# Soldano - what's your experience?



## Budda (May 29, 2007)

I'm looking to see who's had what experiences with Soldano amps - mostly the Hot Rods.

I'm playing with the idea of selling the roadster to see what my other options are, and it just so happens one of the amps I was thinking of (Hot Rod 100 plus) is up for sale in Welland at a very reasonable price. I'm just wondering if I should make the drive - shared EQ isn't my favourite..


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## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

None yet, they have always been a little pricey for me. Heard some good and some bad. One for sale here Budda. Only a few hours drive for you.

Soldano Hot Rod 100 Plus Amplifier - St. Catharines Musical Instruments For Sale - Kijiji St. Catharines Canada.


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

That's the one I saw and I am checking my email now. I'm going to stick with my Mesa and try an EQ out front to bring some upper mids into my sound (dark head + darker cab + mahogany guitars = well...) but I'm still curious about the amps 

Edit: HR100+ in Welland/St. Cats is sold


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## bolero (Oct 11, 2006)

I remember trying an SLO out in Vancouver, those were great amps from what I recall


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## vds5000 (Apr 14, 2008)

Budda said:


> ... I'm going to stick with my Mesa and try an EQ out front to bring some upper mids into my sound (dark head + darker cab + mahogany guitars = well...) but I'm still curious about the amps ...


Probably a smart idea. You will lose a lot of versatility if you go from your mesa to the Soldano.

If you're that eager for a change, try finding a BadCat 'HotCat 30R'. They're about $3k new, but usually sell for about $1600-$1800 used. Probably the best cleans I've ever heard from a high-gain amp. The high-gain tones are incredibly 'professional' sounding. Based on my experience, Mesas can get a bit mushy when playing with high-gain tones. The BadCat doesn't have that problem.


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

I do enjoy my versatility. My metal settings on ch4 just turned into my lead settings for the second band I'm working with


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## Bevo (Nov 24, 2006)

I have spent some time with it and its no where near as flexable as the Mesa, its a great amp but more of a rock and roll that can do metal. Cleans were good but the eq held it back unless you adjusted but who wants to do that mid song.


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## JSX/6505 (Nov 18, 2007)

I recently bought a Soldano Avenger 100. I like the single channel, simple layout and signal path. I'm really happy with it's tone. Very thick, warm and aggressive when you want it to be. It's dynamics are great too. It's an all out tone machine.


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

Cheers guys


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## Guest (Jan 17, 2011)

I love the SLO 100 gain amp model in my AxeFx -- does that count?  It's very gain, trebly type thing. Cuts like crazy. Unforgiving. I usually pair it with a Bogner V30 cab.


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## holyman (Dec 22, 2009)

I owned an SLO for about a year. I got rid of it because it was completely impractical. It was far too loud to jam or perform with. Also, the clean channel was horrible. I eventually replaced it with a Bogner Shiva which I like much, much better. 

Even though it was loud it was still an amazing sounding amp, however. The Hot Rod and the Avenger sound almost identical although my guitar tech (who has worked on both) tells me the components in the HR and Avenger are of lesser quality than those found in the SLO. 

Sometimes I miss my SLO. I am considering picking up a used Astroverb or Atomic 16. I have played both and find them superior to both the SLO and the Hot Rod. I might also pick up an HR50 one of these days. For saturated high gain sounds Soldano is hard to match.


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## Zeegler (Jan 2, 2006)

The Hot Rod for sale was mine. I've owned many amps over the years, and I fell in love with that one instantly when I bought it. It's a fantastic amp for rock or metal, and the build quality is second to none. There's a reason you rarely hear about reliability issues with Soldano amps. I would have kept the amp, and will probably deeply regret selling it, but that's how it goes with buying and selling musical gear. That's another nice thing about Soldanos, if you buy one (used), and decide to sell it at any point, you get your money back. I bought mine 2 years ago for $1,500 and sold it for $1,500, 2 days after listing it on Kijiji.


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

I've actually watched a Hot Rod die and a Peavey 6505 take its place, that was interesting. I think that's a rare occurence though.


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## Zeegler (Jan 2, 2006)

Budda said:


> I've actually watched a Hot Rod die and a Peavey 6505 take its place, that was interesting. I think that's a rare occurence though.


LOL, yeah, I would think so.


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## jimihendrix (Jun 27, 2009)

there are a few "cheap" soldanos here (scroll down)...including a hot 100...they will ship to the closest store for free...

Long & McQuade - Clearance


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## Guest (Jan 23, 2011)

get a hot rod from 1993 or back... I owned a 1993 HR50 for several years... great amp but Tommy from headley has h now.
Write Soldano and ask... all teh HR's 1993 and prior were built to the same spec grade as the SLO.
Miss my HR50 but I'm very happy with my current amp of 4 years so no regrets


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## Lemmy Hangslong (May 11, 2006)

have to say I missed the Soldano tone so i got a Astroverb 16... now I can crank it and really get the mojo working. Love this amp... dont be tricked into thinking EL84 Voxlike... no no no it's 100% pure Spoldano bliss. The single 12 open back combo is cool but this amp needs a closed back design. I'm working on a custom cab build with Clara amps.

Cheers!


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## Grantster (Jun 5, 2008)

Have had an SLO 100 for a couple of years and love it. I love the crunch channel and then roll the volume back for slight clean/dirty sounds. The gain channel I run the gain at 5 or 6. I do not dime it as it sounds like a Randall transistor amp when the gain is dimed. I also use it from loud to bedroom levels. Very versatile amp in my opinion. It works for me.

Grant


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## Lance Romance (Jun 4, 2009)

J, I used to be the Soldano rep for Canada. Ask me privately; it's a long discussion.


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

They've come up in our chats every now and again.


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