NPD: SoloDallas Storm

[RobB]

I responded to a deal through PG magazine and got $43 off retail. After playing through it during the long weekend..?

To be fair, I've only heard it through the Friedman IR-X thru my mixer/monitors and headphones. And no, I'm not going for an Angus Young sound. 

Anyway, this does pretty much what other, "leave on", preamps (EP-1, Bell Epoch, Dunlop Echoplex) do, but has a nifty limiter knob where you can dial in a bit of limiting/sustain. As you can see from the photo, it's not really cranked at all-just set at unity. I have it set where it gooses the preamp of the Friedman without adding a lot of noise. The Storm widens the spectrum of the guitar sound, making it bigger and warmer. I like what it does with my home system.

The rubber meets the road when I try it thru My SLO30 rig. Something tells me I'll have to back off the Soldano's preamp gain for best results.

I'm building a small pedalboard which will have: Shure GLXD16+ wireless, Bud-wah, SoloDallas, Carbon Copy Deluxe and EHX LesterG (w/expression pedal on the floor). 

Edited September 8, 2024 by RobB

[Disturber]

I used one for a while. But I got tired of it's hifi-ness and that it's kinda bright. I swapped it for a Way Huge Green Rhino MK IV that integrates better with my Marshalls. It has the 100 hz and 500 hz controls that work better for me for what I want to achieve. Plus I can easily go from humbucker to a p90 with a pedal that works for both, without having to mess with the amps controls. I just dial in the hz controls on the pedal on the fly.

[Dutchman]

Glad you like it!

[Jeff R]

 And no, I'm not going for an Angus Young sound. 

Not that there is anything wrong with that - who can fault a legendary cranked Marshall tone?

This resides on my board quite frequently, knob at 2 to 3 o'clock makes R2 on my Boogie Mark III sound like a rabid badger on methamphetamines.

[BubbaVO]

6 hours ago, Jeff R said:

 And no, I'm not going for an Angus Young sound. 

Not that there is anything wrong with that - who can fault a legendary cranked Marshall tone?

This resides on my board quite frequently, knob at 2 to 3 o'clock makes R2 on my Boogie Mark III sound like a rabid badger on methamphetamines.

Describes my sound on an acoustic guitar. 

[HSB0531]

6 hours ago, Jeff R said:

 And no, I'm not going for an Angus Young sound. 

Not that there is anything wrong with that - who can fault a legendary cranked Marshall tone?

This resides on my board quite frequently, knob at 2 to 3 o'clock makes R2 on my Boogie Mark III sound like a rabid badger on methamphetamines.

" like a rabid badger on methamphetamines."

I like that description!

[RobB]

9 hours ago, Disturber said:

I used one for a while. But I got tired of it's hifi-ness and that it's kinda bright. 

Interesting. The clean punch and brightness was what appealed to me, initiallly. I found a good balance by tweaking the preamp's EQ and cab sims. Again, I haven't used it with a real amp yet, so we'll see how that goes

[Disturber]

9 hours ago, RobB said:

Interesting. The clean punch and brightness was what appealed to me, initiallly. I found a good balance by tweaking the preamp's EQ and cab sims. Again, I haven't used it with a real amp yet, so we'll see how that goes

There is a trim pot on the inside. I found it very sensitive. There is a sweet spot. To hot and the amp sounded like a harsh pile of transistors, the pedal messing up all that tube goodness. To low and the effect looses balls. But at the sweet spot the Storm sounded very good. Also, I did not dig the pedal with amps set at lower volumes at all. I worked best with a really cranked Marshall. Even if I had the amp at full but ran it through a Rivera Rockcrusher to get lower volume the pedal did not interact well. To my ears it needs the amp cranked.

Edited September 5, 2024 by Disturber

[Dutchman]

5 hours ago, Disturber said:

To my ears it needs the amp cranked

I thought it sounded better with the amp throttled up too! This was on a Ceriatone 18TMP with the EF86 Channel. 

Back in Black was a great test song with and without. With the Solo Dallas was way closer to the original!

Edited September 5, 2024 by Dutchman

[Disturber]

10 minutes ago, Dutchman said:

I thought it sounded better with the amp throttled up too! This was on a Ceriatone 18TMP with the EF86 Channel. 

Back in Black was a great test song with and without. With the Solo Dallas was way closer to the original!

I don't think I ever tested the pedal through my JTM 50 combo. Might have been spot on.

[Jeff R]

Speaking of Solo Dallas and Angus Young tone ... or better yet, beyond Angus tone into brown sound zone.

Look at the yellow circle I put in this photo that circulates online. I've read this photo is from the VHII recording sessions.

Among all that ID'ed gear, that unidentified box sure looks like the vintage Schaffer Vega wireless upon whose preamp circuitry all this Solo Dallas Marshall boosting voodoo is built.

EDITED TO ADD: After I posted, I bounced a message off a new pal I recently made who is a bona fide EVH historian, to the degree of actually being a friend who visited 5150 on a few occasions. I showed him this pic with my yellow circle and asked if it was a S/V wireless.

His reply ... Yes he did use one and I think he used it for extra gain

Edited September 5, 2024 by Jeff R

[Jakeboy]

Yup, EVH, Angus, and lots of late 70s rockers used the original SD unit…kinda like the Echoplex….the preamp becomes a major part of the tone.

[Hackubus]

I have the Solodallas TSR Classic, I think it's an earlier model which seems to be discontinued now.   I wish mine had the limiter knob like yours does. 
I agree it does kinda the same thing the Echoplex preamps do, compared to the Clinch FX EP Pre, Chasetone Secret Preamp & Cbread Epoch pre.  

Paired with my Superlead & JMP, I haven't been blown away to be honest.   It's kinda noisy too.  Hafta keep the Input & Output back off a bit.  Can't say I turn it on and get the HOLY SHIT IT'S BACK IN BLACK experience yet.

Was absolutely not a fan of the center pin positive power cable business either.  I bought it second hand, and the seller made no mention of that. Glad I caught that before just plugging it in and smoking it.   Once I sourced an A-dapter cable, all was right in the world once again.  I seem to get more milage running it at 15 volts, so I'm not a full on, card carrying 100% Negative Nancy here.

Right now, I have it on a mini board plugged in between a Clinch EP Pre and a Tube Screamer (yeah I kinda hate those too) and it makes for a nice mid forward crunchy-goosed sound with the Superlead.   I've been demoing a lot of these pedals I have trying to sort trash from treasure. 

One day, I'll try it with my Brownface Deluxe and see if it's better.  But dang, it sure has been tough peeling myself away from using the SL. 

Looks likes this:

[RobB]

On 9/5/2024 at 6:33 AM, Jeff R said:

His reply ... Yes he did use one and I think he used it for extra gain

Ding! Ding! Ding! And, the boy wins a cigah!

***Anyone else notice the Plexi crushing the pack of Winston’s?***

Edited September 10, 2024 by RobB