ART SLA-1 Power Amp

Very easy to use. Basically, there's a couple of switches, plus a couple of knobs. An idiot could use this.

I haven't really used the manual much, but it appears to be decently written. it is fairly short on specifications, but it told me the essentials of operating the unit.

I use this power amp with a couple of setups.

The first is an electric rig consisting of an evans preamp, an audio centron 31 band graphic eq, a tc electronic m300 reverb unit, and a bunch of electric guitars. I run the rack gear into the power amp, and run the power amp into a couple of custom made ear candy cabinets. (eminence gamma speakers).

The second rig is for my acoustic, and includes the same speakers and reverb unit, but I've got a parametric eq, a graphic eq, a tube preamp and a behringer ad121 acoustic pedal. I usually use this rig in conjunction with another acoustic guitar player.

The electric rig gives great sounds. DIaling up reverb and delay, I can get a great 1970's jazz guitar sound out of it. The power amp and speakers are a great combo, providing a lot of warm, clean power and headroom. I'm a jazz guy, so I don't typically look for that 'tube breakup' sound. (although I do own a tube amp, I largely prefer 'clean' solid state amps).

The acoustic rig also gives great sound quality, far exceeding that offered by an acoustic combo. We can run two guitars with a decent amount of volume and headroom.. enough for a mid-sized room.

In duo settings, when we want more juice, we add a second ART-SLA. We put both amps into bridge mode, using one to power each speaker. That gives us 260 watts per side, yielding a 30% increase in volume, and a significant increase in headroom at the upper volume levels.

So far I have been unable to discern any flaws in teh sound. This is my first power amp (I have previously used combos, instead of rack gear and power amps), so take my review with that in mind. But if I compare the sound quality to some of the jazz amps I have tried, the SLA works out very well. It is not quite as warm as a polytone, but offers more power and true stereo.

(For a duo guitar performance, having very precise control over stereo positioning is of the utmost performance. We found that we were having problems getting a consistent sound out of a room when we used two separate combos.. hence the move to a stereo setup).

We typically don't get a lot of hiss or noise until we hit 95% on the relevant attentuation dials. (the front controls that moderate the amp's volume). This is an improvement over our combos, which can be a bit hissy.

For fun, I also put a digitech twin tube in front of this. I was getting great lead tones... the power amp, of course, is solid state, but for a solid state amp I was impressed with the sound. If you really push it, of course, you'll get solid state break-up, which isn't so much fun. If you want something to do really loud metal on, you might need more wattage.

We do use these without backup. So far no problems. These amps are performing wonderfully.

My friend also uses his SLA as a studio driver for his studio monitors. It also sounds very clean and elegant.

I'm giving a 'no opinion' because I haven't had the unit long enough to tell.

Never tried.

I'm a jazz guy who owns a lot of gear. I use this with a variety of guitars, including a rainsong, a hofner verything, and a bunch of jackson USA neck-throughs.

I chose this amp because I wanted something that would fit in 1U in my ultra slim SKB rack case. (8.5 inch rack depth). The SLA had a decent power rating, and the only competitors I could find were the carvin DCM150, the stewart world 600 (oop), and a Nady amp with similar power handling specs. The carvin had less juice, (on paper at least), the stewart is hard to find, and the nady is a little longer. (hence it wouldn't fit in my rack). I was time pressured, and since they had an ART sitting around in a local shop, I went for it. I haven't been disappointed for a moment.

If it were stolen, I would buy another. I might also consider a carvin DCM1500 if I were playing a lot of outdoor shows and large noisy venues. But that's 34 pounds or so.. the SLA1 is 13 pounds and only 10" or so deep. It's beautiful for taking to a small gig.. I just take a couple of pieces of rack gear, plus a guitar and a cab.

Good construction quality. Good warranty. Clean sound. Light weight, small size. And only 1U. It's a nice little unit.

However, it does have a downside. The connectors are pretty skimpy. You get binding posts, but no 1/4 or speakon jacks. I'd really like to see 1/4 outputs on this thing.

Being an old timer, I wanted to put together a bass rig which was reasonably priced, versatile and light-weight.

The ART SLA-1 is a stereo reference amp capable of:
100 watts per channel @8 ohms
130 watts per channel @4 ohms
240 watts @8 ohms bridged mono
about 300 watts @4 ohms bridged mono.
Pressing the "bridge button in the rear and connecting your banana jack across the binding posts (diagram on rear) gets you into bridged mono mode.
It's got a very small integrated fan built into the center (rear) and large heat fins on either side. I always allow an empth space above it in the rack for cooling. After playing a 45 minute set, it's hot, but you couldn't cook an egg on it...

This puppy weighs 13 lbs and is rack rount. Fairly shallow depth - fits in a shallow roto rack. Makes a nice little rig with a big sound.I run in bridged mono mode into 8 OHM loads and usually have the amp volume 1/2 way up. And I play against 2 guitar players with hot rodded Fender Twins, a harmonica player and a drummer.

I play in 2 blues bands. Instead of dragging my gear back and forth I have SLA-1's at each rehearsal space. Both are mounted in 3 space Roto-racks (shallow type).

Band #1
MusicMan Sterling
SLA-1
SANSAMP RBI
Prosonus Comp16
Custom 15 speaker using Eminence DeltaLyte 15 (neodymodium)

Rack #2
Fender Custom Shop Jazz w/62 pickups
SLA-1
ART Tube Channel (old style - 1 U - 12AX7 and 12 AW something)
DR. Bass RX 212 bottom,Avatar CB15 (old style - little rear ported cube)
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The SLA-1 is very clean and uncolored. What you put in is what you get out.
With Band #1 I play blues rock (Robin Ford, Roy Buchanan). The SANAmp/Sterling combo allows me to dial in more modern/aggressive/slap tones which the SLA-1 faithfully delivers.

With Band#2 I play blues and achieve a smooth, even bass tone with plenty of punch when needed.

I have owned both for about 2 years now and have never had a problem. I dumped one off of a rolling cart (3 foot drop) and it's still kicking.
ART's gear is heavy-duty.

Although I've never had to have the gear repaired, the folks at ART are very helpful and quick to respond to questions via email.

I've been playing guitar for 34 years - bass for about 7.
I would instantly buy it again. Sounds as good (if not better) than anything else in it's class.
I love the light-weight, big sound, and sexy blue light.
I used a Hartke 3500 previously. Got tired of dragging it around. Looked at Stewart World amps - basically the same thing but much more expensive.
It's got everything I need.
I'm thinking about picking up a 3rd SLA-1 for a guitar rig. I'd rack it with my Behringer V-AMP pro (as good as a POD - just 1/2 the price).
I can't recommend the ART SLA-1 enough.