Standard Vs II - Only tone

[bluesmostly]

I'd be interested to go back to the Standard / Ultra, earlier FW versions, and see what it sounds & feels like, when I was raving on like a crazed fanboi about how great it all was back then. I suspect it still sounds great. A friend of mine owns my old Standard, and it still sounds pretty awesome to me.

I have the II and I still have my original Standard, I like to have a backup. I still like the Standard, especially the high gain tones. I am one of those that was not as impressed with the latest updates and how they affected the high gain sounds - to my ear, the old versions are more smooth and more 'polished', 'studio' sounding, if you will. Cliff use those same descriptors. the new FW definitely sounds more 'real' and raw and present somehow. the clean tones are much improved imo. That said, if I had to keep only one, it would be the II, no question. I use the Standard for practice and gig with the II.