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Shift Line Olympic vs Jad Freer Audio Capo

Ö

Ögon

Jan 15, 2020
241
280
#1
Hello,
I came across these too pre-amps on the inter-webs, Shift Line Olympic & Jad Freer Audio Capo, and would love to hear experiences about the differences between them.

Bold question: Can someone make a YouTube review about this, a sound comparison by putting both of them unprocessed into a mix? :)

I know there is multiple versions of the Shift Line Olympic, but any insights about whatever version vs the Jad Freer Audio CAPO is welcome. I gig regularly (1-2 times a month) and would love to add one of these in my signal chain to improve my sound.

Thanks in advance!

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#3
Admiral Chew said:
I'd be very interested in this too. The SLO is my board preamp of choice but the Capo does look very tempting.
Click to expand...
I would say i'm quite a perfectionist in sound and compared a lot of preamps in sound demos. Most of them seem to be an equalizer in a fancy housing, which is not what i am looking for, because i want something that sits really well in a mix without additional processing. In the neutral settings, these two add a color to the sound that i like. They sound like an amp and have neutral compression, that makes they fit well in a mix. But these are just my observations. I'm curious what happens if you put them in a comparison. :)

I love these 2 demo's, those precision/neck style sounds are soo good with these 2 pre-amps...:smug:




ps. i posted a youtube comment at a few videos of both preamps, asking if anyone wants to compare them. Will let you know if there are any updates!
 
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#5
I've used the SLO pretty much exclusively in studio and stage over the past couple of years; it's never let me down, always sounds great and most FOH engineers ask what I'm using because they end up doing nothing to my signal. Their cab IR's are some of the best you can get anywhere (and they're free) and the flexibility with the routing of the pedal really is second to none IMO; all that being said the CAPO is certainly on my shortlist of things to try as its routing is impressive as are the sound clips I've heard. Doubt you can go wrong with either truly though
 
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#6
chiphaleonbass said:
I've used the SLO pretty much exclusively in studio and stage over the past couple of years; it's never let me down, always sounds great and most FOH engineers ask what I'm using because they end up doing nothing to my signal. Their cab IR's are some of the best you can get anywhere (and they're free) and the flexibility with the routing of the pedal really is second to none IMO; all that being said the CAPO is certainly on my shortlist of things to try as its routing is impressive as are the sound clips I've heard. Doubt you can go wrong with either truly though
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well.. that is a huge compliment if FOH engineer do not change or add anything to the sound. Huge compliment.. :cool:

What cabsim you use most?
Do you use additional compression in your signal chain? What style of bass you use and strings? (sorry, want to know .. im a geek in this)

I noticed lately when i listen back to the live recordings that the sound engineers tend to change or add things to my sound. I havnt asked why yet.. but i assume my sound not mix friendly yet. (I use precision and Rupert Neve DI without anything else.)
 
#7
Ögon said:
well.. that is a huge compliment if FOH engineer do not change or add anything to the sound. Huge compliment.. :cool:

What cabsim you use most?
Do you use additional compression in your signal chain? What style of bass you use and strings? (sorry, want to know .. im a geek in this)

I noticed lately when i listen back to the live recordings that the sound engineers tend to change or add things to my sound. I havnt asked why yet.. but i assume my sound not mix friendly yet. (I use precision and Rupert Neve DI without anything else.)
Click to expand...

Guess I should have added I do run a Cali76 Compact bass as well before the SLO; but typically use the stock 2x15 for live sound; and depending on my needs in the studio I'll go without an IR or with if there's a split clean DI being recorded etc.. I play an AVRI 58' Precision with flats and a Serek Midwestern II typically with DR Pure Blues, so a pretty warm round nickel string. In regards to eq with the SLO I have bass and treble at noon and mids wide open typically; gain at noon as well.
 
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#8
Nice. The flats are an important bit of it too, (less high mids / treble ) but scooping the mids with rounds would get close to your sound i assume. I wouldn't mind adding a separate compressor to my sound besides the SLO or CAPO. Probably the Seymour Duncan Studio bass, that i already own but currently don't use.
 
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#9
Ögon said:
Nice. The flats are an important bit of it too, (less high mids / treble ) but scooping the mids with rounds would get close to your sound i assume. I wouldn't mind adding a separate compressor to my sound besides the SLO or CAPO. Probably the SD Studio bass.
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There's plenty of great options for compression; I'd start reading here:https://www.compressorpedalreviews.com/
 
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#11
chiphaleonbass said:
And the SLO is a based on the Fender Bassman circuit; from my understanding the mid's knob only cuts, so with it wide open there's no scoop, nor do I feel the need to cut my mids with rounds
Click to expand...

Thought it was based on hiwatt/sunn.

I have a silverface bassman 50. The original bassmans there is no volume/gain (or master/volume) on the old ones. Just volume. Master volume was a mod. And master volume bassmans were less desirable- not sure about now.

But later bassman 100, 125s and the like have master volume. So... maybe.
 
#16
chiphaleonbass said:
And the SLO is a based on the Fender Bassman circuit; from my understanding the mid's knob only cuts, so with it wide open there's no scoop, nor do I feel the need to cut my mids with rounds
Click to expand...
erratick said:
Thought it was based on hiwatt/sunn.

I have a silverface bassman 50. The original bassmans there is no volume/gain (or master/volume) on the old ones. Just volume. Master volume was a mod. And master volume bassmans were less desirable- not sure about now.

But later bassman 100, 125s and the like have master volume. So... maybe.
Click to expand...
MrDinsdale said:
Interestingly I'm running the Jad Freer with an EAE Model Fet in the post loop that emulates the Sunn Model T. I had no idea the SLO was modelled on a Sunn!
Click to expand...
Here Shift Line says "based on an amp designed by Leo Fender", and they show some basic EQ curves that match a typical early Fender circuit: Shift Line Olympic MkIIIS Tube Preamp: EQ Section. FWIW though the passive TMB preamp that Fender used was the basis for the tonestacks used in lots of guitar/bass amps that came after, including a number of HiWatt and Sunn designs though variations in designs all add different focus and flavor to the general curve. Different component values and additions can change the peaks of the curve dramatically, but the general interactive nature and tendency towards treble-forward and midrange-relaxed EQ response is shared by most of the designs that borrowed this kind of passive EQ topology (of course there are designs that created mid boost elsewhere in the preamp too, which is something Mesa Boogie did alot with).

The basic Fender TMB preamp is flattest with Mids all the way up and Bass and Treble set most of the way off, at most other settings there will be some sort of midrange scoop that is highly interactive with Treble/Bass settings and can go from mild to deep. Of course if you are saturating the preamp then you are adding midrange harmonics back in to a degree (the Shift Line link above goes to great efforts to discuss this!).
Here's a cool tonestack calculator that lets you play with different preamp responses: TSC in the web
 
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#18
JeffTCS said:
I was under the impression that the only Sunn aspect was the stock 2-15 cab sim. Which is fantastic.
Click to expand...
Yeah that's probably where the misunderstanding from a few posts here stems from, however the early Sunn Model T used a nearly exact Fender Bassman passive tonestack so really not that different from a preamp standpoint
 
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#19
sunbeast said:
Here Shift Line says "based on an amp designed by Leo Fender", and they show some basic EQ curves that match a typical early Fender circuit: Shift Line Olympic MkIIIS Tube Preamp: EQ Section. FWIW though the passive TMB preamp that Fender used was the basis for the tonestacks used in lots of guitar/bass amps that came after, including a number of HiWatt and Sunn designs though variations in designs all add different focus and flavor to the general curve. Different component values and additions can change the peaks of the curve dramatically, but the general interactive nature and tendency towards treble-forward and midrange-relaxed EQ response is shared by most of the designs that borrowed this kind of passive EQ topology (of course there are designs that created mid boost elsewhere in the preamp too, which is something Mesa Boogie did alot with).

The basic Fender TMB preamp is flattest with Mids all the way up and Bass and Treble set most of the way off, at most other settings there will be some sort of midrange scoop that is highly interactive with Treble/Bass settings and can go from mild to deep. Of course if you are saturating the preamp then you are adding midrange harmonics back in to a degree (the Shift Line link above goes to great efforts to discuss this!).
Here's a cool tonestack calculator that lets you play with different preamp responses: TSC in the web
Click to expand...

Thanks for the clarification, that makes a lot of sense!
 
#20
Getting an MKIIIS in the mail tomorrow, going to see how I like it vs the CAPO (which I love). Mostly interested in seeing if the gain is a different enough flavor to make it worth keeping, and if the cab sim adds a lot for direct vs the HPF.

Has anyone else compared the two? This post sort of slowed down.
 
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