jellodog
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Soldano X88-IR
- Thread starter Whizzinby
- Start date
Ed DeGenaro
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You are a very, very bad influence!
Ed DeGenaro
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Yeah the comparison between the innards is scary.Those tube mounts are as solid as it gets!
jellodog
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It's already done!
Definitely prefer it this way
Oh. Wait.
You meant the message for Ed, right. Whoops.
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It worked both ways!It's already done!
Definitely prefer it this way
Oh. Wait.
You meant the message for Ed, right. Whoops.
Ed DeGenaro
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Yeah did it too, maxed a new credit card.It worked both ways!
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JerEvil
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Yeah I too wish there was a way to inherently have it have less gain in the crunch modeYep, I really like the X88-IR quite a lot. The clean channel is great and of course the overdrive sound is exactly what you'd expect.
I think the added options like the bright and fat switches really help refine the sound more than the original X88 would allow, and the feel of playing through this preamp is really great. Even when using the on-board poweramp sim and IRs it feels more analog and immediate / present than playing the Axe-FX (both through the same set of studio monitors). I can't wait to try it with a real poweramp and speaker cab at some point in the future, but I don't have the space (or gear) to make it happen sadly.
I do agree with @jellodog that the crunch mode is kind of a missed opportunity? It's a strange thing and sort of hard to describe.
The amount of available gain and saturation is certainly less when comparing it to the overdrive mode, but the voicing is mostly the same? The crunch mode basically sounds like a neutered version of the overdrive mode, rather than a true extra voicing option. It's like the overdrive sound but a little more "polite" sounding and with less presence. It's a little smoother, I guess, but that mostly seems to be because it's just darker.
Using the Origin Effects Halcyon Blue into the Clean mode helps bridge the gap for sure, it's just kind of a bummer that the crunch mode isn't what I was hoping it would be.
It does not sound like the SLO's crunch mode just with more gain than the original X88 - in my opinion. I think that is what many people (including myself) were expecting. I'd honestly prefer to have the crunch mode on this preamp behave exactly like the crunch sound of the SLO, instead of this weird "not quite either one" voicing they went with on this new unit.
I like the less compressed and more open and er.. crunchy sound of the SLO's crunch mode.
I wonder if it could be modded somehow to bring it closer? If it's as simple as swapping a resistor or something somewhere in the circuit I would happily void the warranty to get it sounding closer to my own taste. The other sounds are so good that it would ultimately be worth it to have an idealised 3-channel SLO preamp. Sparkly Fender Clean, Crunchy Marshall Bite and Chunk, Liquid SLO Lead and High Gain all available in one??
The new Tyler guitar is freaking perfect for this preamp, though. The switching options are awesome for getting exactly the right sparkly clean strat sounds and these pickups almost seem like they were voiced with an SLO in mind. Going full bridge humbucker into the overdrive channel and rolling in some of the Tyler mid boost is instant 80s Lukather it's kind of hilarious. It's almost a perfect recreation of the lead tone in Pamela. Like, it's spooky how close it is. I'd reckon that was 100% the "Puffy" guitar.
LCW
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Eagle
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Swap the first gain stage tube to a 12AT7 was always a favourite.
JerEvil
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I just so happen to have one. I’ll give it a go for sure
Ed DeGenaro
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I can let that go, although at 2800€ the next guy that claims BAD stuff is built like a tank gets flamed.
I keep coming across claims that warranty gets voided by tube change, which seems to be a service center job.
Are you FUCKING BLOODY HELL kidding me.
Ii it one of those Uaudio Ox Box if you open the box you void the warranty things?!?!?
Or is my reading comprehension totally failing me this morning?
Furthermore how is it acceptable that manuals are now like leaflets, that spend more time on the editor then the gear.
And why is there no tube chart in it?
jellodog
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@Ed DeGenaro Yeah, I've read in more than one place that you need to contact BAD support and ask for "permission to change tubes"; otherwise you void your warranty if they've not granted that permission.
Well...
They can just fuck right off with that bullshit!
Not that the stock tubes sound bad to my ears. I'm not personally interested in swapping them; but what if one fails or starts acting up? You're not gonna ship it back to California for "repairs" from Europe.
Well...
They can just fuck right off with that bullshit!
Not that the stock tubes sound bad to my ears. I'm not personally interested in swapping them; but what if one fails or starts acting up? You're not gonna ship it back to California for "repairs" from Europe.
Ed DeGenaro
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Here it’d go back to say Thomann and that’s anyways 3 year extended warranty.@Ed DeGenaro Yeah, I've read in more than one place that you need to contact BAD support and ask for "permission to change tubes"; otherwise you void your warranty if they've not granted that permission.
Well...
They can just fuck right off with that bullshit!
Not that the stock tubes sound bad to my ears. I'm not personally interested in swapping them; but what if one fails or starts acting up? You're not gonna ship it back to California for "repairs" from Europe.
Eagle
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For those having issues with too much gain in the crunch should just gain up the altered mode because it is much more like the crunch on the original if that is what you’re after. I can honestly say that no one used that channel originally without a boost. The great thing about the new version is it gets you the tones of the original in a rig pretty much on its own.
Also those thinking there modeller can do it anyway are sadly delusional. The response and interaction is next level. Make sure you try it fully analogue with a great tube power stage.
I find that I can easily get my go to tone out of this unit because the tone controls are fantastically useful and effective. I don’t miss using my axe amp models because they don’t respond like this. I could happily play this in to my VHT power amp and a good cab dry .
Also those thinking there modeller can do it anyway are sadly delusional. The response and interaction is next level. Make sure you try it fully analogue with a great tube power stage.
I find that I can easily get my go to tone out of this unit because the tone controls are fantastically useful and effective. I don’t miss using my axe amp models because they don’t respond like this. I could happily play this in to my VHT power amp and a good cab dry .
Ed DeGenaro
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This wasn’t about changing to NOS but rather about the insanity of it.
