[As reprinted from Guitar World, May 1996]

COVERED in PURPLE tolex, the 50-watt, 5881 powered Soldano Hot Rod 50 Plus looks like it's designed to rock. In this case, looks are anything but deceiving.

The Rod's two channels (normal and overdrive) each have their own gain and master volume controls, making it easy to match volume levels between the two without sacrificing either channel's gain response. The normal channel sounds cleaner, brighter and thinner than the overdrive channel, but with the gain control maxed it produces heavy grind tones.

You can also drive the normal channel by setting the gain to a moderate level and maxing out the master volume control; the resultant tone is less ripping and more buzzing than that produced by driving the preamp. The Soldano allows you to dial in genuinely clean sounds at a healthy volume, but the heart of the normal channel lies in its "in-between" tones, which are reminiscent of a hardworking Hiwatt. At all settings, the normal channel is relatively uncompressed -- that's great news if you like to work your guitar's volume knob for tonal shading.

The overdrive channel, which combines a Marshall's raspy attitude with a Fender's bell-like ring, sounds fat and hard, but cuts like a chainsaw. If you want your amp to propel your tone to the back of a club, the Soldano possesses an elusive combination of power and bite that penetrates a mix without sounding thin. The overdrive channel is pretty heavily compressed and becomes more so as the gain increases. You have to pull your axe's volume control way back before the tone starts to clean up. However, the amp's sustain, even at moderate gain and volume settings, is awesome.

The Hot Rod 50's three interactive tone controls have a wide usable range. Even if you zero the treble control, the Soldano still kicks ample high end through the speakers. The tone controls are shared by both channels, but this is only a minor inconvenience, as both channels are well mated. The master section also has a global presence control, allowing you to dial in extra high end for both channels.

Additional features include a slave output with level control (there's no speaker mute, so use a "dummy" load if the speakers are disconnected), a tube-buffered serial effects loop, a speaker impedance switch (16, 8, 4 Ohms) and a quiet footswitch. The Hot Rod is very well constructed. The front and rear of the chassis are covered in heavy steel mesh, allowing precious cooling air to reach the tubes. It would be nice to be able to switch channels from the front panel instead of resorting to the footswitch, but otherwise, the Hot Rod is very user-friendly.

SOUNDCHECK

bottom line

POWERFUL TONE, RUGGED construction and straight-forward operation make the Soldano an excellent choice for touring pros who need an amp that delivers no-compromise tone on stage. Best of all, its price is reasonable enough to make it affordable to club and amateur musicians.