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I played the crap out of an SL5 a couple of weeks ago, then I finally unpacked the new one that I bought and played it last night. This morning, I really opened it up for about 20 min to see what it could do. It's a really cool amp. For a 5w, 1x12 combo, it's only a little smaller than most 50w combos. It's not that big or heavy, but when you compare it to other boutique 5w combos, it's bigger. However, the cab is awesome because it sounds huge for a 5w.
The volume is pretty loud for a 5w. It will handle band practice and a small bar probably as long as your drummer isn't a wife beater on the drums. Most people think it has EL84 tubes, but it actually has an EL34. Oh man, why don't more boutique builders use single EL34's or 6L6's? They sound freaking great and without the compactness or compression of the smaller tubes. My only wish is that they would have used as single 6550 tube instead of EL34 since the AFD100 comes loaded with 6550's. It think it would sound a just a bit bigger and livelier like the full size Slash model. In any case, the EL34 is still very cool.
Basically, finding the tone is this amp boils down to which power mode you use (1w or 5w), which input you use (high, low), and how much gain and volume you are using.
I should mention the clean channel because it's really good. I don't know why the clean channel doesn't sound as good on the youtube videos and stuff, but they sure are good cleans. When you set it loud on the 1w mode, oh man does the magic ooze out on the clean channel. It has reverb, and although I've heard better reverb, it's pretty good.
You would think, since it's a Marshall, that cranking the controls all the way to the max would do something great but I think it sounds best with the volume backed off a bit from maximum, in either mode. Maximum volume makes it get kind of muddy the high end gets a bit fizzy. That only happens at maximum volume though. There's not any actual volume difference when you roll the volume down a bit, so it doesn't really matter if you can't turn the dial until it stops.
That being said, absolute maximum volume in clean mode works a bit differently and brings about some desired results. However, these amps come with a Vintage 30 and it's not exactly the kind of speaker you would buy for low volume breakup for your clean tones.
Overall, this amp is way cool. The single EL34 really makes it kind of unique and although I wish they would have used a 6550, I'm glad they chose it instead of the typical EL84's. I have used my Les Pauls through it too, and can tell you that it does a quite convincing Slash tone that's reminiscent of the Slash JCM800 they came out with a long time ago.
The volume is pretty loud for a 5w. It will handle band practice and a small bar probably as long as your drummer isn't a wife beater on the drums. Most people think it has EL84 tubes, but it actually has an EL34. Oh man, why don't more boutique builders use single EL34's or 6L6's? They sound freaking great and without the compactness or compression of the smaller tubes. My only wish is that they would have used as single 6550 tube instead of EL34 since the AFD100 comes loaded with 6550's. It think it would sound a just a bit bigger and livelier like the full size Slash model. In any case, the EL34 is still very cool.
Basically, finding the tone is this amp boils down to which power mode you use (1w or 5w), which input you use (high, low), and how much gain and volume you are using.
I should mention the clean channel because it's really good. I don't know why the clean channel doesn't sound as good on the youtube videos and stuff, but they sure are good cleans. When you set it loud on the 1w mode, oh man does the magic ooze out on the clean channel. It has reverb, and although I've heard better reverb, it's pretty good.
You would think, since it's a Marshall, that cranking the controls all the way to the max would do something great but I think it sounds best with the volume backed off a bit from maximum, in either mode. Maximum volume makes it get kind of muddy the high end gets a bit fizzy. That only happens at maximum volume though. There's not any actual volume difference when you roll the volume down a bit, so it doesn't really matter if you can't turn the dial until it stops.
That being said, absolute maximum volume in clean mode works a bit differently and brings about some desired results. However, these amps come with a Vintage 30 and it's not exactly the kind of speaker you would buy for low volume breakup for your clean tones.
Overall, this amp is way cool. The single EL34 really makes it kind of unique and although I wish they would have used a 6550, I'm glad they chose it instead of the typical EL84's. I have used my Les Pauls through it too, and can tell you that it does a quite convincing Slash tone that's reminiscent of the Slash JCM800 they came out with a long time ago.
I am prolly gonna get a laney cub12 one day cause its lightweight and put a neodymium in it 
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