 'in the room' it's night and day - as good as the NDSP stuff sounds, they don't touch the real thing. 4k worth of better? No - not if that's the only spare 4k you have. If you can afford it though, playing the SLO feels 'an experience', really is a fantastic amp which merits its status. The NDSP stuff absolutely will get the job done in a mix though, no doubt about it.
Yes, the plugin sounds a bit darker but the general character is still there. Nothing that can't be adjusted with the turn of a knob.
Yeah I was thinking the real thing had more presence/air to it and that was the main thing
@@adamdevo7179 the point of the video wasn’t to show how similar they COULD be, just how similar they are without any processing
A Maag EQ can help
@@adamdevo7179 You're basically talking out of your ass mate. Theres no way you're gonna be able to tell me which of the two the last sample is.
@@adamdevo7179 Whats your answer lmao
That's exactly the video i was looking for. Thank you very much. :) The actual amp sounds a bit brighter to me, but it's really pretty close.
Thanks for the comparison. The plugin seems amazingly good. I saw Tom Quayle's demo of the new plugin yesterday and was shocked by how incredible it sounds. 😎
In the mix you notice it ... lot of difference but the flavour is there to work and that is I think the point. By the way your late videos are better. IMO me you have done a shity gap for a while but I am happy to see that you return to the good stuff. I liked the move to help one of my favorites utubers Stay Metal Ray who have a much smaller channel.
Cool video! The real amp sounds easy more aggressive, but I do believe that you could easily achieve a very similar tone with a little bit of work as you mentioned.
the only video that makes sense about this plugin, thanks mate.
This is what a real shootout looks like. I appreciate the video. Thanks Fluff!
Agreed. I saw the promo with Mike Soldano and just bought it immediately.
Great video. I own neither, but good to hear the plug-in is close as that is the only one close to my budget. Thanks for the video! 🖖🏼
That's how you do an A & B comparison. I totally agree with you on just doing some EQ adjustment will get you there.
And it's only 149.00 and right now going for 99.00 too. That's a no brainier.
That's for doing a great job on this review. 🤘😁
Kinda odd he didn't include a third run-through with the plugin tweaked with more presence to see how close it can get
You can't trust knobs on amps to be accurate... so actually to be fair he should have tweak the EQ and gain to be as close to the tube amp before the A-B. The tube amp was also noticeably louder that the sim which makes it more outstanding and attractive along with the additional brightness.
@Der_Mantie you are a Der. Of course it's a freaking review!
Great comparison !
*thank you for this video, it was done extremely tasteful!*
I really like this NDSP release and it does sound excellent especially for me since I don't have a real Soldano SLO 100. Maybe in the future. Great video.
Excellent!, thanks for sharing
The real amp has some really nice hairiness going on which makes the double tracked parts carry some more weight, but you can't understate how good the plugin sounds in a full mix. Awesome comparison Fluff!
What I appreciate most about this video is the Brady Bunch style rounded side camera shot during the playthrough. The production efforts don't go unnoticed, bud.
Oh yeah, guess the plug-in is cool... too...
would have loved to see you try to match the plugin to the real thing to see how close you can get it. great demo and looking farward to try it!
I have the STL Amphub SLO100 plugin and got the Neural a couple days ago. The Neural is a little "muddier" as well. It's a bit more nasal. The STL Is more clear and open like the Actual amp here. That said, I was indeed able to eq the Neural plugin and make it identical. Bottom line...even if you have an SLO100 at your disposal, you can use either plugin and get the same sound into your DAW. Nice work, Fluff!
Great honest review
Yeah..them guys and gals at Neural DSP know what they’re doing. Good shit as always, Fluff👌
Great vid!!!
Nice comparison, thank you.
it's really good! having worked with soldano amps myself a while back they have a unique bite and low end to them that is so heavy and awesome. this neural definitely captures it really well, but I think they over exaggerated that mid bite. but as you said, simple EQ move fixes that. To me the differences are night and day, but still an incredible job of modeling. i'm curious how close it would sound if you did the EQ you mentioned.
i also want to note that this mid range bump ISN'T a bad thing. I think for many this is a huge net positive. i found that when i recorded a real soldano for rhythm parts the mids get a bit lost and then shine in leads really well. This plugin fixes that issue with a more exaggerated/pronounced midrange. This also kinda wants me to open up that demo recording session I did for a band with a soldano early in my career (shout out to Severed (RIP) from NYC and Justin Whang for that experience).
Technically, both real and virtual amps are just processing electric signals. It's just a matter of time until the digital processing becomes as good as the analog processing.
any copy is always going to be inferior. to anyone with ears this comparison proves that there’s still a long way to go
@@kimseniorb Exactly, you can talk about how close it is to the real amp, but its never the same.
Also mix situations dont say much to me, playing next to the amp is where the real thing shines.
@@mikeanaro I think even in the recording these details matter a lot. the right kind of compression that glues the sound together, a natural sort of decay etc etc. the plugin is close enough to fool you, but its just not as pleasant sounding ultimately, I think we pick up on those detail’s subconsciously
The video was so good and the plugin sounded so damn good
Me: "Hmm, plugin sounds a little muddier"
Fluff: "the Neural is a little muddier"
Me: *screams*
So you agree. The the plugin is the Neural, right?
I'm pointing out the fact that I thought the exact same wording Fluff used right before he said it. But go off lol
agreed the plugin is darker, muddier almost as if there was a blanket over it but - at the same time it sounds more mix ready. What I heard in the SLO100 original in this case was frequencies in the 2-5k which I would prefer to cut slightly so that it does not sizzle as much. So with a couple eq tweaks during post processing on the neural or with slightly different EQ settings on the plugin or a slight movement of the mic I think you can get super close. :)
Muddier? Darker maybe .
@@johnpinneriv9958 yes, Neural DSP is the brand that made the plugin, "plugin" means the software for the computer.
Nice job man. I like it
I have an SLO-30 and this plugin does get almost all the way there. Primarily, I do find that the knobs do the same things, unlike a lot of soldano plugins. If I turn the depth knob or the treble knob a certain way, this plug-in and the amp react in the same basic way. That makes it really intuitive to set up if you're familiar with the amp.
Damn!, last time I watched one of Fluff’s videos his room wasn’t flanked with a legion of amplifiers 😳 I see his love for Boogie’s has not diminished one bit 🤘
You know what I´d love to see? A comparison between the NEURAL DSP Model and the LINE6 HELIX counterpart - using the same IR of course! That would be huge!
Jason Sadites did it on his channel, you can check it out. Spoiler: they sound the same
Plugins will never replace real amps, but for bedroom producers like myself - these kind of plugins are a great addition. I have a Mesa Trirec, and its not always practical to record live. So mostly using plugins now. and it sounds really good.
Greeat video, Fluff - thanks for your efforts! It shows how good the products from Neural DSP are - and how good are times for being a guitarist ;-)
Great comparison! The main difference IMO is just the cab-power amp impedance curve. Put the same ir with Z applied on the plug-in, and without the Z on the real amp, and they will be a lot closer. Most IRs don’t take impedance into consideration, and they sound muddy with digital modelers. But not when used with a real tube amp and a reactive load. I have noticed this myself with my amps and a suhr reactive load. It can be approximated with a scoop at around 400Hz, anyway
Damn, that's a tiny bit of EQ different. Incredible.
soundcloud.com/bob493/slo-vs-vst-plugin
This took about ... 5 seconds to cut and splice everything, eq it out and level audio.
The differences go from "eh thats pretty good!" to "I cant fucking hear a difference without direct AB comparison".
The real amp is always the first sample, the vst is always the second sample. I put slight breaks between each comparison.
For fun though... Tell me... whats the last one :)
Wow... You nailed it with the comparison. For me the mix is the tale..... What I walk away with is I can save roughly $3800.00!
Love the Topo Chico cooler, I love that stuff.
Cool vid!
So, if you add the 7 or 8k band to bring out that action on the Neural, you’ll get the sparkle but not the organic action.
The stock SLO has that 7-8k sparkle and then it closes the envelope with the bleed off naturally.
The EQ boosting on the Neural to match the snarl in the that range will work for the hits, but not for the recoil.
The analog SLO circuit opens and closes the high mids percussively, it was Mike Soldano’s AI
I did the same thing and I'm happy with it.
Damn that real SLO sounds 🔥
He always has the coolest shirts I swear. I just bought a badass rigs of doom beany
Thank you for your work! It's always very interesting.
Please tell me, when comparing, was Bright activated on the original SLO100?
Sounds great the amp sim. I think the big difference its the harmonic distortion and the response to the sound
Good video fluff
The plugin sounds compressed, but this can be resolved! I think its more than worth the money, sounds really great!
It sounds like there may be a duplication of power amp in the cab section of the neural which adds the brighter and deeper of the amp if you have a reactive loadbox.
Loving the CKY vibes with the riffs!
The real amp sounds a bit brighter to me. Overall though the plugin seems to sound great! Thanks for the video 🤘
Absolutely great comparison shootout dude. Either when listening through my ATH-M20x headphones, or my Kali LP8s? It's a damn near "splitting hairs" argument against modern technology at this point. I definitely hear more top frequencies cutting through with the physical amp, but again like you said, that's an easy EQ tweak away from physically dropping an additional $3,800 on some wiggly air pressure. "Not that there's anything wrong with that."
After many years of personally regretful and subjectively biased "cork sniffing" snobbery when regarding amp emulation in general? Combined with a short supply of "disposable income"?
I've honestly been a straight up crow eating 21st century digital boy for a few years now with little remorse.
I actually just scored an old Axe-Fx Ultra unit as a gift the other day, and I genuinely couldn't be freakin' happier right now.
I do predict that Neural, and their game changing Quadcore flagship hardware technology, as becoming the new top dog in the tone yard, but ever since some variance of "component emulation" tech has become market mainstream?
There's really no excuse these days for shitty guitar tone other than laziness, inexperience, or the Dunning Kruger Effect IMO.
Solid content amigo.
Stay gold Fluff!
Cheers!
Dang!!! That Neural DSP Soldano SLO-100 plugin sounds impressive!!!
I would bet that the extra presence and saturation from the original amp came from the A/D conversion in the Ox Box as that's the only difference really in the signal chains. But like you said, its nothing a slightly knob turning in the plugin wouldn't fix. Neural DSP is on a roll!
My favorite plugin ever
With the discount They are offering now and my repeat customer discount for $79 bucks this is the most amazing plug in I have ever seen.
Almost the same ! Very good!
Very good demo, the neural is very close and it could easily be argued that two real slo amps would sound just as different using the same settings due to part variance.
Amp sims have really come a long way.
LOL! So true - I remember being blown away by the first Guitar Rig years ago and today it sounds s%$t, and now... well - I no longer own any hardware, put it that way!
I've been impressed with Amplitube.
Cool sounded great fluff can I ask what monitors you use im sure there very expensive that bieng said in your personal opinion which I value what would be a great affordable brand or model of monitors that you could honestly be happy playing through everyday thanks fluff tim from london ontarioo 🇨🇦
"This is my clean tone"
3:10
lmao that gave me a good giggle xD
That's a very impressive plugin, but I'd have loved to hear it with the EQ tweaks to see how it matched up to the real thing.
pot values, master volume position, all little things adding up to the slight EQ change. it FEELS the same. the gain texture is the same. that's huge.
the neural needs a little bit less of mids on the mix and then its reeeeeeeealy close. AWESOME REVIEW!
The sim did seem a lil muddy, but like fluff said, with a lil eq you can get em sounding the same. That plug in sounds great!
The real amp sounds better, but the difference is not $3000+ to my ears. Bit of EQ and all that mucky midrange will be sorted
I've learned the amp still sounds better. I'm not sure you can get the plug-in to sound identical with an eq move, but you might get it closer with that free Steven Slate plug-in called Revival.
With that said, the plug-in sounds awesome. IF you had the budget though, but not the budget to buy the amp, getting someone to reamp through the SLO could still be on the table.
Alot of it has to do with playing feel, not just the sound. And that feel can make all the difference in the world.
@@ronniejacobsen3000 what does feel even mean tho? I play the same things with the same feeling thru my 6505 or a neural plugin. It's all in our heads.
@@boarderking133 I almost never play tube amp, when I first play tube amp 7 years ago, it blew my mind. I still remember how good it was to this day. I never have the same feeling with plugin. There is certain quality, I don't know, it sounds more 3D ish. I never get that in plugin
@@ronniejacobsen3000 no it doesn't, that's a bunch of bullshit. Just hit the damn open strings and compare the amp sound quality to the software. You don't even to "dig in" an amp, that only works on a fretboard and strings - it's still gonna be the same amp.
Pretty sweet
it dose sound amazing
Even on a phone you can hear the difference. Will still buy the plugin :D
So it is interesting that they were that close yet still so different at the exact same settings. So it raises questions like "Is this just a modeling thing?" "Is it an amp thing? Tubes, components, etc?" "Any plugin settings like input impedance?"
There was definitely something different hearing them A-B, but if someone gave me the mix and said "Real or plugin" other than just assuming everything's digital now not sure I could have guessed it.
Well heres the thing... If you do this same exact process and test with two legitimate SLO100s.... youre gonna get the same results as this video mate.
Great video! What drum plug in were you using? That sounded amazing!
Real cool, I was surprised none of the big guitar channels I follow made this video on release. Just wanted to hear opinions of people who are into SLO. The release video sounded really promising with Soldano's commentary.
The Neural DSP is so much more clinical. The sound is there but the real SLO is juicier and... bigger. I wonder if tolerances can make the difference. Is your SLO old or new release? Wonder which one they modeled. Perhaps newer with Soldano's consulting, it's probably tweaked how he'd like it to be today.
Hi thanks for the great video. Question - how do you record electric guitar in a home studio? I know one way is to use a plug in. How would you record electric guitar using an amplifier? Please explain to me. I am new at this home recording. Thank you - John
Honestly, that software one could absolutely hang with the real one with some processing. Definitely loving how software developers are making really high dollar amps available (in some sense) to players on more of a budget.
You could really hear the difference in the palm mutes. The plug in when palm muted sound way scratchy where the real amp had that good plam muted low end thump
Modellers in general seem to have that scratch issue, Axe Fx, Kemper, Plug-ins, etc. Using an IR Box though seems to also give that effect to Real amps. When I watch these demos, and the guys use something like a Two Notes Captor or Cab Clone, it really makes a tube head sound digitized, over micing a cab. Possibly more so than say a Kemper into a Tube Power Amp, into cab, with a mic.
@@ABHORRANCE831 it's like it drys out the signal if that makes any sense. Something about Tubes I just don't see being replicated. It's harder to tell in a full mix (to my ears) but in live settings you can definitely make out a difference between the tube/mic setup vs a direct signal from a digital amp
@@ABHORRANCE831 100% true. I also find the IRs to be the most problematic factor compared to real cabs.
I think the next video should be you doing some processing to make the Neural sound closer to the real thing and then doing an A/B
done.
soundcloud.com/bob493/slo-vs-vst-plugin
This took about ... 5 seconds to cut and splice everything, eq it out and level audio.
The differences go from "eh thats pretty good!" to "I cant fucking hear a difference without direct AB comparison".
The real amp is always the first sample, the vst is always the second sample. I put slight breaks between each comparison.
For fun though... Tell me... whats the last one :)
@@JgHaverty Thanks for this. Sounds like the plugin at first, then like it switches to the real amp near the end. Happy to be wrong, though!
@@davesacre First, very good! But... You're both right AND wrong haha. You're somehow the only one to figure out I used both! So I have them split 8 times; and spliced in. You very likely noticed my "split" when it goes into the palm mutes; this was left in intentionally. I wanted an easy to point out but potentially ignorable solution; that I could "point out" if people had doubts. If I just time correct the audio there, and synchronize it, Im not sure it would be discernible... but the fact is youre the only person to figure that much out at least lol.
I think I should have lead with the plug part on the chugs... lol That said, just a fun 10 minute project. The best part is the people that apparently have super human hearing enough to tell how "shitty" this VST is, are somehow unable to figure out that its both real and plugin on the last track, despite me making it *somewhat* obvious. :D
@@JgHaverty Yep, I totally noticed at the palm muting part, but I had to click back and forth between clips to tell. :) From 2:23-2:41, I still only notice that one change, even after clicking around to check. I'm a plugin user, but it's fun and a good exercise to compare!
@@davesacre The main reason is because Im not directly "cutting" the sound, Im ducking the audio instead of cutting and pasting, and then using a dawmer multiband that gives it a "fluid" sound without changing the outputs. I was ... quite surprised what resulted, but like I said, I had to put the "cut" in to be able to point out that it was actually fucked with lol.
That said, you have to keep in mind, Im using output audio from a compressed video on youtube that further compresses the sound, into my DAW, where Im digitally messing with it, then I have to compress the audio AGAIN to render it in a fashion that wont take 16 hours, then I load it up to soundcloud which then again compresses it... to your computers sound card which compresses the audio, to your headphones or speakers which again will color the sound. As long as its "close" you can play around with things and make them identical really; the power in VST's now is immense.
That said, I enjoy how the VST SLO sounds, but CLEARLY the real deal is going to be superior. What actually impresses me the most about it though, is how it "feels". Its not something you can easily verbalize or explain with words, and unfortunately its not something you can quantify either; so we're stuck with a "Trust me". The SLO plugin "feels" amazing. Its far away superior to any digital solution I've played with; axe fx included. Like people are focusing wayyyyy too much on the sound quality. You can take a FREE vst amp sim, quad track it, master it with some multiband compressors and EQ's, then level everything and pan appropriately and it WILL sound good. Wont feel great to play though.
there is a difference but for the price difference for the real amp i think the plug in is damn good thanks for the video !
Definitely a difference but not a $3000+ difference. Easily EQ'd to get even closer. Most impressive!
the demon song reminds of Hell Is For Heroes - You Drove Me To It :D
From what I’m hearing after listening to the A/B tracks, the plug-in sounds like there a blanket over the speakers in contrast to the amp which has more clarity, but they both sound great!!
exactly what i thought lmao
I have been using the Archetype Nolly Plugin from Neural DSP during my last recordings (combined with some other IRs) because I like the 5150 feel of that "amp" (could get some "buzzsaw" tones out of it as well) and planned getting the Archetype Gojira....well, THIS changes everything. Neural DSP just nailed it again and makes NI, IK and even Overloud stuff look like toys (I used them a lot in the past). Audio Assault and ML Sound Lab are great as well, by the way.
Love ML sound lab. Their easier on the cpu than the neural.
I think the only downside from ML soundlab is their still improving their products.
But neural is final, so there are not so complete feature like in neural.
But i use ML soundlab more often now after getting the cb4 is killer
THU Overloud (rig slo100) sounds better and more accurate than Neural
I am sure adding a little noise to the raw di track 'before/after' the plugin can get you closer to the sound. Perhaps I am wrong but just a thought.
The amp sim definitely sounds more mid focused and the highs are rolled up and the real one sound scooped and have the top-end that cuts through the mix. The question now is if the knob settings are totally the same for both especially the master knob at it will definitely change the character and voicing of the amp, and for this demo I think the amp sim's overdrive master knob is cranked up versus the real one.
I have a request. Just for fun, I want to see a back-to-back comparison between the Soldano SLO, The PEAVEY 5150 (or 6505), and the EVH 5150. I am curious to see the differences IF ANY in Eddie's tone over the years.
hey fluff, did you make sure the eq on the plugin was off, usually its boosted and cut on weird areas
It sounds close enough that I'd feel silly as fuck to pay 4k for the real thing.
In fact, I ll dream playing with the real thing! But for recording or playing with headphones damn right!
Completely NOT indiscernible in the mix, still a really obvious difference. However, I get the direction Neural is going, and I like it. I prefer Neural's version in the mix. Much like how I love your excited treblez in your stuff. Super cool that Neural and a couple of other companies are attempting to release mix-ready tones. They captured the Soldano and gave it a little boost to cut through, I'm cool with that. Also, I'm 47 years old and above 16k things get iffy :)
I'd like to see this same comparison with AMPed Roots 👍
Curious how do you run the output of the hardware Soldano amp into the cab sim?
great video... the amp would obviously take more time and money to dial in high quality recorded sounds however the end result is glorious and you have that badass legendary Soldano amp sitting there. the plug in is superb for what it is but still doesn't recreate the feeling of the live amp in a room scenario.
I mean, thats kind of the point, no?
@@JgHaverty yes the point is to make a great video... agreed.
@@wendelllaffin240 Im... pretty sure I somehow replied to the wrong thing lol; I dont even know what that would mean here haha
@@JgHaverty I just ran with it... lol because I wasn't sure either.
@@wendelllaffin240 lol i figured as much there haha.
Thanks for the review, how do you compare it with quad cortex ?
I open a new project and I open a audio track but It does't show up my new amplitude or ik multimedia plugs
Nice comparison, the real one sounds "juicier" but like you said a simple eq move could change the plugin to do that, but i think the real one gives off a richer sound, say if you eq'ed the amp to sound more like the plugin it would sound better. I prefered the plugin here actually only because i liked the eq of it more even though you could tell the real one was giving more richer tones it was eq'ed a little too juicey for my liking.
Upper harmonic content is always what seems to be missing in a plug-in. This one too. But for the price. Damn good!
each one hard panned on either side would sound huge!!
Awesome review! Which desk is that btw?