Soldano Astro 20

[Bruce]

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.

Mike Soldano, Dave Friedman, Bruce Egnater and others tied to BAD created circuits used the world over and are passionate about what they do. If you’re pissed off retailers or manufacturers are making money, thats one thing and you may have to do some soul searching as to WHY. But to call a Soldano or a Friedman vanilla? So what products aren’t vanilla? Marshall? Huge company. Mesa now owned by the evil empire? Huge company. I own a Metropolous, very small company. Great amp. I own a few Mezzabarba’s, too. Also great amps. Is my early 2000s Soldano vanilla, or is it now only vanilla because it is under the BAD umbrella? surely all my Marshalls and Mesas are vanilla. Please let me know what is still cool to play.

 

[paisleywookiee]

Right, maybe I misunderstood this:



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.

Still genuinely curious about this. If you’re miked up/DI’d, what difference does it make if the amp is 20 vs 100, it either amp sounds good at stage volume?

 

[Achilles]

Still genuinely curious about this. If you’re miked up/DI’d, what difference does it make if the amp is 20 vs 100, it either amp sounds good at stage volume?

Maybe from a point of not being able to easily use your gigging amp also for jam/practice?

I don't know - I don't think the focus should be on head size or watts genrally, but on each individual amp itself.
My old drummer was loud - huge fan of guys like Cobham, Peart, Bonham - heavy hitters. Both the Bogner Atma and Friedman Pink Taco I had thru a solid 2 x 12 would have easily hung with him in our old rehearsal space.

 

[paisleywookiee]

Maybe from a point of not being able to easily use your gigging amp also for jam/practice?

I don't know - I don't think the focus should be on head size or watts gnerally, but on each individual amp itself.
My old drummer was loud - huge fan of guys like Cobham, Peart, Bonham - heavy hitters. Both the Bogner Atma and Friedman Pink Taco I had thru a solid 2 x 12 would have easily hung with him in our old rehearsal space.

Yeah, and that totally makes sense For a lot of people I’m sure. My ROV25 into a 1x12 hung with a loud drummer, even on “Vintage” (which is the quieter of two gain modes). But I play rock, not really “metal”. You could also tell that it would have been better through a 2x12 or two 1x12’s, because it ”breathes” easier.

I wish BAD would buy Fryette, so we could actually buy Powerstations. I’m starting to think a modular rig would be the best of all worlds.

 

[Whizzinby]

I assume nobody has pulled the trigger? Curious to see how these sound in the hands of normies.

 

[laxu]

Still genuinely curious about this. If you’re miked up/DI’d, what difference does it make if the amp is 20 vs 100, it either amp sounds good at stage volume?

IMO at that point it becomes a feel thing for the player. I usually like the higher power amps because they tend to sound more punchy at the same volume than their lower power brethren.

 

[paisleywookiee]

IMO at that point it becomes a feel thing for the player. I usually like the higher power amps because they tend to sound more punchy at the same volume than their lower power brethren.

That’s fair. They do indeed feel different.

 

[spawnofthesith]

I've even had 50 watt amps that fell apart when playing with a drummer (I'm looking at you rectoverb 50 )

This seems pretty badass, I would like to see a 40-50 watt version tho. But I think its cool they're using 6V6

 

[Elf]

This gentleman has one posted sound samples and a look inside the amp.

 

[PBGas]

I've had it for a bit over a week now and it is fabulous!
I only have my PXM12 to run it through. I have a 1x12 Soldano cab coming in the new year.
Didn't get a chance to run it through the 4x12 at work but will do that on Friday.
That fact that this has 4 great useable channels, built in IRs, an XLR out, etc...etc...is just fantastic.

and I haven't even hooked up my pedalboard to it yet!
Mike did an outstanding job with this one.

 

[ejecta]

I've had it for a bit over a week now and it is fabulous!
I only have my PXM12 to run it through. I have a 1x12 Soldano cab coming in the new year.
Didn't get a chance to run it through the 4x12 at work but will do that on Friday.
That fact that this has 4 great useable channels, built in IRs, an XLR out, etc...etc...is just fantastic.

and I haven't even hooked up my pedalboard to it yet!
Mike did an outstanding job with this one.

I don’t need to be reading stuff like this.

 

[Achilles]

Where's the little whistling guy emoji?




Ahh.........

 

[Iron1]

Is my early 2000s Soldano vanilla…

Yes. But! Im willing to do you a solid cause you seem like a good guy and honestly, I haven’t hit my quota for 2023 yet. So, go ahead and box that vanilla amp up and send it to me and I’ll make sure you’re no longer associated with it.

 

[Achilles]

Not sure if this was posted yet. What a killer demo and review. And this is one of a few I watched today where they actually preferred the Astro over the SLO-30 - and based on tones, not the extra features.

This dude F*CKING RIPS in the best 80s sort of way!

 

[Achilles]

So, got the Astro today and have really only hung on CH2 in the red Galaxy. Yup, it's a Soldano.
Will have more time with it tomorrow but already have a couple big gripes.

1. They chose a TERRIBLE knob style considering how cramped they are. Fine adjustments are extremely difficult.
2. The LED logo is stupid and too bright. You can only have one of the moons (IRs) on at a time so it looks dumb imo.

And DO NOT stare at it for longer than 5 seconds.

Head is bigger and more stout than I imagined. Excellent factory packaging and included accessories.
Pretty hard to believe the SLO-30 is $2,899 while this is coming in at $1,999. Good job Soldano!

 

[GTR37]

So, got the Astro today and have really only hung on CH2 in the red Galaxy. Yup, it's a Soldano.
Will have more time with it tomorrow but already have a couple big gripes.

1. They chose a TERRIBLE knob style considering how cramped they are. Fine adjustments are extremely difficult.
2. The LED logo is stupid and too bright. You can only have one of the moons (IRs) on at a time so it looks dumb imo.

And DO NOT stare at it for longer than 5 seconds.

View attachment 16765

Head is bigger and more stout than I imagined. Excellent factory packaging and included accessories.
Pretty hard to believe the SLO-30 is $2,899 while this is coming in at $1,999. Good job Soldano!

I agree I would change the knobs to the Davies black pointers . $1999 does seem like a steal for all it can do

 

[paisleywookiee]

So, got the Astro today and have really only hung on CH2 in the red Galaxy. Yup, it's a Soldano.
Will have more time with it tomorrow but already have a couple big gripes.

1. They chose a TERRIBLE knob style considering how cramped they are. Fine adjustments are extremely difficult.
2. The LED logo is stupid and too bright. You can only have one of the moons (IRs) on at a time so it looks dumb imo.

And DO NOT stare at it for longer than 5 seconds.

View attachment 16765

Head is bigger and more stout than I imagined. Excellent factory packaging and included accessories.
Pretty hard to believe the SLO-30 is $2,899 while this is coming in at $1,999. Good job Soldano!

Cool that it sounds good! But yeah, those knobs give me hives, just looking at it.

EDIT

I guess I didn’t notice it initially, but those aren’t even the same knobs they use on the SLO30/100. Weird that they’d go with that here.

 

[FuzzyAce]

So, got the Astro today and have really only hung on CH2 in the red Galaxy. Yup, it's a Soldano.
Will have more time with it tomorrow but already have a couple big gripes.

1. They chose a TERRIBLE knob style considering how cramped they are. Fine adjustments are extremely difficult.
2. The LED logo is stupid and too bright. You can only have one of the moons (IRs) on at a time so it looks dumb imo.

And DO NOT stare at it for longer than 5 seconds.

View attachment 16765

Head is bigger and more stout than I imagined. Excellent factory packaging and included accessories.
Pretty hard to believe the SLO-30 is $2,899 while this is coming in at $1,999. Good job Soldano!

Congrats! I was GASing a bit over this amp weeks back. The knobs are an easy change though, a lot of good options these days.

 

[Achilles]

Weird that they’d go with that here.

It's the whole Astro 'spacey' thing. Same with the Logo. Reminds me of The Jetson's.

 

[paisleywookiee]

It's the whole Astro 'spacey' thing. Same with the Logo. Reminds me of The Jetson's.

Yeah I guess. I’d be looking for some traditional SLO’y knobs.