Soldano Atomic 16

I give this an 8 simply because the amp is basic and straightforward. To me, it's a 10, but I like simple amps. It has what I need, pre, master, T-M-B, and presence. Two speaker jacks (in series) with a 16 ohm, 12 inch internal Soldano speaker, but it sounds just a little better powering a closed back cabinet (like anything). Tone controls are very reactive and the range of different gain sounds available from Pre and Master adjustments are amazing. The main feature this amp provides is TONE!! Beautiful, magical, singing tube tone!

Actually, it should get an 11!!! Really, it's pure magic!! It sings from classic crunch to hard rock to hi-gain. Beautiful, clear, and defined distortion with each string and note cutting through and standing on it's own. Purchased used, I drug it to a show the evening FedEx dropped it off, tweaked a few knobs and went to work! I use a '99 Fender American Standard Lone Star Strat with SD humbucker at the bridge, a Vox 847 wah, and a Snarling Dogs Very-tone for a clean boost. We play rock, mostly modern but some classic. No noise from this hi-gain amp, nice and quiet. Powering my Marshall 4x12 the Atomic 16 (pre amp and master each on 7) kept up with the drummer, bass, and the other guitarist's 100w Marshall TSL2000, cutting through better than my 100 watt JCM800 2203, custom made 36 watt TMB, or custom 50 watt Plexi clone ever did. I am not sure how to describe it other than magical. Roll off your guitar volume or switch to a single coil while lightening your touch and it cleans up pretty well (not fender clean, more of a marshall crunchy clean). Dig in, crank the volume and the saturation comes on cutting straight through without the need to be louder thank everything else! The somewhat "brite" sound of this amp fills the exact frequencies the band needs a guitar to cover and comes through beautifully. Very touch sensitive and "playing adjustable", more than any amp I have ever played. It covers a HUGE range of sounds for a single channel amp and is the perfect power to get both the preamp and power tubes screaming at practice or small gigs. It sounds like a (much better) JCM800 or a 18 watt TMB with some extra gain and MUCH more clarity. It is NEVER muddy and because of this the amp can be unforgiving to mistakes. Be prepared to really hear all the good and bad of your playing!! The good playing sounds better than ever, but the bad is not hidden behind mud. ***The Atomic 16 sounds much better than any amp I have ever used. Soldano's are MAGIC!!

I have only had it for a short time, but let's be serious....it's a Soldano....this thing is already over a decade old, works perfectly, and will most likely outlive me!!!!

I emailed Soldano a couple of small questions and they were answered VERY quickly. They were answered by Bill S. !!!!! (the designer of the HotMod), so it was obviously an very well informed answer. These guys are known to have THE BEST customer service in the industry. So far, I must agree.

I have been playing rock in clubs for 15 years (I should be better by now!), own a JCM800 2203, Fender HR Deville, and handwired 36 Watt custom TMB and 50 watt non-master Plexi clones. All great amps with great sounds, but I kept searching for something which was missing. I found it and it is named Soldano.
If my Atomic 16 were stolen I would buy another instantly, no questions, no matter what else I needed to sell. It is magical!
After one set playing through this amp, my girlfriend (a former touring road manager who has seen hundreds of bands/thousands of shows) said "Never play out with any other amp! That amp is amazing!" Into the closet go the 2203, TMB, and Plexi. The tone, the clarity, the sound of the Atomic 16, it's all amazing! You must hear one and play through it to understand.
I really could not imagine being happier with this amp. Soldano's really are magic and I do not think I will ever buy another brand of amp. This really is that much better than all the rest. The Soldano reputation is not myth, it is real. This Atomic 16 is the ultimate low wattage rockin' tone machine. Thank you Mike Soldano!!!!!!!!

This little amp does not have many bells and whistles. But it has one thing no other little amp has.. The BEST tone. By far. The Atomic 16 is easily the best small Amp I have ever played. Its lower gain and High gain sounds are as good as it gets. And I have been working Pro for 25+ years now.. For the tone, its a 10..

I use it with a vintage Strat all the way for sparkly ringing clean breakup, as well as the famous singing Soldano solo sound. I use mainly Preamp gain around 4-6, preferring the lower. I then kick in an old 80's Pro Co Vintage small box RAT for solos or Power crunchy sounds. Perfect for SRV or Gary Moore tones. With a Music Man Luke it is TOTO heaven in a small package.. I Removed the original Speaker for a Celestion Vintage 30. I was not at all surprised to see others have done the same. Vastly better. Awesome.

Only purchased a short time ago. Had a peek inside, No mods, repairs etc. Yep its Soldano, its reliable. Regular EL84 tube/valve replacement and Servicing is a must. I own a SLO 100 as well and it is Super reliable. Never broken down.

Soldano is always happy to answer your questions and concerns. Regular servicing should avoid repairs. Tubes are tubes, they dont last forever.

These little gems are no longer made. Im proud of mine, I love it. I am using it for a Doobies, Eagles, Beach Boys Tribute show as well as Corporate Events. I use 'In Ear' monitors at all times,so I can use it on any stage, so low power is not a problem. I also own a Soldano SLO 100, Marshall JMP'71 and '76 and Mesa dual Rec 100 as well as Boutique Labsystems 30 watt and 50 watt amps. For Low power, This is EASILY the Best small combo amp I have ever played. I would replace it only with another Soldano Atomic 16.

I'll make this short and sweet.I took my old Marshall 2x12 master volume Lead combo(1978) and put this preamp in it after studing the schematics off the web.KILLER!!!!I also changed the driver caps to the same as a SLO 100 for more bass.Kept the same value power supply caps-50uf all the way even for the preamp but I changed the cathode cap on V-1 first stage to .68uf to compensate for the large(50uf) power supply cap.I now refer to it as my ATOMIC MARSHALL!!!

With the gain on 2,Master on 2 or 3,Treble 5,Mid(50k pot)on 3,Bass 10,Presence 3 to 5 you get Tweed clean- very responsive.Great for country or blues.Especially with single coils.At gain settings of 3 to 5 you get old school crunch that still cleans up nice as you roll down your guitar volume.Gain on 10, treble on 6 you get great metal/crunch power chord chunk fest pick harmonic city whatever.I almost forgot,I also changed the cathode follower plate resistor value to that of the SLO preamp to 220k which ands more gain than the stock Atomic value of 100k.I'm so proud of my old amp now.It sounds way much better now than it ever has.

Learning all this tech stuff finnally payed off.Thanks to Mike Soldano's great preamp design my old amp has some real usable tones.WARNING!!!!DONT TRY THIS UNLESS YOU KNOW WHAT YOUR DOING,YOU COULD DIE TRYING!!!No joke Guy's I done my home work for the last 10 years.Took electronic courses-bought all kids of books.I've put this old amp through pure hell since I got it in 1980.Changed the preamp at least 4 differant times before this one.I wanted a plug in and play simple design with not much knob fuss.This is it.

Never mind.

Bass since the age of 6.Guitar since 10 and yes I'm 40.SO WHAT? Yeah its got caster's and some one could roll it right out the door.Go to pick it up and you'd better be buff cause it fells heavy as hell to me.Matter of factly,I used to sit on it and ride it across the dance floor till I'd reach the band stand.If I was as matterialistic as I used to be I'd come close to suicide.Now I guess I'd collect my insurance if it did'nt turn up and buy a Soldano AVENGER or mod another one.

All of the features have been covered. This is one of the first 100 made.

I play in a Metal band. This amplifier is perfect for practicing at home,and has plenty of power to push a 4x12 cab. I run Les Pauls and some fender strats though this amp,they both sound fantastic though combo.

Strong as a tank! Very dependable! I have gigged with this amp for 3 days out of the week,for almost 3 years now. No problems here. Great amplifier!

Never dealt with.

10!!! Shame they don't make this amplifier anymore. I tried the Astroverb 16,but found it lacking in tone. I will be keeping this amp for along time. Great job on this one Mr. Soldano! Please bring it back!

6 CONTROLS LIKE OLD MARSHALLS. HAS GAIN LIKE A MARSHALL WITH ONE EXTRA STAGE.
12" SOLDANO LABELED SPEAKER?? I cHANGED IT OUT FOR A CELESTION VINTAGE 30
2 POWER-TUBES AND 3 PREAMP-TUBES

GIVES A GREAT ROCKING BLUES TO SCORCHING 90'S METAL.
VERY QUIET AMP WITH A LITTLE HIS IN HIGH PREAMP MODE. EVERY AMP I KNOW WITH A LOT OF GAIN WILL HISS A LITTLE WHITE NOISE FROM THE 12AX7'S. MULLARDS HELP HEAR ALOT.

IT SOUNDS CLEAN AND VERY NICE IN THE SYUDIO BUT NOT LOUD ENOUGH TO GIG VERY FENDER CLEAN. JUST LIKE A MARSHAL IN THAT RESPECT.

THE DISTORTION SINGS AND SINGS. LOTSA SUSTAIN HERE.

NO PROBLEMS IN 14 MONTHS OF GIGING ALMOST EVERY THURSDAY AND SUNDAY.

BEEN PLAYING 12 YEARS. I OWN A SUBWAY ROCKET AND THIS A-16 IS STILL MY FAVE.
I LOVE THE GAIN AND STRING RESONCE OF COURSE. I HATE I DON'T HAE THE CASH FOR A SLO.
I WISH I HAD A CELESTION 4X12 INSTEAD OF A 2X12 EXT CAB TO GO WITH IT.

I WOULD BUT IT AGAIN IF STOLEN.

it has preamp-bass-mid-trebel-vol-presence
12" Speaker and 2 outputs

Sounds awesome from bedroom levels to barom levels. Somehow the have set up the preamp to run the same type of tube gain regardless of volume. Pretty cool! The distortion sounds as if you have a built in sustainer/compressor but without the limiting that those effects inheret. It's just smooth, warm, and raunchy. This amp should be called the Soldano Sustainer or something like that,LOL

Very solidly built. No problems hear. The paint is smooth and hard on the control panel too.

A+ Satisfaction. I shipped the amp to them and it only took 1 week for an effects loop to be installed. It is now tube buffered and makes any effect sound warmer than going straight in.

I had to pay top dollar I guess. Got it at Guitar Center and they let me have it for the sale price with no tax. That was good enough for me after all the amps I demoed. Mesa Subway, Peavey Classic 30, and a Fender Hotrod. I was tired and the Soldano sounded the smoothest, the warmest and the most hot-tube sounding at low volume of the bunch.

This is an amp that does Rock to Very Hard Rock in a smooth way and under small room environments at that. This is THE recoding amp for anything from Van Hallen, Thin Lizzy, GnR, Ozzy, to Slayer. It does it all in the Rock area and with the warmed up sound of EL84's the whole time.

1 input
6 knobs pre/bass/mid/trebel/vol/presence
Power switch
2 speaker jacks on the back. Best through a Marshall cab.

No Diodes all Tubes. The gain comes from 1 extra 12ax7. Dreamy gain..

The most tube saturated gain there is. Everyone else relies on pedals or diodes for clipping and this amp gets it with 3 12ax7's wired soley for maximum gan. It's an unrealy very responsive gain that doesn't get brittle or muddy like a pedal or diodes can do.

very thick circuit board all hand wired. So Solid!

great guys..email them sometime, you will see.

I paid $700. I know a bit too much for me, but I needed it for my gig and the AC15 was in the shop. Well, the AC 15 got sold because this can nail the vox to the wall and drives better than any Marshall or boogie. It's in the tone of this thing that will really take you. Give one a spin. Stay away from the reverb version. It weakens the gain somehow.

Basic amp that reminds me of a Marshall 18 watt amp with an extra gain stage.. It does what it does perfectly. Marshall and of course Soldano tones for the small gig and studio.

Like I said, souds fantastic for gain. Great GnR tones, Warren Haynes and Gary Moore is in this box too. Sounds so sweeeeet. Gain with articualtion and string definition is hard to get these days. But not with the Atomic 16!!

Built like a rock. It's dropped off my Marshall 1960 cab twice and still lives to sing. I only broke 1 power tube from the last drop and I popped in a new JJ and it still runs perfect. Very solid cab!

Great people the will recover your cab in any of there coverings and will even add DI and FX loops if you want. Very fast emails too.

My favorite High Gain amp of all. It's light and solid. Its versatile in any gain situation. I would buy another if they would make some more. Get rid of the reverb version guys and bring back the Atomic 16!!

First Check this one out to see how cool they look!

http://home.t-online.de/home/martin.hornauer/english/soldano.jpg

It's all soldano. Think Gary Moore's Live Blues Sound. A soldano pushing a marshall celestion cab. Well this 1x12 is loaded with a Vintage 30 and sounds great. It comes with an additional extension jack to run another cab.
1 input
6 knobs pre/bass/mid/trebel/vol/presence
Power switch
2 speaker jacks on the back.

Hint: The jacks are in Series so you can disconnect the loaded 16ohm speaker and run two separate 8ohm cabs. This makes the small box sound which is really what you need for studio or home use, go away and gives you that very thick thumpy bottom for live use!!

This amp although only one channel is for some reason extremely versatile.

It must be how well the interaction of the tone and gain controls work. In the studio I can't beat the tones I get with this thing for live recording.

The Atomic blows away my Superchamp and makes my Studio 15 run for it's money. They both sound like a tube amp that's been attenuated or run through a very good overdrive pedal. I have this same gripe with the Jubilee amps. The Studio 15 sounds the best out of the "Diode Driven" amps.

The Soldano just shines with a more pure tube saturation sound to it than a transistor or diode driven gain stages seen in the other studio use amps. Who's seen the Atomic 16's layout, are there any Diodes in the gain stages? It sure doesn't sound like it to me.

I think because of this non-diode or transistorized sound it produces, it works better with pedals because your not hitting the solid-state stuff here, you are just hitting the tubes. I think this is why there was no FX-Loop included. That and it takes away from the simplicity.

I don't know...It just sounds so darn good to me.

Very quiet operation, silent in all but the highest of gain and presence settings.

Soldano makes such a refined circuit. Add to that the simplicity of a one channel combo with a celestion Vintage 30 and you have the most smoking recording amp on the planet.

The overdrive is what you can tell this thing was built for and it makes my fender Superchamp sound brittle compared to the soldano's creamy thickness. The preamp and presence controls are your key to great tone and the volume of course.

Some people complain of it losing bottom end when maxed out. I think these people either need to use NOS tubes, or change their speaker.

The best thing to do is use it like a head and plug into two cabs if you want a full/half stack kind of sound from this little guy in a small club. Don't forget he is only 16 watts.

Pound for pound, watt for watt, this will blow away any Superchamp in creamy smooth rock balad soloing tones. It's a mini Mesa Boogie doing Santana with all the warmth you would expect from that kind of tone.

You can get an excellent Still Got The Blues, and Parisienne Walways drive for leads.

It does a better overdriven marshall cruch tone than the famous Marshall Studio 15 can. The soldano can do a better JCM800 sound that is.

This is another place the atomic shines. Guns 'n' Roses "Apetetite for Destruction" is within this amps tonal pallet 100%. Remember the Marshall Jubilee was not out yet when GnR released their first album. So If you want Slash's "Sweet Child of Mine", "Night Train" or "Welcome to the Jungle" soloing capability, then you want the Atomic 16!! If you want Slash's "November Rain" then get the Jubilee.

Now the studio 15 is my second favorite amp to record with so don't get me wrong here. I use both actually most of the time I record.

Think Studio 15 as the rythym machine and the Atomic 16 as the solo machine if you can have both to use at the same time.

But still if I had to choose only one it would depend on the application needed since the marshall has a few cool features that the Soldano does not. The Soldano still has the better overall tones and harmonics. The Atomic 16's controls are way more interactive, making the Soldano the more versatile box of the home studio in my opinion.

The atomic must mean atomicly rich harmonics!! hmmm

This was an early one I think. Maybe 1996 or 97?? I've never had a problem with it.

I bought this amp used almost 2 years ago, it was a customer return (opened Box), so it was basically new with a used price. It seems it was overlooked when the Atomic heads came out and then discontinued for the Astroverb. It sat in the back stockroom and I only got this one by chance, because I asked the manager to call me if he gets a used one in. It came in the original box and it even smelled sort of new.LOL

Damage Report: I let this fall off of a 4x12 when I got to far away from it while jamming and semi-Drunk last New Years Eve. 8^) I was quite scared but it was still working and my Girlfriend stood it back up, next to it instead of ontop. It's worked since then without a flaw so I am happy.

I replaced the original speaker when I first bought it just because I liked celestion Vintage series speakers. I actually change speakers pretty often if I don't change cabs.

And you can't forget that everyone needs to do regular tube maintenence to keep the sweet tone coming out of it.

Soldano is probably the only builder that uses PCB's that are thicker and more reliable than PTP boards. The Atomic's were all made by one individual tech from start to finish. This means you dont have assembly line slop, cheapness, or mistakes.

You're the best in the Biz...thanks Mike!!!!

Never needed any help from them, although they do answer questons quickly and every time! Better than the other Big Names out there.

I payed $570 out the door. He wanted $600 but obviously everyone was into the heads or Astroverbs so he budged a little. This amp is by far the most fun I've had with an all around rock'n'roll amp. With the Astroverb at $700-$800 this is the far better choice. Less moving parts is always a feature to me. If I want lush reverb in the studio I use a Modded Fender 63. At the gig I use my trusty RV-2.

Just a note the Atomic has Very little headroom! This should be obvious. 2 EL84's and 3 12AX7's in a sngle channel. A feature this amp was seriously made for!!

Why oh Why did they stop making these? How much reverb do you really use with all that gain, huh? And is it worth the extra complication to the circuit(posible noise), the extra tube, the extra heat, the extra weight, the extra transformer strain, and the extra money$$$?????

This Atomic 16 amp is an Atomic bargain and for recording 70's-90's hard rock / blues rock, and yes even late 80's and early 90's metal. You just won't find any better in tone or craftsmanship.

Power/Preamp/Bass/Middle/Treble/Volume/Presence, all goes to 11!
Three 12ax7 and two EL84 tubes. Mine has an effects loop mod done by Soldano. An extra 12ax7 tube added since the effects loop is tube buffered. 12" custom Eminence speaker. Not many features, but ever knob counts.
Beside no stock effects loop, I really don't understand why there is no standby switch. The amp mute itself for about 5 sec when it's turned on so there is no loud pop. However a standby switch would save me some tubes life during cigarette break thou.

My main guitar is a 2000 Parker fly DLX. I agree with several of the previous reviews; this amp is truly a trick pony, very versatile. And 16W is LOUD! Enough to cut through a band.
I've never own a Marshall but for me the amp sound pretty Marshallish. Similar to JCM 800 or not? I really don?t know. It has slightly less sustained then a Mesa Boogie and less but much tighter bottom end and wonderful treble with rich harmonic. When I first got the amp I'm really not used to how its bottom end sound; I always have to crank the bass all the way to 11 and still hear too much treble. Even my friend's Kalamazoo has more bass than my Atomic. Then week later I went back play my Mesa and found the bottom end just really, really, really loose and muddy! Soldano certainly have thought me how a good bottom end should sound.
It has slightly less gain than my Mesa Rocket44, but very usable gain through out level 1 to 11. Turn to 9 to 12 o'clock for bluesy drive and after 3 o'clock it adds more grind than gain. It can easily go from ZZ Top to Zakk Wylde. Turn up the preamp and treble and listen to that full and rich harmonic sing! Unlike Mesa, crank the EQ knobs won?t increase the volume, which is good for playing at bedroom level. The volume knob is very sensitive and sounds great even at extremely low volume level. The Presence is my favorite knob, tweak it wisely and it really makes all the difference. Compare with other amps I?ve played, the presence knob on Atomic really works. The parallel effects loop works great for delay pedals. IMO, the biggest con is lack of lower bottom end for modern metal rhythm; there is just not enough punch. I wonder if Soldano offer XL mod for Atomic and Astroverb?
In conclusion, an excellent small & light lead player amp for bedroom level practice and small gig.

Built like a tank! Go to Soldano website's tech section to read how they are constructed.

Good customer support. I email them ask about the user manual and they scanned the manual and email to me. Their email response is kind slow, but one can always call.

I replaced my Mesa Boogie Rocket44 with the Atomic 16. The Mesa is just too loud, I can never turn its volume over 3 and it's just too heavy to carry around. In that sense this amp is exactly what I need; high-gain amp that's light enough to carry around with one arm and sounds great at bedroom level while loud enough for small gigs. A perfect light weight, low watt, high gain amp.