The Story Of EVH & Soldano Amps (With Mike Soldano)! 

This is a nice video for people who like nice things, like me.

Once this Marshall hits 88 volts, you're gonna hear some serious BROWN SOUND!

Please say this is only Part 1...There’s gotta be more.

What a thoroughly nice guy Mike Soldano is. And the more stories I hear about EVH, the more certain I am that he was too. RIP Eddie.

I don’t wanna be dramatic, but this is one of the most important videos about guitar tone on RU-vid. It’s so cool that you got to hang with Mike like this. Cheers!

fun fact .... Mike's original Amp shop at 5859 Melrose ave is now a tattoo shop....

So this video just pops out of nowhere with the secret to the universe in it.

It's not an old skool industry war story until you hear *wang bar*

EVH's original marshal tone and his tone in 1981 is possibly the greatest tone of all time. After 1984 it sorta lost its edge but the soldano years did sound really cool, I loooove his tone on judgement day

Mike Soldano's story about Eddie driving like a madman checks out. I heard a Gene Simmons interview where he said Eddie was taking him back to his studio, in an old Jeep with no doors breaking 100 MPH on the highway. Gene said he thought he was gonna die...literally🤣🤣🤣. Then again what California cop in the 80's is gonna give EVH a speeding ticket??? I would love to know how many speeding tickets got thrown out when they realized they pulled over Eddie.

The whole amp story was an accident Eddie said in an interview that he bought it from someone in england.... When he plugged it in , He thought it didnt work.... he left it on and came back a few hours later and the amp was working but very quiet.... he said it sounded beautiful but it was really quiet... he then found that the amp was switched in the 220 volt position... so when he flipped it to 110 the thing screamed... So he thought Wow!!! i wonder if i turn down the voltage if it will have the same effect??... And that is when he got the Variac..... And ed Found that 89 volts was the magic spot!!... If i remember right he explains all of this in the Smithsonian interview..

This is the kind of content i live for, man. Love hearing about the history of iconic gear.

Great chat! Man, at 2k plus, those were some 'spensive heads circa 1990. I got a brand new 5150 half-stack in '95 for $1300 with tax! These little glimpses behind the curtain are treasures. It breaks my heart to know that not only is Ed gone, but all his knowledge with him. His old techs should collaborate and put together a comprehensive record of what he was doing gear-wise at each stage of his career. It's as important as the music. It really should be recorded for posterity.

Mike and Eddie are so down to earth, RIP Eddie, but I love hearing these kinda stories, so cool

Great story...i rang Soldano twice over the years and Mike answered both times..I couldn't believe it...what a gentleman...so helpful.

Fluff, if you’re interested Pete Thorn just did a brown sound deep dive that was geeky and nerdy and fun. Great sit with Mike, he seems like good people.

SLO 30 has low plate voltage built in, which is why it puts out 30 watts from two big bottles. Great interview, Fluff. Mike is a super neat guy - never get tired of his stories.

There's an interview with Eddie where he says he got the first Marshall and it came from the UK and was 220 volts. He led it in and turned it on and there was no sound. He said he left it on for a while and when he came back his later, it worked. It took ages for the tubes to get warm enough to work. So yes, Mike's theory is absolutely correct. 🤘🏻❤️🖤🤍💔🤍🖤❤️

Mike is the greatest guy ever! Super proud he's a (big) part of our PNW music history. Also happy his brand is living on in good hands.

Man,I would kill to get a whiskey and sit with Soldano and Friedman and talk about gear all day. My god the stories

“He was really energetic” cocaines a hell of a drug

Tacoma? Interesting watching a video on a global platform, never knowing where people are, only to realize the host and the legendary guest are both half an hour drive away! Oh, and great story!

Mike's theory is 100% correct. I just listened to an old interview with Eddie. He talked about buying a Marshall and not realizing it was in Euro voltage. He turned it on and got lights but no sound. He left the amp on for like an hour and when he came back to it it was barely making sound but he liked what he heard. He then realized he needed to set it for 120volts. It gave him an idea though....so he took a light dimmer switch and tried to wire that inline with the amp. It didn't work, but it lead him into asking around about some kind of variable voltage regulator.......... He was turned on to the Variac and the rest, as they say, is history.

Anyone wished they could still get a Sol for $2500?

Nice...EVH bought his first SLO-100 on my 16th birthday! Ha.

Mike missed 2 things when he was looking inside "The Marshall". One was the "fat cap" and the other was that the pot for the mid control on that head was a 50k pot instead of the 25k pot that was supposed o be there.

Now I have to get a SLO 100 !!

...and then Eddie went to Peavey and got them to make an SLO100 called the 5150 and they sold thousands of them. Mike must really be a super nice guy to not hold a grudge. (yes I know it’s not an exact copy but it’s clearly based on the SLO100. It sold so well because it was a poor man’s Soldano).

With all the talk of traffic and street locations this interview was dangerously close to turning into an SNL Californians skit lol

didn't he model the peavey EVH 5150 after the SLO 100?

Excellent, Mr Soldano is cool, RIP EVH💔🤘🎸🎼

I guess the invoice today is worth more than the amp was back then !!........Thank you Mr Soldano and RBG

I called Mike once to ask questions about a used Soldano I bought and he was super helpful and couldn’t have been a nicer guy.

Always love hearing stories about Ed's fly by the seat of his pants driving around town. Much like his guitar style..

Anyone care to guess what the “Overdrive preamp mod” was on the last amp?? Listed on the last invoice..

Eddie, the innovator genius who was decades ahead of the rest...and still is. RIP Ed.

Great interview, Soldano is a brilliant mind. Sponsored by Topo Chico?

I absolutely love that story and every second of that video... thanks man!!

This is fucking killer, thanks for doing this man. Mike seems like a solid dude.

Such a great video. Ed was my hero on guitar for sure. Greatly influenced my playing. Always wanted the original how to with the early days Marshall sound. I got to get me a super lead now haha

That's a really cool hang out ☺️ loving those stories !

!!! Wow... Great interview!! I was a teenager, when those guitar player mags published EVH interviews. Ed said he turned the Variac up to 140V, just below the point where the tubes melt. I was playing a Carvin X100B combo at the time, with EL34s... it got HOT... and sounded great. But the whole time, I was thinking to myself, how in the hell would someone slam an amp with 140V??!! Now it makes more sense.

Can we have Mike talk about all the Soldano collectors saying they can hear the difference in the transformers in the new Soldano's? Because they can't.

Mike is sheer genius when it comes to tube amplification!! I own a couple...one of which is a 120 watt 2x12 combo that on 4 will actually make the fillings in your teeth vibrate...oh yeah!! Lol!

Nice man!! great interview.... Mike looks like a very cool and humble guy!

Hey, that was friggin fabulous. Thanks to you and Michael for sharing with all of us about another waaay fun experience about being around Eddie and his beloved skills, personality and perfect profession for another six-stringer like us. I'm gonna call you Mushroom from now on, cuz you're such a fun-guy!!

Avenger Endgame is the most ambitious crossover eve...wait!

I've heard this story that EVH bought his amp from Europe (didn't know about that voltage diff), turned it on and nothing. Was so pissed about amp being not working, that he went for a smoke, and once he came back - that Plexi was hot enough to play, and it played like a champ.

Still saving up for my SLO.

LOVED this interview. Thank you for doing this.

Mike always has a smile on his face, good to see that joy. Cheers from Michigan

That was so good, I'm watching it again.

Who’s mom liked this❓

i HAVE A sPEED CONTROL UNIT ............ Basically ya plug ion an electric drill or any electric device ya want & dial it back or up ..... wonder if its the same as a Variac? I bought it off amazon several years ago like 20.00

Ed has said in interviews he set the variac at 89. He said that was the magic number. The interview is on RU-vid and he clearly states 89 was the number.

First time watching one of your vids. Are the rest of them this epic?

Amazing I could listen to Mike all day long. Thanks a lot!

This is one of the best videos I've seen in a long time, such a great story!

Does it damage your amp if you turn down the voltage that low???

Great interview / topic! Legendary is an understatement!

this is cool. i pulled my superlead down to 90.0 volts and the watts measured 24 watts for amp. way more manageable on volume. But i thought to myself man this thing really lost volume. plate voltage was about 340-360 (at wall current it was 505). but his confirms it wasnt just me, it does really pull the volume way down thing is though, for me, it gutted the amp. yes it had "that sound" but i lost the huge sound that is a superlead. so i put my amp back stock at 505 plate voltage and 65% bias and when i want to approximate evh i push it hard with a clean boost and say good enough.

Lol that invoice "Baby pink pearl ostrich(yuk)"

Hey, Tacoma boys!! Yah. Former Fircrest kid here, Tacoma fan and resident since the 60s.

Great interview. Yes, the Variac was the secret to the brown sound. Steven Fryette worked on that same amp in 1990. While he also said it was bone stock, his impression of it was it that it was closer to a 1970 JMP; i.e. it had a plexi panel, but had the newer JMP input and feedback configuration. Of course that could have been added as a mod at some point, but Marshall frequently switched parts in the middle of production years, sometimes even multiple times in the same year. This was quite simply business driven per price increases for parts. Most changes in the actual voicing of the circuit were usually subtle to hardly noticeable but there could be exceptions. Depending on the parts and who was supplying them, it could be A LOT more noticeable. It's why clone builds don't always 100% nail the tone of a particular model year. Eddie brought it to Steven because he said it was sounding "weak" so Steven went through the entire amp but couldn't find anything wrong with it. My guess is that Eddie had gotten so used to higher gain amps by then that it just wasn't doing it for him anymore.

Fluff, I think a video needs to be made with you and Mike Soldano taking a 240V plexi and doing exactly what he described. If you guys get the Brown Sound, streamers 🎉 balloons 🎈 and party 🎊 poppers need to be released. Maybe 🤔 like a mini documentary. I bet you WVH would like to see something like that about his pops so maybe he could chime in with his $0.02.

That was great. Mike is an awesome dude. Thanks, Fluff.

Supposedly… Steve Lukather was the whole reason EVH sought out Michael Soldano and his amps. His coveted 68 plexi was on the fritz and he heard Steve play an SLO and loved it…. He used that amp on 5150 and OU812 and maybe more…. He had a weird blue colored head as I remember.

Edward later apologized because he lied about turning his amps to 140 volts. He had heard that a lot of people blew out and ruined amps after that interview was published. He lied based on DLR telling him to make up stories to be more interesting in interviews and he lied because he didn't want anyone knowing his tricks. The variac story is also said to be false. Someone at Cherokee Studio had told him that Joe Walsh used a variac so Ed tried to use a light dimmer and almost killed himself. How would Ed know to ask for a variable transformer unless someone told him what it was? Remember, there are pictures and recordings of VH from back in 1974 from Cherokee Studios (In a Simple Rhyme is from that session). Still amazing what he came up with but Ed was a notorious liar as well.

I accidentally did something similar. had a practice amp and lost power cord. I bought a cd player with power adapter ....3.5 to 12 volts.. of coarse one time i forgot to change it from 3.5 and it was the most demonic sound ever...

The variac part is 100% correct. If you dig deep into the archives he mentions it was the European voltage setting that lead to the discovery of lowering it on North American using the variac. He did this to save the people in the front row at The high schools in the early days 🤟

Fantastic video! I’d love to spend a day just hanging with Mike, or you fine sir! Dream amp! Maybe soon! 🤤

When Mike tell things about amps....everybody shut up and listen !🤗

Can you scan the EVH invoices and post them somewhere for us to download? I could stare at those all day long, what incredible pieces of music history

I there anymore interview? It's killer and as always, you ROCK!!!

he bought the amp from england and their wall plugs are less wattage than US. so he blew up tubes till he used variac. it wasn`t an invention to make sound. It was out of his lack of biasing. lol

Wonder if those SLO's are on any of the 90's VH albums?

"I get a phone call and its Eddie Van Halen" 😅 Imagine that. I'd be lost for words.

He must have been using something to boost the input as well. Anything with a volume knob...

Damn Bruce, I end up on you pages often...WTH!! LOL

Best sounding amps - SOLDANO!🤘

Martin Barre and his Deccatone .Most tasteful tonesmith on theSoldano list

Anybody who wasn’t a pain in the ass singer really got along with Eddie well.

topic starts at around 2:04 idf ya wanna skip the non eddie stuff

So rad to hear those stories from Mr. Soldano 🤘🏼

Mystryies of the universe explained!!!!

But I heard witrh my own ears how using 2 greenbacks & 2 Jbls together helped with the brown sound, cuz the JBLs sounded not so good, but with the Celestions with them, it had that formula. - Not Only the Marshall but Speaker & Cab was also crucial. Maybe not AS CRUCIAL BUT STILL CRUCIAL

Soldano is one of my favorite guitar amps.

What a treasure Mike is. Love that dude

He did say they were 220 he had made the big mistake that made history lol

How has this been on RU-vid for eight months and me not know about it

Thanks so much for this. I appreciate it!

Great interview. Thanks for sharing

My face when i find out anyone of note is from western WA -🤩

isnt the 5150 just a copy of soldano?

Great interview!! The legend of Ed's Marshall persists today and now, of course, we know a lot of the truth behind it. I recall that there was one mod in particular that has been observed by various amp techs like Mike Soldano. It is rumored to be a rather "typical" mod. So typical that it's often dismissed. And those that have seen it have been reticent to mention it out of respect for Ed while he was with us. What could it be? I have a few suspicions and one in particular that I highly suspect, and we can rule out a few right away. First, we can forget an FX loop as Ed never liked the idea of running his FX between the preamp and the output of his amp head. Second, we can be sure that there was never a master volume or any cascading done as there is much evidence against these ideas. Third, we can be sure there were no attempts at preamp clipping diodes or other "pushing" aids (a la tube screamer). Now for the "common" mods. First, it's entirely possible that Ed had the bright cap on Volume I High Input changed, removed, or "clipped" out of the circuit as many, many Marshall owners often did. Second, it's possible that Ed had the Volume I and Volume II jumped internally, which would allow him to blend in the resonance that is lacking in Volume I when playing & recording. Last, the mod may simply be raising the tube bias level to compensate for the low voltage of the VariAC. Personally, I believe that he jumped the channels. I may be wrong and Mike Soldano could confirm this, but this theory is purely based on my attempts to achieve the tonality of Ed's amp purely on Volume I and "dime-ing" everything with a VariAC at 88-90 and various bias settings into a '68 basketweave 1960B with excellent OG 1221s. You can safely say that the amp is bone stock and still do this "mod". Of course, Mark Abrahamian (RIP) repeatedly nailed it with just about any amp and LAR/MAR pre- & post-phase inverter master volume without a VariAC.

Hello, Fluff! I have a question! What difference the number of preamp tubes can make in the amp distortion? Thank you so much!

Hot Rod 25 is my favorite Soldano

First of all, the girlfriend would have to get a “raincheck,” it’s Eddie Van Halen. Second, it’s Eddie Van Halen! #respect #RIPEVH🔥🎸

So interestiiiiiiiing!! 140v out of 220v hummm. I remember the article Mike Soldano talked about. In this magazine interview Eddy really said that he runs the Variac at 140v and he starts watching the tubes melt... 😜i still have this magazine. RIP Eddy

I had that Yamaha combo back in the day