Soldano Hot Rod 50+

I have a mid 90's Soldano Hot Rod 50 plus in black tolex.It's a 2 channel head with seaperete gain inputs for each channel.It also has a Effects loop,Slave out.The only thing people may not like on this head is the shared EQ but in my case ive learned to tweek it well.One thing i wish this amp had would be is a reberb but from what i understand is it would number one cost too much to place in there as well as effect the tone and in my case leave the tone alone.

Here is where this amp really shines for me.Im currently using 2 eric clapton stratocaster's one with the fender lace sensors and the other with the fender noiseless.i find on the clean channel if u set the gain at 3 with my strats u can get pretty clean pretty close to a old fender bassman and anything above 3 it starts sounding like a jcm 800.channel 2 is killer.you have in tune sutain for hours.i play in alot of different classic rock to current hits bands and this amp just about does it all for me.my head is really quite even at gain settings at 9 even know i dont use the gain normally any higher then 6.as far as people online saying that the slo sounds so much different well there totally wrong.i have them both and they sound like twins the only difference is it's 50 watts and the slo has a clean boast and a treble boast.

This amp is bult like a tank.ive gigged with this steady and never brought a backup due to it's never given me any signs of it feeling on me.as long as you change your preamp and power tubes ever so often you will never has it fail on you.

Bill and Mike soldano are really nice to talk to.they are really helpful and treat you like a pro.

Ive been playing for 14 years and owned Marshall,boogie,fender,etc and this id have to say ends my amp shopping for life.if it was ever stolon on me id say off a few things and buy and brand new one without a second thought.

I HAVE A MID 90'S SOLDANO HOTROD 50 PLUS HEAD WITH BLACK TOLEX.NOT ALOT OF FEATURES BUT ANYONE WHO IS BUYING THIS AMP AINT BUYING IT FOR IT'S FEATURES THE TONE IS WHAT GETS US TO SPEND THE MONEY.

THE SOUND OUT OF THIS AMP I WILL GIVE A 10 ALL AROUND.CHANNEL 1 U CAN GET WHEN TWEEKED THE RIGHT WAY PRETTY CLEAN AT LOW GAIN SETTINGS AND AS U RAISE THE GAIN UP ON IT THIS AMP GETS U IN THE JCM800 AREA.CHANNEL 2 IS KILLER FOR ANYTHING FROM JIMMY PAIGE TO STEVE VAI.I GIG WITH THIS AMP ON A REGULAR DIET AND DONT BRING A BACK UP EVER THOUGH I SHOULD.I ALSO OWN A SOLDANO SLO 100 HEAD AND I HAVE TO SAY IT'S A 50 WATT VERSION OF IT.SO ANYONE OUT THERE THAT ARE NOT SURE IF THIS AMP SOUNDS LIKE THE SLO IM HERE TO SAY IT IS IT'S BABY BROTHER.

IT'S A TANK.NEVER FAILED ON ME ONCE.

EXCELLENT SUPPORT.BILL AND MIKE ARE REALLY COOL AND REALLY TRY TO HELP U OUT AS MUCH AS THEY CAN.

THIS IS ONE GREAT AMP AND IF U CAN SAVE THE MONEY UP BUY YOURSELF ONE OF THESE.YOU GET WHAT U PAY FOR

ok, read what other people who own this Amp say about. Sure, It doesn't have alot of buttons or nonsense like that. It's not about that.....read further down in this review. I gave it 5 for this.

This is the "ONE" as far as this goes. The soldano HR50+ is pure tone. Forget about Marshall/Peavey/Mesa Boogie/VHT etc. This Amp is very versatile. I can get everything from Accoustic Clean to Chuck Berry to Blackmore to "THE" Van Halen(Tone) out of this 50 watt 2 Channel Purple Box. This Amp is a "TONE CHASERS"(To quote Eddie Van Halen) Amp. It can pretty much cover just about any tone you can think of.

11 out of 10(No pulling your Chain either). I bought this Amp used back in 1999(a 1996 Model, Verified by Bill Sundt too). I paid 1100 pounds sterling for it(about $2000) with a flightcase. All the valves(Stock Sovtek 5881's) were original(I haven't changed them since.....Work as good as the day the were put in the Amp when it was Handmade). I moved over to the United States in October 2003. I left the soldano over here in England. When I moved back here in February 2007 She fired up perfect just as I left her. How is that for reliability?. Mike Soldano is a genius. Soldano Amps are the best there is. They aren't "Throw Away, False Ecconomy" junk. These thinks are built to withstand a Nuclear War.

I had my girlfriend(Now Wife) Telephone soldano to find out what year my Amp was built. Bill Sundt told her there and then when it was built. Bill Sundt is a True Gentleman, I have talked to him a couple of times myself. I mean how many companies can you call and talk to the guy who helps design your gear?. Soldano are probably the best COMPANY in the entire world. They know people who buy their Amps are passionate guitar players who want the BEST there is.

I have been playing the guitar for 15 years so I am quite an experienced player. My Purple Box is perfect. It won't ever get stolen....If it did I would end up doing 100 years in Jail for the Subhuman Animal that stole it. Soldano Amp's are a true guitar player's Amp. They can't be compared to other "Amps". They are as much of an "INSTRUMENT" as a guitar honestly.

Soldano Amps are a "BIG" Secret. They aren't Marshall/Mesa Boogie but If they are good enough for Eddie Van Halen, Steve Lukather, Eric Clapton, Warren DiMartini, Gary Moore and George Lynch etc.......

Those guys aren't HACKS.

Just go try one out, PEOPLE. When you do you will BUY IT.

Trust me.

Mine's a 1994 model I think, violet tolex (now ain't that cute!).
My main band's a somewhat experimental reggae/hip hop/metal combo. I play lead, and the amp is just fine. I think it's great for any type of rock/metal, possibly barring Dimebag type stuff.
Two channels, crunch and lead - go buy another amp if you want clean.
I use it with a Mesa Recto 4x12, so there is plenty of power for any situation you might imagine. I give it a 5 for features because, plainly speaking, it doesn't have many.

Now here's the good stuff. Channel 1 has a very powerful crunch sound; the intensity of distortion is comparable to a JCM 800. Channel 2 is loads of singing, over-the-top gain while retaining clarity - utterly cool. Don't bother using a booster stomp box for this one. In fact, I do quite the opposite - I use a volume pedal before the amp to make channel 2 playable for fat chords and to clean up channel 1 for what amounts to almost-cleans. Both channels are very detailed-sounding with plenty of upper mids and highs.

I believe that when Mr. Soldano designed this amp, he didn't think clean/distortion but rather rhythm/lead - at least that's how the amp makes sense to me.

My main guitar is a Music Man Axis. I only use wah, volume and delay effects with the Soldano because I like the pure amp tone so much. It's quality.

I always gig without a backup. No problems so far. It's a very solid design.

I never had deal with the manufacturer, but I heard good things about their support.

I've been playing music most of my life; guitar for maybe 12 years now, always in bands. I've recorded original music a number of times and played several hundred shows. I also own an 80s Fender Twin - red buttons, an older Paul Rivera design I believe. It's a good amp, but I prefer the Soldano.

Losing the Soldano would make me very, very unhappy, and I'd try to get at least an equivalent, if not the same again. I may get a second amp to run parallel so I can have some true cleans every now and then.

I just picked up a 1997 in mint condition. Previous owner definately had some tone knowledge as it came equipted with a new matched set of NOS JAN Phillips 6L6s. No fancy bells and whisltes here. In my opinion the HR50+ posseses all the features required to make it versitile enough to gig with plenty of tones at your disposal. However a definate improvment would be the addition of an adjustable parallel effects loop. I describe in "Sounds" why I've come to this conclusion.

I purchased this amp with the XL Mod and still thought it sounded better than my Voodoo modded TSL 100. But it still seemed it's tone was being held back by un-natural forces. Muddy, Bassy, and buzzy if you try to add Treble and Presence to compensate. After reading the reviews I decided immediately to have my tech remove the XL Mod. BLEW ME AWAY! Why this amp was ever desicrated with the XL Mod I'll never know, but this amp in its natural state makes the Marshalls, Boogies, and Peavey's I've owned sound like they're made by Fisher Price. Tons of gain (anything over 4 on the pre-amp is overkill if you're playing at gig volume). Sustain, bottom end at high volume levels, and overall playability on both channels is unsurpassed.

My only heartache is the effects loop. In my previous amp I used a Boss GE-7 in the effects loop to give me lead boost. This setup works well on the HR50's normal channel, but will only work in the overdrive channel if the pre-amp is set less that 3. The more gain you give the channel, the more the amp compresses the signal going through. The result is no volume boost can be achieved while using the overdrive channel whether your using a boost (EQ, OD, etc.) in front of the amp or in the effects loop. To someone like myself who likes to run a simple clean and dirty channel with a lead boost, with this amp I require some type of OD or Dist pedal on the clean channel to give me both my clean and dirty rythym tones, and use my overdrive channel for solo only. This is a waste as the overdrive channel procuces pheonominal rythym ability to use as the primary rythym dirt channel. If there is anyone out there with some tips on how to improve my dilema, give me a shout at mail@alteregorock.com.

Haven't had it on the road yet.

Unreal. Bill at Soldano guided my tech over the phone on the process to remove the XL Mod. Second to none! It's nice to see a company that treats the average semi-pro guys as good as its million dollar clients.

Overall I rate this amp a 9. The only issue holding it back from a 10 is the inability to volume boost the overdrive channel. Again, if there are any tips on how to achieve this please let me know. mail@alteregorock.com

I must say the fellow below is terribly angry regarding this amp, guitars, everything. I agree the Voodoo amps have a nice tone; however, why is classical player buying a Soldano anyway? Then, to dog other musician's. Has anyone seen a classical musician? Not me, I see players. Big difference. Most musicians don't knock other players. They appreciate the differences and talent. I never respond to these reviews like this, but this fellow is so opinionated. Very ignorant...I own two Soldano amps, and if you chose the amp related to your playing style...:-D This amp is the wonderful. I've also been playing twenty years semi pro and professionally. I sure wouldn't purchase this amp for classical music:-D

Excellent amplifier. Mine is exceptionally quiet! I can have the amp at full wide open with minimal hiss. Excellent. I don't like using the effects loop. I personally feel it sucks some tone. However, it is great. I like to run a microphone into my G-Major then to the board. Then, I get the pure amp tone and leave the effects on the board. Try it! It's great.

10 years...1997 model....no problems! I haven't even had a fuse go done. I have retubed:-D. Gig without backup frequently. In my opinion, giving the amp 30 minutes to warm up prior to playing is a must for reliability.

Prior to Soldano's move, I would rate them a 9. I haven't had any return e-mails from them recently in regard to other amp models. I'm sure they are overloaded. I can't knock them to much. I could use the phone:-D

20 years of playing country, blues, rock, jazz, classical:-) Classically trained in college:-D I have many amps and guitars in my studio. Fender strats, les pauls, Ibanez Jem......I use this amp primarily in the studio. I've owned everything out there for amps. Most of them I keep. I'm not into knocking other models! They just don't fit my need or style at the time. I love this amp...by the way. For volume boosts. Run a little alligator from Morley through the effects loop. You can attenuate volume without loss of distortion from the pre-amp. If you run it before the pre-amp like distortion pedals you simply clean up the distortion. This method gets you out overtop everyone in the band to showcase your stuff. Learning lessons that take some time and money to figure out. Hopefully this will help others love this amp even more. Also, you can use the clean channel with a nice distortion pedal (with eq) then cascade your distortions on the distortion side of the amp. You can then have a dedicated lead channel. Three channel then!!! How's that for cool! Analogman.com has the sunface which is a great pedal for this task.

Bought used, unsure what year it is. Black tolex.

I'm impressed with the versatility of this amp. I bought it specifically for use in a 70s-era blues/rock band project, but have since gigged and recorded it in my funk/afrobeat band with very good results. It's far from simply being an 80s metal gain machine, though it does that outstandingly well.

Considering my other two amps are vintage-style, single channel units, the Soldano is something of a step up in verstatility. Granted, the shared eq poses issues, but I can set up two flavours of the same basic sound and gig very happily. It's probably not a good choice if you need top-40 versatility, though.

As far as features I'd like goes, separate presence controls for each channel would be cool for dialling the best clean sound and retaining edge on the overdrive sound.

Power-wise, it's perfect. 50 watts is damn loud and as much as anyone will need for onstage use, but it's also not so loud that you can't get the power section to work out. I've gigged it in small and medium spaces and it punches hard if needed.

I'm using this with a stock Les Paul jr, a PRS Custom 22 with duncan 59s, a 57ri strat with Duncan antiquities and alnico pros, and a stock 72 tele custom ri.

This amp is outstanding for the rock stuff I'm doing. I generally run the gain pretty low (1-4) and push the output section (7-10), and in doing so get a warm, chiming tone with a hint of marshall-esque bite. It's a big, open, musical tone that works well with our other guitarist's Marshall 800. Too often high gain 6l6 amps end up sounding like background noise when played alongside a marshall with the master up, and the soldano holds it's own very well.

For my funk/afrobeat band, the soldano does pretty well. The tight bottom and general fluidity of the amp make it fun to play clean, though I prefer the warmer, less twin-like midrange of my vibrolux (The two together could possibly be the best of all worlds). I didn't buy this amp for that kind of work, but it's cool to know it can go to work if need be.

Outside of clean and more old-school, lower drive tones, the soldano also stands up to it's reputation and gains up nicely. Put the gain midway and you're in EVH/Lynch territory. After midway things get really over the top, and I personally can't imagine any musical situation where I'd dial the gain over 5 or 6, even with the lower output pickups I use.

Overall I'm very impressed with the tonal character and transient response of this amp. Notes jump out at you, yet do so musically and fluidly. It really helps you play, clean or dirty. And whilst it's a bright amp, it never becomes taxing on the ear. Much of this has to do with the very well voiced global presence control, which gives just the right type of bite or cut to your tone.

It's particularly quiet in operation considering the gain on tap.

I'd definitley gig it without backup, and have done already. It's very well built.

No contact needed as of yet. Service would be difficult, as Seattle is a long way from New Zealand.

I've been playing, gigging and recording for over 15 years. My other amps are a fender custom vibrolux reverb and a Mesa Blue Angel head.

If stolen, I'd replace it with another soldano if I could. I'm very impressed with their gear.

I love the tone and response of this amp. It's very inspiring to play and far from a one trick pony. It's also well built and lightweight. At this point, there's nothing I don' like about this amp.

My Hotrod was made in 1999. The features are somewhat limited, but the features are by no means the focal point of this amp. It has two channels with a shared EQ and independent pre and post gain levels for each channel. It has an effects loop and a slave output.

At 50watts this amp has plenty of power for playing at home and any reasonable sized venue or rehearsal space. I've yet to use the effects loop as i normally just run stomp boxes in through the front end using an old Boss master effects loop pedal.

I mostly play jazz, blues, 80's pop, rock and metal and all sorts of fusions of these styles. I would say that this amp can handle all of those quite easily, but in my opinion the versatility of an amplifier is as much down to the player and what you put into it as the amp itself.

There are only two features i would like to have on this amp, a 'deep' dial to control the overall low end, and a master volume control. Splitting the EQ for each channel would make setting up in a hurry easier, but it doesnt take very long to get used to the single EQ.

My other amp is a Framus Cobra, which is absolutely rammed with features like onboard MIDI and a 2nd master boost... which i never need to use. This amp has NOTHING that i dont intend to use. To me it seems like a workhorse amp, simple and effective.

I play a 1993 PRS Custom w/seymour duncans and a 1994 PRS Standard with original Dragon I pick ups. Both guitars have coil taps, which is incredibly useful with this amp.

This amp does not have a clean channel as such. The first channel is the low gain "normal" channel. Do not expect to get a Fender type clean sound from this channel. If you want to have a clean channel that sounds like a Fender, just buy one and an A/B switch. After a little experimenting with the EQ i fell in love with this channel. It breaks up quite early on, but doesnt lose any character at all. Personally i think it sounds at it's best when it's just starting to break up a little. Using the coil tapping i can easily back off enough to get the sound very clean.

The "overdrive" channel is absolutely fantastic! It has no trouble covering a full spectrum of sounds from softer rock to metal. This amp has plenty of mid range and a very thick tone to it which cuts through incredibly well. I'd been touring with a Framus Cobra previously to getting this amp, and although i love the amp i found its mid range quite limited. For lead work and solos the hotrod is superb! Its VERY clear with an incredible amount of sustain. The only downside is that this channel can be quite noisy at high gain settings, but it's easy enough to change channels when not playing.

This amp is definately geared more towards rock and metal players, but still has plenty to offer blues players too.

This amp is built to last. With maintenance and a little care i can see myself still playing through this amp in 20 years time!

It's incredibly sturdy with plenty of ventilation for the tubes, which is always a bonus because my old marshall used to get hot enough to cook breakfast on!

I have gigged many times, and even toured without a backup, although i really wouldnt recommend it. I actually bought the hotrod to use as back up, but now i love it too much to not play it at every oportunity! I trust that it wouldn't let me down, but fuses and tubes can be very tempremental so it's always worth having something on the sidelines that you can fire up "just in case"

I haven't had to deal with customer services as yet, but i have only heard good things about them.

Ive been playing for nearly 10 years now and have owned most amps. Ive had a rack set up that looked like a time machine! a mesa dual rec (everyone makes mistakes), a framus cobra, an engl powerball, marshalls, peaveys, laneys, an orange and few fenders. Out of all the amps that i have played to date, the only two that i have felt really matched what i wanted were this Soldano and my Framus Cobra. I bought this amp as a "simple" back up, and it has exceeded all my expectations by MILES!

If this and the Framus got stolen tomorrow i would buy another Hotrod 50+ and put the rest of the money in the bank.

If you are reading the reviews on here to try and decide whether to buy this amp or not i would really suggest just taking your guitar to a music store and trying one out for yourself. I really cant stress enough though, the importance of trying out equipment with you OWN guitar and with heads, through the closest you can find in the store to the speaker cabinet you own. Nothing sucks more than buying something on how it sounds in a shop, and getting it home to find its completely unsuited to the rest of your set up.

Again, i must add that this really is a rock amp. It wont do shimmering crystal clear Fender cleans because that is not what it was made to do, just like a Fender Twin wont do brutal death metal distortion! If you play any sort of blues or rock music the hotrod is 2nd to none.

Not alot of features....but thats what I wanted (has the snakeskin tolex and the guy I got it from gave me 2 other cabinets for the head in purple and black tolex). Like going into a restaurant and scoping the menu to find they have TOO many choices and you can't figure out what you want! 2 channels...the clean is not really a true clean channel, and do wish it had Verb, but no big deal. The overdrive just kicks ass...sustain like I've NEVER gotten before. I play blues & blues-based rock and this is the perfect amp for those tones.....who needs a distortion pedal with this amp? 50 watts is perfect, whether in the living room or a club. Building a pedal board, and haven't tried the effects loop yet, but have no doubt that it will perform like the rest of the amp.

4 guitars....Les Paul Classic, Jackson with Zak Wilde EMG's, Telecaster (with a Texas Special in the bridge and a red-dually Lace Sensor in the bridge) and an all graphite Steinberger with EMG's (SSH setup). I love the Gary Moore blues tone and the Texas-blues guys just knock me out. This amp gives me exactly that. If you like the Jimmy Page tone.....bingo. Hard rock to blues is A to Z. ZZ Top, you're there.....SRV, it can happen!

I'm replacing the tubes tomorrow with new Svetlana's, as I have no idea how old the ones are that are now in. They're making noise so I know it's time, can't wait to get those shitty Groove Tubes out and get some kick ass tubes in. Soldano's are built like tanks so I anticipate NO problems.

I have spoken with Bill Sundt and he is awesome.....very nice and eagar to help!

Been playing for 45 years (on and off), more lately than ever, especially since I bought my "dream" amp. I pretty much knew this was the one. I just sold a Line 6 Vetta. A cool little Pignose 20 (gift) take anywhere practice amp. Also original owner of a early 70's Fender Princeton Reverb. Have owned a cpl Marshall JCM 800's. I have a DigiTech DD-5 unit that a guy gave me. Have a vintage, late 60's Vox Tone Bender and two 2x12 closed-back cabinets, an Ampeg and a Soldano. Also play with a Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive, Boss DD-6 Delay, a CLYDE Deluxe Wah, Arion Stage Tuner and looking for a nice used TC Electronics Flanger/ Chorus. After that my rig will be complete. All that will be laid on a Pedal Pad MPS-XL. Yes, I'd find away to buy another HR50+ if lost.

Eq for each channel would have been nice, i mean for the amount paid i think Soldano can throw in a few linear pots and some capacitors!
NO amp can produce the sound i desire, they have absolutely NO character.
In all honesty, i played through a variety of amplifiers, the best sound i ever obtained was with a Crate Voodoo head/cab and a Jem7DBK; articulated leads!
Sadly, the Crate Voodoo head look's like it is made out of drift wood, the fake tolex was peeling like contact paper a women would use to cover shelves; cheap a$$ company.
The Soldano has two very basic channels (period).

All amplifiers over 20 watts can bring down a small house, the Soldano has plenty of power (50W).

All guitar are basically made to look good, every guitar pimped to the typical guitarist is junk!
The Fender is junk, the trem is useless; huge heel!
The Gibson and BC Rich have a neck shaped like a 2X4!
The Parker is like balsa wood, squeeze too hard and it becomes splinters!
The PRS is an overpriced canvas; absolutely no character; Yuppie lamers way to impress their squeeze!
The Ibanez has the finest neck available (JEM series) but the guitar is loaded with junk controls; cheap, in the way components!

The guitars i did not mention all belong in a huge trash compactor; I'll pull the switch!

Trying to duplicate the famous Danney Alkana or Marty Friedman is a difficult task, NO amplifier without pedal support can pull it off.
(The two artists above are the best guitar players in the World)

People are so stupid when they talk about dependability of a tube amp.
Face it, when a Tube is on it is wearing out, the plate is slowly vanishing!
Six months of continual playing and it requires new valves!
I always hear the story of the poser that played a tube amp for 10 years without replacing a tube; in truth he strummed in his/her basement for 1 day a week for 1.5hrs; like i said "A POSER".

The man at Soldano better answer the tele or he would be out of business in 6 months.
I never had to deal with the company concerning a defected amp.
In truth what is an amp? hmmm, let's see, you have an "Input" a "Preamp" a "Power Amp" and an "Output".

Wow, a typical Tube amp design that was invented around +65 years ago! "Could building a tube amp be so difficult?"

I have been playing for around 20 years "classical only"
Metal, Rock, Jazz is silly music for silly people.

I compared it to the Crate Voodoo and don't know why it is $2000.00 more...

A Soldano amp like a Marshall have 1 "GREAT" feature, when you come to the truth you can always re-sell the item on eBay and not lose your shirt.
Posers are always lining up to buy what they don't understand!

THIS AMP WAS NOT LOADED WITH FEATURES, IT'S A ONE CHANNEL AMP WITH THE NORMAL FEATURES. WAS MADE IN 2000, SEND AND RETURN. IT COULD USE MORE CHANNELS, AND A TRUE CLEAN CHANNEL.Comparing it to my Diezel and Engl 4 channel amps,3 channel Framus and Peavey Triple xxx amps,this leaves allot to be desired...............

I USE JACKSON'S & IBANEZ'S & WASHBURN'S & ESP'S AND I OWN 40 GUITARS AND A FEW BASSES. I OWN MANY GERMAN AMPS, A FEW PEAVEY'S TRIPLE X & 5150 AND A KRANK HEAD, AND MANY MARSHALL'S AND TO BE HONEST, THIS HEAD DOES NOT DO HIGH GAIN. I CHANGED TUBES ,EVERYTHING, BUT IT'S WAY TOO CLEAN FOR ME.IT HAS NICE LOW END AND THE HEAD LOOKS GREAT BUT FOR MY CHRISTIAN PROGRESSIVE ORIGINAL METAL MUSIC,I FOUND THIS AMP EXTREMELY LIMITED! WHERE IS THE GAIN AS THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO HAVE?? THE GAIN THE SLO HAS BUT I'VE BEEN TOLD BY A NUMBER OF PLAYERS THAT THESE SOLDANO'S DON'T GET TOO MUCH GAIN.THEY SEEM EXPENSIVE NOT TO GET ALLOT OF GAIN, BUT THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO SWEAR BY THEM.

BUILT IN THE USA AND HANDBUILT!

NEVER DEALT WITH THEM AT ALL.

PLAYING FOR 25+ YEARS, SINCE 1979.I OWN A VHT UL PITTBULL,PEAVEY 5150 AND TRIPLE XXX,KRANK REVOLUTION SERIES ONE, CARVIN X100B, MARSHALL/SPLAWN MODIFIED 50 WATT HEAD,ENGL SAVAGE 120 & POWERBALL AND FRAMUS COBRA & DIEZEL VH-4....THIS AMP DOESN'T COME CLOSE TO MANY OF THOSE AMPS, BUT HAS GREAT LOW END, BUT THE GAIN WAS TO CLEAR AND CLEAN FOR ME.I WAS EXPECTING KILLER SINGING SUSTAIN, BUT IT SOUNDED LIKE MARSHALL'S WITH LESS GAIN.I SOLD THIS AMP AFTER TWO MONTHS OF OWNING IT.USING PEDALS WITH IT SOUNDED GOOD,BUT NOT PLUGGED STRAIGHT IN.MAYBE MIKE SOLDANO CAN SEND ME AN AMP TO BORROW THAT WOULD CHANGE MY MIND??? I DOUBT THAT, BECAUSE I'M GOING TO RECORD MY FIRST CD WITHIN THE NEXT YEAR.

This is a mid 90's HR50+ I have here. It's nice to see that this head is as relevant today as it was during the big Soldano rush in the early 90's. These heads could use seperate EQ control for each channel, but it's not been a big problem for me. Strange that you need to use the footswitch to switch channels. No way to switch them from the face of the head. I never use the "slave out", and rarely use the effects loop. I'll run a little reverb/tremolo out front though.

I'm using a Strat with Texas Specials mostly. This guitar works very well with this head. Clean sounds are breaking up nicely. I don't like clean to be "too clean". I love fact that the clarity is all there. I did really have to back off the treble to about 4 and the presence about 5.5 in order to get the strat sounding recordable. The overdrive channel is amazing to me. I feel very at home with the gain around 7. Again, the clarity and tightness can't be compared to anything else on the market. Soldano's have their own sound. I really can't imagine a better sounding crunch. I've had them all too (3 Rectifiers, Engls, Marshalls, 5150, PeaveyXXX, etc).

Built to last. Remember, this is a mid 90's head. It's in good shape, and this head really got around before I bought it. I think that these heads look great too. I love the metal grill in the front and back. Of course it helps cool the tubes, but it also just looks cool to see the tubes glowing.

The guys at Soldano are great. Bill Sundt sent me a few parts immediatly after I called, and was very helpful in explaining a few questions I had regarding mods to the head. (which I'm afraid to do because it sounds so good stock)

Using Strats, I can't get away with sloppy sounds or sloppy picking anymore. This amp has really helped me mature into a more unique,individual player. The gain is more "sustain" than distortion. This makes Soldanos very inspiring to me.Your own hands are where most of your tone is, I'll leave the rest to Soldano though.

Made in 1991 when Soldano was making their claim to fame in LA! Today they are in Washington State (after the fall of the hairband era). This is a 2 channel beast w/ 50 watts of pure tone. Also has FX loop. Most important thing is the line out (if you want wet/dry/wet 80's effect). I use this amp primarily in my house, which is why the 50 watters rule. People get all TRIPLE-RECTIFIER-CRAZY, not realizing that the LESS power tubes, the more audible opportunity you have to turn the beast up and enjoy the saturation of the power section.

Harsher (which is good) than a Marshall, less grit than a Recto. This beast really stands out. I used to own the XL version, which I returned the next day I got it. It sounded FLABBY. Turns out (after inquiring), that Mike Soldano did not create (nor was he too happy with) the XL mod; as it was a function of one of his techies that thought it would be a good idea. BAD IDEA. Mike - you keep designing the amps, and let your techies build them for you. If you go to Emerils steakhouse, do you want a steak I seasoned, or a steak that Emeril seasoned??? (got the point???). Anyway, the 50+ (dual channel, 50Watt) is the BEST SOUNDING AMP I own (and I own plenty). It cuts through anything. Even w/ an SM57 shoved into the cab, amp sounds great. As for the dual channel - it is always nice to have the clean (which we all know isnt used for clean...it is used for a lighter overdrive).

BEST. Bill at Soldano and Mike himself are incredible. They both answer the phone when you call, and the amp (built in 1991) is solid like a rock. So good, I would think that a new one would NOT be as good.

A+++++ Mike ... you are a genius. Thanks for making your contributions to the guitar industry. I have spoken to you MANY, MANY times. Thanks for taking my calls, and helping me learn every bit and piece of my amp, including how to bias it. You are a amp building genius. Thanks!!!

Best amp. Best of all ... I paid 750 used. I wouldn't buy the XL if it was for $500 !!!. Seems like you can't get a HR50+ for less than about 900 or so. I got a deal, and I will be holding onto it for life. Even if I ever get a SLO (which you dont need w/ the HR50+), I would hang on to this. If I ever lost it ... the thieving bastard that stole it would have one fantastic amp. BTW - my last bit of 2cents. SOldano sounds like a Soldano. If you want a boogie, go buy a boogie. If you want a fender go buy a fender. Dont buy 1 brand to sound like another. They all sound different. Save your money and buy the 1 you like (or all if you choose ... like me). I own a Tremoverb, HR50+, JCM800 and Fender HR (As well as the SP77, mesa studio and mesa quad). They are all great amps, but if I was to play out ... the HR50+ would be in 1 hand, and my les paul in the other. Everything else is all fun and games.

The amp has a lot of great features, if you're reading this you probably already know what those features are. One thing this amp is lacking is seperate eq for both channels. I hate when TWO channels have to share ONE eq. What's the point of adding the extra channel?? Either do it right or not at all...

I use a stock Epi LP Standard. I play rock, hard rock, high gain blues. I modded this amp myself to accept EL34 tubes. I really like the bite of EL34 tubes. I felt that this amp sounded better with the EL34s than the 6L6s. It was a simple mod.. just changing the screen resistors to 1k 5Watt and rebiasing the EL34s. I emailed Bill Sundt at Soldano for advice MANY MANY TIMES and he came through with FLYING COLORS EVERY SINGLE TIME! EVERYONE AT SOLDANO IS AWESOME!!!

NORMAL CHANNEL

They should have called this the crunch channel. Very limited headroom. With the stock Epi treble pickup, the amp starts to get gritty with the preamp gain on 3. They weren't trying to get an ultra-clean channel. They were aiming more for a JCM 800 type deal, and they hit it pretty close. It's close to the sound of a Marshall, but it has it's own distinct sound. It's ok to use as a semi-clean tone. It's definitely not Fender-clean.

OVERDRIVE CHANNEL

Excellent overdrive. Very unique sound. Totally SOLDANO. Nothing I've ever played sounds close. I find the overdrive quite compressed. I had a hard time at first dealing with this. I was so used to playing my Marshalls that the Soldano threw me for a loop. It just doesn't have the same 'cut' as the Marshall. That BITE that made Marshall famous. Because of this, I like the Marshalls for rhythm, and the Soldano for lead stuff. The Soldano's got great sustain, high-gain note definition, and super-thick tone. AWESOME for single note lines. That's not to say you can't use the Overdrive channel for rhythm stuff. It still sounds pretty good. Just depends on what sound you're going for..


You might be thinking... why don't you use the NORMAL channel for Marshall-esque crunch and the OD channel for leads? Well like I said above, the Normal channel is close to the sound of a Marshall, but still doesn't have that BITE, even with the change to EL34s.

The amp is a little noisy on the OD channel, but not too noisy. Any high gain amp is noisy. The eq is good, not great. I found I wanted to cut more mids on the clean channel and at different frequencies. I do this with a seperate eq.

I opted not to do the XL mod since Mike Soldano himself has said that the XL mod can make things too muddy with humbuckers. I just use a closed back cab and it's enough low end for me.

Excellent build quality. I would've liked to see better nuts for securing the chassis to the head cabinet. Mine are all bent and loose. That's about the only complaint I have. I would't gig without a backup, because tube amps, no matter how good you build them, are still tube amps!

As I said earlier.. EXCELLENT!!!

Bill Sundt is the GREATEST GUY!

I've been playing three years. I've owned 12 or 13 amps in that time. Almost all tube amps. Fenders, Marshalls, Roland JC-120, Pod Pro, etc...

I still can't find 'THE ONE'

I am currently contemplating getting rid of this Soldano 'cause I could use the money. Still haven't decided. I'm coming to the realization that there is no ONE AMP. Each amp I've owned has had it's own unique sound. The Pod is a great IDEA, but it lacks the feel of a great cranked tube amp.

soldano hot rod 50 plus.....channel 1 is clean (or crank the gain and get a mild crunch distotion) channel 2 is where it's at, go from thick ac/dc distorton at about 6 or7. Turn the gain to 11 (nigel tuffnel)and get metallica, megadeth. I play everything from ac/dc, nugent, def leppard, ozzy to heart and pat benetar. Has effect sends etc (I don't use em). The amp also has channel switching to go from clean to dirty via footswitch. You must have a footswitch to change channels ,if you don't have a footswitch you will only get channel 2. The clean channel sounds kinda crappy. This is part due to channel 1 and 2 share the same eq.IF you want killer distotion the clean channel will suffer a bit. I gig almost every weekend, we use a soundman and mic everything, this is a 50 watt head and I play on about 6 micd up side washed....We play very very loud. The one thing I wish this amp had is verb, maybe it would help the clean channel a little. I do use chorus on the clean and that helps. We play 80 percent dirty so the clean channel doesn't really bother me. I'm giving this catagory an 8 becouse no verb and the clean channel lacks a little..don't get me wrong the clean sounds ok but not great.

I have 2 strats with duncan hot rails in the bridge and a washburn raven and falcon with humbuckers in them and let me tell you, this amp just screams. Again I play mostly 70's 80's hard rock (dio,dokken,night ranger)and this amp is the ticket for this style. Now if your into blues or more top 40 rock this amp is for you also, just back the gain down. IF you do the death metal thing or punk rock you can probably get away with using this amp but may not be your best option, for this amp has tone. If your into country you better stick with the old fender twin. ( I do like fender clean but their dirty sound is horrible). I have to say this amp is a tone monster, cuts through the mix like nothing you've ever heard, while doing a lead all notes are clear very very punchy no matter where you have the gain set at or playing on the neck, very thick, rich tone. I get compliment after compliment on my tone and sound almost everytime we gig. Ive owned marshall after marshall, peavey, laney amps, and rack gear up the waazzoo, and never have I had as many compliments as I do now. just an amazing amp.Very quiot also.

amp has never broken down, I have owned it about a year now and not problem one. this amp is very dependable. I gig with this amp with no back up and no worries. Good ole fashion american made gear.

bought amp used,no warranty, haven't dealt with soldano but i'm sure their real friendy.

Ive been playing 18 years now, I played pro for 2 years, played 33 of the 50 states, been playing bars for 12 years. Besides a marshall 4x12, I listed all my guitar gear (and a cry baby). If this amp was stolen or lost it would take me only about 5 minutes to go buy another one. I absolutely love this amp and swear by it. If you play your basic rock music, this amp is what you want. A marshall comes close second but doesn't even compare to this one. Of all my instrument/amp purchases I would rate this one in the top 3 of the smartest buys I've ever made. wish I could afford another so I could have a back up. It is well worth the price new or used.

This particular amp used to belong to Martin Barre of Jethro Tull, and according to Soldano was put together in 1994. When I heard about the amp via a Soldano distributor here in the UK, I sent my old Mesa Boogie rectifier down as part payment. It was a bit of a risk, as I had not even heard it, and I still quite liked my old amp. When it arrived, cosmetically it was quite flawed, and was not a patch on my gleaming Mesa, so initially I was a little put off by this. The simple layout however appealed to me far more than the Mesa's overly complex design, later finding the shared eq to be very well matched.

I use Musicman EVH guitars. With this guitar and amp setup I was half expecting a very over the top overdriven, saturated sound. It can acheive that sound, but after re-learning how to use this amps eq, I found it to be very clear and open sounding with plenty of guts, and a nice tight low end. It seems to react to your playing a little differently than say a Mesa or Peavey amp. Very Fender like. Cuts thru a mix without ever sounding harsh or brittle. One of the few amps that actually sound better the louder it goes, without sounding like a buzzing load of horse shit like, say the 5150 which relies more on pre-amp distortion for it's tone instead of using the amps power stage for tone too. Difficult to get a clean sound at higher volume settings, but it still sounds great. Treble and Presence controls are very imposing controls if set too high. I set both around 2, and sometimes still have to trim back a little on the presence. The old tubes were replaced with Harma power tubes, and Electro Harmonix pre amp tubes on reccomendation from Watford valves, and sound great. It's very basic visually, and shares little of the asthetic qualities that some other boutique brands posess, like armour plating or leather handles and corners, etc. But tonally, in my opinion blows them all out of the water.

When I got it, it was clear it had been very used. Now with new tubes + service, new chrome, and a wicked new snakeskin covering, I have no worries on it's reliability.

Bill Sundt at Soldano was very helpfull in identifying the amp, shipping new tolex covering and a couple of other questions he promptly answered.

I use this amp with either a Marshall 4x12 with Greenback speakers, or my Soldano 4x12, or both when I can. Effects are a Hughes&Kettner Replex, MXR Phase 90, MXR Micro amp placed in the loop for boosts and a Danelectro Chorus. My only gripe was with the Soldano 4x12 cab I later purchased, fitted with Eminence Legend speakers, For #900, the build quiality was poor and the speakers sounded awful. A lot of money wasted on something so average. Replaced these speakers with V-30's, and to be fair, does sound very good now, but now weighs twice as much! Not to downplay the Eminence speakers, this is purely my opinion, and other players may like them.

If you're reading this, you didn't get here by chance - you know what features this amp has! 50 watts, (2) Channels (can only switch between channels with the footswitch) - "clean" and knock your socks off throw your back against the wall overdrive! For a 50 watter this beast ROCKS! Turn it up to (10), and the dials go to (11) by the way, and this thing will throw you against the wall like Michael J. Fox in "Back To The Future"! There's also a presence control and I recently added the XL mod. There's an effects loop as well - that's all folks! No fancy built in effects, no stupid dials that you would never use anyways...just straight forward and SIMPLE! The only bummer to the amp is the lack of reverb but that's my personal taste because you can actually get a warm jazz tone out of this monster and reverb would have been the icing on the cake. There's also a presence knob that actually REALLY works (imagine that). It ONLY gets a (9) because of the lack of reverb and that's it!

This amp is an expensive investment, but well worth it. If you're gonna be a cheap bugger look at something else. If tone matters and you have the $, buy this. If you're not sure consider a used one and even look at the single channel Hot Rod instead. It's not as slick as the Hot Rod plus but you still get that great Soldano tone at a more affordable price. I bought mine used WITH the 4 x 12 cab for a real steal of only $1500!! This rig new would easily go for $3,000 new.

Here's the part where all of us guitar players like to bragg about our axe's. I play mostly Fender and Gibson. 'Got a Clapton Strat (the most recent version), '84 Bowling Ball Strat, Les Paul Standard, and a customized Gibson Pat Martino for the jazzy stuff. Not one of these guitars sounds bad through this amp. The strats are just incredible through this thing (and by the way, I'm using a Soldano 4 x 12 straight cab). The Clapton Strat sounds good with just about anything, but particularly good through this amp. With the noiseless pickups and the OD channel cranked, it still doesn't buzz! In fact, my buzz laiden '84 Strat is still noisey, but not as with this amp. I couldn't believe it. Most amps I've played the '84 through spits out that typical single coil hum/buzz. Not the Soldano, it still hums, but not as loud. Says something about the good components they use in these things. With the Les Paul - ooooooooo - baby! With the Paul plugged in the OD channel and the preamp only turned to about 3, look out! This combo produces thick, lush, and CREAMY OD. In fact, it sounds SO good that it makes me want to have a smoke after I'm done playing it, and I'm not a smoker! Plug the Martino in and roll back the presence on the amp and on teh guitar and you have a pretty close sounding Wes Montgomery sound. Pretty amazing for a high gain amp.

The "Clean" channel: and I say "Clean" loosely. If you want to get a loud, clean Fender sound with this thing, forget it! It can get to a respectful volume level of clean, but it starts to break up after a certain point and becomes picking attack sensitive - which is actually quite nice. Dig in and it starts to break up a little, back off on the picking attack and it cleans up again - Jekyl and Hyde in one channel. I don't play at a real high volume setting anyways in live situations so the clean breaking up at high er volumes isn't such a big deal. Put your preamp volume past 4 and turn the post up and it will start to break up. Better to turn the preamp down and bring the post up to almost full, which is what I do. The OD channel has the most outrageous OD ever known to man! Channel (2) - You metal heads out there will LOVE this amp. It's also addictave for rock heads, chicken pickers (you country guys), jazz heads (if you tweak it right), and somewhat blues heads although you may find the gain on this monster to dish out a little more than you prefer. You'll find that the OD on this is tremendous even at 3 (and all the dials go to 11). From 3 - 5 on the preamp you get more than enough violin sustain and crunch. From 5 - 8 you get some tremendous compression and violin sustain, go past 9 and it starts to turn to 'ala mush. The bottom end gets a little sloppy, otherwise it is tight. If you want less OD you need to work the preamp carefully because this thing is is a fire breather.

My guitar buddies that have played my half stack all drool over the tone and they are blown away by the crazy amount of gain this thing spits out. The gain is heavy but it's buttery, creamy smooth - rich, thick. What more do you want? I played the other brands. In fact, the day I bought this, I was literally at 4 previous music stores and played somewhere between 25-30 amps that day, the Hot Rod blew the doors off from every one of them. It made the rest sound like toys. I played my share of Marshalls (used to own 1), Mesa's (almost bought one...*whew*...that was close), Fenders (used to own 2), Line 6 (*cough* what a joke these little toys are), Vox, Randall (p-lllll-ease!), Tech 21 (pretty darn good little amp for a solid state),VHT's, and a few others that I would be embarrassed to say I plugged in to. When the Soldano was fired up it was in a class by itself - I was amazed. The best of the bunch were the Mesa's and the Marshalls and this ate both of them for lunch. Unreal. Big, Full Sound. I bought it on the spot along with the matching cab. Besides the

Never had a problem with the amp. These things are built like tanks anyways so I can't imagine a whole lot going wrong with it. So far so good. Not worried about it going out on me. Owned this amp for only 6 months - the best 6 months of my playing life!

I've had to call Soldano a few times regarding some technical questions and the XL mod, Bill Sundt was the man. He knows his stuff and if you e-mail him he will get back to you well within 24 hours, what a concept. These guys are professionals and they love what they do. I'm not sure what the warranty is on the hot Rod but with quality like this, they could give only a 1-year warranty and it wouldn't matter - they're made that good. In fact, they sent me the XL mod on a verbal handshake that I would send them the check (which I did) - how many companies would do that???

Clean channel, well, pretty good, could be better. OD channel, it makes everything else out there look bad. Tone? Please, don't even go there - closest thing to heaven on earth. AND, this amp doesn't even breathe hard at high volumes!

I've been playing for 30 years and been around the block a few times with equipment and guitars. Guys/girls - I'm tellin' you - spend the extra cash on a really GOOD amp - it's worth the money. With a good amp you'll sound better and play better. A $4,000 guitar will sound like the butt end of a cow through a substandard amp (believe me, I was there...not at the cow's butt end of course...). Likewise, a $200 guitar can sound like a million bucks through a really good amp (get the picture). My other amp is a Roland JC-90 and I have a Bogner Shiva head with a 1 x 12 shiva cab on order. The Roland is OUTTA here. The Bog is an amazing amp too but a totally different sound. But we're not here to talk about Bogner. (owned the other stuff in the past - Marshall, a few Fenders, rack systems, Roland, Peavey - all of them, details...)

If this amp were ever stolen, I'd replace it with another Hot Rod 50+, but only after I declare Jihad (and I'm a German/American). Mess with my Soldano and you're messin' with my momma.

Keep this in mind - the person who went amp shopping with me was a session guitarist in Nashville for many years and the Soldano dropped his jaw. That should tell you something about this amp. BUY ONE.

i think he's made in 1999, versatile enough for me. I was looking for a great tone, not for hundreds of channels with separate eq etc...This amp has got a fantastic rock/metal tone (lead channel), and a really dynamic clean/cruch channel. No gadgets here, just a simple very good sounding 2 channel amp. I play prog/thrashmetal with it and it's really the best amp i've had. My previous amp was a Koch Powertone (120watts!), But that amp didn't have any character and gave me a lot of trouble with fuses popping out all the time.
Features:
2 channels; clean/crunch and lead, no reverb
channel switching with 1 button! Between the 2 channels...
effects loop is VERY good, there's a special tube just for the effects loop. The signal can be mixed from 0 to 100%. There's a slave out, for linking an amp to the hotrod.
The 2 speaker outputs can be switched to 4, 8 or 16 ohm.
That's it. just simple!
The amp is very versatile when it comes to creating a lot of different sounds. The only negative point is that you've only got 2 sounds at a time...

I play musicman axis and ibanez petrucci(with ToneZone PU), i play shred/fusion things. Lot of Petrucci and Paul Gilbert stuff. It perfectly suits my style. The tight sound gives you a lot of definition even with higain settings. But you don't need alot of gain. From 1-10; you only need 5 to get a full, rich modern metaltone. When using higher gain settings you get a really saturated death metal tone like cannibal corpse (vile) etc. When using the gain+eq, you can get a lot of different styles out of this amp. This works for both channels. The clean channel is clean when set not further than +-4-5, but i like it because it has that 'just distortion' sound when set at 6-7.

Haven't had any problems with it. I contacted soldano for an update to XL and i got an answer very fast! They were very helpfull.

see above, 1 year waranty

i've been playing guitar for 14 years, have had a few valve amps. My other gear: TC Gforce, morley wah, marshall vintage 1960 cabinet.
If it were stolen or lost, would you buy it again or get something else? YES!
I've tested dozens of amps, including separate preampse and poweramps. For my budget, this was the best amp i heard. It's much beter than the 5150's or marshall jcm 2000. This amps is so basic, it's just great TONE! I found out that in the end that's what it is a;ll about. And i didn't have money for triaxis etc.
When you're not a pro and when you're not an endorser (ehm, that's 99% of all players!) you'd better spend your money on one good amp, cabinet and guitar than buying something that's 'nice'and very versatile and doesn't sound really good. In the end you're only fooling yourself....

I think it was made in 99. Its two channels. Ive heard complaints that it doesnt clean up that well, but Ive found that running a Marshall compressor in front and using a either a single coil or a humbucker with the volume rolled off a bit it is very fenderish.The dirty channel is amazing.Effects loop is usable.

I play a Prs custom 24, a Jackson Dinky reverse with a duncan trembucker, and a custom built guitar with Prs Pickups. I play everything from classic 70's rock to 80's shred and this does it all well. I run everything on the amp between 5 and 7. It will cop a very close Van Halen 1 guitar sound. The gain is unreal. My only complaint is that the low end gets a bit muddy when its pushed, but Im working on that with different tube combinations. Currently Im running Sovtek 6L6. Ive tried 5881's, but it seems to lose a ton of headroom with those.Any tips would be appreciated. Ive heard of the Kt66 possibly fixing this.

Just got it a week ago, but Ive researched Soldano extensivley and their reputation is unmatched.

I called them for some questions on Slaving. Seemed very helpful.

Im 28 and have played since I was 5. Ive owned Marshalls,Boogies and a ton of rack gear. Nothing touches a Soldano. Boogies to my ears sound very harsh when pushed. Not this thing. It gets sweeter as it gets louder.Being that it has a solid state rectifier, it doesnt turn to mud when a lightning fast run is played.If it were stolen, a can of whoopass the size of a small country would be unleashed on the person who stole it. Buy one of these. Dont waste your money on a new Marshall. Keep in mind that midrange is essential to getting a good live guitar tone. If you suck the mids out of this amp it will sound buzzy. Bring in some mids and enjoy. It will highlight any poor technique.

purchased in 94 new for 1300. u.s.d from parker music in houston.black tolex,powder white chassis with alot of grill front and back so tubes can be seen and cooled easily.the look is very clean and uncluttered .it looks high-end to me ,attractive and functional looking. i have owned around 20 amps in 25 years,though only 2 others in the over 1000. d. price range. both of these we're same model rivera r55 combos. apparently i liked and then became disenchanted with same model twice, but have retained the soldano throughout.by comparison these riveras had more features,and a useful footswitch that engaged 2 channels that each had its own boost.the riveras had spring reverb,input/output levels for the effects loop, a useful impedance selector for use w/ different cabinet combinations,as well as other features that the soldano does not come with.the mesa tremoverb is another that reminds me of the cockpit of a fighter jet , with even more options than the riveras.ultimately the hot rod 50 plus does provide me with the versatility i need ,and i personally haven't had any problems with the effects loop.both channels sound wonderful to me,they do different things. for reference copy material, i have gigged out playing roy orbison and johnny rivers tunes with one band( russel and the muscle) and also play stuff like ufo and joe satriani with other past bands.

main guitars presently: older bill lawrence strat ,2 duncan single coils and a rio grande barbecuebucker that is probably medium output. dunlop 6105 medium jumbo frets. fender 2-point modern bridge and fender rollernut .plays great and stays in tune with moderate wang-bar abuse,this guitar probably has an alder body and is not to trebly.if i was opening for the stones i'd grab this one.also love my esp strat with kinman pickups.

owned it since 94 and have retubed 3 or 4 times.i have never had a problem,i take care of it and it has never let me down.it isn't all that often that i get to turn up the masters past 7 with a full band around me.unlike some other amps it isnt that loud at half volume ( preamp on 5 , master on 5) it sounds good there. this amp really shines when you bring the master up past seven. not only is it plenty loud ,the tone is very good and gets better . all volumes go to eleven,on the high gain channel i usually keep the preamp at half and the master at 7 to 8. i personally don't use the volume or tone knob on my guitars very much when i'm playing with full istrumentation around me. i rely more on the two channels and 3 or 4 effects for my tonal shadings and lead solo boosts,depending on what a particular tune may call for. i presently use a boss rev/delay pedal in the loop and boss ce-2 chorus +boss od-1 and or maxon 808 up front i find that mild to medium overdrive works well on either channel , but i use these more for volume and grit variation within the context of the material being played. if i was playing on a large stage and had a sound man that knew my every move . i would probably dispense with the overdrive pedals. i wouldn't recommend putting any distortion devices in the effects loop. as far as reliable, this is probably the most reliable,finest piece of gear i have ever owned.

have talked to the company a couple of times over the years and found them to be polite and helpful . i once bought a soldano slant cab w/ soldano speakers because they advised that their speakers were less bright than celestion vintage 30's offered in some of their cabs. i ultimately was dissatisfied with this cab and sold it to a friend who later told me that the speakers were improperly wired to less than the purported 16 ohms . he fixed this and likes the cabinet,and i really don't know if this is true or if this is why i didn't like this particular cab...but... i don't hold it against them. i use this head most often with a smaller marshall 2-12 cabinet with celestion vintage 30's.i also replaced the wiring of this cab with heavier gauge wire and a single mono metal plate for the speaker cable input. i believe this makes a difference in transfering low end thru the speakers.some have commented that these amps are high-endy and i do perceive it to have alot of brightness.however,i find that thru the use of good accessories such as good cables and the right guitar and pickups,this amp works really well for me.ocassionaly, i get to break out my 68 marshall slant cab with original greenbacks and it sounds even bigger and better. if i was trying to play heavier music i might check out their mod that adds low end. for the frequencies that i'm trying to occupy i am getting the sound that works for me.i'm probably fortunate to know good repair people that have retubed and biased my head every couple of years and have never had to resort to trying to fix any kind of problem with this head.

i've been a student of the electric guitar since 74.have played in a dozen gigging bands and recorded a cd of original rock about a year ago.it was a band effort where the older wiser bass player wrote and arranged most of the tunes. i used a rivera r55 combo, a peavey classic 30, and the soldano to record with,and almost always use the soldano live with the original music band ("the fanatics") at home i play thru either a late 50's silvertone or a early sixties montgomery wards amp,both are 3 to 4 watts and sound great with a few pedals plugged into the front of them.i'm mainly a strat guy these days but have recently purchased an older ibanez 335 style instrument. i also have a wonderful dell arte acoustic which is a macaferri style instrument. i have been jones'n for the right tele for a while and will probably get one soon. i would definetly buy another one. other amps i like are peavey classics,and i like the clean channel of a mesa tremoverb alot, mainly with the boost engaged,but don't like the high gain channel on this one as much. i have tried and liked a dr. z amp and at a recent guitar show was impressed with a carr amplifier that i tried.these last 2 are fairly expensive combos that are not as versatile as the hr50+ but had a very good sound for what they did. i personally require channel switching for live playing.and if an amp does't have a good reverb built in' i prefer it to have a good effects loop mainly for adding ambience,wether it be straight delay or a digital reverb.tape echoes sound great but are generally fussier than i want to put up with. one thing i dislike is not being in situations very often where i can crank my masters up to 8 or louder , again the territory where this amp goes from good tone to great tone. i'd consider owning an astroverb. i was impressed with the newer marshall jcm 2000,soundwise, but it is probably not as well built as a soldano. i have probably not sounded real excited about this amp during this review; the first time i plugged into this make and model i knew i was hearing something special. at that point i had already owned fenders ,a marshall artist head, peaveys, musicman,the rivera combo, and a number of mainly marshall 2-12 and 4-12 cabinets.have also owned a dean markley cd-60 tube amp which sounded good and had some very interesting features. i have tried to improve my technique,my gear , and my musical muse over the years. my soldano hr50+ is a big reason why i'm sounding better than ever. my buddy has an SLO that is twice as expensive and sounds righteous.... but i personally don't think it sounds any better than the hr50+

The amp's features are not many but they are enough. I just bought this thing a week ago and I love it. I'm not sure when it was made though...it does have the black Tolex cover not the purple. It has 2 channels, an effects loop and some other stuff. I wish it had separate equalizers for both channels though it still works out just fine. The 50 watts are definately enough!! It scares women and children! I give it a 9 simply due to the lack of separate EQ's.

I use a Paul Reed Smith and the amp is BURLY! I love the crushing distortion unlike the metally high pitched sounding Mesa Boogie! It sounds awesome.

Just got it and haven't had any problems yet!! I've heard that Soldano is great!

Never dealt with them.

I've been playing for a couple of years and have had weak amps! I had a Marshall Valvestate and a Fender Priceton Chorus and both of them are dwarfed by the awesomeness of this amp!!! If it were stolen I would get another one! I give it a 9 because of the one shared EQ.

Soldano HR 50+ non XL. 2 channel 50 watt head. Amp was made in approx 1992 (soldano looked this up for me from the serial #). It has a slave out (which is real nice for that 80's wet/dry sound & a crappy FX loop that makes drops my master output approx 50% (w/ use of my Alesis midiverb).

I primarily play LesPauls customs & Charvel model 5s. I am into the 80's metal (ratt, dokken, lynchmob, etc.) The dirty (lead) channel is tremendous. It does something very magical when gain is set at about 8 or so, and master is set at about 7 or 8. I went the route of the preamps (sp77s) and also went the route of the 100+XL, but none of them did it for me. The 50+ allows you to crank the amp (100 is deafening) and enjoy the tube saturation. Clean is nice (simple & round), the dirty again - is just tremendous. No wonder the pros use Soldano. My suggestions...save up the money & buy one. You will never want to own another lead / distortion channel again. Also - something about owning the head...you have the sound (pre amp & power amp) the way 'Soldano' wants you to hear the sound. Much better than mixing & matching. Let me tell you...Power Amp section has A LOT to do w/ tone!!! Bottom line is this...if you want an amp w/ 100 features, this is not the amp for you. If you want the amp for tone...you cant beat it.

well - i bought this used. It is a 92. Very well cared for - and it seems to be built like a tank. Very simple, very sturdy. No problems yet!

Bill is tremendous. So is Sean. Call for yourself & see.

Playing for 15+ years. I own a ton of boogie gear, marshall cabs, v30s, alesis fx, etc. If ever lost or stolen - I would have to replace it! I love that it is simple, and doesnt need ANYTHING to sound good. I hate that they are so damn difficult to try out in the local music store scene! Not too many retailers want to carry them b/c of the price. I wish the FX loop was more versatile & wish it didnt affect the output volume.

My Soldano HR 50+ is a new 2000 model. Its the basic black tolex cover, with 2 channels. Comes with a Soldano channel switching box. I feel that the Soldano is VERY versital for the types of music I play. I play mostly older Van Halen stuff (Thats where the Soldano really pays for itself), and some other 80's like Dokken, Cheap Trick, etc... The effects loops are cool. I can plug my SKB pedal board, with my stomp boxes( MXR flanger, Phase 90, Chorus, DS-1 distortion, Sus compressor, EQ,) into the loop, and get that Van Halenish brown sound, which I love. I pretty much use all the featureson the amp, because in the first place, its pretty much a bare bones, easy to use, straight forward, no BS, Rocking amp. With its 50 watts, it has more then enough power. I have actually had people come up to me after a gig, and want(BEG) me to sell it to them. No way, this baby is mine!! I have searched for 15 years for this tone, and I have finally found it. A/B ed with my Marshall JTM 45, thats all I need. I feel that I have the best of both worlds.

I am basically using 4 guitars. A custom made modified strat from WD parts, with a JB SH-4 in the bridge, and a reverse round hotrail in ther neck. A custom made GMW modified strat made from Charvel/Jackson parts, with one hum in the bridge and one volume knob, A Les Paul, and last but not least, an old 85 Kramer Baretta(hockey stick headstock with one hum, and one vol knob). With all these guitars, I can really get a great sound from the Soldano. The Soldano makes every one sound great. I can really get that Van Halen tone, or at least close to it. The clean channel is really nice, as well as the distortion. It tends to get a little muddy if you put to much bass in, but all I have to do is back it off a bit, and it really bites with pure tone.

I would for sure depend on this amp. I had to change the tubes out once, but I have been really pushing it. The Sovtek tubes are no good, so I replaced them with Groove Tubes. Made all the difference.... I would have to replace it if something happened to it!!!!

Soldano has been very helpful....

I have been playing for 15 years, and if anything ever happened to my Soldano, I would defenitly have to replace it. This amp is just to good....

This is an addendum to my previous review. I'd like to give the HR 50
a 10 in the features/versatility department, because last night at rehearsal I pulled a Twin/Super or some kinda 6L6-powered Fender tone out of it, no lie. Big, bright and shimmering. My drummer and I started goofing around and making up fake surf tunes. Maybe this is a really obvious trick that everyone else knows about but me, so pardon my naivete, but try this.
It helps if you have a treble bleed or "tone saver" cap on the vol. knob of your guitar, as well as hi-fi Wolfetone pickups, but you can probably just crank the treble and presence on the amp to compensate for any muffling that occurs as you roll off.
Keep the preamp vol. at 2, or thereabouts. I had the master at 9. Bass at 9, mid at 5, treble at 3, presence at 7. But your eq settings might vary. Back off the guitar volume til the tone cleans up. Mess with the tone knob to taste. Add some reverb. Presto! Instant Fenderesque, and
there's still some drive on tap when you bring the guitar volume back up. Oh yeah, my 4x12 with the Celestion 65s probably helped clean things up, but I'd imagine some squishy vintage speakers would round things out nicely.
Maybe you can't channel switch to this sound right in the middle of a set, but it's useful for recording. So you could play surf, classic rock, punk, metal and freaky-deaky art rock on this thing. I'd venture to say you could fake a country sound as well, using the above setting, mabye not well enough for the scrutiny of the studio, but certainly in a dive in front of a bunch of drunks.

Oh yeah, thought I'd mention that there's a lot of variation between preamp volume settings. From 1 to 5, things stay pretty open. 1 to 2 actually seem less trebly to me, then 3 gets trebly and crunchy. After 5, the sound gets more compressed and ballsier. I don't know if the amp kicks any true low frequencies in, but it kinda seems like it. Maybe it's another psycho-acoustic effect.

As most people know, this amp is not about features. It does have two very usable channels and the effects loop works very well. The best feature is that each channel has it's own preamp and master volume. The shared EQ is a bit restricting. I don't use reverb so that's no problem. I've upgraded the power tubes to NOS GE 6L6's.

I had the bass mod done a few years ago as the amp was a bit thin sounding before. I use the head with a Marshall 2X12 bottom and a Les Paul standard. My style is blues/rock. The only effect I use with the amp is an Japanese Boss SD-1 with the drive set very low. The amp has wonderful tone. I go light on the preamp gain on both channels and use the Boss for extra boost. The amp rocks. It has a rich warm sound that sounds better the louder it gets. The amp is very sensitive to guitar volume changes so it's easy to find the tone you want. In a band situation the amp is easily heard in the mix. Although my style doesn't use the overdrive channel very often, when I want to really push, that channel is great. And the amp produces the most harmonically rich feedback.

I've had the amp for about 4 years - never a problem.

I've never had an issue with my HR50+ but I did have a question regarding my Atomic 16 and the Soldano folks were very good at getting back to me.

I've overall rated it a 9 because no amp can do everything. But this is a great amp. I like it so much I bought an Atomic 16 for small jams. My other amp is a Fender Super Reverb. I've owned a few Boogies, Fenders and a Vox AC30TB. The Soldano is my favorite. It's simple and always sounds great.