When Is A Soldano Amp Not A Soldano Amp? |
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Mar 28 2021, 07:57 AM
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Mr Mike Soldano sold his company and now the legendary SOLDANO SLO100 is being built the folks that bought the company from him (a company called BOUTIQUE AMPS DISTRIBUTION)
NEW AND IMPROVED: The “New” and improved SLO is quieter than it’s ever been. He has modified the design to reduce internal noise which is a big deal since this amp can generate a ton of unwanted noise under higher gain settings. In the interview video below, Mike says that tubes have gotten noisier than they were back when he was hand building his own amps. He mentions having to hand pick tubes to make sure that noise was kept at bay. This isn’t a problem now due to changes in internal design doing a better job at keep noise levels as low as possible. YEAH BUT IS IT REALLY A SLO? There are of course, some folks who are concerned that the “New” Soldano amps are not really Soldano amps anymore. The good news is that this appears to be a false rumor. The company that took over building these, are hard core boutique folks and they take it very seriously. Also, as a bonus, the amp is actually a little less expensive than it was when Mike was hand building them himself. The new company has an economy of scale that Mike was never quite able to pull off. Another bonus is the new FX LOOP in the new build of the SLO100. The new loop has a return level control which was moved from the tone stack. It was pre eq and now it’s post master. It works really well this way and folks seem to like it. Also, the new one has an fx loop bypass as standard on a foot switch which was a custom mod in the old SLO. Also, a great thing is that Mike can focus on designing new bits and new amps and not focus on the day to day business of the company as a day to day business since that stuff is now on the shoulders of Boutique Amps Distribution. As such, I am hoping that they actually bring back some of the products that they stopped making years ago like the X88R 3 channel preamp which are crazy pricey on the used market. I wanted to go in to some detail on this in light of some other posts in the forum discussing the origin of classic high gain monsters like the SLO. One of the best things to come out of all of this is the SLO30 which is a honest to goodness SLO high gain monster but powered at 30 Watts instead of the face melting 100. In fairness, there is no point to 100 watt tube head in a home studio imho. Of course, one can use a power brake on such a unit, but this is just an artificial way to get the tone you want without going deaf. At 30 watts, it can be pushed and not make you go deaf and the SLO30 now has all the same switches and knobs that the big SLO100 has (clean / crunch, bright/normal, channel switching on the amp itself, and the depth control knob). So despite what some folks may be saying it is still Mike, and it’s still Soldano and it’s still a “real” SLO100. Better still, the SLO30 is really a real SLO with the same features, just with a smaller power section. I’m a plugin guy, but I really would LOVE to have one of these SLO30 heads. GAS!!! Again, I’m a plugin guy whose learning about amps, so please forgive any errors or omissions  Here is the web site for BAD (Boutique Amp Distribution) http://www.boutiqueampsdistribution.com/ This post has been edited by Todd Simpson: Mar 28 2021, 07:59 AM |
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Mar 31 2021, 06:23 AM
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Here is a demo of the SLO30 doing low / mid gain tones. Great title of the vid.
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Mar 31 2021, 02:58 PM
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Even I'd like one of those!
Can't justify the price tag though ... $3000.00 (with tax). -------------------- - Ken Lasaine
https://soundcloud.com/klasaine2/foolin-the-clouds https://soundcloud.com/klasaine2/surfin-at-the-country-hop Soundcloud assorted ... https://soundcloud.com/klasaine3 New record ... http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/kenlasaine Solo Guitar ... https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXZh...5iIdO2tpgtj25Ke Stuff I'm on ... https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXZh...b-dhb-4B0KgRY-d |
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Apr 1 2021, 03:54 PM
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I thought that Soldano company was over... nice to see that the legacy continues.
-------------------- My lessons
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Apr 2 2021, 04:29 AM
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I remember trying a Soldano 100 watt on for size back in the 90's. I was very interested in it until they told me the price. 😬
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