Soldano Custom Amplification is a

guitar amplifier A guitar amplifier (or amp) is an electronic amplifier, electronic device or system that strengthens the electrical signal from a Pickup (music technology), pickup on an electric guitar, bass guitar, or acoustic guitar so that it can produce so ...

manufacturing company, founded in 1986 by Michael Soldano in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

and later relocated to

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is the List of municipalities in Washington, most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the List of Unit ...

. It is mostly known for high-gain amps such as its flagship model, the SLO-100.

History

Michael Soldano originally worked with technician Bill Sundt at Stars Guitars of

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, modifying amps brought into the shop. Soldano built his first amp, a

Fender Bassman The Fender Bassman is a series of bass amplifiers introduced by Fender during 1952. Initially intended to amplify bass guitars, musicians used the 5B6 Bassman to amplify other instruments, including electric guitars, harmonicas, and pedal steel ...

clone, with the aid of books discarded by a library. He worked on modifying his version of the Bassman for several years before turning his attention to modifying Mesa/Boogie Mark IIs, which served as the inspiration for what became the Super Lead Overdrive (SLO) 100. Soldano gave a prototype to

Howard Leese Howard M. Leese (June 13, 1951) is an American guitarist, record producer, and musical director who played with Heart as guitarist and keyboardist for 23 years (1975 through 1998). He continues to record and tour as a solo artist, and as guitar ...

Heart The heart is a muscular Organ (biology), organ found in humans and other animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels. The heart and blood vessels together make the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrie ...

while working as a roadie to avoid bankruptcy and soon after received orders from

Lou Reed Lewis Allan Reed (March 2, 1942October 27, 2013) was an American musician and songwriter. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band the Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades. Althoug ...

Michael Landau Michael Christopher Landau (born June 1, 1958) is an American musician, audio engineer, and record-producer. He is a session musician and guitarist who has played on many albums since the early 1980s with Boz Scaggs, Minoru Niihara, Joni Mitchel ...

, and

Vivian Campbell Vivian Patrick Campbell (born 25 August 1962) is a Northern Irish musician. He came to prominence in the early 1980s as the guitarist of Dio. He has also been the guitarist of Def Leppard since 1992 (replacing Steve Clark after his death). C ...

. Soldano officially released the SLO 100 in 1987 and sold amps to

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English Rock music, rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s l ...

and

Mark Knopfler Mark Freuder Knopfler OBE (born 12 August 1949) is a British musician. He was the lead guitarist, singer and songwriter of the rock band Dire Straits from 1977 to 1995, and he is the one of the two members who stayed during the band's existence ...

, as well as

Tommy Kessler Tommy Kessler is an American guitarist from Springboro, Ohio, currently in the new wave band Blondie. Biography Kessler joined Blondie in April 2010, replacing guitarist Paul Carbonara who had left Blondie during the sessions for their ninth st ...

of Blondie,Tommy Kessler Tour Rig Video 2010
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Joe Satriani Joseph Satriani (born July 15, 1956)Prato, Greg"Joe Satriani – Music Biography, Credits and Discography". ''AllMusic''. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved May 28, 2014. is an American rock music, rock guitarist, composer, and songwriter. Early in hi ...

Steve Vai Steven Siro Vai ( ; born June 6, 1960) is an American guitarist, songwriter, and producer. A three-time Grammy Award winner and fifteen-time nominee, Vai started his music career in 1978 at the age of eighteen as a Transcription (music), transc ...

, George Lynch, and

Gary Moore Robert William Gary Moore (4 April 19526 February 2011) was a Northern Irish musician. Over the course of his career, he played in various groups and performed a range of music including blues, blues rock, hard rock, Heavy metal music, heavy ...

. ''

Guitar Player ''Guitar Player'' was an American magazine for guitarists, founded in 1967 in San Jose, California San Jose, officially the City of San José ( ; ), is a cultural, commercial, and political center within Silicon Valley and the San Francis ...

'' described the amp as having "a thickness that filled out the high-gain sizzle, and a juicy, touchy-feely playing sensitivity" that especially appealed to lead players. In 1991,

Eddie Van Halen Edward Lodewijk Van Halen ( , ; January 26, 1955 – October 6, 2020) was an American musician. He was the guitarist, keyboardist, backing vocalist and primary songwriter of the rock band Van Halen, which he founded with his brother Alex V ...

used an SLO 100 (which replaced his

Marshall 1959 The Marshall Super Lead Model 1959 is a guitar amplifier head made by Marshall Amplification, Marshall. One of the famous Marshall Plexis, it was introduced in 1965 and with its associated 4×12″ cabinets gave rise to the "Marshall stack". Hist ...

due to technical issues) for the album ''

For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge ''For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge'' (often abbreviated as F.U.C.K.) is the ninth studio album by American rock band Van Halen. It was released on June 17, 1991, on Warner Bros. Records and is the third to feature vocalist Sammy Hagar. It debuted ...

'' and modeled his signature amp, the

Peavey 5150 The Peavey 5150 is a vacuum tube based guitar amplifier made by Peavey Electronics from 1992 on. The amplifier was initially created as a signature model for Eddie Van Halen. Counterintuitively its name does not derive as some consecutive Peavey ...

, after it. The

Experience Music Project The Museum of Pop Culture (or MoPOP) is a nonprofit museum in Seattle, Washington, United States, dedicated to contemporary popular culture. It was founded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen in 2000 as the Experience Music Project. Since then ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

contains an area where visitors can play instruments, such as the electric guitar. These rooms contain Soldano amplifiers, along with various

Squier Squier is an American brand of electric guitars owned by Fender. The former manufacturing company, established as "V. C. Squier Company" was founded in 1890 by Victor Carroll Squier in Battle Creek, Michigan, producing strings for violins, ban ...

guitars (including

Stratocaster The Fender Stratocaster, colloquially known as the Strat, is a model of double- cutaway electric guitar designed between 1952 and 1954 by Leo Fender, Bill Carson, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares. The Fender Musical Instruments Corporati ...

and

Telecaster The Fender Telecaster, colloquially known as the Tele (), is an electric guitar produced by Fender (company), Fender. Together with its sister model the Fender Esquire, Esquire, it was the world's first mass-produced, commercially successfulLes ...

guitars). Soldano produced the Supercharger G.T.O. which is a high-voltage valve driven preamp in a floor pedal. The name "G.T.O." derives from the three control knob names—Gain, Tone, Output. Michael Soldano announced his retirement building amps in 2018, but in 2019 announced he would sell the company to Boutique Amps Distribution and would remain with the company as a designer. In 2020, Soldano released a revamped SLO-100 with added depth control, and a lower-wattage SLO-30 version.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Soldano Custom Amplification

Mike Soldano Interview
at NAMM Oral History Collection (2021) Guitar amplifier manufacturers Manufacturing companies based in Seattle Audio equipment manufacturers of the United States American companies established in 1986

History

See also

References

External links