Soldano Astroverb 16 1x12 Combo

As usual single channel 2xEL84 crunch-high gain amplifier. Mine was born on Christmas Eve 2003. Good karma ?

For me it's a 10 feature wise as it's exactly what I wanted from this purchase. Other amps in it's class 7 or so.

I currently own: Bad Cat Hot Cat, Bad Cat Mini-Cat , Line6 Spider II and the Astroverb. Guitars are various Les Pauls and Ibanez RGs

The Astroverb is perfect for a low volume JCM800ish boutique amp. The master actually works !!! Best tone I have heard at bedroom level
and no need to "crank it" to get decent tone. Very detailed crunch to higher gain "British" sounding amp.

For all the people who believe you need a moddeling amp to get higher gain tone at managable volume, you need to try this amp. I live in a two bedroom town house and I could not be happier with the tone I get without getting evicted. The master tapers better than my 5 watt Mini-Cat.

At lower gain settings it does get into the plexi/metal panel JMP area but it really shines with preamp at 7 or higher. Lots of gain for 80s metal stuff, with detail, definition and very tight bottom. Does not fall apart as the master goes up.

One the negative side --
I have jammed with it but it really does not project enough on it's own to keep up with a loud drummer. Might be perfect with a 4x12?

The clean tones are pretty weak. If you want clean this is the wrong amp. Very little headroom ( which I am happy about)

This is getting really picky but I find I keep the bass control at 9 or higher at all times. It could have a little more "bottom" but what is there is real tight, at any volume.

For me it's a 10 in this category.

Only had it a month. So far so good.

Email responded to in 48 hours. Emailed a copy of the manual as the wrong one was sent. Seem like good guys.

They did miss an opportunity to sell more amps as I did ask about the Hot Rod+ in my email and how I was interested in one. Did not receive a reply to that question.

Been playing 18 years.

Besides the Line6 stuff I lean towards boutique amps and custom shop Les Pauls. I have owned literally 100s or guitars and amps and have found for the extra 5% you pay the extra 50%.. but it's worth it.

The Astroverb is competively priced even if it does not have the features of comparible amps. If I only could keep two amps it would be this one and the Hot Cat.

I think I am sold for life on this amp.

My amp was made in 2003, I believe. 1 channel, 20 watts of pure tube power, no effects loop or headphone jack(though if I wanted one, I can add one in). Don't let the 1 channel fool you; the volume knob on your guitar more than takes care of the lack of a second channel. Keep your volume low for cleans, medium for mild-crunch, and high for some awesome bluesy-crunch.

I am using this with a 2002 Gibson Les Paul Standard with Burstbucker V pickups. My favorite band in the world is silverchair, and it accomplishes their tone and oh-so-much more without any problem whatsoever. There is not a single bad sound in this amp. It's also as quiet as a mouse! When I bought this amp, I bought it for my apartment, and I figured, "Well, 20 watts should be about right. I can crank it up to 5 or 6 probably and not bother anyone." WRONG!!! I am currently still in my house(haven't moved yet), and this thing fills my house and 4 acres of land with smooth, warm tone with the volume on 2.5-3!!! Do NOT let that wattage rating fool you!

Another very nice thing about this amp is how sensitive it is to pick attacks. If you lightly touch the strings, it lightly and cleanly emits that sound. If you strum or pick hard, it breaks up perfectly and produces an awesome tone. It's responding to your movements and tempo. I love it!!!

The distortion on this is very warm and pleasant. I primarily bought this amp for those famous Soldano cleans(think the intro to Silverchair's "Tomorrow"), and instead I've fallen in love with the distortion!

Right now I have it set at: Preamp 4, Reverb 3.5, Bass 9, Middle 10, Treble 5, and Presence about 8. I usually have the volume at 2-3 while at home(although I'm investing in a Koch LB120 attenuator next week).

This amp is absolutely incredible.

You know, I always read the reviews of Soldanos and how they were always tagged as "tanks!" I always though, "Pfft, right, no amp can be a tank." This thing is a tank. It would wipe out a Sherman if dropped on it. I haven't had it that long, but I don't foresee any problems... ever... Tubes will need to be replaced, of course, but that's it.

I have e-mailed Soldano every time I have had a question, and they have responded quickly every time. I e-mailed them for a manual, and Bill Sundt e-mailed me back later with a manual. I e-mailed them about the Koch attenuator, and they told me which one to get(make sure you get the 16 ohms one). Bill Sundt is the man!

I must admit that I haven't been playing that long; about a year. I'd say I'm pretty good considering the amount of time I've been playing.

If this amp was stolen or lost, I would hunt the person down and kill him, because it would definitely qualify as justifiable homicide once the Police heard its tone. I would buy another in a heartbeat without thinking about it at all. The only reason I foresee to ever buy another amp would be to upgrade to another Soldano. I love this company.

What do I love about it? The tone is incredible beyond words, the fact that it is incredibly reliable and is literally built like a tank. Mix that with the best support staff of any music manufacturer in the world, and you have one amazing company.

I didn't really compare it to other products because it was impossible for me to get my hands on one. I bought this amp blind(well, deaf) off of eBay for $670.01. I would even pay the retail of $850 or whatever for this amp. If you ever see one up for sale, grab it! There's no risk involved whatsoever. I promise, they are THAT good.

The only thing I wish it had is a headphone jack. However, next week
I'm buying a Koch LB120, which is an attenuator with a headphone jack, so problem solved. This will also let me heat up those tubes and get this baby screaming!

Honestly, words cannot describe how much I love this amp. When I
first got it, words failed me. Words still fail me. If my review seems rambling or babbling, it's because there are so many awesome things to say about this amp that I'm not sure when or how to say them!

I bought this amp based solely on reviews from here and from what I got from the Soldano website. I have never been happier in my life...

Not a whole lot of features, single channel, 20 watts, w/reverb. BUT, outstanding tone and flexibility in respect to how the amp cleans up when you roll your guitar's volume back.

I use a Fender American Stratocaster with it and the Astroverb sounds amazing. Very Quiet. This is one great Rock 'n Roll amplifier. The amp is pretty classic sounding, does not do the scooped mid thing very well. Thank goodness, an amp with TONE for day's!!! The more you crank it, the better it sounds. You can do this without blowing your ears out. Very Cool!

Soldanos have incredible build quality, and I forsee no problems.

They have responded to my e-mails and questions within hours. Amazing!!

I just recently had a chance to use the Astroverb for a gig. Honestly I wasn't sure if it would be loud enough. BUT! that concern was soon laid to rest. Wow, this little thing was just incredible. The best tone I've ever had at a show, and it was very loud and full sounding. I'd considered buying an extension cab to fill out the sound a little, but now I'm not sure I need one at all. The Astroverb souded as big as my Marshall halfstack!! I just bought a HR-50 last week and I'm in TONE HEAVEN! Thank you Mike Soldano!

20 watt single channel master volune 12 inch speaker

This is the best built amp ive ever owned. Its made of real wood birtch i think, beautiful construction through out, not like partical board fender and marshall crap. beautiful
tolex job etc. Nothing but high quality.

this is the best sounding amp ive ever owned and ive owned a number of amps. princeton reverb 2, deluxe 85, blues jr. marshall reverb 30,
and others. this amp really does sound perfect to my ears. I play a strat and coupled with a jeckyl & hyde and vox wah, I can get some beautiful tones from srv blues to zz
top or whatever. I dislike nothing about this amp. great for some marshally low volume crunch as well, to keep the wife happy. Without a pedal in front it lacks some bass
and midrange, but hey so do most amps. Beautiful looking and sounding eminance speaker.

Im sure it will last, since it has nothing but high quality parts through out.

havnt dealt with

Perfect amp for me, ive been playing fo 6 years and this amp is a keeper, my amp search is over. I'm completly satisfied, I just wanted a low wattage tube amp that sounded
good to play the blues at home, this is the one, this astroverb is not made anymore, if you find one you should consider buying it, you won't regret it. I would buy the same
amp again if it were lost or stolen. I love the small size, the overall quality, and tone from this fine amp.

This is a fine high gain low-watt amp. Single channel, 2 EL84s, I think 4 12AX7's , reverb, no effects loop, no headphone jack, no standby switch. Definintely has a practice amp feel to it as far as features. But those features are more than enough for my studio apt/small jam session purposes.
The stock speaker is fine, i ran it trhough a Celestion Greenback and got some different tones out of it, but for this voicing and the intended purpose of this amp, i think the stock speaker is fine.

A Standby switch and an effects loop would be nice, but oh well.

I use primarily strats, but also a Les Paul and a frankestrat that i rigged up with a Dimarzio Tone Zone humbucker. WOW, this amp is made for a humbucker frankenstrat, I can get an EVH-esque tone with that amp and guitar combo. Very nice. Presence all the way up , treble on 2, bass and middle dimed, pregain up, and master volume wherever your neighbors can stand. To me this is what this amp is made to do.

However last weekend I was able to crank it wide open for most of a weekend on a farm and it has a wonderful power tube saturation. You don't even need much pre-amp gain, even with a strat. Very nice sound.

It took me some time to get used to the strat through this amp as i'm used to playing through Fender. As with most hi-gain amps, clean is just ...well, not dirty. Not much character. Not bad, but I think i'll keep playing the juicier clean stuff through my Bassman.

But for what this amp is inteded to do, which is ROCK this amp does it well. You can get some false harmonics with the presence all the way up that would make Billy Gibbons jealous.

Very tough, very solid. I haven't even had to replace a tube in a year. Much better built than my current Fenders.

They've always answered my emails, never had any problems so not sure about how well they resolve issues.

Been playing since for 15 years, with more than 2 fingers, for 3 years or so. I think it's a great amp. Play it first, make sure that's the sound you are looking for and go for it.

If it were stolen i'd probably save up and get a SLO-100, but for a low wattage/high-gain amp, you can't beat the Astroverb.

I Love this amp. I'm not sure exactly whan it was made but it's fairly new. It is extremely versatile and it works perfetly for my musical styles. Those include, Rock, Metal, Blues and Country. (Yeah I know it's a wide margin but it sound great to my ears. It's a single channel amp without an effects loop or a headphone jack. There aren't really any feature I feel it's missing. I guess 2 channels would be cool but this amp is meant to be small and ballsy. You can get clean or brown out of it depending on how you set the knobs. I love the reverb and the presence setting is great. You can get a digital amp sound or get the great warmth of the tubes. I bought this amp for my home. I don't play out just for fun. If I did play out I would get a Reverb-O-Sonic or use my 5150 Combo. Currently I am using Groove Tubes in it and I love how they sound. I did purchase a set of Soldano tubes for when it needs to be retubed.

I use one of my Peavey Wolfgangs. I have a special and a regular one. I also have a strat style guitar that I use too. The strat has a 59 Seymour Duncan and the Wolfies have the stock P/U's. The amp distorts very well at higher vloumes passed say 5 or 6. The distortion continues on with out clipping for me right up to 11, yes that's right I did say 11. The clean channel is great too. I often use it in conjunction with my Line 6 POD 2.0 and let the POD do the distortion. Just for fun.

These amps are in my opinion some of the best on earth. I honestly believe this amp is worth the $995.00 MSRP. Not that I could have paid that but it's worth every red cent. I have had ZERO problems with is but I know if I did, Soldano would be great to deal with.

Have not had to use it thus far. But, as I said above, I'm not worried either way.

I have been playing off and on for a couple of years. Strictly for fun. If this amp was lost or stolen, I would try to find another but they aren't making the Astroverbs any more. And then again, mine purple so I would probably have to send the next one back to Soldano and get it re-covered with Purple tolex. It's the only color Soldano to own IMHO. There's absolutely nothing to dislike about this amp period. If you find one get it. I like it better than the Atomic 16 mainly because of the reverb. check out my Soldano page for this amp: http://www.vhvault.com/mr5150/Soldano_Page.html

the astroverb is a very simple amp to operate.bass/mid/treble a nice little reverb. preamp and master volume and a presence control to boot.the best thing about this cool little amp is all tubes!thats right boys only one channel so let your volume control on your guitar do the talking.no effects loop on this one so if your into that best to get out of this ballpark.

its a soldano and at 16 watts you best like gain.plug in an old les paul jr. with p 90s and then your feeling warm and fussy.buy the way take out those china made 12ax7 and replace them with some sovtek 12ax7lps,es then the little baby will dance.i,m running my amp bass 7 and up mids around 3 to 6 and treble 6 or 7.

go ahead and open up the chassis,strate forward built like a tank.i,ve kicked mine around on stage and off no probs.

the best thing is when i call i get a person and one that know,s what a tube is.what more ya, want.

put it this way i,ll never hall around another plex head and 412 tell sombody else is do,in it.butt i allso play a vox ac30 ab,ed with the astrovreb.so for a good marshall plex sound in a 1-12 amp i bought it.

The features of the Astroverb are quite simple. I think they intended it that way. Kind of no frills. It seems Soldano was just concentrating on good tone. It has two speaker outs. Great for a 2x12 cab. The only drawback is no effects loop. I bought this amp for a small practice amp but soon learned that it's very much gig ready. I'm a straight-forward player (the less effects the better), and I'm considering buying another Astro and runnung an A/B box (one clean and one dirty) for gigs. I love the tone that much.
I picked this one up used at a local Pittsburgh shop for a real song and a dance-----$250. I don't know why he sold it so cheap--I didn't ask any questions either. It's absolutely mint condition. Also, it's #91 of the Astroverb series.

I'm currently using four different guitars with the Astroverb. An Amer. St. Strat, a Strat-style Guild Aviator with an EMG SA/SA/81 configuration, a Hamer Explorer with 2 Duncan design humbuckers, and an Ovation Celebrity Deluxe.
I'm currently in a band that plays just about any type of rock and/or blues rock. From SRV to Bush. This little amp covers the gammet. It doesn't give death-metal distortion, but it gives everything up to it. The slightest altering of a knob changes the sound considerably. Fantastic. The clean side is a little limited though. This amp tends to break up early when it's pushed. It still has a great clean sound. Just not enough variation. One other minor flaw is that the tubes rattle at higher volumes. I'm a Boogie player and my Boogies have a small aluminium plate with a rubber lining that holds the pre-tubes in place so they don't rattle. Again, this is a minor flaw because you don't really hear the tubes rattle when your band is playing, but if you crank it alone (and you will) they buzz pretty good.

Like I said above I'm primarily a Booogie player so I'm used to high-quality amps. Boogies are built like tanks and so is this Astroverb. I learned from reading about both amps, that the build process is quite similar. I don't forsee any major problems with this amp. I've only had it a few months but I'm sure it'll give years of good service. You get what you pay for.

I've really had no reason to contact Soldano with the exception of an email to ask where I could get an owner's manual (this amp's not complicated--I just wanted one). I got a reply the next day (impressive) stating that they'd send me one free of charge. I got it 3 days later. (Even more impressive.) If this is any indication of how they operate, buy a Soldano on this principal alone.

I've been playing 18 years and have had countless guitars and amps. Every so often I go through a transitional period where I get rid of just about my whole rig and start fresh with a good amp and a good guitar. This is the amp. When I first saw the retail price of this combo I thought, "That's a little steep for that little amp." Take a listen. You be the judge. These things are worth their weight in gold. I think I'd buy a new one if I somehow lost the one I have.
Soldanos are a little more expensive than their competition
(Boogie's Subway Rocket 22 watt, dual-channel, 1x10 combo sells for about $550), but the versatility of Soldano is well worth the extra few bucks.

This is a single channel 20 watt (not 16 like the model # would make you think) all-tube amp with reverb. This is a standard master volume setup, preamp gain, EQ, master vol, presence. I'm playing mostly 90's music (Matchbox 20, Tonic, Pearl Jam) with some 80's thrown in and covers the bases well. I run my guitar in to a Boss GT-5 then into the Astroverb.

I am usign the amp with a Les Paul Showcase edition guitar (EMG p/u's) and a Hamer Archtop Studio. Both are equipped with humbuckers and sound great with the Astroverb. Even though it is easy to saturate the preamp, I like playing it with the master on between 6 and 10 and the preamp at around 3. That way my Boss GT-5 floor effects unit can interact well with the amp.

OK - it is unfair to even rate this since I've only had the amp three weeks. I would base my opinion on other comments in here on other Soldano Amps that people have had longer than me. It does look well built (probably even overbuilt) and generally I think it will be a work horse

Again unfair because I've only had it three weeks - but like others I posed a few technical questions to Soldano via e-mail and got a response within a day! I don't think I would want anyone besides the factory servicing this amp.

I thought this would make a great practice amp or an amp to bring to small gigs. WRONG! I quickly found I can use this compact monster anywhere! I absolutely love being able to crank the amp up to get "that" sound, and still be at a decent volume for just about anything. I'm actually considering a Astroverb 2 X 12 as an additional amp!

This amp is a follow up to the atomic 16 I first purchased, the reverb in this is worth the admission price and more, the atomic 16 is a great workhorse amp aith an effects pedal but this amp has the depth the sound really needs at afraction of the cost.

PArker nitefly, jimmie vaughn strat and amer. stand. tele. it has a very hot high gain trebly albert collins kind of tone this is the ultimate amp for size weight ease of use with overdrive just a twist of the preamp or volume and this thing roars with or without a pedal, hooked up to a boogie 2 12 cabinet or a single celestion it is very very loud and full , the bes sound is the preamp on about 8 and the voume on 10, they all go to 12 so there is some power to spare we are talking real loud here for a 16 or 20 watt amp, they dont say anyway I bought this used over the net at a music store

WELL THIS AMP BELONGED TO A BASS player who traded it to a st paul music store it was shipped to me in a mesa boogie cab looked like a dc2 maybe and it got jarred so it makes a nasally raspy noise like in the speaker so I have to get a new speaker and go over it and tighten everything down such is what you have to deal with ups and shipping things

For my money the soldano line is the best sound on the market, what I have heard is good but some sounds you are just partial to, I love the controls on the amp and the ability to run different cabs for a wide variety of sounds