soldano avenger

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I've heard one... played thru one... it's Soldano's first EL34 power amp. Basically a Hot Rod 50plus with EL34 power amp tubes. Thats from Michael Soldano himself.

Khing
 
Not being nit-picky, but its a Hot Rod, not Hot Rod+ as thats a two channel amp. The former Hot Rod was only one channel like the Avenger.

BTW, dont believe the hype about the Avenger sounding exactly like the SLO lead channel. If it really is the Hot Rod circuit, then its just not the case. I had a Hot Rod+ and it did NOT sound like my SLO. Probably due to many of the components, but absolutely because only the SLO has the ultra high grade DeYoung transformers which make a huge difference.

-Matt
 
Not being nit-picky, but its a Hot Rod, not Hot Rod+ as thats a two channel amp. The former Hot Rod was only one channel like the Avenger.

BTW, dont believe the hype about the Avenger sounding exactly like the SLO lead channel. If it really is the Hot Rod circuit, then its just not the case. I had a Hot Rod+ and it did NOT sound like my SLO. Probably due to many of the components, but absolutely because only the SLO has the ultra high grade DeYoung transformers which make a huge difference.

-Matt

Hey Matt no probs... I'm very familiar with Soldano amps... I own a 1993 Hot Rod 50. I was merely quoteing Michael Soldano from what I read in an article about the Avenger from his Ask Mikey columns. Yes it is indeed a single channel amp and I agree it's no SLO.

What year was your Hot Rod 50 +?

Here's something you may find a little interesting... I have this from Bill Sudnt... head tek at Soldano. Bill's a great guy and has seen many amps from start to finish.
I asked him the following question after my good friend and I A/B'd his 2000 SLO and my 1993 HR50. The results were very interesting as there was very little difference in tone. We A/B'd becasue we were hearing that ppl in general were not pleased with the HR50's performance in that they were expecting it to sound like an SLO but it did not.
My two part question to Bill was why are ppl finding the HR50 so different in tone from SLo's when the HR50 is being promoted as a 50 watt version of the SLO and why is mine so close to that SLO tone that the difference is barely noticable.
Bill told me that up until 1993 ALL Hot Rod 50's were built on the same line as the SLO... same parts/quality and the only difference was the value of the preamp pot. This difference lended itself to the preamp control haveing a slighter different reaction in the tone stack. Overall the tone is very close and almost not noticable but the interaction of the preamp pot in the circuit throughout it sweep is. He told me if I wanted it to be exacly the same just change out the preamp pot to the SLO's spec.
After 1993 Soldano changed the Hot Rod 50 line in an effort to save money. Still great sounding amps just not the same quality parts.

I've had this discussion before on other forums and for "some" SLO owners this can be difficult to accept... I'm not saying thats you but what I am saying is if you want to purchase a Hot Rod 50 that sounds like an SLO make sure it's a 1993 or less production year model.

Cheers

Khing
 
Fascinating stuff! My Hot Rod+ was an early 2003 with the XL mod. I liked it for awhile, but once I heard an SLO it was all over! The HR definitely had the same Soldano-modded-Marshall flavor with the high mid emphasis, but the clarity, tightness, and 3D quality was clearly in another league with the SLO. I also didnt like te XL mod. It was very hard to dial in any real usage bass without it getting boomy.

Id be very curious to hear a <=93 Hot Rod. So, according to Bill the old Hot Rods had DeYoung trannys?!?

-Matt
 
He told me they were made on the same line with same parts quality... as a point of interest I wrote Soldano on the XL mod or the Depth mod and the Warren Hayns... Bill wrote me back with Michael's recommendation... which was that I keep my 93 HR50 stock and that both mods in his opinion would take away from the qualities of the amp that I described as what I truely loved about it. He said he dislikes the Depth mod overal but there is demand for it and with the WH mod it was a specific tweek for a established pro... no more no less and that in his opinion both mods took away from the origional Soldano tone. He provided me the details of the exact mod so I could do it myself. I never did. I kept it stock and am glad I did.

Khing
 
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