Don’t let the name fool you, the 100% analog SOLO is no one trick pony. It is equally at ease in both lead and rhythm capacities, and with a wide variety of amplifiers and guitars. Capable of going from vibey, chewy, warm low gain tones, to deliciously mean and crushing high gain tones, the Solo still remains remarkably true to the sound that matters most: The sound of you and your guitar. And speaking of staying true to the sound of your guitar, true-bypass switching ensures that when the pedal is off, there is no coloration of your sound.
Even in its highest gain settings, the SOLO remains extremely tube-like, articulate and touch sensitive. Complex chords ring out with clarity, leads sustain with ease. Roll back your volume knob and it cleans up, just like a good tube amp would.
The solo uses three pairs of carefully matched (or should we say, carefully mismatched) clipping diodes to produce asymmetrical clipping. The three pairs are accessible via the “hot, melt, burn” slider switch. This has the effect of making the SOLO clip very much like a tube amp going into natural power tube distortion.