Last Call:  Guitar World Discovers the Soldano SLO-100 Stevie Ray Vaughan Commissioned Before He Died

By Eric Kirkland, Guitar World, April 2007, p. 67.

History has established that Stevie Ray Vaughan created his colossal tone through a wall of extremely loud, relatively low-gain amps that were often driven by a Tube Screamer, Fuzz Face or Cesar Diaz distortion pedal.  In the years since Stevie’s passing, this approach has practically become a religion for blues players that crave one of the ultimate organic tone experiences.

So it comes as a surprise and a revelation to learn that, prior to his death on August 27, 1990, Stevie was planning to take his tone in a new direction and was in receipt of a newly designed amp built for him by famed amp designer Mike Soldano.  The amp that Soldano built for the Texas powerhouse was no high-powered Fender-style combo with a beefed-up power section; it was actually a high-gain Super Lead Overdrive 100 head that, unlike Vaughan’s other amplifiers, derived almost all of its tone from the preamp.

Though this was an unusual spec for a Stevie Ray Vaughan amp, it was par for the courses where Soldano was concerned.  During the latter half of the Eighties, Mike Soldano was just about the hottest name on the L.A. amp scene.  His Super Lead Overdrive 100 amp, better known by its muscle-car style abbreviation, SLO-100, was one of the first amps to create ultrahigh gain without affecting its audiophile-grade clarity and definition.  Eric Clapton and Buddy Guy were among the first blues players to realize the SLO’s potential, and the amp’s design would eventually help players such as Mark Knopfler, Gary Moore, and Warren Haynes achieve their signature tones.

Soldano’s brief relationship with Stevie began in the late-Eighties when he was asked to work on one of Stevie’s coveted Fender combos.  “I was initially hired to put the magic back into one of Stevie’s favorite Fender Supers, which had been poorly repaired in previous years,” says Soldano.  “A short time afterward, I found out that Stevie was going to play the Greek Theatre, which is still one of L.A.’s hippest outdoor concert venues.  It wasn’t far from where I lived at the time, so I asked him if I could stop by the theatre and say hello.”

Soldano and the guitarist met after the show and talked about, among other things, what Vaughan was using to achieve his sound.  “Stevie was very happy with his rig’s performance, but he didn’t like the fact that his amps could only achieve that tone and feel at extreme volumes.  Naturally, I offered to build him one of my SLO-100s.  He seemed to be genuinely excited by the idea that my amp could get him all of the sustain and overtones that he required, but at any volume level and without the need for a Tubescreamer or other overdrive.  We agreed that I would build the amp with his tone in mind and that after he played it, we could fine tune it until it was perfect.”

The SLO Soldano built for Stevie in June 1990 was virtually identical to the 100-watt 5881-powered SLOs that Soldano offers today.  The main difference was the switchable resistor/capacitor (R/C) circuit that Soldano designed specifically for Stevie’s amp.  “I knew that Stevie was using Fenders and Marshall Majors at the time, so I felt like I had a pretty good idea of what he wanted in terms of tone and performance,” explains Soldano.  To accommodate the guitarist’s established tone, Soldano put a switch labeled “Regular” and “Altered” on the amp’s back; the “Altered” position removed mids above 700Hz.  “I did this so that Stevie could benefit from the SLO’s incredible gain but still have that scooped-out, woody Fender response.  The SLO’s original design already utilized the finest military-grade components available, so there wasn’t anything further that we needed to change for it to deliver the best possible tone, to my ears.  Aesthetically, Stevie’s amp was one of only a few vintage-styled SLOs ever made, with tweed cloth covering and black chicken-head knobs.”

In subsequent years, Soldano began offering an “SRV mod” that cuts the mids at 400Hz and is only active on the clean channel.  The actual mod featured on Stevie’s amp affects both channels and allows for a thicker, punchier tone.

The modified tweed SLO was delivered to Stevie during the final months of his last tour, but he died before he really had a chance to incorporate it into his rig.  Because the amp had not been paid for prior to Stevie’s passing, it never officially became part of the Stevie Ray Vaughan estate.  Instead, Mike received a phone all from Mark Rutledge, one of Stevie’s production representatives.  Mark sadly told Soldano that “Stevie really dug the amp, but he won’t need it where he is now.”  The amp remains in Soldano’s shop today, as a tribute to the late master and a cherished piece or music history.

Download the printable (pdf) of the Guitar World story by Eric Kirkland.