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10K views 18 replies 11 participants last post by  Gresh 
#1 ·
While my Line6 is felxible enough, that's part of the problem. I get a lot of good sounds, no great ones! The Line6 does not "breathe" like a tuber and the dimension of sound doesn't move me. I must say, the Soldano amp model is the one I gravitate towards. I've heard Soldano samples on that amp page posted a while back as well....those sound great too.

So.....does anyone here have any Soldanos experience?
I'm the basement, garage band player so I don't need a kick ass SLO-100!

I'm interested in the lower end, like an Astroverb head/combo, Atomic head/combo, Reverb-o-Sonic combo, etc.... I know tone is subjective, but was wondering about the realtive sounds of Soldanos. Do they all have the same tone? Should I stay away from any particular model?

The closest Soldano dealer to me is 1+ hours away south of Boston and they have very little stock on the floor to test drive.

thanks,
 
#2 ·
My friend has a 100W Soldano head and it kicks ass. Im not sure what model it is......but I know its the hard rock one with more gain capability.

Anyway, you know Soldano's saying......"Our amps go to 11" and they do, literally. Check out the numbers on all the knobs next time you look at one 8)
 
#3 ·
I've had 2 Hot Rod 50XLs and a Decatone. I still have 2 Soldano 4x12s. I regret getting rid of the Decatone. Maybe I'll buy another one. They are a little shy on the high end but over all I would say they are great amps. And also if you have the cash, they will pretty much make whatever you want. Their customer sevice is excellent too. Their general manager actually helped me find the Decatone since there are no Soldano dealers near me.
 
#4 ·
Soldano: Amplifiers built to Rock

/\ That's what the bumper sticker on my truck says!

I have a Hot Rod 50+ and I love it! The clean channel is not pristine clean but it sounds good and the overdrive channel is killer. I say that after selling my Mesa Mark IV (another killer amp) to buy the Soldano. I like the Soldano alot better than the Mesa. I still like Riveras too, it's kind of a toss up between the S-120 I had and the HR50. I kinda like that the Soldano is more of a straight forward amp with minimal control. If you play rock you probably don't want the Reverb-O-Sonic, they don't have the gain of the others. The Atomics are nice if you want a low wattage amp. My recommendation would be to watch for a HR50 on ebay though, you can pick up a head for $500 - $600 and then get a 2-12 Legacy or Marshall cabinet to go with it. Open back combos usually don't sound as good for the high gain stuff as closed back cabs, not to mention it's easier to move a head and 2-12 cabinet than trying to pick up a 50W 2-12 combo.

Roger
 
#5 ·
I have a POD and always end up playing with the SLO100 channel as well. I've been toying with the idea of selling my Mesa Mark IV for either a Soldano somethingorother or a Bogner Ecstasy (or Shiva? I'm indecisive). Rgr could you please compare the Mark IV to your Soldano a bit for my benefit? :)
 
#6 ·
I had the big one, the SLO 100. I used it to shoot down overflying aircraft. Easily. So no you won't need one of those. It was too loud for gigging with too in most places.

I didn't have a single problem with that amp regarding it's reliability though, and never even needed to change a tube.

The one's I've tried, in my opinion, all have the same basic tone. I guess it's part of their design, much in the same way that boogies all have the same basic tone.

I've not tried the little 16 watters, but the Hot Rods the SLO, the Decatone and Lucky 13 and the reverb-o-sonic are all definately from the same sonic family. They might have different amounts of gain available, eg the reverb-o-sonic has the least, the SLO the most, but if you balanced the gain on them they'd all sound very similar.

The R-o-S can be brought up to scratch with an overdrive pedal, but like rgr said it's more a "Blues" amp and doesn't have metal levels on tap.

The Hot Rod is the biggest bargain imho too. the "+" even more so. They're not that versatile on the front panel, but from a good guitar all the tones are there, you just have to work your guitars controls too and learn how to balance the amp and the guitar (and maybe buy a graphic equalizer too if you want to "cheat" ;) )

If I could get the HR 50+ at $600 over here, I'd DEFINATELY have one even if I only used it occasionally.
 
#7 ·
The HR50 definitely kicks some major butt and it is possible to get it cooking at some modest(ish) volumes. My old guitar teacher lent me his for a short while and it had an awsome tone. I was really sad when he took it back.
Its the kind of amp where you really can use the volume control on your guitar to shape the tone. Roll it back a bit and you had a great crunch rhythm tone, turn it up a notch and you were in screaming solo territory. I also tried hooking up a BBE Sonic Maximiser through it. The sound was amazingly tight and focussed but with no loss of tone.

The other thing from a purely aesthetic view is that the 'jewel' light was blue. It looked too cool!! :mrgreen:

Matt
 
#8 ·
Re: Soldano: Amplifiers built to Rock

rgr said:
Open back combos usually don't sound as good for the high gain stuff as closed back cabs, not to mention it's easier to move a head and 2-12 cabinet than trying to pick up a 50W 2-12 combo.
Roger
I do agree, a head and a cab is better to lug than a combo!

With the HR50, how hard to you have to push it before it gets into it's sweet spot? Master on 4? 6? or does is grind out at lower Master settings?
I see HR50+, 2 channels, going for some decent prices.....but I'm nervous about having to push these amps to get the signature tone. That's why I'm also considering an Astroverb head (basically an Atomic with Reverb added).....it's easier to push a 16W head into saturation at more modest levels.

Would a 4x12 cab or a 2x12 cab "break up" quicker? I'm assuming a 2x12 because there's less speaker area to carry all the wattage......but I'm a newbie when it comes to this.

This brings up another question:
Assuming the same speakers, are the closed back cabs louder, tighter than the open back ones?

In my head, it seems like a closed back design directs more energy through the cones of the speakers and might provide a tighter sound due to no air transfer from inside the cabinet. The open back design breathes a little bit and may provide you with a more "airy, open, spongy" sound (for lack of better terms). If I'm playing in basements and garages, which cabinet would suit that environment better?

Too many questions! Thanks for all input and output guys!
 
#9 ·
Just throwing something else at you...if you dig high gain tube amps, I would highly recommend looking at Rivera. THey are a little hard to find though, but there are afew guys here that have them. A couple of TBR 1's and a 2, and someone's got a S120, I used to have a M100. Great amps and used they are pretty reasonable. Best customer service on the planet.
 
#10 ·
I just got a Soldano SP-77 preamp (the USA made version). I can tell you that it sounds great. Has mucho gain........the gain is not mushy at all. It doesn't really sound like anything else out there. Soldano's have a unique sound. Unlike most high gain amps you can actually hear every note of every chord. The best way I can describe it is that it will "highlight" sloppy playing big time. I found that some of the stuff I was playing was pretty sloppy sounding through the Soldano, but I thought it sounded good through other high gain amps. It definately will make you play more accurately.

Clean channel is awesome! Sparkly, punchy, just phenominal! I find I can get an awesome blues sound if I roll the volume on the guitar to about 4 on the overdrive channel. Very cool indeed.

I am using it with a Mesa 20/20 power amp, Digitech TSR-24S, and BBE 482 sonic maximizer. All through a 4x12 Mesa Rectifier cab w/ Celestion Vintage 30's.

Hope this helps
 
#12 ·
Gresh said:
Nice rig jem777az. I have a mesa 20/20 also, it kicks serious tail. Gary Moore uses soldano's as well and his tone is really thick and juicy. I love the lead tones those amps produce.
Thanks man.......the 20/20 does kick tail. I was lucky to get an old silver faced one for $250! I am going to mod it by removing two 1uF capacitors (cathode bypass caps, one per channel). These caps boost the mids & highs to about double the level of the bass. So removing the caps will flatten down the mids & highs, to make them even with the bass. Should sound even better after this mod.
 
#13 ·
As far as the Mark IV compared to the Soldano, the Mark IV sounds like a Mesa (not a rectifier though) and the Soldano is more hot rodded Marshall tone. I've played Marshall type amps forever so I guess that is just the sound I am used to so the Soldano sounds better to me, I also like butter pecan ice cream, you may like chocolate better.

How hard do I push it? I run the od preamp on about 6 - 7, great dirty rhythm sound, I use an old MIJ SD-1 to push it just a little harder for leads. I like pushing the front end with a pedal than just cranking the preamp. The amp does sound good on 11 too though, it doesn't get mushy, just more compressed. I never run the preamp that high though, there really isn't any need to, there is plenty of gain on tap.

Like someone else mentioned, they are also pretty dynamic, you can clean up the sound with your volume knob pretty well. It also sounds good at moderate volumes, not bedroom volumes but pretty low, the real goodies do come out when you push the master up around 4 + though.

I don't know anything about the Atomics, never played through them, I don't think I would want a 16W amp though, that's not quite enough for me.

Jono,
If I could find a HR50+ for $600 here I'd buy it, I paid $1300 for my head and 2-12 cab but they were in mint condition, at least until UPS got ahold of the head. It's fixed now and looks mint again, me no like UPS. BTW, the head and cab are both black alligator tolex, sweet. I've seen alot of the one channel HRs go for $600 and less, they are dynamic enough that I was about to buy one of those until this + came along.

Roger
 
#14 ·
jem777az said:
Gresh said:
Nice rig jem777az. I have a mesa 20/20 also, it kicks serious tail. Gary Moore uses soldano's as well and his tone is really thick and juicy. I love the lead tones those amps produce.
Thanks man.......the 20/20 does kick tail. I was lucky to get an old silver faced one for $250! I am going to mod it by removing two 1uF capacitors (cathode bypass caps, one per channel). These caps boost the mids & highs to about double the level of the bass. So removing the caps will flatten down the mids & highs, to make them even with the bass. Should sound even better after this mod.
$250!!! Holy Crap...you got a killer deal. I might be really interested in that mod you are pulling off. I would definitely be interested in flattening the response out a bit. I have never done any mods like that before...could you fill me in on what you are doing and how you are going about it. E-mail if want would be fine as I have hijacked this thread, sorry about that.
 
#15 ·
I think I would love the SLO100. That of course is if the Line 6 models are close to being accurate, with obvious respect to the way a real tube amp "breathes."

I will say though, that the model found in the AX212 is better sounding (however more accurate?) than the Flextone model of the SLO. I too gravitate towards the SLO presets.

It's too bad that my ability does not warrant a $2000 amp. I wish it did though, because I'll bet it's a sweet setup! I wonder if the less expensive 16W amps sound decent enough to give them a whirl?
 
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