Help me understand Soldano

  • Thread starter Thread starter BigGuitars
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Look at a Soldano SLO like a Rolex Submariner.
No way it's worth the price tag UNLESS it's your thing.
 
RockyStar said:
Certain folks trying to make the originator of the boutique amp industry into the Nickleback of amps.
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Well now, hyperbole runs both ways.
Soldano the originator of the boutique amp industry? Mesa was first by a mile.
 
RockyStar said:
Your comment shows me where you went wrong...lol. Soldano is the foundation for boutique amps. In an earlier post I addressed the loop. Soldano isn't a high quality 5150. The 5150 is a low quality Soldano. Funny how you compare the two but the Soldano was before the Peavey and Mesa amps. Your measuring stick and talking points are all off kilter and that is ok. You dislike the amp, good for you. Play what you like but NOTHING you say will change what the Soldano amp is and its position in history. That is cemented forever. Is it my go to amp? 95% of the time, no. That doesn't change what it is and where it stands.
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I'd note that the 5150 and Recto also sound nothing like a SLO, so the comparison is silly from a sonic POV. The Recto straight up copies the SLO lead channel component-for-component, yet uses a completely different power section, and the two aren't all that similar sounding. It turns out that those things are important. (The Recto is well regarded too, so it's down to what you personally want out of an amp.) The 5150 is definitely based on the SLO, but it's quite a bit different in final design, and doesn't sound remotely like a SLO. (Again, the 5150 is well regarded too, so there's a reason that people play them, beyond that they're less expensive.)

Despite having a bunch more switches and options, neither of those amps have as much versatility in my experience. They both have fairly limited ranges of good sounds they can actually make. If you want those sounds, they're perfect. Otherwise, not so much. The SLO is simple in a way, but it has a wide range of strong sounds that you can coax out of it. That's pretty common in my experience. There are a fair number of relatively simple amps that turn out to be extremely versatile when playing them.
 
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Smashedguitarist said:
Yeah. I don't want to start a pissing contest. It is obvious that the RECTO and 5150 were post SLO. But don't forget that Mesa was before the SLO and Soldano was modding mesas the whole time that he was building his amp. I think if you read all my posts on this thread, I never say anything about not liking the amp. I constantly say I like it, as a lot of people on this thread do. Doesn't change the fact that it is overrated. Overrated doesn't mean bad. Just means overrated.
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Soldano modified Marshalls, not Mesas. He made his living taking in Marshalls, putting his custom mods to them. Because people were bringing him brand new Marshalls to mod, he decided to instead build those modified Marshalls from the ground up and sell them. The total cost would be less for his customers that way, and he'd make more money. That's where the Hot Rod amplifiers originated from - they're his modified Marshall design. If you ever get a chance to play one, they sound a lot more like a Marshall than the SLO, but with SLO gain.

Don't confused those with the two channel Hot Rods, which are basically the SLO built to industry standard levels. Basically, the HR100+ is the SLO built to the level that someone like Mesa builds amps, and would be a good comparison. Yes, I do think there's a good argument that the SLO is complete overkill from a construction POV as the HR's were on par cost-wise and construction-wise with other high quality US built amplifiers of the time, and they sound great. They are a bit different from the SLO, but not that far off. I suppose with them out of production and coming from Mike's hands, there's probably a premium for them today.
 
RockyStar said:
Are you being belligerent or just an ass? You know the history of the amp and that it has been on countless records. You know it has been used by countless notable musicians and studios/session people. You know (or should) know when it came out it was all the rage and raised the bar for what was available at the time.

If you don't like it, that is great! You found what works for you so stick with it. No need to be pissy towards others or downplay what the amp is just because it may not be your thing.

Carry on...
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you never told me what album you like?
 
rstites said:
Despite having a bunch more switches and options, neither of those amps have as much versatility in my experience. They both have fairly limited ranges of good sounds they can actually make.
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ive seen 5150s everywhere from country to death metal, same with rectos. buckethead sounded better with his rectos doing jimi and zep than they did themselves.
 
RockyStar said:
Nor do I but saying the amp is overacted is bollocks. Anybody can say anything about anything....doesn't make it correct. Again, who was the first of the three? Soldano, I rest my case. :) So if the Soldano is indeed overacted, then the Mesa and Peavey must REALLY BE OVERATED since they are knock offs...lol. Soldano isn't metal but the 5150 is a metal masterpiece. We can go round and round on all this stuff. I find it comical actually. Certain folks trying to make the originator of the boutique amp industry into the Nickleback of amps.
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Again, Mesa isn't a knock off of Soldano. Mesa was very much pre soldano. The whole point why I am replying to you guys is that I am not hating on the SLO. It is our opinion that it is overrated, if you feel different, that is fine.
 
rstites said:
Soldano modified Marshalls, not Mesas. He made his living taking in Marshalls, putting his custom mods to them. Because people were bringing him brand new Marshalls to mod, he decided to instead build those modified Marshalls from the ground up and sell them. The total cost would be less for his customers that way, and he'd make more money. That's where the Hot Rod amplifiers originated from - they're his modified Marshall design. If you ever get a chance to play one, they sound a lot more like a Marshall than the SLO, but with SLO gain.

Don't confused those with the two channel Hot Rods, which are basically the SLO built to industry standard levels. Basically, the HR100+ is the SLO built to the level that someone like Mesa builds amps, and would be a good comparison. Yes, I do think there's a good argument that the SLO is complete overkill from a construction POV as the HR's were on par cost-wise and construction-wise with other high quality US built amplifiers of the time, and they sound great. They are a bit different from the SLO, but not that far off. I suppose with them out of production and coming from Mike's hands, there's probably a premium for them today.
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Everyone modded marshalls for sure. He had just bought a mkII boogie. He saved up a lot of money to buy it. It was good but disappointed him so he made the SLO. All this is according to the Hal Leonard book Amps. But either way, I don't really care if he copied the marshall or mesa circuit or made his own. I only care what the end product is.
 
He did say that he had a Mark and perhaps it was his inspiration to make his own super high gain amp, but the SLO circuit is not like the Mark circuit.
 
cardinal said:
He did say that he had a Mark and perhaps it was his inspiration to make his own super high gain amp, but the SLO circuit is not like the Mark circuit.
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I recall him saying that he loved the amount of gain, but was trying to design something with that much gain but without a lot of the issues of the MkII. It may well be where he went with stuffing extra gain stages into the Marshall, which while obvious in retrospect, a lot of people didn't do at the time. Even Marshall didn't start adding gain stages until the JCM900's in the 90's. They were still trying to get more distortion out of clipping diodes throughout the JCM800 run.

It's also very easy to stuff those gain stages into the Marshall and get a hot mess out of it, but obviously Soldano got it early on as he had those tri-stage tubes and sockets you could replace a 12AX7 with in a Marshall. I've never heard one of those, but love the concept.
 
I owned an earlier Avenger and a really nice SLO clone. The Avenger was pretty cool, a bit darker and gainier but they were similar and both really similar to the regular SLOs I have played. Honestly the clone I had sounded identical to me, but then I didn’t have it side by side with a real one. The tone is familiar but I also wouldn’t say it’s as iconic of an amp as most the others listed in this thread
 
Holy-diver said:
The tone is familiar but I also wouldn’t say it’s as iconic of an amp as most the others listed in this thread
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If we were doing an iconic amps list I’d probably have it ranked in the 40s somewhere. Maybe 43 or 44th
 
RaceU4her said:
If we were doing an iconic amps list I’d probably have it ranked in the 40s somewhere. Maybe 43 or 44th
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Begs the question, what's the other amp in competition for the 43 or 44 slot?
 
Smashedguitarist said:
Again, Mesa isn't a knock off of Soldano.
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You’re being a bit too general here. The Dual Rectifier is a DIRECT RIP-OFF on the SLO. The preamps are virtually identical, so much so that Michael Soldano considered suing Mesa/Boogie over it.
 
Mr. Willy said:
You’re being a bit too general here. The Dual Rectifier is a DIRECT RIP-OFF on the SLO. The preamps are virtually identical, so much so that Michael Soldano considered suing Mesa/Boogie over it.
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I agree that the Dual Rec preamp is a direct rip off. We have been in agreement the whole time about this and many things if you read my previous posts.
 
Smashedguitarist said:
I agree that the Dual Rec preamp is a direct rip off. We have been in agreement the whole time about this and many things if you read my previous posts.
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Yes, absolutely. What’s kinda funny, and I’m not saying you’re doing this, but all amps could trace their origins way back old valve radios from the 30’s and 40’s. That’s where Leo got his ideas from, the schematics of those old radios.
Someone with more technical knowledge could possible verify this - but it’s my understanding that the design of the SLO was a “first” of sorts. It hadn’t been done that way before. That’s the reason, as I understand it, that its design was so copied. It’s also, I think, where the “King of Modern High Gain Amps” thing may have possibly come from.
 
Mr. Willy said:
Yes, absolutely. What’s kinda funny, and I’m not saying you’re doing this, but all amps could trace their origins way back old valve radios from the 30’s and 40’s. That’s where Leo got his ideas from, the schematics of those old radios.
Someone with more technical knowledge could possible verify this - but it’s my understanding that the design of the SLO was a “first” of sorts. It hadn’t been done that way before. That’s the reason, as I understand it, that it’s design was so copied. It’s also, I think, where the “King of Modern High Gain Amps” thing may have possibly come from.
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So I don't know everything obviously, but as I understand it, Mike Soldano claims to have created the cascading gain staging. Mesa makes a similar claim with the Mesa mkIIc. Maybe the c is for cascading, i don't know. But it is still the basis for most mods on marshalls to this day, I think. Some of the early mark II used a FET (field effect transistor) in place of a 12ax7 in v1 because the quality of tubes was not yet established as far as microphonics were concerned. To this day a lot of people like to use cascading gain stages with solid state and/or tubes when modding marshalls. This i think is kind of how the silver jubilee works. I like to think of it like a boost in the preamp, cuz I think of it kind of like you boost your preamp with a solid state boost anyway (or most of us do). But anyway, whether Soldano created it or not doesn't matter. His amp was badass. Some of us disagree whether it still deserves to be called a top amp.
 
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