Soldano Astroverb

[StratTom]

Combo or just the head...how are these amps? Do they have a lot of gain for a 20 watt amp?

[Hot _Grits]

Re: Soldano Astroverb

my bandmate owns a head. Great amps. I had his for a week and liked it so much that I ended up buying a Hot rod 50 plus.

There's more gain than you can shake a stick at, roughly equivalent to your 5150. My mate's astro hits the George lynch zone with the gain on 5 and low output pickups.

The major difference between the astro and other soldanos is the use of EL84 tubes. So you do get a bit of a different flavour compared to the 6l6-equipped soldanos at high master settings. Having said that, it does sound remarkably similar to a big soldano despite the tube difference.

Overall the sound is open, precise and aggressive, with great articulation. Imagine a 5150 (peavey ripped off the SLO preamp for the 5150) minus the bloated bottom and noise, and you're getting close.

[Dave]

Re: Soldano Astroverb

I demo'd one a few years ago. It was the 1-12 combo. Soldanos are a higher gain amp co. vs., say fender, so that's the general idea behind the astroverb. It's best suited for good ol' rock'n'roll. I liked the smoothness that the amp had, and 20 watts was plenty for me. The price was just a bit more than what I had (~700 used), so I walked.

The amp was pretty versatile and stayed clean at low/bedroom levels w/the strat I played. HB's would certainly push things much more. But it did start to get grittier and smoother still much faster with more vol. vs. the amp I'm used to (DRRI). I have a hard time commenting on how much gain an amp can truly have becuase I've never been the guy to floor an amp in the middle of the store.

[StratTom]

Re: Soldano Astroverb

Thanks for the feedback! I haven't seen too many around my way but I may have to start looking. I see a few here and there on ebay. What's the going rate on a used one?

[Dave]

Re: Soldano Astroverb

That's tough to answer. I thought 700 was high and I like to see a good condition used piece of equipment at 50-70% of new price.

For example, say a guitar runs around 850 new. If you trade in, you'll get about 40-50%, depending on the condition and boutiquity of the item, so I'd get around 350-400 on trade. The shop will then sell it for about 75% mark-up, which would park it around 500-600. Some really desirable gear will sell used for slightly less than the new price. You'll get taken on low-end gear-it's almost not worth it to sell that stuff, unless you really want to clean up the house.

The astroverbs are around 900-1000 (I believe?) so, I think you should be able to find one for under 650.

I'd love to hear some guys who actually work in shops chime in on how gear is bought and sold.