Why is it ?.....

[Toe-Knee]

Then again by todays standards the SLO is not really a high gain amp

yes it is
unless you only consider ENGL, peavey or the marshall JVM, which are insanely oversaturated
any amp at least as saturated as a boosted 2203 is still high gain
lol even the JCM 900 is called "high gain dual reverb"

Oh yeah its high gain. But by modern standards like VHT/Fortin/Dar/Mako etc its not. Just because something is/was called high gain when it came out it never really stays current.

[itamar101]

Not having to boost your amp with a tube screamer and such is one of the bigger things for a lot of people.

I personally cant stand to use any pedals etc and just like to go straight into the amp.

Even higher output alnicos such as the nailbomb aren't good enough as the bass response is too bloated and slow.

The miracle man does exactly what I need with my SLO. Then again by todays standards the SLO is not really a high gain amp

And this. I hate pedals. I use them only when totally nessecary for the sound I want. And even then it's usually only chorus or delay. I like my distortion coming directly from the amp, I don't like overdrive pedals. But the amp can't tighten the sound of an open sounding pickup. Solution = higher output.

I don't excactly use "high output pickups". Never more than 15k-16k, actually. And that's the bridge pickup. It's more medium-high.

[THW101]

This is an interesting question. Though in my experience even before BKP, hotter pickups beat using a boost. I guess they track faster, therefore the sound holds together better with high gain amp settings.

[richard]

Thanks for the responses, very enlightening. I don't tend to change my stuff much. I spent about twenty five years gigging with an old SG Junior which had a JB installed about half way through this period. I'm now playing a Firebird Studio with RYs through a Cornford Roadhouse. It feels pretty gainy to me but I started out playing a really bad LP copy through a Selmer T & B which refused to distort no matter how much you turned it up. I have no idea what it feels like to play a Warpig though an Engl or similar - but I'd like to try it some day.

[Zaned]

Hotter pickups in general have more midrange than the lower output ones (and less highs). Simplified, this means that the mids distort more than the low end, which means that the low end stays cleaner and tighter. This is also what your typical tube screamer pedal does; it cuts the lows slightly and adds midrange.

But there are very crisp and tight sounding low output pickups too, like the Riff Raff. I'm actually leaning towards lower output pickups these days, because of the touch sensitiveness and the (with the right pickup) woody tone. I have a serious itch of ordering a VHII or a RR set for my (warm and middy sounding) PRS McCarty. It's just that the current Cold Sweat set in it sounds so damn good for hard rock and metal. Maybe I should just by another guitar

-Zaned

[darkbluemurder]

Then again by todays standards the SLO is not really a high gain amp

yes it is
unless you only consider ENGL, peavey or the marshall JVM, which are insanely oversaturated
any amp at least as saturated as a boosted 2203 is still high gain
lol even the JCM 900 is called "high gain dual reverb"

Oh yeah its high gain. But by modern standards like VHT/Fortin/Dar/Mako etc its not. Just because something is/was called high gain when it came out it never really stays current.

Don't know about the others but I have built both preamp circuits into the same amp (a Marshall 1959 SLP RI) and to me they have about the same amount of gain.

Cheers Stephan

[ericsabbath]

Then again by todays standards the SLO is not really a high gain amp

yes it is
unless you only consider ENGL, peavey or the marshall JVM, which are insanely oversaturated
any amp at least as saturated as a boosted 2203 is still high gain
lol even the JCM 900 is called "high gain dual reverb"

Oh yeah its high gain. But by modern standards like VHT/Fortin/Dar/Mako etc its not. Just because something is/was called high gain when it came out it never really stays current.

Don't know about the others but I have built both preamp circuits into the same amp (a Marshall 1959 SLP RI) and to me they have about the same amount of gain.

Cheers Stephan

both what?  :D