Bought my THIRD Ultra.....

C

ctyelvis

Member
Man, I hate to say it, but because of the crappy economy, (especially during this year) I have rotated out of, then back into 3 Ultras!
My first I bought almost 2 years ago. I sold that earlier this year because I thought I could get by in a pinch with Guitar Rig 3 for my home recording....
That lasted a few months months. Guitar rig sounds pretty decent, but It just doesn't sound like and AFX... I bought a second AFX, then had a chance to buy a PT HD setup, so I sold it to help finance the HD rig. I thought, "Well, I could use some of the amp farm stuff for awhile...." NOT!
Then trying to save some money, I then bought one of those new Eleven Rack units....
Jeez, save your money!! A great concept, but just no where near the AFX. It's like a poor mans AFX and barely a step up from a POD.... It went back to the store after a few days.
So, I sold some blood, and bought a third Ultra.... lol.
Lesson learned yet again! It just doesn't get any better than the AFX!! Once your have one, it's next to impossible to use ANYTHING else!
It's like they say, You get what you pay for. And that is true!
There are "crack heads"....
I'm a frickin' "Axe head"!
:shock:
-Chris
 
ctyelvis said:
Man, I hate to say it, but because of the crappy economy, (especially during this year) I have rotated out of, then back into 3 Ultras!
My first I bought almost 2 years ago. I sold that earlier this year because I thought I could get by in a pinch with Guitar Rig 3 for my home recording....
That lasted a few months months. Guitar rig sounds pretty decent, but It just doesn't sound like and AFX... I bought a second AFX, then had a chance to buy a PT HD setup, so I sold it to help finance the HD rig. I thought, "Well, I could use some of the amp farm stuff for awhile...." NOT!
Then trying to save some money, I then bought one of those new Eleven Rack units....
Jeez, save your money!! A great concept, but just no where near the AFX. It's like a poor mans AFX and barely a step up from a POD.... It went back to the store after a few days.
So, I sold some blood, and bought a third Ultra.... lol.
Lesson learned yet again! It just doesn't get any better than the AFX!! Once your have one, it's next to impossible to use ANYTHING else!
It's like they say, You get what you pay for. And that is true!
There are "crack heads"....

I'm a frickin' "Axe head"!
:shock:
-Chris
Click to expand...


Didnt you sold one just recently?
 
I've got (2) Ultras now and can't see getting a third unless I start playing guitar while I'm on the toilet. ;)
 
I'm sure this sounds ignorant, but why would you have more than one ultra at a time? I guess one for touring one for studio, or something like that... I think I saw that Dweezil plays with two, but his signal chain is probably rediculously complex to do all his dads music live, but even then two seems like overkill. I mean, I'm a dedicated ultra user, and in love with mine, but I don't know how I would have another. Could you guys fill me in on the probably extremely awesome reason you have multiple ultras?
 
attilathepun said:
I'm sure this sounds ignorant, but why would you have more than one ultra at a time? I guess one for touring one for studio, or something like that... I think I saw that Dweezil plays with two, but his signal chain is probably rediculously complex to do all his dads music live, but even then two seems like overkill. I mean, I'm a dedicated ultra user, and in love with mine, but I don't know how I would have another. Could you guys fill me in on the probably extremely awesome reason you have multiple ultras?
Click to expand...


I read it as that he keeps trading in for different stuff.


One Ultra is all he has.


In the end, he's spent enough money to have two Ultras, but the GAS has a hold on him like pimples have a hold on a 14 year old kid.



Take some Beano, Bro. The GAS should pass.
 
"I read it as that he keeps trading in for different stuff."

I think he was responding to GuitarDojo and Matt_B who have 2 Ultras....!
 
2 ultras = backup -- if i start using them concurrently (some do), i'll start to want a pair for a backup for that :p
 
attilathepun said:
I'm sure this sounds ignorant, but why would you have more than one ultra at a time?
Click to expand...
- I have one in the guitar room upstairs and one in the TV room downstairs.
- I wanted to have 2 so I had a backup, just in case.
- I have 1 in a portable rack cases and the other is in a nice wood studio rack.
- When I sold all my rack gear (which the Ultras replaced) I had more than enough money to afford two. I figured I should keep the gear money in the pool. ;)

I have never tried hooking them up together because I never felt a need to.
 
my first Ultra is going into my gigging setup:

An SKB Mighty GigRig with a Yamaha 01V96V2 mixer and the Ultra connected via S/PDIF (there is other gear in this rig as well, but it's wireless and IEM stuff)

The second Ultra is so I have a spare/backup for gigging, plus I can carry the second Ultra upstairs to my condo, without having to lug the whole PA system up there (basically impossible to do). Also, if I sub with any other bands, I can just bring the Ultra without having to bring the whole PA.
 
My Ultra's have been for recording setups (Pro Tools HD). The thing is, My eye wondered a few times. I mean shit, I live in Michigan and times are tough ya know. :-( Mainly with software based stuff. Then the Digi Eleven Rack. I have a tangerine colored Fender Strat, and thought that Eleven would match it perfectly!
(See my recording setup:)
viewtopic.php?f=18&t=67&p=115828#p115828

But seriously, it really looked promising. and at $900 i thought it might have a bit of quality. But I should have known... I mean it's got serious potential, but I don't believe digidesign will see it through. To me it sounds like a Pod and a Johnson, trying to sound and feel like a poor mans AFX. But sadly, it doesn't even come close.
The whole Pro Tools LE interface is cool, although it's convertors suck ass. And the part about it recording your guitar track in pro tools and embedding your amp settings within the track is an INCREDABLE idea. But the sound quilty and feel of the thing is just not there.
But if you go over to the Digi Forum, all these kids that have stepped up from a Pod and bought one are shitting themselves...
I brought up the AFX and aside from some French guy who said he had heard a used one at a music store said the AFX sounded "thin" to him, (LOL!!) Nobody had much to say bad (other than no headphone jack or USB port) about the AFX. Quite the contrary. Most people, that had anything to say sound like they dream of owning an AFX!
That's why if Cliff & Tom can get some decent distribution, and get something like an AFX "lite" version out there that costs around $800 for the Pod users etc. It's gonna be Game over for a lot of other stuff out there! And at some point, those users of the $800 AFX, will eventually move up to the higher end Fractal stuff.
That's what gibson does with Epiphone and Marshall does with their solid state stuff, etc. etc. Got to bring them in Cheap, then build it from there, to get the masses onboard.

Anyway, after 2 or 3 days, I returned that Eleven Rack, and ordered another Ultra.

You know, for recording, it's hard to beat the sound and simple setup of the AFX, PERIOD! Why shuffle around mic setups and pedals or flip through crappy presets to find inspiration while recording? The AFX makes it Soooooo easy. Just turn it on.....

-Chris
 
Those reasons are just as awesome as I thought they would be! I'm kind of relieved you guys aren't using two at once, you would have to be a full time afx programmer. Imagine if you had an input jack for each string ala bootsy collins and used 6 of them? It would be like a new genre of music, made only for the sake of programming all the nonsense
 
attilathepun said:
. Imagine if you had an input jack for each string ala bootsy collins and used 6 of them?
Click to expand...
That actually wouldn't be difficult to do. All the guitar needs is hexaphone piezo pickup and break-out box to get a separate output for each string to connect to the (6) Axe-FXs. After that, set one Axe-FX to send program changes to the other 5 and connect their 12 outputs (left and right for each) to a mixer and voila!
 
Matt_B said:
attilathepun said:
. Imagine if you had an input jack for each string ala bootsy collins and used 6 of them?
Click to expand...
That actually wouldn't be difficult to do. All the guitar needs is hexaphone piezo pickup and break-out box to get a separate output for each string to connect to the (6) Axe-FXs. After that, set one Axe-FX to send program changes to the other 5 and connect their 12 outputs (left and right for each) to a mixer and voila!
Click to expand...
not to mention you only need three Axe-Fx's to do it
two if you don't mind some strings sharing amps
 
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