Am I alone in keeping the Ultra????

W

WannaRock

Member
:rollHello group, I am brand new here. I just bought a used ultra and went against the common sense thought of buying the fx ll. I have a little fear inside my head saying I should have just gotten the ll, but I feel like I got a good buy on the ultra.

Having never played any fractal it was sort of a hard decision. I figured I got it for a decent price and I won't be able to get my hands on the ll for perhaps quite a while. I will be selling my amp and it will be close to a straight across trade the way it stands. Other wise I would have had to come up with a lot of extra cash I really don't have.

So my question is with the release of the ll are any of you still totally happy with the ultra and will you be hanging on to it for a while? I don't think I will be the lone ultra user, at least I hope not because I am going to have tons of questions.

Anyway I am totally excited with my new purchase, wish me luck. I think I am totally going to enjoy it.
 
I've had my Ultra for 2+ years and will be keeping it. If I upgrade, it wouldn't be for 6-12 months or so. The Ultra is a solid piece of kit and continues to improve with each firmware release. In the short term, the II will have limited availability. The Ultra improved overnight with the new firmeare release. The rumors of the Ultra's early demise are greatly exaggerated.

cheers,
 
You're not alone. I continue to be amazed by what the Ultra can accomplish every time I plug in. And that won't change any time soon. It's still and will always be a best-in-class product, in my opinion. Sure, at some point I will migrate to the Axe-Fx II, but not in the immediate future. I'm already quite happy with what I can get out of what I have in the Ultra. And it would be a mistake to brush it all aside in favor of the newest-shiniest-thing. Musicians, perhaps more than many other people I know, are constantly falling into the new-gear trap. Gear should be a means to an end, not the end in of itself. What each person needs to ask themselves is, "Is the gear I have helping me to accomplish what I want to do musically?" If the answer is yes, then there's no reason to pursue new gear, other than out of sheer lust for the new-shiny.

When the time comes and I purchase the Axe-II, the Ultra will still share a proud spot in my rack for years to come.
 
I'm definitely keeping my Ultra. I've had it about 5 months now and have barely scratched the surface of what it can do. Features like headphone outs, USB etc are nice but unnecessary for me since I don't like monitoring through headphones and I have a nice audio interface and DI box already. As for the superior modelling, I'm personally not too much of a tone snob, and I'm extremely happy with the sounds I've gotten from it (hell, NOBODY has been able to pick out my Ultra tones as digital). And with FW 11 it's made an already incredible product about twice as enjoyable...if that was even possible.
 
shemihazazel said:
Gear should be a means to an end, not the end in of itself. What each person needs to ask themselves is, "Is the gear I have helping me to accomplish what I want to do musically?" If the answer is yes, then there's no reason to pursue new gear, other than out of sheer lust for the new-shiny.
Click to expand...

This has to be the best post I've seen on this board. As long as your gear is giving you sounds that are inspirational enough to keep your creative juices flowing, nothing else should matter.
 
WannaRock said:
:rollHello group, I am brand new here. I just bought a used ultra and went against the common sense thought of buying the fx ll. I have a little fear inside my head saying I should have just gotten the ll, but I feel like I got a good buy on the ultra.

Having never played any fractal it was sort of a hard decision. I figured I got it for a decent price and I won't be able to get my hands on the ll for perhaps quite a while. I will be selling my amp and it will be close to a straight across trade the way it stands. Other wise I would have had to come up with a lot of extra cash I really don't have.

So my question is with the release of the ll are any of you still totally happy with the ultra and will you be hanging on to it for a while? I don't think I will be the lone ultra user, at least I hope not because I am going to have tons of questions.

Anyway I am totally excited with my new purchase, wish me luck. I think I am totally going to enjoy it.
Click to expand...

You won't regret it. The Standard and Ultra deliver stunning sounds. Fw 11 even improves the experience.
 
Well I am stoked and ready for it to arrive. It sounds like I am not going to be alone with the Ultra and that is A OK with me!!! It looks like an intimidating piece of gear from the outside.. It is nice that I have lots of old post to refer back to, to help me get a small handle on it. And of course all the current users of the Ultra on this forum seem to be a wealth of knowledge. This is a great day for me. Thank you guys for letting me know I don't have to tackle the Ultra alone.
 
I can't wait for the first post that reads I liked the tones of my Ultra better than the axefx II that'll be good for a 20 page thread...lol.
 
I haven't had a chance to use Firmware v. 11 yet, but the Ultra is an amazing piece of gear. I have it sounding EXACTLY like my Mark V/G-Major rig in recordings and EVEN BETTER live. I *do* plan on getting the AFX II, but for now the Ultra is it and I'm happy with it. It does exactly what it's supposed to do, exactly as advertised.
 
I'll keep my Ultra, of course. I've almost gone broke financially when I bought the Ultra, so I can't afford to update it. But to be honest, I really don't want to, I'm quite overwhealmed by the features it gives me, I'd be completely lost with the additional stuff II is offering. Of course that USB interface would be very nice to have etc, but it's really not necessary!

I also want to keep my philosophy to never replace a technical unit because there's something newer on the market. My only computer is a 6 years old laptop, my mobile phone is a Nokia 6310 (I guess it's about 7 or 8 years old(?)) and they are still working. On the laptop I run a very lightweight Linux distribution to get the best out of the old hardware. Maybe it's possible to keep the Ultra as long as those two other machines. I don't like this throwing away of technical hardware, the ressources on this planet are very limited and it's in all of our interests to waste as little of it as possible. Of course if there will be a buyer for my Ultra in the future when I can afford the II I'd be happy to replace it, but it'll take some time till that day is near.

Cheers everybody!
 
i plan on keeping my ultra. i primarily use the axe fx as a virtual pedalboard in front of my amp. so unless the new effects and overdrive pedals are $700-$800 better than the ones in the ultra, i'll stick with what i have
 
Well, I am a standard user and I am keeping it. At the very least it will be a backup in the future. The II make a compelling argument with all of the features it has. Would love to have one but can't justify the price. Yet.
 
There are some nice features in II that I wish the Ultra has, but they're nothing I can't live without. The Ultra already sounds so good, while the II will certainly sound better, I can't imagine it blowing the Ultra out of the water. I'll hang onto my Ultra, and reconsider once III hits the market. :)
 
Group, I can tell you guys really love the Ultra. That is why I took a chance on it. I have thought and thought for a very long time. Is it worth getting rid of one of my tube amps to get an Axe. Every time I would research them, I would find sound clips that sound awesome or postings about how much you guys love your Fractals. Finally I said what the hey, I think I will do it. All your postings to my question confirms I made the right choice. One thing about the Ultra, even "if" the fx ll is alot better, I still think the ultra will demand a pretty solid resale value for some time to come. And "if" that day comes and I want to upgrade I think I will still be able to upgrade without too much of a loss if any. The more of your post I read from you guys and how much you like your ultra the more excited I get. Thanks for your responses!!!
 
The II goes on my "I'll think about it in 2012" list. These days I try to avoid the siren call of new for the sake of new. It's probably a significant upgrade from my Ultra but one that I don't need at the moment. My Ultra sounds just as it did last week and I was thrilled then.
 
Just got to the point where I have all my patches sorted on my Ultra and sounding great. I have also spent ages getting my MFC101 working just the way I want it. I love my set up now. It sounded great last week before I knew about the axe2, so why spend loads more cash to start all over again. No, for me it's now the time to start using and enjoying it. I will upgrade in the future, but for now I'm (very) happy with what I have...I just hope we get the occasional firmware update and a better version of axe-edit.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom