Soldano Atomic 16

[bubs_42]

Ok so I bought one last month, a little 1x12 Combo and liked it but did no love it. It sounds wonderfull with my T51 but it didn't like my humbucker guitars at all and if you know me I don't have alot of single coils laying around. So I set off to do some speaker and tube swapping and in the meantime I came across a 2x12 Atomic 16 located at a Guitar Center in NC. So I bought it too because I have issues. So I got it the Friday before Chrismas and just got around to checking the Ohms out on the speakers and was looking to reload it with some Scumbacks next week when they get here. So I pulled the tubes and put in some Mesa el84''s and some Ruby 12ax7's that I had bought for the 1x12 and within about 3 seconds all that fuzzy/sizzle that was in the gain section just faded away. So then I crank the little beast to 10 of 11 on the gain side and there was that Soldano Sound in that little amp. I was just amazed at the difference the tubes made! I have this baby set at 10 on the Gain, 10 on the Bass 5 on the mids and 5 on the Treble Volume on 6 and the Precence on 1.5 and it is HotRod for sure.

So to anyone that is looking for a HotRod Beast in a Low Watt Platform I can now recommend the Atomic 16 to you. For even more punch I'd go with the Head and a 2x12 Cabinet. But the Old Style 2x12 is pretty impressive at lower gain settings with a little reverb and a Tele or Strat.

I went from Meh to Floored with the difference. I will try the speaker swap too before I do anything else because although I like the Gain I do love that Medium FAT Gain with nice bottoms for a nice base tone.

Ya the Mail Lady just dropped off my Speaker Cable I needed !

[stobro]

A friend of mine that's been playing guitar for nearly 40 years started out (after a few no-name transistor starter amps) using a Marshall 50W head and a 4-12 cab- the classic half stack. He then moved on to a Marshall JCM800 combo. Eventually he bought an Atomic 16 head, first going into a home made 1-12 cab and then into a 2-12. Playing an early '80s Flying Vee, he always managed to get his tone. As far as I know, the only mod he ever made to the amp was adding a cooling fan to extend the life of the tubes.

[bubs_42]

I think i'm going to add a tube tamer for the EL84's. One of the things that drew me to it was that it was a very well made amp, simple and around that 18 watt mark without breaking the band. I spend $800 bucks and thats not that far off of a Late 70's JMP but then again we are talking a vintage amp that will need to be cared for and they are hit and miss on a good one. Looks like the 2x12 will be staying most likey and the 1x12 will go. I can't make up my mind the 1x12 is Mint and even has the original Purple 12ax7's in it but I like the 2x12 because well its louder!

[Punkavenger]

Tung-sol 12AX7's made a world of difference in my Blues jr.

[bubs_42]

I tried it again today and it stll sounds great. I'm going to move the 1x12 for sure, now I just need to decide whether to do the 2x12 combo or a Head and Cab. It just so Portable the 2x12 combo is pretty lite. Lighter than most.

[Hamer95USA]

I got a Soldano Astroverb 16 1x12 combo amp on a trade a few years ago. One of the best trades I ever did. The Astroverb is basically the same amp as the Atomic 16 with a tube driven reverb added to it. It's definitely a high gain amp with a 20 watt output. Fun amp to jam/practice with at home and I'm not worried about it being loud at rehearsal with it either.

I recently had new JJ EL-84 power tubes since the power tubes went out and a Celestion Greenback speaker installed in it. That speaker complements the amp's crunchy tone.

Guitar George

[bubs_42]

Going with 2 scumbacks. One 25 and one 30 that I bought used. I think I have myself talked into keeping the 2x12 just because it sounds so damn cool.