Standard Vs II - Only tone

R

rufes

Member
I guess this has been replied thousand times but here it is...

I own a standard and I am seriously considering to buy a II.

The thing is that I don't need more effects, more amps, more cabs, more memory... what the standard offers in that respect is more than enough.

My question is, Is the difference in tone really important? I am tone chaser so if there is a substantial difference, that would justify buying the new one.

Thanks.
 
Hard to get an honest answer out of people due to most having a dog in the fight so to speak. I think there is a difference, not sure better or not, as that is an opinion, personally I believe it's better. Heck Meshuggah are still using ultras on tour and crushing it. I think it would be beneficial for you to try to hear one if possible or use the return policy.
 
Oh, man. The tones are so drastically improved. You would be remiss if you didn't seriously consider buying the II. The last two firmwares (10 and 11b) released for the II have really set the Axe-Fx apart from any modeler (including the Ultra and Standard IMO). You would be so justified!

Just do it :encouragement:
 
11beta firmware has truly made the axe 2 disgustingly realistic in terms of amp performance/tone, that being said if your happy with what you got, why change??
 
I must say that when I say "drastically improved", I mean "as close to the real thing" as I thought possible. Not necessarily (exclusively) better tonally, since a lot of users have said some models sound better than the real thing.
 
IMO yes. I could not get the Ultra like i wanted it with FRFR/direct. It sounded bad@ss with my Mesa 50/50 and real cabs.

Axe II takes me as long as i use to choose amp and cab/ir to get great sounds. The feel is really good now for direct/FRFR. That´s how i run it now. No more amps/cabs.

It depends on how you run it. Direct or poweramp and real cab. BUT: If you got what you want from your standard, why change?
 
I recently switched from the Standard to a II, and I think the II sounds a lot better. The Standard was awesome, but I was always messing with it trying to make it sound its best. With the II I just turn it on. Doesnt really matter what setting, it always sounds awesome with simple settings.
 
About 6 months ago I was an Ultra guy. My band's other guitarist got a II and we started comparing the two. Axe-II feels "faster" and you can get better tones faster. However it was not enough for me to buy a two.

Then I got a good deal on a II so I went for it. It's a good feeling knowing I have the best of the best.
 
I don't know about "tone" but I do know that the modeling is a lot more realistic to the amp models. I didn't think that the gap was very significant when I bought the II with an early version of the firmware, but since about v5 there's been this continuous improvement that even between firmware versions is rather startling. I think that a lot of the higher gain amps can be tweaked to get close to the same tones and with some work with PEQ's and stuff you aren't really going to miss a lot, but the amps like the Vox it's not even a fair comparison at this point. I always thought that the Vox in particular was the weakest offering of the Ultra and the hardest to dial in and now it's just "there" as soon as you put it into a preset. Every amp model is like that really. And the clean amps (mostly the Fenders) have more weight to them before you go from clean to overdriven. I've always struggled with clean presets on every modeler I've ever used until about v6 or so of the AxeFXII. Once again its just "there" and I don't get myself into trouble trying to dial in or out frequencies that I don't want because I don't have to.

It's like anything out there, you take something that is really good and you improve upon it. Some times it's staggeringly good, some things are just small incremental changes, but they all add up to the whole.

Here's a better way of putting it. The Ultra enjoyed a really amazing series of improvements over several years. The II is basically taking the point where the Ultra ended as the starting point and moving forward.
 
Like shasha said, it's all about the details. It has to be said, Cliff has put a lot into developing the amp modelling, getting right down to the bare bones of what makes each model tick, the nuances of every aspect of the amp's circuit, rather than the more broad-brush approach of some previous versions. Now all this might not mean a lot to some, but you can't knock the effort that's got us where we are with the Axe II today. Who knows there may yet be a few more revelations before too long, but for now, it's developing and inching ever closer to the real thing.
 
Tone is very critical..... yes....but it is not everything without the "feel"!!

The right tone makes you play better! But the right tone and "FEEL" makes you play
even better!!

AxeII FW11.00b is it for me!!


.............until FW12.00 of course!!
 
Yes, the Axe-Fx gets better in every update, but I can't remember even feeling like even my Standard sucked. It has still always been a lot better than many other manufacturers that state that they have tens of years of amp modeling experience.

MIMIC was one of the reasons I wanted II. GEN1 amp EQ is not like on the real amps. Also I got all the tones I wanted in GEN1 with my match EQ skills but 10 slots... for me... NEVER ENOUGH!

EDIT: One more thing. After every firmware update people are hyping how big the difference is. I think this is not always the case. Like... how many updates since GEN1? It's not that many worlds apart. :)
 
Also, after every FW update, there are a lot of forum posts by people saying how unbelievably great the update was and how it sounds soo much better, when in reality they can probably hear no audible difference at all. Even when it has been stated that the update doesn't affect the sound at all, some users are convinced it has improved somehow. That's fine I guess and maybe the placebo effect. Now, after certain updates which DO affect the sound, If I hear no difference, I simply don't comment on it, other than to perhaps say "thanks for the update". I'm happy to report that in V11b I do hear or rather 'feel' a difference in certain presets (or am I being duped into it also??). Either way I'm happy with it.

I'd be interested to go back to the Standard / Ultra, earlier FW versions, and see what it sounds & feels like, when I was raving on like a crazed fanboi about how great it all was back then. I suspect it still sounds great. A friend of mine owns my old Standard, and it still sounds pretty awesome to me.
 
Before the II,....I stated I could go the next 30+ years with just the Ultra.
STILL DO!

With that stated....

I'd surely sacrifice feel for tone,......but not if I don't have to!!

:)
 
For me, the difference is in ease of use. The II is WAY easier to get usable tones right out of the box than the Ultra. I still have both units in my house (wife uses the Ultra for bass). I've put them side by side many times and the Ultra is still fantastic. I'm using v9.02 on the II. For me, it was worth the upgrade because my wife needed a major rig upgrade as well, so it made sense to do it this way. If I was going to spend upwards of $1000 to upgrade alone, I probably wouldn't have done it.
 
The II adds incredible layers of subtle differences, tremendous amounts of feel over the Gen 1 stuff IMHO.

That said, it does NOT diminish the Gen 1 stuff; it is phenomenal. I can dial up tones that I love and be very happy with Gen1. However, and IMHO, the II has just more of what I prefer in terms of dynamics, feel and the shades of complexity to the base tones that I personally find more inspiring as a guitarist when doing a contrast/compare to the two generations of Fractal gear.
 
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