GT Soul-O 45 1x12 combo w/ parallel FX loop and reverb. Cost about $1,000.

This is one awesome amp. Very F-A-T tone! I modified mine with a Weber California speaker, reverb tweaks, and Svetlana EL34 power tubes. With a strat and a tele this is one fat and clean sound. With the amp dimed it provided a slightly broken up blues/modern country tone with tons of harmonics and complexity. It was pretty loud, but not too loud for most of the venues I played. It stayed clean until the very last of its throw on the volumes. With humbuckers it provided a super fat tone that broke up even more. There were no harsh tones at all. In fact, I used it with a piezo equipped guitar that actually sounded great! That's a rarity in an electric guitar amp.

The reverb was decent, but after tweaking it the sound was great. Very lush, but not overbearing. The FX loop was good, but I never used it much, because the amp stayed plenty clean the way I modified it. The Weber Cali. and the Svetlana EL34s were a big key for me. The amp provided the best platform for FX I have ever found.

This amp represents probably one of the best bargains on the market. It's really that awesome. The tone and hugeness in sound is amazing for a 1x12 open back cab. It's also pretty light in lbs., too!! Try one out!

I use a soul-o 75 head with various cabs.I got it with their 2-12" which I love because it can be used as either a closed or open back cab and , the baffle is tilted up like the top half of a Marshall slant. Like Tele' said ... fat , clean , mine 's 75 watts so it'll get loud , uses any type of power tubes(re-biasing is necessary), and has a really well designed parallel effects loop. I prefer the clean ch. over the drive ch.(there's something a little 80's about it - I'm trying different pwr. tubes). My FD2 (orange) is my fav OD into it. It was a steal: $1000.00 - Head and 2-12" cab , nine years ago.

I also have a S-45 and love it. It is the cleanest, hugest amp I have come by. I think that this amp really brings out the tonal variences in guitars. I am currently running the KT-66's in mine and love it. The bottom end is almost too much! Very , very good amp. I heard that the ESPN scores were made using this amp and a host of fx's. If your looking for massive headroom, this will do it.

Hey everyone, I just bought a GT Soul-O 45 off of HC last week for $495!!. I can't wait to get it. It's coming with EL34's in it. I'm looking for a good jazz/rock tone, so I'm interested to see how these tubes work for me (I've only played 6L6's). I also have a Soul-O 75 which I love, but seems to keep the maintenance costs high (maybe it's because I travelled with it a lot...even though it was rackmounted in a shockmount roadcase). A couple words of advice: don't use the JJ tubes because a lot of them crap out or are crapppy to begin with, and GT came out with a new tube! It is a replication of the GE 6L6 tube. It's called the GT 6L6GE tube. They run for $90 retail, but Guitar Center can get them to you for around $69 and I bet since Mars Music is going out of business you can get them for that price but 40% off. Everyone to Mars, they're having a huge going out of business sale!

I have two of the Soul-O 45 combos, I bought them at Guitar Center when they quit being a Groove Tube amp dealer. I got each one for $499, new! I first tried one at another store when I was checking out a used Strat and I knew I had something when all of the other players in the store came over to listen. I didn't buy the amp or the guitar that day, but a month later when I read in small print in the Guitar Center adpaper that they where blowing them out, I left work early. I had to go to two different stores because the first one only had one amp that was decent. But I digress, I run them in stereo using a TC SCF chorus and a wide selection of stomp boxes and for headroom and tone these amps are the stuff legends are made of.

I also own a Trio preamp and a Dual 75 power amp, this system sounds great, the footswitchable channels on the power amp are really cool, you can set up each channel with different tubes in it and have it run into different speaker cabinets. So it's like adding a fourth channel!

All of the Groove Tube amps are first class desigh and build. I am waiting for one of the new Solo 15 watters to show up near me so I can check it out/ buy it!

You'll dig the 15. If you get the combo, make sure it's with a 12" speaker. The 10" just doesn't sound that great - a little brittle. I've got the "solo-single" head. 2 channels, parallel effects loop, full compliment of EQ, and it's only as loud as the power tube that's in there. An EL84 will give you about 7 watts of power. A KT66 will give you about 17 watts. Right now I have in mine, one of there GT6L6GC's. Definitely Fender territory but the cabs and speakers can really make a difference in it's tonal characteristics. I've been digging mine with a Bogner closed back single 12" cab loaded with a vintage 30. I think that GT amps are really underated and completely misunderstood by the "guitar press".

Thanks for the info on the cabinet, I lucked out and a buddy of mine who does rehabbing of older houses came accross a box of old tubes, new and still in their boxes. Almost 150 of them, some Mullards, old GE's, RCA, Telefunken, etc.. the guy used to to own the house was a television/radio repairman. I can't wait to get one! I'll have to teach the BOSS to serve dinner in my music room!

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Originally posted by klasaine:
You'll dig the 15. If you get the combo, make sure it's with a 12" speaker. The 10" just doesn't sound that great - a little brittle. I've got the "solo-single" head. 2 channels, parallel effects loop, full compliment of EQ, and it's only as loud as the power tube that's in there. An EL84 will give you about 7 watts of power. A KT66 will give you about 17 watts. Right now I have in mine, one of there GT6L6GC's. Definitely Fender territory but the cabs and speakers can really make a difference in it's tonal characteristics. I've been digging mine with a Bogner closed back single 12" cab loaded with a vintage 30. I think that GT amps are really underated and completely misunderstood by the "guitar press".

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Thanks for the review. I've been thinking about this one. 84s pushing 7 watts- I don't get that one. Mr Pittman has some great engineers and I'm sure that amp is in a class by itself. It seems like there are So may boutique class A and a/b amp out there, right now. VHT, Carvin, Carr, Zvex… this one seems like a good way to go. Sounds like you’ve taken it thru a few tube test drives- very nice!

Thanks. I may go there, now.

You may want to think twice before you put down the dough for this 15 watter carvindude. Here's why. I LOVE my Fulltone DP, think it's the one of the best OD/dist's out there. Again, I think the DP is generally misunderstood as to it's function and application. GT amps are the same way. MOST folks don't get them. Hey, I also love the Stamps "Drive-O-Matic" ... another pedal everybody hated.

I just got through demoing the Solo 45 at the Music Messe in Frankfurt...I also tried out the single 15 and 30 and I have to say I didn't care for either of the singles...I must have done something wrong...the solo 45 is absolutly the best clean sound I have heard...Telepicker why the need to change the speaker...???it sounded huge with the stock speaker and 6L6's...just curious...???of course having a $5000 Suhr guitar pushing the front end didn't hurt either...


Chow,
Seegs

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Originally posted by Magnum:
Hey everyone, I just bought a GT Soul-O 45 off of HC last week for $495!!. I can't wait to get it. It's coming with EL34's in it. I'm looking for a good jazz/rock tone, so I'm interested to see how these tubes work for me (I've only played 6L6's). I also have a Soul-O 75 which I love, but seems to keep the maintenance costs high (maybe it's because I travelled with it a lot...even though it was rackmounted in a shockmount roadcase). A couple words of advice: don't use the JJ tubes because a lot of them crap out or are crapppy to begin with, and GT came out with a new tube! It is a replication of the GE 6L6 tube. It's called the GT 6L6GE tube. They run for $90 retail, but Guitar Center can get them to you for around $69 and I bet since Mars Music is going out of business you can get them for that price but 40% off. Everyone to Mars, they're having a huge going out of business sale!

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You know you here so many great things said about the JJ tubes here and on the Carvin site- I have to agree, I'm way less than impressed. I bought EL84s, 12AX7s and EL34 at the same time. After trying them, I ended up using about 1/2 of em. Too harsh or too distorted, for what I was looking for.

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Originally posted by klasaine:
You may want to think twice before you put down the dough for this 15 watter carvindude. Here's why. I LOVE my Fulltone DP, think it's the one of the best OD/dist's out there. Again, I think the DP is generally misunderstood as to it's function and application. GT amps are the same way. MOST folks don't get them. Hey, I also love the Stamps "Drive-O-Matic" ... another pedal everybody hated.

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Hey, thanks for the warning. You know, I bought a FT DP and hated it- it was returned. Maybe I didn't find the right mix, but being a big Fulltone guy, I couldn't believe the limits of the thing. No crunch, killed the high end and didn't offer any sustain until I pushed my amps, which should not be the case with a distortion pedal that costs that much. I have a FD2, which I'll always keep, but I bought a Menatone KOB and it just blew the DP away, for what I was looking for. DP is good if you want the blackface crunch, but I guess I was under the wrong impression with that one. On of the worst pedals I've ever tried.I strongly advise folks to bring their rigs into the store before plucking down the $. We never do that, but it makes all the diffence sometimes.

I went back and watched Aspen Pitman walk a guy through a demo of the single combo with the 10" alnico speaker and I have changed my opionion...I want one...he went through all the tube swaps and this thing would make a great recording amp...not sure if its loud enough for me to gig with but with an extension cab. maybe plus the tones were really nice...I would get one with the 12" speaker which is a ceramic magnet...7-15 watt single ended amp...kind of like a THD Uni-Valve with not quite as much gain on tap...very touch responsive and in the right hands similar to a tube version of digital amp modelling...


Chow,
Seegs