Steve Lukather Soldano X88R preset

FractalGrinder said:
Cool, reason I'm asking is that my computer has issues running that "Fractool" converter, So I was hoping someone could post a XL+ preset. Could you post yours? I couldn't "Thank You" enough for doing that!!:)
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You don't need to convert the preset. You can load it in an XL+ as is.
 
Just got my FX8 and its very very good. I tried using the settings on the screens from the 90s video to plug into my FX8 and am getting g similar sounds but having to change the mix.
 
Hello everybody and thank you very much to you, GUitarnerdswe for all this unvaluable and incredible information. I'm a big fan of Steve Lukather since year 1988, when I was 20 years old and I bought Toto's " The seventh one " album. From that moment I fell in love with Steve's sound, and 30 years later, after an incredible research during all these years, I almost reached it, thank you to Fractal Audio and my Axe Fx II XL, but also for the aquistment of a legendary TC Electronics 1210 that yesterday morning arrived to me. And, as you say here, that's a very important piece of his gear to achieve his late 80's amazing sound.
 
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I want to share this little information about my experiencies. The Axe Fx XL has an amazing chorus block, I could compare it with a Fulltone TERC last year, because, thinking that was the chorus used by Steve on that album, I bought one of the only two units wich came to my country, Spain, two years ago, paying 1400 euros (about 1600 u.s dolars) for that unit. At that moment my Axe was an Ultra, and this device together with the TERC was really very aproximated to Steve's sound, because he used the Dytronics CS-5 during many years, as I could see on the Starlicks video. But..., I didn't know that on 1987-1988 he changed the Dytronics for the TC 1210.
 
Last year I upgraded to my actual XL, and my great surprise was that the Triangle Chorus on the chorus block sounds exactly as the TERC (I would even say that sounds better, but that's my little opinión...). So, I sold my TERC like new and didn't need it anymore. Lately I discovered that on The seventh one, Luke used a TC 1210, and searching into the chorus block, founded that the Analog Stereo choice is the closest to this one. But..., I wanted to have the original, and last week I finally found one in great shape and full working condition, and I bought it.
 
Now, what can I tell you? There isn't any chorus into the chorus block wich can compete against this amazing unit, the Analog Stereo is the closest as I founded primarily, but this device is another story. It is much wider and lushius than any other device I have ever tryed or check it out in my whole life, for me this is the best of all. And there's a huge difference between the XL's chorus block and the TC 1210, unfortunately. I would ask Cliff to copy this amazing unit someday, because for sure, it is worth for all of us.

Now, I would like to ask you, Guitarnerdswe if you know the exact settings of Steve with this unit, it would be much apreciated. Thank you!

Greetings from Spain!
 
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Crazeeboy68 said:
Now, what can I tell you? There isn't any chorus into the chorus block wich can compete against this amazing unit, the Analog Stereo is the closest as I founded primarily, but this device is another story. It is much wider and lushius than any other device I have ever tryed or check it out in my whole life, for me this is the best of all. And there's a huge difference between the XL's chorus block and the TC 1210, unfortunately. I would ask Cliff to copy this amazing unit someday, because for sure, it is worth for all of us.

Now, I would like to ask you, Guitarnerdswe if you know the exact settings of Steve with this unit, it would be much apreciated. Thank you!

Greetings from Spain!
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I have some pictures of his TC1210, so from those and from what I know about the unit, that's what I dailed in in the preset. Speed is 0.5 on both channels, and one has the delay and depth maxed, and one has the delay about 2/3 of the way up, and he varied the depth a bit on that channel during different years. Usually betwen 55-75% (approx).

He stopped using the CS5 after Fahrenheit. Then he used the TC2290 for a while, and then he had both the TC220 and TC1210 in the rack at the same time for a while, before ditching the TC2290 completely.
 
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Lukather's Tone
 
guitarnerdswe said:
I have some pictures of his TC1210, so from those and from what I know about the unit, that's what I dailed in in the preset. Speed is 0.5 on both channels, and one has the delay and depth maxed, and one has the delay about 2/3 of the way up, and he varied the depth a bit on that channel during different years. Usually betwen 55-75% (approx).

He stopped using the CS5 after Fahrenheit. Then he used the TC2290 for a while, and then he had both the TC220 and TC1210 in the rack at the same time for a while, before ditching the TC2290 completely.
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Thank you very much for the information. Could you post any pictures of Steve's TC 1210? I would like to know the mode and link he used too, that's also the clue in this device.
 
Another interest thing about his sound during years 1987-1990 are his amplifiers. As you say, on the Seventh one album, he uses a Mesa Boogie for clean sound, Rivera modded Marshall's plexi for rythm and Soldano SLO for leads. To my ears, this is totally right. As far as I know, one of the firsts SLO's was ordered by Steve to Mike Soldano, it was late 1987, and on the "Stop loving you" video, we can see his two racks, one with all the effects and the second one with a Marshall Plexi (or 70's, I don't know), and a SLO.
According to Mike Soldano, this amplifier was made without the logo, because he didn't have one at the moment for this amplifier, and Steve wanted it as soon as possible. But I guess that on this videoclip we can see it, a little strange...
 
On the Axe FX II XL, we have different Marshall's Plexi moddeds. The original Plexi 100 watts, (Plexiglass front panel changed to alluminium front panel in later 1969- first 1970's, but the circuitry were kept the same handwired point to point till years '72-'73, if I'm not wrong. In fact, before buying the Axe Ultra, I had a 1971 JMP 100 W Model 1959 head in excellent condition, that I sold later to a guy from Italy. It was a Plexi circuitry with the alluminium front panel). We have also the 1970's Plexi, the Brown sound (Eddie Van Halen's Marshall), and the Fas Hot Rod, they are quite differents among them.
To me, the closest of all these to 1988 Steve's sound is the Plexi jumped 100 W. But it would be very interesting to know if Steve was using a '60's Plexi or a '70's alluminium Marshall, and which modifications were made by Paul Rivera, so we could copy the same with our Axe FX.

I've owned at least 7-8 70's JMP 100 watts Marshalls, and curiously, the best sounding one was a 1976 model with the pcb board.
 
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Regarding to his delay units, during many years he has been using the Roland SDE 3000, as we all can see on the Starlicks video. I owned two of them, (they are mono units), one 3000 and one 3000A, and they have a great sound. On an interview with Steve Vai, he said that he has been using these same devices on studio during all his carrer. Fortunately for us, owners of the AXE FX, our device sounds much better than these Rolands. I made several comparisons between them and finally sold them. The delays on the Axe FX are among the best units in the market nowadays.
 
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