I have to buy this!

MLocascio said:
I do think the analog dry through is worthwhile. It will only work properly (if you're using a VP4) for the delay, reverb and pitch FX though.

It could work with some other FX, such as compressors, where you could do parallel compression, but from what I have seen, the VP4 doesn't have the Kill Dry option for any effects other than delay, reverb and pitch.

I'm very happy with the Lehle box. It has the option to do true-bypass for the dry signal, or use their buffer. Because the X88IR loop send is tube-buffered, I am using it in true-bypass mode. The buffer on the Lehle sounds very good too though, and I typically don't like what buffers do to the tone, although they are a necessary evil sometimes.
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Are you using it in stereo? So mono send stereo return using Y leads. I’m not a fan of Y leads so I was going to get the gig rig wetter because of the connections.
 
I'm also not a fan of having to deal with Y cables. I am planning on getting some though for mono send/stereo return for home/studio use, and plan to run in mono for live.
 
Man, its in my cart right now....So tempted to buy it, and a VP4.....GAS is an evil thing! :tearsofjoy: I love my fractal products, but this seems pretty awesome! In reality a much poorer return on investment than a AXE FXIII, but........
 
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Well, the X88IR came on Friday, but it was a pretty busy day, so I did not get to hook it up, granted through headphones until Saturday. My first impressions were the clean and crunch are awesome, but the overdrive was meh. Most of the loaded IRs were meh too. I played around more with it today, and it has grown on me. I have found a couple built in IRs I like, and I put a tube screamer in front of the overdrive settings, and it comes to life! I turned the gain way down on the X88IR, turned off the FAT setting and turned the bright setting on, and this combination can get super tight and heavy.

Honestly, after yesterday, I was going to return it, but I am leaning towards keeping it now. In all reality it does not really do anything that my tube amps can't, and the fractal is awesome too. Price wise, its basically the same price as an AXE FXIII, without the effects, so I don't know if I'd recommend it or not.

If I do keep it, I am going to have to get either a VP4 or an AXE FX to run with it. I really dig the FC controllers, no power required, but the VP4 won't work with that, so......

It is very nice, but at the price and feature set, I probably wouldn't recommend it. Disclosure, I am fine without having tubes and am perfectly happy with the fractal line up, so this purchase was pure GAS.
 
tobafett said:
Well, the X88IR came on Friday, but it was a pretty busy day, so I did not get to hook it up, granted through headphones until Saturday. My first impressions were the clean and crunch are awesome, but the overdrive was meh. Most of the loaded IRs were meh too. I played around more with it today, and it has grown on me. I have found a couple built in IRs I like, and I put a tube screamer in front of the overdrive settings, and it comes to life! I turned the gain way down on the X88IR, turned off the FAT setting and turned the bright setting on, and this combination can get super tight and heavy.

Honestly, after yesterday, I was going to return it, but I am leaning towards keeping it now. In all reality it does not really do anything that my tube amps can't, and the fractal is awesome too. Price wise, its basically the same price as an AXE FXIII, without the effects, so I don't know if I'd recommend it or not.

If I do keep it, I am going to have to get either a VP4 or an AXE FX to run with it. I really dig the FC controllers, no power required, but the VP4 won't work with that, so......

It is very nice, but at the price and feature set, I probably wouldn't recommend it. Disclosure, I am fine without having tubes and am perfectly happy with the fractal line up, so this purchase was pure GAS.
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If you want the proper experience you need a good tube power amp and a guitar cab.
Headphones is no way to get the experience. Move some air and you will throw the tube screamer and totally get it.
 
Andy Eagle said:
If you want the proper experience you need a good tube power amp and a guitar cab.
Headphones is no way to get the experience. Move some air and you will throw the tube screamer and totally get it.
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Oh, I will use it through my Fryette LXII, if I keep it. I think to get thrash/heavy tones, I will still need a drive pedal, but we will see.
 
Andy Eagle said:
Why a drive pedal? There is easy enough gain and the eq is powerful .
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Hi Andy,

For thrash the drive pedal tightens up the X88 and made it usable for that style. The X88IR overdrive is good, but does not quite cut it IMO for that style of music. Also the usable gain seems to stop around noon, again imo. Just my .02 after playing through it for a couple hours.
 
tobafett said:
Hi Andy,

For thrash the drive pedal tightens up the X88 and made it usable for that style. The X88IR overdrive is good, but does not quite cut it IMO for that style of music. Also the usable gain seems to stop around noon, again imo. Just my .02 after playing through it for a couple hours.
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Fair, you don’t see SLO for thrash.
 
I've finally got it. Might not be my cup of tea... Played two nights with it. First I tried it with my Atomic CLR neo's (with a VP4 in the loop). Sounds OK, but I was a little disappointed, although it got better with some tweaking. But I was not in love with the first sight, as I was hoping. The clean channel is actually very nice, better than I expected. The crunch/overdrives are quite mid-heavy, but that could be a good thing in a live band scenario. Didn't really care that much o the IR's. There's a LOT of gain on tap in the overdrive mode. I always thought my lead sound is gainy, but 10 o'clock is enough with this amp. I might be getting old...

This evening I tried it in the loop of my Mad Professor OS51 combo. Boy, what a difference. Little bit mid-heavy, but very usable sounds. Then I switched back to FRFR and was again a little disappointed (I also tried a couple on my own IRs). I'll still have to compare it against FM9, but I don't think it's gonna be that much better with FRFR.

But there IS something with the feel, it's just a little more instant and in the fingers. I've always felt that I have to do a liitle more work with AXEIII/FM9, but with tube amps it's a little easier. Don't know why.

I've got some more testing to do, but it might be (IMO) that the X88-IR excels as an preamp in a tube rig, and I might no benefit so much of it in an FRFR scenario.
 
savaitti said:
I've finally got it. Might not be my cup of tea... Played two nights with it. First I tried it with my Atomic CLR neo's (with a VP4 in the loop). Sounds OK, but I was a little disappointed, although it got better with some tweaking. But I was not in love with the first sight, as I was hoping. The clean channel is actually very nice, better than I expected. The crunch/overdrives are quite mid-heavy, but that could be a good thing in a live band scenario. Didn't really care that much o the IR's. There's a LOT of gain on tap in the overdrive mode. I always thought my lead sound is gainy, but 10 o'clock is enough with this amp. I might be getting old...

This evening I tried it in the loop of my Mad Professor OS51 combo. Boy, what a difference. Little bit mid-heavy, but very usable sounds. Then I switched back to FRFR and was again a little disappointed (I also tried a couple on my own IRs). I'll still have to compare it against FM9, but I don't think it's gonna be that much better with FRFR.

But there IS something with the feel, it's just a little more instant and in the fingers. I've always felt that I have to do a liitle more work with AXEIII/FM9, but with tube amps it's a little easier. Don't know why.

I've got some more testing to do, but it might be (IMO) that the X88-IR excels as an preamp in a tube rig, and I might no benefit so much of it in an FRFR scenario.
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Totally agree on the clean, it’s great! I liked the crunch too. I thought the OD wasn’t all that great and the gain was useless after about noon. Same for the built in IRs, I found two usable and the rest…well, not so
much. I probably would have kept it, except with my Fryette IR loader and the tube amps I already own, I can cover the sonic landscape of the soldano. I wanted to use it in a live rig to replace my FM9, but due to my particular wants and desires, it wasn’t practical from a portability or financial standpoint. Not to say it isn’t a great piece of gear, just not for me, at least not right now.
 
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