Universal Audio SOLO-110
A shoebox-sized slice of the Precision 110 circuit for under eight hundred bucks. It put UA's flagship Class A sound within reach of a project studio.
Overview
The SOLO-110 is roughly five and a quarter inches tall by five wide by fourteen deep. It weighs 5.4 lbs and has a rubber handle, so one hand carries it fine. It's a single-channel microphone preamp and direct box built around Universal Audio's Precision 110 Class A, discrete, solid-state design. That's the same circuit that had previously only been available in the 4110 and 8110 four- and eight-channel preamps, which sold for $3,000 and $5,000 respectively. At $799.99, the SOLO-110 was the cheap way into that topology for engineers and musicians on a lower budget.
The front panel is simple. Two oversize Gain and Level knobs let you drive the input stage hard without overloading whatever sits downstream. A row of illuminated blue buttons handles phantom power, polarity flip, a 100 Hz highpass filter, mic or DI input selection, and low or high input impedance - 500Ω to 2kΩ on the mic side, 47kΩ to 2.2MΩ for the DI. Around back there's a 1/4-inch direct input with a Thru jack, a Ground Lift switch, and a switch that sets the XLR output to mic or line level. There is no input pad, because the gain control does the padding. The range is wide enough to set precise levels without one. The tricolored signal indicator LED shows how hard you're pushing the stage.
The gain structure is what people keep these for. Electronic Musician (November 2006) ran the SOLO-110 with a ribbon mic on acoustic guitar and found more than enough noise-free gain for a medium-volume source. Pushing gain on a loud vocal into a vintage U 87 brought a huskiness in the low midrange that the reference preamps didn't produce. The reviewer felt it emulated the Saturation setting of the 4110 and 8110. A Fender P-bass pushed toward maximum gain went woofy in the high mids. Backed off, the clarity and air came through, with the Lo-Z setting favored for picked bass and Hi-Z for finger-plucked. The tone depends on gain, so where the knobs sit matters.
EQ Magazine (May 2006) described both SOLO units as having tank-like exteriors that could be placed confidently in a live room with even the most rocking of bands. It called them extraordinary values for large studios and hobbyist spaces alike. The same review flagged the obvious limitation - neither unit is rack mountable - and listed both at $799.00. This is a desktop or floor box, not a rack module. The sturdy rubber feet and small footprint make it easy to park next to an amp in the music room, which is where Electronic Musician found it ideal.
The SOLO/610 is the tube sibling, based on the Putnam 610 console. It's the warmer, thicker option. The 110 is the clean, fast-transient, "ultra-fidelity" side of the family. Electronic Musician's comparison of the two found the 610 had significantly better low end on electric bass and a smoother low midrange on direct guitar. The 110 saturates quite a bit easier, which makes sense given its instrument input gain specs out 20 dB hotter. The same reviewer's verdict on the 110 was measured: it won't change your life the way a UREI silver-face 1176 might, but it's definitely worth the price. EQ Magazine (May 2006) went further, calling the 110 a great tool for warming up a vocal signal on a budget, able to compensate for what lower-end mics lack in tone. It added that this may be of limited use with a very colorful, high-end mic.
Period advertising from Mix (November 2005, p.49) billed the SOLO series as "Stellar Sound, Boutique Build, Project Price," with gain, level, and impedance selection for maximum tonal variety and a portable "go-anywhere" design hand-built in the USA. The 110 was pitched as the flagship Precision Class A circuit at a project-studio price. That's marketing, but the independent reviews largely back it up: solid construction, excellent sound, and a feature set that does what it's supposed to do. The practical limits are no rack ears, no pad switch, and a gain structure you have to learn rather than set and forget.
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