Soldano Hot Rod 100XLS

100W tube head, serial effects loop, slave amp output, 4/8/16 ohm selector, 2 channels (selection via footswitch only), shared EQ, seperate gain and volume controls per channel. I'd give it a ten if it only had one channel and no effects loop (less IS more)

Main guitars are a Wolfgang Special and a Clapton Strat. The strat is tuned to standard pitch with 10's, the wolfgang to Eb with 9's (Tune down with LIGHT strings if you really want a heavy sound - Even B.B. King knows that!) Cabs are either a Mesa 4X12 w/vintage 30's or a Marshall 4X12 w/greenbacks. I play rock, and my holy grail is a great dirty tone (I'll leave clean to people who know how to play). This is a high gain amp, but the sound is heavier with the overdrive gain around 3 and the volume where you need it. Note that adding a compressor pedal at low volumes and leaving the gain down works better than turning the gain up IMHO. Great sustain even at low volumes when set up this way (and I mean LOW - like easily talk above it low). Nice is the fact that the volume control is very gradual, allowing you to find that sweet spot between off and way to friggin loud. This amp has two roles for me. I use it in my basement at night, when my wife and kids are sleeping, to play very quietly, and in larger rooms when I need moderate to loud volume. My 5150 fits in between, as I consider a 5150 on about 3 to be moderate volume. The Soldano is a better amp than the 5150, but the 5150 has a wildness to it that I can't get from the Soldano in that volume range. The Soldano easily does very loud, but if I need STUPID LOUD I use an old Music Man HD150. The Soldano will do it, but the MM150 is sweeter in that realm. Don't get me wrong, the Soldano is by far the best all around amp I have, and whenever I can only bring one, thats it. And I am being very picky when I mention the other amps - the differences are subtle at best. Amps are like colors on a palatte - you need more than one to paint a picture. If all you want is wild overdrive at moderate volumes, save a fortune and buy a 5150. If you want great overdrive and more, and if money is not a problem, get one of these. If you want the closest thing to early VH, and the hearing problems to go with it, find a beat up old MM150HD for a couple hundred bucks and a big building on a large piece of land. (No rating - beauty is in the ear of the beholder)

I've been blessed - I have been playing guitar for 20 years and never had a failure of any kind with any piece of equipment that wasn't a bad cable or burned out battery. That old MM150HD still has original tubes.

I called Soldano before ever buying one - they were great to me even when I wasn't a customer. They even sent me a bunch of literature in the mail. They seem like a top shelf company.

This amp lives beside the 5150 and MM150HD, as well as an old 50W JCM800, a Mesa Boogie Heartbreaker combo, a little Soldano Atomic 16, and a Line 6 POD. This would be the last one I'd get rid of, and then only if it meant feeding my kids. If it were stolen I'd track it down and cut the SOB's balls off. I would like to see Soldano make the same thing as a single channel (the overdrive one), no FX loop version if it could dramatically reduce the price. I'd also be real curious to hear it with EL34's, but I wouldn't let anybody near it with a soldering iron or screwdriver.