Soldano Hotrod 50 Plus XL

I have the 2x12 version of the HR 50+XL. This is an extremely versatile amp. It can do the Fender clean, Marshall overdrive plus almost any other sound you would want from an amplifier. I just play it at home so it's more power than I need. The effects loop is very handy. The only thing I can say I wish it had was reverb but I won't complain.

Oh my god! Pure unadulterated tone, clean and distortion. You can play anything from country to hard rock on this bad bitch. The clean channel stays clean:I've only had it up to 6. The distortion in this thing is thick, creamy, but also very aggressive. I can pretty easily pull off some Adam Jones(Tool) sounds here(close as I've come). It works great for what I play which is more modern rock/heavy styles.

Very dependable thus far.

Only called Soldano once and they were more than helpful and very friendly even with the stupid questions I like to ask(no such thing as a stupid question).

I love this amp. The only thing I have to say bad about it is it's more power than what I need but I think it will be sticking around for quite a while. It's very inspiring to play on. I play an Epi Les Paul and G&L asat Z3 through it, both sound great. If it was stolen or lost, I would definitely look for another one. I've owned a Mesa 4x10 blue angel, Egnater TOL50(great amp for the money), plus a couple shitty practice amps. The Soldano beats them all to hell, both in overdrive and clean channels.

This is a new 2000 head & cabinet.It is a no frills boutique amp with plenty of useable tone.I play hard rock & this amp is versatile enough for just about anybody playing this style of music.It has 2 channels w/ noise free switching & a tube buffered f/x loop.I only wish the clean & dirt channels didn't share EQ controls. The 50 watt has plenty o' volume, but still sounds great on 3. Keep in mind the fact that this isn't meant to be an amp with a million features, only to have most of it not get used.

I have 2 custom ESP guitars with Seymour Duncan JB humbuckers in the bridge & cool rails up front. Again I find these choice for progressive rock guitar tone. It is relatively quiet for a high gain amp, my lights probably cause 75% of the amp's hum. This amp produces awesome tone, both distortion & clean. No fuzz boxes needed here.It produces very clean distortion (picture a more aggressive Queenseryche sound) that has mean bottom end & no ear bleeding highs,although this is widely adjustable. The sound holds tight at high volume & in fact will highlight poor technique in a hurry, it is extremely clean, even with it's balls to the wall overdrive. Play after warming up for non discouraging performance.

I can't offer much of an opinion here because I haven't had it long enough yet to encounter most of the wear & tear problems. It is built to withstand normal use & abuse, just read any amp shootout in guitar magazines.

I had a minor glitch with tubes due to UPS shipping that Mike Soldano & his main tech personally handled with great professionalism. It was addressed under warranty quickly & painlessly, awesome service. This guy cares about his amps & their reputation. The warranty is 1 year against everything except tubes & transformers.

I play this head through a Soldano 4x12 cab with Soldano speakers that are actually made for him by EV & a Boss ch-1 pedal for the clean sound.I haven't owned every amp made to compare the Soldano to but beside amps I have owned & tried, this one honestly takes 1'st place. It is simple ,practicle & as pleasing to the eye as the ear (mine is purple).The clean sound shimmers just as much as the ADA I used to have. The distortion I won't even try to compare because everyone has they're own take on things, but I will say it is gritty but clean, versatile, & most importantly, damned useful.I could go on for days about why I love this amp but if you go try one, I'm sure you'll like it. The only real gripe I have is the Sovtek tubes it comes with. I can't understand why he would sell handmade boutique amps with entry level tubes. I replaced the 5 pre-amp tubes with Groove Tubes 12ax7's & what a difference. The clean sound was most noticeable, it became very close to the holy grail Fender twin. Still if you want a Twin, go buy one, this amp is it's own animal & is a lifetime investment in SERIOUS guitar tone!

This is a new 2000 model 50+XL. Seems very versatile even though I have only used it for a few days. It has 2 channels switching with a footswitch, a great effects loop, 2 speaker outputs, adjustable effects loop gain. Has great features, but the EQ for the clean and distorted channel is shared... which is a negative... but I have worked around that by far.

The clean channel unlike the regular Hotrod 50+ and 50's that I have hear,is very good... if I were a person looking to buy one get the 50+XL with the + and XL... the clean sound is VERY fender twinish with my fender strat + with gold lace sensors on the front and middle pickup. It's almost unbelieveable how much they sound alike (I have a Twin (The TWIN) setting next to it. Wish it had a reverb unit, but with the great effects loop I should be able to take care of that easily... I am saving for a 4x12 cab, but for now I'm using a OPEN BACK Peavy Classic 50 1X15 tweed cab. The cab is ok, but since it's opened back it doesn't have extremely low bass responce. With this amp it has really good bass responce, so I couldn't even imagine it when I get my 4x12. The 2nd channel has great saturation, and good low end. Backing off the volume does a good job especially when the amp is cranked. Overdriving the clean channel gives it a wickedly different tone that's inspired me to write some songs around it.. the tone is great! Please write me if you have any questions! This review might be old by the time you read it and I should have a lot more info on settings and configurations as time goes on.

so far so good... haven't had it long enough, so I'm not going to rate it.

Haven't had to deal with them.. but I hear they are a piece of cake to deal with... course if you send your amp back to get it moded... you WILL pay for it.. hehe..

There are only a few things that could make this a perfect amp... seperate EQ for the 1st channel, and built in reverb. I got mine in snake skin and it looks equally as cool as it sounds. I'm going to maybe buy the Fender Reverb chamber that's tube run to try through the effects loop... for now a A3 for reverb. Remember this is the review on the Hotrod 50+XL not the 50+ or 50XL singularly. This one sounds different than the other 2. (The others you can't get the Fender twinish clean on channel 1 since the 50+XL has the highs boosted while the others sound a little duller like the mesa boogie dual rectifier clean channel.)