funny_polymath
Fractal Fanatic
[This post is meant as simple reflection and observation - an editorial, if you will. Reader discretion is advised]
It's so funny to read Axe-II users speak the same way about the II in comparison to the Ultra the way they used to talk about the Ultra in comparison to EVERYTHING ELSE.
When the Ultra was at its height users all over the web defended it to the death insisting that not only was nothing better (which was arguably a true statement, at the time) but that it was tone heaven - that it could lay down whatever you wanted as long as you put the effort into getting there with it (obviously not true, as factually solidified by the existence of the AXE-II)
I mention this because one of the biggest defenses for the AXE was that it could get you that sound - you know, THAT sound. Plug away at it and THAT sound was yours. What this, now provably false claim (again, due to the existence of the AXE-II) meant was that AXE users, or more specifically the die-hard defenders, set themselves up for a credibility-fall, if you will. You can't have something that supposedly gives you everything and then bring out a "better" version of it. What's to be better? Just read what people in this very thread are saying; that the AXE-II is "worlds better" than the ULTRA - a "game changer" (whatever that means... how is it changing the game when it's an improved version of something that already exists... but, that's another tangent all together).
You can also read dozens of [old] threads of new ULTRA users who are kinda' stumped as to why their $2000+ unit sounds kinda' crappy (I made a thread like that when I got my ULTRA) out of the box (this is SOOO true. The AXE-I simply does not sound good at default. It sounds great with tons of tuning of course, as anyone here will tell you).
The point is: Now we know. Now we know that the ULTRA really wasn't "all that". It really did need to get better.
Don't get me wrong. I really like my ULTRA, I've had it for years, it 100 percent ended my purchasing of guitar gear (I haven't purchased a single guitar related piece of gear, other than a corresponding pedal board, since buying the ULTRA), I get sounds from it that make it worth the price I payed, and I have less than zero intention of ever buying an AXE-II. I'm just reflecting back on how so many people acted long before the AXE-II was a twinkle in Fractal Audio's eye, and how they act now that everything they said before is largely nullified by the very own, new, attitudes.
...and now back to your regularly scheduled program...
I agree, to a point - that point being that I REALLY did not know what I was missing until it got better. I.e. my Ultra sounded 'perfect' until I heard the II, and the two was it, complete, done, until I heard FW 10.0. Such is life. As an ancillary comment to yours: there have been several times when Cliff has said an amp was 'perfect', 'indistinguishable' etc - scopes out the same etc. - only to then hear him say it's 'better' in the next FW. After awhile, I really started to find that funny. Bottom line, though: there's always room for improvement and (lucky for us!) Cliff is intent on going there, time after time.
