Hey Mark, I own the original and I gotta say your enthusiasm and stellar setting/tone choices for 2.0 made we want to get up in the middle of the night and wake the household to a full on SLO Dreamscape Tidal Wave. ( I wisely chose to just listen twice ….)
Thanks for this detailed and informative review. Related specifically to reverbs and delays, over the last 5 years I've found it increasingly more challenging to discern: 1) Is this pedal or plugin raising the bar - can it deliver a noticeable tonal improvement to a track or lead to a less muddy mix 2) Does it do something different or offer a unique characteristic that I can't approximate with what I already have 2) Does it offer workflow advantages and is the learning curve reasonable (or will I get frustrated and never harness it's full value) The 5-year reference isn't arbitrary. It coincides with the point I started committing seriously to developing production skills, and transitioned from live gigs to primarily writing/recording. The challenge isn't a lack of understanding of different types of plate/spring/chamber/modeled reverbs or the variety of delays. Delays are a bit less of an issue. I know I want a combination of a real tape echo unit and analog delay pedal, augmented with plugins when I want to incorporate a digital delay or a unique character. In terms of delay, I've acquired what I need. However, the only Reverb pedal I own is the Big Sky I've had on my board forever. I've added quite a few upper echelon reverb plugins and I'm using these plugins almost exclusively. Specific for reverb on guitar, I feel like something is missing. I've seen a lot of really intriguing reverb pedals hit market the last few years, but haven't been able to pull the trigger. I have a few questions (all in a recording context, not that interested for live purposes). 1) Are you turning to this pedal as a go-to option for recording initial tracks? If so, how often (i.e. where does it rank in your options). 2) Are you incorporating it as a post-effect, if so, just on guitar tracks or other instruments? 3) I'm assuming you wouldn't be making this video if you didn't recommend it, but is this the reverb you consider best-in-class for ambient/textural tones and for generating movement/depth in a mix? 4) What are the one or two things that make it standout from the very crowded field? Thanks
Got this on Black Friday, but had never played the original SLö… so I’ve been waiting for a for an awesome deep dive that included the new features. Thanks a million!!!
@@onzkicg Maybe I'm late to the party, but I can highly recommend checking out the KMA Cirrus for ambience, altho it may be hard to get outside Europe. It's a 2-in-1 delay & reverb for $200
From 1999. I had some amazing ambiance pedals, for example, Ibanez DE-7 Delay/Echo, so I know what I want when I Hear it, and even before. It's like when you stumble on a pedal that you just feel you will stick with it like it's made exactly for you. That's the feeling I get over this one, not an owner, yet. Love the video.
Bro you’re my musical idol at the moment.. my goal is to be able to improvise and write jams like this at home and experiment. Dope videos and dope playing mate
Thanks for the great demo! I play at my church and this is nearly a must have for that. Update: one is in the mail so of course I'm back watching this vid 😂
Thanks for showcasing the pedal without modulation and stuff, I've searched for this for ages. I'm selling my beloved Strymon Flint and getting one of these I think.
I have a Slotva on the way and I’ve been digging around the internet for a nice informative video like this so I won’t have to read the manual lol. Pleasantly surprised with the variety of sounds and your playing is perfect to demo this reverb. Some of these dudes be running it into a cranked Marshall playing Johnny B Good and I’m like bro that’s not how you ambient. Now I want a volante tho, thanks a lot lol
I’ve noticed this pedal sounds the best, when used with an actual amplifier for some reason. Never had the best luck with it when used with my iridium.
i dont have this one yet but i own the mako R1 and the lore pedals. so so cool, still trying to develop my ambient voice, if that makes sense. i keep forgetting about the sustain switch so maybe i'll try jamming with that. nice vid, subscribed!
I think they lost out big on the Mako as the switches are falling out... this is an incredibly wise idea to redo a solid pedal with a user friendly upgrade. I think this steers the ship back on course. Very smart.
I’ve never had any issues with my mako series pedals? I have a few prototypes and a few production models that I’ve flown with, played live with, etc and never once had a switch fall out on me?
Thinking about replacing my SLO with this one. Alogical advancement along the same atmospheric layers and restructuring on what has been working pretty well. ☮
Honest question that only WA can answer... Why no stereo? Is it simply builder preference? I love this, but it's too big for me to have it as an early chain verb. I would want it at the end, so I would at least need stereo pass-through so that I'm not summing my whole chain to mono. I have this issue with my ARP87 as well.
@@markjohnstonofficial I get that to a point. I would think that the 1 series would be more for the "straight-ahead" sound and these for ambient trippy vibes. So, IMHO, the 1 series crowd would be less likely to need/use a stereo feature.
@@revbaxter3681 I agree..You would think the ambient stereo reverbs like the Slo and Lore would be ambient as a lot of Ambient musicians play in Stereo..And the R1 being more straightforward for rock or middle of the road heads would be mono.but it's the opposite.🤔
Now that the slotva is 130 on SW, i wonder, for scratching a shoegaze itch, soft focus, loomer, or slotva? I have independent chorus and AD to run it through. My only "ambient" gimmick is a tera echo...
Great intro song! I was wondering what that sunburst one pickup guitar is? It sounded wonderful and reminded me of Robert Smith’s lead sound (lead vocals + guitar in The Cure, for those wondering)
Great video as usual, do u think we can get this sort of modulated reverb with the the GFI spéculer tempus I m particularly interested in the dark mode vs the anti shimmer of the GFI st. Tks
So it’s all played in on a midi keyboard using whatever stock drum sounds in LUNA. Then I use Slate Trigger 2 to sound replace and I mix / tweak from there.
Hey Mark, thanks a bunch for the deep review ! I'm wondering how the sustain function works when you keep a trail and then continue playing. Does it feed the additional audio in the endless trail or not ? I need a reverb with which I could achieve a sort of freeze function and keep playing without feeding the rest in the freezed section. Is that achieveable with the Slö ? thanks in advance !
It just freezes the one tail that your playing when you engage it. It does seem to get crazy after you leave it on for a long time like it gets louder. It functions like a freeze tho. I use that setting quite a bit on mine.
I.got this running through with an Alesis quadraverb with an lne6 dl4 it's diaphanous say the least now I'm look for a Watkins copicat echo unit no luck though but neighbors actually enjoy it and have requested playing at heavy drinking hrs
![ILLSLICK - KILLSHOT REMIX [FULL VERSION]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/RIK8RrqIAzE/mqdefault.jpg)
Had my SLO pedal for a year. It just gets better and better. So in love with it. Recently stacked it with an Earthquaker Afterneath. Beautiful pair.
That sounds like an excellent amount of reverb.
I run the slotva into my Keely Caverns sounds epic!! I feel like it goes well with other verbs really well
@@jbpmusic4900 I stack a Fathom with a KMA Cirrus, on top of a Hungry Robots 'The Wash' and a Old Blood Noise Endeavors Minim.
Tony, it's time to get a Fathom! And at the end of the month the new 'Lore' pedal. I already pre-ordered mine. You should do the same!
@@PedalPoopers that sounds like the deep end of the pool!! I'll have to check some of those out.
To be perfectly honestly with you mark …I just come to listen to your awesome playing. I find it really inspiring mate. Thank you man
Expression control for the filter would make this a dream pedal for me
Yes! And stereo output!
Hey Mark, I own the original and I gotta say your enthusiasm and stellar setting/tone choices for 2.0 made we want to get up in the middle of the night and wake the household to a full on SLO Dreamscape Tidal Wave. ( I wisely chose to just listen twice ….)
Thanks to this video I went out and bought my own Slotva and am absolutely stunned at how amazing it sounds.
this intro song is SO good.
Ah, your music, your way to explain, your deep commitment to ambient guitar! 💯💯💯
I appreciate that!
Your deep dives are my night time chill out time
I support this. Someday I'll start putting together some "no talking" versions of these
Thanks for this detailed and informative review. Related specifically to reverbs and delays, over the last 5 years I've found it increasingly more challenging to discern:
1) Is this pedal or plugin raising the bar - can it deliver a noticeable tonal improvement to a track or lead to a less muddy mix
2) Does it do something different or offer a unique characteristic that I can't approximate with what I already have
2) Does it offer workflow advantages and is the learning curve reasonable (or will I get frustrated and never harness it's full value)
The 5-year reference isn't arbitrary. It coincides with the point I started committing seriously to developing production skills, and transitioned from live gigs to primarily writing/recording. The challenge isn't a lack of understanding of different types of plate/spring/chamber/modeled reverbs or the variety of delays. Delays are a bit less of an issue. I know I want a combination of a real tape echo unit and analog delay pedal, augmented with plugins when I want to incorporate a digital delay or a unique character. In terms of delay, I've acquired what I need. However, the only Reverb pedal I own is the Big Sky I've had on my board forever. I've added quite a few upper echelon reverb plugins and I'm using these plugins almost exclusively. Specific for reverb on guitar, I feel like something is missing. I've seen a lot of really intriguing reverb pedals hit market the last few years, but haven't been able to pull the trigger.
I have a few questions (all in a recording context, not that interested for live purposes).
1) Are you turning to this pedal as a go-to option for recording initial tracks? If so, how often (i.e. where does it rank in your options).
2) Are you incorporating it as a post-effect, if so, just on guitar tracks or other instruments?
3) I'm assuming you wouldn't be making this video if you didn't recommend it, but is this the reverb you consider best-in-class for ambient/textural tones and for generating movement/depth in a mix?
4) What are the one or two things that make it standout from the very crowded field?
Thanks
Can't keep watching as I recently sold my beloved Slö and every single second of this video crushes my soul.
Great news, there’s a new one with presets.
Got this on Black Friday, but had never played the original SLö… so I’ve been waiting for a for an awesome deep dive that included the new features. Thanks a million!!!
Beautiful sounds. I have several reverb units and the slo is my go to reverb pedal.
Hi you still use it, a keeper? Is it for ambience shaping? My first dive to a $100 above pedal.. so many to choose from making it hard 😂
@@onzkicg Maybe I'm late to the party, but I can highly recommend checking out the KMA Cirrus for ambience, altho it may be hard to get outside Europe. It's a 2-in-1 delay & reverb for $200
What a fantastically thorough demo and review. Thank you. I think I need to bring one of these home.
Två means two in Swedish (the å is said like Oh, ö is like oo). So it's the Slö 2 (probably said like Sloooo tvoh'uh)
th-cam.com/video/azcAlIlPAJw/w-d-xo.html
The Ö is the vocal sound of WORD and Å is the sound WAR. Simple.
Beautiful video of this amazing pedal...have the slö version and I love it! Thanks for the beautiful video and play, never tired of seeing this! 🙌🏻💜
From 1999. I had some amazing ambiance pedals, for example, Ibanez DE-7 Delay/Echo, so I know what I want when I Hear it, and even before. It's like when you stumble on a pedal that you just feel you will stick with it like it's made exactly for you. That's the feeling I get over this one, not an owner, yet. Love the video.
I recently picked up a slotva for myself the gold version it is the bomb I love it❤ especially the latching and the ducking part of it is awesome
Bro you’re my musical idol at the moment.. my goal is to be able to improvise and write jams like this at home and experiment. Dope videos and dope playing mate
Hey Mark, the intro song is out of this world!🖤
That adjustment for the modulation was definitely in the slo as well
Thanks for the great demo! I play at my church and this is nearly a must have for that.
Update: one is in the mail so of course I'm back watching this vid 😂
Thanks for showcasing the pedal without modulation and stuff, I've searched for this for ages. I'm selling my beloved Strymon Flint and getting one of these I think.
Get a Slö and still keep the Flint. They are very different reverbs.
Best reverb pedal in the last 5 years
Looking into this pedal, and you are playing the Johnny Marr fender I have. Couldn’t be a more perfect demo video - I guess it was meant to be 😅
So nice...Thank you. Another to buy and play.
I have a Slotva on the way and I’ve been digging around the internet for a nice informative video like this so I won’t have to read the manual lol. Pleasantly surprised with the variety of sounds and your playing is perfect to demo this reverb. Some of these dudes be running it into a cranked Marshall playing Johnny B Good and I’m like bro that’s not how you ambient. Now I want a volante tho, thanks a lot lol
I’ve noticed this pedal sounds the best, when used with an actual amplifier for some reason. Never had the best luck with it when used with my iridium.
If you go straight into your nutsack before anything it sounds amazing
i dont have this one yet but i own the mako R1 and the lore pedals. so so cool, still trying to develop my ambient voice, if that makes sense. i keep forgetting about the sustain switch so maybe i'll try jamming with that. nice vid, subscribed!
Love it but still waiting for the StereSLÖ
Definitely need stereo. Was thinking about the Neunaber MkII but I love my Slo too much to sell it
Was going to point out why Walrus didn't choose to make this iteration stereo.
(R1)
@@markjohnstonofficial they did a stereo julia pedal though... they forsure should have done a stereo version of this imo.
@@DelScully julia is their only stereo chorus though. The slo wouldn’t be their only stereo verb.
I have several reverb units and the slo is my go to
Awesome playing and review!! I like running this into the caverns getting that shimmer in there with the dark mode is cool sounding.
I also do this! Not anymore with a Caverns (I still have it) I now do the same thing with a Dark World.
Really cool intro !
Ahh. Thank you; I am a big fan of the work you guys do so that means a lot.
@@markjohnstonofficial Thank you Mark ♥
What a great review. Thank you 🙏.
Absolutely love ver 1.0…but man, nex iteration should just go full Mako version with stereo and midi. It’s just that good. Walrus knows it.
I think they lost out big on the Mako as the switches are falling out... this is an incredibly wise idea to redo a solid pedal with a user friendly upgrade. I think this steers the ship back on course. Very smart.
I’ve never had any issues with my mako series pedals? I have a few prototypes and a few production models that I’ve flown with, played live with, etc and never once had a switch fall out on me?
Thinking about replacing my SLO with this one. Alogical advancement along the same atmospheric layers and restructuring on what has been working pretty well. ☮
Pretty rad.
Honest question that only WA can answer... Why no stereo? Is it simply builder preference? I love this, but it's too big for me to have it as an early chain verb. I would want it at the end, so I would at least need stereo pass-through so that I'm not summing my whole chain to mono. I have this issue with my ARP87 as well.
Probably because they make an R1 and a D1 that both do the stereo thing and the Slo(tva) is got a different market segment than those
@@markjohnstonofficial I get that to a point. I would think that the 1 series would be more for the "straight-ahead" sound and these for ambient trippy vibes. So, IMHO, the 1 series crowd would be less likely to need/use a stereo feature.
If I'm wrong to think that this would be too muddy at the front of the chain (before my stereo effects) I'm open to hearing that.
@@revbaxter3681 I agree..You would think the ambient stereo reverbs like the Slo and Lore would be ambient as a lot of Ambient musicians play in Stereo..And the R1 being more straightforward for rock or middle of the road heads would be mono.but it's the opposite.🤔
Now that the slotva is 130 on SW, i wonder, for scratching a shoegaze itch, soft focus, loomer, or slotva? I have independent chorus and AD to run it through. My only "ambient" gimmick is a tera echo...
Just bought a Slo, and now want the Tensor as well #rabbithole
Great intro song! I was wondering what that sunburst one pickup guitar is? It sounded wonderful and reminded me of Robert Smith’s lead sound (lead vocals + guitar in The Cure, for those wondering)
It’s a ‘69 Teisco e-110. Old Japanese guitar I recently got.
Thanks. Is it the goldfoil that makes *that* sound?
@@jeanb.3493 chorus + old goldfoils + great lush reverb
@@markjohnstonofficial Thanks :-)
Great video as usual, do u think we can get this sort of modulated reverb with the the GFI spéculer tempus I m particularly interested in the dark mode vs the anti shimmer of the GFI st. Tks
Intro song is super cool! How did you recorded this drums? Is it plugin or programm or something analog?
So it’s all played in on a midi keyboard using whatever stock drum sounds in LUNA. Then I use Slate Trigger 2 to sound replace and I mix / tweak from there.
I can‘t decide between a Slötva and Dark World for Post-Rock/Ambient. Any suggestion?
Edit: I just got both 😀 Credit card is burning right now...
Which did you prefer?
Get a Afterneath too!
Great video - Wondering if the R1 can also achieve the same sounds this does generally speaking?
The R1 has some excellent huge ambient tones but it’s not going to have these specific algorithms.
My Slo is a little noisy. It has a noticeable white noice. But I love the sounds it makes.
It feels and sounds like you let these pedals do the song writing, you hands just make it happen
Slo or Afterneath V3 and why? I can't decide what one to get. Even though I want both. Unfortunately that's not in my budget.
I bought the Alabs Cetus and I'm having serious buyers remorse. I fell for the hype.
Mark, just make an album already so I can buy it.
A couple instrumental albums are out on my Patreon 👍🏼
Why is the sustain button on before you switched the bypass on
hi @mark johnston sorry newb question. what do you think is the best dial settings and mode for a spring reverb for this slotva?
A different reverb pedal entirely. This isn’t really gonna get you anywhere near a spring sound
Hey Mark, thanks a bunch for the deep review ! I'm wondering how the sustain function works when you keep a trail and then continue playing. Does it feed the additional audio in the endless trail or not ? I need a reverb with which I could achieve a sort of freeze function and keep playing without feeding the rest in the freezed section. Is that achieveable with the Slö ?
thanks in advance !
It just freezes the one tail that your playing when you engage it. It does seem to get crazy after you leave it on for a long time like it gets louder. It functions like a freeze tho. I use that setting quite a bit on mine.
I.got this running through with an Alesis quadraverb with an lne6 dl4 it's diaphanous say the least now I'm look for a Watkins copicat echo unit no luck though but neighbors actually enjoy it and have requested playing at heavy drinking hrs
Sweet I have a DL4 MkII on the board and a SLÖTVA in the mail! A basically unlimited combo
Hey you finally picked up a tensor! Secret weapons coming?
A LOT to learn, like with any Red Panda gear. Would love to do a proper deep dive on it sometime in the next couple months.
@@markjohnstonofficial same here! I got mine in November and still keep learning new tricks, really opens up with a exp pedal imo
What was your signal chain in this video?
Ha. Right after I wrote this you answered. Why delay and chorus before and not after?
Where did you get the second tier for your Templeboard?
It’s the Goodwood Audio Lift
The Descent has presets and is not midi by the way
Is it mono or stereo?
Mono. There's a new stereo version out now. (More expensive, of course.)
Wait… this goes full wet?? The original did not?
Original def goes full wet.
Your mom goes full wet.
Just crank the mix knob. Now you need the bucket and mop. 🤫
Can you please buy me a Slötva please thank you :')
Too bad it is not also stereo!!