Soldano HR100s and Decatones: Current thinking?

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Jimty

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Spotted a few Soldano Decatones and HR100+s (XL and non-XL) for sale recently. I’ve done some digging and views seem to be split between those who say they are a poor imitation of the SLO and should be avoided, and those who say they are great amps if taken on their own merits (ie: not strictly viewed as SLOs on a budget).

Quite a lot of commentary seems to come from folks who haven’t owned/played the amps. Also, some of the reviews are getting on a bit and as we all know fashions and opinions change over time: (eg: Rev Gs were looked down on for years compared to earlier revisions but seem to be having a resurgence in respect and positive views on the Mesa Stiletto are more common than they used to be).

So I was wondering what the consensus on these amps is these days - I’d be interested to hear from those who own them / have owned them / have spent decent time with them.

Also, given the choice and if prices are equal, which would you go for purely on the basis of the quality of the amp build and the quality of the tone(s) available? I’m ignoring here the added functionality and channels of the Deca and the fact that the HR100 is by design brighter and more open than the slightly darker and more compressed Deca. Is it just a case of picking whichever provides the type of tone and feel you want or is one amp “better” in terms of build and tone quality than the other? For instance, I’ve read that the HRs are “2D” tonally vs the SLO “3D” but haven’t seen a similar criticism of the Deca - just that it’s a different beast to the SLO.
 
I had a HR100+

The only reason I sold it was because of the loop. I've never had an SLO, but the HR was a great sounding amp regardless of what I compared it to.

If I could go back, I'd keep it and have the loop modded.
 
I had a HR50 XL probably close to 20 years ago. Was my first Soldano and I was so stoked! My other amps at the time were a Rivera Knucklehead, original 5150, Peavey Classic 50, and a Sovtek Mig 60.

At that time, I just did not get along with the HR50. Maybe there was something wrong with it, but the low end was so boomy that it rendered the amp unusable to me. My amp dialing in abilities were limited back then so could have been user error. I didn't like the overdrive channel on the SLO30 I had for a bit either so what the hell do I know. However, the SLO Synergy module has been my #1 tone for the past year or so.
 
My understanding (and I could be wrong) is that back then all the amps in the line had the SLO preamp, maybe a few components different here and there, but the main differences were in the power section and transformers, i.e DeYoung only in the SLO.

The Deca is 3 channels like the x88 preamp; clean, crunch, and lead. I feel like back then it was priced close or even more than the SLO. I don’t know if it had the DeYoungs, but don’t think it did. George Lynch’s name was thrown around with the Decatone a lot

I have ever only played the SLO and the SL60 (series II). LOVE the SLO. Tried to love the SL60 but just couldn’t.
 
I had an HR100 years ago and thought it was a good amp, nothing mind blowing tho. It hung around for about a year. Got an SLO in Feb and it is special.

The HR is closer to a well tuned JCM2k DSL than it is to the SLO
 
I played a Decatone about 20 years ago in a music store. Thought it sounded great. I've played a few SLO100s throughout the years. As much as I have wanted to love them- because some of my all-time favorite guitar tones were made with one, I just never jived with one.
 
Owner all the big iron Soldano at one time.

You have to crank the HR+to let it shine.
Decatone had a great bedroom Master.I actually call Bill at Soldano to make sure the volumed taper was ok on it.
He said it didnt come alive and at full 100 wattage until you had it over 2 or 3 o'clock.

The loop is an issue for sure. Unless your on a limited budget, I'd buy the 2 channel Fryette Power station to fix that and call it done.

good luck !
.
 
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John4021 said:
Owner all the big iron Soldano at one time.

You have to crank the HR+to let it shine.
Decatone had a great bedroom Master.I actually call Bill at Soldano to make sure the volumed taper was ok on it.
He said it didnt come alive and at full 100 wattage until you had it over 2 or 3 o'clock.

good luck !
.
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Same with my Friedman Kitchen Sink JMP Dave dropped a resistor across the master. 10 to 2 oclock is the 100 watt zone.
Ive never had it past "6" on the master and dont dare to.
 
The HR Series and the Decatone are too boxy for me. The mids are congested and there’s no ring or Shazah (from the RCA manual ?) in the top end. Feel they might be good mod candidates but stock would be a hard pass for me. It’s weird to me that he made the SLO and then settled on the HR’s and Decatone as good. Probably painted himself into a corner designing a flagship, best he can do first. He doesn’t really seem to have an amp he’s released have any kind of staying power or community rep but the SLO.
 
skoora said:
The HR Series and the Decatone are too boxy for me. The mids are congested and there’s no ring or Shazah (from the RCA manual ?) in the top end. Feel they might be good mod candidates but stock would be a hard pass for me. It’s weird to me that he made the SLO and then settled on the HR’s and Decatone as good. Probably painted himself into a corner designing a flagship, best he can do first. He doesn’t really seem to have an amp he’s released have any kind of staying power or community rep but the SLO.
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I haven't played one, but I used to hear all kinds of raves about the Avenger. I used to see them for sale quite often, but I haven't seen one for a long time now.
 
I like both of them.

The hot rod is basically a fantastic 800 type sound.

The decatone is its own beast, most people are split on it, but I can get great sounds out of it

like all soldanos, they're extremely speaker dependent and picky, and I use a boost with all of them, including old deyoung transformer SLOs, because the low end is massive and needs shaped a bit.

That same thickness makes them shine for leads, though.
 
ZEEGLER said:
I haven't played one, but I used to hear all kinds of raves about the Avenger. I used to see them for sale quite often, but I haven't seen one for a long time now.
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An Avenger sounds fine until you compare it to an 800 with a boost, which will shit all over it. I literally got to do this one time with them next to each other. Avenger’s have a softer attack and you’ll be lacking in that percussive Thwap! You’d get from the Marshall. I’ve heard some decent tones recorded with one but can’t say I like the feel of playing through one, even though I think the early Gen with the metal front is sexy as hell.
 
One thing I'm seeing in this thread is conflating the HR100 with the HR100+. They are not the same preamp. The HR100 is basically the modded Marshall 2203: the mod Soldano was already doing in house to purchased 2203's but he just built them up from scratch. They sound like a Marshall on steroids. Still single channel though.

The HR100+ is basically the SLO100 built with more standard components and none of the "standard" mods on them. Don't shy away from the build quality. They're not up to the SLO, but they're still above most company's flagships. They sound just a bit more like a Marshall, like they straddle the line a bit. They're killer rock amps.

I've played them at band volumes in the mix, but admittedly we're talking 90's, so it's been a bit! I've only played the Decatone in the store and typical store volumes. Seemed cool enough for that. Some people prefer the HR's. They lack the SLO smooth, having a bit more hair to their sound.
 
Ooh, I like this. Let’s get the HR’s hyped so people can focus on them on the used market and leave the decent amps alone from forum glory, price hiking….?
 
I've been a Decatone owner for 22 years, f*ck, time flies.

First thing, it'a not an SLO. Let's get over that now. Haha.

I remember paying 1800 new then, I think they were going for 2500 (I was lucky to get a great deal)...SLOs by comparison were around 2800...maybe 3000. Honestly, i just couldn't swing the SLO at the time...i.spent an entire summer cutting grass to save for the Deca amd it was still tight.

Some points on the Deca.

Apparently it had Soldano's most popular mods built it...scoop 'srv' mod on clean channel, depth mod, and warren haynes mod on overdrive channel.

On the OD ('slo') channel...the warren haynes mod cuts the brightness...but on the deca, it cuts the brightness on more of the sweep of the gain knob...SLO seems to be effective about under 5 or.so...Deca about 7/8. The key to this channel imo is to turn the bright switch on.

The clean channel is good...not Bogner xtc 20th good, or vintage super.reverb good, but good to very good for a high gain channel switcher. The key on the clean channel.is to.run the channel.volume at max and turn up.the gain to get to.your volume level. I.also like the bright switch on, on this channel.

The crunch channel...perhaps the highlight of the amp, imo is great. Bright switch on for me is preferred (beginning to be a theme here haha). This channel.is like a nicely modded jcm 800...gain and clarity. Between volume on the guitar and an SD1, you could easily play a gig on this channel alone...i have many times. It wont roll down to 'clean clean' but it'll do rock and roll clean. You could easily go from SRV to Jake E Lee (ish)...EVH (ish) and nice metal tones (with boost to tighten).

Overdrive channel. Yep, not SLO, but turn bright switch on as mentioned before...keep gain at 6 or under...and follow MV and loop guidelines below and you'll get close...it's still the unique soldano overdrive tone...SLO.or not...and you still have that glorious crunch channel for a different 'flavor' of drive. In general the crunch channel.is much pumchier...and not as bloated for palm mutey type stuff.

Notes on MV and Loop.
MV: The MV knob is audio taper...so it sounds 'low' for 100 watt head at 6 (1 oclock ish). Run the master up to about 3 or 4 oclock..or max...then use channel volumes to adjust levels...for gigs / band practice. For at home, theaster really helps to make low volume playing easy

Loop: the loop is pretty average. However running an iso line out from the speaker jack into a stereo power amp (wdw) is much preferred...but that's a lot of shit to haul around and hook up.

If you dont use the loop...turning the knob on back (loop level) fully counter clockwise makes the amp more 'raw' and open sounding and feeling...i think this takes the loop tube out....fully clockwise is more compressed, with a finer grain of gain...by adding the loop tube in. It's subtle but nice to know / figure out.

So to get the best out of the OD channel.or make it more.open etc..run master up high, bright switch on, and loop level knob on back fully counter clockwise.

Also, the Deca is probably a bit darker for a Soldano...more low mids. It's like a Soldano with 10% Bogner thrown in (sort of...dont hold me to.it haha). For this reason, I turn the depth knob off or maybe to about 9/10 oclock max. IMO it doesnt really need it, where the SLO does...unless its cranked above 7 which will kill a herd of elephants.

On speakers for the Deca. not too picky IMO ..i've got a 78 blackback 55hz 4x12 that sounds great, but tbh for punch, I prefer my cornford 4x12 (solid pine cab with uk v30 speakers). i could see it also.working well with GBs too.

For power tubes...either standard 5881 sovteks or 6L6gc...i think i have the TAD tall bottle.RCA clones. Sound fine, I'm happy. I went through loads of kt66 tubes in.it...the old groove tubes ones...they were good too, but a scooped sounding 6L6 or any standard 6L6 works better IMO. No need to.gp.for kt66 type IME.

I hope you guys find some of this useful. It's a fun amp that I never really considered.getting rid of...especially after sweating my ass off in 90 to 100 degree weather cutting grass as a high school kid to save for it. Thankfully i dont need to cut grass for amps anymore haha.
 
GreenRust said:
I've been a Decatone owner for 22 years, f*ck, time flies.

First thing, it'a not an SLO. Let's get over that now. Haha.

I remember paying 1800 new then, I think they were going for 2500 (I was lucky to get a great deal)...SLOs by comparison were around 2800...maybe 3000. Honestly, i just couldn't swing the SLO at the time...i.spent an entire summer cutting grass to save for the Deca amd it was still tight.

Some points on the Deca.

Apparently it had Soldano's most popular mods built it...scoop 'srv' mod on clean channel, depth mod, and warren haynes mod on overdrive channel.

On the OD ('slo') channel...the warren haynes mod cuts the brightness...but on the deca, it cuts the brightness on more of the sweep of the gain knob...SLO seems to be effective about under 5 or.so...Deca about 7/8. The key to this channel imo is to turn the bright switch on.

The clean channel is good...not Bogner xtc 20th good, or vintage super.reverb good, but good to very good for a high gain channel switcher. The key on the clean channel.is to.run the channel.volume at max and turn up.the gain to get to.your volume level. I.also like the bright switch on, on this channel.

The crunch channel...perhaps the highlight of the amp, imo is great. Bright switch on for me is preferred (beginning to be a theme here haha). This channel.is like a nicely modded jcm 800...gain and clarity. Between volume on the guitar and an SD1, you could easily play a gig on this channel alone...i have many times. It wont roll down to 'clean clean' but it'll do rock and roll clean. You could easily go from SRV to Jake E Lee (ish)...EVH (ish) and nice metal tones (with boost to tighten).

Overdrive channel. Yep, not SLO, but turn bright switch on as mentioned before...keep gain at 6 or under...and follow MV and loop guidelines below and you'll get close...it's still the unique soldano overdrive tone...SLo_Or not...and you still have that glorious crunch channel for a different 'flavor' of drive. In general the crunch channel.is much pumchier...and not as bloated for palm mutey type stuff.

Notes on MV and Loop.
MV: The MV knob is audio taper...so it sounds 'low' for 100 watt head at 6 (1 oclock ish). Run the master up to about 3 or 4 oclock..or max...then use channel volumes to adjust levels...for gigs / band practice. For at home, theaster really helps to make low volume playing easy

Loop: the loop is pretty average. However running an iso line out from the speaker jack into a stereo power amp (wdw) is much preferred...but that's a lot of shit to haul around and hook up.

If you dont use the loop...turning the knob on back (loop level) fully counter clockwise makes the amp more 'raw' and open sounding and feeling...i think this takes the loop tube out....fully clockwise is more compressed, with a finer grain of gain...by adding the loop tube in. It's subtle but nice to know / figure out.

So to get the best out of the OD channel.or make it more.open etc..run master up high, bright switch on, and loop level knob on back fully counter clockwise.

Also, the Deca is probably a bit darker for a Soldano...more low mids. It's like a Soldano with 10% Bogner thrown in (sort of...dont hold me to.it haha). For this reason, I turn the depth knob off or maybe to about 9/10 oclock max. IMO it doesnt really need it, where the SLO does...unless its cranked above 7 which will kill a herd of elephants.

On speakers for the Deca. not too picky IMO ..i've got a 78 blackback 55hz 4x12 that sounds great, but tbh for punch, I prefer my cornford 4x12 (solid pine cab with uk v30 speakers). i could see it also.working well with GBs too.

For power tubes...either standard 5881 sovteks or 6L6gc...i think i have the TAD tall bottle.RCA clones. Sound fine, I'm happy. I went through loads of kt66 tubes in.it...the old groove tubes ones...they were good too, but a scooped sounding 6L6 or any standard 6L6 works better IMO. No need to.gp.for kt66 type IME.

I hope you guys find some of this useful. It's a fun amp that I never really considered.getting rid of...especially after sweating my ass off in 90 to 100 degree weather cutting grass as a high school kid to save for it. Thankfully i dont need to cut grass for amps anymore haha.
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Wow - thanks for taking the time to write all that out! Some great information here - very much appreciated!
 
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Jimty said:
Wow - thanks for taking the time to write all that out! Some great information here - very much appreciated ?
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No problem man. I've learned loads here, so finally happy to help with an amp I know well. Let me know if you have any questions.
 
I've been tempted by the Decatone many times but never pulled the trigger

Probably should have because I'm sure prices have only gone up
 
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