issued a collective groan of mourning when Mike Soldano appeared to hang up his soldering iron in 2019. But the uptake of Soldano soon thereafter by Boutique Amps Distribution (BAD) — the California-based manufacturer of Friedman, Tone King, Morgan and Synergy amplifiers — promised a robust continuation of the legacy, bolstered by further design input from the high-gain master himself. Having ramped up the line with the return of the legendary SLO-100 and lower-powered SLO-30 and Mini, Soldano now presents the Astro-20, an entirely new model built from three years of his own design work. If the name tips it off as a successor to the popular club-sized flamethrower of the past, the Astroverb 16, it’s worth stating upfront that this is also an
