Soldano SLO100

Mine was a 2002 in purple tolex with none of the mods. I'm completely baffled by the high ratings for features on this amp. The features are pretty limited. Two channels, Clean and Overdrive, with the Clean having the Crunch switch. A pretty weak effects loop. No reverb, though to be honest the amp has such a great natural decay to it you don't need reverb. Also, the knobs go to 11, which is the coolest feature ever, though it has no bearing on how it operates of course. It's got features, but it's no 10.

Played with an Ibanez RG-570, ESP M-350, and Epiphone Les Paul which has practically no stock parts in it any more. I tried it with the 6L6s and the KT-88s. I also ran in both 100W mode and with two tubes pulled for a 50W mode.

Much like features, I'm not really following the mega-high marks in Sound Quality here. I will admit that the clean and distorted channels were pretty good, but a real let-down. Neither one could do anything that my Rect-O-Verb head couldn't do. The Crunch channel is laughable it's so useless and the versatility is non-existent.

It wasn't noisy, and the distortion was really nice, but that's about all it had going for it.

Seemed like I could use it as a bulldozer without scratching it.

Never dealt with them.

I thought this amp would balance out my tone. I already have a Rect-O-Verb which has tremoendous versatility and thought the SLO would give me the more "Marshally" tones the Mesa couldn't do. Wrong. Every sound on the SLO could be duplicated exactly on the Mesa by modifying the EQ, which mostly meant flattening it to where it was doing nothing (the SLO's EQ section seemed to have zero effect unless dialed completely out or at 11).

I want to stress that it's got a pretty good tone in there, but it is, after all's said and done, *A* good tone. And that good tone was nothing I couldn't already get. I've since sold it, it was a real let-down.

1996 production. Rare "Chrome Crocodile" tolex. Completely stock with the tube buffered effects loop and slave out. 2 channel head. I give the features rating of 8 based on the fact that I wish it had seperate EQ's for each channel (not that it really needs it, but I like that on an amp) and an option for a reverb. Other wise perfect amp.

I would like to start off by saying that I just received this SLO today and after tweaking and playing it with my band for a 2 hour rehersal, I would like to give some preliminary feelings about the amp. We play original music in the styles of Queensryche, Fates Warning, Dream Theater, Metallica, Alice in Chains, etc. We also play covers in the same style of music. I played a Hamer USA Californian loaded with an EMG SA single coil at the neck and an EMG 81 HB at the bridge plugged straight into the amp. The amp was plugged into an open back cab loaded with 2 Celestion Vintage 30's and then at home into a pair of Randall closed back cabinets with 2 Randall Jaguar speakers in each. I can't wait until I can plug it into my pair of Mesa Recto 4x12 cabinets with Celstion Vintage 30's. My initial findings are the same as some other reviews here. It is probably the most "honest" amp I have ever heard or played. By this I mean that you will know exactly what your guitar and playing truely sound like with no coloration by the amp. I have many other amps (Mesa Boogie Dual Recto, Mesa Trem-o-verb, Tri-axis, Simul 2:90, Simul 395, Marshal Jubille 2550, Marshall 9100, Randall RG80, Bogner/Hafler Triple Giant, etc.) and you expect and get a certain sound out of them. The Marshall sounds like your guitar through a Marshall, the same with the Mesa amps and the Randall, but the SLO doesn't add any color other than the tone settings you dial in to your taste. If you are just getting into playing guitar and don't have your chops down, don't buy this amp now, wait until you are a solid player. It will put all your weaknesses out there for all to hear. But if you are a good player, you will love how it picks up every detail of your playing. The clean channel has gotten some bad press here, but I find it to be very useful. Crystal clean, clear and full with alot of pressence. Some would probably like it a little warmer and the Warren Hayes mod would fix that. It may also have to do with what pickups others have used, but it worked well for me. The overdrive channel is to die for and is what makes this amp great. The tube cascading circuit that Soldano uses works great. The tone stays true and clear and the sustain is awesome. Chunky and well defined are what you get, not muddy or flabby. I could dial in most off the sounds from my other amps, except for that true Mesa Recto thrash low end. But that is not what this amp is about. The tone controls do work well. I've heard the term "sterile" used here to describe this amp and I disagree. I think some people just think that if an amp doesn't mold or twist their guitar into something it's not then they say it's "sterile", I say it's "honest". You want an amp that makes all your guitars have that heavy scooped mid thrash sound? Then buy a Mesa Dual Recto (no bashing on Mesa here, I love mine for that sound, that's why I own one). If you have to get a certain tone (Marshall, Mesa, Rivera, etc.), then by that amp for that tone. But if you think your amp isn't getting all your style and playing abilities out front in the band, get the SLO. Nothing sounds like it.

Just got it, but as said many times before, "Built like a tank with military grade components". Lifetime transferable warranty. What else could be said?

I've only emailed Soldano technical once to ask a few questions and got a responce the next day.

I've been playing guitar 22 years and have played and heard many amps out there. This is really a great amp. It took me a long time to decide to get one and I'm sorry I waited so long. I do play alot of rack gear also which is in another league of sound, but for a straight amp and guitar sound, you really can't beat it.

2003 model. 3 channels although you can on ly footswitch between 2. Effects loop, slave out, depth mod, warren haynes mod, scoop mod. features 4 NOS phillips tubes top shelf(400 for the quad!) 5 12ax7's (more phillips)

I tried this amp with NUmetal..forget about it. It is very raspy If your into motley crue's tone this might be for you. I'm into John Sykes, Neal Schon, Lukather, Early VH, Zakk Wylde. These tones aren't there. I'm used to a stereo triaxis rig w/ a TC2290 and a lexicon PCM80..so my clean sound Is the ultimate(think whitesnake)..The slo sound pretty damn lame compared to it. Simply sterile and way too bright..The stereo rig is swirling, alive, lush 3d. The SLO crunch channel can be described in 1 word worthless. no wonder you can only switch between 2 of the 3 channels with a footswitch. Imagine mick mars' tone with his gain on 2!(crap). The lead(overdrive) channel has a lot of buzzy gain but has next to no compression..and small amounts of sustain. All the eq knobs really work..I konow because I tried all of them to try to get a good sound! The depth mod is a knob with a cheesy sticker label that says depth. It really works(it only took soldano 15 years to add some bass to the most overhyped amp on the planet. The warren haynes and scoop mods are pretty lame..w.h. mod cuts some of the excessive treble this amp produces(It shouldn't even be a mod) The scoop mod knocks a little of the mids out.(whatever) You have to crank the amp to even tell those 2 mods are even doing something! The amp isn't noisy I play it on 10 for an hour. I hear the lame excuse about overhyped marshalls and others having to be on 10 to sound good. Crap sounds like loud crap when you turn it up. I tried a huge variety of tubes from 40 a quad to 400..Not much difference. This amp reminded me at times of whitesnake w/o compression/sustain.

The amp was mint..They have a lifetime warranty

Great people

I started playing 16 years ago. I have 19 guitars(PRS, old Les Pauls, 62 strat, Fernandes sustainers, Ibanez rg's etc.) A marshall jcm 800, Diezel Herbert, Triaxis/simul 290, Mesa MK3, Fender vibro champ, crate blue voodoo, crate gx15. If the slo were stolen I would have only been upset because of the cost. I would never buy another soldano product..If this is the flagship Why in the hell would I want to hear the cheap stuff? The mark 3 destroys this amp. The triaxis/simul 290 is so superior it's not even funny. The Herbert is like comparing a arion delay to a lexicon pcm 80

Born in 1991, this SLO was the first one bought by Joe Satriani. I bought it used at a local big chain music store. They gave me a screaming deal. It came with GT 6L6 tubes, and ECC83's, has the effects loop, Fender and Warren Haynes Mods, done after the fact from the Soldano factory. Perfect shape, not a scratch on this baby. I'll give it a 9, because I own 2 Bogner Shiva's that have been modded to use the boost feature as a solo switch. Much more versatile.

I use Andersons, Les Pauls and Strats. Because my gigging amp of choice is the Bogner Shiva Head with verb and 6L6 tubes, I'll compare the 2. Firt of all, I must say that for a HIGH GAIN AMP, I have yet to hear an amp with more harmonics and sustain. Mesa Dual rectifiers have more gain, but it is a fizzy quality that I personally do not care for. The SLO is brighter and has more gain on tap than my Shivas, but less thump and fatness. I don't like the sound better, it's just different. For what it does, the SLO is unbeatable...although I will probably stick with the Shiva as my main gigging rig because of its ease of use in the versatility dept. I don't use so much gain anymore, so the extra gain is not as much of a bonus to me like it would be for a metal player. I'm more of a classic rock guy, who needs the ability to go from clean, to crunch to a lead tone all with my feet. The Shiva modded does it with ease. If I compared the two without the Shiva mod, I would give them an equal rating, just different. The SLO's sounds are excellent. Without the Fender mod, its clean tone is sterile, but with it it is quite good, but not as good as the shiva. The Lead tone of the SLO is a bit better because it is brighter. All this is subject to my personal taste, but that is what I hear. Outstanding tone.

Built like a tank, best parts money can buy. Mike Soldano is the cream of the crop, and his amps are outstanding. Eats tubes about every year, but that is to to the hot rodded design. Can't get that sound without it, so no knocks there. Open one up, and you will see the beautiful wiring. The Shiva is the same, although the Soldano has thye best parts, teflon coated wiring, custom Deyoung Transformers, and a much better effects loop than the Shiva.

Outstanding. This is not my first, I had to sell my others due to financial hardship. In all of my dealings with them, Sean, Bill, and Mike are the best. Wonderful people, very helpful and friendly. Mike himself built me a Surfbox ( the last one of 100 ) and Bill and Sean were great as well.

Fantastic value. Even new for 3K, it's worth every penny. You get what you pay for. The Shiva is 1K less, but the custom parts justify the price differential.

Tha SLO has only one outstanding feature. It does everything it was designed to do very..very well, and if anything was added to it, it could very well compromise what it has. Of course in a perfect world, a third channel would be nice. A clone of the crunch channel would do me fine.

Mainly Gibsons (humbuckers), occasionally strats. If you want to know what your guitar "really" sounds like, plug into one of these. Their true character, or lack of, will be layed bare. Every pickup position, volume and tone tweak is obvious from squeaky clean through to heavy overdrive. It should be said that I am, or rather was (almost), a total vintage snob. Driven there by necessity really after spending the last 20 odd years, and countless dollars searching for a decent multi channel amp. Sure they sounded good at lower volumes (though some didn't), but put them in a gig situation, where you're relying on your backline to project and it was usually disappointing. Obviously, and dare I say, luckily for the big amp manufacturers, good sound reinforcement through the PA can make an amp sound much bigger, but you're still stuck with it's inherent tone for better or (usually again) for worse. A good vintage amp however IMO, has a much larger "scale" sound straight up. It's like they project with a bit of weight behind them, fuller, firmer and further. Only trouble with them is they're not always versatile enough, and often they need to be deafeningly loud to get the tone you want. Enter the Soldano SLO. Soldano's are pretty rare in Australia, so when a used one came up for sale at a music store a couple of hundred miles from my home, I just had to have a look. I'd heard the hype surrounding them and I admired some of the guys that use them, but in reality I just wanted to dislike in the flesh what is considered, the best of it's breed. No preamp driven channel switcher was gonna impress me. Well needless to say it did. The overdrive channel is simply as good as it gets. Big, bold, clearly defined and unmistakenly all tube. Sure it's bright and bitey, but that's exactly what a rock amp should be and unlike an amp which is being driven by an overdrive pedal, the bottom end doesn't drop out and leave a gaping hole in the mix, which IMO even the best pedals are guilty of. The crunch channel is also a gem. It's kind of pointless making comparisoms to other amps, but somehow necessary so here goes. Definately a Marshall players amp for sure, but very much with a sound all it's own. I liken it to preferring a cover version of a song to the original. Dynamic, defined and very classy, cleaning up beautifully from the guitar's volume control. Another trait common to good vintage amps, and generally lacking on high gain examples. Which brings me to another point. The old power tube versus preamp tube debate. Before this amp I was firmly entrenched in the "power tube distortion is best" camp, and while I still love my old "crank em hard" amps, the SLO has this way of just looking at you and patiently explaining the facts. After all you can't have a high gain amp without high gain, and that comes from the preamp tubes. I think the trick is to get the right balance between the preamp and the power amp, and I think Soldano got it right on the money. In fact, if you experiment with power tubes, which I recommend you do to fine tune your sound, you'll realize just how much they contribute to the SLO's sound, even at lower volumes, which incidently, still sound pretty full. The clean mode of channel one does the "bouncy" Fender thing pretty well IMO, but you'd have to run it through an open back cab loaded with old Jensens and maybe through a tube reverb, to fully exploit it, and that's not what this amp is really about. Suffice to say, the Soldano is a hell of a lot closer to sounding like a Fender Twin than a Fender Twin will ever come to sounding like a Soldano. The clean sound that I like in the SLO is the lower gain settings in the crunch mode. You can get a big bold "Hiwatt" clean easily in this mode, but you'd have to forego your true crunch setting for it, which is why a clone of this mode, becoming a third channel would be great. But like I said, not if it compromises anythin

I really can't imagine this amp ever letting me down. Foolhardy optimism perhaps, but it's just so well made. You turn it on and there's a dull click that echoes through the chassis that somehow fills me with confidence. The design and layout of the whole amp, inside and out, is so understated that you can almost overlook the amazing workmanship and thought that has obviously been put into it. I've got a 1973 DR103 Hiwatt. Pretty much the benchmark in quality, and the Soldano is definately in the same league. Sure it's PCB, but unmistakenly hand made and uncompromising in every way. I just love the way they've never changed the design since day one, so you don't get any of this "Oh the pre so and so date models are the ones to use". I carry spare tubes and fuses. Reckon I'm safe.. Oh and a Sovtek Midget 50 cos it fits in anywhwere.

The Soldano shop must be around 10,000 miles from where I live, and their service is better than my local music store, which I could hit with a rock (and probably should).
Absolutely second to none, even though I bought my amp used.

I've been playing around 25 years. Have lot's of old amps. Marshalls, Fenders, Hiwatt. Wouldn't swap them for anything. Had lot's of newer stuff too. They're mostly gone. Try everything I can, just out of curiosity. I don't get moved too often by modern gear. Soldano was exception. Really couldn't afford it at the time, but I had to have it. Thankfully I'm irresponsible, and my wife's tolerant.
If it was lost or stolen I would have to replace it for sure. Have to track down another used one though. Wife's not that tolerant.
If you're a player like me that needs a good tone to play at your best, and the aggresive, but oh so refined nature of this amp suits your tastes, I believe you'll be in awe of the SLO. If you're a player that can sound good playing a bamboo Indonesian Strat through a transistor radio you'll be less in awe.. but your audience will be.

My SLO is built in '94, if your reading this review you probably know what Soldano is all about "Amplifiers Built To Rock" depending on your skill the SLO is very versatile, my style is Classical Jazz Rock,
Progressive Fusion Pop! Two Channel w/Foot Switch, Effects loop etc.
The SLO is used in recording studios, live performances in various
venues, simple Pure Tube Tone with great Articulation!

My main guitar is a PRS Custom 22 Artist w/Dragon II pickups. The
tone through the SLO is wide & focus, fat and tight in the lows with a great highend that doesn't screech, sweet mid-tone! By manipulation of the pick it can be smooth to aggressive! for me I really love the amp with 6L6WXT+ power tubes you can bias from -54 to -56(colder), and 12AX7C9 preamps. Through my Soldano 2x12 cabinet and Celestion Vintage 30 spkrs the Clean tone is really nice, if I back off the volume to 9, it's more mellow for jazz type tones, or keep the clean channel on with my TS-808 for a very cool blues tone, or switch to the crunch (ch-1) and the OD pedal with the PRS tone on 2nd or 4th position and you'll get a great mid-power blues tone. Switching to
CH-2 the Overdrive is what Soldano is all about. The tone is somewhere around Lynch-Vai-Holdsworth Smooth..... and even on
11(overdrive) you can hear as everyone else, Every Note!

Every technician will say "Built like a Tank" but with Soldano it's True! My experience has been with my Bogner XTC-C, VHT Pittbull CLX,
both are fine amps! but the SLO goes further! the other two amps have a number of negitives, many options that you'll never use because they tend to sound so close, even when you record it's negligible.
My amp is 10yrs old and it's perfect, what a great amp should be.

I've dealt with Soldano for many years and they are the PRO's! Speaking with Mike is cool as he has worked with so many Pro guitarists, being a guitar player himself he knows exactly what your talking about regarding equipment. Bill has answered every question that I've every had, quickly. Turn around time is fast.

The SLO is an amp that's been used by many pro's over the years, EVH, Vai, Lynch, Clapton, Moore it goes on and on. Many artists have a large amount of amps for creative expressions! There is NO One amp does all! I've own wonderful Fenders with Great clean tone that the SLO would fall short in but with a great guitar to start off with you can get a nice balance! The Overdrive is where it's at! I've own many
modified Marshall's (Jose Arrenondo, Lee Jackson) the better of the rest etc. The SLO reminds me of some of the greatist Marshall Plexi's
with additional high-gain modifications and the best components that are cleaner and clearer. When you open it up at around 5 and so on, it takes on a life, all it's own(power tubes etc.) and every note can be heard! You can hide your inabilities in many of the others! many amps are loud but don't have that something special! If you have an SLO set up correctly with bias, tubes, spkers & cab along with a great guitar you'll be pleased with great tone, Definitely for the Artist! From Hype I had once sold my earlier SLO for a Bogner XTC-C
which was No where near as Awesome as the SLO!!! Mike Soldano believes in his product to give a lifetime warranty (transferable) to as many people that would own it! MANY Amp Builders only give an lifetime warranty to the Original owner! For an amp that has been around the world and chosen more for Tone and Reliability, it's understandable why more professionals have it, Awesome Tone and a Great Tool!

Stock with the Haynes MOD

This review is after 3 years and well over 300 gigs and recording 4 CD's.

Used mostly with Les Pauls and LP style guitars. Various Vintage/boutique FX. Various vintage style cabs.

Despite all the hype about this amp and voodoo about players whove used them all your getting is another decent amp, no better or worse then most good amps that cost alot more or alot less. Im not talking about amps youd buy in Sam Ash or Guitar Center. I would never buy an amp from a chain store 99% of the time. Only strings. With few exceptions those stores carry amps for the kiddies/newbies. This amp is suited for certain things, and for others its just OK.

Considering the price of some boutique amps and vintage amps this isnt an expensive amp either. Its more midpriced when you look at the whole picture. Ive paid alot more for an amp, new and vintage.

Heres some of my truths:

#1- the clean channel sounds NOTHING like a fender or vox or any other famouse clean sounds. At best Id consider it a decent sounding later JCM800 marshall clean channel or just a decent clean channel to get you buy when your mostly using the drive. I own a 67 Deluxe and its not even ballpark. My 72 HiWatt floors this amp. But its passable when your not going for clean in the majority of your playing. At least a tradition clean tone. This amp is all about the gain. I have a 2 amp setup for large, important gigs. I would never use it in the studio. Still its better then many 2-channel-high-gain amps' clean channels. The Bogner XTC clean channel is much better. Much more 3d and dynamic. For a high gain 2+ channel amp anyway. Your style and sound is your own thing but in a traditional sense this is not a great clean channel. Just OK. Decent. I wont even rate it for the clean channel since thats more about flexability. Probably an afterthought. This amps all about the drive channel.

#2 - This gain does not sound like a marshall. Its got the Marshall vibe but Ive owned almost every marshall out there. This is distinctly different from every marshall. Its probably closest to a modded JCM 800 with the really biting top but its still different. Its not modern marshall or mesa in any way. Marshalls, while having a biting top, still have a punchy tone and a deeper throatier tone. More midrange definition.

If you like classic rock, EVH brown sound, EJs tone, Jimis tone, your not gonna get that tone. You can capture the vibe through your technique (Ive seen an awesome guitar player sound like Jimi playing a F&*@ing Dual Recto! it was all his amazing technique) but those tone types are not what this amplifier's about even if it was intended to be. Most of those tones are about power tube saturation and the tone and dynamics that go with it. This is about preamp tube distortion done in a tastefull way.

This may not be a mesa or modern marshall but its still a preamp-tube-gain amp. Its one of the better ones Ive played. The overall tone is a little thin. Its very present in the high end. I think its lacking somewhat in the midrange "body" frequencies, but it has its own sound in that way. Older marshalls have more body, a deeper sound while still having a treble bite. This amps tone seems to me to have no strong character. That by itself may be the amps character. That its crystal clear and has a very even flat EQ. Its not strong in the bass or mids. It is very present in the highs but not like the trebles are boosted. Its just even and clear and cutting. It does cut through well for a high gain amp. The chord clarity with gain is decent but not like a good vintage amp. The chords are a little mushy but still clear. Moreso then most modern preamp buzz garbage amps. As always you cant just dial the inherent tone out with EQ either. Its just gonna eq frequencies that sit on top of the tone like a radio. The basic tone cant be dialed out. Only tweaked to fit a room or sound.

One good thing is the gain is very tight. The break up and responce of the gain when you palm

Emails answered in a day or 2. Transferable lifetime warranty. What more can you expect?

All in all I find this amp to be just a very good amp. Nothing ground shaking. Its a great amp to use if your trying to cover pop/rock songs from the 60's through modern times when a decent gain sound will be more important then clean. It cleans up decent with the volume knob so if your a player with good technique you should be able to get the 3 main sounds you need to cover 95% of songs. That being clean sounds, drive/blues/crunch sounds, and harder higher gain/lead sounds. Theres many ways to do that. You can set up a clean sound and a high gain sound and just back off the volume in the high gain drive channel for bluesier/crunchier stuff. Or you can set up your clean sound, dial in a blues crunch sound in the drive channel and use a gain boosting OD pedal to boost the drive over the top with high gain lead sounds. Or you can have your clean and high gain channels and use an OD pedal on the normal/clean channel for a bluesy sound. If you have the technique that should give you enouph to work with to sound great covering all but the most extreme sounds.

My overall main beef with this amp is just its lack of character. It has no strong or unique voicing. Just a flat, even, strait ahead drive that can be a little too thin and biting. Harsh at times.

People who give this thing all 10's to me dont have a clue. AN amp is just a part of the chain like the guitar and it cant do everything. I dont even think its the best amp at what its doing. I think many people need to stop listening to hype and actually go and try lots of amps and not just read about them. So taking everything into consideration Ill give this thing an 8. Really Id like to give it a 7.5. Nothing is a 10. You cant say thiers nothing better unless youve tried everything and that would take a lifetime.

Mine is a 2002 SLO-100. I wish I had ordered it without the loop, as I run a 3-way system. It has the Haynes mod and the depth mod, both of which I recommend. I agree with other posters that I wish it had the ability to footswitch between the clean and crunch. The button is on the front, so I dont know why they couldn't transfer it to a footswitch (but who know, I'm not a guitar tech). The amp is plenty loud unless you crystal clear - which it can't (and shouldn't) do. Mine has the standard 6L6 power tubes. I've heard them with KT6, and much prefer the tight bottom end of the 6L6. KT6's in this amp sound kind of mushy to me, and less clear on both high end and low end. If you like a very straight forward amp, this one can't be beat. A monkey could dial in a great tone (and probably a few non-primates as well).

I'm 35 and finally attained a position in life where I could afford whatever I wanted. Frankly, I wanted the best, because I earned it. In my search for the perfect amp (notice I didn't say the "only" amp, because no amp can do it all) I listend to them all - Bogner, Mesa, VHT, Peavey, Bedrock, Matchless (and his new company), Marshall, Carvin, HiWatt - and nothing can beat the sound of the Soldano. The SLO is very clear and punchy on the low end, not the buzzsaw tone you'll get from a Bogner and the like. It really can't do Rectifier scooped sounds out of the box, but I'm sure the right tubes and perhaps an EQ in the loop could come close. (If you want that, go for the Soldano Avenger). The other thing that simply amazes me about the SLO is that it can still sound awesome at very low levels.

I play my SLO with a 1982 Les Paul Custom, a 1969 Telecaster, a 1966 Strat, a G&L Strat, and a Floral Ibanez Jem. I think running pickups that are too hot through this amp really detracts from the tone of the amp - and besides that, you simply don't need it. If you need more gain than what the SLO can give out, what you really need is more practice. This amp will not allow you to play trash guitar and cover your mistakes with harmonically clipped noise. It will bropadcast your errors to the world. The reward is that every properly played note will sing and sustain and have tone for days. It will make you a better player faster than anything else will.

Not quite sure what to say about this. A dealer that I trust the most assures me that the Soldano is a tank. Soldano has a life-time transferable warranty, so I guess they're not worried, which is about the best sign a company offered. Still, my dealer had one cut out while showing it to me, and not I noticed mine might need a little tap on the top to get the full volume to kick in. Frankly, though, I blame that on a tube. These things are hand wired, so there is always room for human error. But because of that, any problem is easily fixed.

Call Soldano for yourself. A real person will answer by the third ring and answer any question you have about your amp, and probably any other metaphysical questions you may be pondering about the meaning of good tone.

When you're ready for the best, and want to give your ears a break from the death-metal tone of the minute, go for the SLO-100. This amp is the amp of choice for any number of 80's metal bands, but don't forget that it is also a mainstay for Clapton and other cleaner acts. It still amazes me how an amp with so few "options" can be made to sound so unique to such a diverse number of styles. It is a quality that you can't find in many of the other amps out there.

Pretty much stated above, its not a control board for a rocket ship nor is it the 2 tone knobs on your guitar. Very well layed out.

Im using a Jackson SL-2H mahogany body with mahogany n/t. With EMG 81/85 pups. This thing sounds incredible you can tell its got the Marshall background, but it has its own voice. The amp is more of a hi-midranged amp with the tone controls all set to 12:00(flat) and for those of you who think you can't get any low end, you must have to turn up your hearing aids a bit more! The amp is so responsive, to every little picking technique, and finger movement. The amp has more than enough gain on tap, and with the gain cranked and the guitar volume down aroud 1 1/2 you get great srv tones. All the controls on the amp are very responsive, no need to crank the knobs half way around to get a noticable tone difference, tiny increments will do enough to make a tone difference. The clean is by far the best clean i have ever heard next to a 66' twin reverb, but thats a fender thing. and if your looking for that fender clean, BUY A FENDER!. I can get the clean to sparkle and shimmer and then get it to be very rich and deep, 3d like. you can also get a great rock n'roll tone just by cranking the preamp on the clean channel. The amp beautifull at low volumes, (room volumes) but wait till you crank, it it will sound amazing. This is a very honest amp if you suck, it'll emphasize it, and because of that this amp has made me work on my technique nad style, overall making me a better player. This amp is perfect for large and small venues, and will fit right into the mix when you want it, and cut right through the mix if you want it. Playing leads on this thing is a pleasure very aggresive sound but creamy, if that makes any sence. If you play just 2 notes, and play them right this amp will make those two notes sound like youve played a whole song. Oh and speaking of noise at high volumes, if you are running effects pedals into the amp the 2 grounds will make noise, easily fixed by removing the one ground and or adding batteries instead of a power sourece. becarefull not remove both grounds or else it can cause electracal shock even deadly shocks. Noise can also depend on pickups, cords, amp placement, and power supply, mine makes slight noise, but not noticable, and what amp doesn't make noise???

You could drop this thing off a ten story bulding TWICE and still go on a full year tour. of course you have to change tubes.

Mike is great talked to him over the phone lots, great guy.

Every body has different opinions on the ideal tone, well this amp is MY holy grail of tone! Very expensive this is worth all the gold and silver in the world

And every time i play it, i get goose bumps.

Time to Jamm

Straight forward. Shared EQ. Not a problem for me, and I wouldn't have it any other way. If you want tons of features get a Line 6 and sound horrible.

I play Rock/fusion a la Tony Macalpine, George Lynch,etc.
It has a refined distortion with its own character. The ampn is very honest and as others have said "If you can't play don't even bother with this amp as it will make you sound worse than you are." This si the best sounding amp I have ever owned. I have owned basically every amp out there and nothing comes close period. If you want the best buy this amp and don't waste your time with anything else.(MESA,MARSHALL,BOGNER). If you still think a Mesa or Marshall sound better than this amp after you play one, go out and sell your guitar because you are tone deaf and can't play anyways.

Basically you could drop it out of a plane and it would still work without a problem.

Lifetime warranty... think about it.
Call Soldano anytime and you will talk to someone who actually designed the damn thing. THE BEST!!!

I have been playing for 25 years. I own or have owned just about everything out there. This is the best amp I have ever heard...
What else is there to say??? If I lost it I would buy another one in a heartbeat. They are so good I own 4. By the way, Mesa Rectifiers and any Marshalls are pieces of shit compared to this amp... Maybe I am a little biased...