# Soldano Supercharger GTO



## Lemmy Hangslong (May 11, 2006)

I did a little search under this thread topic to see if anuone is using the Soldano Supercharger GTO... did'nt find anything so I decided to start something.

Anyone else use one of these units...

I use mine as a boost for my Soldano Hot Rod 50 To go from the dialed in rythm tone I have the amp set up for to a slightly boosted signal for leads. I adjust the tone so it is a little brighter, the gain for just a hair more and the output for a slight volumn increase... enough to get heard so it may change from time to time. 
In the amp I run 12AX7 WA 7025 ( the Soldano Reds which really are high quality Sovteks ) in all slots so I find if I run 12AX7's in the GTO things get too gainy too fast. I found that running Tung Sol 12AT7's much better suited plus the Tung Sols compliment the edgier Soldano Reds with a smoother tone for lead.
Works for me... real well.

Khing


----------



## Jeff Flowerday (Jan 23, 2006)

If you like what the Tung Sol 12AT7s do for it, try some Mullard CV4024 aka 12AT7s. You can get them fairly cheap yet, and they sound wicked.

http://www.tubestore.com/mul12atcv.html

I bought mine from a guy in the UK, for a little cheaper than the tubestore.


----------



## Lemmy Hangslong (May 11, 2006)

Thats not a bad price at all... another player has mentioned these to me aswell. i have Mullard EL34 but no Mullard preamp tubes... Thanks for the heads up.

Khing


----------



## BrownID (Feb 3, 2006)

I actually just picked up a new GTO (one of the last ones made) recently & I'm still playing with it. It came loaded with a JJ ECC83 and a Sovtek 12AX7WA rather than the Sovtek 12AX7LPS's that Soldano typically ships in these pedals. I used to have an SLO-100 and I spent countless hours experimenting with tubes in that amp. I found the JJ's in the SLO to totally dulled the sound. It made that amp loose the cut that it's famous for. The JJ's in the GTO had the same result. I preferred Chinese Silver Specials or the LPS's in the SLO and the GTO is no different - lots of gain and the cut is back.

Does it sound like the SLO lead channel? Nope. If anything, it sounds more like the SLO's clean channel with the crunch switch on. It's obviously from looking at the schematic of the GTO that the people at Soldano designed this pedal to be used strictly in front of an amp. Anybody thinking that this pedal is the simply the SLO lead channel preamp is going to be disappointed.

Given the price of this pedal, I actually expected more from Soldano. For starters, there is a huge issue with noise in this pedal to the point where it is almost unusable. A few little tweaks and additions to the circuit would have guaranteed no noise from the pedal (i.e. AC heater supply referenced to DC voltage & not using the heater supply of the relay). The tone control in my opinion is basically useless as it is more effective to adjust tone using the amp rather than the pedal. I'm actually going to have the pedal modified for lower noise as I still see a use for this pedal. It will never sound like an SLO-100 mainly because only an SLO-100 sounds like an SLO-100.


----------



## Lemmy Hangslong (May 11, 2006)

Mine came with Sovteks and is older... Serial #217. I've heard many complaints on noise but mine is quiet, The HR50 I have is the absolute most quiet tube amp I've owned. I've got a bunch of old 1960's era tubes. The Sylvania's are my fav but the tung sols seem to be working fine for me in the GTO.

This is my second GTO... I had one stolen along with a Budda Phatman back in 201. I replaced both but have since settled on the GTO eventhough the Phatman is a great tube pedal. 

The first Phatman I owned was NOISEY... I sent it back to Budda and they warranteed it... the cause according to Budda was poor grounding... they beefed up the grounding and presto noise gone.

The only noise I get or used to get other than that was ground loop hum. I solved that by adding a true isolated ground system to my studio and jam area recepticles... I'm an Electrician by trade... currently an Electrical Inspector in the oil field. When I play live... mostly clinics... I usually keep things as simple as possible to avoid loop hums and what not.

I have never owned a SLO but have been close to one that a friend owns... I find the GTO I have to be very similar to the SLO's tone. As a point of interest the HR50 I own is a 1993 model year and up to and including 1993 all HR50's were made on the same line as the SLO... same parts quality. Things changed for the HR50 in 1994 and so did the tone... still a great amp but if you want a HR50 thats very close to a SLO in tone then up to 1993 is your best bet.

Khing


----------

