AXE FX or AXE FX ULTRA?

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djfoster5

New Member
Hello, all!

I'm just getting ready to shell out the bucks for what appears to be the greatest thing to happen to electric guitar since Eddie Van Halen. The one remaining question is ... standard or ultra? Anyone have an opinion? Especially if you purchased the Ultra - what have you been able to do with your ultra that wouldn't have been possible with the standard?

Secondary question ... who has a foot controller that they are really happy with and was REALLY EASY to set up?

Thanks!

David Foster
:D
 
I've been 100% satisfied with the Standard. Would you pay 500€ for a few effects you'll probably never need. I wouldn't... but that's just my needs. I've noticed that people that own the Ultra don't call their Axe-Fx an Axe-Fx... they call it an Ultra. That brings me to a conclusion that they make themselves feel better by stating that they have the "better" version of the product. Do they use the extra effects that come with the Ultra because they actually need them or just because they've paid 500€ extra for them? No offence.

The violin patch is cool and that Muse riff is nice too but I'd never use those anywhere... even on a youtube video! :lol:

I've got the FCB1010 as a foot controller. It's cheap and has many options but I'd love to have a smaller pedal.
 
I have an Ultra now, started with a Standard.
I was very happy using a standard. I am very happy using an ultra. I do use some of the features that come with the ultra. The additional parametrics and the MBC are features i use extensively. I got along fine without them with the standard, but sure am glad i have them now within the ultra.
I dont think you could go wrong either way.
http://axefxwiki.guitarlogic.org/index. ... comparison
here is a feature comparison- if you find you dont currently use the additional features present in the ultra, then you will most likely be satisfied with the standard.
 
I am an Ultra owner. I call it an Ultra not because I think it's a status symbol; but because it is a different product than the Standard and it is easier to type "Ultra" instead of "Axe FX Ultra."

For one thing, the Standard does not come with the analog synth, which in my opinion, is a very cool effect. But what is the most important difference for me is the extra CPU space you get with an Ultra. I build some pretty effect intensive programs that allow me to create a single preset with both my clean and my distorted amps. Then channel switching is simply a matter of stepping on the expression pedal. Even more cool is that this set-up allows you to fade gradually from pristine clean tones to Slayer worthy shred in one smooth transition. I doubt the CPU room of the Standard would allow this or if it does, you would be limited as far as how many effects you could use.

Is the difference worth $500...the way I thought of it is if I was going to plunk down some serious cash, I wanted to be sure I'd have no regrets. i knew the first time I tried to build a preset on a Standard and got an error message that my CPU was maxed, I would hate myself for being so cheap.

As for a controller, I still say the Behringer FCB1010 is the best...not simply because it's cheap; but it is versitile and well made. I wouldn't say the programming is VERY easy; but i doubt any peice of equipment that requires midi programming is easy and with the support you get in these forums, you will eventually be able to program it. I would imagine a large percentage of Ax owners use the Behringer which means should you need help, there will be a ton of assistance for you. That's Ultra important : )
 
Personally, the $500 was not much of a difference. I learned years ago to buy the best. It saves you money and the wasted time of wondering if you want the other. I would say, if you can afford it do it. Is it necessary? no. Is it a plus? yes. I have created patches that push the Ultra. Those could not be done on the Standard. What are they? I like to build a patch that resembles my pedalboard. I put a chorus, a flanger, delay, flanger, wah, etc... and just have them off most of the time. I would rather just switch them on and off rather than constantly changing patches. The Ultra allows you to do this easily. Oh, and more advanced harmonizing too... that was a must for me. Also, I don't think about buying something new anymore. Cliff and the Ultra give me piece of mind that I have the best. I rarely play my 12 tube amps anymore.
 
prog_head said:
Personally, the $500 was not much of a difference. I learned years ago to buy the best. It saves you money and the wasted time of wondering if you want the other. I would say, if you can afford it do it. Is it necessary? no. Is it a plus? yes. I have created patches that push the Ultra. Those could not be done on the Standard. What are they? I like to build a patch that resembles my pedalboard. I put a chorus, a flanger, delay, flanger, wah, etc... and just have them off most of the time. I would rather just switch them on and off rather than constantly changing patches. The Ultra allows you to do this easily. Oh, and more advanced harmonizing too... that was a must for me. Also, I don't think about buying something new anymore. Cliff and the Ultra give me piece of mind that I have the best. I rarely play my 12 tube amps anymore.
Click to expand...

Wise words :D
 
Clark Kent said:
I've been 100% satisfied with the Standard. Would you pay 500€ for a few effects you'll probably never need. I wouldn't... but that's just my needs. I've noticed that people that own the Ultra don't call their Axe-Fx an Axe-Fx... they call it an Ultra. That brings me to a conclusion that they make themselves feel better by stating that they have the "better" version of the product. Do they use the extra effects that come with the Ultra because they actually need them or just because they've paid 500€ extra for them? No offence.

The violin patch is cool and that Muse riff is nice too but I'd never use those anywhere... even on a youtube video! :lol:

I've got the FCB1010 as a foot controller. It's cheap and has many options but I'd love to have a smaller pedal.
Click to expand...

That would be an erroneous conclusion for many of us. I use many of the added effect regularly and have many of my patches in excess of 90% on the Ultra. They simply wouldn't run on the standard.
 
That's just personal needs. I don't need the Ultra extras... I've got too much stuff in the Standard already. I got the Axe-Fx to eliminate tap dancing and complex setups and to me a big patch with bypassed stomp boxes takes me back to tap dancing and a complex pedal board. I just have 10 patches from which I mainly use 3-5 and they are just an amp+different delays. One tone has a wah and one clean tone has chorus. I think that's a realistic setup for what any guitarist would ever need live. That's just how I roll. Having each patch as a whole guitar rig sounds AWESOME!!! would love to have all the patch slots full of rigs. :D
 
Clark Kent said:
That's just personal needs. I don't need the Ultra extras... I've got too much stuff in the Standard already. I got the Axe-Fx to eliminate tap dancing and complex setups and to me a big patch with bypassed stomp boxes takes me back to tap dancing and a complex pedal board. I just have 10 patches from which I mainly use 3-5 and they are just an amp+different delays. One tone has a wah and one clean tone has chorus. I think that's a realistic setup for what any guitarist would ever need live. That's just how I roll. Having each patch as a whole guitar rig sounds AWESOME!!! would love to have all the patch slots full of rigs. :D
Click to expand...

That depends on how you use it. My basic Axe patches have a lots of bypassed blocks. That's because I create my song patches on my footcontroller, based upon that Axe patch. So I can switch effects presets WITHOUT the need to switch presets on the Axe. Are you still with me? ;-)
I can have a rhythm patch and a lead patch (plus a couple more) for a song, using just one Axe patch. For this I need the Ultra capacity.

And for my synth patches of course.
 
Clark Kent said:
I think that's a realistic setup for what any guitarist would ever need live. That's just how I roll. Having each patch as a whole guitar rig sounds AWESOME!!! would love to have all the patch slots full of rigs. :D
Click to expand...

No, that is all you need not for what any guitarist would ever need live (actually no guitarist really needs the axe-fx). Clearly others have other requirements. We all roll differently. Fortunately Fractal Audio offers us the choice to meet our needs vs cost.

I have a patch w/ wah, phaser, 2 amps, 2 cabs, 2 drives, 2 delays, reverb. One patch serves about 14 different songs. We have song pool of over 200 songs. We only play about 5 different songs a week (4x), but every week is different and play about 2-4 new songs every month.

This set up allow me to operate with few patches and makes patch maintenance much easier. This is especially true with volume levels. Yes, I could set it up differently, but I don't need to.

I don't have to tap dance. I let my foot controller do the work. Each preset switch on foot controller turns the effects on/off for me.
The presets are organized into songs, which are in turn put into sets. Once I program a song, all I have to do is add it to the set list and it is ready to go.

So I can have multiple songs pointing to the same patch on the axe-fx. The foot controller presets determine which effects are on/off.
When I get the setlist for the week. I just pick the songs add them to the set list on my controller and I am done.
 
I do understand your points guys. Don't take my words as attacks. I'm just saying most people don't use that many patches. Ofcourse I understand that some people play in cover bands with a hundred different genres so you need many tones. And I also understand that there are tweakers that may use a million different tones but that's really unnecessary from FOH point of view. They sure as hell can't tell a difference between every single tone. I'm just playing one genre at a time at a gig so I definately don't need more than 6 different patches. Sometimes I manage with one/two patches since I change the tone so much with my guitar. For me "LESS IS MORE" is the Axe-Fx mentality. FOR ME! People in the crowd really doesn't listen to the guitar as much as guitarists would want... A few working tones is all anyone would really need. I'm not saying that if you have more than that you're wrong or something...
 
[quote="javajunkie]

I don't have to tap dance. I let my foot controller do the work. Each preset switch on foot controller turns the effects on/off for me.[/quote]

This is a great point...although it is true of both the Standard and the Ultra. My band has a song with a trippy intro that uses phaser, delay, chorus and reverb. All I have to do is link all of these effects to one controller and I can turn all four of these effects on and off simultaneously with one switch on my FCB. No tapdancing here.
 
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