Soldano Astro 20 First Impressions
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- Опубліковано 5 вер 2024
- The Soldano Astro, IMHO is the best amp Soldano has ever built.
If you want a modern version of the Soldano SLO, here it is!
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The Fuzzlord Doom Screamer - It's a great overdrive pedal & a doom metal pedal.
Try lowest depth setting with bass cranked 3 o'clock really tightens it up closer to the Slo.
Thanks Jarrod ! Got mine in with the vertical Soldano 2x12 cab…definitely a keeper ! Just real easy to get great tones and get going and the foot switch works really well
Hello. Can you tell me if the effects loop works well? Is the effects loop quiet?
Damn i was very convince on getting friedman jel now i loving this soldano astro 20 more in feature and thick tone.i already have a friedman jj jr
Between the two, Id also veer toward the Astro
I've been in the same boat as you. Thought for sure I was getting the JEL20, but the Astro has me re-thinking that! My conundrum on both is whether or not you can gig with a 20 watter. With the Astro, I assume you could go straight into the PA, using the IRs.
Sweet demo Sir. And speaking of Sweet . I clicked on your Sweetwater link last week when I ordered My 6 string Majesty. IT should be here tomorrow. I am stoked . Thank you for all your work on your channel Sir.
Thank you so much! I really appreciate that. I hope you like to guitar. I know I love mine
I especially like the picking technique along with really killer tones and hearing all of the options the Astro has.
Thank you!
What an amp !! Just what I've been looking for for sure.
really like the harmonic feedback it gets when you let a chord hang for moment - great tone - nice demo
Dang Jarrod you dialled that in perfectly. But that tone you used for the “pull me under” was 🔥 🔥🔥
Easily the best amp for the price out there. Perfect blend of classic useable killer tones meets modern features! Must get one!!!
Good hearing from you Gregg!
Question: In a live gig at a medium-size pub with a loud drummer and NO mic on my speakers, could this Soldano Astro-20 watts keep up with a loud drummer in terms of volume?
Next question: how does this Soldano Astro 20-watts compare to the EVH 5150iii 50-watts in terms of tone & volume?
I don't think it would be a loud enough, but then again I haven't tried anything like that in a long time. I guess I'm 50/50 on that 1
I actually prefer the astro over the stealth 50 W because of the awesome options it has. all 3 channels are freaking awesome and I love the fact that you can go direct with it and the software is really handy
Great demo brother! 🤘🏽 I agree with you, this amp kicks ass! The built-in load box is really good too.
this was a lot of fun, going forward could you maybe give a sample tone of a well known amp (eg 5150) so we can calibrate our listening ? regardless love the channel man
Thank you so much for commenting and for the kind words. I'll actually be doing a comparison of this amplifier with a bunch of other ones today. that video should be up tomorrow.
awesome @@TONEWARSgearshow
I think I like this better than the actual SLO.
Me too!! All 3 channels are great
@TONEWARSgearshow really? Suprised at this but I'm not mad at it either. The slo 30 is the one I've been eying for quite some time and once this one came out, that's the exact opinion I've been wanting to hear. Can you do an a/b on them ? Sounds like a great video idea to me. Keep rockin bro
@@HVACRTECH-83 a friend of mine owned an SLO 100 for awhile and is actually in e decently well known touring band and he bought it with the intention of touring it. Neither of us were super impressed with it. It was a good amp, but very overhyped, IMO. Basically it’s overly tubby/round and the distortion begins to get real fuzz like once you start pushing the gain. In comparison, the Astro sounds a lot more articulate and more aggressive. Never played the SLO 30. In a fine amp if you just want to play rock and roll, but it doesn’t do the heavier stuff all that well imo.
Wow after you starting VH stuff man you nade me happy it sounded good! This is over all a great amp!
Finally got a chance to listen to the whole thing.....That has got to be the most aggressive sounding amp I've ever heard. Not the most gain or saturation but just sounds like it wants to rip your head off..... beautiful.
Kinda reminds me of Accepts tone(balls to the wall and all that).
Gotta get me one of these, this and a Freedman small box and I'm good to go. Excellent demonstration by the way 👍
Thank you!! I'm glad you enjoyed the video
The bass middle treble knobs only work on the two gain channels the only knob that works for the clean channel is the tone knob which sits right next to the volume knob
Correct
most definitely much inspired to take one of these ladies for a finacee to pair with my new "November Burst" Les Paul
Great demo. I’d love to get this amp -I will …eventually 🤞🤘
Cool man, this is the one I've been waiting for 👍
Excellent review Jarrod! , I've had this amp for about 2 weeks now and this is a Keeper, I have it set up so I basically I have 4 useable channels. I had tried the SLO 30 and this is more versatile and 1k less. This amp covers it all, it's so easy to dial in. I use a few different boost/OD pedals to tighten it up a bit for the different gain stages "Galaxy's". I tried it with my V30 cabinets but I prefer it with my Greenback cabs, just my .02.
Thanks for commenting Johnny, I'm glad you are enjoying the amplifier
I wish I had a cab with greenbacks in it to test that out with
Do you guys know how it takes fuzzes? I also play bit of doom and would really like to know...
@@bigpiper2103 I personally do not own any Fuzz Pedals So I'm not the best to comment on that.
This a great addition to the Soldano line. I suspect there will be an updated SLO 100 coming with similar features.
I do know that Soldano is reissuing the X88 preamp with an IR loader and MIDI.
Motor City Guitars are the best
My favorite store!!
I have to say that I'm not crazy about the vintage 30 speakers. I prefer the 25 watt green backs, because I like the speakers to break up. I also feel that they have a much warmer sound
Thanks for commenting. I'm looking into getting some greenbacks to put in my Zilla cab sometime in the future
Never heard 6V6gt tubes in a metal amplifier before!! Didn’t know they were capable of this? These are fender deluxe tubes.
That’s when you realize how little tubes influence on amp tone 🤷🏾♂️
that sounds really amazing wow
Very cool modern amp, with the Soldano name/reputation.
Nice demo on this amp.
Thanks!
Thank you!!
Sounds great!
I was getting close to pulling the trigger on Badlander 25 head. Thoughts on Astro 20 vs. Badlander 25? Thanks.
How does it compare to the mezzabarba trinity.
We can definitely find out
@@TONEWARSgearshow
That would be awesome to see
“Overdrive Karens”, LOL! Great review, Jarrod! Seems like a killer amp.
Thanks for taking the tiime to make this video! I've been curious about these amps. Could you tell me which boost you hit the blue channel with in the early part of this video?
My pleasure. I used the precision drive throughout the whole video.
I would like to see a two channel with just that sweet slo clean and the crunch channel which can be bone crushing on its own!! Just a simple amp without all the extras. Us old farts like to keep it simple😊
Great vid Jarrod, Great amp for me to poop on!!! I can't stand DR. Z amps Soldano amps old one row knob Marshall crappers. That you have to have 2 floorboards full of effect pedals to get a decent sound out of.
Which do you prefer. Revv or soldano ? (G20 vs Astro 20)
In this match-up, the Astro
Awesome video i prefer the Friedman Jake E. Lee 20 watts.
Jerrod, was there an update to your stream deck that stopped you from switching channels on your KHE switcher? IKf so can you tell me what you did to fix it?
I actually got it working again. the issue was just with my new computer not the stream deck. When we transferred all the files over from the old computer to the new one, some of them just got a little glitchy and I had to reprogram everything
@@TONEWARSgearshow ok I will investigate mine some more. I appreciate you getting back with me.
Jarrod, this or a Kemper for tone? I have all the effects that I need.
Good question...the Astro offers great flexibility with the IR loader
Yeah, I think the Astro cleans up nice but next to the EVH 50watt stealth? Will see lol@@TONEWARSgearshow
This vs Engl Ironball SE ? Which one is better for a crushing modern metal tone?
Killer amp
Cool amp, but why isn't the loop switchable?
@tonewars- How loud is this compared to the mt15?
Good question. I'll have to find out
Cool amp but very expensive which isn't surprising being it's a Soldano. I think I would go with the Engl Ironball SE over this though in the 20 watt amp range. Also, maybe I missed it but I didn't see you ever adjust the Vol1 or Vol2 knobs in your demo. With the amp also having a Master volume, I would think that these 2 would give you additional gain on the 2 high gain channels. Something to look at again I guess if you missed it.
Thanks for commenting. I don't think the channel volume knobs add any gain or anything like that to the amplifier. I just adjusted everything to be at a certain level for the video and left it that way so I didn't spike the meter of have any clipping issues.
That said, in my next video with it I will mess around with the volume knobs and see if they change anything.
@@TONEWARSgearshow how low can the volume go say comp'd to the 5150?
@@TONEWARSgearshow You may be right. I'm just speculating because I have noticed on some other amps that have a separate Gain, Volume and Master knob that in many cases, the Volume will act as an overall channel gain/overdrive and then the gain knob acts as a second gain stage, kind of like ENGL and some Mesa amps.
@@st9919 Without having them side by side, it's hard for me to give you a definitive answer. sorry
all good, more likely to pull the trigger for science @@TONEWARSgearshow
LOL, "Overdrive Karens"...that could be your halloween costume next year, hahahahha.....Nice video!
Haha I'm thinking about a t-shirt.....
Astro over SLO all day and save a grand, no brainer. I love the SLO sound for leads, but everything else is kind of meh for the price of 3 grand. Astro sounds better too me, and it has more flexibility. I think is probably the best low watt amp going for metal and hard rock.
The tone knob is for the clean channel,the tone starch is for the dirty channels only
Exactly
Is there something about the EL84 you do not like?
They can get a little spiky when pushed
Did you use an attenuator?
No, no need IMHO
Does this amplifier have enough power to rehearse with the full band using a 2x12 or 4x12 speaker?
From what I hear, yes.
Cool but not enough gain for me. Im with you, why cant an amp company put out a small amp with two high gain so you can dial it the way you want. Still waiting on that. One chugga chugga channel and another chugga chugga. Then you can dial back one to the way you like it. Throw in midi and IR loader and it will sell like crazy.
The ENGL Ironball SE has more than enough gain and is tight without a boost but it is only a 2 channel amp. KSR has the Orion 45 which is a 4 channel amp and the gain sounds great on it as well although it does have a slightly thicker/looser sounding gain compared to the Ironball. It sounds great with a boost though which most people end up using anyway, even on amps that don't really need one.
Thanks for commenting. I honestly found that this amplifier has plenty of gain, even for me LOL. maybe it just doesn't have enough aggression for you?
In my opinion this thing has it all, 3 perfectly usable channels, plenty of gain, and with the DI out and IR loader, you just can't go wrong. I just hope they make a 100 W version of this
You can already assing two RED mode on both CH1 and CH2, so two idendical high gain channel with different gain levels!
There is an amp like that, the badlander 100 or 50. Your welcome
@@Epochstudios The Badlander doesn't have the gain and depth the Astro does, even the clean is better on the Soldano. I have played through both and own the Astro..
Jarrod, please do not make me buy another amp
Haha I hope they make a 100 W version
Sounds like my jet city 20 😂
Hey jarod i need some advice , i just purchased a 10 band mxr eq ive been running in.front with my od and so on but tried it through loop and sounds more responsive through loop , is there any down side or dynamics im not picking up on that would make it better through front of amp , any advice and sending a thanks for all your awesome spot on help
Thank you for the $15! Much appreciated.
To your question...what are your settings on the eq pedal while running it in front of the amp?
Also, while you're running it in front of the amp , are you also engaging another boost pedal?
I can send exact setting in the morning ive left for work but basically im just boosting low.end and trying to just tighten up overall tone , i ri a plumes.and phase 90 in front and a.reverb delay and chorus i loop on a fb 25 ENGL , it just seems alot more.responsive in loop but eq works well both ways just wondering if theres a reason running through loop with eq could cause any issues you know of.thank you
@@artytoney2057 Running it in the loop will basically change the voicing of the amplifier. running it in front of the amplifier, the eq pedal will act as an overdrive pedal. you can cut certain frequencies and boost others accordingly while cranking the level all the way up and getting that push in front of the amplifier.
If you're going to run an EQ pedal in front of your amplifier, I would suggest turning other overdrive pedals off. this will replace them
@@TONEWARSgearshow thank you jarod
Loud enough for a band?
Theoretically yes, I haven't tested that scenario out though.
Hey I have the same guitar 🤘😎🤘
Awesome! I love the Majesty guitars
Being I'm such a fanboy of the SLO100 I like the tone of the Astro but it lacks some of the mojo. For a 20 watt it does comes across pretty large.
I just bought one from Motor City. I was pretty much sold already but without your video I would have bought it from Sweetwater and they would have called me on the phone. I really hate that. There is no way to stop them from calling my phone. I could order strings and they would call me. I order stuff from amazon and reverb and now Motor City specifically because they won't call me. Rant complete. Party on.
Awesome! Congratulations. Motor City Guitar rules. Enjoy the Astro!!
See... I knew you were going to like it.
I think it would be good to record with. It seems like it takes pedals really well.
I also noticed a little "quack" in the tone. ( The cocked-wah thing. )
20 watts isn't much. If it was 50-watts with a 50/25 watt switch, I would like it more.
soldano is being sneaky. I checked out some pics of this thing, and nowhere on the back
does it say where it is made. Also no place for the serial number. This thing better not be made in China.
This thing is $2,000. That is very pricey for a 20-watt amp.
The ICONIC is 80 watts, made in China, and it's only $1,000.
Marshall DSL100HR is made in Vietnam, and it's only $1,100.
Both the Iconic and the Marshall have high and low power modes.
I like the sound of all these amps. So it would come down to which one is the better deal.
Thanks for commenting. I'll have to take a look at it and see if I can find out where it's made
To my knowledge, BAD is the manufacturer but I could be wrong.
It’s built in the USA. We welcome factory tours.
@@SoldanoCustomAmps😂 love it way to support your product
@@SoldanoCustomAmps Thank you for the response. Good to know it is built in the USA.
Are you in E standard?
Yes
It better melt frozen butter for $2000 and 20 watt
First here!
Man…… the tone stack does NOT work on the clean channel , only the tone knob . I can’t believe you thought there was a difference when you dialed them . They have zero effect on that channel….
You need to start getting some shitty amps so I don't feel the "need" to buy everything.
Haha any suggestions? 😄
@@TONEWARSgearshow Man I am starting to think you can dial anything in and your playing makes it all sound good, maybe a Monoprice? lol
always wonder why you bother to bend over and push the pedals to dis/engage with your hands and not just step it with your foot,i mean, there is a reason it's called a "foot pedal"🙃
Ha ha if you saw my pedal board you would understand why. my pedals that I'm switching on and off are at the top of the board and they are kind of out of reach for my feet. besides that, I'm trying to avoid stepping on other pedals or knobs of other pedals when I'm trying to turn pedals on and off from a seated position
oh ok,it just hurt my back every time i see you bend over lol@@TONEWARSgearshow
$2000 for a 20 watt amp ? No thank you. I’m a poor old metal head man ! Sounds amazing but geez so expensive!
"the best amp Soldano has ever built." clearly you never played the 100
$2k is still way to high.My Engl Ironball SE is an amazing amp and this Soldano should be priced to compete then I would buy.
Thanks!