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Soldano Astroverb 16 head review

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  • #1

    Soldano Astroverb 16 head review

    I just got it today. Mint flawless brand new condition.
    I plugged it into my 4 x 12 Carvin cabinet.
    Holy shit. Now I know what the Soldano hype is all about and this isn't even one of the high gain heads!
    With the preamp on 7 it gets an excellent Led Zeppelin/early Aerosmith/Kiss tone.
    Dial the preamp up to 11 and look out jack!
    Dead nuts Dokken/Scorpions/Motley Crue type tone. Actually, it sounds alot like Richie Sambora's tone on Slippery When Wet. Did he use a Soldano?
    This is the tightest most defined high gain I have ever heard. The nice thing about a 20 watt amp is that I can actually turn the head up to 9 and have perfect crazy loud stage volume with no fizz, slop, looseness or loss in definition. It sounds so good tht I am not even gonna use any effects except the reverb.
    It is not over the top so for all you gain freaks I would look elsewhere. What a pleasure it is to be able to tuen up a high end high gain tube amp to 9 and still have my hearing. All the controls go to 11. Cool beans. Soldano gets [img]graemlins/headbang.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/headbang.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/headbang.gif[/img] from me. I can't even imagine how good a SLO must sound!
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  • #2
    Re: Soldano Astroverb 16 head review

    RS used a SLO but I am not sure for that album. One of his SLO heads was on ebay a while back.

    Glad you like it.

    There is a review on Harmony Central that has the Hot Mod in it if you are interested in reading.

    [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

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    • #3
      Re: Soldano Astroverb 16 head review

      That head was sold to Chris Impelliterri by RS long time ago(like 10years)and then he or someone sold it on E-bay.
      I think RS used it mostly on tours and couple of records like his solo album(Stranger in strange town) and Keep the Faith album.

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      • #4
        Re: Soldano Astroverb 16 head review

        UPDATE!!!!!!!!!!!!! I decided to try my vintage Rat pedal on it.
        Distortion on 2
        Filter on 4.5
        Volume on 8

        Holy double shit. More gain than I could ever use. Crystal clear with no loss in definition at all. This pedal is the perfect compliment to this amp head. Un-friggin-believable. I am totally blown away and almost in shock. I am in tone heaven.

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        • #5
          Re: Soldano Astroverb 16 head review

          I use an Analogman Tube Screamer with the silver mod on my Channel 1 (Clean/Crunch) of my SLO (Chuckles recommended it and it really kicks ass - Totally transparent and does nothing to kill the SLO tone... Thanks again Chuck!) and it is fantastic. It is like owning 2 SLO high gain channels in one amp. I ran a Boss OD in front of it for a while but it changed the tone a lot and the modded TS really sounds fantastic in front of other amps I have tried it with too. Glad to know the Rat works well too.

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          • #6
            Re: Soldano Astroverb 16 head review

            Thats cool - it's a neat little amp....I had a combo for a little while and honestly the combo's sound like feces....as soon as it went into an extension cab it was an entirely different amp...I sold mine in the middle of an SLO jones that mutated into a Splawn jones (got the Splawn), but I will get another Astroverb in the future.....Congrats!

            Steve E

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            • #7
              Re: Soldano Astroverb 16 head review

              The fact that I can crank it up to 9 is certainly one of the reasons it sounds so good. I figured that the Soldano Astroverb 16 or the Atomic 16 would sound this good. I was right. The low wattage is the key. Just don't expect too much headroom for a clean tone. It just isn't there. Switching my PRS to single coil sounds decent but I wouldn't consider it very clean. To get a good clean tone you have to back off on the preamp level and dime out the volume. Soldano has always been my favorite guitar tone. Clear, defined and I am sure it cuts throught the mix of a live band with absolutely no problem. As soon as I join a new band I will know for sure. I am thinking about picking up a Genz Benz or maybe a Soldano or Boogie 16 ohm 2 x 12 cabinet.

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              • #8
                Re: Soldano Astroverb 16 head review

                I also had one of these combos. An Atomic 16 actually. I thought it was horrible. Never got to try it through a 4x12 though...
                "Yes,..that's when they used to shove a red hot spike in your peehole until you screamed "yes, yes, godammit ..you fuggin' dicks..I'm a witch..I am witch..you cocksuckers"" horns666

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                • #9
                  Re: Soldano Astroverb 16 head review

                  The combo versions certainly don't seem like the way to go. The heads ROCK!!!

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                  • #10
                    Re: Soldano Astroverb 16 head review

                    Originally posted by jgcable:
                    The combo versions certainly don't seem like the way to go. The heads ROCK!!!
                    <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I ran my combo through a THD 2x12, a Soldano 2x12, and a Bogner Oversize 2x12....

                    The Bogner kicked the Holy Living Sh!t out of all three, and well, is basically one of the best 2x12 cabinets around IMHO....It just gave that little combo the sack it was lacking (speaker unplugged of course...) I'll get the head next time.

                    Just say no to Lack of Sack [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

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