Solid State Logic SSL 2 MKII and SSL 2+ MKII Audio Interface | Review

Solid State Logic SSL 2 MKII and SSL 2+ MKII Audio Interface | Review

MSRP: (2 MKII) £195 / (2+ MKII) £278

Nick Jennison reviews the SSL 2 MKII and SSL 2+ MKII interfaces. Bringing Solid State Logic's studio-quality sound to any recording setup, these compact units feature SSL's renowned 4K Legacy preamps and a durable design. With 24-bit/192 kHz conversion for pristine audio capture, these interfaces are perfect for mobile recording or home studios, offering professional clarity for serious creators.

We guitar players have an interesting relationship with audio interfaces. We place so much importance on "vibe," "mojo," and "sonic integrity" in our guitar gear — the right diodes in our green overdrive, the right vintage capacitors on our tone pots, and the right Celestion Greenbacks from the right month of the right year in our speaker cabinets — only to record this meticulously curated collection of guitar esoterica through whichever two-input USB interface was cheapest on Thomann.

Okay, I'm being slightly facetious here. We live in an era with countless high-quality, low-cost audio interfaces that sound perfectly clean and linear, and will get your guitar signal into your DAW accurately with minimal fuss. But is that really what we want in a guitar recording?

There's a reason practically every notable producer and engineer values "vibey" equipment like vintage consoles, mic pres, outboard EQs, and compressors over the cleanest-of-the-clean modern interfaces. The "color" (harmonic content, subtle saturation, and gentle EQ curves) these devices impart is as much a part of a great recording as the instrument, amplifier, and microphone. One of the most revered pieces of "vibey" studio equipment is the venerable SSL 4000 series console.

Now, as much as I'd like to say, "just go out and buy a 4000E," the current used price is around £25,000 — and it requires something resembling a life support system to run. Fortunately, SSL offers a line of reasonably priced 2-channel interfaces that bring the same color and vibe as their iconic consoles, but at literally 1% of the price: the SSL 2 MKII and SSL 2+ MKII.

Housed in a beautiful, rugged metal enclosure, these interfaces support 32-bit recording at sample rates as high as 192 kHz and are as clean and high-fidelity as they come — until you hit the "4K" button. This switch is a game-changer, adding a high-end push, a little richness in the lows, and subtle harmonic saturation and grit that's downright addictive. Truthfully, it's something I'd leave on 99% of the time. This feature alone makes these interfaces worth the small additional expense over similar offerings from other brands. It took our slightly sterile-sounding modeller and gave it the aggression, depth, and three-dimensional quality that define all our favorite recorded guitar tones, without requiring any additional processing.

There's more to the SSL 2 and 2+ than just gritty, colorful sound, though. When clean audio is needed, the class-leading preamps and converters handle just about anything you throw at them beautifully. There's plenty of gain for even the famously low-output SM7B without any appreciable noise, and the instrument input has exceptional headroom for high-output pickups like Fishman Fluences, while still handling a quiet passive P-Bass like a champ.

The main difference between the two models lies in the outputs. The SSL 2 features a single pair of 1/4" outputs and a pair of headphone outputs that share the same mix. The 2+ offers a second set of outputs, which can be used to set up an additional monitoring mix (sent to the second headphone output), to feed a reamp box, or even to send control voltages to a hardware synth if that's your thing. The 2+ also includes MIDI in and out via traditional 5-pin DIN sockets — a must-have in my book!

It's my contention that the SSL 2, and particularly the SSL 2+, are among the best interfaces for home-recording guitar players. They offer crystal-clear, class-leading audio and vibey, vintage-style colouration in a package that's untouchable at this price point. Were I in the market for a simple, bus-powered 2-channel interface, I'd get one of these in a heartbeat. Oh, and yes — the volume knob goes to 11.

For more information, please visit:

solidstatelogic.com