Selling the II and going back to ultra...

J

jjcor

Inspired
Ive had the II for about a month now and REALLY thinking about going back to the ultra. Reasons for this drastic measure are I find myself spending more time tweaking my tones than what Im actually playing guitar. If I didnt work full time and play in a band full time this wouldnt be an issue. Also there's the firmware updates (which are awesome) that I find myself trapped in my room for a week straight trying to get the tone that I spent 2 weeks prior to get back. Does anyone think this is crazy? Or understandable for my situation? Chime in your opinions before I do this.
 
Have you thought about just not taking the latest firmware for a few months instead?

Seems like you could updgrade every 3 months without too much redo.

Richard
 
I have thought about it too. I am currently spending a ton of money giving the II one last chance with an Atomic MB50 power amp and a traditional guitar cab (I really liked the Ultra with an Art SLA2 / Mesa cabs). If it doesn't work, I will go back to an Ultra.
 
Wasn't there a switch coming up to get the sound of the Ultra, or did we already get that?

My feeling is it was promised, but not yet included in the last firmware.
 
jjcor said:
Reasons for this drastic measure are I find myself spending more time tweaking my tones than what Im actually playing guitar. [...] Also there's the firmware updates (which are awesome) that I find myself trapped in my room for a week straight trying to get the tone that I spent 2 weeks prior to get back.
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This sounds like more an issue with you than with the device. That said, if you think you'd be happier with an Ultra, you might as well switch to the Ultra.
 
Have you thought about just not taking the latest firmware for a few months instead?

Seems like you could updgrade every 3 months without too much redo.
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That is true. But Im very "OCD" about keeping up with firmwares. I dont know why...
 
I have the opposite problem..... I'm spending VERY LITTLE time tweaking presets on the II. I had about 25 of my "own" presets on the Ultra that I would re-tweak after a firmware upgrade. Once the Axe-II arrived - I had the Ultra mindset and started out tweaking like crazy. Realized after a while (I'd built maybe 20 of my own presets - that I never use) that all that tweaking was needed. With the first 42 factory preset (v5) in Bank A, Mark Day's HBE, CLiff's Lead and a few other preset.. I've got pretty much everything covered.

Each to their own, but I feel that even on those few of mine I do use, they were REAL EASY to set up and I've had almost no additional tweaks needed. Again, YMMV.
 
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This sounds like more an issue with you than with the device.
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Never said "IT IS THE DEVICE". I know its me. Just want other peoples opinion. And not just being over dramatic here.
 
If you want to go with a completely developed product thats pretty much done in terms of changes then you've got a great point. I mean there was pretty much nothing left that really needed to be worked on and its still a fantasitc piece of gear.
 
Perhaps going back to basics and staying away from advanced parameters.
Like all good things, too much control can make a great tone turn to sh*t pretty quick :)
 
I bought my first FAS product in Jan 2011, and loved it! Sold the ULTRA in the midst of the hype about the II (May 2011) and was FAS-less until I came up on the list in late Nov 2011. In the meantime I had found my tonal nirvana in a Triaxis/2:90 rig... So when the II came, it sounded thin and digital next to my glorious tube tones. I sold it and added back the ULTRA for effects, routing, and use with MFC. I am happier than a pig in shit now.... The latest obsession with profiling/matching seems to be the ultimate for tweakers and cover players, but leaves me cold... I have my tone, I have my rig, and now I am just 100% focused on playing and recording... My tone chasing days are behind me... Whew! What a relief.
 
Izzy said:
The latest obsession with profiling/matching seems to be the ultimate for tweakers and cover players, but leaves me cold... I have my tone, I have my rig, and now I am just 100% focused on playing and recording... My tone chasing days are behind me... Whew! What a relief.
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I think we live in similar space... in my head I know what I want to sound like.. from there it's just a matter of dialling it in...
basically.. create your voice and focus on the notes from there on...

if I have a spare bit of time to kill I may screw around and experiment with some fx and stuff..
but that's mostly for fun rather than heading back out on that relentless and endless quest for the tonal holy graile..
 
DC23 said:
I have thought about it too. I am currently spending a ton of money giving the II one last chance with an Atomic MB50 power amp and a traditional guitar cab (I really liked the Ultra with an Art SLA2 / Mesa cabs). If it doesn't work, I will go back to an Ultra.
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Why not use the same amp setup as your Ultra if you really liked it?
 
There is something to be said for being on firmware 11.0 and never having to re-tweak your sounds.

You can always get an Axe-II again when it is at its end of firmware updates. The sounds will never change and it will have a crapload of features.
 
jjcor said:
Never said "IT IS THE DEVICE". I know its me. Just want other peoples opinion. And not just being over dramatic here.
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If you like the Ultra better, you should definitely go back to the Ultra. Just because something is "new and improved" doesn't mean that it's going to work for everyone. :)

The Ultra is still a fantastic unit, and didn't get any less awesome because the II came out. If you dig it - go back to it, and use the price difference to snag yourself another toy!
 
I am on the same ship.
I believe it is due to not having a baseline for power amp/guitar cabs. I think we should have a "bank" of presets made specifically for power amps/guitar cabs. The amp sim defaults would be drastically different then the current presets, that is probably why the Ultra sounded better, the extensive time spent on developing the basic amp tones for NON-FRFR use. I will state again that I believe the installed amp defaults are based on FRFR use. Maybe there should be a global setting that tweaks the amp sims to a different default setting for poweramp/guitar cab use. We could then "see" the baseline, make our presets for our guitar cabs and then "split" the signal for front of house with a cab sim on channel 1 if needed.

This is only my opinion based on science. So take it with a grain of salted nut rolls.
 
Izzy said:
I bought my first FAS product in Jan 2011, and loved it! Sold the ULTRA in the midst of the hype about the II (May 2011) and was FAS-less until I came up on the list in late Nov 2011. In the meantime I had found my tonal nirvana in a Triaxis/2:90 rig... So when the II came, it sounded thin and digital next to my glorious tube tones. I sold it and added back the ULTRA for effects, routing, and use with MFC. I am happier than a pig in shit now.... The latest obsession with profiling/matching seems to be the ultimate for tweakers and cover players, but leaves me cold... I have my tone, I have my rig, and now I am just 100% focused on playing and recording... My tone chasing days are behind me... Whew! What a relief.
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Do you use any addition pedals drive, etc...
 
curious, for those thinking of going back to the Ultra...

What was your first Ultra firmware? Did you flash it very often?

Richard
 
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