Soldano owners chime in please.....

A

alowerdeep

Active member
Im wanting to get another soldano,the SLO isnt an option though,just not willing to pay the price for one....so,Im looking at the hot rod plus,decatone or a Lucky 13 head.....they are all in the price range im willing to pay used.IVe read alot on them and have listened to clips of them all,though there are few quality clips of the lucky 13 OD channel and that is the one that interests me most,because it has the seperate clean amp with it's own eq.Most shared eq amps tend to require readjustment when you go between clean and dirty and I dont like using any kind of pedal.My probelm is that the OD of teh Lucky 13 gets such mixed or poor reviews.Is this in comparison to the SLO/Hot rod in terms of the amount of gain or the tonal quality of the OD?I could never find a clear answer,so that is what Im asking.Im asure it will have plenty of gain to do modern rock/hard rock....Im just wondering what the beef is with it?Most high gainers I play I run the gain on about 4....doesnt bother me if I have to turn the gain up a little more,Im more interested in teh quality of the tone in terms of teh clarity,fullness,crispness,etc....I considered getting a jet city and modding it,but really,in teh clips Ive heard they dont have the depth to my ear....my be pshchological,but just the way I hear it and in reality,after having one modded,you really arent going to save a whole lot of money,then the resale factor if you decide to move it...anyways....very long winded I know....just figured I would reach out before pulling the trigger.......
 
I've only had the SLO, but my general rule of thumb is that if some gear isn't popular or gets bad reviews, why bother? There's so much other stuff out there that's tried-and-true.
 
I think the problem and the bad reviews come from the expectation that all Soldano amps can sound like an SLO ,and they don't .

The L13 and The Deca are their own thing ,with some Soldano character in the lead channels but not the same as the SLO IMO
 
If you are ok with it not sounding like a slo there is really nothing wrong with the l13 lead channel. However, if you already own another soldano amp I'd suggest the rivera ktre reverb. I think it does the clean/reverb/od thing better then the l13.
 
I've owned two SLO's, but by my HR100+ I truly miss having. To my ears, it was like the perfect arena rock guitar sound.
 
diagrammatiks":36ehpv3v said:
If you are ok with it not sounding like a slo there is really nothing wrong with the l13 lead channel. However, if you already own another soldano amp I'd suggest the rivera ktre reverb. I think it does the clean/reverb/od thing better then the l13.
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Im not as familiar with Rivera amp,but arent thos a more modern voiced amp?I am intersted in the L13 because it is supposed to have a more vintage vibe to it......sounds like I may just have to try it.I dont really care if it soiunds like the SLO,but I like alot of the Soldano tonal qualities......my concerns were of the stuff I read that it was that the L13 was alot darker,weaker sounding,ect.....Im sure soldano wouldnt market an inferior quality amp on purpose,but it does happen at times......Anyone care to comment on the balance between clean and dirty on the decatone and hotrod in terms of the eq maintaining decent tone on each without redialing for live switching....
 
I've had the Decatone, Hotrod 50, SL-60, Reverbosonic and Astroverb.

Of all those I liked the Decatone the best because I got the most out of it. Single channel wasnt enough for me and the reverbosonic didnt have enough gain. I didn't mind the shared eq on the decatone at all, I prefer a relatively dark eq Bass anywhere between 3 o'clock and maxed, Mids anywhere between 10 and 2 o'clock and treble 11 o'clock or under for my distorted tones flipping the bright switch on the clean channel made this same setting work great on all three channels for my tastes.

I have played a lucky 13 but havent owned one. I prefer the decatone because I felt it covered the ground of the lucky but also had the third higher gain channel that the lucky couldnt pull off. The lucky did have reverb which was a nice option but just didn't cut it for me. The decatone didnt give exactly SLO tone but was still extremely articulate with good note seperation in high gain. I really liked it just not as much as my bogners...
 
I have an SLO, and I had a HR50+. I thought the HR50+ was really great. Sounded like a Soldano to me, but then I got into older Marshalls, and side by side, it just felt like it was missing a lot of the full tone of the Marshall. Frankly, I feel the same about the SLO.

Great, solid amps though.
 
Had an HR100 + and 2 SLOs. For around a grand a used HR is a great amp, boosted a little even better. But I boost almost everything. The SLO is a step up though....truly special. You have to decide if paying 2x the price is an option for you. You WILL get your money back if you pay 2400 or so for the SLO. The HR is great, I remember the loop being more transparent than the SLO...but I could be wrong. It's been about 5 years since the HR. But if you can swing the cash the power and articulation of an SLO is hard to match.
 
Have you put any thought into the Jet City stuff? Much cheaper, and in the same vein as the Hot Rod. You could get a lower wattage model, which would help you with getting the sound you want at low volumes.
 
The new Marshall Jubilee head is like $1800.00, but then you're only $600.00 away from a used SLO100. Two different amps, but both are just as tasty.

Note to self... Add "tasty" to the hated terms thread. :LOL: :LOL:
 
I have an SLO and L13.

The L13 can get some good metal sounds with heavy tweaking of the EQ but it's not in the same league as the SLO or modern high gainers. I think it's better for high gain classic rock and other genres further down the gain scale.
 
RockyStar":itd32m0x said:
I have an SLO 100 and love it in certain situations. Depth mod and KT66's help.
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See, I didn't like the KT66 in either of the SLOs I had. Depth mod is cool, but when you get some volume no need...I have a matched quad of KT 66s if interested.. :LOL: :LOL: I liked the wafer 5881s.....
 
Racerxrated":d8qloeas said:
RockyStar":d8qloeas said:
I have an SLO 100 and love it in certain situations. Depth mod and KT66's help.
Click to expand...
See, I didn't like the KT66 in either of the SLOs I had. Depth mod is cool, but when you get some volume no need...I have a matched quad of KT 66s if interested.. :LOL: :LOL: I liked the wafer 5881s.....
Click to expand...

I am always interested in tubes. I like the depth mod and I like volume :rock:

I haven't tried the 5881's in it, maybe I will next retube. It couldn't hurt to try.
 
I had the Decatone

Great amp, the OD was amazing. I traded my Engl SE in for it and never looked back but sold it, i had to many amps then.
 
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