Soldano Hot Rod 50

very straight foward amp. great for rock and roll and hevier stuff..it has one channel which i prefer the simpler the better. i have only plugged into the high gain input because that's all my style dictates..not many features but if you don't care about that this thing is perfect..very simple good design. tone controls are very responsive. easy to dial in your sound in about 3 minutes

using a gibson exployer with a seymour duncan jeff beck in the bridge position and the stock gibson in the neck. I play gary moore style blues. and heavy rock with an original band..i saw a video of gary moore the other day and he was using this exact amplifier..not an slo-100. gets a killer ripping blues sound and saturates very good for heavier stuff with a distortion pedal..like van halen brownsound.it's not any noisier than any marshal i have had and i have had about ten of them including super lead small scripts...the disortion is comparable and better in my opinion to any marshall unless you happen to grab one of those majic marshalls..soldano is very consistent so all the amps are very close in sound

only had it a week but i know from all the reviews that it is very reliable...they use good tubes and it seems to run very cool which means the bias is set correctly..i took it apart to look inside it and everything is tight and neat and routed with cable ties..very nice design

i e-mailed them a couple of times about a speaker cab i was hooking it to...they answered everything i needed in about an hour..very fast e-mail response..they really cleared everything up for me.

ive been playing for 13 years and have always been a mashall freak, especially the old ones..i had a 5150 half stack for a year and this soldano head sounds better than anything i have owned so far..and i am still dialing in the sounds. i would definently buy this amp again..i may even get a few more of them before they raise prices too much. i love the simplicity and the design..it's designed just like a high quality tool..no hype just straight foward kick ass tone.

I suppose my vote for this category doesnt count, because i went ahead and had mine modified to include a second channel. The distortion is very rich and think, and allows for just about any style of music.

I use this amp with all kinds of gear, gibsons, fenders, ibanez, PRS, etc. it sounds amazing with every guitar. it allows the true character of every guitar to shine through. i love it! the distortion is absolutly beyond amazing!

In three years, the amp went down once, but it was just a tube. I owned a marshall JCM900 head prior to this head, and well, lets just say i know my repairman exrtremely well after owning that marshall...this head is amazing, and never blinked once before that tube blew (which can happen, and i understand that)

i ony had to deal with them once, and they were trying to help me every way they can, these guys clearly care about nothing more then customer satisfaction!

Well, even after all this, my soldano is for sale. I tried out their new decatone head the other day, and i must have it!!! soldano is definately the only brand of amp i will ever consider buying in the future. If my soldano were lost or stolen, i dont know what i would do!

Not too many features, but suits well what Iuse it for. This litle monster will work in my set up pared with Marshall 100W Silver Jubille (both power amps will be always on and I will switch beween preamps). It has one channel (very hot overdrive), but one of the two available inputs (lo) allows to emulate clean/drive channel for one amp only set up (an A/B switch will give you two switchable channels, A-to Lo input, B to Hi - you got it). I prefer "no features" amps, because I believe they sound more consistent - to me 1 channel is a nice feature so I do not rate this category. The amp also has speaker resistance switch (4, 8, 16) that allows to get THAT sound with different speakers (very nice), and fx loop i have not tried yet. Very clean "attention to detail" work. Very solid though!

Very Good! It will actually do very convenient all the amps you can think of, but I use it for THE SOLDANO Lead sounds. It can do beautiful clean and slightly overdriven sounds - you can cut the whole

This is a one-channel 50W head loaded with 5881 tubes. Nothing fancy, but it has awesome tone! Guy M. in the internet told me that this amp was based on a Marshall 2204 50W MV head, and based on this info, I tried it out, and bought it on the spot! It has hi/low inputs (just like a 2204) and the usual volume/eq network. I use this amp at home, so low-volume performance is very important to me. This amp sounds excellent at low volume! It looks like a smaller SLO-100 with the metal grill front & back and the white chassis. It is basically a one sound amp, but what a sound!

I use it with a Strat with Duncan Hot-rails, a stock LP Standard and a PRS CE-22.
The overdrive is very smooth, once you back down the treble. I turn up the presence up instead. This is one of those amps that gives you the mid-full-on Gary Moore type of lead sound when your guitar's volume is dimed, but cleans out to give you an AWESOME Angus Young plexi sound once you back down your guitar's volume. (This seems to work better with my PRS, probably because of their tone compensation cap on the volume knob. PRS guitars RULE.)
The lead sound is as creamy and compressive as in any Boogie, very fat & forgiving. You don't have to fight it when playing single notes. It compares well with the Marshall 6100's lead channel as well as the new JCM 2000 lead channel, which, by the way, RIPS!.
Once you back down the pre-amp volume, you get a nice, warm overdrive that makes you want to play rhythm guitar all day long to your favorite guitar tunes.
I agree with the previous reviews when the guys say this is not the ultimate metal sound (right now, that would probably be a Bogner Ecstasy, and my wife won't let me spend $3K for one), but it is a great sound for classic rock and 80's hard rock. And it can get as nasty a rhythm sound as you want it to be if you dime the treble, scoop the mid and stick a clean TS-9 in front of it (that is not me,though).
Definitely a sound for people who appreciate quality tube amp sounds.

bought it used, don't know.

Never tried it. But, judging from previous reviews, they must be great.

A great, quality sound for a great price. Even $900 for a new one is a good deal when you consider how good the sound is. I have been playing for 12 years now, and consider myself to be a amp junkie!. I'm the kind of guy that will buy a nice amp before a nice guitar. And I have a very discerning taste when it comes to the tone of my amps. At first I thought, being a Marshall man, that the 5881's in this amp might not do it for me, but, for some reason the work great on this amp. (I recently had my JCM-900 SL-X retubed to Svetlana EL-34's from the original 5881's. 5881's SUCKED on this amp). But this amp cooks! Try one and you'll agree.

It's a very simple amp. It has two inputs (not switchable), low gain and high gain. Six controls for gain, bass, mid, treble, master and presence. In the back there are two outputs for cabinets and a switch to change between 4, 8 and 16 ohms, effects send and return and a line output with a level control (that I have not tested yet). The tubes are: four 12AX7 in the preamp section and two 5881 in the power stage section. There are four colours options, black, snake skin, purple and red. Mine is red. It doesn't weight a ton, which is good news for the health of our backs...

The low gain channel produces clean sounds at low volumes, but there's no very much headroom. If you want high volumes the distorsion appears, which is good if you're looking for that raspy sound. But don't look here if you want high volume, fenderish clean sounds. In the high gain input you can find a very good crunch sound, very similar to the old Marshall Super Lead. I'm trying to find similar sounds to that of the new Eric Clapton era, and with a Strat equipped with Lace Sensors and a mid-boost active preamp, I have really found them. True, this is not a real SLO 100 but the high gain sounds are very similar, at least to my ears. It's easy to produce feed-back. The sustain is not as good as in Mesa-Boogie, so to obtain sounds from Santana or Gary Moore I cannot go without my V-twin. But the tone is beautiful. If you push the gain to the limit, you can even entry the trash territory, but with a very classic overdrive sound. Obviously is not a 5150. I've tried also with my Epiphone Les Paul standard with 57 Classic PAFs and is also very good. You can emulate from AC/DC to ZZ TOP to FREE without problem. In high gain is a little noisy but the sound of the guitar overlaps that little noise without problems. It's good to have a noise gate so you don't have to turn off the volume in the guitar, or mute the strings, every time you don't play. I use this amp with a standard Marshall 1960 cabinet (4x12" Celestion loaded). I'd like to test with vintage 30 or greenbacks, but in this moment I'm very happy with the sounds I obtain. All in all i'ts not very versatile but what it does, it does very good.

I don't know. I only have it since fifteen days, so I can't give any opinion. The construction seems good, so I supose it will last for many many years.

I have no opinion yet. I hope that, if I have any problem, the Spanish importer knows what to do.

Oh yes, I'd buy it again. If I'd have enough money to spend, I'll buy the SLO 100. But this one is very, very good, and for me 50 watts are enough. I'd like to have switchable channels (the Hot Rod 50 Plus have it, but the price is a lot more). The weight is OK, the construction very good, and the sound fantastic. It also looks so cool and professional... I think I have made a good buy. Only the price is Spain is very high in comparision with what you pay in the USA, but it's not the only one that costs a lot, so... I feel that there isn't a product like this, so I cannot compare with anything else. Perhaps some old Marshall. But with new products, I have'nt really heard noyhing like this one.

This amp is new to me. So far, it has been out with me on two gigs, and it just keeps sounding better. I use mesa boogie 2-12 rectifier cabinets with it cause I can carry them by myself.
In one of the cabinets, I stuffed reissue greenback Celestions. I can't decide yet whether I like the Celestion V-30s (stock) in the recto cab, or the greenbacks better.
This amp is probably the best amp I have. It has a tone that none of my Marshalls, Boogies or the 5150 can get. It is also simple in design, and you can call Soldano and talk to someone about modifications to the amp. I am really surprised that more people are not using this amp. I swapped a Fender Prosonic for it, even trade.
The Prosonic is a high gain joke.
I always knew that EVH, Clapton, The Scorpions...all the big dudes where using Soldanos...I just never believed that their less costly model would sound so good. This amp is basically a hot-rodded Marshall 2204, with Sovtek 5881 tubes. Mike Soldano started off by hot rodding this type of Marshall amp, and now you can get one without being Eric Clapton.
I first became interested in Soldano amps after hearing Paul Read Smith's guitar tone, as I live in Maryland and have heard him play. I found out that Mike Soldano had modified many of Pauls amps,in fact one of the original Paul Reed Smith Soldano modded Marshalls was for sale at an Annapolis Maryland guitar shop that I frequented.
If you are new to high gain amps...take it from me, as I have lost serious cash finding my tone. I've been through many amps, and have played them at gigs...where it counts.
For $800.... you can almost get a Marshall, 5150 and some Boogie stuff. In my opinion, the HR50 is what you should get.
Why?
Marshall and Mesa Boogie make lots of amps, but..the more expensive ones not only have more features...they sound better.
The HR50 sounds as good as any of the higher priced Marshalls and Boogies. In fact, my Tremoverb, 5150 and Marshall 30TH anniversary amp sat home for two weeks in a row while I used the HR50.
In fact..they will sit home again and again because the HR50 gives me the lead tone I've always wanted. You cannot appreciate it until you take it to a club and play it. most rip-off amps are designed to sound good at low volumes where in a store you are only allowed to play them at. You get them to a gig, and you feel like choking them. (i.e fender Prosonic, Peavey Classic 50 2-12, etc.)

Features:
This is not a features amp. But you can still get a good clean sound to distorted sound by rolling off the guitars volume. The amp has an effects loop set at 4DB which is where most processors operate. I called Soldano for a mod that changed the level to -10db which is where floor effects work best at. I still like good old Boss effects, and I use the Boss Graphic EQ set for a volume boost. In the effects loop which is post distortion, you can boost your volume with this pedal. This sets my lead volume, and helps make the clean sound louder as I turn down the guitar volume for my clean sound. This head is very light, so if you play gigs every weekend like me, you will appreciate that. I run the amp into a Mesa Boogie 2-12 rectifier cabinet loaded with greenback Celestion speakers.

Sounds:
This is where the rubber meets the road. This amp has a great distortion sound. With Treble-5, mid-0, bass-12, presence-5 and gain on 12, you can easily cop the AC/DC tone with any humbucker equiped guitar. This amp also has enough gain to suit my style. I play very fast, and so I need high gain to smooth the transistion from note to note. This amp is not a 5150 in the gain department, but it has just enough gain for any style.
High gain amps are my thing. The bad ones usually have a flabby bass response. If you try cachunking on power chords, you can hear the bass just doing its own thing with no control. This is the difference between a good high gain amp, and a bad one. The low 'E' string usually can tell you if your amp will have flabby bass at high gain.
Initially, the HR50 sounds as if it might almost have a tad of flabby bass, but this is not the case. In fact, at the clubs, where you can turn an amp up to really hear it, the bass on the HR50 is very tight and punchy. It doesn't have as much bass as the 5150 with the resonance knob on 10, but it has about as much as any Marshall I've gigged with.
High gain amps come in different voices. A good sounding Marshall does not sound like a good sounding Mesa Boogie, but both sound good. It is the voicing that seperates a Soldano from any other amp. Nothing really sounds like a Soldano HR50, but it is very close to the AC/DC tone and has the raspy sound of a Marshall combined with say the fatness of a Mesa Boogie MKIII. You have to specify which Mesa Boogie, because they all sound different depending on wwhich model. (i.e. a MKI, MKII,MKIII and MKIV all sound different).
I like humbucker guitars because they sustain better into an amp than a single coil, but I still like the sound of a single coil pickup for clean to light distortion sounds. For this reason, I use a PRS Bolt-on with the HR50. For me, the PRS is the most versatile guitar with almost no trade-off. I gets a good Les Paulish sound, and a Good 4rth position strat sound. It also has a wang bar and one volume knob with a log taper, so that you need only turn the knob slightly for results. Gibson guitars use linear taper potentiometers and so you have to really turn the knob on a Les Paul before the volume changes.

Built like a tank.

Even better than Mesa Boogie. No answer machines...you call and can talk to someone who knows the amp. They told me how to lower the effects level just by inserting a resistor and capacitor.

I have compared the HR50 to many amps, and to be honest am tired of doing the footswitch dance with my 30TH anniversary Marshall.
The amp is simple, guitar volume on 10....distortion, guitar volume on 8, crunch sound.....guitar volume on 3..clean.

This is an update to my last review. Just this weekend, I used the HR50 at a gig and had compliments all night. This is a basic high gain amp, but by turning down the guitars volume, you can clean the amp up.
PRS guitars in particular work well since they have a capacitor in series with the volume knob. As you turn the volume down, the high frequencies can still pass alla the capacitor. This gives the guitar a cleaner sound when the volume knob is turned back, and allows a clean sound through an HR50, even at the highest gain setting. For a volume boost, you can set a higher level patch through the effects loop.
All in all, the amp worked as good as any amp I have used. The distortion sustain was enough for any lead style, and the tone was very good.
This amp will get plenty loud for any club...in fact I had to turn down. Not too many places left for 100 watt Marshall volumes.

This is a hot rodded non switching high gain amp. You get a clean sound by backing off on your volume knob of the guitar. The effects loop is at +4db which is hot for some floor effects, but you can call Soldano for a mod to make the effects send level adjustable, or lower.

Thus far I have only tested it at low (home use) levels. I have compared it to many amps in my tone room. My initial impression is that it is the closest AC/DC sound that I have ever gotten when played into a 4-12 Marshall cab. In fact, even my 2210 and Silver Anniversary Marshalls just don't have that dirty sound. This thing sounds as close to the old Plexi Marshalls that AC/DC used as it gets. I wonder how 5881 tubes can do that, but they do in this amp.
I tried several guitars into this, but I dialed my PRS pickup height in to get the best tone from this amp, so for now the PRS sounds better through it than any other guitar. The amp has plenty of distortion but will not sustain like a Mesa Boogie MKIII, 50 caliber or Tremoverb.
I think there is a fine line between good tone and sustain. Sometimes to much gain changes the tone to where the guitars natural sound is masked. This amp is right on the edge which gives the best of both worlds. For example, I think the Silver Anniversary Marshall (Slash's amp) has a great tone, but at low levels (without power tube distortion) is too clean for ripping leads. You need to work the power tubes to get the right edge needed for shredding solos. Very high gain amps make shredding easier alla Peavey 5150, which has more gain than anyone could ever use. But these amps also color the sound to where every guitar sounds the same through them at those insane gain settings.
So, this one seems to be just right. it preserves the guitars natural sound while having enough dirt/sustain for ripping.
I have not taken it to gig yet, so I'll have to see how it does there.

Don't know, but the design is very simple, and so I doubt I'll have any trouble at all. The chassis does not even get hot, so the components are heat and vibration (not a combo) free.

The best............better than Mesa Boogie, These guys can even tell you circuit modification to change the sound of the amp. But, I like it as is. In fact, i plan to get an SLO 100 as soon as 3K shows up in my hands. The SLO is what Clapton, Eddie Van Halen, and The Scorpions use. Check any stage, its either a Marshall or Soldano up there, and sometimes a Mesa Boogie.

I love this thing. I've heard of guys picking them up for $500 used. I also have seen junk amps sell for more. This amp has a World Class Distortion sound. No new Fender amp...nothing.... absolutely nothing can match the distortion sound of an HR50.
Only an old Plexi which sells for up to $1500 used can sound like this amp. That is, a good sounding Plexi, which might even fetch $2000. if you want an old plexi AC/DC tone, get an HR50.

This is a very simple, straight forward head. Six tone controls: Preamp Volume, Bass, Middle, Treble, Master Volume, and Presence. Effects Loop, Slave Out. Power section has 2 5881's, preamp has 4 12AX7's. Two channels selectable through "low" or "high" input jacks. Clean channel is pretty clean, gets slightly crunchy with max preamp gain. Overdrive channel offers lots of gain. Tone controls are very responsive. It works best for "plug-it-in-and-go", hard rockin'kinda stuff.

I use the amp for heavy sounds and think it does the job pretty well. I'd prefer the 100 model personally for the headroom. The other guitar player I jam with has a Mesa Triple Rectifier (150 watts) which will eat just about any amp alive, so I may be a bit biased against my head's (lack of) power. Coupled with a Soldano 4X12 I get nice distortion tones, although not as much bottom end as some Marshall 50's I've played. "Classy" sounding distortion probably describes it best.

Very solid construction. I've had it over a year, gigged with it, banged it up, and have had no problems. Classy looking with its simple cosmetics.

Year warranty, three months on tubes, transformer.

Definitely worth the $500 I paid for it new--at the $865 most places charge I might consider a 100 watt Marshall for the stuff I play. I've owned a few heads--Peavey Classic 50, 5150, Marshall 4500, and like this one best for its simplicity and classy tone and looks. The 5150 would probably hang with my Triple Rectifier pal a little better, though.