Soldano Hot Rod 50 (not +)

[charvel750]

Guys, I have a chance to snag a Soldano Hot Rod 50, the single channel version, not the HR 50 Plus. Can you get a good clean tone with lots of headroom? I think it's possible through the low input and then a low preamp volume with a high master volume. Will that get me a good clean tone? I think some Soldanos (the Avenger?) you cannot get a convincing clean, so what about the HR 50? And is the HR 50 plus any different other than the 2 channels? Any opinions or info on this head would be appreciated thanks.

[charvel750]

Anyone?

[DonP]

Never tried a Soldano.

[ulijdavid]

Never played one or heard one, but heard Gary Moore in an older concert video play through one and his sound was incredible. Of course, Gary Moore could play through a microwave and still sound amazing.

[horns666]

Shit, sorry for the laste reply but I just saw this. I had three different Soldano heads during the early 90's. The SLO100 was too expensive for me at that time.
The first was a Soldano SL60. It was an import and I paid approx $550 bucks for it used. It wasn't very heavy sounding, not as tight as a Marshall or even the SLO, but it had a tad more gain than a Marshall 2203. It sounded alot like VH "Fair Warning" tone to me...especially "Unchained". It had alot of Midrange homk to it when loud..darker than a Marshall. I got rid of that and traded that in on a American HR50. I figured this was closer to getting a REAL Soldano..not the case. The Import SL60 killed IMO. The HR50 was alittle more "flubby" with a looser bottom end and a spongier, creamier lead tone. I took that back and traded that toward a HR100..which had a little more bottom, focus and not as spongy. But still not as sweet as the cheaper SL60. Other than that, my convictions are that none of them sounded nearly as good as the real deal..the SLO100.

By the time I could afford one. My taste in tone and playing morphed into something alot more heavier. I was no longer trying to sound/play like Eddie anymore. So my amp of choice of that time was the Peavey 5150..

Ironically, the only amp I had that nailed Gary Moore's COP/VITF tone was my Mesa MrkIII..before he did the whole blues thing.

[Firebird V]

Hey Joe.

I had that head but with a depth mod in it. Cleans were decent and had some good headroom for a 50 watt head but ok cleans. Not Rivera/Fender/Roland/Mesa cleans - more like Marshall cleans but with a bit more clarity. I would not be buying it for the cleans... Those heads sound pretty good driven though or at least mine with the depth mod did. It was the dual input single head like the one you are looking at ... the magic is The SLO though.

The depth mod in the HR 50 really makes the bottom end thump and tightens it up. I have owned 2 of those and spent years with those.


FYI. You cant plug into both inputs and use a switcher box to change the hi - lo gain tones like an old vertical input <arshall. It isn't wired the same.

let us know what you decide.


The solo 50 rectoverb head has really nice cleans and the reverb works great with it. They can be had used for about the same cash as a HR50....

I am more of a Soldano guy than a Mesa guy but the Rectoverb had much better cleans.


The HR50 2 channel head has its own gain setting on ch1 right? I think that is the big difference between the two. I have never owned one of the 2 ch HR heads before but I did play through one and the lead channel sounded the same.

The HR is very responsive to guitar volume roll off.

[charvel750]

Thanks for your inputs, I pulled the trigger and will post pics/review when I have it...

[Firebird V]

Cool.

Good luck finding in "your" tone.

[DonP]

I'm curious as to how itt sounds compared to your Marshalls.

I need to find some Soldano schematics to see what make these tick.

[chrisolson]

The solo 50 rectoverb head has really nice cleans and the reverb works great with it. They can be had used for about the same cash as a HR50....

I miss my Rectoverb....

[charvel750]

I'm curious as to how itt sounds compared to your Marshalls.

I need to find some Soldano schematics to see what make these tick.

Yeah, because my favorite amps these days have been Marshalls: a '78 JMP 100 watt with JJ 6550's and a JCM 800 50 watt with GT EL-34's. I've always wanted a Soldano, not sure I want to drop the nearly 4G's on a SLO, but even the HR's hardly come up on eBay...

[tgreensl1]

I almost bought a single channel HR50 once and It sounded awesome. I just wanted a HR50+ so I finally found one today. Can't wait til it gets here. It's gonna rock!!!

[charvel750]

The Soldano Hot Rod 50 arrived and it's really pretty nice. Here's some pics and a quick review:






From what I can tell it was made in August, 1992. Mercury Magnetics transformers and choke, 2 GT 6L6 power tubes and GT 12ax7 preamp tubes (4). Controls are simple, just like a Marshall JMP Master volume: preamp, master, presence, treble, mid, and bass. I'm playing it through a Marshall JCM 900 1936 2X12 cab with Celestion V-30's and I've used my Charvel SD Tele dual hum with Floyd. I checked the bias and it was COLD! Do they come from Soldano like this? Plate voltage was 513 and the 6L6's were reading only 13 ma! Woah, I moved it up to about 34 ma which is approximately 70% dissipation for those tubes.

I was happy to find it can do a really nice clean tone with great headroom when you use the low input jack and keep the preamp volume low compared to the master. Turn up the preamp full and you can get a nice blues/AC/DC tone. The high input yields over the top gain (the controls go to 11!!!) and with the EQ you can really get great rock tones up to hard rock. Like everyone says, this gain allows you to hear every string in a chord. It's fat, and you can get pinch harmonics no problem. Rear controls allow for an effects loop, choice of impedance (4, 8, or 16 ohms), and slave out with control. So while this was the most expensive amp I've bought yet, it is certainly well worth it. I haven't used it with the band yet but will take it to practice Friday. Should be most excellent. Now I just have to save up for the SLO!

[DonP]

Cool. I'm curious if after the honeymoon is over if you still prefer it over the 78 JMP100. I have Marshall 100 watt iron from a 1979 combo, that I want to make into a head. I'm just trying to determine who's preamp schematic to use - Silver Jubilee, 2203, 2210, Soldano, Mesa, etc.

Maybe mate a SLO100 preamp to it with a quad of GE 6550's I have sitting around? Last time I built it with these 6550s it was putting out 120 watts RMS clean.

[nhspike]

That looks really nice!
Glad you're diggin' the cleans.
Can't wait to hear what you think of it after playing with the band Friday.
That's always the best test... can you punch through with dynamics?
Congrats man!