Soldano Astro 20

[Elric]

Man…. all the new modern built in load features etc in one of my favorite amps. Oooof. Didn’t need to see this.

Yeah, I have the 30W SLO but this is a really compelling little amp, in spite of that... Looks like a great home studio type item. I think we are going to see more of these tube amps with a legit digital back end, internal loads, etc.

BAD clearly has invested in an architecture for this based on their 'powered by Synergy' thing. Between them and the Two Notes folks, there will be a couple of options for licensing for tube amp designers that want to meet modern demands for tube amps that can be used conveniently in a direct mode, etc.

 

[Achilles]

tube amp designers that want to meet modern demands

Hey Marshall and Mesa, are you paying attention?

 

[Elric]

It has an IR loader but does it have a reactive load? I’m not seeing it in the specs anywhere. Is the speaker impedance curve more like Two Notes, Suhr, Fryette, or it’s own thing if it has a reactive load? Or does it do what the Friedman IRX does and emulates the power amp to the IR output and turns off the real power amp when the cab output is disconnected?

I'd be pretty shocked if the load was reactive... They'd advertise it if they invested the money to do a good reactive load internally. There's no mention of any technical details on that part of it anywhere.

In the manual it says to set the master volume to 0 when using the amp without a cab connected and to make sure the jacks are clear, so there is probably an internal switch on the jacks for a resistive load to kick in when they are all unused.

They only talk about IRs so I am guessing it likely does not have any digital component there...

 

[Blix]

It has an IR loader but does it have a reactive load? I’m not seeing it in the specs anywhere. Is the speaker impedance curve more like Two Notes, Suhr, Fryette, or it’s own thing if it has a reactive load? Or does it do what the Friedman IRX does and emulates the power amp to the IR output and turns off the real power amp when the cab output is disconnected?

Reactive load according to Leons video.

 

[dk_ace]

All those brands….under the same roof eh?,
Coupled with which retailer that sells all 3/4
AND provides 5 year interest free loans for said products??

Yep…the place where men in suits calling themselves by trade”sales engineers”
selling Les Paul guitars??
Sweetwater
“We got the loan..who the needs tone?”
Loan over tone, that’s why all those brands you mentioned are vanilla.
(That’s a training slogan you rehearse to yourself hundreds of times a day when you work there)
AND act dumb: “I ‘ve never heard of those..
-if it ain’t pourin’ from the gardenhose you
punch-drank from in training

You think the designers give a shit?
-they got engineers in suits selling them like hotcakes.
Returning ‘em, so what?
They stay new or a demo forever.

I’ll create what I need from my bare ass before I buy anything tied to that evil place.

This is BS.

Consolidated those brands have more purchasing power for parts to reduce their costs and also the ability to share manufacturing resources and best practices.

Friedman still independently handles his own Customer service as do many of the other brands as I understand it.

Had it not been for that larger structure, I think it’s safe to say this amp would never have seen the light of day. It gives Amp Designers a chance to design amps and not have to directly manage everything else in-house.

I don’t have anything to do with BAD, but I see the benefits to the industry and us as consumers. If you want to do business with someone doing everything in-house on some sort of principal, there are still companies doing that.


D

 

[Achilles]

This is BS.

Consolidated those brands have more purchasing power for parts to reduce their costs and also the ability to share manufacturing resources and best practices.

Friedman still independently handles his own Customer service as do many of the other brands as I understand it.

Had it not been for that larger structure, I think it’s safe to say this amp would never have seen the light of day. It gives Amp Designers a chance to design amps and not have to directly manage everything else in-house.

I don’t have anything to do with BAD, but I see the benefits to the industry and us as consumers. If you want to do business with someone doing everything in-house on some sort of principal, there are still companies doing that.


D

100%.
BAD is also good people from the few I've had the pleasure of dealing with.

 

[Blix]

Reactive load according to Leons video.

Hm, seeing Petes video and reading the manual, it doesn't appear to have a load at all.

 

[la szum]

This is BS.

Consolidated those brands have more purchasing power for parts to reduce their costs and also the ability to share manufacturing resources and best practices.

Friedman still independently handles his own Customer service as do many of the other brands as I understand it.

Had it not been for that larger structure, I think it’s safe to say this amp would never have seen the light of day. It gives Amp Designers a chance to design amps and not have to directly manage everything else in-house.

I don’t have anything to do with BAD, but I see the benefits to the industry and us as consumers. If you want to do business with someone doing everything in-house on some sort of principal, there are still companies doing that.


D

But @Life Eats Life 's post was way more fun and interesting to read than your call out reply.

Just saying.

 

[JiveTurkey]

 

[dk_ace]

But @Life Eats Life 's post was way more fun and interesting to read than your call out reply.

Just saying.

Next time I’ll add an ai generated graphic to appeal to your need for entertainment.

D

 

[aivoryuk]

Hm, seeing Petes video and reading the manual, it doesn't appear to have a load at all.

It is a bit confusing as Pete's video says it has power amp simulation - but in the comments of Henning's he says there is not power amp modelling.

 

[Life Eats Life]

100%.
BAD is also good people from the few I've had the pleasure of dealing with.

I never said they were BAD people, ever.
No beef Friedman either, had many of his amps.
I actually enjoyed troubleshooting issues with Dave.
We always got it sorted.

 

[Desertdweller]

It is a bit confusing as Pete's video says it has power amp simulation - but in the comments of Henning's he says there is not power amp modelling.

Sounds like they didn't do a good job of explaining it to influencers as they're giving out info that may be contradictory to the manual. I'm not seeing it labeled as a feature anywhere either.

 

[nicolasrivera]

I want this amp SOOOO BADDDDD

 

[Orvillain]

Hmmm. This is quite interesting, but not a 20-watt amp. 50-watt minimum for me really.

I like the simplicity and the midi switching, along with also switching the boost feature. But I just don't like low wattage amps at all.

Most of Leon's stuff sounded great, but quite a few of the riffy sections had the tell tale compression+poweramp saturation type of sound that I don't really dig. I want more headroom in the poweramp really.

 

[ejecta]

I want this amp SOOOO BADDDDD

 

[ejecta]

Hmmm. This is quite interesting, but not a 20-watt amp. 50-watt minimum for me really.

I like the simplicity and the midi switching, along with also switching the boost feature. But I just don't like low wattage amps at all.

Most of Leon's stuff sounded great, but quite a few of the riffy sections had the tell tale compression+poweramp saturation type of sound that I don't really dig. I want more headroom in the poweramp really.

Yeah I’m not huge fan of 6V6 and I’m thinking I may be hearing that there too.

 

[paisleywookiee]

Hey Marshall and Mesa, are you paying attention?

Mesa is, because they’ve already released a few amps with reactive loads and IRs, with more to come.

 

[norminal]

Very impressed with this little amp. @2112 and @BigHairyGuitars got some killer sounds out of it.

 

[GTR37]

I like Soldano mids but there is something in the low end I am not digging on the Hi gain stuff, it just sounds like it’s crumbling or like mentioned above power amp is compressing
The Red is probably my fav

That said if Bogner ever did this
With a clean and overdrive channel
That did Shiva , XTC blue / Red
Uber, I would be all over it