The SILO is a light, portable, adjustable baffle (or sound 'blocking/attenuating' device) that can help smooth out certain harsh frequencies that emanate from the center of a guitar speaker. Even the very best guitar speakers have this phenomenon, and the SILO is the cure.
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Blues great Albert King used to set his case in front of his amp in a certain position to produce a similar result as the SILO.
Stevie Ray Vaughan was know to put duct tape in an 'X' pattern inside the grill of his amps to block the harsh beam.
Joe Bonamassa…and many others use expensive (and cumbersome) plexiglass shields to block the beams from the speakers.
The SILO can be used with or without a microphone. Designed to work great with a Shure SM57®, the industry standard for mic’ing guitars. However, most other mics of similar design will work just as well.
Position the SILO to taste: very close to the speaker grill, and dead-center to the speaker will give the most attenuation (decrease in high, and high-mid frequencies)
Move the SILO farther away, or right/left to taste for more or less effect. Experiment…you may find that you want to position it so that you don’t hear any difference from where you are standing while playing, but placed so that you are not ‘killing’ the sound man, or the first table up front at a gig. The effect can be very subtle, or drastic, depending on where you place the SILO.
When using the SILO without a microphone, position it so that the holes are not pointed at the speaker. This will prevent sound from travelling through the small holes.
The two microphone holes are for different height mic positions, speaker sizes, amps with or without casters/wheels, etc.
You will find that you will be able to turn up your amp a bit more without complaints from the soundman or other band members. For tube amps especially, this can be a real benefit.
Try to keep the SILO from being crushed or creased when storing or transporting.
You can mount the SILO on a boom stand with a microphone if your amp is off the floor.
Have a 2x12? Use two SILOs!
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Q: If harsher frequencies come right out of the center of a speaker, why do so many guitarists and those running sound put a microphone right up to the grill, dead-center?
A: Two reasons: First, there is something called the ‘proximity effect’ which means that the closer a mic is to a sound source, the more bass there is to capture, and the sound is much more balanced. So what a mic ‘hears’ and reproduces is very different from what a human ear hears that is many feet away. At 20+ feet, the human ear hears mostly the highs and high-mids from a guitar speaker/driver.
Secondly, many expert sound engineers still do not like to point the mic directly at the center of the speaker, but prefer it to be ‘off-axis’ giving it a much less harsh sound, and you can certainly position the mic off-axis with the SILO.
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