Soldano Astro 20

[DrewJD82]

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

I am so confused by the expression on his face.

 

[T Gobbs]

I am so confused by the expression on his face.

 

[Achilles]

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

I kinda stopped paying attention after the Suhr PT-15IR and Revv stuff. What has Mesa done???

 

[paisleywookiee]

I kinda stopped paying attention after the Suhr PT-15IR and Revv stuff. What has Mesa done???

Badlander series all have reactive load and IRs, as does the Mark VII. Soon other stuff I imagine. The CabClone IR and IR+ is back in production now that parts are available. They’re not blind to it, that’s for sure.

 

[Whizzinby]

I find myself whelmed. Not underly or overly, though.

 

[norminal]

 

[Devin]

This is the vid that gave me GAS for this thing

Fucking awesome

 

[Tanax]

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

What a tease!

Anyway, regarding this amp, it sounds very cool. As always in Europe, it's very expensive but I guess that's the norm. At least it's way cheaper than the SLO-30! What bugs me though is that the EQ is not save-able to a preset. Come on. Diezel have done this "analog amp, digital preset" thing for years now with their VH-X.

 

[paisleywookiee]

What a tease!

Anyway, regarding this amp, it sounds very cool. As always in Europe, it's very expensive but I guess that's the norm. At least it's way cheaper than the SLO-30! What bugs me though is that the EQ is not save-able to a preset. Come on. Diezel have done this "analog amp, digital preset" thing for years now with their VH-X.

The VH-X was extremely underwhelming otherwise.

 

[la szum]

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.

Yup. 20 watts will always be 20 watts. It basically has the power section (more or less) of a Deluxe Reverb.

 

[GTR37]

Yup. 20 watts will always be 20 watts. It basically has the power section (more or less) of a Deluxe Reverb.

Freidman does ok with it , you can get away with it , if your amp if heavy mids like a Marshall , but Modern High gain IMO the low end will crumble at least he is 6v6 instead of el84 but yeah I think you need about 40 -50 watt min to play at stage volume unmic'd with drummer
if you are going direct to FOH or mic'ing up in rehearsals then 20 04 v25 might work

but in the clips I hear the small amp mush on the lows and fizz in the top end, to much saturation in the power amp

 

[Desertdweller]

Yup. 20 watts will always be 20 watts. It basically has the power section (more or less) of a Deluxe Reverb.

I had a PRS MT15 for a while and it was immediately capable of overpowering the Rectoverb 25 and Mark V25 I had at the time. Volume-wise it could compete with 50 watt heads, however the bass did begin to fall apart at really high jamming volumes. But that’s not the point, 20 watts of EL84 vs 20 watts with bigger transformers and bigger valves will be different.

 

[Tanax]

The VH-X was extremely underwhelming otherwise.

Sure. I always thought they crammed too much into it. I also don't like the big screen. Would prefer smaller LCD strips over each knob, instead of the text that would regular be there, to allow the text to be exchanged based on context.

 

[la szum]

Freidman does ok with it , you can get away with it , if your amp if heavy mids like a Marshall , but Modern High gain IMO the low end will crumble at least he is 6v6 instead of el84 but yeah I think you need about 40 -50 watt min to play at stage volume unmic'd with drummer
if you are going direct to FOH or mic'ing up in rehearsals then 20 04 v25 might work

but in the clips I hear the small amp mush on the lows and fizz in the top end, to much saturation in the power amp

 

[la szum]

I had a PRS MT15 for a while and it was immediately capable of overpowering the Rectoverb 25 and Mark V25 I had at the time. Volume-wise it could compete with 50 watt heads, however the bass did begin to fall apart at really high jamming volumes. But that’s not the point, 20 watts of EL84 vs 20 watts with bigger transformers and bigger valves will be different.

Huh?

You just said what I was saying and then took it back.

Fuck if it ain't the point. For some of us it is EXACTLY the point. Hello!

You play big boy amps, so this should not be some outlandish statement made by me above.

I get that feature laden lunchbox amps are a thing. They are trendy. But if you play with a
drummer and a mic'd kit/kick and yadda, yadda.... mic your amp/cab up, or use a Cab Loader, and pet
your doggies on the way out the door, and kiss your gal goodbye, then you are still going to face the
challenges and limitations that these amps have. That's just the reality of limited wattage and the fact
that headroom tends to run out sooner---regardless of transformer size.

I didn't suggest lunchbox style amps are unusable in every context, but damn if they are not unusable in some
contexts, and I feel like a couple of folks here are trying hard to talk around that fact----even when they know it
is objectively true deep down in their heart of hearts.

 

[Whizzinby]

Yeah but who is buying this to play live at Wembley?

 

[Desertdweller]

Huh?

You just said what I was saying and then took it back.

Fuck if it ain't the point. For some of us it is EXACTLY the point. Hello!

You play big boy amps, so this should not be some outlandish statement made by me above.

I get that feature laden lunchbox amps are a thing. They are trendy. But if you play with a
drummer and a mic'd kit/kick and yadda, yadda.... mic your amp/cab up, or use a Cab Loader, and pet
your doggies on the way out the door, and kiss your gal goodbye, then you are still going to face the
challenges and limitations that these amps have. That's just the reality of limited wattage and the fact
that headroom tends to run out sooner---regardless of transformer size.

I didn't suggest lunchbox style amps are unusable in every context, but damn if they are not unusable in some
contexts, and I feel like a couple of folks here are trying hard to talk around that fact----even when they know it
is objectively true deep down in their heart of hearts.

The difference for me is that the Mesa 25 watt heads couldn't get close to the volume needed when jamming with a band. The MT15 was plenty loud enough, much louder than those EL84 heads, but lacked a bit in bass response at higher volumes.

I would gig with an MT15, i could take one to a jam session or rehearsal. I can't say the same for 2xEL84 heads. That's the difference for me.

 

[paisleywookiee]

Huh?

You just said what I was saying and then took it back.

Fuck if it ain't the point. For some of us it is EXACTLY the point. Hello!

You play big boy amps, so this should not be some outlandish statement made by me above.

I get that feature laden lunchbox amps are a thing. They are trendy. But if you play with a
drummer and a mic'd kit/kick and yadda, yadda.... mic your amp/cab up, or use a Cab Loader, and pet
your doggies on the way out the door, and kiss your gal goodbye, then you are still going to face the
challenges and limitations that these amps have. That's just the reality of limited wattage and the fact
that headroom tends to run out sooner---regardless of transformer size.

I didn't suggest lunchbox style amps are unusable in every context, but damn if they are not unusable in some
contexts, and I feel like a couple of folks here are trying hard to talk around that fact----even when they know it
is objectively true deep down in their heart of hearts.

Why wouldn’t they work with a drum kit if they’re miked, or are using an IR DI?

 

[Blix]

Why wouldn’t they work with a drum kit if they’re miked, or are using an IR DI?

Jam session or rehearsal implies no mics or DI I'd guess.

 

[paisleywookiee]

Jam session or rehearsal implies no mics or DI I'd guess.

Right, maybe I misunderstood this:

mic your amp/cab up, or use a Cab Loader, and pet
your doggies on the way out the door, and kiss your gal goodbye, then you are still going to face the
challenges and limitations that these amps have

Once it’s miked up or DI’d to a PA, I’m not sure what problem there’d be, since you’d no longer have to be running full tilt and losing headroom.