Soldano X-88IR Preamp

The Soldano X88R is considered by many guitar players as the holy grail of rack mount tube preamps. From its inspiring Soldano tone to distinctive purple anodized panel, the X88R is
one of the world’s most sought-after pieces of vintage gear used by countless professional musicians including Peter Frampton, Warren DeMartini, Michael Landau, Steve Lukather, Lou Reed and Lee Ritenour to name a few.

The new X88-IR continues this legacy by preserving every ounce of Soldano’s legendary tone, with updated modern features tailored to meet the needs of today’s professional players.

To fully appreciate the new X88-IR, we must first look back into its history.

Just like the X88R, the new X88-IR features three channels each with Preamp Level, 3-Band EQ, Output Level and Bright Switch. The original X88R featured independent channels for clean, crunch and overdrive. The new X88-IR offers significantly more flexibility including:

Clean

Channel 1

Channel 1 (the “clean” Channel) now includes a two position Normal/Altered mode.

The Normal mode is a Fender inspired clean tone.

The Altered mode offers a boosted clean for edge of breakup tones

• In Normal Mode, the channel 1 select button will illuminate Green.
•  In Altered Mode the channel 1 select button will illuminate Yellow.

 Custom

Channel 2 and 3

Both Channels are identical, both featuring a Fat Switch, a Bright switch and a selectable Crunch/Overdrive switch. This allows you to customize channels 2/3 to your liking. You can select one Crunch and one Overdrive channels, two Crunch Channels or two Overdrive Channels.

• In Crunch Mode, the corresponding channel 2/3 select button will illuminate Purple.
•  In Overdrive Mode, the corresponding channel 2/3 select button will illuminate Red.

Channel Presets

Channel Select MIDI Store

Each of the three channels features an illuminated channel select switch. Press and hold any of the channel select switches to MIDI store a preset.

The X88-IR preamp accepts external MIDI switchers and controllers, giving you up to 128 user-created presets with real time Control Changes. You can assign and organize your presets right from the front panel or with the included Soldano Editor Software.