Neural DSP Soldano VS the real McCoy

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blackstratblues
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Neural DSP Soldano VS the real McCoy

Post by blackstratblues »

I downloaded a trial of the Neural DSP Soldano SLO100 plugin. I've been a user of the original SLO100 for the last couple of years (mine is from 1993) so I decided to do a comparison.

I'm using only the amp section of the plugin, and the real amp is loaded down with a Suhr Reactive Load. Both are running through the same IR (#23 from the UAD Suhr SE100 plugin) to level the playing field. The guitar is a Fender Eric Johnson Strat with Suhr Thornbucker+ and V60LP pickups.

For the comparison bit skip to 4:18.

I was pretty impressed, let me know what you think 🙂


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Re: Neural DSP Soldano VS the real McCoy

Post by olegmcnoleg »

There's a lot more presence on your amp than on the simulation, the sim is darker. Having said that, the sim version is bang on what I'd expect for a studio recording of a Soldano in a mix.

Nice work!

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Re: Neural DSP Soldano VS the real McCoy

Post by crowbgood1 »

Great playing!

Listening to the a/b it seems like the real amp is breathing more (mic technique, maybe). The plugin sounds lovely....
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Re: Neural DSP Soldano VS the real McCoy

Post by Bg »

blackstratblues wrote: Mon Mar 22, 2021 3:16 pm I downloaded a trial of the Neural DSP Soldano SLO100 plugin. I've been a user of the original SLO100 for the last couple of years (mine is from 1993) so I decided to do a comparison.

I'm using only the amp section of the plugin, and the real amp is loaded down with a Suhr Reactive Load. Both are running through the same IR (#23 from the UAD Suhr SE100 plugin) to level the playing field. The guitar is a Fender Eric Johnson Strat with Suhr Thornbucker+ and V60LP pickups.

For the comparison bit skip to 4:18.

I was pretty impressed, let me know what you think 🙂

Having played both, how do you feel - a lot is said about the word feel.... Does it feel the same? Its pretty easy to sound the same.
So, is that low alcohol or no alcohol at all? mmmm, no alcohol, do you want to try it? Noooooooooo.

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Re: Neural DSP Soldano VS the real McCoy

Post by blackstratblues »

olegmcnoleg wrote: Mon Mar 22, 2021 3:41 pm There's a lot more presence on your amp than on the simulation, the sim is darker. Having said that, the sim version is bang on what I'd expect for a studio recording of a Soldano in a mix.

Nice work!
Yup you can hear the difference in clarity here too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdFuAdXAXBk

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Re: Neural DSP Soldano VS the real McCoy

Post by blackstratblues »

crowbgood1 wrote: Mon Mar 22, 2021 6:20 pm Great playing!

Listening to the a/b it seems like the real amp is breathing more (mic technique, maybe). The plugin sounds lovely....
The amp was recorded direct too (through a Suhr Reactive Load v1), both plugin and loaded amp signal ran into the same IR/reverb settings.

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Re: Neural DSP Soldano VS the real McCoy

Post by blackstratblues »

Bg wrote: Mon Mar 22, 2021 6:22 pm

Having played both, how do you feel - a lot is said about the word feel.... Does it feel the same? Its pretty easy to sound the same.
The real amp was definitely more tactile and responsive, but I was very impressed how the plugin responded to rolling down the guitar volume. Not too many emulations do that well enough.

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Re: Neural DSP Soldano VS the real McCoy

Post by Zaulkin »

Love the playing as always.

Trying out your soldano with Mr Glyn's guitar at that gearfest is still burnt into my mind.

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Re: Neural DSP Soldano VS the real McCoy

Post by MogwaiBoy »

The amp sounds better - wider frequency spectrum / more low-midrange focus (beef, warmth, bigness, fullness etc) / more clarity, brilliance etc

BUT, if you close your eyes... Wow, the plugin is REALLY good.

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Re: Neural DSP Soldano VS the real McCoy

Post by chur »

blackstratblues wrote: Mon Mar 22, 2021 3:16 pm I downloaded a trial of the Neural DSP Soldano SLO100 plugin. I've been a user of the original SLO100 for the last couple of years (mine is from 1993) so I decided to do a comparison.
You think you'll purchase it? I've been noodling away on it over the weekend, and its definitely cool. I think it comes in at $170 or so kiwi which probably means I won't stick with it.
No one ever died of hard work.. but why take the risk..

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Re: Neural DSP Soldano VS the real McCoy

Post by blackstratblues »

chur wrote: Sun Mar 28, 2021 4:26 pm
You think you'll purchase it? I've been noodling away on it over the weekend, and its definitely cool. I think it comes in at $170 or so kiwi which probably means I won't stick with it.
I think I’ll hold out for now, the real amp through the load box will do for the time being 🙂

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