Voodoo Amps Soldano Hot Rod 50+ XL Mod

Just wanted to add that almost 2 years later and I stand by my original comments. I had the amp repaired by Soldano but ended up selling it to recoup some of the money I lost in the deal. Make sure you know what you are getting before you let ANYBODY touch your stuff. Rock on.

2001 Soldano HR50+XL. 2 channels - Normal and Overdrive. Effects loop. Used for Classic Rock and Hard Rock sounds. What I asked for were some basic tone shaping tweaks and to make the tone controls more responsive. I was told by Trace that to get the best sound out of the amp that I shouls replace the output transformer with an OEI "Plexi" output transformer. FWIW, the original transformer was a Mercure Magnetics which are generally thought to be excellent transformers in thier own right which made me a little skeptical but I went for it anyway. I asked for the original transformer back just in case. They also added a "Girth" switch that is supposed to add more of something??.

I play mainly Strats and G&L's with Humbuckers in the bridge position. The amp sounded decent when I bought it stock but I felt it could be made a little better - i.e more to *my* liking. After reading the glowing reviews here and speaking with Trace on the phone and via email I decided to send the amp to Trace and Voodoo Amps for the above mentioned modifications. The best term I can use to describe the sound of the amp after these modification is harsh
and weak. The overall sound is very trebly and grainy through every cab I have played it through including various Marshall and Soldano cabs that are loaded with Celestion G12H-30's and G12T-75's and Weber C12B's. The Overdrive channel lost allot of gain and is pretty dead sounding now. Before it had that nice, compressed SLO type sound to it. I just wanted it to be a little more "balanced". The Normal channel is just terrible and is very shrill sounding. Totally unusable for me. Overall I am extremely disappointed in the sound of this amp. It sounded much better before the mods.

The other thing that I am very disappointed in is the quality of worksmanship. I have heard other folks say that Trace is "the best" but I'll tell you what...I have owned, played, and maintained guitars and amps for almost 25 years and I am saying that this is some sloppy, fast, work that was done with no appreciation for the owners feelings or the resale value of the amp. I don't care who says what, this is some of the most low-budget work I have ever seen. I have some pics for those who are interested at http://www.frankencat.com/voodoo. The black goop is hard epoxy resin that is ectremely hard to remove if possible at all. The
transformer pics are there to show that he cut the leads so short that is was almost impossible use it again even though I made it clear that I possibly wanted to use the transformer in another amp.

FWIW, the box was banged up a bit when I recieved it and it looked as though the amp could have been damaged. Upon inspection I found no signs of anything being damaged but when I turned the amp on it was apparent that a few of the tubes had been damaged and there were
crackling sounds. After replacing all of the tubes (preamp and power tubes) it was functioning normally. When I called Trace to confront him about these issues he said he was sorry and wanted to make it right. Part of making it right was to have me send the amp back
to him but after seeing his work, I decided not to. Trace said and still maintains that the amp must have been damaged in shipping and that is why it sounds so bad. I will tell you that other than the tubes, there was no apparent damage done to the amp. He then basically had his shipper (Mail Boxes Etc.) file a damage claim and I have since sent the the amp to Soldano to be rebuilt by Soldano at the expense of MBE ($750 for repairs). Pretty weasely way to "make it right" IMHO. I never did get reimbursed for the $350 that I paid to Voodoo Amps for their "work". They even wanted another $150 that they said I owed them. I don't know what that was about but a) the total price was aggreed to before the work started and b) I wouldn't give them another dime even if I did "owe" it to them because they RUINED my amp with thier crappy work. FWIW, when Soldano got the amp and saw the work they were APPALLED and told me so.

I am totally displeased and fell downright ripped off by this character. When I originally posted these pics on the net he threatened to sue me. I have since realized that you can't sue someone for thier opinion. This is a free country and I am posting this review as honestly and accurately as I can (although Trace will almost certainly say that I am lying). All I can say is to go and look at the pics and see what you think before you send these guys your amp. One last thing that I will add is that when I was researching Trace and Voodoo Amps I read every review posted here and I only came across one negative review. It was from a guy who apparently had a Soldano SLO modded by Trace and he said that the amp literally "crashed and burned" when he got it back. He was very negative and warned people not to send thier stuff to Voodoo Amps. I asked Trace about this and he was so happy that I pointed out the review that he gave me a $75 discount on the work I was asking about and then he contacted the webmaster and had the review removed from the database. Well that could be why you only see the glowing, positive, "10" reviews here. I have contaced the webmaster myself and notified him about this and told him that I intended to post this negative review and that I FULLY expect it to stay here. I am posting my email address and he has my contact info so there should be no excuse to remove this revie from the database. Let the buyer beware. Reviews can be manipulated and seemingly "nice guys" can do just as crappy work as any of the obvious "jerks" out there. This guy is a legend in his own mind. He even signed the inside AND the outside of the amp with permanent marker. Talk about an ego trip!