Soldano
Mike Soldano's SLO-100 arrived in 1987 and effectively wrote the template for the modern high-gain amplifier — a tight, saturated lead channel that a long list of far larger companies then chased. The Seattle company still builds the SLO, and has since put the circuit into smaller formats including the SLO Pedal. In our archive Soldano appears both in its own right and as the voicing that amp modellers and software developers keep trying to capture.
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- Amplifiers
- Speaker cabinets
- Effects pedals
- SLO-100
- Astro-20
- Decatone
- SLO Pedal
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Soldano FAQ4 questions
What is the Soldano SLO-100?
The Super Lead Overdrive, and one of the defining high-gain amplifiers. Michael Soldano founded the company in Los Angeles in 1986 — it later moved to Seattle — and the SLO-100's smooth, sustaining lead channel became the reference other boutique high-gain amps were built against and, in several cases, derived from.
Why are Soldano amps expensive?
They are hand-built in comparatively small numbers with high-specification components, and the SLO in particular has never been a volume product. Soldano has since introduced smaller and more affordable models such as the Astro-20 and a pedal version of the SLO circuit, which are the accessible way into the sound.
Which amps were influenced by the SLO?
A great many. The SLO-100's preamp topology is the acknowledged starting point for a large part of the modern high-gain amplifier market, and it appears as a model in nearly every serious digital modeller. That influence is why the name is familiar even to players who have never seen one in a room.
Are Soldano amps made in the USA?
Yes — Soldano has built in the United States since it started, first in Los Angeles and then in Seattle, Washington. Its smaller pedal products are the exception to check rather than the rule.