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Guitar World
Guitar World
Entertainment
Matt Parker

“It’s a monster – the most powerful Magnatone to date, delivering enough unbelievable tone, gain and headroom to fill a stadium”: Magnatone’s mega-loud signature Slash head the SL-100 is available in new Blackout Edition finishes

Magnatone Slash SL-100 Blackout Edition tube amp head.

Magnatone has announced a new iteration of guitar icon Slash’s signature amp head, the SL-100 – a recovered, dark take on the same model, dubbed the Blackout Edition.

The Blackout gets its name from the black cotton croc covering used on the cabinetry, which continues a reptilian theme started by its predecessor, the Limited Edition SL-100, finished in anaconda green covering.

The firm’s US tube amp builds are renowned for their volume and punchy clarity and the SL-100 has certainly been no exception. 

“It’s a monster,” notes the firm. “The most powerful Magnatone to date, delivering enough unbelievable tone, gain and headroom to fill a stadium.”

“I’ve become a big fan of the Magnatone sound,” adds Slash. “And it’s been an honor to help design a 100-watt amp with them. I think we put the Magnatone tone and clarity together with some raw power and crunch. The combination is aggressive and sweet simultaneously, it’s pretty awesome.”

(Image credit: Magnatone)

Under the hood, or rather the cotton croc, the Blackout Edition SL-100 remains unchanged. 

Obviously, before the shock announcement that Slash was collaborating with Magnatone came late last year [yes, we’re easily startled – Ed], the guitar icon was renowned for his association with Marshall Amplification. 

As such, it makes sense then that the SL-100 draws on elements of Magnatone’s own British-flavored Super Fifty-Nine M-80

That head’s name and design is the US firm’s take on the classic Marshall 1959 Super Lead (one of the so-called Plexi builds, favored by everyone from Eddie Van Halen to Angus Young and Jimi Hendrix).

The SL-100 combines that vintage-style circuit (activated with the Lo switch) with a new Hi gain channel, inspired by the later Marshall JCM800 tones that defined Slash’s early Guns N’ Roses output. 

(Image credit: Magnatone)

In keeping with the classic British spec, there are four EL34 power tubes and four 12AX7 preamp tubes. The two channels have independent gain controls, a shared four-band EQ and a tube-buffered effects loop, plus a master volume control and two inputs.

There’s no official word on the Blackout’s pricing yet. However, we’re hoping it will shave something off the chunky $4,899 charged for the original Limited Edition SL-100.

The Magnatone SL-100 Blackout Edition is reportedly available for pre-order, but we’ve yet to see it surface via retailers just yet – so, in the meantime, keep your eyes on the Magnatone site for more information.

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