RIG OF THE WEEK - Soldano SLO30 - NEW FOR 2020 

Have a Good Friday everyone!

I was gonna buy a Soldano but my wife found out and made me buy the house instead.

Design your own overdrive and call it Ola-Drive.

this is my kind of tone, FAT but still has that tightness aswell

Soldanos are perfect, the only thing I don't like about them is the price... I still want a SLO.

I think this is the best amp he's played through. Period.

A true connoisseur of chug tone can chug on a drop C power chord for 18 minutes...and we're all right here with him. Thank you Ola! You're a light in the darkness.

This probably the best metal tone i ever heard

Have a Soldano Avenger 100, but really want one of these too. Such a full, harmonically rich sound. So addictive to play. The SLO and the JCM800 are the two greatest amps ever created.

Soldano has the most appealing tone for my ears. Super rich sounding. I know it is expensive AF but I'll dilligently save for buying me one. Even if it's just for being a bedroom/studio warrior. Everything for that smile on my face.

Probably one of the very best sounds I've heard from Ola on his channel. There's a reason the SLO has gone for big dollars for years

Ive gotta say this is a really good review of this amp, no BS & actually goes thru all the features & tones of the amp. . Good job!

Killer riffing at the beginning, sounds like you've got a hit on your hands. That Soldano is.... so sweet, this is my favorite of the series so far. Thanks Ola.

This amp sounds sooo good man! Thanks ola.

Love the crunch on the clean channel, sounds superb

I'm so glad to hear these amps in the mix in your videos again!! Thanks for making the best videos Ola!

The guy that rips for Govt. Mule still plays one. Very well. Warren Haynes I believe. Some the best tone out there.

The SLO circuit is the exact same one as was used from the very beginning and for an amp from 1987 to hold water as a modern metal amp in today’s standards really say a lot about its credibility and to me it is still the ultimate amplifier. Should have bought one in 1998 for $1200 when I had the chance.

Wow that sounded amazing. The moment you clicked the crunch on the normal I was hooked. The OD channel is just so rich. I loved the review.

Love that balance of meaty, tight low end, the q value of the mid, just right saturation, and just right brightness. Basically, what am always chasing with my Recto/Tubes/Pedals.

For any folks wanting to make the overdrive channel a little more open and have a little more headroom for pedals, put a 12au7 preamp tube in the second preamp position. Works great.

I was on the fence about this amp until this video. This is undoubtedly the greatest amp of all time. Buying one for sure.

I just love how clear, tight and chunky it is and love the mids on this! 👌

Boy, that clean channel with the crunch sounds fantastic.

I don't normally go for a crunch tone, but that crunch sounds pretty damn good, as does the clean surprisingly.

👍🏼 I have the SLO Module in my Synergy rig. Love it!

Can’t wait to get my hands on that Solar! Very nice review Ola, particularly liked the Davidian riff. Keep up the great work. Warm greetings from Manila.

That is a little beast. This one and the Invective are pretty killer sounding amps. Great job Ola!

Due to whatever reason I was never into Soldanos. After Neural DSP released the SLO-100 plugin this very day I'm kinda diggin' it. I have to say that the amp in this video sounds absolutely amazing! Thanks, Ola!

"Oh. It goes to 11. But of course." 😂😂😂 I'd kill for a Soldano!

That setup sounds extremly pleasing to my ears!

That depth control adds some serious thump! That amp sounds epic

Hell yeah! I've been wanting to hear more of this amp! I'd love to see what you could do with the Bogner Ecstasy 3534 too. These smaller amps are getting better and better these days.

@10:33 Ola: Per your comment about the perception of the "boost"-like character of the amp when turning the knobs in the 9-11 range, I think that that is due to the use of premium high-value pots in the amp chassis. I recently got a wiring harness with 585k VIP pots and Vitamin Q capacitors (from Jackson Electronic Luther, Houston, TX) for my Gothic Les Paul which has Seymour Duncan Sentient/ Pegasus pickups loaded. They really have a wide sweep on them and because of this, you can really fine tune your tone in the lower ranges as well. I think it also adds a massive amount of clarity to the pickups and their output. These high-volume pots behave in a similar way to what you are describing when you are cranking the EQ and other knobs to some of their higher settings. The strongest character change happens between 8 and 10 with the pots and I'm using now. This was characteristic of some of the military grade vintage parts that were used in old Gibson's back in the 50s. Just a hunch but I'm willing to bet that's why it behaves that way. Thanks for a cool demo. I'm off to play lottery so I can get one.

Man, I've wanted a SLO forever. Played through one a few years back and it was pure heaven.

Love ya Ola! Love your hard work videos! Great job

When Ola gets stuck just playing with the gain knob you know its good. He was content with the sound and enjoying playing before he even dialed in the amp

Have always loved SLOs. Met Mike at NAMM several years ago. I believe he’s in partnership with (new) company that’s actually making his amps now. He kinda owned the late 80s. Guys were hotrodding Marshalls for more gain in LA and other places. The SLO was described (back in the day) as a hotrodded Marshall right out of the box- tho Soldanos used 6L6s in the power section. An EL34 option became available eventually, I think, Many name guys players used SLOs in the late 80s. There was a rumor that EVH used one in the studio (don’t recall the recordings) and used the SLO design as a guide when he hooked up with Peavey designer James Brown to come up with the first 5150. SLOs were used by bluesier players too. Both Eric Clapton and Mark Knopfler used them on late 80s/early 90s tours. They sound great in lower gain applications. When Gary Moore cut ‘Still Got The Blues’ circa 1990, the story from guitar mags and later on Internet forums... was he used an SLO and a Tube screamer in the studio. In later years Gary said he used a Marshall Bluesbreaker combo and their Bluesbreaker OD. Whatever. In the (excellent) ‘Still Got The Blues’ concert video from that time, he’s clearly using an SLO. Warren Haynes began using an SLO when he joined the Allman Brothers circa 1989- and it’s still (usually) the core of his live sound -in Mule and solo in 2020. As mentioned, Mesa was paying attention in the late 1980s and Rectos came along fairly quickly..as did various other gain monsters.. I’ve Always wanted an SLO and there was a time in the early 2000s when- if you kept an eye open- they could be found a bit less expensively on guitar forums or eBay. Great to hear the signature SLO sound is available a lower power format. Also great that Soldano...one of the (or The) OG high gain amp makers is Back.

Great amp, love your videos and hello Ola!!

Awesome video Ola! Thanks for the great demo. Soldano’s always remind me of Silverchair (90’s)

HOLY CHUG! That sound is immense!

Great riff at 13:40 Ola! The amp sounds killer!

I can always tell when you are into the gear. From the first channel on the amp - knew you were digging it.

I loved the tone you got from the Soldano Hot Rod back in the day... And this my good man sounds just as killer.

The most intresting thing about this demo is how much better the SM58 sounded compared to the M160.And those Soldano amps are great!Like the normal chanel with an overdrive the best.

I always find myself hoping he goes for a lil’ Time (will not heal) whenever he’s got a great tone going on. That riff and merrows pillars of recreation are just the sexiest

Goodness gracious, that’s absolutely wonderful! Love Soldano.

Nasty playing as always Ola!!!!

Was glad to see your happiness with the Soldano. I've had my SLO100 for a little over 10 years now and I've not found another amp I like as well. I use an old original Rat, Tube Screamer, or old yellow DOD 250 preamp for gain pedals, the old Rat is my 1st choice. New Rat pedals like you demo'd a couple months ago suck, you need to try to get an original Rat to demo. And yes the tone controls on a Soldano actually do something. And on the Soldano's run your gain/dist pedals thru the preamp and not effects loop, IMO they sound better. Rock on....

SICK. This thicc, unboosted tone is begging for some Cantrell riffs

You don’t know how much I waited for this!

haven't been this excited about a new amp in a long time

For real. This sounds amazing. I think one of your best tones tbh

I'm totally in love with my Soldano SLO clone by R&R, 50w 1u all tube rack head, got it for like 200$, best deal of my life

Kick ass opening riffs Ola!

Love my SLO-30. So versatile and such a great sound!!

hmm... theres a reason I dont own a Soldano amp "Soldano SLO30 preorder on Thomann - €2,647.95" ahh... there it is :/

This is one of the best 6l6 amps I’ve ever heard. He’s right about the Mesa-like sound but it’s got more body to it. BUY IT OLA!!

Man, riffs are coming from everywhere!

Just orderd one ! Can't wait.

I know it's too late now, but the SLO circuit doesn't start to really kick your ass until you get the volume up past 4 or so. It opens the amp up, and is VERY impressive. Loud as hell, but it makes the amp sound much better than other amps at the same decibel level

That thing is wicked. Sounds like you could get a great Van Halen brown sound going. Super cool with the OD.

Fantastic tone indeed, even the clean!

Really love how you had those clips leading up to the actual sound demo.😈

This thing eats dual rectifiers for breakfast.

Nice, these look sick. Great demo too. A long time ago I bought a Jet City JCA22 and added 5 mini toggles that swap out some resistor/cap values plus a depth knob and honestly it sounds just as good as any SLO I've played and it cost me ~$280 and a few hours of soldering, so the price point of this amp puts it a bit out of my acceptable range, but it would be nice to have the pair of 6L6's, since my jet city is an EL84 variant. It's funny, the argument in the past for buying the SLO over the jet city stuff was that the transformers on the SLO were so beefy etc that it affected the tone. I'm interested to see how this one's $2800 price tag will be justified... and if Mike Soldano regrets making those jet city amps with nearly identical circuits and tone...

cleanest sounding distortion ever! So spongy! love it!

From all of us "Beautiful - Beautiful Members" We love you right back Ola👶! 🤘

That amp is a 100% absolute KEEPER!

Top tip - use a Klon-alike overdrive with the crunch channel of Soldano-based amps (works for the Jet City amps too), and make sure you're sitting on an old chair in case of accidents. Seriously, it's an out-of-this-world tone you just won't want to be without.

That sounded incredible!

Zero plans to ever buy any of this gear, I just love these videos

I like the sounds of the soldano. Out of my price range in this current economy

I love this amp, you should do a demo of the Marshall DSL20hr! I know a lot of us have it and would love to see you demo it!

Those riffs,tone and drums really inspire, cant wait for my son to nap

Sounds huge. Sick section at the start

Everything sounds so good through that Mesa cabinet.

Slodano's are amazing.

I’m a simple man. OLA ripping makes me happy!!! 🤘🏻🤘🏻

This circuit is a classic...hard to beat

Can't spell Soldano without "Ola." Killer. Killer. Tones.

Based on all the expletives, I'd say the 30 definitely does the thing.

I have a Hot Rod 50+ that is awesome with the Nano Attack. You hit the nail on the head. A classy, classic distortion that is not very common anymore.

That was humorous and badass . You're amazing.

It looks like they got rid of the "sizzle" sound they were known for.. I sold my HR50XL because I could never get rid of the sizzle. Sounds great!

Favorite expression of the video "Holy Finance!" and appropriate given almost 3k for a 30 watt tube amp head. More than Bogner or Friedman.

The snare sounds better than usual. Sick man

Might be the best sounding amp I've ever heard. Wowza

I've built an SLO100 clone so I know the circuit fairly well. Compared to most modern high-gain amps the signal chain allows for a lot more low end. When companies like Peavey and Mesa started copying the SLO for the 5150 and Recto they started filtering the bass more.

If you like 5150s and Rectifiers...the SLO is the perfect blend of both..just way more polished and with way more Clarity and really hard to make it sound bad with the EQ. My absolute Dreamamp! I usually dont like all these smaller Heads that are popular right now...not that they sound bad..the bigger ones just always sound and feel bigger to me..but holy crap does this 30 watt version sound huge!!

Sounds great!

“Holy ffffffffinance!” Love it!

I WAS going to buy a Soldano 100-watt head, but I decided to send my kids to medical school instead.

Eddie Van Halen used the SLO100 for the majority of the FUCK album and it played a crucial role in the design of the 5150.

Because of your video I bought this amp and it sounds amazing... back in the late 80s I had a Marshall JCM 800 50 watt channel switching and the SLO 30 crushed it... I wish I had the Soldano back in the 80's. Thanks for the review

I really like these, I've been able to play one for a few days, it's just too much money for my blood. I have to say that I LOVE the fact that amp companies are using full size EL34/6L6 output tubes for the smaller 15-20W amps. It really brings them much closer to their bigger brothers. You just can't usually get that big bottom end that larger amps have. I had one of those 15W Tweakers years ago (which I still believe are probably the best pedal platform amps out there, not just with the switching US/VOX/MARSHALL preamp tone stacks, but being able to use any power tubes without having to bias or modify them), and when I would take out the 6V6 she put in 6L6s, it gave it that fat ass that it just doesn't have with smaller tubes. Usually if I want that with class A amps, I'd put a MXR 10 band EQ, set everything flat at just slide up the vol/gain, not a lot, just enough to give it the power section a slight bump. That really helps, but not as much as having full size tubes.

“I’m curious to hear how the normal channel sounds with the overdrive..” *tiger roars behind ola* “.....Fff...Okay.”

"These go to eleven"

My Friday just got alot better hearing those riffs through 30w of SLO juice 🤘

Good sound man! Have a nice weekend and trip on Monday!