Modern Masters of Guitar Amp Design: Soldano, Friedman, Morgan & Arends

In this episode of Everything Music I discuss Modern Amp Design with 4 World Class Amp Builders: Michael Soldano, Dave Friedman, Joe Morgan and Peter Arends.
Soldano Amplifiers. Friedman Amplifiers, Morgan Amplifiers and Tone King.
BEATO EAR TRAINING → beatoeartraini...
THE BEATO CLUB → bit.ly/322AGO1
BUY THE BEATO BOOK HERE → bit.ly/2kdWdTS
MY HELIX PRESETS →flatfiv.co/pro...
KEMPER PROFILES → bit.ly/34mF3EY
SUBSCRIBE HERE → bit.ly/2eEs9gX
--------------------------------------
My Links to Follow:
KZbin - / rickbeato
Follow my Instagram - / rickbeato1
Personal Facebook - / rick.beato.1
Follow On Twitter - / rickbeato
------------------------------
Special Thanks to My Supporters:
Joe Armstrong
Brian Smith
Brandon Combs
Robert Hickerty
comboy
Alan Nance
Peter DeVault
Bill Grubbs
Phil Mingin
Tal Harber
Rick Taylor
Bill Miller
Gabriel Karaffa
Brett Bottomley
Matthew Porter
Frederick Humphrey
Paul Noonan
Scott Thompson
Todd Geisler
Harry Brocious
Jaime Villescas
Jeff Peters
Jared Vogt
Todd Geisler
Kaeordic Industries LLC
Duane Blake
Terry Van Belle
Ilya Kravchenko
Nathan Hanna
Thom Theriault
Kai Ellis
Zack Kirkorian
Joe Ansaldi
Jonathan Wentworth-Linton
Pzz
Marc Alan
Rob Kline
Calvin Wells
David Trapani
Will Elrics
Chris Defendorf
Debbie Valle
JP Rosato
Dave Hawkey
Orion Letizi
Mike Voloshen
Ashley Thompson
Peter Pillitteri
Jeremy Hickerson
Travis Ahrenholtz

[@duckydrummer6331]

I could listen to Mike Soldano talk shop about his amps all day. He knows his stuff and he taught himself about electronics and circuitry by reading books from the library. Amazing guy!

[@jc.1191]

Spot on with explaining how important the speaker is for tone. It took me far too long to realize that. I think it may be more important than amp choice.

[@yoyodunno]

Same here, people don’t talk about it enough and it can make or break your experience with an amp. I recently just got a bad cat speaker, which is like a chimey v30, mixed it with a Mesa c90 and it’s crazy versatile for rock and lush cleans

[@BrandonBames]

From all these NAMM interviews, it sort of feels like Mike Soldano has been locked in a workshop for 35 years and all of a sudden he realizes he's a legendary amp builder.

[@DustinAlford]

There's probably a lot of truth in that.

[@KD-nb3mp]

Yup. Thats mike soldano!

[@TheVirginianRambler]

“Might want to watch in sections” this man doesn’t understand that I must watch it in whole. I dedicate more time to youtube than guitar and it’s sad

[@AndreiGrozea]

Not as long as you learn new things

[@Ryno133]

I’m at work away from my guitar so there’s nothing else better to do 😂

[@PedalsFriends]

Rick Beato -> the king of content 👑 I learned so much from you!!!! Thanks 👍👍👍

[@jasperhouten8688]

Pedals & Friends so true !

[@omorganstudios]

Yes...definitely NOT click bait A+ content

[@icepick859]

I have too

[@LUckybones25]

I'm gonna have to agree with Dave when he said Jake was his favorite Ozzy guitarist! He was my favorite too.

[@kospandx]

I think Dave is spot on about Jake, by the way. He got the tough spot of being a follow-up, but man, the leads on those two Ozzy albums he did are just out of this world in technique and attitude. Having played a fair amount of songs by each of the three major Ozzy guitarists, I can say for certain that Jake's soloing work is the hardest to pull off.

[@ericwarrington6650]

I've seen him live 3 times w ozzy in those tours and in person in his prime was amazing to watch..he hardly moved..legs spread squatting and just going off🤘😜🎸🎶

[@kittysox8463]

Channel gets better every single day! Loved the rig rundown btw

[@jcmcclain57]

What a great interview series Rick!!! I am a electrical engineer and work on tube amplifiers when I am not playing/making music. I loved the reference to the tube amp comparison you did with various heads and cabinets. I personally own two of the amps mentioned in conversation, a 1972 Hiwatt DR-103 and 412 cabinet, and the Lab Series L-5 with 212 speakers. Bought the Hiwatt in a Dallas pawn shop in 1983 and the L-5 brand new in 1978. I use the Scholtz Power Soak with my Hiwatt and the L-5 has been my favorite workhorse amp for decades. I will be revisiting these interviews a whole bunch more! Thanks!

[@stanspb763]

It was funny to hear Soldano say LDR's were expensive on a multi-thousand dollar amp. They are a dollar and less reliable relays are $0.50. He hum and noise amps made, and still make was primarily due to the designers not being engineers. Hi-fi designers had been able to reduce noise decades before. The main difference was people designing them were essentially hobbyists who tinkered their way into designs. As both a degreed electronic engineer and multi-platinum album recording engineer/studio owner, it is pretty obvious the whole guitar amp chain from pickups to speakers has been a kluge by amateurs all all along. The noise however became a signature component of popular music recording and stage. They were both right, no one cared, because the noise was part of the character of the sound and those who came after, in attempts to capture the same character believed the tone was what made the song work when it was never the tone, since before that song was recorded the way it was, no one aspired to that tone until a song that influenced than just happened to have that sound character. Following that song, a million guitarists sought the tone that song had. A lot of songs DID have the same characteristics but why it suddenly was not noise but music was simply the song itself. It was a mistaken belief that the same tone on another song would necessarily be better and any other tone characteristic. Guitarists chased tone instead of focusing on writing and arranging songs that were compelling regardless of tone, which would become the target tone guitarists sought. Write a great song and whatever tone signature was used, will become sought as if the tone made the difference between a great song and their own efforts. Tones are made popular by songs, not songs becoming popular because of their guitar tone. The problem was and still is, it is really hard to write a great song. It is much easier to assume it is the tone and constantly replace gear. So much money, time and effort is spend chasing tone and so very little effort or skill is devoted to the far more important song , it has created a whole industry of frustrated musicians going from one amp or effect to the next searching for the tone, but spending little time on the more difficult but free talent in creating good songs. As a general rule of thumb, the larger the pile of gear a guitarist uses, the weaker their songs are.

[@RC32Smiths01]

Sitting down with the Amp Maestros. Sure to be a a valuable and informative video indeed. Great content all around

[@PJSGBC]

Are you kidding... not only true tube amp love, but you throw a little Ty Tabor love in the end! Perfect! For the record, the conversational nature was great.

[@Guitargate]

The Morgan amps are always the best at Namm. Every year I wonder if they’re as good as I remember, and they’re always better. Might have to finally get one!!!

[@gpeterson999]

I could watch an hour with each guy. Amazing, thank you.

[@regwooten]

that was one of your best interviews. So informative and I loved the bits of amp knowledge.

[@svarthelikoptern]

This was great! I haven't finished watching it yet but I'm very happy. Michael Soldano is a legend, I so want an SLO-100. And Dave, amazing guy. He used to hang around on an amp building forum yonks ago and helped me with his insights to build my '68 12000 clone, á la Eddie's amp. So grateful for his help. Amazing amps, amazing signature amps too, Jerry, Jake, Steven, Phil-X. (I have NO affiliation with him at all) EDIT: Just finished watching the Friedman segment and it's a blast that he mentioned the '68 Plexi as his favourite.

[@jeffreyt991]

I wish the interviews were longer. Very interesting the design philosophies each designer discussed.

[@patrickkoenigsfeld1253]

This was like watching long-time friends meet for the first time. Amazing stuff. Just fantastic.

[@kerrysmith]

I love my Randall modular head. That has been an amazing tool. Love that Synergy is keeping the platform alive.

[@DustinAlford]

I heard you could use the Randall preamps on the synergy, is this true?

[@georgebarry3153]

@@DustinAlford im a rm4 randall guy...i looked at synergy...yes they work in the mts amps....but may sacrifice a little bit of functionality. but the tones will be the same.

[@DustinAlford]

@@georgebarry3153 That's pretty cool that they work. It's a really awesome concept for an amp.

[@mikemic1079]

Joe Morgan is a really Cool dude. Makes great amps...Met him, back in his small hb shop. Fixed, retubed some Marshall plexi's I had. never forget that.. was really cool he did that.

[@josephland8649]

This video is very fitting as I have just bought a 1985 JCM 800 50 watt 2204. It's ungodly LOUD and is going to take some getting used to. Had it cranked for about 10 minutes earlier and my ears are still ringing. Much louder than my 100 watt vintage modern.

[@DustinAlford]

Have you looked into getting a power attenuator? You can crank your amp for the tone while keeping it at a moderate volume.

[@khmr33]

Rick, I just setup a new home theater and was watching this video and you can clearly hear traffic noise and other low frequency noise through the subwoofer 🤣 you might want to lop off some low end during interviews. Maybe it's just me, but it might be worth looking into. It's not just your channel either. I'm hearing this from multiple people... it's just that you might know what to do 😉

[@scruffie777]

Great content!These interview are entertaining and informative, an interview with John Suhr would be awesome.

[@Blaydrnnnr]

Great interview with Mike Soldano....an amp I was hoping to own someday before I die...( along with a Friedman ....wont happen ). These guys remind me of Dave Reeves in the fact that they were developing theyre amps with specific goals, and quality standards...I do own 2 Hiwatts, artwork compared to alot of amps, but Dave and Mike really keep the innovation moving....great interviews!

[@royglennie]

Subtitles: "I'm Rigby Otto..." haha gotta love the auto captions!

[@TimSklyarovMusic]

Watched it in one sitting! This was so amazing. Rick, do more content like this please!

[@MehYam2112]

This is awesome. You don't encounter this level of expertise very often.

[@tacmason]

very insightful-on several levels.and it says a lot that 30 to 60 watts is the new 50 /100 watt paradigm .

[@Mark_Ocain]

Man I remember in the late '80s and into the '90s, anybody who was anybody had an SLO-100. Great amps!!

[@CheetahSnowLeopard]

This guy is a machine for great content. Unmatched.

[@CheetahSnowLeopard]

@alan wake Looks like he's an equipment guy, I see no music theory at all.

[@kospandx]

Soldanos are rare as a hen's teeth around here, but I did get to try an HR50+ an odd decade ago, and it was hands down the best guitar tone I have ever heard. I really hope there is an SLO 30 being made with my name on it some time in the future.

[@adrianmarsglam]

They introduced a smaller wattage SLO earlier this year at NAMM, check it out

[@kospandx]

@D B An SLO 30? I doubt it, since I have seen no evidence of them being delived to people yet. I would be interested in one of the classic models as well, but finding a 220v version that doesn't cost even more than a new 110v is exceedingly difficult. We'll see what happens once the new models hit the market...

[@81giorikas]

@@kospandx It is exactly the same with the hot rod 25. His words by the way. And, it's not exactly the same as the old SLO preamp wise. And as for refference the new SLO mark II differs in the same way... So vs the 90's SLO, you have different transformers, obviously different tubes, different switching (relays vs vactrols), different preamp as far as topology goes and a different layour as far as the pcb goes. If all of these make a difference (huge or otherwise) remains to be seen and is only answered by comparing two SLOs side by side with the same tubes, old and new... I'd still go for the old lol.

[@kospandx]

@@81giorikas I should clarify that there was a post between mine and Adrian's that has now been removed. That was what I was replying to. As far as the SLO goes, I know that there have been some changes, but the HR50+ from the early 2000s that I tried sounded incredible, and judging from the tests I've seen so far I have no reason to believe that the newer amps should be significantly.

[@FlowtnWitWalden]

So funny Friedman mentions Sound City cabs. I bought half a dozen of them about 10 years ago. A couple came with vintage G12H30's, reconed though, but man those cabs are solid and sound fantastic. Also the Ampeg B4 cabs. Also, the older Carvin script logo cabs are great too - picked one up dirt cheap at Daddy's in New England, it was a 412C (supposed to have celestions) but I could see by the aluminum voice coil covers that they were something else. I was thinking JBL's but when I opened up the cab at home discovered Altec 417c's - my lucky day!

[@tribunation]

I own a small Mesa 1×12 closed back cab with a V30 speaker that was re-coned vfc with a a Tone Tubby hemp cone and USA made internal parts. Sounds amazing. Perfect for home and recording

[@tfreppis]

I think one of the earliest boutique builders was Mesa / Boogie? They were buying transformers from Fender and building the amp up from there.

[@copperaudio9664]

This is fantastic Rick. Especially the little bit about DC tube heaters. Thanks!

[@eddiesell8577]

Martin Kidd of Cornford, now victory amps is also a really good amp designer.

[@danman9510]

Wish you could interview Dean Deleo from STP...so great !

[@MrKrankKopf]

Dave's right saying Jake was Ozzy's best guitar player.

[@kurtwestphal]

rick thanks so much I"m a EE and Fractal User and tube amp groupie.... i've done some serious analysis on all these guys amps, they are wonderful designers, i really think it's amazing that we can interview these 'gods' (like clapton).. thanks again!

[@LostaraYil666]

Friedmans sound adjectives are superb

[@joedomingos8486]

We were a Yamaha Dealer when they introduced Mike's design, we did really well with those. I have a friend who bought a T series from me back then who is still playing it today.

[@johnnylance]

Heard Kat Edmonson tonight. She was great. But her guitar player, who was great as well, used what I think was a Twin Reverb that buzzed so much that that was all I could hear during quiet passages. It was VERY annoying... He should either convert his amp to DC filaments, which isn't difficult to do, or use a solid state amp. I was thinking about this as we were driving home from the concert and then I got home and watched this video. By the way I have three of those Yamaha Soldano amps...

[@clintonblake1436]

Thank you Rick and all the interviewees. I learned a lot from this video.

[@lukasthielmann]

Thank you! Fascinating to hear amp guys talk

[@DustinAlford]

It's great to hear how passionate they are, Randall from Mesa Boogie is the same way.

[@deweyhiller]

Wonderful episode Rick!

[@AndyIntharaphithak]

Mike is a true engineer, he's still excited talking about little improvements on the amp design even after all these years

[@billsmith2212]

Martin Barre has used Soldano Amps for many years . He also had their speakers when he was in Jethro Tull . In regards to Yamaha , I have seen Mike Stern several times . He had a well worn Yamaha combo amp . It would be interesting to get the model and serial number and see if it was designed by Mike Soldano . There is a lot of great gear out there . I believe when I saw Jon Herington with Steely Dan , he used Bogner . Whatever it is , if you can find your sound , that's it .

[@davedavem]

This is a good format to have on in the background at work.

[@jeffreycollins7297]

Next video will have Randall Smith and Lee Jackson and Bogner. :D Thanks for this video. Morgan sounds like a lot of us in our early years. Kinda makes me wish I had stuck with building and designing amps myself.

[@texacaster]

I have the Lab Series 4x10. It is wicked! Great video Rick. Thanks for all this!

[@troyoswald5683]

Thanks Rick! SO GOOD! We are so lucky.

[@IndyPhil26]

Great video Rick. I would love to see a interview with Thomas Blug from Bluguitar and hear your thoughts on his amp.

[@michaelthomas4156]

Soldano amps. Applying DC to heating filament rather than alternating current is brilliant! I need to try one of those amps.

[@dan_perry]

Indeed! Every custom/clone I've built since 95 has had DC filaments, except on the power tubes... no need for it there.

[@shorerocks]

Soldanos are not my thing, but it is such a joy to watch the man himself get all excited about the great feedback he gets for what he has done, and of course that from a business perspective there is a future for his amps and brand.

[@LUckybones25]

Another great video Rick. Thanks for keeping that great content coming!

[@aristocaster]

Seymour Duncan did modular preamps with thumbscrews for his convertible series stacks and combos in 80's

[@perry2592]

Love the full circle of content. So very solid. Thank you.

[@russellward4624]

It’s a shame how expensive guitar equipment in general was back then. I desperately wanted an ADA MP1 and it was like $1200 I think. The minimum wage was like $3 per hour. Everything was just so far out of reach for most people. I wonder how many musicians were lost due to cost?

[@Stefan-Van-der-Pulst]

I had two of them . When you gig constantly you have to have a spare one..

[@39MercFlathead]

Great interviews. I learned more than I thought I would. Thanks, Rick.

[@gregwayman7499]

Mike Soldano is the only one that designed his unique SLO circuit from scratch, the others just copied/slightly tweaked existing circuits and then charged the earth.

[@BurnTheGallows]

Love it! Great content Rick!

[@jds9958]

Had both lab series amp, the 4-10 and the 2-12. They also had a 200 watt head -stack edition, which a friend of mine had .

[@surf247365]

Lab series L11 freaking beast! Amazing sleeper amps @ killer price. Great video Rick!!

[@nathanballein3035]

I used to work for a Yamaha dealer for about a year - And they had about 8 of the Soldano Yamaha amps. I think we sold one, for like pennies over dealer cost. Great amp - but we were a Mesa/Boogie dealer so most of the time people would buy the Boogie instead. Great amps though.

[@vromanempire2145]

My dream amp!!! That Silver jubilee behind you!!!

[@iggypyro78]

Hell yes - this is a great video man. I would love to see more amp stuff. I could listen to you talk to guys like these all day long.

[@dustinsosebee]

Dang- Fantastic convos! Thanks for sharing Rick

[@lebeau686]

Best hour of my day (so far!). Thanks!

[@FangPaw]

So Mike Soldano was the first boutique amp builder.. I guess it depends on what you call a "boutique amp". If you mean a no-expenses-spared top-quality hand-built amp, then Soldano was preceded by some 25 years by Mat Matthias of Matamp (as famously used by Peter Green); Matamp also made Orange amps until the early 1970's when Orange split away in the pursuit of bigger profits. BTW, Matamp are still going strong and still making hand-built amps of outstanding quality. Dave Reeves started making Hiwatt amps in the late 1960's in his garage So maybe Mr Soldano wasn't quite the first after all...

[@georgebarry3153]

very good points made..ps: Lee Jackson not mentioned,as well.

[@geronimodiaz2310]

I saw the soldano with Ola's KZbin channel but if Rick is showing it ,I'll buy it..

[@aussie_philosopher8079]

i still think the HOT ROD 25 is the baby SLO and not the new 30 watt one, however the new SLO 100 could be very interesting. Back in the day only 1 or 2 people made a soldano amp from start to finish so quality control was very good. Thanks mike for all the great years of soldano amps.

[@NinerFourWhiskey]

As an electrical engineer, I respect what these guys are doing. As a musician, these are not the sounds I choose. My taste is more along the guitar tone found on Lucinda Williams Car Wheels on a Gravel Road album, and the Dr. Z, lower gain, chimey, and the older Fender turned up sound. I've never been into the high-gain, crunch sort of thing. I like that point right on the edge, where playing a little softer gets clean and harder gets a little dirt. Just different things.

[@RickBeato]

Morgan and Tone King are chimey amps.

[@thisperfectworld]

Lucinda and her band played that album's material in its entirety to my tiny college around the time of release; an unforgettable experience!

[@NunSuperior]

Ty Tabor used a Randall MTS amp with a Modern preamp module on the Ogre Tones album.

[@davedecker1725]

Ty Tabor has used EVERYTHING under the sun, yet he always sounds like Ty Tabor. Which is a very good thing!😁

[@georgebarry3153]

Oh yeah.... The tones on that are FANTASTIC.

[@CarnivoreIntelligence]

What a great episode with so many insights!

[@Po1itica11yNcorrect]

Love the potential of my Friedman Runt 20. Now just need to figure out how to dial it in and make it sound as great as I've heard others make it sound.

[@karlsalocks]

A GREAT lower wattage amp for sure

[@ITheFight]

Awesome! I thought a new Tone Talk came out, but this is so great too

[@zadvitskyguitarpedalsandam4466]

Great video Rick!!! Thanks a lot!

[@demagmusic]

I have always LOVED Soldano amps. I wish!

[@DustinAlford]

They do sound amazing, very thick sounding.

[@georgebarry3153]

Rick Beato: I agree the concept of modular Preamps is brilliant. Guys: This is WAYYYY better than any modeler I have ever heard. The Randall system WAS a good idea..but now, years later, no support means end of the line. So glad Synergy happened.

[@georgebarry3153]

Right On, Dave!!!!!!! Jake E Lee ROCKs!!!

[@81giorikas]

The synergy stuff, for hi gain preamps that have (in the original amps) more than two tubes to complete the lead circuit, will use mosfet op amps. It is more than certain. I do appreciate that he pretty much (the synergy designer) let's it out there by stating that they are not exactly like the amps (dahhhh). And for those that think that ss will destroy your sound...think of your rig and the rigs of the heroes you love guitar wise, and there is a ton of solid state stuff in the signal chain!!!

[@normansjamsnjellies9574]

Jim Kelly Amps... The original boutique amp. Good luck finding one!

[@granvillefriel1877]

Dude i really enjoy your channel i appreciate the knowledge

[@gloconti]

I know there is some bad blood about the Mesa Dual Rec and The Soldano SLO circuits. But it seems really weird to say Mike is the “First Boutique Amp Builder” or “Original”. 1986? Randall Smith (Boogie) was making boutique versions of hotrodded Fenders in1969...

[@Billywagner22]

How many hours a day do you dedicate to making videos and editing? I really appreciate the work you put in. My favorite KZbin channel by far!

[@GEX-_-]

Mr Beato If your interested in the randall modules still. Randall Fender blackface Randall fender deluxe Randall clean preamp module. All mint. Which one are you missing?

[@GinsuSher]

This might be beneath someone like you.... But what do you think of Chi-Fi products? (Chinese made Hi-Fi products). I'm no musician, just an avid music fan, and for the past 2 years I noticed an increase in greatly made (and great sounding) Chi-Fi gear, from portable amp/dacs, iems and headphones that can sometimes best those made by more established Hi-Fi companies. Like they cost a quarter (or sometimes even just a tenth!) of what the bigger companies ask for their products....

[@bendonkin9449]

Hey Rick, please do a "what makes this song great" episode on a Steven Wilson song. The Raven that Refused to Sing and Ancestral are 2 of my favourites and in my opinion, utter masterpieces.

[@winthorpe6594]

Rick, another awesome video....do you any love for Bruce Egnater?

[@Phoebedumplings]

Very interesting but mainly from a historical perspective. I honestly believe that amps are redundant. If I were a touring musician, I would go kemper.

[@tone-talk]

Great video Rick!

[@zosojstro]

Excellent video very informative. Will be getting a TK Ironman 2

[@andyguitar]

Gotta give some love for Gries Amps. Dave is an amazing amp maker!

[@GMHG777]

This is a nice surprise Rick ! This should be fun !

[@ShredEngineerPhD]

This is FANTASTIC.

[@g4guitarschoolsoxnardventu805]

I have a Wilder half stack that I got from a friend who’s grandfather had it in storage for decades. I think it was made in 1970. It has a rotating horn in it. It still works! Any thoughts about Wilder amps? I tried to find info about it, and there is hardly anything out there. Do I have a rare gem? Or is it nothing really special?

[@mikew9788]

I've never heard of them but it sounds real cool

[@aussie_philosopher8079]

finally someone said it ....speaker cabinets are not boxes, they play a huge function in the tone of the amp, its just as important as the head. They are not just a box!!!!!

[@TheChadPad]

We need better vacuum tubes. We can't let this technology die out or degrade, cause it's the best sound we have for guitar amplification 17:00

[@riloh58]

I’m afraid I drank the Friedman KoolAid a little while back. My DS 40watt is heaven on a stick to my ears. I just can’t get it to sound bad. Thanks Dave and thanks Rick.

[@juliosalazar9668]

That was so good to watch , I was ready to watch it it in segments, but failed