Soldano Astro 20

[FuzzyAce]

Snakeskin adds a bit more bite to the tone fwiw.

 

[laxu]

I always liked the purple tolex but hated having to pay a premium for it.

Story of all but custom built amps. I hate the boring black tolex found on most amps, all of them look better with another color. Dark blue, dark green, off-white, purple, snakeskin.

 

[FuzzyAce]

Does anyone make a purple sparkle yet? I've seen the blue, red, white and silver ones.

 

[Achilles]

I hate the boring black tolex found on most amps.

Total opposite. Nothing wrong with a cool faceplate or panel treatments but I prefer black for the enclosure itself.
If I could find one of these in black I'd buy it in a heartbeat! No offense to any owners, but I dislike this covering option.

 

[GTR37]

Total opposite. Nothing wrong with a cool faceplate or panel treatments but I prefer black for the enclosure itself.
If I could find one of these in black I'd buy it in a heartbeat! Nooffense to any owners, but I dislike this covering option.

View attachment 20729

I think my dad might have a matching jacket

 

[Achilles]

I think my dad might have a matching jacket

I've also read multiple reports of the glue they use to tack in on eventually seeping through the covering in places.

 

[Achilles]

 

[laxu]

Total opposite. Nothing wrong with a cool faceplate or panel treatments but I prefer black for the enclosure itself.
If I could find one of these in black I'd buy it in a heartbeat! No offense to any owners, but I dislike this covering option.

View attachment 20729

I'm not a fan of that Morgan look either. It's a bit like a drab gray suit you'd find in a thrift store.

But I'd take this over the standard black any day.

 

[Elric]

Story of all but custom built amps. I hate the boring black tolex found on most amps, all of them look better with another color. Dark blue, dark green, off-white, purple, snakeskin.

When I recently got my Elmwood M60 in the coveted red birch headshell, my wife was like: "Oh God, WTF? That new amp is so ugly; it's RED!" LOL. Issue being it doesn't 'match' any of my other stuff, which is, of course, black.

 

[Iron1]

Snakeskin adds a bit more bite to the tone fwiw.

Like they say, ya can’t spell “tone” without “tolex” … wait…

 

[madmarcus1960]

I picked up a 4 month old used Astro at a great price. I played mostly AXE 3 and a KPA for the last several years.
I still have a small collection of speakers. Eminence Gov'nor, Wizard, Texas Heat, and an old Celestion 12H-100(from a Yamaha DG-80).
Any advice as to which might be a good match. I have a 2x12 cab to fill, and 2 112 cabs that I could use.
I'm not adverse to getting another speaker if it's a better fit. I don't play metal, but like a good violin-ish lead tone and sparkly cleans that go well with modulation.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

 

[FuzzyAce]

I picked up a 4 month old used Astro at a great price. I played mostly AXE 3 and a KPA for the last several years.
I still have a small collection of speakers. Eminence Gov'nor, Wizard, Texas Heat, and an old Celestion 12H-100(from a Yamaha DG-80).
Any advice as to which might be a good match. I have a 2x12 cab to fill, and 2 112 cabs that I could use.
I'm not adverse to getting another speaker if it's a better fit. I don't play metal, but like a good violin-ish lead tone and sparkly cleans that go well with modulation.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

I don't have an Astro but picking the right speaker for you is something you'll just need to experiment with. Out of the ones you mentioned I do own the Governor. I think it's a great speaker overall, nice punchy low end with less upper mids than a V30. I'm guessing it would work well with the Astro so give it a try since you have one.

 

[madmarcus1960]

Thank you

 

[Achilles]

Learned a long time ago it's all about personal taste with speakers.
That said it always come down to the same half dozen or so in the end
so it gets pretty easy to decide.

You usually weed out what you don't like first.

 

[Enchilada Jones]

I picked up a 4 month old used Astro at a great price. I played mostly AXE 3 and a KPA for the last several years.
I still have a small collection of speakers. Eminence Gov'nor, Wizard, Texas Heat, and an old Celestion 12H-100(from a Yamaha DG-80).
Any advice as to which might be a good match. I have a 2x12 cab to fill, and 2 112 cabs that I could use.
I'm not adverse to getting another speaker if it's a better fit. I don't play metal, but like a good violin-ish lead tone and sparkly cleans that go well with modulation.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

I can testify the Eminence Gov'nor works well with the Astro 20
I also liked using a Mesa Theile 1x12 with a Electro-Voice EVM12L and right now a semi open 1x12 Egnater cab with a Mesa BlackShadow 90.
All of them are sounding good. I think the Black Shadow is my favorite right now

 

[Achilles]

I only used mine with a Greenback and it sounded righteous.

Seems like the Astro's a pretty speaker friendly amp! Always a good thing.