Not ready to ditch my Ultra yet...

W

wembley

Inspired
Gigged with the Axe 2 yesterday, after spending a few days tweaking (in my studio and with monitors/a small PA). Even though I dialled in a couple of nice Bogner and Marshall presets, I honestly don't get the same feel as when I'm using the Ultra (and I almost desperately want to like the Axe 2!) It may be that I had the wrong expectations, believing that the Axe 2 would take over where the Ultra left and just fly off from there, but the difference between the two units are quite profound, I think -- to me the Ultra is smoother, tighter, easier on the ear both in the PA and monitors (I'm going FRFR). There are definitely things happening in some of the Axe 2 models that I really like, but there's also something in the upper mids and highs that bothers me. I hope all this is due to a total redesign with many significant updates to come ;) The Ultra immediately appealed to me from the first FRFR gig, but I'm having a hard time making the Axe 2 work live right now.

I also really miss the Ultra's Plexi model...

Oh, well. I'll use the Ultra live and keep tweaking the Axe 2 in the studio.
 
Good for you that you have both.

In the past, when I have been swtiching gear(Often as most guitarists:) The first thing was to try to make it sound like the old gear. In this case the Ultra. That being instead of trying to get the best sound out of the new gear and to accept it as another beast. This, I think, is because we are "used" to the old sound and feel and it takes a little time to get used to the new.

Thats why I am happy that I sold my Ultra more than 6 months ago(HD500 in the meantime)I think It will be easier for me to enjoy the AXEII next week, when I receive it.(I think/ hope) .

Kind regards

AAEN
 
I'm open to this being the case, and I'm far from giving the Axe 2 up. As several people on this forum have stated, the Axe 2 is a different beast. Still, I trust my ears after 30 years of live and studio work, and there is a notable difference between the units, to my ears in disfavor of the Axe 2. I've spent days and days on the Axe 2 (i received it a month or two ago). I'm not technically looking for it to do the same as the Ultra, and I'm not looking for it to be more realistic or whatever. I'm looking for a tone that's pleasing and inspiring. I've always found that in Marshall-type amps, and a couple of years ago I bonded with the Ultra's Plexi. So far I haven't found that sweet & nasty Plexi sound in the Axe 2 -- it's plexi renditions are either too shrill, gnarly or muddy. To my ears, that is. I've been browsing this forum and the wiki for tips, tested different settings and cabinets, but there is something happening in the baseline tone that I can't get along with. Maybe the Axe 2 is just not for me, but I have a hard time believing that, as I've had a love affair with the Ultra since the first gig and I really believe that Fractal Audio is onto something.

But 'tone' and 'feel' is subjective, and playing alone (at home or in the studio) is to me very, very different from playing live. I thought I had nailed a great tone fiddling with it in my studio, but the first live gig was a disappointment.

What I'm hoping is that we're at software version 5.04 of 20, and that by 7, Cliff has removed the blanket and filtered out (what I hear as) the unpleasing gnarlyness :)

I'ts fun, though, browsing the forums and wikis and fiddling with these boxes and learning more about tone and signal chains. But right now I'm glad I kept the Ultra.
 
Wish I could have kept both! Love the II, but that didn't make me like my Ultra less. The new owner is ecstatic, so I guess it's all good anyway.
 
Yea, two different beasts, and I love them both. Sound very different, the interaction is different (playin-wise) and the process itself is different.

I also don't care to try to replicate tones as much as just creating awesome sounds myself, so from this perspective, I really appreciate both units, as I am always looking to make new sounds that are pleasing to ME, and not just trying to replicate 'that brown sound' or whatever (tho I do that on occasion too).

I don't think you should give up on the axe II yet - at first I too was disappointed, till I started really digging to get my sounds, and then it all came together, but in an entirely different way. The II is vastly superior in many ways, but the ultra has it's own 'sounds' and I am cool with that. Won't be ditching any soon either. Give the II some time tho, it is a different world altogether, and needs to be treated as such - you have to work with it from scratch just like you did with the ultra ;)
 
666was999 said:
Could you upload one of these presets so we can see what's going on?
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Will do; the Axe 2 is in the club I played last night, but as soon as I bring it home, I will post a comparison btw my favourite Ultra patch and the 2. However, I don't think anything's 'going on,' other than the feel for the thing live -- one thing is the recordings you hear from the web/YouTube, and the Axe 2 is well documented her, an entirely different thing is how it responds live. This, the 'feel' and 'touch' is what everybody brags about with the Ultra ('it feels just like an amp') and what got me hooked to the Ultra in the first place. Contrary, the lack of response, warmth, oomph, etc. live is what turns me off with the Axe 2.
 
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Actually the axe II has more feel, response and warmth than the ultra to my ears. Firmware 5 really was a game changer with the dynamic modeling of amp/cab. This is actually the first time I've heard anyone have issues with the response/feel post FW5. What version are you running?
 
jon said:
Actually the axe II has more feel, response and warmth than the ultra to my ears. Firmware 5 really was a game changer with the dynamic modeling of amp/cab. This is actually the first time I've heard anyone have issues with the response/feel post FW5. What version are you running?
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5.04b, I always keep the Axes up to date. There are many things with the Axe 2 that I like, and I can see why some perceive it to be more responsive and warm etc. I've been using the Ultra for hundreds of gigs during the last 2,5 years, but my experience with the Axe 2 in live applications is based on just one gig, where I had extremely high expectations. There was nothing really wrong, and my bandmates and the audience probably didn't notice any difference, but it just wasn't right cranked -- a hint of cold, shrillness, somewhere in the back.

Again, this might be about expectations, habits, etc., and it may or may not go away as I keep using the Axe 2. I'll keep on trying different settings, trying to think of this not as Ultra 2.0 but as a different beast. But there was something with the sound cranked that wasn't right, that (to an experienced ear, at least) was slightly cold and processed, unlike the Ultra.
 
If I could have afforded it I would have kept my Ultra. Between the two (Ultra and AxeII) I prefer the AxeII but the Ultra was no slouch and it had its own thing going on for sure. It would have made a fantastic back-up rig to boot.
 
It took me two months to be certain I wanted to part with my Ultra. I just sold it a couple days ago. I'm certain that in time you will be able to more than surpass the tones you had with the Ultra.


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shotgunn said:
It took me two months to be certain I wanted to part with my Ultra. I just sold it a couple days ago. I'm certain that in time you will be able to more than surpass the tones you had with the Ultra.


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I'm sure you're right -- part of the problem is that I'm so extremely pleased with and used to the Ultra. That's both an advantage and a disadvantage here. What made you hold on to the Ultra, btw?
 
It's kind of like buying a new car with a clear advantage in features, but the seat is a bit tight in the low back. This irritates your low back at first simply because your not used to it. Then after time if feels downright therapeutic and your posture is better after adjusting to it.


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shotgunn said:
It's kind of like buying a new car with a clear advantage in features, but the seat is a bit tight in the low back. This irritates your low back at first simply because your not used to it. Then after time if feels downright therapeutic and your posture is better after adjusting to it.
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And what was it like going from the IIC to the ULTRA?

The weird thing for me was that I went from a Mesa Boogie F30 to the ULTRA to the Triaxis/2:90!
 
Every time I plugged into my old IIC+ I thought to myself. "I can NEVER sell this!!!". Then I plugged into my Ultra and said "I have NO need for the IIC+ anymore." I finally sold my IIC+ back in December and haven't looked back.

It took me two months of (very interrupted) tweaking to blow my mind with the Axe II's IIC+. It took so long mainly because of USB recording issues and the fact that I was using the uber model for the song I'm recording. When push came to shove it took me 20 minutes to tweak my Axe IIC+ model to mind blowing results.
 
I put my name on the list when I heard the ultra in action.
That tone alone was enough for me to pull any shift I could find.
For my $0.02, I'd say hands down if I'd got an Ultra I'd be happy.
Do I love my II ?
Hell yes - and as a recent, and complete outsider with no bias, here I am now noodling, jamming, playing and recording to an array of endless fantastic tones.
Would I have been happy with the ultra ? Of course.
Am I sad I have an Axe Fx II ? No, not in the slightest.
Since the release to the current firmware I'm loving it, and I hope you are too !
Many thanks to Cliff, FAS and everyone else who made this possible !
 
I still have my ultra, but am loving the axe2'. Almost got it dialled in now, ready for the weekend gigs. Got some great sounds, but am noticing the amps don't clean up with rolling off the guitar volume knob like they did with Amps like the Plexi, On the Ultra. That's is a slights frustration, I used that a lot. My one Ultra Plexi path with a few boosts allowed me to roll the vol then boost up to give a huge range of sounds

On the other hand I used to have about 30 patches, now I have 12 due to the X/Y feature.
 
Ok, a few quick and dirty clips of both my Ultra and my Axe 2 with some reverb, more or less the same tones/registers across all amps. The guitar is a Strat with Dimarzio single coils. The amps are either Bogners or Marshall-type amps, and the speaker emulations are various V30 renditions. I know you like games; care to guess which is the Ultra and which is the 2? :)

Follow the url for all the clips on one page.:

Axe-clips (Ultra & 2) by arneolav on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free
 
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shotgunn said:
Hmmm... All amps clean up quite nicely for me.
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Mine are now, I realised that on the patch I was trying it on I have a TS808 with zero drive and full level in front of the amp, so that was affecting it, as you can imagine. So now I think it is more responsive than the Ultra. :)
 
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