Soldano Reverb-O-Sonic

Although the amp is not the most verstile in the world. It's got everything I need. I think Soldano believes that the more features you throw in, the more tone gets thrown out, and the more likely something will break. Makes sense to me. I wouldnt want to add any features to it. I admire the simplicity, and Construction. It really is my ideal amp. I play in a band with a loud drummer, and this amp is plenty loud. I rate it an 8 because although It has everything I need, others will no doubt need more. Two Channels/Single three band eq/Reverb/Series effects loop/Two speaker outputs/Reverb, and channels are switchable with footswitch. 5881 power tubes/12AX7 preamp tubes/Soldano Emminence 12" Speakers.

I use an 88' Gibson Les Paul Custom with a Jeff Beck in the bridge, and Alnico II in the neck. And a Fender HM Strat. I plug straight in with no effects except a Dunlop Wah. My music style is straight ahead rock, with maybe a hint of country. The amp suits my style great. It has its own sound, a bell like ring which I can only describe as orgasmic. The amp is very quiet, I hardly notice any noise, and neither of my guitars are shielded. The clean channel stays very clean. turn the preamp to about 5, and you get a little bit of that Beatles," Day Tripper" breakup. Very cool!! Crank the preamp to 11, and you get mega crunch. The Crunch Channel takes up where the clean left off. Heavy gain!! In my opinion the Soldano has the smooth fender type overdrive, not the harsh Marshall grind. This is the amp for me. Heres the deal. I had Bill at Soldano make a few customizations to my amp. Bass boost, and high gain Modifications. These modifications only added a hundred bucks to the price, and they were very worth it.

Only had it one week, but it seems to be very solid. Point to point wired, and hand built. I've heard about Soldano being very meticulous, so I expect it to last forever. I called them while they were finishing it up, and the gentleman on the phone said he had just burned it in the day before, and was playing thru it as we spoke on the phone. COOL!!!!

These guys are great. They treated me like I was the most important guy in the world. No question is dumb enough to irratate them. I understand only seven people work there, so it looks like product qaulity, and customer support are top priority. I was told by Soldano personally that "this is supposed to be a continuing relationship, and not to hesitate to call with any opinions or questions. Owning one of their products makes me feel like part of a family. Thanx guys. Limited lifetime warranty.

Been playing for five years. Owned Marshall, Fender, and Peavy. I would definitly buy this amp again. I love everything about it. I feel like I can go from country to rock to metal with the twist of the dial. Its great!!!! You definitly have to have a desire for this kinda of tone to pay these kind of prices, but its worth it. I compared it to the competition (Mesa, Bogner, Matchless, etc.) The Soldano was cheaper, and sounded better than all of them. I love this amp!! I encourage any Soldano owners to E-mail me with their opinions, and comments.

Features: 50 Watt, all-tube (7 12AX7, 2 5881), with dual channels (Clean and Crunch), tube-driven effects loop, tube-driven Accutronics reverb, dual 50 watt Eminence (specially manufactured for Soldano) speakers. EQ section includes Low, Mid, Treble, and Presence. Both channels share the EQ section. This particular example has the Soldano "Bass Boost" modification, which is an alteration of the Presence control circuit. Each channel has it's own preamp gain control, with separate master volume for Clean and Crunch channels. The front panel of the amp also includes a reverb level control, while the back panel has an adjustable effects loop level control to balance effected clean and dirty tones.
This amp is pretty loaded, features-wise. The shared EQ section, as mentioned, is common to both Clean and Crunch channels, which may detract a bit from overall versatility. Tone controls are very interactive and, unlike some amps, play a dramatic role in the tone shaping and tonal variety of this amp. The effects loop level control can also attenuate some Crunch channel volume (12dB, if I remember correctly), allowing more friendly but toneful home late-night practice volumes. The reverb control provides tremendous control over the amount of reverb, from just a splash of depth, to spacious and soaking wet echo.

I use this amp with three guitars: a 1987 PRS Custom 24 10 Top (loaded with PRS "HFS" bridge and "Standard" neck pickups, a 1985 Fender '62 Re-issue Stratocaster (loaded with Duncan Classic Stack Bridge, and Fender Custom Shop '60s mid and neck pickups) and a 1995 Hamer Special (loaded with Duncan Hot and Custom Soapbars/P-90s).
The style of music I play is rock and blues (and the various sub-genres associated therewith). This amp is eminently well suited to various clean and very crunchy styles. On high volume settings, the amp is astonishingly quiet, virtually free of noise, hum, and hiss, although of course when using the Strat or the Hamer (w/single coils), there is some 60-cycle hum.
The amp sounds fabulous! Both Clean and Crunch channels have their own character and are unique tonal entities unto themselves; in addition, their are many attractive elements in the Reverb-o-Sonic which are reminiscent of Fender, Marshall and Mesa tones.
The Clean channel has pretty good headroom for a 50 watter. With low preamp settings, the amp stays surpisingly clean at high volumes, although this amp certainly would not have anywhere near the headroom of a Twin Reverb or a Hiwatt. Clean tones are kinda like mid- power Fender-style clean (a la Super, or perhaps Bassman). Cranking the preamp on the Clean channel and playing at high master volume levels, the amp takes on a 50 watt Plexi-type character-very open, plenty of grind and lots of body, especially when paired with the Mesa closed back Recto series 2x12 Vintage 30-loaded cab that I pair this combo with. The 50 watt rating permits the output tube to really work.
Soldano copied the clean channel circuit of their top-of-the-line SLO 100 head for the Reverb-o-Sonic, and while I would say that this amp does not offer "exact" Fender clean or Plexi grind on the clean channel, you can get real close, but more importantly the sounds are really "Soldano" sounds and the comparisons to Fender and Marshall are meant only for sake of reference. OK-the clean channel kicks ass, with a range of glassy to gritty tones.
The Crunch channel is wonderful. First, there is plenty of gain for most tastes and styles, BUT this amp does NOT saturate like a Mesa Dual Recto on its very high preamp settings for example. Therefore, players seeking supreme saturation may no be pleased with this amp. There is nice low-volume crunch, but obviously, once you open up the master volume on the crunch channel, thats when the amp realizes its potential. The notes and chords are LARGE but retain definition and even at high-preamp, high-volume level, the amp can remain dynamic. The Crunch tone is not compressed, but open and very "alive" it is a joy.
NOW-HERE'S THE BIG CAVEAT EMPTOR! This amp has been modified (by Soldano), with what is described as their "Bass Boost" mod. This is a mod to the Presence circuit, and it effectively warms up the overall tone of the Reverb-o-Sonic. Maxing-out the Presence control will still get you into very trebly turf, so the mod is somewhat flexible in that you can "undo" its character a bit by creatively tweaking the EQ. But, In my opinion, the Reverb-o-Sonic sounds much better with this mod.

I've only had the amp about two months, so I can't yet give an opinion. Looking inside the amp chassis, all components are VERY neatly assembled, and its basically hand-built. Based on other players comments, I don't anticipate reliability problems.

I have called Soldano for technical advice and the staff is very professional and helpful (no voicemail). You should get instant reponses to your questions.

I've been playing for 16 years, and I've owned a whole bunch of amps, and I would have considered myself predominantly a Marshall guy up until I bought this amp. I recently got a little disatisfied with my Marshalls live (although I love them in the studio). During my search, I tested numerous Fender, Marshall, VHT, Mesa, Matchless, Top Hat, Victoria, THD, and other Soldano models. Once I played this, it just felt right. I just wish it had a separate EQ for each channel, although truthfully, it sounds great the way it is and maybe a separate EQ for both channels would not make that great a diff (I'm not a huge channel-hopper anyway). The Soldano-spec Eminence speakers are very good, although I don't like them nearly as much as Vintage 30s. But using this open-back combo with a closed Mesa Recto 2x12 (w/Vintage 30s) is fantastic-really the best of both worlds, it gives dispersion/openness with focus/punch. Overall, I love the tones, dirty it's warmer than most Marshalls but a bit less midrange-heavy than Mesa DCs or Dual Rectos, and the clean tones are excellent. I think this amp would appeal to a lot of players, as long as EXTREME preamp saturation is not a requisite. I would buy it again. But without the "Bass Boost" mod, I don't like the amp as much.

This amp, as far as features go, is pretty much your basic clean/dirty-sounds-plus-reverb type of combo. It's got separate Master and Volume controls for each channel, with a shared EQ of Treble, Mid, Bass, Presence, and, of course, reverb, with a one-button footswitch for channel select. It does have an effects loop, but I have never used it, so I couldn't tell ya 'bout it. It comes with two Russian 5881's, but I'm not sure about the preamp tube compliment, whatever they are the amp sounds good. This tough-looking amp packs enough power for small to medium-large clubs (and then some), but I wouldn't recommend trying it un-miked for any of those 1,000+ seat capacity clubs that resemble small versions of Carnegie Hall. Anything short of that is perfect, because it sounds good at low and high volumes. I rate it a 9 in features, because although it has all the features I need, and most people need, some will still no doubt need a few more.

Although Blues-rock seems to be its main gig, the amp also would really sound good for alternative rock (great mix of grind and grit), R&B, and Country (you can coax some surprisingly loud clean tones here). It would also be valuable as a Top-40 type setup, for this reason: It seems to change its entire character with different guitars. For example, when I used a Les-Paul type guitar (with Duncan '59 buckers), it really brought out a super-strong brit vibe on any pickup or channel settings, which seemed to just change the TYPE of brit flavor, from a little soulful punch to really over-the-top Marshall type stuff. With a Strat (single-coils), I got a beefy American blues sound with lots of salty, clanging SRV-type punch, and had lots of bright clean headroom, even in the crunch channel (matter of fact, I had to max preamp gain and crank the volume to get anything resembling over-saturation). With a Paul Reed Smith, this is where the amp took you to a completely different world, with all types of clean sounds, and the type of singing-sustaining overdrive usually associated with Santana and Satriani. You really have to hear it for it to really give you and idea. I got the most sustain with a PRS, and, in my humble opinion, the best sound (I don't like the way PRS reacts with most amps). When cranked, the amp doesn't get sloppy, just a little juicier - it doesn't produce too much more saturation, but what it does is great.

I've never heard of too many people having problems with their Soldanos, only raves (of course, logic dictates that there could possibly be a few).

I've never dealt with them and couldn't tell you much about the warranty.

Oddly enough, it didn't quite have that sound I was looking for (as much as I raved), so I didn't buy it, although I feel it is well worth the money (and I mean the $1500 list price as well). Everyone else I've talked to seems to just LOVE it, and if it sounds tempting to you, you probably, no, REALLY SHOULD go and check it out. Chances are you won't be dissapointed.