I left the boat on FW11, about to comeback, need advice!

dupere11497

dupere11497

Experienced
Hi guys! I've been away for a while ( heuu we didn't really notice dude, do we know you??), I sold my Axe II in January, it was on FW11 back then! I was an Ultra user from the early days of Fractal Audio and for some reasons, the Axe II never quite gave me the same joy the Ultra did. I'm a bedroom player playing directly through my trusty Focal cms 50 studio monitors!

The tone with the A2 was always kind of boomy and sterile sounding. The highs were unpleasing whatever cab IR I tried. But the tone From forum users and artist was always stellar. Tone is in the fingers I know, I've been playing guitar for the 25 years and I can modestly say that mine are not the problem.

So, after several months strugglin with my A2 tone, I finally gave up and sold it to buy back an Ultra! I was happy again, even more than before using the Ownhammer mix modern and vintage cabs IR (can't get much better). So I'm a happy guy BUT....

I miss the much better and easier feature of the A2 and it seems to have evolve a long way since FW11. And I always thought my unit was maybe defect I don't know! I'm a hot rodded Marshall tone kind of guy and I'm seriously gasing for the new AFD models! The recordings on the forum are unbelievable!

So here is my question: Are there ultra users here who can compare with FW15.03? Is it cutting nicely in the mix cause I had bad times mixing my raw guitar tracks with A2 without using tones of eq which wasn't the case with the Ultra. Thanks for your help folks!
 
Hey bro, I'm sort of in the same boat as you. I left the Axe 2 around firmware 10 when I needed some funds and got the ultra instead.

However, GAS strikes again and I should have an Axe 2 again sometime this week. Once I receive it, I'll update and factory restore it and post up some thoughts :)
 
The AFD amp, and the OH cabs, are a match made in tonal heaven (IMHO).

It is "the" Marshall sound I've always heard in my head.

If I didn't already have an AxeII I'd surely be in line just waiting for them to take my money
 
jlynnb1 said:
i don't know how to answer....since the A2 tones have been superior to the Ultra in every way since I got mine on fw 9 or 10. i CAN say that i get great tones that have zero trouble cutting through either a recorded or studio mix...
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+1! I have not had ANY trouble getting a great sound and I am on firmware 10. Do not miss my ultra at all.

I MAY update again someday, but I am enjoying what I have and do not want to mess with my preset settings all over again just to update.
 
I haven't used an Ultra in a long time and found my Axe-FX 2 superior right away but I can say the improvements in the Axe-FX 2 from FW 11 to FW 15 have been drastic.
 
webe123 said:
+1! I have not had ANY trouble getting a great sound and I am on firmware 10. Do not miss my ultra at all.

I MAY update again someday, but I am enjoying what I have and do not want to mess with my preset settings all over again just to update.
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I know this won't be popular but I've been progressively less happy since upgrading from FW10. I'm currently on 14.02 on all three (live, backup & installed in studio) of my units and, for lack of a better analogy, I just don't feel the AF2 amp models are as intuitive as they used to be. The relationship between the noise gate, the input gain, input trim and master have just made it so much more complicated than (1.) FIrmware 10 (2.) just plugging in to an amp. I was very happy at FW10. I keep threatening to go back but haven't done it yet. Mainly because I think my v10 preset backup is corrupt... I still get great tones on 14.02. It just takes much longer to find great tones and I've fallen in to the trap that many non-believers warn about: TOO MUCH TWEAKING / TOO LITTLE PLAYING!

Anyway, this is all subjective. I'm definitely in the minority but, that's nothing new... :). Unless something is not working or there's a bug that affects your ability to use the unit, the difference in tone from 10 to 14 is not earth shattering and, in my opinion, 10 is easier to use. You were smart to not jump on the "gotta upgrade" bandwagon.
 
If you are looking for a more smooth or ideal sound to your amps, more like the ultra, you can go into your amp settings and change the parameter from authentic to ideal or smooth. It might not make sense, but when you get the axe 2 or xl, it will. Check out the wiki on the topic. And yes, fw 15.03 kicks ass!
 
AndyOrr said:
I know this won't be popular but I've been progressively less happy since upgrading from FW10. I'm currently on 14.02 on all three (live, backup & installed in studio) of my units and, for lack of a better analogy, I just don't feel the AF2 amp models are as intuitive as they used to be. The relationship between the noise gate, the input gain, input trim and master have just made it so much more complicated than (1.) FIrmware 10 (2.) just plugging in to an amp. I was very happy at FW10. I keep threatening to go back but haven't done it yet. Mainly because I think my v10 preset backup is corrupt... I still get great tones on 14.02. It just takes much longer to find great tones and I've fallen in to the trap that many non-believers warn about: TOO MUCH TWEAKING / TOO LITTLE PLAYING!

Anyway, this is all subjective. I'm definitely in the minority but, that's nothing new... :). Unless something is not working or there's a bug that affects your ability to use the unit, the difference in tone from 10 to 14 is not earth shattering and, in my opinion, 10 is easier to use. You were smart to not jump on the "gotta upgrade" bandwagon.
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Something happened after FW 10 that lost something for me as well. Unfortunately, to get all the new features we are forced to make a choice, since rollback no longer exists.
 
I think we get comfortable with gear. The sounds you first program on the new piece, won't be as good as the old ones you've done on gear you've owned for years.

The Axe II is very vast and very tweakable. And that can be a good thing in the hands of an expert, and a frustrating thing for a "guitar cable into amp" person.

Give it time. Start out with an amp and a cab. Don't get bogged down on the advanced settings. A lot of the amps sound really good with the bass, middle, and treble on 5 (at 12 o'clock). You will notice huge differences if you merely turn them up or down to one notch either way from straight up 12 o'clock - they are very powerful. Only change what you need to. Don't change something just so it isn't where it was when the model loaded. If you get too far out of whack, reset the amp block and start again.

If you are using the Axe to go direct or to record, you might find it helpful to cut off the lowest bass in the cabinet block. Instead of leaving it full range from 20hz to 20,000, try raising the low up a bit. Experiment with cutting things off at 100, 150, 200, 250 - whatever helps clear it up to sound better in a mix.

Remember - bedroom tones, being played solo, don't necessarily translate to full band mixes, at performance levels.
 
dupere11497 said:
But I was still playing on a Fractal unit wasn't I?? ;)
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Depends....did you rebuy one from Fractal new or pick up one from the used market ? Fractal surely loves all guitarist using their hardware, but I think they love those who buy new a little more and its money going into their pocket instead of the 3rd party seller LOL.

Speaking of selling, get that Ultra listed on Ebay and get an order in for the II, the AFD is waiting.....

The #34 is actually a really cool amp as well, between those two you've basically got the full spectrum of hotrodded Plexi/JCM800 tones. Those models, along with an AC30 are about all I've been playing lately and cover nearly all my needs from clean to crunch to hard rock lead tones ( I don't really do the Djent Brootz style stuff, though the axe does have some awesome amps for it)

On one hand it might seem silly using this $2200 unit with 200 amp models in it and using just 2 or 3 of them only, but I'd counter that still makes more sense than paying the silly money Ebay prices for a AFD head, and then the cost of a Vox as well.

That is kind of the cool thing about Fractal in general.... sure its expensive, but even if your just getting 1 or 2 amp models, maybe 1 or 2 cabs and then a couple of effects like a delay and wah, you've already more than covered the equiv. hardware cost.

I think the Axe wah's for example are every bit as tweakable and sweet sounding as my Teese RMC3, not to mention I can switch all the settings on the fly, patch to patch. Real bang for the buck when you factor in the cost of some of the gear the Axe essentially can replace.

Carol Ann, Friedman's, AFD100 et al are not cheap and I could hardly afford/justify owning even one of them and with the Axe I feel I get the whole arsenal of pretty much everything that is cool in the world
 
Well thanks to all of you for your precious advices! I sold my Ultra and I've just order an XL! I'm not the kind of guy who wait on a list and I know I'll be please by the extra features of the XL! I'm glad to be back!!!
 
Awesome! Just got the Mark 2 delivered yesterday. Out of the box, it sounds heaps better than the Ultra! I spent a lot of time tweaking with the Ultra, and got excellent sounds (what's with the crazy effects on the presets??), but the 2 was heaps more plug and play.

Plus the extended feature set is great! More IR space, tone matching, headphones out, USB...list goes on and on. I think you'll really enjoy it!
 
I have gone back and forth with a real amp -my Modded 5150III n 1/2 stack cab and the AII with FRFR. Both have ups and downs. The AII cannot do what the 5150III does in terms of clarity with power in chordal and note articulation in the riff context (think VHI and II era). But the AII destroys the 5150III in the solo sense. The Plexi solo tones are so thick and pleasing it's ridicules. I will say if you crank the III until the paint is coming off the walls the solos fatten nicely. I actually have a Variac control on the modded head that goes down to 5w

Two monster rigs......Kind of a cool problem to have eh?
 
AndyOrr said:
I know this won't be popular but I've been progressively less happy since upgrading from FW10. I'm currently on 14.02 on all three (live, backup & installed in studio) of my units and, for lack of a better analogy, I just don't feel the AF2 amp models are as intuitive as they used to be. The relationship between the noise gate, the input gain, input trim and master have just made it so much more complicated than (1.) FIrmware 10 (2.) just plugging in to an amp. I was very happy at FW10. I keep threatening to go back but haven't done it yet. Mainly because I think my v10 preset backup is corrupt... I still get great tones on 14.02. It just takes much longer to find great tones and I've fallen in to the trap that many non-believers warn about: TOO MUCH TWEAKING / TOO LITTLE PLAYING!

Anyway, this is all subjective. I'm definitely in the minority but, that's nothing new... :). Unless something is not working or there's a bug that affects your ability to use the unit, the difference in tone from 10 to 14 is not earth shattering and, in my opinion, 10 is easier to use. You were smart to not jump on the "gotta upgrade" bandwagon.
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The only challenge on amps now, for me, is the Mark series. It's like the real amps. Hard as hell to dial in the sweet spot imho.
It sounds good, but i can't hit THAT setting... I allways had that with the real amps too. Never owned one, but tried them in shops etc. Mark V was much easier to dial in than II and IV imho. Wider sweet spot or something.
But i have tried II and IV that was pre set. Those sounded stunning.
(And the controls where sometimes glued so they stay set)


Edit: and welcome back :D
 
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