mortega76
Fractal Fanatic
We had practice last night and I popped the Axe-fx II in my rack and connected everything up, dialed up my Clean patch (that I setup at home) and proceeded to strum away... I was floored with how good it sounded... the effects tails (spelling?) is so smooth and somehow they seem to not muddy up the clean guitar signal as much as I remember the Ultra doing... I'm sure it's in my head but damn it sounded phenomenal...
I then dialed up my Cameron CCV patch (that I had dialed in at home as well)... needless to say it sucked (my doing I'm sure)... so I defaulted the amp sim and went through a couple of amps until I landed on the Uber... it was a bit dark but damn it was aggressive... more aggressive than what I remember in the Ultra. I played a bit with it and I thought I was happy, then I thought I would setup X/Y amps to have "options"... so I dialed in the 6160 and it was even more aggressive... I thought I had found my X/Y amps but I wanted to try a couple more... at first try I didn't like the Recto models, need to go back to those and adjust some more settings... the Solo100 was very weak, never could get into the Ultra model and I'm sure I'm remembering it incorrectly but at first glance it seemed a bit "weak," which from what I've read is definitely not a descriptive word ever used for a Soldano amp so I definitely need to revisit that amp sim at a later date. Then I landed on the FAS Modern... HOLY GUACAMOLE!!!!! Kicked up the drive and master a bit and WOW... that kicked my arse! This amp sim alone is worth the price of admission... A/B'ing with the Uber and 6160 was no comparison... the FAS Modern killed. So I setup both X/Y to FAS Modern... kept it as the X amp and on my Y amp it became the new starting point... next I moved over to the Das Metall, which I was expecting to sounded much better than the previous amp sims, well... the FAS Modern still sounded better by comparison. The Das Metall sounded like it didn't "hold itself together" as well as the FAS Modern... either way definitely need to play with that amp sim some more. Then, finally I moved over to the CCV... wow... what a let down. I tried to dial this bad boy and I couldn't get it to sound "good"... I need to look up some user settings for the real CCV and see how those settings work on the CCV amp sim. For kicks I tried out the BE and HBE... man... I really need to try this with another cab (and look up some user settings) because with my Marshall 1960 cabs with V30/G12T-75 Celestions... it sounded honky and (the only word I can come up with right now) weak by comparison...
My buddy Matt said he was going to have an amp fest in the next couple of weeks and from what I understand a CCV should be there... gonna take my Carvin F1200 and Axe-fx II and see how it compares...
One note... the ABCD knobs are definitely a welcomed addition. I kept having to remind myself that they were there, I had the habit of using the Left/Right cursors to so as to use the Value Knob...
Still had an issue with my "swelling" effect on the volume block even after setting it to Envelope and Log30A... strange... maybe my patch is screwed up and I have to start from scratch.
So as it stands after one practice...
Cleans: Ultra vs II... the II definitely "wins" in this department... hands down.
Effects: Ultra vs II... the II again "wins" hands down, there is a certain "up front" quality to them that I like very much... it makes everything stand out much more than with the Ultra.
Crunch: Ultra vs II... I have no clue.
Distortion: Ultra vs II... This one is not as "clear cut" as I thought it would be overall... I "didn't" have that "upgraded" feeling until I hit the FAS Modern... that alone made the II worth the upgrade... definitely need to revisit the CCV model.
P.S. There was a patch in the 90's that had "ABCD, mm..." in it that made me say "wow... what a fun patch!!!"
P.S.S. Thanks to Cliff and the FAS team for a great product!
Here's a pic of my rig... every time I take a picture with my 3GS (especially in low light) I am reminded that I need a new phone.
I then dialed up my Cameron CCV patch (that I had dialed in at home as well)... needless to say it sucked (my doing I'm sure)... so I defaulted the amp sim and went through a couple of amps until I landed on the Uber... it was a bit dark but damn it was aggressive... more aggressive than what I remember in the Ultra. I played a bit with it and I thought I was happy, then I thought I would setup X/Y amps to have "options"... so I dialed in the 6160 and it was even more aggressive... I thought I had found my X/Y amps but I wanted to try a couple more... at first try I didn't like the Recto models, need to go back to those and adjust some more settings... the Solo100 was very weak, never could get into the Ultra model and I'm sure I'm remembering it incorrectly but at first glance it seemed a bit "weak," which from what I've read is definitely not a descriptive word ever used for a Soldano amp so I definitely need to revisit that amp sim at a later date. Then I landed on the FAS Modern... HOLY GUACAMOLE!!!!! Kicked up the drive and master a bit and WOW... that kicked my arse! This amp sim alone is worth the price of admission... A/B'ing with the Uber and 6160 was no comparison... the FAS Modern killed. So I setup both X/Y to FAS Modern... kept it as the X amp and on my Y amp it became the new starting point... next I moved over to the Das Metall, which I was expecting to sounded much better than the previous amp sims, well... the FAS Modern still sounded better by comparison. The Das Metall sounded like it didn't "hold itself together" as well as the FAS Modern... either way definitely need to play with that amp sim some more. Then, finally I moved over to the CCV... wow... what a let down. I tried to dial this bad boy and I couldn't get it to sound "good"... I need to look up some user settings for the real CCV and see how those settings work on the CCV amp sim. For kicks I tried out the BE and HBE... man... I really need to try this with another cab (and look up some user settings) because with my Marshall 1960 cabs with V30/G12T-75 Celestions... it sounded honky and (the only word I can come up with right now) weak by comparison...
My buddy Matt said he was going to have an amp fest in the next couple of weeks and from what I understand a CCV should be there... gonna take my Carvin F1200 and Axe-fx II and see how it compares...
One note... the ABCD knobs are definitely a welcomed addition. I kept having to remind myself that they were there, I had the habit of using the Left/Right cursors to so as to use the Value Knob...
Still had an issue with my "swelling" effect on the volume block even after setting it to Envelope and Log30A... strange... maybe my patch is screwed up and I have to start from scratch.
So as it stands after one practice...
Cleans: Ultra vs II... the II definitely "wins" in this department... hands down.
Effects: Ultra vs II... the II again "wins" hands down, there is a certain "up front" quality to them that I like very much... it makes everything stand out much more than with the Ultra.
Crunch: Ultra vs II... I have no clue.
Distortion: Ultra vs II... This one is not as "clear cut" as I thought it would be overall... I "didn't" have that "upgraded" feeling until I hit the FAS Modern... that alone made the II worth the upgrade... definitely need to revisit the CCV model.
P.S. There was a patch in the 90's that had "ABCD, mm..." in it that made me say "wow... what a fun patch!!!"
P.S.S. Thanks to Cliff and the FAS team for a great product!
Here's a pic of my rig... every time I take a picture with my 3GS (especially in low light) I am reminded that I need a new phone.
