The amp world issued a collective groan of mourning when Mike Soldano appeared to hold up his soldering iron in 2019. However the uptake of Soldano quickly thereafter by Boutique Amps Distribution (BAD) — the California-based producer of Friedman, Tone King, Morgan and Synergy amplifiers — promised a sturdy continuation of the legacy, bolstered by additional design enter from the high-gain grasp himself.
Having ramped up the road with the return of the legendary SLO-100 and lower-powered SLO-30 and Mini, Soldano now presents the Astro-20, a completely new mannequin constructed from three years of his personal design work.
If the title suggestions it off as a successor to the favored club-sized flamethrower of the previous, the Astroverb 16, it’s price stating upfront that that is additionally a completely new beastie, packing conventional Soldano lead voicing right into a 20-watt head primed to suit right now’s various efficiency and recording wants.
On its face, the Astro-20 is a conventional three-channel, all-tube head (additionally accessible as a combo) delivering 20 watts from a pair of 6V6GT output tubes, with 4 12AX7s within the preamp and phase-inverter phases.
Scaffolded round that, nevertheless, are a number of options designed to assist it meld seamlessly with the hybrid rigs that energy so many gamers’ stage and studio wants in 2024. An inside cab load means it may be used and not using a speaker connected, tapping one among six internally saved impulse responses (IRs) to ship hi-res speaker-cab tone to the XLR DI or stereo headphone jack.
The seven-pin DIN enter can obtain MIDI switching instead of the included four-button foot swap, loading as much as 128 channels in addition to Galaxy and cab presets (extra on this beneath). There’s even a very good old school results loop!
In a primary for this maker, the Astro-20 features a free obtain of the Soldano Editor software program, an easy-to-use interface by Synergy that enables importing of third-party IRs and full MIDI preset and performance programming.
As for the standard tube-amp parameters, Soldano has parsed the Astro-20 as a three-channel amp with an unbiased clear channel plus two overdrive channels with unbiased acquire and quantity controls and shared three-band EQ.
Following the only enter, the management set contains quantity, tone, acquire 1, acquire 2, bass, center, treble, vol 1, vol 2, grasp and presence. Channel 1 features a three-position vibrant swap, and there are world switches for channel/retailer, Galaxy, depth and cupboard (IR).
Every of those little toggles expands the Astro-20’s versatility exponentially, however the Galaxy characteristic requires additional clarification. It provides Blue, Purple and Purple Galaxy acquire voicings on the overdrive channel chosen — primarily distinguished by ascending ranges of saturation — and a Inexperienced Galaxy voicing on the clear channel.
If all of it appears like a possible mess of channel/IR/preset confusion within the making, the nifty Galaxy brand on the proper finish of the panel lights up within the correct colour to point out the Galaxy chosen, and the six little planets illuminate to point the cupboard IR preset in use.
The standard of development is indicative of what we’ve come to know from Soldano and the opposite BAD manufacturers. Customized USA-made transformers be part of a sturdy printed circuit board, chassis-reinforced output tube sockets and different strong touches in an amp that ought to show roadworthy for years to return.
It’s all given a none-more-black styling that declares its rock intentions, though I’d maybe prefer to see numbers across the management knobs, or at the very least some form of gradation.
I examined the Astro-20 with a Les Paul and a Telecaster through all of the routes this versatile head allows, utilizing the headphones, DI’d to a recording interface into Professional Instruments and into an FRFR cab for “within the room” IR-based tones, and into a conventional 2×12 cab with Celestion G12M Creambacks and a 1×12 with Eminence DV-77.
Irrespective of the way you join the again finish, this little factor rocks! And no shock there, given the Soldano pedigree.
It could be difficult to totally extrapolate the legendary SLO lead sound to a special amp with smaller 6V6 output tubes, however the Astro-20 does an excellent job of delivering three variations on that juicy, saturated sizzle. There’s acquire, maintain and chunk aplenty for nearly any breed of lead enjoying, together with impressively pummeling crunch tones for power-chord rhythm work and tight low-string riffing.
The three Galaxies go from raw-edged rock and roll in Blue, to a extra aggressive grind with guttural midrange bark in Purple, to severe shred-worthy sizzle in Purple, and every will be additional dialed in to style with the respective acquire management.
The clear channel, with the Inexperienced Galaxy, could be very clear, however that’s what most gamers are in search of from channel one in any multi-channel head, and it does take overdrive pedals very properly if you wish to juice it up. I think many customers will dwell in one of many two overdrive channels, although, which is actually the place I had probably the most enjoyable.
Though it’s a three-channel amp, the programmable four-button foot swap makes 4 totally totally different tones accessible by assigning, for instance, totally different Galaxy settings to both of the overdrive channels.
The end result renders fairly a little bit of variation even earlier than you think about hooking up full MIDI implementation for a whopping 128 presets, which is the place the easy-to-use Soldano Editor software program is available in. As soon as it was put in on my Mac, I used to be loading my very own IRs and linking these, plus channel and Galaxy choices, to my presets very quickly.
Having first examined the Astro-20 through headphones to discover the IR choices, I used to be floored by how a lot quantity this modest 20-watter put out when linked to a dwell guitar cab. The person overdrive channel volumes and world grasp nonetheless allow scorching lead tones at comparatively low decibel ranges, however if you want it, this head has greater than sufficient firepower to maintain up with a heavyfisted drummer.
As together with his X99 preamp, Mike Soldano has embraced know-how with the Astro-20’s MIDI-switching capabilities and IR loading options, and I feel any totally featured tube amp maximizes its probabilities of surviving the digital age by doing likewise.
Along with the IRs’ utility for recording and silent-stage/in-ear-monitor performances, one of many nice bonuses is that you would be able to carry a light-weight 1×12 for onstage monitoring whereas ramming a stout 4×12 tone via the front-of-house PA because of the onboard IRs. Win-win!
For all of those capabilities, in addition to its strong basis as a scorching old-school high-gain amp suited to trendy enjoying conditions, the Astro-20 earns an Editors’ Decide Award.
Specs
- CHANNELS 3
- CONTROLS Quantity, tone, acquire 1, acquire 2, bass, center, treble, vol 1, vol 2, grasp, presence; Ch 1 vibrant swap, world switches for channel/retailer, Galaxy, depth, cupboard (IR)
- POWER 20 watts
- TUBES 4 12AX7 preamp tubes, two 6V6 output tubes
- EXTRAS 4-button foot swap/MIDI enter, USB port, stereo headphones jack and stage management, results loop ship and return, 5 speaker outs for 4Ω to 16Ω
- WEIGHT 26 lbs
- DIMENSIONS 19” x 9.5” x 8” (WxDxH)
- BUILT USA
For extra info, go to soldano.com
