Soldano Supercharger G.T.O.

very simple, three buttons
two ecc83 tubes

outstanding...
awesome tonality and not too much noisy

concerning the noise and hum,here's a message from Mike Soldano taken from "ask Mikey with Michael Soldano":

"Hello again. I've got two words for you and all of your hum plagued buddies on the Internet - GROUND LIFT. Come on, do you really think that I have the gall to put out a product that hums so bad that it renders it useless? Well I don't, I leave that to my competition (ha,ha,ha!). Seriously though, the Supercharger G.T.O. pedal was carefully designed to not have a hum problem, but because it is AC powered, there is always the potential problem of "ground loops" when connecting to other AC powered devices, such as one's amp. The basic rule in audio circuits is that everything should ground to only one point. When you connect the Supercharger to your amp, they are grounding to each other through the pedal's output jack and the amp's input jack, as well as being grounded by their AC power cords. This makes two ground paths, which creates a ground loop between the pedal and the amp. The easiest way to solve this problem is to put a ground lift (three to two prong) adapter on the power cord of either the Supercharger or the amp - I usually put it on the pedal's power cord. TO AVOID THE POSSIBILITY OF OFTEN FATAL ELECTRICAL SHOCK, EITHER THE SUPERCHARGER PEDAL OR THE AMP MUST ALWAYS REMAIN PROPERLY GROUNDED! DO NOT LIFT THE GROUND ON BOTH!

With that said, I would like to explain that because of the litigious nature of the world we live in, I was advised by the Safety Nazis not to say anything about ground lifts in the Supercharger's instructions. My apologies to those of you out there that have had a noise problem with the Supercharger G.T.O. pedal because of this. Try it with the ground lift and I'm sure you'll find that the hum goes away. And please readers, if you are having a problem with a product, give us guys that made it a call first to see if there is a solution to the problem. I think I speak for quality manufacturers everywhere when I say that we want our customers to be happy campers, that's what good business is all about".

built like a tank

very competent technicians
fast and effective answer

It's a true bypass - you can play trough even when the pedal is not conneced !! Great.

Perfect, but you have to find how to use it.
It's not one of these "plug and play pedal",
i has to be part of a coherent rig.

It was VERY expensive. Like most of us, i bought it thinking it would make my amp sound like a soldano SLO 100.

But it's actually an overdrive pedal.
So here's the real interest of it and what made it
the ONLY piece of my rig that never changed.

Use it as an overdrive on a crunch channel to boost it to
a LEAD sound. It makes your sound clearer, tighter,
sparkles, great hamonics and cuts through.

So if you like the philosophy of "an old marshall super lead
boosted to the bones", this is what you need.
I'm not a 1980's shred guy at all, but i noticed that George Lynch, Eddie Van Halen, Steve Vai and more had this sound before
HIGH-gain amps started to appear, and they sounded much better to me.
Remember soldano is basically a marshall on steroids.

Had it for 5 years. No issues, don't think i'll ever have an issue.

N/A

I play indie, alternative and classic hard rock. Think Led zep, Pearl Jam, GNR or the Smashing pumpkins maybe...

Means i'm after an authentic, roots, vintage style sound with atttitude. But i usually like to explore the sound of different styles, such as country, punk or heavy metal, there's always a good sound out there that can be incorporated to your music.

The soldano doesn't seem to match that "roots" descritpion,
but when i play leads or melodies, i often end up having
a muddy sound, and my lead guitar "covers" the beatiful crunch of my telecasters or les paul rythme parts.

So in the end i bought a superstrat (Vigier) with high-output humbuckers,
this pedal on the CRUNCH channel of my amp and here we go.

NOW, the real trick is:

Instead of pushing the gain up and the volume down,
which gives you a LOT of noise i agree, and not so much gain,
push the LEVEL to the top (4 o'clock) and the gain upside down (9 o'clock). Use the TONE to have a clearer and brighter or darker and thicker sound.

On your TUBE amp (what else ??), use a crunch sound, not too much gain, because your sound would be muddy or noisy. Find the "sweet spot", clear and loud at the same time.

What do you get ? A "crank it to the top" sound,
makes your amp roar and you get a nice blend of your amp's sound
and the pedal's tone, sustain, dynamics, clarity, which in my case is the best sound i've heard out of a tube amp.
(and at the namm i've tried them ALL !!)

Crank up your tubes, that's the core of soldano's philosophy -
Hot Rod cars and Hot Rodded amps. So this is how you get
the full potential of this pedal.

My amp is a Koch Studiotone. I'd give it a 9.
Many amps have a better crunch, a better clean,
but none have both....

GTO is Probably great for all kind of lead sounds, bues, rock, heavy metal, pop....
I don't use it for rythm parts.

I do use it to give my clean sounds a boost for let's say, country style fingerpicking.

I also own a Krank Distortus Maximus bought at the namm.
Another "sounds great but not what i expected when i bought it" !!!

Remember, the tone is in your head. When you buy a new pedal,
give it a chance, because there's always a good sound you can get out of it if you know a little about gear nd the philosophy of the pedal.

I went to a store with John petrucci before a clinic a few years ago and he tried every single pedal in the store, even the cheapest ones,
he was very excited and ended up buying a cheaop 20??? chorus !!!!

Very easy to use. Gain, Tone, and Output knobs, and a footswitch. Also a power switch on the top panel. The tubes are easily accessible with a screwdriver, as is the fuse. One input, one output for easy connectivity.

The sound quality of this pedal is quite good. There's a decent amount of distortion, and the tone is very amp-like. However, it's not my favorite distortion sound in the world... I think it's a bit more buttery sounding than Soldano's typical tear-your-face-off high gain sound. I can see why many have been disappointed by this pedal. I too was expecting higher gain with more sizzle available on the top end. Not really the case here.

I've tried different tubes in it. (Mesa, JJ's, GT's-whatever else I had lying around-I like it with high-gain JJ's the best.) Also, mine isn't noisy. If I kick on the Lead Channel of my amp (a Carvin Legacy), with the G.T.O. effect shut off, there IS some hum. However, I use the G.T.O. in conjunctin with the Clean Channel so this is not really an issue for me.

I think the G.T.O. sounds the best with a Keeley-modified Boss DS-1 Ultra in front of it. The knobs on the DS-1 Ultra are all set somewhere below 12 o'clock, and the mode switch is set to the Ultra position. As a result, the amount of distortion is greatly increased, the tone is improved (IMHO) and it sounds much more like the way I expected the G.T.O. to sound by itself.

It just seems kinda redundant to purchase a $400 (!) distortion pedal, AND THEN want to use another distortion ($129) in front of it to get the sound I was seeking when purchasing the Soldano in the first place. To be completely honest, I think the DS-1 Ultra sounds MUCH better as a stand-alone distortion unit than the G.T.O. does, and it's a fraction of the cost.

I also have a Mesa/Boogie V-Twin pedal. When used with an amp, I like the sound of the Soldano more than the Mesa, hands down... better tone, more available gain and better note definition. However, the Mesa sounds great for direct recording, and the Soldano does not. So each pedal has its own strengths and weaknesses.

One other thing... the G.T.O. sounds MUCH better when playing it through a loud amp vs. a quiet amp.

Very dependable. I've had mine for almost a year. I mainly use it in my studio. It's also been used on stage several times, but I've stopped taking it with me to gigs. One, it's too heavy... (It HAS to weigh about 10 lbs.) My live setup is simple... a couple Music Man guitars --> Boss TU-2 tuner pedal --> Keeley DS-1 Ultra --> Carvin Legacy. The G.T.O. is huge and it more-than-doubled the weight of my pedalboard. Two, it was too expensive. It could be relatively easy for someone to walk off with it, AND considering it's been discontinued (according to Soldano's website), it would probably be more difficult to replace. Three, I think two of the knobs are a bit too close to the footswitch. I've stepped on the switch and accidentally adjusted the knobs more than once.

I've had the same JJ's tubes in it for about 8 months now, and they still sound like new. I recently compared them to a new set I have, and there was no difference.

I've spoken with the folks at Soldano (via phone and e-mail) a few times, and they're great.

I've been playing since 1992. I play mainly rock music. The G.T.O. is a very high-quality distortion unit with a great sound, and would serve the interests of many seeking a particular tone. If lost or stolen, I probably wouldn't seek out another one... again, I think it sounds great, but it's just not my ideal distortion sound. There's a fair amount of other gear I would purchase over this in the $400 range. In retrospect, it seems a bit insane to spend that much on a tube distortion pedal, only for it to fall short of my expectations. For me, it does a great job in the studio, so it has earned a permanent place in my collection of gear.

This is about as simple as you can get. Three knobs to work with.
If you like it simple, this is the pedal for you.

I have been playing guitar for 33 years. I have played out and toured professionally as well done recording sessions. I own my own studio currently and I am using The Soldano GTO as my main pedal. I am using a Peavey Classic 30 using only the clean channel for my power amp with a Diezel 2x12 and a Mesa 2x12 cabinet. I play a PRS McCarty and a Parker Classic thru the rig. The project I am working on currently is a hard rock Christian based CD. I finally got the sound I have been looking for with the Supercharger. It does sound CLOSE to an SLO
thru my rig. The clarity and sound is very good even at relatively high gain settings. It does not color the guitar's sound very much at all. I own many other pedals such as the Damage Plan Demonizer.While both have the great features, I still use the Soldano almost exclusively.

As far as the noise goes that I have been reading about, I have had no problems with that at all. If you use a power conditioner such as a Furman or SKB board like I use, the noise should be greatly reduced. I use JJ ECC83 tubes in mine and love the sound.

I had to send mine back to Soldano to be repaired after I bought it new. The volume knob did not work properly so Mike asked me to send it back and they would repair it. Very helpful and quick turn-around made the situation not bad at all. I has worked flawlessly since so I have no complaints in this department. I would carry extra tubes when gigging just in case. It is built like a tank. One drawback is that t is a very heavy and bulky piece but the performance more than makes up for that

Read above reliability comments.

--See above details--

Please feel free to email me if youwould like to chat about the Supercharger GTO.

Simple. Gain, Tone, and Output Level knobs. 1/4" input and output jacks. IEC 120VAC power connector. On/off stomp switch (true bypass).

Fantastic unit in terms of tone. Perfect for medium to hi-gain tones with non-master amps (at clean voulme levels). Definately nails the Soldano/Mesa Recto preamp voicing when used in front of Super Lead style amp.

I purchased this unit new from Musicians friend. As in the previous reviews, it arrived with major noise/hum issues. The noise was NOT related to grounding or gain levels. After reverse engineering the pedal, I was able to modify the internal circuitry to eliminate the noise. Now the pedal is silent and I enjoy it very much.

Top quality hardware, jacks, pots, switches, tubes, sockets, etc... The circuit board is double-sided with plate through holes. Metal film resistors, quality capacitors, and mercury magnetics transformer. Sturdy rubber feet bolted to heavy-duty steel chassis. Cool blue aluminum 'fins' on the sides. Lighted power switch and status LED. This pedal is solid--no backup required.

Friendly, personal customer support from Mike and Bill. All calls and email returned promptly. However, they were not helpful in solving the noise issues. They suggested using a ground lift to stop the hum, but the noise problem has nothing to do with ground loops.

Quality all-tube overdrive unit. Great tone, but the stock circuit is ridiculously noisy. In it's stock form, this pedal is virtually unusuable. The good news is that it can be modified to completely eliminate the noise without altering the tone in any way. Feel free to contact me for details.

Frankly, your just stupid if you can;t turn three knobs

First let me tell you , in the interest of full disclosure, I walked in and bought this pedal without even playing through it, based on the Soldano name and rep alone. It was absolutely one of the dumbest purchases I have ever made. I play a variety of strats (clapton signature, lone star, 60th anniv.) Teles and a 57 gold top reissue through it. Usually into a Bassman or Marshall. It sounds best in front of the Bassman. The pedal generates a shitload of noise for a product in this price range(especially with single coils) and of the Soldano pedigree. Iv;e read certain reviews perscribing "fixes", However, you should not have to alter a product to have it work properly. The sound is decent, but does not deserve the rave reviews iv;e read. If it were any other name it would not be getting such great reviews.The pedal can also be a little Harsh sounding depending on the amp. The sustain is good. No it won;t turn your rig into an slo regardless of the hype. There are better boxes out there for the same ,or even less, money. Hope this helps.......

seems to be dependable. It;s heavy and overbuilt to justify the price.

They replied to my e-mail within 48 hrs and told me, more or less, that the pedal generates noise, it wasn;t defective.

Iv;e been playing about 25 years off and on, mostly Blues and classic rock. This pedal definetly leans towards a more modern type of distortion sound rather than the smooth overcharged overdrive I expected. It;s not bad....factor in the price though, and it;s not really worth the money

set up like the drive channel of an amplifier. very easy to work your way around

the sound of this pedal is the sound that i have been looking for since ive been playing. even in the high gain settings, there is still this clarity about the pedal. you dont loose notes, like you do with a big muff or a rat pedal. i actually use it on bass, and it is the only pedal that has a good overdrive sound and keeps its low end.

i have used it nonstop since i got it. i do not have a backup and have not needed one. the only issue i have had with it is stepping on the knobs. i have more than once stepped on it and rolled the volume all the way off. i ended up running it through an a/b switch to not have that problem.

not yet inquired

i play in a very loud rock and roll band, and this pedal has really beefd up the sound. i can never see myself getting rid of it. it sounds great on bass and even better on guitar. it is also the most versatile pedal i have ever nerded out on. it can be very subtle, almost like a tube screamer, and you can really drive the pedal to sound like a hotrodded marshall. big thumbs up to this pedal.

Three knobs, input, output, on/off switch, stomp switch, about as basic as it gets

Everyone is complaining about the squeal/hum...I had the same thing happen. I put an old RCA 12au7 in the first tube socket to knock the gain down a bit and the problem was solved. Does anyone really need that much gain when you get your rig up to stage volume anyway? The 12au7 makes the pedal much more responsive as far as picking dynamics go, and gives you a more useful range of adjustment. I actually do this with all of my amps.

Seems bulletproof

E-mailed them and they E-mailed right back. They were very helpful.

Kind of expensive but if its the sound you're looking for then its worth it. Put this in front of a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe on clean and it smokes.

Well, there's a Gain, a Tone and an Output control. Some might want to be able to turn the Gain further, but apart from that it's incredibly straight forward.

Excellent, if you like that sound - it's a real Soldano.
Contrary to some other reports I have no problems with noise. I'm using it in the send-return loop of a BOSS GT-6 with an Epiphone Explorer w/Seymour Duncan SH-2N, SH-6 I put in myself and it has less (!) noise than the GT-6's high gain preamps. In fact I switched off the noise suppressor! Suddenly all that mud the GT-6 creates in high gain is gone and you hear all your own lack of precision in playing (damn).

Looks like you could run over it with a 40ton truck and it'll be just fine. However, if you depend on it have at least a pair of spare tubes.

Never dealt with him, bur concluding from his posts he seems to be very helpful.

I play guitar for 20 years now, from Hardrock, Heavy Metal to Experimental and Jazz. It's an excellent choice for a Solo sound, though sound is always a very personal question. However, if you do Metal you might wish the Gain would go further.
The main reason I post it here is because I had no problem whatsoever regarding noise. If you do encounter noise either try to get a replacement or try both of the methods mentioned in these pages, i.e. avoid ground loops and the placement of the cables inside the GTO.
I give it an 8 since it has it's price, otherwise it would be a 10.

Ease of use? It's 3 knobs, 1 button and it's a HUGE pedal, so it's somewhat hard to miss the button. I dont know if you would call the 1 sheet of paper that comes with it a manual, but it does have that. I played around with this pedal for some time, and I couldn't get a decent sound out of it, for the style of music I play.

I use 3 guitars. I have a Gibson Les Paul Studio (stock), a Gibson SG (Seymour Duncan SH-5 in the bridge), and a Fender Telecaster '72 Deluxe re-issue. For amps I use a Mesa/Boogie F-100 and a Marshall 1960BV cabinet loaded with Celestion Vintage 30's. That's my set up. I AB'ed the GTO next to the stock dirty channel of the Mesa, and there was no contest. My F-100 blew it out of the water. I ordered the GTO under the assumption that it would make my rig sound like the SLO. I figured, "hey, why spend $3500+ for the head, when I can get the sounds out of my head, and the SLO sound for only $500?". Foolish me.

Now, I play post-hardcore, screamo, indie rock, and this pedal is not for me. It would be, however, perfect for someone else. It's all a matter of the ears that hear it.

I dont aspire to have my guitar sound like someone else. I like my sound.

Alright, it's been said that this pedal is a tank.

First of all, it's the size of a phone book (well, not really, but pretty close). It weighs 9 pounds, and seriously, you could kill a man with this thing.

never dealt with.

This pedal does not suit my style of music. I returned this pedal after trying to get a sound that I liked out of it for several days. This is not to say that it is a poor pedal. Personally, I just can't justify spending $500 on a pedal that doesn't suit my needs. It was at the point when I AB'ed it against my stock Mesa distortion that I realised how good my head is.

If you play more classic rock, or garage-y stuff, this pedal will be perfect for you. As I've said many times, it's just not for me.

Take care.

It's not rocket science!

The tone is... well... excellent. It sounds almost exactly like the real thing (lead channel of the SLO or The Avenger, which is the cheaper single channel version). By almost I mean that the real thing would be less noisy and less muddied - that is due to the nature of the beast: It's a pedal!!!
Mine is very noisy, which is mainly due to the design of the pedal. But the layout doesn't help one bit to improve the hum rejection that is possible. Sure, to some degree it doesn't matter, it's only noticable when you're NOT playing. It irks me, and obviously (see some of the reviews above) it's not a problem for others. Anyway, the kind of hum rejection I'm talking about is probably observed in the preamps of the two amps afore-mentioned and anyone who doesn't like it should really just buy one of them and quit complaining about the noise of an all-tube, high-distortion pedal of which the tone is REALLY good.
BTW, it sounds best through a very clean channel and increasingly yucky the more gain it has to get over - hmm... just like any other of it's kind!

Well, yes. Mainly because it is built very solidly. It's layout is on a PCB however, the board has excellent support internally even when replacing the tubes (which are mounted on top of the board) it shows no sign of being stressed. The parts are reasonably good - not as good as the SLO - but it's a pedal!

I have to give it 10 because in comparison to Soldano, other amp manufacturer's have 0 support. Not all of course but they've been exceptional. They've not always been right but who can be when the item is not right in front of them. They almost always respond to my emails - 9/10 times. I doubt there're more than a handful of companies that could do that and they'd have to be pretty small operations.

I paid way too much about which I'm spewing!! Not Soldano's fault though. I may or may not buy another if it went missing, I might just get an Avenger or SLO.
I wish it wasn't so noisy when on but not being used. One would find it difficult to record it if there was a dying note that needed to be used since at some point the noise would become quite objectionable to an engineer (if not the player also - who should be concerned about such things).
It looks fantastic. I love watching the faces of kids checking it out.
I own a Bad Cat X-treme Tone and while this is not as versatile, if I have the option of using one as a lead channel, I choose the GTO. They sound different: the GTO's tone is tight while the X-tone's is loose.
The GTO is a great pedal.

OK Soldano builds fantastic amps and effects. GTO is not an exception.
Extremely easy to use - and what I find out is that the less knobs a unit has - the better it is build, seriously. This one has 3 knobs and it gets you to where you want to be.

Great sound. Anybody who hears it is instantly converted into Soldano fans. I live in a little country of Moldova (former Soviet Union) - and I am the only Soldano owner in the country. Pro musicians come to me to listen to the effect and they love it.
OK here is the catch: this pedal is designed to charge a tube amp.
Musician's Friend review says that you can plug it straight into the mixing board. Not sure it is a good idea. I tried and you still get a better sound, than you would with a solid state box, but...
Once you plug it into a tube amp it sounds great.
I play Les Paul with '57 paf's and Les Paul Studio, into a custom made tube combo amp that I own and into Marshall TSL 100 with Marshall cab Sounds great!

Undestroyable!!!
It is still wise to use back up!

All I hear about Soldano people is that they are very helpful, not like mainstream manufacurers.

I play 60's and 70's rock and jazz, this unit gets you anywhere you want to be from bluesy tones all the way to high gain singing overdrive,
the moment you plug it in new tunes start coming alive, I am happy I found out about Soldano, and that there are so many people who haven't yet!

Ok Folks. Here's the verdict. Take a second look at it if you own one. It's called a SUPERCHARGER!!!! It does to your guitar what nitrous injection does to your muscle car. Don't engage it when you cruise around town!!! It's dangerous. It's designed to make your guitar sound like a rocket at liftoff. So try to use in designated areas only. Once you fully understand that concept, it's as easy as 123.

I've used many different distortion or booster pedals over the years, and I have to admit that the GTO is the only one that made every member in the band turn around and go "duuude". I play mostly Gibsons and Fenders, and I prefer Gibsons through Marshalls and Fenders through Fender Amps. I own a '74 Marshall JMP 50 half stack, a newer Fender Custom Vibrolux, and a Fender Pro JR. Keep in mind, these are all non master volume amps that I use depending on the size of the gig. I usually turn them up to about 7 to get that crunchy overdriven rhythm sound, and I'll go clean with a volume pedal or a compressor. But for my solos, I step on the GTO, and fogettaboutit... I compared it to the Mesa V Twin and it was like comparing a Fiat to a Ferrari. I have spent a lot of time trying to find a smaller pedal with equal sound, just because the GTO is so friggin huge and heavy, but I eventually gave up and purchased the MKS Pedal Pad XL. What a great pedal board by the way, and what a nice home for your GTO. Check it out!!!
Anyhow, the GTO will smoke any distorton or booster or "make your solo stand out" kind of pedal on the planet. Guaranteed!!! Yes, it is a little noisy, but what the heck, you should be in shred mode when engaged, so who cares... And remember, it's called a SUPERCHARGER. And that's exactly what it sounds like. Screaming loud and aggressive yet super clear and transparent.
When I first heard it, I instantly knew I had to have it. It really is the ultimate.

Built like a tank. If you drive your car over it you'll need a new rim.

Never dealt with. I heard Mike's pretty cool though...

I play rock'n roll guitar. From soft to hard. I'm a complete tone junkie. I wouldn't touch a transistor amp with a ten foot pole. And I prefer non master volume amps. I know it's difficult when you're told to turn down, but nothing sounds like them. I'll just use a lower wattage one. Marshall Plexis, Fender Bassmans, and Vox AC 30's are probably my favorite amps out there. I like my amps to break up. I love that fat crunchy rhythm sound of overdriven power tubes. That's my main sound. But for lead guitar, a booster pedal is necessary. Many pedals do the trick, and there's so many of them. But I'll never forget the day I first plugged the GTO into my Vibrolux. Nothing sounds like it. It's pretty scary. If you like smooth silky overdrive, don't use it. Use a TS808. But if you want to tear people's heads off, this is the one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As easy to use as any other 3 knob pedal. When I'm playing w/a drummer, meaning fairly loud, I dial the gain & tone to around 2 o'clock. I find this setting maximizes the gain without adding unwanted flubbiness & shrillness. At home practise levels I've tended to max the gain & tone.

I'm using the GTO in my secondary rig w/an old Mesa/Boogie 50 Caliber, which is not that good of an amp. I find this amp's crunch channel particularly weak & nasally so I only use the clean ch. w/the preamp at around 4. My primary amp is a Decatone which obviously doesn't need additional distortion/overdrive pedals. The GTO should sound good with any tube amp (power section). I had an old Roland JC-120 once & tried it with that & it sounded awful. So the pedal's not as good as a SLO100 or Decatone obviously, but makes a good poor man's version.

A bit on the loud side as far as hum & hiss, but nothing out of the ordinary for high gain played loudly. I'm using a MXR Smart Gate with it which I leave on for any songs/parts with staccato sections.

Weighs 8 lbs & will break your foot before you break the pedal. I'd have no qualms about not using a backup unless you have a singer standing nearby who's always drinking/spilling.

I've asked Soldano about tubes & stuff, not for this particular item though. They usually respond within a few days. A couple inquiries have gone unanswered though.

I play hard rock, metal & exploratory jam stuff that is somewhat jazzy. I'd been thinking about selling it (since it's in my secondary rig & i figure i can get something cheaper that doesn't necessarily have to sound quite as good), but fear I might regret it so i haven't yet. I guess i'll keep it unless i really need the money. If I didn't have a great primary amp (Decatone) I wouldn't think about parting w/the GTO because it helps you achieve a great tone. I've been playing 24+ yrs, but haven't owned that many amps during this span. I've gone from cheapo beginner amps to a JMP 50, Boogie SOB, Boogie 50 Caliber (still have it), Soldano HR-50, Jazz Chorus 120 (owned briefly when i was thinking about A/B'ing it w/the HR-50), & now the Decatone. But if you only have a single ch. tube amp (or only using the clean ch. of a dual ch. amp) and want an authentic Soldano tone, then the GTO is the cheapest way of getting it.

how hard could it be?? this is a plug 'n' play unit. being carefull with the gain is the best way to get good results. some users seem to complain about the amount of gain. reading mr soldsano's instruction booklet will tell you that it is recomended that the gain be super low for some amps.

this unit is a soldano preamp.the same one as the s.l.o. it so happens that i own an s.l.o as well. what i do is run the crunch chanel clean, and use the super....g.t.o for clean/crunch, and then have my overdrive chanel as usual. the sound is pure soldano. this thing ,akes any higher powered amp sound like majik. i also have a bad cat hot cat 100. it has the two seperate chanels. i run the supercharger into the clean, again having two awesome gain chanels.
in front of a older superlead this thing is deadly.
i know that there is a lot of complaints about hum.this is too bad because a lot of folks dont know that a amp and its effects, SHOULD ALWAYS BE CONNECTED TO THE SAME OUTLETS SOURCE,ei a power bar. it is very important that there is only one ground point.
this things sounds like god. it looks insane.it soooooooo heavy.its a great conversation piece.

have you picked it up????

i met mike soldano when he gave a meet and greet at our local
long& mcquades {vancouver granville}. the guy loves to talk about gear.
Bill sundt is the same way. i phone these guys so much, i hope tehy dont recognise my voice!, but really they always are very patient and helpfull,always taking time to answer your questions. these are busy people. all soldano's are handmade by one guy on each project from start to finish. all their products are built this way.

i have a matchless hot box as well , and this thing sounds way better
i can compare it to my s.l.o. to verify the tone . i play mostly punk rock, and radio friendly stuff. ive been playing 25 years. its hard to say if id replace it cause i won it, and i already have the flagship amp.
i want to say that give mike and co a chance to perfect this unit. he doesnt need the bad publicity or does he deserve it. take your time and follow the istructions carefully.remember use a power bar. all ground points to one place.

Gain, Tone and Output knobs. So easy a caveman could do it. Oops!I didn't see you there!

I used it so far with 2 of my Peavey combos (have not tried the Lonestar or jcm800 2210.)1 Peavey combo is horrible without it.. with the soldano this thing is bad! Wow. What a difference. Especially when I shred. I can't believe the sound on both Peaveys.. and yet, there's that raucous buzz! What a bummer!Without a noise gate this would be a useless pedal and an expensive lesson for me. Even though I moved the wires like a guy mentioned still do I hear nastiness.Still, you get Ron Jeremy FAT tone! heh, Nice tone.

I haven't had it long enough but the thing looks like an Abram's tank! So far so good.

no opinion here since I haven't called. I hear they're good but I hope I never have to find out.

I play Aerosmith, VH, Ratt (Origs too)etc. Even Fleetwood and floyd and this thing gets some killer tone. I use the Boss NS-2 with it and it makes the pedal totally useable but without it this would be boat anchor. I've been playing around 32 years. I own 3 48th st custom guitars,3 custom Jacksons and a charvel... a JCM800 (2210), Mesa Lonestar 100watt, and 2 Peavey combos.. a bunch of Boss effects (tone jam modded SD-2 & keeley modded ds-1). Even with the Sniper EQ No overdrive comes close to this tone. I'd buy it again if stolen but actually, I could probably just listen for the ripping buzzsaw and find the culprit that stole it. I do think it's overpriced (at $400) due to the beehive serial killers living in it!

There are only 3 controls, Gain, Tone and Volume. The tone control is very subtle. Soldano's manual even tells the user that you should obtain your tone prior to turing on the pedal. Really simple to use.

I love the sound of the GTO. It is pure Soldano gain. I have used it for bass in front of a Mesa 400+ and SVT cabinet with 200 watt Eminence speakers. TOTALLY CRUSHING!!!! This is possibly the heaviest bass sound ever. For guitar I have used it in front of a 50 watt JCM 800, 4x12 with 75 watt Celestions and it completely changes the tone. The Soldano sound is very different than the Marshall sound. It has made my JCM 800 into a much more versatile amp. I can switch between Marshall and Soldano tone with the click of two buttons. I am so happy with my results. A friend has one as well and has raved about how changing out the stock 12AX7's has produced awesome results as well. There is a fairly high noise floor with this unit, but hey, you want pure tube gain right??? I personally do not have a problem with the noise, but it is notable which is why I rating it with a 9.

Soldano engineering has done it again. You could probably hammer nails with it all day long and just scuff the brushed aluminum finish. I gigged heavily for 5 years with it and it has suffered through water, beer, sweat and blood and it sounds as good as the day I bought it. The only reason I would carry a backup is if I thought I might need to bludgeon someone and I didn't want to get blood on my gigging GTO. Think cinder block.

Never had any need to contact Soldano because I've never had a problem.

I primarily used my GTO to play crushing metal bass. It always produced my sound and I have never thought twice about getting this unit. There is a fairly high noise floor, so if you are looking for a whisper quiet distortion pedal, sorry, this is not for you. If you are after the awesome Soldano creamy low gain to screaming high gain distortion, look no further. If this were lost or stolen I wouldn't bat an eye about buying another. I have rated this a 9 because at almost $450 new it is a pretty hefty price tag to be considered a value, but you can't expect to buy a Ferrari on a budget. Kudos to Soldano for another stellar piece of gear.

3 knobs ud havta be retarded not to figure it out

les pauls... prs..an old crate 4-12 loaded with emminance the govenors....73 marshall super lead 100.....i read all the reviews and i dont get it...the thing works fine for me...no noise....sounds kick ass...the trick is to take it easy with the gain knob...matter of fact i have it off....distortion on distortion always sounds like ass...i got the output dimed....and the tone knob at 10:00...its a great box..a lil bright but u cant have everything.

things built like a tank

i play hard punk n roll...the box is awesome...dont use it like a distortion pedal...put the gain on zero...max the output....set the tone to taste...if its too much gain....lower the output till u like it...if it aint enough gain then slowly raise the gain till ur happy..good box

This is a follow up to my review 10/15/2004.

Okay, the noise. After reading every review in this section , one suggested opening the unit and moving the wires away from the tubes. He WAS RIGHT ON!!!!!!
Open the bottom cover(4 screws). Take off both side panels(ALlen key needed). 2 wires(yellow was one) was wrapped right around the left tube at the base. Remove the cover for the tubes and take out the tube. Push the wires back towards the input/output jacks. Next, another pair of wires(purple and black) are running along the same left side. Just put wires on the other side of the screw post away from the tube. Do this CAREFULLY by takeing five of the screws that attach the circuit board to the screw posts and GENTLY pushing the board away from the post and sliding the wires underneath. VOILA!. Put it back together. The hum is almost all gone. I then cranked it without a noise gate and it was dead quiet. you can have the gain up all the way and the output around 12 o'clock and it is still very quiet! This really worked!. I then tried it with the groung back on and I think it was even quieter. Read my last review below. THe hum was really loud. This really did the trick. Remember, UNPLUG THE UNIT FROM THE WALL SOCKET!!!!!

You'd think they would suggest looking at this to people making inquiries.

I now realize that I may have to change one of the tubes and expect to get even better sound after as it looks in bad shape, but we'll see.
I hope everyone reads this because the pedal is so quiet now. I have a great rhythm distortion, full of life warmth and air. For lead I still find it a litte weak. But still great!

Very ease. Only 3 intuite knobs. Very responsivness pots.

1) I have Peavey Classic 30, Meteoro V6 and Marshall JMP-1/9200. I use a 92 Giannini LesPaul and Gibson Night Hawk Standard
2) The pedal isn't noisy. Very low noise with only one ground point (in my case the amp). In very high gain the noise is acceptable. But no more noise that any overdrive/distortion pedal. I use humbuckers, a good ground, spectaflex cables. What do you want about single coils and a bad ground project? What do you want if you install de pedal in zones with radio interferences, eletro magnetic interference etc? Noise!!!! but i have Mesa V1, Meteoro Doktor Drive, V-Twin, BadCat Extreme, Shred Master, Guyatone Tube Distortion and others and Soldano Supercharger don't presents more noise then that. I think that the user complain about noise without to try other simple solutions. I don't belive that Mike Soldano made a 60 hz tone generator... I'm extremely satisfied with GTO.
3) Very amazing tones, a true tube tone!!! Responsiviness dinamic... More and more tones with a few adjusts... Excelent... low noise... and fantastic sounds!!!! Product for professional and serious musicians. I live in Brazil where we don't have all resources like USA people. I pay US$ 550,00 !!! for it and i'm extremely satisfied.

Very strong aluminium chassi. The tubes are protect.

I send two emails and no return!!! Arggghhh

I'm playing Britsh Stile like Sisters of Mercy, Mission, Cult, Cure, Siouxsie and the Banches etc..

NA

Hi all -- I don't own this pedal (though I do have a Soldano amp), but I remember reading a column of his where he addressed the hum issue for this pedal. Someone else talked of using a ground loop, but since so many of you seem to be having problems with this thing, I thought it might be helpful to paste his response here (basically, it amounts to plugging the pedal into a 3-to-2 prong adaptor):

"I've got two words for you and all of your hum plagued buddies on the Internet - GROUND LIFT. Come on, do you really think that I have the gall to put out a product that hums so bad that it renders it useless? Well I don't, I leave that to my competition (ha,ha,ha!). Seriously though, the Supercharger G.T.O. pedal was carefully designed to not have a hum problem, but because it is AC powered, there is always the potential problem of "ground loops" when connecting to other AC powered devices, such as one's amp. The basic rule in audio circuits is that everything should ground to only one point. When you connect the Supercharger to your amp, they are grounding to each other through the pedal's output jack and the amp's input jack, as well as being grounded by their AC power cords. This makes two ground paths, which creates a ground loop between the pedal and the amp. The easiest way to solve this problem is to put a ground lift (three to two prong) adapter on the power cord of either the Supercharger or the amp - I usually put it on the pedal's power cord. TO AVOID THE POSSIBILITY OF OFTEN FATAL ELECTRICAL SHOCK, EITHER THE SUPERCHARGER PEDAL OR THE AMP MUST ALWAYS REMAIN PROPERLY GROUNDED! DO NOT LIFT THE GROUND ON BOTH!

With that said, I would like to explain that because of the litigious nature of the world we live in, I was advised by the Safety Nazis not to say anything about ground lifts in the Supercharger's instructions. My apologies to those of you out there that have had a noise problem with the Supercharger G.T.O. pedal because of this. Try it with the ground lift and I'm sure you'll find that the hum goes away. And please readers, if you are having a problem with a product, give us guys that made it a call first to see if there is a solution to the problem. I think I speak for quality manufacturers everywhere when I say that we want our customers to be happy campers, that's what good business is all about. We want to answer your questions and work with you to find solutions, rather than having you spread misinformation all over the web and bumming out our potential customers."

NA

NA

NA

Easy3 knobs. gain tone and out put . Adjest to your taste.

this area got a 5 because of the noise issue. Take that away and it wouls get a 7. More on that later.... Ibanez rg760>gto>noise gate >marshall 20/20>4x12. Not bad. O smoothe rolling OVERDRIVE. not distortion. It was a great crunch. Now you add a ds-1 and it is endless. You get all the searing distortion you want and still mainting the characteristic of the gto. I then tried it Ibanez rg760>gto>noise gate>POD 2.0>marshall 20/20>4x12. The pod was set up just for effect and eq. The sound changed a little. A little more gritty but still good.....Now for the bad

The HUM. This pedal Hums like nothing I ever heard. You need a Noise gate and it has to be set up on high. This is not hiss it is a hum. I played through a Slo-100(which this is supposed to be the pre-amp section of) and did not get anywhere near the noise. There has to be a production flaw with these things

like a tank

I e-mailed them and got an e-mail back within 2 days. and then got more replies to my questions. Couldn't be better

I play anything from pop to hard rock. I own a host of preamps, and I 'm going to get more because this is good but not great. I'd seriouly think of buying it all over again. I do wish it a had more gain and LESS NOISE!!!

Unless you just got off the Russell bus you should get this...

What a piece of *^%*...My studio is shielded city and this thing was producing more noise than my noise gates could handle. And when I ignored the noise, hiss and hum the sound of the pedal was unusable. It is way too top end biting ear piercing cringe for me. If you are a crank it up and stick a dagger in your audience's ear kinda guy then go for it. When Soldano designs a decent pedal that runs at DC voltage and sounds like an SLO 100 then maybe I'll give it an ear. BTW, I use a Custom shop strat with Texas special PUs and a Les Paul with Seymour Antiquity PUs into a Fender Vibro-King and Budda SD30 2x12 combo.

You could run this thing over with a train and it wouldn't flinch...(the train would derail).

Soldano is a nice guy (talked to him on the phone) and his top amps are well designed and sound great but he missed big time on this thing. (I sent it back after 3 days of agony).

If you are serious about tone and like a fairly quiet rig then keep on walking...

Very easy and very responsiviness controls. Only a stupid can't operate this unit

I use Meteoro tube 15 watts amplifier and Peavey Classic 30. The sound is perfect for rock & roll and Hard Rock. Noise is acceptable. Very good!!!! Low noise!!!! Low noise mans!!!!! My amp is connected with a good ground, i use good signal cables and good JJ-tesla tubes, then, the noise is very low... The sounds are amazing, fantastic tube tones like Soldano SLO-100... I have a Bad Cat X-treme and this unit is fantastic like bad cat, but with diferente tone (mid range is gratter in Soldano). Supercharger is a product for serious musicians.

Built like a tank. Tubes with protection and circuit into aluminium case.

I don't kwow. I never need.

I play 80's english pop, like Siouxie and the Banches,The Cure, Sisters of Mercy, The Cult etc. I'm playing about 15 years. I love Bad Cat X-treme and this Soldano, i think that i have the best distortion units that money can to buy.

Extremely easy to use....sometimes I wish it had more features, sometimes I'm just glad to keep it simple.

*Warning...results may very much vary from mine*

I have never used this pedal through a clean amp...and I have never used this pedal with a guitar that has been tuning to standard. I use a Matamp GTL140 as my main amp and I keep the master volume on 10...I do keep the gain fairly low but my Matamp is running pretty crunchy. I also use a variety of baritone guitar and standard scaled guitars but most are tuned to BEADF#b if not lower. Pickup wise though I'm using everything from fairly low-output Lollar made Strat pickups to a variety of P90's, PAF's to very high output humbuckers. I use the GTO to basically give me an over the top, total saturation sound. I've tried several pedals to do this and this is the only one that satisfies me (I tried the mesa v-twin, tonebone classic, EH Graphic Fuzz, modded TS9, PE Germ, Fulltone Ultimate Octave, Everman Fuzz Drive and a few others I can't remember right now).

Now for the noise issue...I'm guessing that Soldano has gotten it right by now or that I was just extremeley lucky because for being a high gain pedal mine is dead quiet. One great thing about tube pedals is that you can do some rather simple mods with parts you already have...tubes! I tried a few different tubes out in the GTO and really liked the new Groove Tubes 12AX7M (their Mullard copy) as well as the Ei 12AX7's...EH's were only so-so sounding to me and I tried 4 different tubes.

The phrase "built like a tank" gets mentioned a lot in various reviews but you'd be hardpressed to find any pedal more deserving of that moniker than this one.

I emailed them about the noise issues before I bought this and received an immediate response that they had solved the problem....but that's my only dealing with them.

I hate reviews that are just all 10's but this pedal really satisfies my very picky and spcific needs better than any I've ever tried. Is it absolutely perfect for what I want...well I guess I would like a tad more low-end but a lot of that has to do with running a dirty pedal into a dirty amp...it's hard to keep things tight and the Z.Vex Wooly Mammoth was the only pedal I've tried that truly kept the low-end tight but I didn't like the tone of that pedal at all. Basically every issue I've had has been solvable with a tweeking of one of the 3 knobs (which can be more complicate that it seems since their pretty interactive) or by switching the tubes.

3 knobs & a switch. couldn't be simpler.

Not any noisier than my V-Twin. Mostly playing an Epiphone LP & a Hot Rod 50 dialed to a clean sound in order to achieve a poor man's version of a SLO & I must say it's a success. I'm plugging it in the high input of the head w/the preamp set below 2 so i can still get somewhat of a clean tone when the pedal's disengaged. I dial the GTO to max for gain & tone - that's when playing through relatively low watt Celestions. These settings would be too piercing if you're using higher wattage speakers.

The GTO into the HR50's low input sounds darker, more of a British tube amp tone. Sounds great but I prefer using it in the high input for the quintessential Soldano tone.

The thing is heavy & built like a tank. You'd break a toe if it ever fell on your barefoot. I'd have no qualms not having a back-up during a gig.

Playing progressive rock that's metal-ish at times. Comparable to A Perfect Circle. Started learning gtr in 1981.

Pretty simple. Three knobs. Not much to be said.

The good: Awesome tone: very full bodied, great presence. A lot like the SLO 100 sound. The bad: As everyone knows, pretty noisy. The ugly: This thing adds hum whenever it's plugged in, ground lifted (suggested in a column by Mikey Soldano) or not, even when the pedal is turned off and bypassed. Conversely, plugging in the pedal seemed to quiet things when using single coil pickups, at least in some power environments. I even tried lifting the ground on the amp and leaving the pedal grounded. Still noisy. Not a ground loop problem at all.

I'll never know. I exchanged it for the Hughes & Kettner Tube Factor. Not really the same, but decent and one helluva lot quieter.

I called their tech support the day after buying the pedal and I talked to a nice guy who couldn't tell me anything useful. He recommended I return the pedal. Good PR buddy! HC should allow a negative rating in this category.

Awesome tones made frustratingly useless by noise, which even poisons clean tone when the pedal is bypassed and turned off. The only way to stop the pedal from adding hum is to bypass it, turn it off, and unplug it. Don't even bother with the lifting-the-ground trick. Does nothing useful. Nice job Soldano!

Couldn't be much simpler to use, three knobs, and an on/off switch. Purchased mine without a manual, but I doubt the manual could be that large since it's such an easy device to operate.

I have a Peavey Classic 50 tube amp with 2 12's, and I play a Fender Cyclone with and Duncan 59 humbucker at the bridge. While a few reviewers on here say their pedal hums, I have yet to experience any humming at all. And when it's switched off, you can't even tell it's there. And frankly, the thing does the best old Silverchair distortion I've ever heard.

I'd carry extra tubes, but I'd definitely gig without a backup pedal. Maybe I'd carry my old Boss Metal Zone with me, but I sure wouldn't want to have to use it. The Supercharger seems to be quite solid.

Never dealt with the company.

The pedal is awesome for what I paid for it. Unfortunately, it sells at this time for $400, but if you run around enough on E-Bay you may be able to swipe one for a hundred or so less than that. I've tried a lot of other pedals and multi-effects, but none could produce such a rich full overdrive without sounding muddy. If it were lost or stolen, I'd be majorly pissed cause I doubt I'd be able to get another one for only $250. But I'd sure as hell try. Awesome pedal guys, and it's a lot cheaper than an SLO-100 head.

3 knobs, very easy to use. The only thing that may be hard for some
is knowing how much is enough. This baby has alot of gain and output
which is good. It's very adjustable for many guitars and amps. Too
much of a given knobs can cause some hum.

I've use 100's of pedals through the years and the GTO is an SLO
lead channel in a box. This smokes the Matchless hotbox/dirtbox,
the Boogie truck bumper pedal, BadCat varients, and don't even
compair your pathetic TS mod crap to this. I can play very complex
cords even with the gain up and hear every note. The gain and sustain
are super smooth. This thing through a good vintage Fender can get
Pretty close to Steve Kimock lead tone with some Delay/Reverb.
Sounds great with my 1990 Bassman RI, My 1996 Custom Shop Prosonic,
and my 1965 Princeton Reverb (in a head skin) through a 2-12 oval
back cabinet with reconed Hemp Cone ABroun Celestion Vintage 30's.
The only thing is as you increase the gain you also increase
some pickup noise. I use Moster Cable Studio Pro 1000 and still
get a little hiss when engaged. This is not a problem for me, cause
Live when your ripping a solo, no one will hear any hiss over
my singing tone.(Not to mention kick on 2 TS9/808's or 2 Nobels ODR-1's or even just 1 Fulltone Distortion Pro and listen to the amount of hiss and background noise...Yuk!) In the studio this pedals adjustability lets me get the sound I need at a volume to noise ratio that works fine under the mic. I do use different settings with my amp and the pedal in the studio to get what I need. This pedal is well built and has 1000V rating caps, and metal film resistors. I have never had such a refined high quality gain box like this at any price.

Super build quality!

Never delt with them, but Mike has his own page and seems
to be a decent guy. Most people say Soldano is helpful.

I play Funk/Jazz, Rock, Blues, Jam Band Stuff, pretty much anything
that feels good and has some soul. This is the Best I've been able
to come across for smooth refined high gain sound. The user
seems to have a big part in the sucessful use of high end gear
like this. GH

The reviewer who suggests disconnecting the mains earth to remove hum loops as being safe is WRONG!!!!!!!!!! This is a very dangerous practice that leaves you vunerable to lethal shock in certain circumstances.It is not acceptable to provide an earth to ANY mains powered equipment via a signal lead from another piece of gear EVER.
It might get rid of the hum but it is dangerous and in public places(eg. on stage etc.) probably illegal.
There are safe ways of reducing/removing earth loop hums on mains gear..........please check them out with professional help if unsure but be assured that disconnecting mains earth is NOT and NEVER has been one of them.

This is a super basic stomp. 3 Knobs (Gain, tone, and output). Plug it in, give the tubes a minute to warm up and away you go.

I plug my epiphone les paul custom SG directly into this pedal then into a peavey special 212. The amp is junk, but the pedal truly makes it sound like a soldano. It's almost too much tube overdrive for me, but it still sounds awesome. I haven't suffered from the 60 cycle hum like everyone else, but this stomp is SN#0001, so maybe it's built a little differently, but i don't know.

This thing is built like a tank. It's shipping weight was 11 pounds. The casing is made of 16 gauge aircraft aluminum. Like all Soldano products built like a tank. I would definitely gig this without a backup, of course i'd keep tubes on hand. I've only had this for a week though.

Never dealt with the company

I play mostly punk, hard rock, stoner rock. This is pretty close to the sound that i want. If it were stolen i'd probably buy an SLO-100 head and cab.

Below is a review of the Supercharger GTO that talks about what it should be called, the 60 cycle hum generater.

All this person would have to do is drop Soldano a line to find that this problem is commonly reffered to as a ground loop, more thatn one path that leads to earth/ground.
Simply removing the three prong chord end and swapping it with a two prong ungrounded chord end and presto no more ground loop. Don't worry about shock after the install, your GTO and other device is grounded through your amps input and there is where the loop came from in the first place. Because of saftey standards and liabilities Soldano and other companies are not going to tell you about this but it is safe and it works.
Ofcoarse do the actual work if you are competant and allways ground the unit through the input jack or other when you use it after that.

I've had this pedal for a few years now. I used to like it in front of my Dr Z Carmen Ghia, but I had moved on, etc, etc, and it's been in the closet since because I found I didn't care for the sound anymore. I recently picked up a low wattage Fender amp and decided to resurrect this pedal, but I find that it had too much gain (mushy) and an annoying amount upper midrange boost with no bass, where'd the beef go?
I decided to have a look inside to see what the circuit was doing. Of the two tubes it seems like the one on the left was affecting the gain structure the most. The first plate resistor was 100k (normal) but the second was 220K. Both the cathode bypass caps were 1 mF on the first (left tube) and none on the second (right), and all the coupling caps were 0.022mF. The volume and gain pots were 1Meg.
First I tried 500K pots, then 250K. It did seem to increase the bass a little, not sure why, but I only know enough to be dangerous. I didn't like how that affected the volume control though and changed it back to 1Meg, but left the gain at 500K. Then I decreased the second plate resistor to 100K to lower the gain, changed the second cathode bypass cap from the 1 mF to 22mF (to increase the range of frequencies being boosted, Fender uses 25mF), and increased the second coupling cap on the first tube (pin 6) to 0.047mF to allow more bass through. That's the one that goes directly into the gain control. I also use a 12AT7 in the first tube socket and a 12AX7 in the second.

Well that seems to work, I have little less gain and more bass, it has a more even tone balance, more transparent to the original tone. I'll continue to play around with the circuit (cause I can't help it) and provide updates if I stumble across anything. But I like the sound a whole lot more now.

As far as the hum and noise issues, I have less noise (hiss) with the reduced gain. I have had the hum problem before and took the ground out with a 3-prong to 2-prong adapter. That eliminates the ground loop to the Soldano and the hum, but it seems to me that this is not a safe solution. I use it with the ground and when I'm tinkering inside, always check the big caps to make sure they are empty, cause I'm paranoid about DC voltage!

Rating is for sound quality with mods.

Good quality components used inside, on a single circuit board. As a comparison, the Matchless Hotbox was hand wired point-to-point.

Good solid pedal with tubes seeing an actual 250VDC (I measured it), unlike other "tube" pedals with wal-wart power supplies at 9VDC. As described, if your handy with the soldering iron and know a little about tube amp circuits you can alter the tone and gain how you please. My other option was to add a gain stage to my Fender amp, but why do that and destroy a vintage Fender when this basically does the same thing and you can turn it on and off.

As simple as can be: Gain, Tone, Output. I bought this one used without a manual, and still got it to work!

I have been informed by Soldano that this is basically the preamp section of the SLO-100, and I believe he is correct.

Still stepping on it . . . will update this Review if and when it gets crushed. Despite its apparent indestructibility, this Superhero cannot be polished up with "chrome polish" or similar products; so, this one shall remain soiled and stained. Afterall, it is made for stomping, right?!

Easy access by email and by telephone. I have purchased many Soldano products "used," and have always received excellent product support regardless of that fact. That's another reason for buying Soldano products: I can count on Soldano for the tech support, if and when there is such a need.

I sold the HotMod for this G.T.O. For the extra $50 or so, I think this unit delivers more tonal controls and has more of that Soldano SLO character, compared to the simple gain-mod to the Marshall via a HotMod. Moreover, this can be used with any amp, which the HotMod just cannot be as accommodating.

Very straight forward. 3 knobs, an input and an output. Oh yeah, there is also an On/Off switch.

I attempted to use this with 3 guitars, a Les Paul Standard, a Fender Hardtail Strat and a Les Paul Junior. My amp is a Soldano Atomic 16 head. First of all, they should change the name of this pedal to,"The 60 Cycle Hum Generator". This is one of the biggest disapontments to date. I found this produced so much hum it was unusable!! No matter what guitar/amp/settings used just "gawd awful"!!! The tone was nothing special either, I found it to be very muddy sounding. Even when the effect was bypassed there is hum!! Just horrible!!

The casing is huge and heavy, I'm sure it could take a beating. But I'm not going to bother keeping it long enough to find out. Reliability?!?! I can rely on it to produce an a## load of hum, so yeah I guess it's reliable.

I bought it used, so I suppose e-mailing them would be a moot point.

I've been playing for about 12 years, and have owned far too much gear to bother listing. This is without a doubt one of the worst items I've ever purchased. I do have to say in all fairness, mine is an early model (SN: is under 200). The new ones may or may not have been revised. I would hope for the price they charge for these new, they could do something in regards to the 60 cycle hum problem. I've tried moving the AC wires around, looking for bad ground connections, and tried using different tubes, all to no avail. I would not buy one of these again, and that's too bad because I love Soldano's amps. I have an Atomic 16 head and think it's the "Cat's A##". I would love to get a Hot Rod 50, but just don't need all that extra power anymore. I may have just received one of the lemon's, but even used that was one helluva' an expensive lemon.

This effects unit is a piece of cake to use. Gain, tone & output controls to help shape the sound your after.

I used the GTO through the clean channels of a Carvin Legacy head and a Marshall JTM 30 combo. Instant crunch and fat, sustaining chords can be had. I use Les Paul Studio & a Fender Lead 3 with a George Lynch Screamin Demon pickup, and these guitars are on fire with the help of the GTO. Wicked distortion and smooth shredding tones are available with some tweaking of the controls. George Lynch, Michael Schenker, Yngwie Malmsteen, VH, etc. are found with this great preamp. I love using this as a boost on the lead channels of my amps. It makes them sing and scream!

I have no fear of failure with the reputation of Soldano products.

I have e-mailed them with questions and they were very quick to respond.

I play rock & shred/neo-classical metal style guitar. I have been playing for about 20 years. I own a Soldano HR50XL head, Carvin Legacy head, Marshall JTM 30, 1965 Blackface Fender Vibrolux Reverb, Squier 2 Strat w/signed custom shop 69 pickups, Maestro Echoplex EP-3, and a shitload of effects units including a DOD Yngwie Malmsteen Overdrive Preamp(autographed). I would kick some major ass if my stuff were stolen. Get the GTO preamp if your looking for that over the edge gain that has pure valve tone and not some crappy solid state distortion unit.

This unit is extremely easy to use and easy to get a great sound out of. The tone knob basically allows you to dial in the pedal to whatever amp your using. Gain control gives me more gain than I could use and the out put is easy to use with the gain knob to get the sound you want.

I use a Gibson 1960 Historic Les Paul SG through fulltone clyde wah, fulltone deja vibe 2, fulltone fulldrive, zvex fuzz probe, fulltone 69' fuzz pedal, zvex super hard on pedal, line 6 delay modeler, and framptone amp switcher. I play through a Dr. Z Mazerati Amp through a Z Best 2X12 Cab. The Supercharger G.T.O. can provide two really good functions, line driver and overdrive/distortion. The gain can get really saturated and used with a fulldrive can provide distortion with dave mustain proportions. I use the GTO for a more saturated overdrive sound. I used to play on marshalls but this thing sounds more like a marshall than the JCM TSL 100 i used to play. It sounds like an amp which blows my mind. Just crank your amp and you can't tell the differance. If an SLO amp sounds better I may be trying to get one of those in the near future. The only problem is there is some noise I get from this pedal that I don't get from any other pedal. It's not to bad that I can't use it, but I did ship it to Mike Soldano and they said the noise is not the unit itself but from interferance picked up by guitar pickups. I guess the unit makes pickups ultra sensitive, i don't see how this is true because I use a super hard on by zvex and don't get any noise from any of the fulltone or zvex pedals. I used the GTO live and it sounds huge live and when switched off doesnt make any noise but expect some extra hiss in your sound and i'm not talking about low white hiss it's pretty noticeable but doesn't affect the quality of rich harmonics you get from this pedal. If used as a line drive with the gain turned down the unit doesn't his at all. I also noticed if you use a ts9 type pedal infront of it while engaged the pedal is perfectly quiet at any gain level. I must give this unit a lower rating due to the noise.

One thing about this pedal is you can depend on it not breaking down besides the tubes this thing has got to be indestructable. Tubes are tubes so have some extra 12ax7's if gigging around.

This company is awesome! Mike Soldano himself called me! How many amp builder's take their time to do this? I was very impressed with their professionalism and honesty. They were very quick at responding.

I play my own music which is heavy to light modern/classic style rock and have been playing for 8 years. If this thing was stolen I would save up and buy it again. Besides buying a soldano amp this unit will only do. I love the pure tube tone it gets and how clear the unit is with the gain a bit past noon, sounds like an overdriven modified old school plexi. I hate the hiss I get when using the pedal in higher gain applications it's not terrible but it's not a good thing either. I wish it did have a two channel option in fact I may ask Mike Soldano if it could be modified. Because you can get a great dirty clean out of it. It be nice to switch from dirty clean to high gain. The tone out of this thing inspires me to create songs and that is what is most important to me. I think everyone with the funds to buy one should. If your using quality cables the hiss isn't that bad from my experience, the most musical distortion I've tried. I've tried lots of boutique and mass produced stuff and this is No. 1.

How much simpler can you get, this baby has 3 knobs: gain, tone and volume. Basically you put this through the front of your amp, (caution this pedal works best with a clean amp ie fender twin, bogner shiva etc) dial in how much overdrive you want with the gain knob set the tone, and volume knob to taste, and viola, you are rewarded with the most thickest, creamiest, sweetest, most beautiful, yet wicked overdrive tone you have ever heard of in a pedal.

I am currently using these pedals, (I have two of them) along with a fulltone wah, fulltone choral flange, akai headrush delay, and a voodoo labs pedal power-2. For guitars I have 2 anderson guitars: one alder body classic and one hollow drop top classic both of which have maple necks w/rosewood, and vanzandts vitange plus pick-ups in the neck and middle positions and a seymour duncan 59 trembucker in the bridge position. I run all of this into the front of a fender vibro king. The tones that I get from this set up is all I could ever ask for or need, as far as the GTO overdrive goes I set one up for a kind of bluesy overdrive and the other is set up for a more over the top kind of grind so I get all the shades of overdrive that I would need. With the pedal engaged you do hear some humm but that is normal even tube amps hum so I kind of overlook this especially because it sounds so good. I can cover just about any gig with this rig from country to jazz to rock and roll, and R&B. The one thing that strikes me about this pedal is how real it feels, it is the only pedal that I have played through to date that actually feels like an amp, all the others that I own (fulltone fulldrive II, tube factor, centaur, and ibanez tube screamer) don't feel like your playing through an amp, don't get me wrong all these other pedals are excellent but they just don't have that feeling like the GTO does this pedal looks, sounds, and feels real. This is the closest that I have came to a vintage marshall sounding overdrive, that's how good this baby sounds, trust me I have 2 of them.

This thing is built like a tank, I have had it for a year now and I gig 4 nights a week and I have not had one problem with either of them.

Can't rate this because I never had to deal with them because this pedal is built so solid.

Although this pedal is pretty pricey I would definitely buy it again if it were lost or stolen. The pedal is that good.

If you struggle with this, good luck with the rest of your life.

I play a 76 les paul standard through a 1970 silver face fender twin reverb, a boss noise gate, delay and flange. I've read many people say this pedal is noisy and think there must be something affecting their set-up. One time this pedal caused me issues and that was at a friends little home recording studio. For some reason we got a pretty nasty hum that the noise gate could do nothing with. We never solved the problem (he swears all his stuff was grounded correctly), but outside of that my supercharger has always been dead silent (at my bands studio and bar gigs). So go figure. The true by-pass is sweet, and switching into gear is silent and fluid. One great feature is how much boost you have available to you, I mean if you really want drive your amp there is plenty in reserve. I've found my sweet spot to be distortion at 12 o'clock, tone at 2 o'clock and boost/volume anywhere from 11 - 12 o'clock. There is lots of room to move around, I can control how much feedback I want relative to cinder/distortion with the boost. One thing though is it does lose its definition past 3 o'clock gain. I put some JJ/Tesla 12ax7 tubewa in there to try and improve the situation over the Sovtek tubes. Although it helped, the supercharger still loses me past 3 o'clock gain.

I do love the supercharger but cannot give it a 9 or 10. Why? Well, let me say first that this is my first quality pedal, and although I can't stand my old pedals anymore (boss DS-2 and Metal Zone, god these things are a joke relative), I just feel the supercharger lacks a bit diversity. Clarification; I can get great bluesy tones, and a great overdrive, cinder type sound with all the clarity and tone of my guitar coming through, but no fuzz and no really really super smoking distortion sounds. Whatever I do to try and really get a mean crutch out of it, it starts to blurr. I recognize that not anyone pedal can meet everyones needs but the one that does will get a ten. What the supercharger does, it does well, really well, I just wish it would also do other things. So I consider an 8 a pretty good score because I'm not one to fondle all over something just because I paid out the arse for it.

No issues so far (6 months ownership), no noise problems like others have mentioned. The way it is built I would expect this bad boy to be around for long long time to come.

No need as of yet.

Like I said above, I give it an 8. What it does do, it does right. But I wish I could get a higher gain (without blurring), and perhaps some warm fuzz as well. Yew probably asking too much from one pedal. I plan on buying a MXR Distortion + and tubester soon, so after I play with those for 6 months I put down some comparisons. And maybe I find I have new respect for this beast. If it were stolen I would probably cry and then go a man hunt. As much as I bitched in this review about what it can't do I need and love this pedal, so yew I buy another in second (probably used though, $400 is tough for a poor school boy).

3 knobs, gain, tone, and volume. Like most amps and effects though you have to play around and find the sounds YOU want.

The amp and to some extant the guitar makes a huge difference with this pedal. This thing sounds really great with the Matchless Cheiftain 2x12 but did not sound good with a Fender Twin reverb, Alessandro 4x10, or Mesa Blue Angel 4x10. I have a Maxon OD808 (TS808) that sounds equally good with most amps.

As for guitars Strats sound excellent through it. Not that humbuckers don't but seems to really shine with strat. I'm a gear head so I primarily play a G&L Legacy for Strat, Hamer Tele, Hamer Archtop Custom with SD 59 & JB for humbucking.

I went through a lot of pedals and amps looking for a tone I like (not to match another tone). This was the most articulate that I found. I could hear the individual strings in chords and I love that. I tend to gear my playing more towards musical looking for perfection in individual notes (probably because I've never been able to master blazing speed picking). Friends have borrowed and played it with the mixed results I would expect. Everyone is unique and looking for THAT sound and we often don't know just what that sound is.

This unit is MY favorite, but at $399 don't buy this unit without being able to take it home and try it on your set-up first. I haven't had the concern with hum that others have.

I have had no problems with it. I do not use it on gigs though. I usually take the Maxon OD808 simply because it is more versatile.

Haven't needed any.

I only give it an 8 here because it is not a pedal for the masses and at $399 it should have more variety. It is excellent though in what it does.

I play blues and classic rock. Fortunately I feel with blues you really don't have to have a particular sound, so I am free to play the tone I want which this unit does for me. If you're doing covers or trying to emulate someone else's tone then I don't know where it fits in. I have played off and on for about 12 years.

I have also had Budda Phatman, Mesa V-Twin, Mesa Bottle Rocket.

For me it does make music. If you read enough posts of different effects you will find most have someplace in someone's music. These posts are great and I haven't found a better site for reviews of any other kind of product. But I can't stress enough to try and play any amp, guitar, or effect in your environment with the ability to return it.

No problems here, easy to use and straight forward.

There are several topics to touch on here. Tone, sound quality, size and engineering problems.

Tone wise this is a pretty good sounding pedal. It really could be a little brighter and clarity is a bit of a problem. I like the fact that it has lot's of boost and overdrive on tap, but now we get to the main problem. It has a major issue with hum. I spent time moving and re-routing wires, but no matter what I did it still had way too much hum for real world use. I tried other ideas like lifting the ground and so on, but once you get above 2/3 volume and gain, your into 60 cycle hum at levels that are just not acceptable.

So while for some users this will be a very good OD, for others it has some serious short comings. For me the hum killed it, I mean the whole idea of the pedal is to get a cranked sound. So if you can't crank it up, what's the point? Try miking your amp at a gig and then turning on this pedal with tons of background hum...
Anyone can deal with a little hiss, but AC hum (which is a B natural) really causes problems. Running at band volumes, it can start to cause pressurizing and cancelation problems. So, here you have a problem that should have been addressed at Soldano on the drawing board. And it's selling for $375, that's no deal. If the hum could be cured and the Eq tweaked it would be a very good OD, probably one of the best available.

The last topic is size, and in most peoples book, yes it really does matter. If your going to make a pedal the size of a shoebox, then why can't the sections be moved far enough apart so stray voltage can be contained? It weights a ton and takes up lot's of space. These problems can be dealt with, but it has to be worth it. The engineering could have been better.

Built like a tank, maybe too much like a tank. Don't see this area as a problem with making it through many years of playing.

I did call and talk to Soldano about the problems, the tech guy was nice on the phone. He offered some ideas, but nothing beyond what I mentioned above (switching tubes, lifting the ground and moving wires around). I'm not up for spending money and time trying to get something to work that should have been taken care of by the factory in the first place. After all, this is a brand new pedal, it was designed and built in the last year or so. Why ship the thing back and forth? I'm not getting paid to be part of their R&D dept.

I give a five because they were nice, but offered no real answers. Maybe it's not realistic, but at $375 they should almost offer and factory recall on the things. In all fairness, I didn't get to the point were I was asking to ship it back for improvements. So I don't know if they would work on it at no charge and pay return shipping. But I didn't want to get married to the pedal either. Once you start spending into something like this, it's a real gamble and you know your not going to recoup your investment. So I figure if it's not right from the get go or easily corrected, then move on.

What more can I say? I've typed a volume of input above. If your looking for high gain settings or studio work, I think you'll find yourself in the same boat. For a more mild user, it will work out fairly well. I guess this is typical of what I've found to be the case with pretty much all true tube pedals, noise and murky tone.

Easy. Tube replacement is a 5 minute job and it changes the tone and gain structure.

This is a follow-up. I rated this product a 9 before and I still do. I have now gigged and recorded with it and have gone inside to move the AC wire away from the tube as did some other posts here. I still love this sound on my amp, Dr. Z Karmen Ghia and I just live with the noise and a slight hum. I also have had the opportunity to try this pedal on a variety of other amps and it really makes a difference as to which amp your using. These pedals seem to like a thick, clean, submissive tube amp. Meaning one with a clean front end and a good power tube section. If your amp is bright and crunchy with a strong pre-amp, like a Marshall, it doesn't sound as good. After all, take it for what it's supposed to be, a Soldano pre-amp section from a SLO 100. You wouldn't hook two distorted pre-amps together in series, it would sound like mush. Using one 12AX7 and one 12AT7 tube seems to sound the best to me. And on tape this thing cuts through nicely as it does in a band setting.

But for God's sake take your amp in when you try out this pedal before buying.

Like a rock

Try it and buy it.

Very Easy. Three controls volume,gain and tone. AC On/Off switch and
bypass switch.

I'm using this on the clean channel of a fender prosonic combo and Amer STD strat. This thing sounds great through the prosonic. It's like having another amp at the push of a button. I wouldn't bother using this in front of a SS amp. I tried it on an old Peavey I had and guess what...the peavy
still sounded like crap. I love the fact that it is true bypass. I usually end up modifying effects I buy to get true bypass. The tone
is very aggressive and sounds great for leads. The sound does tend
to mush out a little when I crank the gain past the 3 o'clock postion
but adjusting the tone all the way up helps to alleviate that. I actually run my TS9 in front of the GTO just to give me a little more
flexiblilty and it sounds great.

I did have a few issues with it though. The first one I bought had
an incredible amount of 60Hz hum. I'm talking as loud as the guitar.
I could still tell even through all the noise that this thing could sound good though. I returned the unit and eventually ordered another
one and guess what, the new one had a lot of 60Hz hum but not as much
as the first one. I sent an email to soldano and asked if I could send
it back directly to them to check it out. They replied the next day and said I could. In the mean time I took the thing apart, turned it
on and plugged into the amp. I noticed the AC wiring resting against the tube. I moved the wire with a chop stick and low and behold no more hum. I then removed the switch and shortened the AC wire by a few inches, resoldered and routed as far away from the tubes as possible and put
the thing back together. I'm not sure if I voided my warranty or what but I doubt I'll ever need it anyway, it's built like a tank. I wouldn't recommend opening it up with power to it though because
there is 310VDC in there. If you do have some hum you probably can
open it up and just move the wires away from the tubes as far as possible. It still has a little noise but is more than acceptable.
I'm guessing they test the units while they're still apart and didn't
realize that the AC wire was resting against the tube when it was put
together.

I would think this thing will be very reliable over the long haul.
The construction is very solid from the pots to the switches to the
case. Tubes do die so just keep some handy.

I would have to give them a high rating on this. My email's were answered usually within a day and I wasn't blown off when I explained
the problem I was having.

Very Good. This thing performs as advertised, real tube distortion that sounds like a Soldano.

Couldn't be simpler: (1) set the amount of initial gain; (2) set the amount of output from the pedal (you can turn up the output to overdrive the amp's preamp section); (3) adjust the tone setting to center the tonal range for your amp; use the amp's controls to change specific tone settings.

After that it's simply an issue of whether it's on or off (true bypass).

This is a beautiful overdrive tone, whether using the pedal as an overdrive unit or as a boost to overdrive the amp's preamp. Lots of creamy sustain, with lots of snarl, sparkle, detail, harmonics.

I love this tone. I play a Les Paul Classic with PAFs through the Supercharger, through a 1967 blackface Deluxe Reverb with Yellowjackets/EL84s. My guitar just cries now. Wow.

I had been using a Tubeworks Real Tube, but this unit makes that sound like a toy. No other pedal comes close to bringing out the woody bark of my Les Paul like this thing does.

Three cheers!

Tubes will go out, the switch will go someday, and pots will need cleaning from time to time. But this thing is built like a tank. Very impressive.

It's a "10" as far as tube-reliability goes, but a "9" as far as overall reliability goes (since tubes are especially fragile).

N/A

I like a souped-up Bluesbreakers sound, and this thing gives me that. If you want woman-tone with a lot of extra sizzle, this is it.

Simple. Don't be afraid to turn the tone knob all the way down as this pedal can be bright.

Very nice. Wide range of overdrive to distortion, can sound bluesy at lower levels of gain, and very hard rock at the other end of the spectrum. Using a Les Paul and a Strat with it. I'm not a huge fan of their amps, but this pedal sounds good. Doesn't do the exact warren haynes tone, but comes pretty close. No more noise than my Klon, which makes me think the last reviewer had either a defective unit, or does not know what he is talking about.

Appears to be made very well. It's heavy. We'll see.

Didn't use em.

Very nice, especially with a humbucker equipped guitar, lots of gain and sustain.

Really a very easy pedal to use, it's kind of a no brainer, just plug it in and go.

Heres the deal. I'm running this unit into the CLEAN channel on my Marshall DSL 50. The sounds I've been able to dial up are OK,but my biggest gripe is the 60 cycle hum. I didn't expect it to be completely quiet,but this is unacceptable!! It's just too noisy,I would have expected better from Soldano,especially after paying $400.00. I called Soldano and they said it might be a ground problem so I tried their ideas to solve it but it didn't work. Even with the unit in the bypass mode it's still got a noticable hum. After A-B comparisions between the GTO pedal and the Marshall's overdrive channel,IMO the Marshall had a much more fluid tone and could be just as aggressive sounding as the GTO,but is very quiet even on the highest gain settings. What this has shown me is that even though a piece of equipment is hand built with all the hype that's attached it's no gaurantee that it will sound that much better if at all.

Yeah, this thing is built to last. I'd use it without a backup.

I will say that Soldano has always been very helpful and polite when I've called them.

I guess if you can live with the noise level, it's a decent unit. However,it made me realize just how damn good my Marshall sounded by it self. I've been playing 25 years and play mostly classic rock and hard blues.If it were stolen I would not replace it, in fact I'm returning it to the place of purchase for a refund.

Well... having read all of the previous reviews on this pedal I was feeling a bit in the dark still as far as the sound quality of this unit. So, I called Soldano and asked a few questions about it and was basically told that the Supercharger is essentially the SLO overdrive channel in a box. My first impression is very good to say the least. Some have commented on the lack of more than one tone control but I feel that one is more than enough for this unit. Getting a great sound out of this unit is as easy as dialing up a nice clean sound and clicking the footswitch.

I played with this pedal at the stor through 3 amps and got the same results each time... a great clear and rich distortion that Soldano is known for.

Here is what I was using for testing...

Amp 1 -

Bogner Class A 35 watt combo amp(not sure of the model) using a Les Paul and an ESP guitar.

I dialed up a nice clean tone that was well balanced and stepped on the footswitch all I can say is wow. The Supercharger made that little amp really scream...! Nice and rich distrotion that was very in-your-face sounding.

Did the same test on a Matchless amp with the same results.

Finally I got to try the Supercharger on my Rectifier. I dialed up a good clean sound and was again very surprised by the sound quality that came from the GTO. Using the GTO with my Rectifier i was able to compare the 2 sounds and the GTO sounded better than my Rectifier... at least to my ears it did. The Rectifier seems to be more mushy than the GTO. The GTO is more in-your-face type of sound. I like it very much. It's really no more noisy than any other hi-gain pedal or amp. But the main reason I bought this pedal is beacuse it doesnt seem to really care what amp it is plugged into. Just dial up a balanced clean tone and presto instant SLO (although not exactly... close enough) As good as it sounds there is no such thing as a ten so I give it a 9

Built very well indeed. I hope that I don't drop this thing on my foot! I would use this without a backup but I always have extra tubes just in case.

I have called Soldano numerous times about many different things and they have always been eager to help. Although I do wish that they would return e-mail a bit quicker.

I usually play hard rock bordering on metal and I think that the GTO is a good match for what I play. I have been playing for 15 years or so and have gone though WAY too many pedals. I think I have found something that I like. I have owned some other high end overdrive/distortion pedals such as the Mesa VB-twin and the GTO sounds MUCH better. Much more clear sound doesn't sound mushy.

Very easy to use, no manual required. The unit does not come with a manual, however it does come with a basic information and instruction sheet with warranty and company contact information. It is basically plug and play. Other than setting the Gain, Tone, or Output levels on the unit, the user can swap the two factory supplied Sovtek 12AX7LPS tubes to an alternate 12AX7 compatible type to get different tones and different gain characteristics. This to me, is an advantage of the tube units over standard solid state type distortion boxes. This is a straightforward unit, no memorizing menu's of digital settings, no batteries, no computer memory chips. Simply a high quality, hand made in the USA, all tube overdrive unit. It is a high voltage unit, which also utilizes a heavy duty three-prong removable amplifier power cord (same as the Soldano and Marshall amps use), not a wall wart box like similiar units manufactured by other companies. Something as simple as this is a major plus in my book, and just demonstrates the pride and high quality design that Soldano is well known for. Nothing in the world is perfect, though. The first unit I purchased was an early unit (which can be determined by the Serial number), and when using this unit with the gain full up, caused a audible electrical scratching type noise. I emailed Soldano's Tech, whom I have conversed with many times over the past several months. He stated to me that the original G.T.O. design utilized a 1M resistor, the same as found in the Soldano SLO amp. However, with the G.T.O.'s close proximity design to input jacks, tubes, and electrical innards, caused this "internal feedback" as defined by Soldano (Soldano amps do not have this problem, due to the additional space allowed by their design). He suggested that I can "correct" the problem by changing the 1M resistor to either a 220K, or a 100K resistor. This is an easy mod, and it works, if you are versed in this type of thing, however if not, an experienced reliable amp tech can do the resistor mods with ease, and inexpensively. Soldano must have realized this as well, as more recent units have the lower resistor values standard. One thing a lower resistor value will do is take away some of the high end (trebles) of the tone. It's not bad, but it is noticable. It can be changed to any value you wish, if you or someone knows tube amp repair/modifications. I suppose Soldano traded off a little high end to cure the internal feedback problem, it was a case of their analysis of user preferences. It all works for me.

This is a high quality tube unit, and the tone it delivers will tell you so. It can get some very sweet-to-full-on overdrive sounds. Some players have said that to play metal style music, this type of unit will not deliver the goods. I beg to differ. The sound of this unit, using stock components and factory supplied Sovtek 12AX7LPS tubes, can go from a hot SRV type overdrive, to an ZZ Top-ish/EVH Brown Sound to grunge to hard core rock. No problems here. To assist in acheiving this sound, I am playing a dual DiMarzio humbucking equipped Ernie Ball Music Man Axis into the Supercharger G.T.O. units, straight into a Fender Hot Rod DeVille 2X12 amplifier. No additional effects or tone enhancement devices are used. For best results, IMO, I am running two G.T.O. units, in this fashion: the first unit is set with the Gain at 0, Tone at 70%, and Output level at 50%. The second unit has the Gain setting at 60%, Tone at 70%, and the Output level to taste. For home bedroom settings, I have the units Output level set at 25%, and the amps volume turned down fairly low. This yields excellent overdrive at reasonable volume levels. There are no actual numerical settings for the control knob pointer, so the settings are approximate. Also, each guitar and amplifier will behave differently, thus Soldano has noted that the G.T.O.'s tone control is designed to properly match the unit up with your amplfier. Some amps may take higher or lower tone settings than others, so do not be afraid to experiment. You have to let your ears be the judge. Therefore, your results will vary, though, also depending on the type of instrument, amplifier, and chain of additional effects you are using, so you must keep that in mind as well. The G.T.O. also sports a TRUE BYPASS, even with the power to the unit off, you can still run it in your setup with absolutely no signal loss or tone degredation.

This unit is built like a tank, and to quote an acquaintance of mine, the G.T.O. is "the Swiss Army Knife of tube overdrive units.", I tend to agree. This unit gives me no worries, although any guitarist who has a serious dependency, or who is also in a professional situation, that depends on his equipment functioning to deliver their own signature tone, they should always carry replacements or backups to their main equipment. In any case, at the minimum, for this unit I would recommend having good 12AX7 tube replacements handy at all times. Having a backup or vital replacement parts should hold true to any brand or type of equipment you use, no matter what it is, or who made it. This is the real world, not MTV!

I have spoke with Soldano numerous times via email, and each and every email was answered thouroughly AND in a timely manner, whether it be customer service, tech, etc. They stand by their own products and warranties (the Supercharger G.T.O. has a one-year warranty), and if no qualified amp tech is available to you for repairs or mods/upgrades, Soldano will accept the product, do their own work, and return it to you. With the resistor mod as mentioned above, Soldano provided me via postal mail with a hand drawn schematic. I cannot speak in a high enough regard to the superior care and customer service that Soldano has provided me.

Highly recommended! This unit is tops in my book, and fits my playing style and tone requirements very well. I play anything from SRV to Van Halen to Metallica type music, and the G.T.O. fits the bill perfectly, especially on those higher gain applications. I have owned many overdrive and distortion boxes in the past, and this unit has been the best so far. If it were to somehow be absent from my possession, I would not hesitate to replace it, as a matter of fact, I would have to. It's a part of my rig now, a part of me. Very easy to use, with excellent results from the getgo. My guitar just does not sound the same unless I have these units activated in my lineup. Thank you Mike Soldano!

Easy, three knobs. Twist the tone knob to suit the amp.

OK I noticed a post that this thing was mushy and lost articulation. At least it's refreshing to see someone rate a product with a low score when they just blew $400 on it. But I felt I should put in my opinion. When using this pedal with an amp that has a strong preamp with an already somewhat crunchy sound it does get mushy. Two gain devices on at the same time is not going to sound good. I especially notice this with the Rivera Knucklehead. On the "Marshall" channel this pedal does not sound as good, it's too much gain unless I back way off on the Rivera preamp gain, but on the "Fender" channel set clean it really blows me away. This is also true of my little Karmen Ghia DR. Z, which is a very clean amp at low volume. The trick is to back off on the gain on the Soldano to about 12 o'clock and even replace one or both of the tubes with 12AT7 tubes which reduce the amount of gain or even 12AU7s.

My one complaint on the sound is that it's a very noisy pedal and has adds fair amount of 60 cycle hum to any guitar I use. So I knocked a point off for noise.

Very solidly built pedal, don't drop it on your foot cause it's gonna hurt. Pre amp tube usually last for 4-5 years so just bring some spares along just in case.

No experience here yet.

Overall a great lead pedal. I would say that this is the best overdrive pedal I've ever heard, but then I tend to lean toward the Soldano/Bogner/Marshall sound anyway. I've had Matchless Hotbox, Mesa V-twin, Fulltone FDII, Boss OD3, Kendrick, Marshall, etc. This is a keeper.

Not much easier than 3 knobs. Gain, Tone, Vol. Internal Power Trans with detachable cord. Sounds are easy as setting the gain how you like it and vol to match. The tone knob seems irrelevant - set your amp how you like it and adjust the knob to taste.

Oddly enough, I bought this pedal used from a fella in N.Y. and it has serial number 0001 on it. I did not receive a manual so if there's some special trick to the tone control, I don't know about it.

Sound quality is a very subjective category. You know what you like and some pedals do that better than others. If you want that buzzsaw swarm-o-bees tone that all the kids at Guitar Center seem to love, then look elsewhere. If you want full tonal range beefy overdrive, try this one out.

I'm using the Supercharger with a Dr. Z Route 66 and a PRS Custom 24. This pedal gets that creamy lead sound that Soldano is known for but I find it isn't exactly that signature SLO 100 sound - i.e. you won't get that EXACT Warren Haynes tone - but because of that it's really more versatile than it could have otherwise been.

I've had the pedal for a month and at my last gig I really got to use it to its full potential. It's a lead pedal, in my opinion, and I would not use it for chord work. But you could, as it doesn't tend to mush the sound as much as other pedals I have tried - e.g. Mesa Boogie V-Twin. The Supercharger gets a sustainy, creamy, two all beef patties, lead sound that still sounds quite articulate to my ears - certainly the amp you use has as much to do with your sound as an overdrive so individual results may vary. (All the ketchup in the world can't help rotten meat). However, if you already have a good set-up but are lacking that perfect overdriven Marshall, Soldano, or Boogie type sound, this is the way to go.

I should note that you can also use it as a line driver by cranking the output volume. I have the gain set at 7 and output at about 3 or 4 and it gives me the Santana meets Jimmy Page at Duane Allman's house sound that I'm looking for.

This baby is big and heavy and metal. I think you could drop it a few times with no adverse effects. As with all tube equipment, I'd keep a few for backups but I'm less worried about this than any other pedal I've ever owned.

Don't know...

This pedal works for all your higher gain needs if you like a full-tonal range sound - Santana type stuff, Blues-Fusion type stuff, Old Zep type rock, Warren Haynes type stuff....It's not a fuzz-tone, it won't really do that modern metal pissed-off-chainsaw sound, and it's more of a lead overdrive than a leave-it-on-all-the-time type deal. But like I said, if you need that little something extra with a competent pre-existing rig this is the way to go. It costs a lot new, but if you compare the price with, say, a Matchless Dirt Box or a V-Twin, you're really not paying too much for a Soldano Pre-amp in a box for under $400.

The single tone control sucks. Just not enough to control your bass/treble/mids accurately.

Setup is: Fender Strat > supercharger > Marshall JTM50 head > 4X12 Vintage 30 cab. The pedal will get noisy at high to extreme settings. It also mushes up at higher than 50% gain settings. Loses articulation.

It looks like it can take some abuse. However, the tubes inside will make it somewhat unreliable - especially as a stomp box. The pedal itself is tough enough to withstand major abuse and so I would gig without a backup, BUT the tubes can go at anytime and therefore, at least a spare set of the tubes should be kept for backup.

e-mailed them once about their product, never got a reply.

I play 60, 70, 80 & 90 rock & blues. Been playing for 20yrs. Own 3 strats and 3 marshalls. If the pedal were stolen, I'd have to shoot the bastard who took it. 400 bucks is a lot of money. But, NO, I wouldn't buy another one. I like the ruggedness, the tube-like vibe, but I hate the price tag and its lack of features.

3 knobs is all you get, and 3 knobs is all you need. This tube powered distortion pedal very easily gets great tones. The two 12AX7's can be easily changed out if you're handy with a screwdriver. I left the factory Sovtek tubes in, since they did their job well.

Does the sound compare to an SLO? Well, kind of (I own an '89 SLO). What it does do is give a massive dose of unreal distortion to my '66 Super Reverb that I now use for gigs. In my opinion, having this pedal in front of the Super is like getting the best of both worlds: great Fender mild-clean & great Soldano distortion. Switching is silent, and the noise level is low, even with the gain cranked. This is probably one of the best tube pedals money can buy. I play a old Les Paul Standard, and this pedal gets along very nicely with it.

Due to the 1/2" thick aluminum sides and thick paint finish, the pedal appears ready for any abuse. Soldano has THE reputation for over-engineering their products, and this pedal follows in line with that philosophy. Soldano has one of the best reputations in the industry for reliability. This is the 6th piece of Soldano gear I've owned, and I've never had a problem with any of their gear.

These guys will talk your head off if you call them and push 'em a little. E-mails are promptly returned, as well. Soldano is a model company. It's no surprise that they've been in business this long, because they treat people like people. It doesn't matter if you're a weekend warrior or some lucky bastard that's got a top-10 hit.

30+ years of playing, and I've gone back to a Super like I used to have when I started. Only this time, I've got 2 HUGE tones instead of just 1. This pedal is a bit more expensive than the average overdrive/distortion pedal, but it should be. You're paying a little more, but you're getting a lot more in terms of sound quality. Why buy a Klon when you can get this for about the same money? I got my Supercharger through Musician's Friend, and that's probably the cheapest place to buy it new. Charvel might have them priced about the same, but I don't know for sure. Either way, I would definitely buy this again if I had to. I just hope I won't spill too much beer on it at gigs. Peace, love, & dope....volume doesn't hurt, either.