NCD Older Soldano 412 Straight...WOW

Bad.Seed

Well-known member
It's wild to be how cabs can change the sound so drastically. Not speakers, the cabs themselves.

Last week I spotted a used pre-BAD Soldano straight cab on guitar center's used site for $549. I'd been wanting to add a Soldano cab to the collection and although I was waiting to grab a newer v30 loaded one, as I'm not a fan of eminence legends, I pounced on this at the price.

Fast forward 3 weeks as it took them forever to ship (3 weeks to ship, 2 days actual transit) and it shows up. First thing I do when I get cabs from GC is check the speakers. Often times they're not what they should be, with no note on the site to mention.

Much to my surprise, someone loaded the cab with g12k100 speakers and v30 speakers in an x pattern. Ok, I'm not mad at all.

Go downstairs to plug it in with my Avenger 100 and.....nadda. No hum, pop out of standby, nothing. I immediately shut the rig down and opened it back up. Didn't notice earlier, but most of the speaker leads had been cut. Wtf?

I bash GC often and hard for how bad of a job their employees do on intake testing of used gear. But this is ridiculous. They must not have even bothered to check this cab. If someone bought this thing and tried cranking their amp through it not knowing what the issue was, easy fuse, tube or transformer failure could have occured.

ANYWAYS, I spent the next morning fully rewiring the cab because the wire that was in it was as thin as the stuff you find in Marshall 1960 cabs, and I had some extra 16 guage so I figured might as well.

I buttoned the cab back up, and.....
HOLY SHIT. How can a cab this small have this much low end? It was actually kind of absurd how big and tight the low end is on this cab. Caught me completely off guard. I'm very familiar with the speaker combos as I've had it in a couple other cabs l, never really loved it. But here, this thing tightened the low end on the Avenger so much, and made it so punchy, that I now can't stop playing the combo.

It's a smaller cab in terms of dimensions, but sounds anything but small. I'm satisfied, all considered.


IMG_20220514_134735_192.jpg
 
That cab is VERY similar in construction and size with the Framus cabs. I have the Dragon straight cab loaded with GB's and it punches like no other. It sounds just as huge as my ENGL cab but a little looser due to the nature of the GB speakers bass response. It smokes up my Mesa OS as far as filling up the room. I was blown away.
 
Congrats! After all these years I’ve come to the conclusion that different speaker cabs/combinations is the best and least invasive mod to any amp. Sure, they take up space but 1 amp + 6 cabs with different speakers makes it seem like you have 6 totally different rigs.
 
These are front loaded ? It looks like the new ones with v30s from Bad might be rear loaded , the back panel is removable . I’ve been wanting a front loaded cab that has the punch front load is known for but with the room filling quality of a rear load. The front loaded cabs I’ve had mostly have a laser beam kinda projection.
 
That cab is VERY similar in construction and size with the Framus cabs. I have the Dragon straight cab loaded with GB's and it punches like no other. It sounds just as huge as my ENGL cab but a little looser due to the nature of the GB speakers bass response. It smokes up my Mesa OS as far as filling up the room. I was blown away.
I can’t see much similarities with Framus Dragon cab. Those are rear loaded, thinner ply and not very well sounding. Soldanos have sealed back, 18mm plywood, special in the corners and they are just awesome sounding cab due smaller dimensions. Tight bottom and mids, shitload of mids. Best sounding cab on stage I ever had for heavier music. Not huge (muddy mess) oversize recto trousand flipping wall of sound but we have bass player in the band also 😀
 
I can’t see much similarities with Framus Dragon cab. Those are rear loaded, thinner ply and not very well sounding. Soldanos have sealed back, 18mm plywood, special in the corners and they are just awesome sounding cab due smaller dimensions. Tight bottom and mids, shitload of mids. Best sounding cab on stage I ever had for heavier music. Not huge (muddy mess) oversize recto trousand flipping wall of sound but we have bass player in the band also 😀
Framus Cobra cabs are definitely Front Loaded! My other guitarist had one for a while and I actually thought it sounded killer. You never see them pop up though. Can't speak for the Dragon cabs, never heard those.

The Soldano def has lows and mids in spades. No complaints on my end, really diggin how it sounds, especially with my not so tight Avenger.
 
These are front loaded ? It looks like the new ones with v30s from Bad might be rear loaded , the back panel is removable . I’ve been wanting a front loaded cab that has the punch front load is known for but with the room filling quality of a rear load. The front loaded cabs I’ve had mostly have a laser beam kinda projection.
I've noticed the same with most. The Engl cabs, especially straight, can be like this. I also have a couple carvin cabs that are front loaded and awfully bright. The Soldano seems balanced and definitely doesn't seem beamy. It has some exrtra bracing in it, not sure how that affects sound frequencies moving around inside the cab, but it really does sound killer.
 
My OCD is loving the matching head and cabs! Currently sitting on four 4X12's but might need to add a Soldano to match the SLO30 I have.
 
Kyle, It'd be awesome to see this cab in action with the Nitro. I wonder if it would help calm those thumpy lows on the Nitro a bit and put them more in control.
 
Framus Cobra cabs are definitely Front Loaded! My other guitarist had one for a while and I actually thought it sounded killer. You never see them pop up though. Can't speak for the Dragon cabs, never heard those.

The Soldano def has lows and mids in spades. No complaints on my end, really diggin how it sounds, especially with my not so tight Avenger.
Yep, those Cobra cabs have some serious mojo to them.

Friend of mine had one (oddly enough I owned the Cobra amp at one time but never the cab, he owned the cab but never the head lol) and it was one of the better sounding 4x12's I've ever heard.
 
I have 2 K100s on order to put into my Mesa Traditional. Interested to see how it sounds with my Herbert.
 
Back
Top