Axe-Fx Standard vs. Ultra?

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Dadoutlate

Member
After checking out the Axe-Fx on the website and "You Tube" I decided to place an order for the Standard unit. I really consdiered the Ultra but it seemed like the added sounds/patches I already have covered with an Eventide. So, does anybody who uses the "Ultra" only capabilities think that Ultra is a better choice? I think I'm covered but the Standard hasn't shipped yet so I haven't messed around with it yet.
Does the Axe-Fx sound better through a straight power amp, tube amp, or something else? I'd like to use it for recording and for live sound. I have tried some Line 6 amps (Vetta and an older Ax-212) and I think the Axe-Fx will be a good upgrade. I guess I could use the tone from existing amp(s) and just use the effects of the Axe-Fx but I can decide that later after the experiments get going.
Anyway, I hope the unit gets shipped soon! Thanks!
 
Get the Ultra. The $500 is worth it. Besides the additional effects you also get faster chip and more memory to handle more elaborate patches.

Check the threads for power amp preference. I personally like the powered Atomic cabs and tube power amps into guitar 4x12 cabs. It depends what you are planning on using it for (live, practice, etc.)
 
hussamd said:
Get the Ultra. The $500 is worth it. Besides the additional effects you also get faster chip and more memory to handle more elaborate patches.

Check the threads for power amp preference. I personally like the powered Atomic cabs and tube power amps into guitar 4x12 cabs. It depends what you are planning on using it for (live, practice, etc.)
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+1 I'm in same situation. Using powered Atomic for stage monitoring, with OUT1 going to FOH. Amp and Cab modeling both ON. Same sound goes to both. I also use stock, Redwirez and Ownhammer IR's on my presets.
 
I've had my Standard going on 4 yrs. Money is not an issue for me, so I could have bought an Ultra: still could. Bottom line *for me* is that the Standard is way more than adequate for my needs and has remained so. I've not regretted getting the Standard for a moment.
 
Boogieman said:
I've had my Standard going on 4 yrs. Money is not an issue for me, so I could have bought an Ultra: still could. Bottom line *for me* is that the Standard is way more than adequate for my needs and has remained so. I've not regretted getting the Standard for a moment.
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+1
 
You guys seem like hardcore Axe-ers and could probably make good Fractal salesmen. I guess I could sell the standard and buy the Ultra later if it doesn't do everything I can imagine. The Eventide has some
cool effects so I hope to connect all of this together with the Ground Control and use both. The effects they decribe for the Ultra (Bank C?) I believe I can get with the Eventide.
I'll experiment with my existing amps to see what works. I've even considered using JUST the Axe-Fx live with in-ear monitors and just bring my rack. Again another experiment.
It seems that some of the "You Tube" clips using Axe-Fx high gain patches have some major "buzz". Is this the way it is or do they just have it set up wrong?
Thanks for the quick reply.
 
Boogieman said:
I've had my Standard going on 4 yrs. Money is not an issue for me, so I could have bought an Ultra: still could. Bottom line *for me* is that the Standard is way more than adequate for my needs and has remained so. I've not regretted getting the Standard for a moment.
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+2.
 
Dadoutlate said:
It seems that some of the "You Tube" clips using Axe-Fx high gain patches have some major "buzz". Is this the way it is or do they just have it set up wrong?
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A lot of YouTube videos suffer from poor recording. They typically use the built-in mic on their phone or camcorder, crank the volume to ear-bleeding levels, and consequently overdrive the cheap mics and input circuits on those devices. Those devices do their best at midrange frequencies, and a lot of modern high-gain tones don't have much midrange.
 
Dadoutlate said:
It seems that some of the "You Tube" clips using Axe-Fx high gain patches have some major "buzz". Is this the way it is or do they just have it set up wrong?
Thanks for the quick reply.
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I use mostly high gain and it is clear as a bell and breaks up like I never could get it to with a real tube amp.

Like you said, get the standard and see if it does what you want it to. If that does not work then you could move up. Some of the high gain patches I use clock near 95% CPU on the ultra, plus a lot of patches out there are from Ultra users so take that into consideration also.
 
The Standard has all the tone of the Ultra, and the effects are just as good as those in the Ultra. It's a huge step up from other competing gear, and in most cases, it's all you'll ever need.

Having said that, I bought the Ultra and have no regrets. I'm a gadget freak, and I like having things like synth, vocoder and ring modulator to play with. And the Quad Chorus is to die for. Another thing that sold me on the Ultra is the extra memory. IIRC, the Standard is near its memory limit, and there's not much room left for added firmware features.
 
Thanks to all for the info! I'm a little surprised to hear how close to the edge the processor and memory are from capacity. I'm hoping this is only because of the complicated patches that have everything including the kitchen sink in them. Oh well, I'll try it and see. Are there any particular modules/effects that steal the capacity? How much extra memory and processor are we talking about with the Ultra compared to Standard?
Happy Axe-ing!
 
Dadoutlate said:
I'm a little surprised to hear how close to the edge the processor and memory are from capacity. I'm hoping this is only because of the complicated patches that have everything including the kitchen sink in them.
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You pretty much nailed it. Some folks use the "pedalboard" approach. They string together every effect they could possibly want, then pick and choose among them by using instant access switches to toggle them on and off. That makes for a pretty CPU-hungry patch.

Bear in mind that there are two different kinds of memory in the Axe-FX. Here's a more in-depth look:
javajunkie said:
Cliff has replied to this question numerous times. The standard is pretty much out of memory except for additional amp models (this uses a different part of memory) and bug fixes. He has been able to squeeze a few more features out by going to a compressed bootloader and coding efficiencies. Still there have been additional features to effects that have been added on the Ultra that would not fit on the standard. Cliff has stated that the amp models (number/quality) will be the same on both. However, stating the only difference is the amount of processor power and in-patch memory is incorrect. Besides having effects that do not exist on the standard; the ultra has parameters in a few effects that do not exist in the standard (in the delay and pitch for example). Also the are more instances of some effects on the Ultra.

There might be a couple of more bells and whistles Cliff manages to fit on the standard and probably a lot more amp models and bug fixes. But, it IS about full.
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Dadoutlate said:
Are there any particular modules/effects that steal the capacity?
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When it comes to what you can cram into a single preset, processor power is the limiting factor, not memory. The biggest CPU hog I know of is the amp sim itself. A single amp sim takes about 20% of an Ultra's available CPU cycles. The cab sim takes about 10%. If you have two amp sims and two cab sims in a single preset, that's around 60% of the Ultra's horsepower, and closer to 90% of the Standard's. That's one reason that some Ultra presets push a Standard to its limits: If there are two amp sims and two cabs in a single preset, the Standard doesn't have much left over for anything else.

The delay block only uses about 5% of the Ultra's capacity; the Volume/Pan block, around 1%; Chorus, about 5%. In either the Standard or the Ultra, there's enough horsepower to do just about anything that most people want to do.
 
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Dadoutlate said:
Thanks to all for the info! I'm a little surprised to hear how close to the edge the processor and memory are from capacity. I'm hoping this is only because of the complicated patches that have everything including the kitchen sink in them. Oh well, I'll try it and see. Are there any particular modules/effects that steal the capacity? How much extra memory and processor are we talking about with the Ultra compared to Standard?
Happy Axe-ing!
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Each effect has a specific percentage of CPU it takes. I don't remember where I saw it but it may have been the manual. Some are more CPU intensive and others not as much. If you do not plan on using it, do not add it even if it is disabled.

My Ultra works fine even at 96%.
 
Rex said:
You pretty much nailed it. Some folks use the "pedalboard" approach. They string together every effect they could possibly want, then pick and choose among them by using instant access switches to toggle them on and off. That makes for a pretty CPU-hungry patch.
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You pretty much nailed the reason I'm thinking of going from the Standard to an Ultra, what triggered this after being a two year owner? Just got a mission pedal which is going to be my dedicated wah pedal and would like to leave a wah block on every patch same goes for two different drives a clean boost/filter, flanger, chrous, phase.

I am a tweaker but there are certain playing conditions, like jamming with friends the stomp environment can lend itself better. In a planned environment like doing a set of music weather it be original or covers I'll have patches designed for every song and even then add in a few blocks I might use for flavor but with the standard I have to watch myself: to a degree.
 
s0c9 said:
+1 I'm in same situation. Using powered Atomic for stage monitoring, with OUT1 going to FOH. Amp and Cab modeling both ON. Same sound goes to both. I also use stock, Redwirez and Ownhammer IR's on my presets.
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I didn't even look at the Standard... Just figured with the way technology works, get the best, fastest, most laden piece of it when you can so it lasts a bit longer than the lesser, older, smaller (not necessarily saying the Standard is any of these, I just didn't want to smell "obsoletion" sooner than necessary). Furthermore, several of my cats on my usual forum RT have all said "Ultra", and some having used both said the same, if you can afford it - "Ultra". I'm such a noob at this, I didn't bat an eye - I just went for it.

Should be getting it this week :)

Peace,
V.
 
ventura said:
I didn't even look at the Standard... Just figured with the way technology works, get the best, fastest, most laden piece of it when you can so it lasts a bit longer than the lesser, older, smaller (not necessarily saying the Standard is any of these, I just didn't want to smell "obsoletion" sooner than necessary).
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yeah.. to me its like having the Mustang 5.0 vs the VW Beetle. You might never need to step on the gas and use that power under the hood, but the one day you need it and it's not there is the day you'll be kicking yourself. Heck, I could probably get by with a Standard, but I've never been one to "settle" :)
 
Well, thanks for all the input. It seems that it should be an easy decision. My order hasn't been shipped yet so it should be no problem to upgrade to the Ultra now. I guess it's the safe bet. I'll consider the extra $500 as insurance that I won't
hear of all of you that you all told me so. The real reason I DIDN'T go for the Ultra was not money, it was the Eventide. I'm sure all the Axe-Fx lovers can fire shots all day at the H8000 but I'd thought I'd try it. It has some cool harmonizing capabilities and together with the Axe-Fx, who knows. I'm ready to accept the expected response that I don't need anything but the Ultra, so go SELL everything else.
The real question I have is: Why doesn't this unit have more memory?? I sell semiconductors, processors, and memory all day long to pay for Ultras and so forth and memory is relatively cheap these days. CPU's can be pricey but the Sharc has been out for a while. Does the Axe have the latest and greatest? The H8000 (I promise I WON'T mention it again) has dual processors. Can't the Axe designers expand things to do EVERYTHING it can without running out of CPU or memory? Does anyone know what the memory is that is used? How much memory? It seems a shame to have such an awesome unit that has ANY weaknesses!
 
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