Soldano Hot Rod 50

I bought it from a friend in 1999 who had it in a rack unit. It was originally in a combo cab that he bought in 1990 (brand new) but as he got more famous installed it in a rack and sold the original cab. It was in the period when Mesa Triple Rec's were all the rage and that is what he replaced it with.
Back when I bought it I used her primarily as my "crunch and nasty amp". (my clean sounds came from either a '66 Bassman AA165 circuitry or a '67 Showman) Yeah: I'm old!!! Now on to what features it has: If you are reading this you already know what she has: 6 knobs : Gain, Treble , Middle ,Bass Presence,Volume, not necessarely in that order. ( I use the gain Knob as more of a volume control than vice a versa.)
I now mainly play in a contempory Christian band.
Oh yeah, she has plenty of power since I'm a firm believer of miking my cabs and letting the sound guy do the job.

I'm a Gibson Guy first but I also really like Fender Tele's since they only have two pickups and I can modify them much like the '72 Deluxe and Custom Tele's. For me, two pickups are plenty and if you train your pinky finger to roll off the volume and tone controls you have the best of both worlds.
Now for pickups, my faves as of right now are: Gibson--490R and 498T's. (these are only on my Gibson's). As for the Tele's and my much modded Strat which only has two pickups Tele style--(see what Prince is playing these days) are either Kinmans or Lollars.
Now on to what she sounds like : It is all up to you! For me I control my guitar's amplitude and distortion by my volume and tone controls. This amp depending on if you plug in to the high gain or low gain settings always has an amazing articulate tone. (I do however rely on my Fender amps for my cleans). This like all tube amps cleans up by means of you volume and tone cone controls on your guitar.
The bottom line: is you can play still play 9th 13th or whatever obtuse chords and still get the definition betweeen each string. They don't muddy up like so many amps will. Awesome!

Before I bought it my friend NEVER had a problem with it outside of a tube change. I have only owned it for (OMG 10 years)and have played thru it more times than I can count until a couple of years ago when due to sloppy handling by people and friends that caused the pre-amp tube sockets to loosen where I had to wiggle the tubes to get contact to fire up. Now I had a small tour coming up at the time and needed another 50 watt head to take her place and opted on a Marshall 2266 Vintage Modern (another amazing amp) to take the place of the Soldano so it went into mothballs for a couple of years. (see below)

On 9-25-2009 I emailed "tech@soldano.com" and described what was going on with the amp and within a few minutes received a reply from Bill Sundt regarding my problem and what it may cost to get the amp back in shape which was more than fair IMHO.
On 9/29/09 I shipped the amp via Fed -Ex from Texas to Seattle and emailed Mr.Sundt on 10/2/09 asking if the amp had arrived.
On 10/03/09 I received a reply via email that the amp was repaired to spec (new preamp sockets and re-tensioned power amp sockets) and what kinds of tubes had been put in and how to bias them in the future. Bill even went in depth as to where to bias my new power tube of choice which is a KT 66 (big brother to a 6L6 GC). but to give the tubes they put in a fighting chance.
All I can say is: In my 42 years of playing, I have NEVER dealt with a company as friendly as they are and have had the turn-around for repairs like they have been (I must add Andy Marshall to this list since I own a THD Bivalve and when I called them for info, Andy was the on who answered the phone AND recommended some different tubes to try in the Bi-Valve

Again, over 40 years but I am still learning!!!!!
Lost-----No!!!! Stolen?----As a Christian I would only hope it was stolen to buy food for your family and not drugs,--- I have had many great pieces of equipment stolen over the years and To whoever you are who stolet hem please realize--- You are forgiven if you accept our Lord into your life, other wise I will adhere to the writings of Romans 12:20.

I don't know what year it was made, I bought in 2006 used. The Hot Rod 50 sounds incredible!! 50 watts is just enough power for most venues. It is a single channel amp with no reverb. If you work with both inputs high/low you can dial in a ton of sounds. You can't get a fender clean sound but a fender can get the overdrive sound the hot rod does! You can dial in a good clean sound not great but I didn't buy if for a clean sound. Over all this amp is great, I had people at every gig complement me on my sound, great feeling! It can be a versatile amp with some effects and spending time dialing in the gain. It is not a versatile as a Mesa Road King, but a great amp!

Sound quality is GREAT! I sold this amp a few months ago and hated to see it go, but I play in a top 40 band and I have to get to many different sounds. That is the only draw back to this amp. If you need a great sounding rock amp go with a Soldano! I use 3 guitars to gig with, PRS, Les Paul and a strat. The Hot Rod sounded great with all of them! You won't be disappointed! No noise at all. It has a clean channel sorta.. you have to dial it in with the high/low inputs and change the pre amp section, but it sounds great! The distortion is simply one of the best, just ask all the "Guitar Hero's"{not the game} that have used them in the studio. Yes I sold it but I will buy another one in the future.

Work horse! Never had a problem. I bought this of eBay and recieved it Friday afternoon and used it Fri/Sat night. I hauled this thing to over 50 gigs for a year and half and never worried about it. It never let me down!! Never had a back up, you don't have to worried about it with a Soldano! Replaced the tubes once.

Never had a problem!

20+ years of playing, professional playing for the last 10. I have a ton of gear, to much to list. Like I said I sold it but hated to see it go and I will by another one in the future. I love the distortion on it! I don't like the fact that is has no reverb, a little dry on the leads and needs a better clean sound. I bought the Hot Rod 50 because I played it at a recording studio and fell in love with it. I have owned Marshall, Mesa, and many others and the Soldano for a rock sound is one of the best! If you need a extremely versatile amp check out the Mesa Road King, that is what I bought when I sold the Soldano, but I still miss my Hot Rod 50!

The perfect amp simple perfection!even better than marshall got 3 band e.q. , master, preamp,hig/low input.And effects loop and speaker out and a nifty ohm selector.

I love it it beats marshalls and fenders!! Did i mention i'm a fender freak to!After i bought this i'm selling my line6.

built like a tank.

i emailed soldano and got a email back from Michael Soldano himself!!

I would kill the bastard who stole this amp; its my life!!

Versatile enough for everything I do. Rock, old school punk, blues, and some experimental stuff.

Rocks my socks off!

Never had a problem.

Emailed me back within a week.

I'd cry if I lost it, then buy another.

My Hot Rod 50 is a very old model (serial # 0028) and I believe it was originally purchased in 1992. Soldano's are all tube, hand wired, point to point amps.

For me, this amp is everything I need. It only has one channel (high and low input) but the amp is so responsive that all I really need is a tube screamer and the volume controls on my pickups. Your choice of pre and power tubes can make this amp sound almost however you want it to. It has an effects loop (apparently tube driven), though I haven't used it yet.

I play many small to medium sized clubs, and this thing has plenty of power for those situations.

I'm in an original band playing progressive rock with some added crunch. We've been compared to Queen, Yes, and Coheed. We do a lot of dual lead guitar work (think Scorpions or Boston).

I'm using a neck thru Carvin SC-90 with a Gibson 57+ in the bridge and a Duncan Antiquity in the neck. From there I run -->Ernie Ball Volume Pedal -->Analog Man modded Boss SD-1 --> Ibanez AD-9 Analog Delay -->Soldano Hot Rod 50 -->Marshall 1960A 4x12 cab

The distortion on this head is possibly the crunchiest and clearest I've ever heard in person. With the preamp gain at 2 and the master at 7 or higher, I get a very vintage crunch very similar to AC/DC (not a fan of the music...but their tone is amazing). Throw an overdrive on and the amp has enough thump to hurt your chest. It has a LOT of presence and I never have a hard time hearing myself over our other guitar players Mesa Single Rec.

Switch to the neck pickup and roll the volume back a little bit and I get a rich semi-clean tone. Plugged into the high input, even with the gain at 2 and pickup volume down, it doesn't quite completely clean up. I find this sound very useful for our style because it gives my clean a little bit extra sustain and it sounds crystal clear in the mix. I haven't messed around with the low gain input much because I mostly bought this amp for the amazing distortion. I would assume the amp would clean up quite a bit in low.

Another cool thing about this amp is it's sensitivity to tube changes. I bought the amp used with original tubes (15 years old) and had to replace all of them so I did some swapping around in the preamp section. I'm using 3 JJ ECC83's and a Groove Tube 12AX7-M (Mullard Reissue) in the V2 position and that seemed to clean up my tone a little more than just 4 JJ's. I threw in a pair of Tung Sol 5881 Reissues and the tone was just awesome.

Well, it's 15 years old and I received it in almost perfect condition (besides some minor tolex rips). As far as I know, there's never been any work done on it and the stock tubes still sounded good...that's impressive.

I've been told the only way to break a Soldano is by soaking it in water or dropping it down a flight of stairs.

Soldano is a very small company, so when you call them you actually talk to one of the 3 amp builders not just some foreign moron hired for "customer support". I've contacted them a few times and always gotten very helpful information.

I've been playing guitar for somewhere around 8 years. I've played through a few Fender's and a JCM900 SLX in the past, and those aren't even in the same class as the Soldano.

The only complaint I have so far is that it doesn't mask any of my sloppy playing (crap)...though that's nothing to complain about really. Hopefully it'll just make me a better player.

I purchased this amp back in mid 1997. This amp is a single channel amp with a high and low gain inputs. It has a series effect loop. I use only the high gain input. I roll back my guitar volume for cleaner tones. I play mainly hard rock.

The sound that this amp produces is absolutely amazing. This amp was made before the xl mod. The range of the tone controls are the best that I have seen on an amp. I play it through a VHT 4-12 speaker cabinet loaded with Celestion vintage 30 speakers. I would not get the mod. This amp teamed with this cabinet has all the bass I ever need. I recently added a Keeley katana boost pedal for a lead boost which really makes it sing. My main guitar I use is a Gibson SG.

Soldano products are built like a tank. This amp fell off my cabinet once, didn't faze it. I have not had any problems with it since I bought it 10 years ago, other than relacing tubes.

I tried to contact them through e-mail one time, never heard back from them. It was just a question about when should the coupling and electolytic compacitors be replaced. I expected a reply because of experinces other people have had with them. I was greatly disapointed about it.

I have been playing for around 20 years. I have a 10 watt single ended class a amp that I built myself (4 gain stages). Keeley katana, Keeley compressor, dunlop wylde wah, mxr noise gate, chorus, reverb and delay rackmount unit and a boss TU-12 tuner. If the soldano was ever stolen or lost I would definatly replace it with another soldano amp. (there the best!)

One Channel, like the Hot Rod 50, but a Custom 100 watt 4 6L6 version.

I bought this Amp from a friend. I usually stay away from Master Volume amps. Not this one! The Overdrive on this amp is amazing but a little too much all of the time. So I set the Master at 5, 6 or 7 & use the Preamp for my volume control. It turns this amp into a Malcolm Young Dream. And then I can use my Stompbox for solo's. When you crank the Master Volume your pushing the Power section & not the Preamp section so you get Huge Punchy Tone with more controlled Gain.
I plan to record soon with it & I won't take one pedal into the session.
I wish I would have bought one of these 10 years ago.

It's solid!

Nice folks at Soldano.

I lucked out getting this amp. I took it apart to clean it up & it's the most solid piece of Tube Amp machinery I've ever seen. My LP & LP Jr. sound killer through this amp. I've gone through far too many amps in the past 5 years. I found out that many amps sound very good, but don't take you to 100% satisfaction. Usually about 80 to 90%. No amp is perfect. This Amp gets me to 95% all of the time. That's all I can ask for. I wish more Amp companies would focus a little more on 1 channel amps. This amp is amazing & even with the Gain cranked it's transparent. Although this amps not a Hot Rod 50, it should help you make your mind up if you're looking into a Soldano.

If you want the Punch of a Hiwatt or Bandmaster & the Gain of JCM800 with much better Overdrive, then this is your amp. I know it's mine.

At the price I got this amp I wish I could give it an Eleven!

If memory serves I bought this amp new in 1993 after my Marshall JCM800 was stolen from a studio I was recording at... I intended to purchase another used JCM800 until a music store salesman (who knew the style I played) suggested I try the Soldano. I played it side by side with the Marshall and was BLOWN AWAY by the difference! I almost died when I saw the price tag though! I decided to pass on the Soldano. So, the salesman said "take it for a week and if you don't like it bring it back"... I took it to a rehearsal and was told "...if I return the amp I'm out of the band"!!! Feature-wise it does exactly what I want - HEAVY!!! I use it with a Marshall 1960 4x12 cab - just plug straight into the amp without pedals - set the gain to 6.5 and enjoy the ride!

I've been using this thing in clubs since '93 and everynight either or both the soundman and guitar players from other bands will comment on how amazing this thing sounds! Guitar players in bands we have played with before quite often ask if they can use my rig when they play with us!

I've never done a thing to this beauty and it still sounds and looks WICKED! It has travelled thousands of miles without a road case in all temperatures and gone from one extreme to another and been shared by as many as five bands in a night on many nights and it still keeps on ticking! I bought a replacement set of tubes about 10 years ago but haven't had to use them yet!!!

Never had a need for customer support...

I wouldn't even consider anything else for the music I play! I'd be F*#@!$g pissed if is was ever lost or stolen!

My amp was made late '91 (SN - 0211). I play all kinds of stuff from classic rock to my all-original extreme metal band's music. Pretty much a straight forward amp: 50w, all tube, effects loop, single channel. That's about it. Cool, huh! Too much crap can get in the way of pure tone, in my opinion. 50w is plenty of power for anyone if they are using their amp properly. I kind of wish I would have held out for the SLO (Ch switching), but funds were somewhat limited at the time.

I play on a bunch of different guitars from custom ESP strats to EMG-loaded Gibson '58-style Vs. I like the fact that most of the reviewers here know a bit more than on some of the other threads. This amp is truly amazing! I got this amp mainly to be different. It seems that EVERYBODY is using the PRS/Mesa combination. Boring. Mesas are really overrated! I work in a repair shop, so not only do I get to try out many different amps, but I get to repair a bunch of CRAP, also! We've seen our fair share of Mesas,Peaveys, Marshalls etc. Soldano rules! No mud, no harsh noise, just pure badass-ness! Super quiet and responsive, even at high gain settings. This amp compresses a lot, however; so don't try backing off the volume to clean up the signal at high gain. I use this amp through a Marshall 1960A w/Vintage 30s. I enjoy the constant compliments & the always present question, "dude, what kind of amp IS that?" My HR-50 has many a Mesa convert to it's credit! Every guitar I own sounds unique through this amp, so I dont have to tweak out the controls much to go between styles. Just change guitars and attack, & a completely different sound emerges!

These things are built like bomb shelters!!! 'Nuff said!

Bought used, so no warranty. I e-mailed them for info(year & fx loop question) and got back an immediate response! Don't think I would need a warranty; these are among the best built amps out there.

I've been playin for 20 years, and have owned all kinda stuff. 4 Marshalls, 2 Laney GH series(great for the $$), 5150, Ampeg etc. Soldano kills 'em all! The only thing I would replace it with is a Soldano SLO. About my only complaint is the fx loop, which only operates w/+10 db rack-type effects units. If anyone says, "you can't get enough distortion from these things", just tell 'em to shut up! There is more than enough gain than anybody needs(mine is set at 6 of 11). Great sound & snakeskin tolex to boot! How different & badass is that?! Best straight-forward rock machine ever built...period!

I'm not sure what year mine is. The features are very limited, but to be honest, if you wanted an amp with a lot of features, you wouldn't buy the HR-50. It's a one channel amp that sounds amazing on its own. If you need more than that, don't buy it. If you only need one channel, you have found heavan with this one. It also has a "low" input, so if you really need a good clean or blues (with the pre-amp maxed) tone in the studio, you've got it. But you can't A/B between them live, so don't even think of that. If you absolutely need two channells, buy the HR-50+.

I'm using it with a Gibson SG standard, and a Gibson SG 1961 re-issue. I had heard complaints that there isn't enough gain on these amps, but these come from people who are either accidentaly plugged into the low input, or have no clue what good tone is. Believe me, the distorted sounds you get out of this amp are amazing. And I mean amazing in the "every note still clear yet still totally heavy" way. If you like the crap distortion that a Peavy XXX will give you...or if you think that the treble knob should always be on 10, with no bass, and you don't know how to play your guitar, and have no clue what live sound is all about, don't buy this amp. If you want something heavy that emphasizes your playing and makes you stand out onstage (no crappy wall-of-sound here, thank god), this is perfect for you. I'm in a heavy band, and have found an aMAZING tone with the pre-amp (gain) at about 3 or 4, with the volume higher than usual. But ALL the knobs go to 11. Literally. Yeah.

I haven't dealt witht he low input much, but when I tried it out, it sounded very, very quality.

I have to give this a 10. I owned a Mesa Dual Rectifier for a year or two, and one day with my HR-50 gave me the sound I was trying to tweak out of the Mesa for over 12 months.

I have only had this amp for a few weeks. I prefer to gig with backup tubes, for safety reasons, but I have always done that.

Never used it. Heard the support was fantastic. Even Soldano himself will get on the phone with you.

I've been playing guitar for 8-10 years, and using tube heads for the last 2 or three. I've played through a Marshall JCM 900 and a Mesa Dual, and this Soldano destroys them. It's just such a quality tone, you won't believe it. If it were stolen, or lost, I'd cry for a long time, and then go find a new one.

The only drawback is the fact that it only has one channel, which may be insufficient for some players. Luckily they made the HR-50+, and I could see myself, someday, upgrading to one of those. But for the next few years, this thing gives me everything I want.

Second Hand and in show room condition I almost wet my pants not that it has hapened in a while;-)
HI & LO gain inputs, Usual aray of dials. preamp gain bass, mid ,trebble, presencs and master volume (Think old Marshall JCM 800 Layout)but it goes up to 11 literally! ;-)
No channel switching.
No Reverb Who Cares!!!!
Will Suit lo tech players down to the ground no need for a lot if any fx to get good sounds.

Absolute space age ray gun like distortion, sounds like the pure crackle of electricity. And TONE!!!!!!!!!!!!! not too saturated but hot and percussive it will not hide sloppy playing. Without a doubt my fave amp. Played through a marshall 2x12 cab i can get some amazing sounds out of it the tonal range and diversity is realy inspiring as a player. I'm comparing this against a peavey 5150 2x12 combo that I own and it is just head and shoulders above most marshalls and boogies that i've played. You can get all of the blues and country tones you will ever need out of the clean channel but the high gain is where its at for me. Strat, LesPaul, SG, PRS etc. keeps the tone of the instrument yet somehow makes it shine, sing twang quack or scream which ever you prefer.

Built like a tank with a sense of style.
Its all valve with quality wiring.
Spare valves always make sence but have had no problems.
Just f**kin' get one if you have any sense.

Bought second hand but never needed to contact but all others seem to say about the best that you could hope for.

If it were stolen I would track the person down and do something rather unpleasant to them then sell their bodily organs on the blackmarket and buy a new one. If lost get really paranoid that somebody up there didn't like me for something that I must have did in a past life. Ha Ha
Just f**kin' get one already especially second hand as these are built to last.

Well lets see... its a pretty straight forward amp. you have your preamp setting, bass, midds, treble, vol, presence. and a low and high imput. an a/b channel switcher will not work to go between the low and high imputs.
my particular hot rod 50 was made in 92 and recently has been recoverd with orange tolex ( looks real sharp ). its a single channel but it has the 2 imputs, it has an effects loop. this amp make the loudest 50 watts i've ever heard, it smashes on mesa/boogie and marshalls. this thing out proformed a 100 watt marshall ...oh yeah, all the knobs go to 11... (thats one louder, hahahaha)

...ITS GOT NUTTZ... this amp cranks. it sounds better than any amp i've ever heard. its highs are a bit harsh at times but u can always turn the treble down, i find myself play with treble on 4. this amp is built to play metal and rock, played through the right speakers and you'll never go back. i play through this kinda strange cab but its just a kicker, if i toast it i'll just toss it. but even on this bootsy cab it rocks. very versitle. heres a rating based on the sound. bass=10 midds=10 highs=7.5
this amp could be call bright, as the highs are real damn loud.

this thing is built like a tank. i dropped it one time and it was fine, a tube fell out but it still worked (never roll a cab on carpet). i would gig this thing with out a back up. also this thing doesn't eat tubes like some amps i've had, tubes can last about a year in this thing with constant playing.

all the guys at soldano are helpful, they reply to e-mails and phone calls. if you wanna talk to them call them, they get like 1,000,000,000 e-mails every day and like 50 calls so if you want some one on one time calling is the way to go.

i play metal, rock, classic rock, blues, classical, and i'd say that this amp is best for metal-rock also moderate blues. this isn't a cheap head but its worth every penny. from the moment you set eyes on your own soldano you know its going to kick ass. on a scale form 1-10 this thing gets an 11. woot

Made in 1992. Single ch. 50w head. High input/low input. Unfortunately you can only use one at a time so you can't A/B it. I'm strictly using the high input through an A/B and another amp for clean.

I play orig. progressive rock/metal & can't use a single ch. amp.
My pedals sounded awful through the loop so i'm connecting them throught the front.

Mostly playing an Epiphone LP. High input jack, preamp on 10 or 11, bass around 6.5, mid around 10, treble 10 or 11, presence 9.5. The presence controls the treble a lot more than the ones i've had on Boogies.

Soldanos make the best crunch tones i've ever heard. Even w/preamp on 11 dissonant chords sound tight. Arpeggiated chords ring thru clearer than any Boogie i've heard.

I'm using it thru a Boogie cab w/25w greenbacks. Low wattage rated speakers always sound better for distortion tones.

Have only had it a short while but Soldanos have a great rep from what others have said. Plus mine is 12 yrs old & is flawless.

Been playing for 22+ yrs. If I ever tour I'd get a Decatone for its versatility & not having to haul around as much equip.
It looks cool & sounds great. Wish it had a better fx loop & perhaps a spring reverb.

Pretty basic single channel 50watt head with low and high inputs. I have heard that the HR50+ does have problems with volume differentials etween the two channels.

I'm using this head with a Soldano 4X12 cab with vintage 30's and I get some great rock and blues tones. The presence and treble knobs are tricky (very responsive). Using a strat can sound really thin unless you crank the mids and back the treble and presence to about 5. The sounds can be awesome with a strat or very 80's metal with a humbucker. Practice your technique, this kind of gain sounds great but doesn't hide much. Nu metal heads might as well forget it. No dark Recto tones here.

Tank like.

Customer support couldn't be better. Bill or Mike himself can help you if you have any questions or issues.

I use this head with either a Strat with Texas Specials, or an ESP prototype with Duncan Humbuckers. This is a great amp for recording or the kind of player that doesn't need many sounds. The tone is special though. It's creamy and classy. The best compliment I've gotten regarding this head sums up my review. The guy said "Man, your sound is so clear and defined!"

This is adn addition to my report directly below. I failed to mention two critical facts. One is that the tubes, both power and pre have been changed to JJ electronics which are so much more musical than the stock tubes soldano put in the head. It's hard to imajine why the head wouldn't come with the JJ's. Second is the cab i'm using is a soldano 4x12 with 2 celection vintage 30's and 2 greenbacks. The jj tubes and this cabinet are a key to the tone i'm getting, which is not to take away from the soldano head, it's still the main tone machine. rock on ...........

see other reviews

Using a prs mccarty with stock pickups, only effect is a boss sd-1 overdrive pedal with level cranked and gain low. My ideal sound is vivian campbell's as heard on the first Dio record. I've had this head for over a year and have been happy, buying it after selling a marshall slash jubilee which i also liked but it sounded like everyone else out there. Anyway, I was playing the soldano through the high sensitivity input and was happy with the tones, but only needed gain settings past six for leads (yes i still play lead!). But WOOOWW after a year i finally decided to mess with the low input and it is the tone i was looking for when used with the pedal in front. I highly recommend using the low input with pedal combo. I found that i needed to crank the mid and treble controls. My fav settings are bass 6, mid 11, treb 11, pres 6 and pre 11. Master as high as possible of course. The low inpup seems to give a more organic, complex and airy tone than the high input channel and to me just sounds more 'vintage marshall' with a twist. Why take a chance on finding and maintaining a marshall jcm or plexi (a good one - they are hit and miss in my experience)? What a great amp. Makes me want to play like no other amp has. Totally inspiring. Thanks mike.

i've been at it for 15 yrs. and my favorite tones are michael schenker, angus, dave meniketti (y&t), vivian campbell, jimmy page.

I was told when I called Soldano that the amp was made in '93 so it does not have the XL mod. This amp replaced a Marshall 6100 LM that was a pain in my ass (intermittent <sp?> problem). I play hard, fast rock and this amp works very well in my band. It's 2 channels - high gain/low gain input. No switching. I don't bother with the low channel in the band but the low input has a nice sound. I am amazed at the level of variety you can get between the pre-amp, eq, and presence knobs. Much more variation than the Marshall had. I haven't used the effects loop yet. It is plenty loud, and I've never turned it past 6 (it goes to 11) at a live show. This sucker is smaller and lighter than a Marshall. It's a 50 watt amp so there are half as many tubes to replace when they go bad. This amp is about as simple and straight forward as it gets. It's the most versatile single channel amp I know of. The eq actually works!!

I use a Gibson Les Paul Junior with a P-90. It's very quite and feeds back only when you want it to. The distortion is a clean distortion. You can still hear each string ring out when the distortion is turned up. It's got a "chimey" sound to it. If you are a sloppy player this amp will not hide your inability. Don't but this amp if you want a good clean channel. Just forget about it. If you want a reliable, light, low maintenance, distortion loving workhouse, this is it.

I do not use a back but I bring 2 extra power tubes wherever I go. No problems thus far, and no indication I will have any.

Not worried about support. This amp is built so well and has such simple schematics that a good tech could find a problem quickly.

I've been playing for 15 years. I've owned a valvestate Marshall combo, a 6100 LM Marshall, and not the Soldano. A big jump in tone quality each time. If it was lost I'd buy another one on ebay. I love that it's light and small. If I had the money I would own 10 of them. I am done with the channel switching dance.

I believe this amp is a early model serial number 00229. It is a single channel amp with tube buffered effects loop. Very simple to use. Nothing crazy preamp,bass,mid,treble,master, and presence controls. Although only having a few features it packs alot of sound. The fact that it only has one channel doesn't bother me because I turn my volume down and the amp is cranked all the time.

The sound is like god. I have tried alot of amps and nothing beats this amp. I play in a alternative rock in an original band. I use a varity of guitars including a Hamer Califorian, Ibanez Reb Beach model, Peavey Wolfgang, Jackson Soloist and it makes all of them sound amazing. I also run a TC G-major and they work great together. If you are looking for that old loud Marshall sound look no further. It sounds way better than any of the new Marshalls.

I recently took it to the shop to have it checked over and found out almost every soldering connection was broke. But it still worked anyway. The repair guy said it was from years of vibration. Other than that new tubes. Thats it.

Never had to call it always works.

I have had a fender,boogie(which broke in a month),Ampeg,marshall,crate and many others. This is the first amp I have owned that I am completely satisfied. Don't waste your money on other amps buy soldano.

a great sound ist the best feature ...

It rocks - I'm playing in a AC/DC Coverband. I'm using the amp/cabinet - Comination HR50/Marshall 1960 A with a low gain setting (4-5) in the High-Input, the EQ Setting is
Gain 4 - Bass 10 - Middle 4 - Treble 4 - Volume between 4 an 6 - Presence 5. My nr1 guitar is a Gibson Les Paul Jr. with a single P90, also some other Les Pauls sounds great with the amp.

No gig without this amp. Never.
No problems ever ..

i don't know, never needed.

anyway, there is no way for me to playing electric guitar without this amp. thank you MIKE SOLDANO for this amp !

There aren't that many features. a 3 band EQ, low and high gain input jacks, single channel with master volume. no frills.

The high gain side is a mean nasty grind that anyone will love. The low gain side is a nice thick tone that is very pleasing to the ears also. My problem arises because this amp is a single channel and i like to have a clean tone as well as a distorted tone. I use it live many different ways...it is my main amp, and depending on the gig i'll sometimes leave it on the low gain said and use a FullTone Distortion PRO for distortion...other times i'll leave it on the high gain side and try to roll the gain off with my volume knob. This method doesn't work well with my Les Paul, but seems to work better with a Carvin guitar i sometimes use. I am about ready to trade this amp in on the 2 channel version, and I think i'm going to pick up a 100 watt version instead. When i run effects through the loop, i lose too much volume. In small clubs with a large audience, i've had this amp on a 4x12 cabinet, with the master volume at 7 or 8, and the preamp at 5, and if i turned up anymore i would start losing my tone...and this is only when i'm using the effects loop. i find the power to be adaquate otherwise. If this amp had two channels, and a reverb option, i would be 100% happy with the amp. the tone is wonderful. It sounds different from the current modern rock trend of using Mesa Boogies. Boogies are wonderful amps, but i'm burned out on that sound since so many new bands are using them. I am going to be a Soldano user for a long time...i've just gotta go get a nicer model.

Rock solid. Never needed anything but new tubes.
I've also noticed that it runs MUCH cooler than my Marshall. Maybe because its open for ventilation in the front and back. This makes it nice to look at a glance and see both power tubes glowing.

never needed it.

I'd recomend this amp to anyone looking for serious profession tone for an affordable price, if they don't mind having only one channel.

This is an addition to an earlier review I did on 11/15/2002. (It should be below the review that is below this review.)

This amp comes stock with Sovtek 5881's and sovtek 12ax7s. That was a little too much gain, not enough warmth for me. So I bought some Sovtek 6l6s (a little sharper, higher output). For preamp tubes, I have from left to right 2 Electro Harmonix 12ax7s, a Groove Tubes 12at7 (lower output, took down the gain to a reasonable level, so it didn't have the overwhelming preamp driven sound), and another Electro Harmonix 12ax7. I recommend this setting to any of you who want to warm the amp up and get rid of a little bit of excess gain, I still run the preamp between 4 and 6 MAX, but it sounds better now. ALSO - Soldano tends to have the amps biased relatively cold, so I put the bias in the higher end of the proper bracket. Sounds WAY warmer, smoother, and better. Do this if you haven't already. That is all.

I called Soldano, talked to the first guy to answer the phone, and he gave me all the tube recommendations and info I could have wanted. They're awesome.

1993 Hot Rod 50.

To expannd on my review from a while back.
I would like to mention that the Hot Rod 50's clean tone is also very nice.It can be glassy or full or just plain ffatt.The EQ section is, as mentioned, very versitile thanks to Soldano's attention to tonal details.The treble and presence are probably the more extreem shapers while the bass and mids are more like older amp style Eq.IE; they don't change much on their own but their interaction with the other settings is what gives these setting their magic.
The preamp settings also change the EQing in that as you roll the preamp towards 11 the bass and mids fill out nicely as the signal compresses.This can all be changed slightly with the use of different preamp tubes.

As I said before, I love this amp and I am truely happy with all the tones I get.I have done a lot of experimentation with EQ, preamp, power amp tube types and brands. As it is out of the box it can do most anything but by changing the preamp tubes you can tame this thing down a bit and by changing the power amp tubes you can alter the voicing/clipping.It wont do Fender of Vox to a tee but it will get close.What it does best is the hallowed vintage Marshall and ofcoarse the Soldano super gain is there at it's best.
As mentioned in an earlier review, don't do mods to this amp if your not completely competent at amp build and design.Mike Soldano and his team of elite amp guru's have done a impeccable job with this and all their amps and such.Talk to them first before doing any and all mods.
I use the Soldano Supercharger GTO in conjuntion with this amp as a second channel.
I read a interview with Soldano that mentioned that the GTO was more like the Hot Rod 50's preamp than the SLO.Then again the Hot Rod is based on the SLO.Either way it mates up with the preamp circuit perfectly, sounding more like an integral part of the amp rather than a floor effect.

Not sure what year the amp was made. Early to mid 90s, I don't know. This is amp is perfect for me. I believe in the unparalleled excellence of single channel amps. No extra crap or components you don't need like new JCMs. For a single channel amp, it's perfect. Preamp, Bass, Mid, Treble, Master, Presence. Boom.

I use a 1978 Gibson "The Paul" or any other Les Paul I can get my hands on. I use a Classic 57+ Plus (PAF) in the bridge and some stock gibson in the neck. This thing is awesome. I still have to screw around with some tubes: I've got Svetlana 6l6's and some 12at7s in there now. Trying to get some new tubes that will warm it up a little more and take down the ridiculous amounts of gain you can get if you want. I keep my preamp between four and five generally on this amp, where as on a jcm 800 2204 I'd have it around 7 for the same sound.

Anyways, what I really like about this amp's sound is its articulation and smoothness. It's the most articulate, clear amp I've ever played. It is silent when I'm not playing. It's an extremely warm sound as well (only to be made better with different/new tubes). You hear every note from top to bottom at all times, and you can really dial up a great mid rangey crunch sound, as well as any other rock and roll sound you'd want.

This amp rocks.
And it's friggin' stylish.

So far no problems. I have read many, many things describing it's EXTREMELY good construction. I have never heard anybody say otherwise, and I have had no problems whatsoever to report.

I am going to call Mike Soldano to ask him what he recommends for tubes to warm it up and take down the gain, as I've said I'd like to do. Rumor has it that speaking to him is not only possible, but that he's very friendly. My understanding is that Soldano's customer support is nearly legendary.

I've been playing for about 5 years now. I love guitar amplifiers. I also love this amp. I have played many Marshall JCM 800s (2204s and 2203s only!), a few oranges, a few boogies, and this amp is and should be included in the list with these excellent amplifiers. I would advocate that if you are reading this, you buy the Soldano Hot Rod 50. They're an extremely economical purchase considering the great tone you get. The amp really sings, it's quite warm, it's quite versatile, it's nice looking, and it's quiet.

What the hell else do you want?

I wish it was two channel, but I can cope.

I have used hundreds of guitar and pickup combinations through this little monster. I used to think it was great, and I played it in all tone and gain settings. I set it one way for a month after tweaking it for an hour, and then another way...you know. But eventually I got sick of the sound, and sold and got a Lucky 13.
Soldanos sometimes up and hum for no reason, because they are set up hot. Like it's name, it's a Hot Rod. It had tons of distortion which would compress to an unbearable degree if you maxed it. I set my gain at 4.

Great dependable amp.

I have been playing 20 years. If stolen, I'd miss it a little and then get something else. It was good for a year or two, but then I grew tired of it's tone. It was a tone upgrade from my Boogie, nah, it was about the same, only a little different.

The amp was build in 92. I bought in May 2002. It has a single channel, 50w. 4x 12ax7 and 2x6l6. It has no features such as channel switching.

I play a Vigier excalibur. Mostly I play lead solos. It isn't noisy at all. The sounds it produces are very hot and warm distorions. From low to high gain; this distortion is just what I need.

I have tesla 12ax7 tubes and svetlana 6l6 powertubes in it, which make it sound a little better. I have a little problem with the high input , sometimes it doesn't work. But I'm shure it can be fixed.

I play 12 years now. I use it with a Roland Jazz-chorus 160 to do the claen stuff. I would by it again if I lost. I like the sound of it, it enables me to play a lot better. I think I will buy a 2x12 soldano box also. It is the first tube amp that I have and I think I won't need any other. I like this amp, good construction, quality sound.

Made in 1995. Single-channel amp with a really responsive E.Q. section, considerably more tonally versatile than my Marshall JCM 800s and 900s. If you need a second channel, Soldano makes the "Plus" version of the Hot Rod. Being a single-channel amp, it is exactly that.

Yes, this amp delivers that famous Soldano overdrive tone. No disappointment! Clean tone is also very nice, but you'll probably need to run a reverb or chorus unit to make it sound superb.

The previous owner changed several capacitors and a resistor in this amp. BIG MISTAKE! I assure you that person was no where near the amp guru he/she would like to believe he/she is. ONCE RESTORED TO THE ORIGINAL SPECIFICATIONS (and yes, definitely use silver-mica caps), THIS AMP IS ONCE AGAIN A SOLDANO. This amp is built like a tank!

Soldano folks are truly responsive and customer friendly. May be the best in the business.

Very nice alternative to the SLO-100, if you don't need channel-switching and the full 100 watts. This amp is VERY loud and its tone is very consistent (once the volume is past "1").

I am giving a rating of "8" because, for a single-channel amp with no reverb, the HR50 allows me to dial up a remarkable array of tones. The EQ is quite effective, and with the slave/recording output I can get some nice sounds, even directly into a recording console.

Very nice. I rely on my effects board (an old Digitech RP-1) for switching between clean and driven sounds, reverb, and chorus... so, again, I don't mind the HR50's being a one-channel amp. Apparently, though, this amp didn't supply enough bottom end for the taste of some people, so there is an XL version available, too. I love a bottom-heavy sound, and this amp, combined with my Ampeg 4x12 cab, sounds HUGE!

I must admit, I don't like the sounds I get when I just plug my guitar straight into the amp with no effects. The distortion, when cranked, is not my style; then again, I feel like a cranked up Mesa sounds like a sterile piece of shyte, so take my opinion for what it's worth. (My dream tone is that of Zakk Wylde on Ozzy's 'No More Tears' album. With this amp and my RP-1, I can get any tone I want!)

The power tubes are battered and ancient; it squeals a bit when I am not playing. In spite of this, the amp delivers the sound I love. When I replace the tubes, the tones might just make me shit my pants.

I bought this amp on eBay from some kid who threw it into an ill-fitting cardboard box without any padding, then shipped it (via UPS, I might add - 'nuff said!) from Philadelphia to me. (I live on the west coast.) I have since then beaten the living crap out of it, hauling it to shows, dragging it up and down stairs, and loading/unloading it countless times into various car trunks and truck beds. It has been dropped on concrete from waist level, had drinks spilled on it, and been exposed to smoke, power and signal surges, and practically every sort of abuse you might possibly imagine. It is as solid as a safe.

Never dealt with Soldano...

If it were lost or stolen, I would probably go into shock and die.

It looks fucking cool.

The sound is ridiculous. (I mean that in a good way!)

I purchased this amp used, and when I contacted Soldano they told me that it was made on February 17th, 1998. Yes, they gave me the exact date. Before i got this amp I was using a JCM 900 100w Dual Hi-Gain head, and a JCM 900 50w SL-X head. I wanted something that had more gain and "chug" to it. I play in a skate-punk band and this amp delivers exactly what i want; pure, un-adultrated over-drive. It would be nice to be able to switch between channels, but it's not a huge concern for me. It's got a line out, and a slave level but i don't use any of it. I play lots of shows at bars, local clubs, and the odd outdoor show with my band and this amp always sounds good, and never lets me down as far as power goes.

I use a Les Paul with a Gibson '57 Classic Plus pickup, and a Gibson SG, which has Gibson Alnico's in it, and it sounds extreamly tight. The Les Paul sounds a bit thicker than the SG, but that's the guitar, not the amp. All this stuff is running through a JCM 800 cab which was made in about 1984 I believe, and this set-up really rips. I had been trying out Mesa Triple Rectifiers and this amp's overdrive kicks the crap out of them. It's very raw sounding, and it's got a huge range. It can go from Marshall overdrive, to Mesa "chain-saw" overdrive. Like I said before, it's perfect for my band. I've discovered that this amp picks up a lot of background "hum", so I use a Boss Noise Supressor, which eliminates all background noise... but I've used it with all my heads since it just makes sense to use one.

I've kicked the crap out of this head, and I havn't had any problems with it at all. I've had my JCM's cut out on me at shows. The open grill design is awsome since the tubes are always cooling off, and I like how the transformer isn't attached to the "cab".

The few times that I've delt with Soldano they've been extreamly friendly and were very willing to help me out. I've havn't had to get the amp serviced at all yet. My only expierence is from calling up the company for some information regarding the amp.

I've been playing guitar for about six years, and I've been playing in bands for the last four years. I've had this head for about six months now and it is definatly worth every penny that I payed for it. It's got a lot more gain than my JCM's, and it sounds killer with my SG. I don't have any complaints about this head, I just wish it had a channel switching option. I just happened to find this at a low price ($1350 Canadian IS a low price for this amp) and i picked it up. I had been trying out Mesa Triple Rectifiers and JCM 2000 TSL's and neither of them have anything on this head. I chose the Hot-Rod over these heads because it had a much more natural sounding overdrive and Soldano is a much smaller company so I decided that it would probably be more reliable, and easier to get help with from the manufacturer. If this got lost or stolen I would definatly replace it right away. Other than the amp sounding awsome, it looks really cool too; the metal grill allows you to see the tubes (it looks really neat in the dark). The blue jewl light looks neat because almost every other amp's power light is red. And finally, all the knobs go up to 11... yes, that's right, 11. SPINAL TAP! Overall, this amp is the best that I've ever used.

Well-equipped single channel tube amp. Controls for preamp, bass, mid, treble, volume, presence. The back panel has line out, FX loop, speaker outs, 4/8/16 Ohm switch.

I was concerned about getting an attenuator for it. My HotPlate is an 8 ohm model and since the 4x12 is a 16 ohm cab, I'd need another attenuator if I wanted to avoid impedance mismatches. That concern turned out to be relatively unwarranted. This amp gets some nice tones at basement volumes (which is where my gear lives).
In my mind, Soldanos are best known for their headbanging users. When I think of Soldano, I think of Megadeth-style high-gain crunch. While my HR50 definitely delivers that kind of sound, I was pleasantly surprised at the warm, creamy saturation I could get by turning up the mids and backing off the treble and presence. Used with the neck pickup on my PRS CE22, it was fat city!
Even though it's a high-gain beast, backing off the guitar's volume down to 3-4 gave a reasonable clean sound. Nobody's going to confuse it with a fender at that setting but it works.
Not everything's hunky dory, though. The FX loop is designed for line-level effects, not stomp boxes. I think this might be why I lose a bunch of volume when engaging effects in the loop (they're L6 modelers so they're fully bypassed when not engaged) along with serious treble loss.

Haven't had the amp long but Soldano has a wonderful reputation for reliability.

I emailed Soldano with a question about the FX loop and they responded with a reasonalbe answer a couple hours later. Doesn't get much better than that.

I got this amp because it was a great deal and to back up my Koch. It would be nice if it had a second channel but it'll make a great backup and recording amp. If I were looking for a main gigging amp, I'd consider the channel switching HR50+ but this amp is great for what it's intended for. My only real beef is with the line-level FX loop but that has an easy work-around.

According to Soldano, my amp was made in 1998. It's not very versatile, it delivers one sound - but that's the reason why I bought it. It would be perfect if it had 2 channels. There is the "+"-Version, but I came along this one really cheap, so I picked it up. It has an effects loop, 2 inputs...

I use it with my JPM90HAM and, soon to come, with a custom shop guitar. I play mostly metal, but sometimes a little blues or classic rock. For this purpose it's a great amp. But it seems I can't get a metal tone out of it, but that's why I bought my rack system. The dynamics are absolutely incredible! You can use the guitar's volume to get a good clean sound, even at gain settings past 8! It has a lot of gain, enough for the purpose I bought it for.

It seems to be sturdy, but I don't overuse it. It has never broken down.

I dealt 2 times with their customer support. The first time I got an answer within 30 minutes (!!), the second time within 24 hours.

I was glad I came across this one. It was - and still is - in perfect condition, so the price was ok. Besides the HR50 I own a rack system containing a Mesa/Boogie TriAxis, an Engl poweramp, a TC g-major and a Korg racktuner. As said above, I use it with an Ibanez JPM90HAM. If it were lost I'd definitely buy another one or a Soldano preamp. I love this creamy, smooth sound.

All Tube Head, got all the features it needs for a single channel amp. This is a Snake-skin model, 50 Watts, 2x 5881 and 4x 12AX7.
2 inputs, 1x Low (clean/crunch sounds) and 1x high (beyond anything else!)

I'm using a handbuild Robberts with a SD TB-4 in the bridge position and a Gibson PAF in the neck position.
This amp has got the tones (I play mostly classic rock) that should define the term Rock&Roll in History. Pure and simple, it really shines in the overdrive sounds. I use it for Lead.
My Koch TwinTone Head handles the Clean and Crunch sounds.

I always have multiple units with me so I won't be out of sound...
The Soldano has never failed. It's almost 10 years old.
That should say something about this amp!
The 9 is for the fact that it uses tubes. They can fail.

I had a problem with the location of the Effectloop.
Mailed to tech@soldano.com with my questions and received all the info I needed to make the XL mod and changing the location of the Effectloop. Within a day!

I've been playing for about 15 years and this amp gives me the sound I always wanted. Sometimes when I play, I can actualy hear the same sounds that I hear on my favorite Cd's
Amps that I've had... Rivera, Marshall, Rocktron, Mesa, Line 6
The 9 is only for the price I had to pay.
I live in the Netherlands and Soldano amps ain't cheap over here...

The amp was made in June 1999, I bought it used off eBay. I got this amp primarily to cover the hi gain bass thumping area that my Marshall JTM60 just can't get to. It is a single channel amp with the 6 basic controls and lo and hi input - I miss the channel switching, but I just keep my JTM60 on for clean sounds and will probably just get an A/B box. Also has an effects loop, 2 x 4, 8 and 16 ohm outs, easily accessible and visible tubes (looks cool in the dark), pretty transformers, all that fun jazz. All this is basic, the bulk of the features are in the sound.

I am using a Dean V Select with Seymour Duncan 59 and Custom pickups and an LTD H200 with Duncan Jazz and Custom (all humbuckers). I like a lot of older rock with that harsh sound - this is all handled perfectly by my Marshall JTM60 (the new JCM2000s are all garbage) and I also like the more "modern" rock with gainy solos and thumping rhythm (Scorpions and such). This is what I use the Soldano for. The amp has a bit of a hiss when there is no input, but nothing that can be perceived when I am playing. The amp can make great lead sounds and is incredibly responsive to touch (I have never been able to vary tone as much just by playing a note lighter or harder). Putting the preamp short of 11 will produce some good crunchy sounds, although not as mean as the Marshall. Thru the lo input, the clean sound is nice and full, very Fenderish in my opinion, and with the preamp up to 7 or more there is a nice breakup. I was not expecting the clean to be good, but I like it too. Does everything that I was expecting it to do and more.

I have only had it for about a month, no problems yet. It feels really tough, just haven't gotten around to dropping it off any buildings yet ;). All the jacks and knobs feel very solid too. I would have no qualms about relying on it alone.

I emailed them to ask them how old the amp was and Bill Sundt got back to me that same day. I have never even been able to contact Marshall ...

I use this amp and the Marshall JTM60. I love them both, and they can not be compared. I have progressed from a Fender Champion 110 to a Marshall 8040 to the two I have now. I think I will stick with this one for the "modern" sound applications, although I might appreciate the 50+ model's channel switching. The XL's added bass boost seems like a waste - this thing shakes the walls through a Mesa 2x12 Rectifier Cab. I happened to find this one on eBay for a lower price than I had ever seen for these, I figured the worst case would be to sell it for no loss. I am very pleased with it though.

s#500309,year unknown.this amp exceeds at blues,rock,and metal. basically when it comes to tone of the distorted variety this amp does it all very well.one channel,effects loop,slave out,two spkr out,4 8 and 16 ohm adjust,high low input,preamp,master,bass,middle,treble,presence,standby,power.there are oyher desireable features but only one i would consider,reverb(soldano).this amp and a 4 by 12 bottom or two is all you need for a live application.this amp is equiped with sovtek (reds)12ax7 and 5881,stock.i give the following rating based on the amps intended purpose,which is no frills simpicity.

i use several guitars through it and i can say that all thier voices shine through.mostly humbucking pickups are used.it suites my musical style and many others very well.no noise on any settings,i usually set the bottom at 8-10 the mids at 3-5 highs at 5-7 presence at 5-8,preamp at 8 and up and master according to room.this amp is probably the most well structured gain amp in the business,that goes for soldano in general.and as far as soldano goes this is the working mans slo 100.the distortion can be as brutal as it gets but to better describe it,the distortion is never muddy it can be ,depending on settings and other gear,a little trebley but not anoyingly mettalic.you will also find that the oh so important rich harmonic content of the tone is oooh soo beutiful and well defined under all volumns,it is just a matter of dialing in to that sweet spot and letting it happen from there,

it is very dependable.this is not the same build as the slo 100 but soldano takes the time and pride that it takes to build a truely great amp.it has never broken down.i allways have two spare sets of tested tubes,for backup.this is my main amp.

i have dealt with soldano all all levels with the excetion of ;repair and extras.it is a limited lifetime warranty and for details see the site.
in all my dealings,the people at soldano have been GREAT,no problem there.

i've been playing for 17 years and i've owned and own different types of amps.if it were stolen i would DEFINETLY replace it,quickly.i love the tone,it,to me,is everything i want.the only effect i use is a grafic eq/boost.i hate nothing about this amp but if you like channel seletibility you may disslike this amp.this amp would only better by having a reverb unit.this amp is the best bang for the buck in the soldano category.i use a 4 by 12 (greenback loaded) marshall 60's (white) cabinet.i get complements on my (AND SOLDANO'S) tone all the time and quite frankly it does sound AWSOME.

All tube (4-12AX7 preamp tubes, 2-5881 output tubes), single channel, preamp gain, bass, mid, treble, master volume, presence, high gain and low gain inputs, tube buffered serial effects loop, slave output (preamp out) with level knob, 4-8-16 ohm impedence selector, power and standby switches. Mine is Serial #0025, 25th made.

Mine has NOS Sylvania 5881's in it, so I might get a better tone than you generic tube people. In the low gain input, the tone goes from a kind of thin clean tone to a smooth breakup blues tone. Not to bright, nice and mellow. In the high gain input, WOW. Preamp at 2 is a mild blues breakup. Preamp at 3-4 is a very crunchy rhythm tone (plenty for most rock tunes). Preamp at 4-6 is about equal to the aggresiveness of most Marshalls I have heard. Very distorted, but clean, classy distortion, very cutting, defined tone. Preamp at 6-11 the gain just gets thicker, richer, fatter, and has more and more sustain. Believe me, with the preamp at 11, not many amps can even come close to the amount of gain and sustain available. The sound rings out like a Fender, but has the edgy, cutting tone of a Marshall. If you want a good reference of what it sounds like, listen to Van Halen's F.U.C.K. The distortion is identical to that album (Eddie used a stock SLO100, and this amp has the same circut, same gain.). It has a sizzle to the top end, and a very grindy bottom end, yet it isn't thin sounding at all. It sounds like polished distortion, and even at top assault, you can hear ALL the notes in a chord, and you can hit the bottom strings of a chord, and then play soft notes on the top strings, and they will be clear. Quite amazing. Doesn't destroy the tone of the guitar at all. A++++++++++

Soldano products are built to withstand pretty much anything. Perfect construction, I'm sure a fall from a stack wouldn't do more than maybe a little scratch. I always have my Fender Hot Rod with me for its wonderful clean tones, and its smooth singing distortion, so that, with the Soldano Hot Rod 50, I get 4 incredible tones on stage. If the Soldano should die, I still have a 3 channel amp to cover me.

Always respond to emails, very friendly. Important questions get answered in a matter of hours, little inquires might take a day or two, but the answer will come. Great company who cares!!!

Been playing 10 years, this amp is by far the best of 'em (I've owned many Marshall's, a Peavey, a whole rack setup, a Soldano Atomic 16-great amp too, and others). I've played all the Rivera amps, all the VHT amps, and just about every big name amp out there. The distortion of the VHT Pittbull ultra lead is smoother, but the Soldano sounds more polished and cuts through the mix better because of it's classy grind. Great great amp. If you own another amp with great clean tones and maybe a nice crunch rhythm, but want the best distortion out there, I would strongly suggest adding one of these beasts to your rig. I love it. It takes a good tone to impress me (I listen to E. Johnson, Vai, Satch, Nuno, Brian May, Ritchie Sambora, and all those 80's hair bands), and this tone KILLS!!!! Very expensive for 1 channel, but it is the best "channel" you'll ever hear.

Purple Tolex, Serial # is not filled in, shows 50-blank, so I assume it is from the hand numbered run and was missed.
As mentioned in previous reviews-one channel master volume.
Dont let this fool you...the versatility available from a hand built all tube unit of this quality is beyond comprehension.
Low input bypasses the first gain stage, high input is just what it implies.
2 6L6's, 4 12AX7's, 2 HUGE transformers, preamp volume, bass, mid, treble, presence, master volume. Variable level slave out, selectable impedance (4/8/16 ohms), very classy looks-white chassis, chicken head knobs, wire mesh letting the tubes breathe and glow, vintage blue pilot light, on/off and standby...built like it was meant to fall off your cabinet in a gig and survive.
I bought this used, it was the best buy I've made in a long, long time.

This head is currently loaded w/ Soldano tubes, and remains stock.
I'm using a Parker Fly and a Custom Abyss 7 string w/ active EMG H-707's, so I'm dealing with VERY different levels as you can see.
The Parkers Fishman's really dont apply as this amp does not achieve a glassy clean tone easily.
The active EMG's on the other hand shine like they never have before!
I'm not sure why some previous reviews indicate this amp lacks hi gain like 5150's and Mesa/Boogie...Perhaps they have poor tubes, low output pickups, or a bum filter cap.
I can assure you, if high gain w/ excellent string definition, endless sustain, and creamy tube heaven are your goal, this is your amp.
Good God! The thing goes to 11!!!
To be honest, using the high level input, bringing the preamp volume to around 8 1/2 is about all the gain I need, and I'm playing progressive/death metal in the likes of Aghora, Cynic, Meshuggah, Spiral Architect...
From 9-11, it just gets dense, creamy, and harmonically rich.
My mainstay untill now has been a Rocktron Taboo Twin Combo, which has to be the most versatile amp I've EVER used for under $1500.
And I've played a lot of other stuff-ART, Marshall, Boogie, Crate...
Now I understand why Soldano is the best kept secret in the industry.
At least as far as I'm concerned.
Again, glassy clean tones aren't this amps forte, but deadly distortion, Santana like sustain, and excellent "middle ground" rhythm/blues tones are.
And as far as the "tube tone," it is there in full force.
Noise is there, as expected for a high gain tube amp, but its nothing that a Rocktron Hush unit cant tame perfectly.
I rarely, if ever-give a 10. If you can get this head for under 5 bills, BUY IT.

I cannot offer an opinion as of yet, as I've only owned it for a short while.

Again, cant offer an opinion, but from the previous reviews, I expect it's good.

Again, overall this is not the "amp that can do everything."
But if you are looking for boutique quality and craftsmanship, unbelievable tube tone, simplicity, and affordability...
BUY THIS AMP! Its still a little costly, but well worth it.

Bare bones, based it appears on the infamous 2204 Marshall 50W. I own one of these as well and find that this amp, the
HR50, is just that. Without having to spend 300.00 to get the tone section to work. They have a sweet spot, and they all are
slightly different, but when you find it, it's very good.

I am using several instruments through this amp in different configurations. Strats, Deans, Hamers and Gibsons, all with
good and surprising results. As with all hi-gain amps there is noise, especially with the strats. But turning in a circle will find
the spot where you need to stand if recording, you know.
I use a combination that I found by accident. I use the loop off of a rack that contains an SP-77 soldano 2 channel preamp
and an intellifex. If you play with the loop at all you will find that it comes back in ahead of the tone section and master
volume. This enables me to find the tones I need in the front end and then tweak them further to fit the situation or the room
that I am playing in.
One of the great things that I love about this amp is that the overdrive, not distortion, is very musical and controllable. You
can push the overtones to the threshold of feedback and keep them there without all of the howling. As far as expressing
yourself, because of this ability to have 3 and 4 overtones pop from the note you are holding, it speaks with authority. The
power section has a nice compression as well, and with the Paul will hold notes ala early Santana, for days.
The loop doesn't appear to muck up the dry tone as well. The amp I have is very very early in the production.[0043]

I have used this amp non-stop since six months after it's purchase in 93. I would recommend spending the time to find
where this amp works the best. Once you do, you can get any tones with a minimum of work.
Bulletproof! I carry this amp alone everywhere. You should always keep an extra tube set in the tech case just in case. Tubes
will blister at the most important times.

Everytime I have had a question, I have called the factory and they have been incredible.

If you want an SLO but can't afford one, then this is your amp. I would recommend finding the SP-77 preamp as well. They
are out there and the people that have them are pretty tight about holding on to them. The combination of the two is just
magic. I have a '73 JMP 2204, an '84 JCM 800, and an Ampeg V4. If you want brutally loud, find a V4, if you want the
people that hear you to constantly comment on your tone, get the HR50.

My HotRod 50 is a 2000 model. In the past, I have owned a 50+ and sold it, because I prefer the single channel which I a/b between my Marshall JTM 45 head. The amp is really a bare bones set up. One channel, effects loop, etc.... I use my Soldano for the high gain, distorted sound, and my Marsahll 45 head for a clean sound. I play mostly some 60's, 70's(funk), 80's, and some 90's stuff, like Creed, and some new Kings X. I also play old Van Halen stuff, in which the Soldano really comes thru. With both my haeds, I really have all my basses covered. THe 50 watts is more then enough power for me, this amp is LOUD!!

I have 4 guitars that I use, all strat style, built out of Warmoth parts. One blue strat, with a Wilkinson trem, with a Seymour Duncan Hotrail in the bridge, a Coolrail in the middle, and another hotrail in the neck(round for neck). Guitar #2 is a surf green with a Wilkinson Trem, with a Seymour Duncan full size JB humbucker in the bridge, and a neck round Hotrail in the neck, with a single volume knob, and a Les Paul type toggle switch. Guitar #3 is a bright red strat, with a Seymour Duncan zebra full size JB humbucker in the bridge and a little 59 in the neck, with a single volume knob, and a Les Paul like toggle, this one has a Floyd Rose trem on it.... Guitar #4 is a Les Paul standard, in which I replaced the stock Gibson PUs with a Seymour Duncan JB in the bridge, and a 59 in the neck(Zebra). As you can see, I have 4 guitars, which are very versitle, and with the HotRod 50, I can just about get any tone I want. The amp tends to be a little noisy sometime, but you expect that from a high gain tube amp. I solved that problem, and put a Rocktron Hush unit in my small effects rack.. Problem solved....

I would def depend on the HotRod 50, but I would not rely on any amp without a backup. Just like having a backup guitar, you should never depend on just one amp, and just one guitar at a gig. Always have a backup for each, no matter great and relaible you think the equipment is....

Soldano are nice people to talk to. I just called to ask ?s, and to order a t-shirt....

If it was stolen, or whatever, I would def get another one. This truly is a GREAT amp.

Made in 1992. Low, low serial number. Perhaps the greatest feature is the reliability, but more on that later. In the meantime, y'know the layout: pre and master vol., BMT and Presence for eq. Power and standby switches. What you may not know is that the Hi input uses all four gain stages (12AX7) and has a hardwired bright circuit, while the Lo bypasses one gain stage and has no bright circuit. The low channel isn't the most useable in the world. Sort of dark and grunty sounding, though I have used it on occasion. It would be nice if it were just a less distorto version of the Hi channel. But, no big deal.
The slave out on the back panel is really useful when you need more power. When I was in a stupidly loud band, I ran the HR50 through a 2x12, and slaved the head to a Hiwatt 100 running into a 4x12. Normally, the 50 watts are plenty, and I can't crank it past 5 without a sound guy asking me to turn down. Haven't ever used the effects loop in the 8 years I've had it. Also has a handy impedance switch and two speaker outs.
I might say that a little more headroom on the pre-amp would be nice, as I actually wouldn't mind a little less gain. But, that can be controlled with the guitar's volume pot. A lot of folks criticize Soldanos for having too much high end, but their EQ shape actually makes them super sensitive to guitar volume/tone adjustments, and pick or finger attack. You can also replace the second 12AX7 from the left with a 12AU7 or 12AT7 and that cleans up the tone a lot.
For me, this amp has plenty of features. I'm too busy spazzing out on stage to coordinate hitting a channel-switching pedal (I can barely manage the two pedals I use). On channel-switching amps, I tend to find one sound and stick with it anyway. Fortunately or unfortunately, I don't make my living playing music so I don't have to call up a bunch of sounds in the course of a set. I actually prefer "in-between" tones: not spanky clean, not full-on hi gain. Personally, I think this amp has more than enough distortion. I keep the preamp volume around 2 or 3. Any higher than that is more distortion than I need. If I'd change anything, I'd make this a cleaner amp that you can crank, rather than a dirty amp that you have to scale back. For rummbles, squeals and feedback I use a stomp box (currently a Real Tube pedal).
The HR50 isn't versatile out of the box. It doesn't have discrete clean and mean channels and it doesn't "nail" a Twin or Plexi or whatever. But the eq controls are sensitive, and you can dial in quite a few distorted voices. Also, it lets the true charcter of your playing and the true character of your guitar shine, warts and all. Its sound changes somewhat as you change guitars, pickups and speakers. In this way, I've found that, as corny as this sounds, this amp has grown with me, and I haven't yet outgrown it. This isn't to say that this is the only amp in my arsenal, but the HR50 has been the perfect tool for finding my own musical voice. After 8 years, I'm still finding great tones in it.
The 7 rating addresses what maybe a bummer for some: no channel-switching, triode/pentode blah blah or espresso maker. It's not an indication of any disatisfaction on my part.

Cabinets: two Hiwatts, one with Fanes, one with 65 watt Celestions. My main guitars: 78 Tele (Northern ash), Travis Bean Stanard, homemade
"Wonderaxe" (alder tele with steel face plate). I use copper picks. The 78 has been through the most changes, as I use it the most.
Here's a rundown:
When I first got the amp, I was playing early 90s noise/art/heavy wall of sound rock, therefore I used a Duncan 1/4 lb. Tele pup. With the preamp gain at 5, I got serious girth. Thick, harmonically rich distortion, droning for days.
Later on, I started playing scratchy, twangy art rock, and switched to
a Rio Grande Vintage Tall Boy. Insanely trebly. I had trouble controlling the brightness of this combo, but it tamed the hi-gain wildness of the amp.
So then Wolfe MacLeod and I went on a quest for taming the gain and brightness, and I ended up with a Wolfetone Werewolf (see that review). Now the tone is perfect. Not overly bright, or overly crunchy.
Through all these changes, the amp projected like gangbusters. It's as if Soldano voiced it smack in the middle of the range of human hearing.
This of course, can make the amp a little too bright, as a lot of folks have mentioned. But this is also what makes it such a cutting, lively piece of gear. You just gotta get all the ingredients right. I think if I went back to a vintage style pickup, I'd use vintage style speakers, like Greenbacks, Vintage 30s, or the Soldano equivalent. The Fanes and Celestion 65s (precursor to the 75 watters) are just too unforgiving. You can end up with some wickedly peaky tones. Better to have something a little more laid back and break up-able, I'd think.
However, if you're a shredder, stick with the high-powered speakers, especially if you've got a warmer sounding guitar like a Gibson or hi-gain axe like a Jackson. The HR50 is built to cut through, and it will. The definition lives up to the hype. I hear Boogies saturate more, but I can't recommend Soldano enough for band situations. The HR50 stands up to hi-hats, crash cymbals and snares. It seems to not completely obliterate the fundamental, so you get a percussive, tight bottom end. And as cool and "heavy" as a scooped-mid tone sounds while you're standing in front of your amp, I say that on a recording, you more than likely end up with a loud drumkit and tiny bee-buzzing guitars somewhere in the background. The HR 50's midrangey EQ curve makes for an in-your-face guitar tone, even with the gain on "11." To me, it's plenty heavy (go ahead, scoop those mids), and still prints to tape amazingly.
You can also pull some perfect Descendants/emo/pop-punk and hardcore
tones out of it. In fact, if that's your bag, run out and get one of these right now.
I haven't noticed noisiness until recently, and then only in my practice space. The building's pretty old, and the wiring is deteriorating. But at gigs, it hasn't been a problem. There's some buzz as you turn up the preamp gain, but it's not problematic.

If the SLO 100 is the Ferrari of Soldanos, then the HR 50 is the Toyota mini-truck: a bare bones appliances that will run well forever on little maintenance. Until last year, I had the same 5881s in it that were there when I bought it, and IMO, it still sounded great. I haven't had it biased ever, and I can't hear any deterioration in sound. When some guy in another band borrowed it and put a weird speaker load on it, it blew up, but only needed new power tubes and a new fuse.
This year it did conk out on my on tour: failed filter caps. But that's after 8 years gigging, recording, rehearsing and touring. I can't really complain. I have used it without a backup, but after that
guy borrowed it, I learned my lesson. Luckily, at the time, I did have my Hiwatt with me.
I'd also like to comment on how consistent the HR 50 is. Sounds great every time I've fired it up, and other HR 50s that I've tried sound exactly the same, as far as I can tell (though I've never AB'd one with mine). Lately, it seems to not have as much volume as it did before I got the filter caps changed, but that may be a psycho-acoustic thing: I was without it for almost a month, so my memory of its loudness maybe colored, or my bassist might be playing louder than he used to. Also, I'm using a darker-sounding pickup than I used to. Or, maybe I should check the bias after all. There are always so many variables.
Again, I've had this amp for 8 years, and, though I'm intrigued by other brands, I'm not sure that I trust them the way i trust the Hot Rod.

A nice crew. Super helpful, friendly and prompt. When I had those problems on the road, they always got back to me within 6-12 hours by phone or email. They'll answer pestering tech questions too, though if it's not an emergency, expect a longer wait. I can't say enough about the customer support. No B.S., straight-up advice. Thanks friends.

Been playing 22 years. If I added anything to this amp, it might be to mod (if possible) the Lo input channel to clean it up and give it more headroom (though not for channel switching, just a more useable clean voicing). If stolen, I might get a 50+ for that reason (and I'd be willing to pay full price - consider the fact that this amp will last a lifetime, then divide the price by how long you got left on the planet. cheap, eh?). Also, I tried a Decatone recently, and dug the depth control. Wouldn't mind adding one of those, just to boost the low end a bit.
I'd be depressed if this amp were stolen. It's become an appendage, an essential part of my gear, and, since it's one of the first ones ever built, pretty irreplaceable.
I kind of fell into this amp through a friend of a friend of a friend kinda thing. I was playing MusicMans and an ancient Acoustic and a weird Twin. I was looking for a new amp when a friend told me to check out Soldanos. I had never heard of 'em before. At first, I wasn't sure about the HR 50, but as I said, it's really grown on me and with me.
I think there's a lot to be said for taking your time with a piece of gear and working with it. Sometimes, you get some new stuff and you know right off that it's not right, but other times it pays to put it through its paces in all possible situations. I'm really glad I did this with the HR 50.
Hey, if anybody's got any cool tricks for this amp, let's trade tips.

I think the amp was made in '99 because it looked brand new and the tolex just shined. The amp is only one channel and really has not much of a clean channel, just turn the gain all the way down. I wish it was two channels. It's 50 watts, which is enough unless you play huge venues.

This amp has so much f*cking gain. This amp's distortion beats my 5150. Not by a long shot, but it beats it. Even at the lowest volume setting, you can get heavy distortion. It isn't noisy at all and is a kinda small head so it's not huge and bulky.

I would definately rely solely on this amp.

This amp is the best (besides a Mesa Mark IV) if you like heavy, singing distortion.

Mine is a 1993. It is versatile in that, even having only one sound, It still covers alot of styles. It is a single channel two input amp. Roll the volume back and you get a cleaner(not clean) sound for your "second channel". I prefer one channel amps. It has an effects loop and a line out. 50 watts of output.

I play in a cover band which ranges from classic rock to alternative to dance music. I play a PRS CE-22 and a Strat and a G&L ASAT classic through this and it sounds good. But, it has a VERY modern agressive tone. No classic tones here but Modern HOT Blues or Rock. I would not ever call this a "Metal" amp. It can sound heavy but if you are at all dynamic in your style it will have some versatility.

Built like a Tank. I gig without a backup with this, I just do no think it will break as long as I keep the tubes up.

Soldano has Excellent customer support. Prompt replies to my e-mails and even the Tech's answer the phones when you call the service dept. Bill Sundt is a pleasant person to deal with. He personally modded my amp.

I have been through a ton of amps and am still looking for "THE ONE". I am selling mine because I am still looking for that classic 70's rock tone I hear in my head. This amp ROCKS though. I will probably regret parting ways with it. This amp makes playing guitar all night in a Bar a breeze. Nice singing sustain, I kick a little boost pedal in front of the amp for a little extra.

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.