Soldano X88 IR … I need this!

  • Thread starter Thread starter JerEvil
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I’m waiting for more demos but really digging this one. I haven’t bought any amps in a few years. It’s been a minute since I’ve had much gas.
 
Spaceboy said:
I’m waiting for more demos but really digging this one. I haven’t bought any amps in a few years. It’s been a minute since I’ve had much gas.
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Yeah I’ll likely get my order in tomorrow. My Sweetwater guy says there are 40 preorders in currently!

They get about 6-8 in at a time so conservatively he said it would be like end of Nov or early Dec before getting mine
 
i really hoped they’d offer the Synergy feature that allows you to run it either in the fx return of an amp or just run the amp through the unit.
without it i’m better off spending the same money in a 2nd hand SLO100 mk2 in purple in UK fb marketplace..
 
I got mine today.Had about 3 hrs on it a/b'ing with my og x88r straight into vht 2150 to 2- 4×12s.
I'm dawless atm,so unless we settle for a cellphone vid,I'll give a quick rundown now;
I used a custom tele and custom guthrie govan. My og is 34 yrs old and values may have drifted some and I do have some premium 12ax7s in it too.
On the 88ir I bypassed all irs,etc,used effects send or main outs-they seemed the same to me.
The 88ir seems to have more gain all channels,and ch 1 is way better especially with the alt setting- I had some killer tele crunch twang with it.
The fat seems to slightly scoop the mids and loosen the low end a bit on ch2&3 ( you can't hardly hear it but u can feel it).ch3 has way more gain than any human being would ever need,but it seems all usable just like the og.
After 3 hrs I got ch 2 and 3 almost audibly matched between the new and old 88.but the knobs were way different on each.
To me,the new 88 seems to have a slight mid push in tone, where the og has a slight increase in clarity. This could be tubes,idk.
Looking thru the vents on the new 88 I think tubes are jjs.And the new 88 doesn't get near as hot as the og.
Both 88s totally shred when u kick in the high gain.I found me liking the fat off with the new 88.
The new 88 also is quieter overall.Less hum for sure.The new 88 is definitely more versatile especially with ch1 alt setting.I have to live with the new 88 for awhile yet,this is only 3hrs in.
I just wanted to see if I could tonally match both 88s up and I got pretty close.Tommorrow it be all different, idk.
I have a mezz nirvana pre and to me I think the 88s are a bit rawer.But mine mezz doesn't have the metal mod either.
Anyways,ya,I'd say the new 88 passes all the tests.Still gonna keep the og too.
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Thanks for posting this and congrats on an amazing rack setup! That looks incredible!

Would you consider this a looser type of tone when on high gain?
 
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Being an at home player, I've been looking at these since last week. I could totally use this. I'd like to see a demo with channel 2 or 3 boosted and see how that sounds. Overall, Soldano has thought this one out for today's guitarist. For $2499, its pretty solid looks like.
 
If they could rework the SLO-100 to have 3 channels like the X88IR with the extra toggle switches that would be awesome. And include a Tight switch like the newer synergy module has.
 
I don't have any Soldano experience but clips I've heard of this... I'm pretty tempted to give one a go.

I'm a home-player who uses a 100w Marshall head with a reactive load and an IR loader. This looks like the equivalent of all three pieces of kit in one unit.

And I'm hearing more hot-rodded Marshall than the uber-compressed 5150III-style high gain I was especting. Or am I crazy?
 
PBGas said:
Thanks for posting this and congrats on an amazing rack setup! That looks incredible!

Would you consider this a looser type of tone when on high gain?
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Are you referring to the new or og 88r? Ch 2 or 3?
" looser type of tone "- do u mean looser gain?
....ch 3 ( the ultra high gain ch) is fairly tight gain wise,but was never as tight as say a iic+ mode on a triaxis or a quad preamp,or a vht gp3.
If ch3 is set the right way,I'm sure it'd do thrash or chugga fine.But it's forte is that singing lead tone that just has the right cut,presence and sustain that a soldano has.
 
The price is more than favorable, considering the preamp is Handbuilt in the USA. Just hand soldering that many SMD components must take a hell of a lot of time. Just kidding :)
 
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