Soldano Custom Amplification is a custom
guitar amplifier manufacturing company, founded in 1986 by Michael Soldano in
Los Angeles, California and later relocated to
Seattle, Washington. It is mostly known for its high gain amps such as its flagship model, the Soldano SLO-100, but the product lineup also includes effect units, pedals and cabinets. All Soldano products are
tube-based and are class A/B.
History
Michael Soldano originally worked with his head technician Bill Sundt at Stars Guitars (San Francisco, CA), modifying amps brought to him. He had built his first amp, a
Fender Bassman clone, with the aid of books being discarded by a library. Michael worked on modifying his version of the Bassman for years, until he bought a
Mesa/Boogie Mark II and began modifying this amp. The first three SLO amps were based upon this amp and the first one was sold to a friend. The second one was sold to
Howard Leese from the band Heart. Within six months, he had sold amps to
Steve Lukather
Steven Lee Lukather (born October 21, 1957) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, arranger and record producer, best known as the sole continuous founding member of the rock band Toto. His reputation as a skilled guitarist led to a stea ...
,
Michael Landau
Michael Christopher Landau (born June 1, 1958) is an American musician, audio engineer, and record producer. He is a session musician and guitarist who has played on many albums since the early 1980s with Boz Scaggs, Minoru Niihara, Joni Mitch ...
,
Vivian Campbell,
Aldo Nova,
John Fogerty
John Cameron Fogerty (born May 28, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. Together with Doug Clifford, Stu Cook, and his brother Tom Fogerty
Thomas Richard Fogerty (November 9, 1941 – September 6, 1990) was an American mu ...
and
Lou Reed
Lewis Allan Reed (March 2, 1942October 27, 2013) was an American musician, songwriter, and poet. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band the Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades. ...
.
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is often regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s list of ...
and
Mark Knopfler purchased the SLO-100 when first released in 1987. Guitarist
Tommy Kessler of
Blondie uses the SLO-100(100W) amplifier head in Snakeskin and a matching 2×12 cabinet as part of his touring rig.
Tommy Kessler Tour Rig Video 2010
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In 1991, Eddie Van Halen
Edward Lodewijk Van Halen ( , ; January 26, 1955 – October 6, 2020) was an American musician and songwriter. He was the guitarist, keyboardist, backing vocalist, and primary songwriter of the rock band Van Halen, which he co-founded along ...
used a SLO 100 (which replaced his famous Marshall 1959 The Marshall Super Lead Model 1959 is a guitar amplifier head made by Marshall. One of the famous Marshall Plexis, it was introduced in 1965 and with its associated 4×12″ cabinets gave rise to the "Marshall stack".
History
The 1959 (Marshall's ...
due to technical issues)
for the album For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge. Eddie would then go on to design the Peavey 5150
The Peavey 5150 is a vacuum tube based guitar amplifier made by Peavey Electronics from 1992 on. The amplifier was initially created as a signature model for Eddie Van Halen. After Van Halen and Peavey parted ways in 2004, the name was changed ...
, which was based on the Soldano.
Prince also used the Soldano SLO 100 amp, from about 1993 onwards, for his lead / dirty channel (into a 4x12" Peavey 5150 cab loaded with EV drivers) along with a Soldano Caswell X99 rack preamp as the front end for his clean channel.
The Experience Music Project in Seattle contains an area where visitors can play instruments, such as the electric guitar. These rooms contain Soldano amplifiers, along with various Squier guitars (including Stratocaster and Telecaster guitars).
Soldano also produced the Supercharger G.T.O. which is a high voltage valve driven preamp in a floor pedal. The name "G.T.O." derives from the three control knob names - Gain, Tone, Output.
Michael Soldano announced his retirement building amps in 2018, but in 2019 announced he would sell the company to Boutique Amps Distribution and would remain with the company as a designer. In 2020, Soldano released a revamped SLO-100 with added depth control, and a lower-wattage SLO-30 version.
External links
Soldano Custom Amplification
Mike Soldano Interview
NAMM Oral History Library (2021)
Notes
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Guitar amplifier manufacturers
Manufacturing companies based in Seattle
Audio equipment manufacturers of the United States