Rack Talk with Michael Soldano

I was able to visit Michael Soldano in his retirement to talk about the awesome rack gear he created. Big thank you to Mike for his time and generosity in sharing the stories & history behind the gear. Also shout out to Michael Nielsen for assisting with the audio. Time stamps below:

The first Soldano preamp - X88r 0:25
Soldano SP77 2:45
Are the SP77 channels the same as on the X88r? 4:00
Japanese vs American Made SP77 5:17
Soldano/Caswell X99 10:30
How close are the X88r & X99 18:50
The Rack SLO 19:35
SLOWatt Stereo Amp 19:43
Rarest Soldano Preamp - Single Channel SLO Preamp 23:11
SP77 Prototype 24:52
Surf Box 26:00
Space Box 30:05

[tone]

I still have my X88R from 1990 which Mike built for me from his shop in Melrose. Mike told me I was the first Canadian customer who ordered this preamp from him. I waited 4 months for my X88R, he had to put my order on hold because he needed to build two SLOs for Eric Clapton in time for the 1990 “August album” Tour. Mike reached out to me multiple times to apologize for the delay, he’s a super nice guy! A cool little history on my preamp…

[BigHairyGuitars]

What an awesome video! Thanks for doing this Toren and Soldano!

[dmarsh]

I Have a 1 Space Soldano preamp that Mike built for me in late 88. It was at the Melrose Hollywood Shop. Sounds Amazing!

[Yupppi]

I couldn't believe it when I saw this pop up in the feed. I was putting things together and slowly brains started clicking. Like at first just glancing over videos and seeing a random scene of two guys standing in a rather empty space. Then I noticed it said "rack talk with michael soldano" and then I saw it was from Toren. Mind blown! What a fantastic one.

I gotta say it was a great decision to make them pink. It might seem like a crazy idea, who would want pink? Although it was also the 80's so the context might be totally different. But like most amps were very conservative, black tolex and black or silver panels. Suddenly a pink soldano? You can't forget it after you've seen one. It sticks out in any company. It makes a lasting impression and it doesn't look bad, it actually looks great. Not to talk about the tone.

Soldano is also great at talking about the gear, he's a pleasure to listen to. Can tell he had to sell his amp by talking back in the day and probably later as well, you barely had to guide him to speak at all. Also love this video in the sense of preserving history. Now there's one place to get the basic info on these units. The core rack units. It's not a complete and exhaustive visit to Soldano's production, but definitely goes through the important pieces that have less recorded data. Stuff you had to piece together around the internet. He was in many ways ahead of the curve. To ever think about motorized amp and actually produce it, with saved presets. It took perhaps 20-30 years to get the same functionality in the form of digital modelling amps. Fully tweakable MIDI controlled amp parameters. And no chance on actual analog tube amps.

And oh my god, he had a three space harmonic tremolo with reverb back in the day? That would be all the craze now (not the 3 space and weight and rack though, but still). But with a slight vibrato too.

It's just shocking that being the icon he is in the amp building industry and rock world, the innovations he made, that he has barely sold like 1500-2000 rack preamps. Most of them in the US probably as well. There's still SLO100 in production, but harsh truth for the guys who still dream of getting a killer pink preamp. On the other hand it's also seal of quality, I recall Soldano just quit production when he didn't have like a transformer that would be equal or acceptable for some design. Nothing like Marshall just throwing any component close enough in their amps that happened to lie in the shop to match production rates.

[kimblez]

Soldano ...should build these preamps ....again !!!!

[GertvanderDoes]

Best amps ever. Why did he ever close up shop? And... All the time, I'm thinking... Show that Vette over there...

[MrDavemiley]

I had an SLO 100 rack amp in 1988. I have heard that the FX loop and clean channels have improved on these since then.

[u]

What an interview Michael. Humble guy who is happy to share knowledge. Fantastic stuff

[abrackas]

Had a rack mounted purple SLO years ago but had a mod to it I didn’t like. Great guy and build quality was great! Used a HR 50 in a studio and the clean channel was fantastic

[jjshouseofjams]

awesome stuff. love my Soldano Hot Rod 50. you are currently 666 subs. pure rock

[guitartonetopia]

If they all have the same SLO lead channel… how come the x88 and sp77 sound different in A/B test videos?… would this just be tube differences and component tolerances?

[_mysilentblue]

What an incredible interview of an absolute legend! X99's less that 200 made, I now feel privileged to have gotten to play a new one in south east Florida.

[JRPmusic]

I like the story behind the X99. That is really cool too. I was excited about the Midi Jet City prototype amp. Disappointed it was never made.

[JPDESS]

The caswell motorized system was genius for this time, still today. The jet city line that Soldano designed is also vastly underated, they didnt price the product line high enough so market didnt really had respect for what it was.

[phillamoore]

Being able to control a pot with a foot controller??? That is a GREAT idea. Leave it to Mike Soldano to pull that off. I'd kill to be able to do that with a gain control on a single channel amp, that when dimed sounds killer, and when pulled back has a great clean....like a Dirty Shirley.

[aussie_philosopher]

Man I was just thinking of how great soldano reverbs are and found this. I never had so much fun as when I had a soldano with built in 6 spring reverb (I think) beauty clean, high gain verb and the wickedest high gain feedback loop sound you've ever heard, great for ambient fx on guitar.

It's great seeing Mike again. Happy retirement.

[hotrod]

Wow those are just gorgeous! Great video! :) love learning the history behind this legendary gear.

[danec]

This is great! Definitely don't see the surf or space box very often.
Interesting that Bradshaw says he pretty much designed the X88 but Mike also claims to have designed it.
Both guys do awesome stuff anyway and I'd love an X88!

[thecappy]

Damn I wish he said what tank was is the surf and space box

[gerardgomez]

That interview was awesome. I like everything he makes. The hunt continues for a couple more prized Soldano pieces!!