“The Holy Grail of rackmount tube preamps is back”: Soldano revives two highly elusive rack units beloved by Steve Lukather, Peter Frampton and Vivian Campbell for the first time in decades

Mike Soldano and Bob Bradshaw on the X88-IR, the SLO-100R and the good old rack gear days - YouTube

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Soldano has announced the return of two of its most iconic rack units by unveiling the new-and-improved X88-IR and SLO-100R. Both creations have interesting histories, thanks to some well-known players.

Considered by many, Soldano says, to be the “Holy Grail rackmount tube preamp”, the original X88R has been reprised in the form of the X88-IR, which continues its predecessor's legacy with careful tone preservation augmented by some new features.

The flagship X88R found favor with some high-profile players throughout the years, and was beloved by Peter Frampton, Steve Lukather, Warren DeMartini and many others.

Now, its successor looks to channel its sonic spirit, offering three channels with independent preamp levels, three-band EQs, Output levels, and Bright Switches.

The Clean channel now offers a two-position Normal/Altered mode, providing Fender-like cleans and boosted, edge-of-breakup tones, respectively. The two Overdrive channels, meanwhile, now also offer a Fat/Bright switch, and a selectable Crunch/Overdrive switch.

Other features include bypassable Impulse Response cab simulations, which are assignable per channel. Players are also able to upload their own preferred IRs through Soldano's editor software, which also unlocks the 128 available MIDI presets, as well as low-pass and high-pass filters, Depth, and Presence switches.

The original X88R was a stand-out piece of gear at the time when it was launched. As the story goes, Steve Lukather had began using Soldano SLO-100 heads in 1987. Eventually, tech Bob Bradshaw – the “rack builder to the stars”, who built Lukather's live rig – asked Mike Soldano to build a three-channel, all-tube preamp that could replace the guitarist's current setup.

Following a successful experiment, the groundbreaking preamp was made available to the masses a year later, with Warren Cuccurullo first in line to buy one. It represented the world's first standalone guitar preamp.

“Nearly four decades later, Mike Soldano’s new X88-IR is a masterpiece that expands on the original X88R with new key features and upgrades,” the firm says.

The SLO-100R is similarly rooted in a rock guitar history. First built in 1987, the Super Lead Overdrive is considered one of the first high-gain amp heads, and nearly four decades later, it's still a firm favorite of metal guitar players and beyond.

Sure, its snarling high gain was well suited to the heavier players of the era, but the amp's clean channel also brought a blues-y crunch that soon became adored by the likes of Eric Clapton and Gary Moore.

At the start, Vivian Campbell asked for a rack-mountable version of the SLO-100. The result was the SLO-100R, which was later developed into a fully fledged rack unit that was made available to other players.

However, by 1990 the demand for rack units was waning, and so Soldano only ended up crafting 200 of the original SLO-100R. The firm will now be hoping this new travel-friendly edition of the amp, which is also available in pedal form, will have greater success.

To ensure that it does, the original's all-important Depth switch – which delivered an abundance of character when paired with the EQ section – now benefits from improved grounding to avoid crosstalk between channels. This results, Soldano says, in an excellent signal-to-noise ratio.

There's also a newly designed, ultra-transparent tube-buffered effects loop capable of handling vintage pedals and high-powered rack units alike. For studio usage, an onboard channel-select toggle has also been included.

The Soldano X8-IR ($2,499.99) and SLO-100 Rack ($4,499.99) are available now.

Check out Soldano for further details.