1st Post - Got my new Ultra Yesterday!

LPSlinger

LPSlinger

Inspired
Ultra Newbie here, with decades worth of experience with Rocktron products; Chameleon, Voodu Valve, Prophesy II.
Unfortunately, I was barely able to audition patches 1 - 60; while some sound nice (some remind me of Line6 patches), I plan to spend my time in between gigs this weekend in tweak-heaven! I anticipate hours of scouring this board trying to get to TONE HEAVEN!
 
Welcome to the machine!! However, most people on here will tell you that to experience the Axe-Fx at its best, you should roll your own patches starting with nothing but amp/cab and building from there. The included patches, while fine as a broad survey and inspiration for what the unit can do, are probably not going to get you to tone nirvana as they are. There are plenty of threads that can help you with building your own and really squeezing the best out of the Axe-Fx. I'd pity the person that bailed on the Axe-Fx based entirely on the presets (although some folks on here have been perfectly happy with them and use them for their go-to tones).

Best of luck!
 
Morogan said:
Welcome to the machine!! However, most people on here will tell you that to experience the Axe-Fx at its best, you should roll your own patches starting with nothing but amp/cab and building from there. The included patches, while fine as a broad survey and inspiration for what the unit can do, are probably not going to get you to tone nirvana as they are. There are plenty of threads that can help you with building your own and really squeezing the best out of the Axe-Fx. I'd pity the person that bailed on the Axe-Fx based entirely on the presets (although some folks on here have been perfectly happy with them and use them for their go-to tones).

Best of luck!
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Thanks Morogan! I totally agree; even the Prophesy2's "Rockstar" patches were completely unusable! I plan on building my tone from scratch once I get better acquainted with my Ultra.
 
Hey LP, congrats on the purchase and welcome aboard!

I too was a Rocktron junkie, Chameleon,VooDu,Piranha and all the various processors. If you saw my rack you would of thought I was endorsed by them. Although the Rocktron preamps and processors are good the Axe is just on another level. It's kind of like going from a small block Chevy to a big block Chevy, much more balls to keep you in the seat.
Like Morogan said, don't judge the Axe based on the stock patches much the same as you wouldn't have judged the Rocktron's stock patches on the VooDu Valve. The Axe has a lot of parameters to scroll through on the amps but just go basic with an amp/cab/reverb preset and tweak with the amp settings one at a time to see how each one effects the tone and with the experience you already have with the Rocktron stuff, I'm sure you'll figure things out pretty fast on the Axe. It's definetly a tweakers paradise and a great tone machine but like most things it takes time and patience to learn it.

Enjoy!!
 
Axisman5150 said:
Hey LP, congrats on the purchase and welcome aboard!

I too was a Rocktron junkie, Chameleon,VooDu,Piranha and all the various processors. If you saw my rack you would of thought I was endorsed by them. Although the Rocktron preamps and processors are good the Axe is just on another level. It's kind of like going from a small block Chevy to a big block Chevy, much more balls to keep you in the seat.
Like Morogan said, don't judge the Axe based on the stock patches much the same as you wouldn't have judged the Rocktron's stock patches on the VooDu Valve. The Axe has a lot of parameters to scroll through on the amps but just go basic with an amp/cab/reverb preset and tweak with the amp settings one at a time to see how each one effects the tone and with the experience you already have with the Rocktron stuff, I'm sure you'll figure things out pretty fast on the Axe. It's definetly a tweakers paradise and a great tone machine but like most things it takes time and patience to learn it.

Enjoy!!
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Thank you for the encouragement Axis! Its nice to be able to compare with other former Rocktron users. I have back to back gigs this weekend, and must rely on my soon to be "backup rig" (ie: Rocktron) until I can get the Ultra gig ready. This forum has already proven vital in lessening the learning curve. Thanks to everyone!
 
Former Prophesy owner here too.(the list goes on Pod Pro Xt, G force etc)
You will be blown away. I liked the prophesy because i dialed in MY tone with it pretty easy. The Axe-FX allowed me to find my tone and create more than I imagined. Its way beyond anything I have owned.
 
Welcome. I've had my Ultra for over a year and it continues to amaze me. A word of advice, ditch the patches and build your own. Factory presets are saying, "hey look what I can do!" and are not really that usable, IMHO. I use them so I can figure out how to use effects I have never used before.

Welcome aboard.
 
Welcome, yet another major ex-Rocktron guy here. Went so far as to wire my 3-pup LP for individual outputs to feed three Prophesys simultaneously, and that was just the beginning. One Ultra blew that rig to smithereens in short order.

Your getting good advice here - roll your own. I too did not find one usable preset in the Prophesy, version 1 or 2. The Ultra does have some good starters however, just back off those 'look what I can do' effects mentioned earlier. Scott Peterson’s contributions in Axechange are great starting points, many others as well. Feed from there. You may find most of the presets favor single coils. Compared to the LP, my Strat is almost pick and play. A few of Scott’s patches worked with both guitars out of the box too. The Prophesys would not do that very well at all.

You might also try Dutch’s' 'naked amp' bank for starting points. Also, some folks have contributed their whole finished banks. I would like to hear Cliffs, and some others as well.

Are you FRFR or amp/cab? That makes a big difference when auditioning. A patch created for one doesn't work with the other. Many Axechange presets are not designated.

Touching on the drenched presets again, I have to wonder why so many of the Axe's presets are this way. This is not a unit that Guitar Center guys need to go 'Oh Wow' in order to make a sale.
 
widrace said:
Welcome, yet another major ex-Rocktron guy here. Went so far as to wire my 3-pup LP for individual outputs to feed three Prophesys simultaneously, and that was just the beginning. One Ultra blew that rig to smithereens in short order.

Your getting good advice here - roll your own. I too did not find one usable preset in the Prophesy, version 1 or 2. The Ultra does have some good starters however, just back off those 'look what I can do' effects mentioned earlier. Scott Peterson’s contributions in Axechange are great starting points, many others as well. Feed from there. You may find most of the presets favor single coils. Compared to the LP, my Strat is almost pick and play. A few of Scott’s patches worked with both guitars out of the box too. The Prophesys would not do that very well at all.

You might also try Dutch’s' 'naked amp' bank for starting points. Also, some folks have contributed their whole finished banks. I would like to hear Cliffs, and some others as well.

Are you FRFR or amp/cab? That makes a big difference when auditioning. A patch created for one doesn't work with the other. Many Axechange presets are not designated.

Touching on the drenched presets again, I have to wonder why so many of the Axe's presets are this way. This is not a unit that Guitar Center guys need to go 'Oh Wow' in order to make a sale.
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Thanks everyone! I'm stoked about the Ultra! I'm still not sure which way to go regarding Amp/FRFR; just starting to build my go-to patches for live use. And yes, I downloaded quite a few custom patches from patch section of this forum (AxeExchange is now defunct). While I agree, the "look what I can do" presets are just that, I found that if I mixed down the effects, some are quite usable as a starting point. I was able to edit some not-so-nice sounding patches and morph them into something viable. I'm definitely going to ditch the mic & feed directly into our PA, the Ultra sounds heavenly through JBL PRX 535's! :D

So, to answer your question Widrace; initially, I'll be monitoring though a stereo amp - as the Axe-fx helps my Marshall G250dfx sound decent!! :shock: (I do own other high quality tube gear (Rivera K100R, Chubster combo) just that this is my only stereo setup!) So, I'll have stereo monitoring via amp, and direct to the PA. I wondering how much programming I'm gonna have to do to get my Roland Fc-300 footcontroller happily married with my Ultra.... any tips or advise; specially given that for the time being, my brain is still wired to Rocktron specs :lol:
 
I just received my Ultra two weeks ago. So far i love it, and in the coming weeks i'm taking off work so i can spend alot of quality time learning how to fully use it LOL. My last rig had a Rocktron Voodu Valve in it, among another things, and so far the Ultra has blown away my old setup. I've used boss gt's in the past too.
 
senseix said:
I just received my Ultra two weeks ago. So far i love it, and in the coming weeks i'm taking off work so i can spend alot of quality time learning how to fully use it LOL. My last rig had a Rocktron Voodu Valve in it, among another things, and so far the Ultra has blown away my old setup. I've used boss gt's in the past too.
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I can relate, I had outgrown the VV, so naturally went for the Prophesy II, pretty powerful unit, but, I just couldn't bond with it, I got close, but in the end it wasn't what I had hoped for. Once I get the Ultra gig ready, it's bye, bye Prophesy II. LOL
 
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