Thinking about ditching my Ultra

C

campersand

Member
So, something kind of disheartening has been happening over the past few months (and much longer, in retrospect). I've been recording a lot lately at home and have noticed that I'm not loving the tones I'm getting from my Ultra. I've kind of always felt in the back of my mind that there was something missing in my sound since I've started using the Axe a few years ago. It's never had the impact that an amp/cab has (I play through a QSC monitor) even though I've tweaked my settings for hours and hours and have read a lot of advice on here about how to get certain tones. But, as someone who's kind of addicted to choice, the effects and routing possibilities and basic functionality are so convenient that I guess I've overlooked that issue.

Well, in the more controlled environment of recording it's become much more clear that I'm not happy with the tone from the Axe, largely due to a couple alternatives I've tried in the last week. About a week ago I recorded some clean guitar and then decided I wanted to hear what it would sound like distorted, so I put the Sound Toys Decapitator on it and it sounded f**king amazing! Super creamy and rich, even with a pretty drastic highpass filter after it. It immediately jumped out as a tone I've never even come close to getting with the Axe.

Last night was the real clincher. I decided to try the Waves GTR Tools plugin (it has an amp modeler, tuner and a bunch of slots for "pedals"). My friend used it the other day while I was recording some stuff with him and I remembered being surprised as how good it sounded. So, after recording a few tracks with my default dirty tone from the Axe, I bypassed the Axe and went straight to the computer, then added the plugin. Within about 2 minutes I had an overdriven tone that was clear, chunky and present. In A/B'ing the Axe tracks vs. the Waves track, the Waves sounded sooo much better. This was pretty discouraging so I tried tweaking my Axe patch but after 15 minutes was not close to what I wanted.

And then I realized: the common line on this forum people are given when they're having trouble dialing in tones is, "You can get what you want with the Axe, you just have to get better at tweaking it". But after years of tweaking I'm still not getting sounds that I like nearly as much as what I've gotten within minutes from two different plugins. So even if my dream tone is living in the Axe somewhere and I just have to discover it, at this point I just want something that will sound satisfying without hours of work.

My Axe tones all seem kind of anemic and fizzy. I've tried messing with hi cut settings, PEQ's, just about every different amp/pedal combo, etc. Nothing on the Axe has ever actually sounded good right off the bat, it's always taken a ton of tweaking and even then it's like, "this'll work", rather than, "yeah, this sounds amazing!".

Any thoughts? I've been really invested in liking the Axe but I think I may finally be realizing that it's not gonna work for me.
 
I've always struggled with the Ultra and most of the Axe-fx II firmwares... 7.00 has finally done it for me. If you look at some of my older posts you'll see me griping about how at ampfests the Axe-fx didn't sound close to the amps I demo'd them too (it was either too dark or too bright and brittle... always missed that midrange girth). But with 7.00 I don't even have to compare them side by side. It sounds and feels like an amp now.
 
Yeah, try the Axe-Fx II. Cool to ditch the Ultra but 7.0 is head and shoulders above IMO.
 
Well if the Ultra isn't cutting it, then sell it. It's not religion, it's gear.

The II is so much faster, so many less tricks required... it's a very serious step up in usability, function and instant gratification at this juncture IMHO. It's not done being developed either.
 
Hey man I sorta feel what you are saying. It sounds to me like you are just tired with your toy and want to try a different route. I understand, maybe going back to more traditional sounds will inspire you to just play and create stuff.

For myself I like having the ultra as my effects processor. Are the amp models really good? yes but i have not had enough patience to mess with them long enough to get what i want. I use the ultra in 4cm and love my orange head. It takes care of the sound i'm looking for. At least i can access any effect i will ever need and I have a backup amp(s) right there in the axe. So I can travel and play gigs with a tone close to mine. Maybe just get some traditional pedals amps and someday you might come back to the rack effects. I've thought about it. I do love my axe though and all the effects and the ease of routing. Sometimes people just want a change though. Nothing wrong with that. Its nice to plug and play a bit. I do hear that this is where the axe II takes over as being quicker to find good tones.
Best of luck man. At least you have really given it a go and know its a worthy product.
 
campersand said:
Any thoughts? I've been really invested in liking the Axe but I think I may finally be realizing that it's not gonna work for me.
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Yeah, follow your ears! Use Sound Toys or Waves or tube amps or whatever sounds good to you ;) The hypes or communities will always mislead. Your sound, your music, your integrity. Just requires a dash of self esteem 8)
 
I always liked the Waves GTR plugin; thought that it was highly underrated and underpromoted. I am a bit surprised that you felt that way after so long with the Ultra, but I can say that after having used one for a while and then going back to plugins and an 11R and then to the AxeFXII that I'm extremely biased towards the Fractal stuff. I thought that the Ultra did require a lot of work to get where you wanted to go, but after you figured out what it is that you were looking for it was pretty easy after that. For me it was all about PEQ's and lots of them. I learned so much in the time spent with the Ultra. But it's almost useless information at this point because the II is just so much closer from the get go.

As long as you're happy that's all that matters.
 
Thanks for all the encouragement, guys. It's good to hear I'm not the only one on the planet who hasn't been 100% satisfied with the Ultra, as that would point more to user error than any flaw in the unit. I figured I'd give it one more go before deciding to move on, so I went through every amp again, chose a new cab and made recordings of each amp's crunch tone, trying to find one that I liked. Ended up picking the JM45, and then tweaked it for a while, trying to get it as close as possible to the sound in my head. After that, I recorded a take of the song that I used the Waves plugin on and compared the two. Still not happy with how the Axe sounded, but I think I'm able to describe my issue a little better now.

Basically, everything from the Axe is lacking that up front, in your face presence of a real amp. Not presence as in the presence knob, there's just something about the Axe sounds that sound a little further back in the mix, a little mushy, maybe that it's lacking in clarity. EQ'ing (at least what I've been able to do with EQ) doesn't seem to have any effect on this. When I turn up the mids/highs/presence things just get honky/brittle/fuzzy. In A/B'ing the two takes, the Axe take was like, "hey guys, I'm pretty sure I'm a guitar", whereas the non-Axe take was like, "HEY EVERYBODY, I'M A F**KING GUITAR, CHECK ME OUT!".

I don't write this to beat a dead horse, just figured it might be helpful or at least interesting for others to hear an explanation from someone who isn't as happy with the Axe as most of you guys seem to be. I accept that the Ultra is way ahead of other amp modelers and still love the flexibility it offers in routing and fx, and I don't doubt everyone's claims about the II being that much better. Unfortunately I don't have the extra $ it would take to get a II and honestly don't really feel like going through the whole process again with a new unit. I'm ready to just find the one amp that I love and not think about it any more!
 
Hey Keg, how do you use the 4cm exactly, and do you use a MFC to change presets, but set up strickly phaser, flanger etc...cheers
 
This thread is useless without clips. IMO.

But I get where campersand is coming from. I feel the same way in general. But I guess not as severe. The axe is convenient and it gets reasonable tones that I can record quietly at home or use live but it's not sending chills down my spine. While the amps themselves are reasonable, and some of the effects are awesome, some of the effects just suck (I'm looking at YOU phaser!). However unlike with a analog rig, you can't swap out the effects that suck. You are stuck with the whole package.
 
If it helps, I used an Ultra with FRFR with a massive amount of mid boost for good live & loud tones, only bettered in Axe II v6 IMHO. I preferred v10.05 the best as well. Most of my tones are on the edge of breakup through to light overdrive, so ignore if this is not your thing.
 
Just like GM arts, my fave firmware was 10.05 as well, but I'm ALSO an "edge of breakup through to light overdrive" kinda guy.
Shasha was also right - I found myself using a LOT of other tone shaping tools....PEQ's before and after the amps/drive, as well as some creative routing.
The II is MUCHHHH easier - althought I didn't like it till FW5-current.....but now it's a different beast ;)

If you want, attach some patches and some clips and the kind of tones you're aiming at, and we'll all help out to see how to get you where you need to be.
The ultra is indeed a more difficult beast to tame, and it took me a while too...sometimes you need that 'AHA!' moment - mine was seeing another user's patches and the kind of eq he used and how he used it......changed the way I approached the ultra, and it worked for me....
 
Hey guys, I really appreciate all the suggestions and offers to help. Maybe it is possible for me to find a sound that I'm satisfied with in the Axe but at this point I'm sick of all the work it's taken and excited about moving on to a new setup that suits me better. I've already listed my ultra on ebay (the auction doesn't go live until Sunday).

Maybe part of the issue is that the type of music I'm into is much different from what most people on here seem to be into. I play indie/pop/experimental stuff and a lot of the tones that come from the Axe seem to have kind of an 80's guitar god vibe to them. I don't mean that disparagingly, it's just a different sound than what I'm going for. Maybe that makes no difference, I don't know.

All I know is that, after a couple years of endless tweaking and tinkering with the Axe to no avail, the idea of have a single amp that I love is super appealing!
 
I am sorta where you are. I like mild breakup tones, and find the ultra lacks that punch in the mids you get from a good tube amp. I was more than happy for a couple of years, and have recently had doubts. I thought it might just be my yearning for the II.

Try one thing before you give up. I am not exactly sure about the actual cab, but add the oval 1x6 speaker in parallel to your current cab,,and adjust the volume until it sets well. Tis makes a massive difference in the body of the sound, and will make it jump out in the mix. I know a few people use this trick, and it really makes a big difference.

Try it.
 
campersand said:
Hey guys, I really appreciate all the suggestions and offers to help. Maybe it is possible for me to find a sound that I'm satisfied with in the Axe but at this point I'm sick of all the work it's taken and excited about moving on to a new setup that suits me better. I've already listed my ultra on ebay (the auction doesn't go live until Sunday).

Maybe part of the issue is that the type of music I'm into is much different from what most people on here seem to be into. I play indie/pop/experimental stuff and a lot of the tones that come from the Axe seem to have kind of an 80's guitar god vibe to them. I don't mean that disparagingly, it's just a different sound than what I'm going for. Maybe that makes no difference, I don't know.

All I know is that, after a couple years of endless tweaking and tinkering with the Axe to no avail, the idea of have a single amp that I love is super appealing!
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Good luck on selling it, I have been watching and the price on Ultras and they have dropped significantly. If your not to worried about losing a little money then I guess it doesn't matter. $1,100-1,200 seems to be what they are fetching, take out eBay and PP fees and your not left with very much. I'm starting to rethink selling mine.
 
i hate threads like this. i love my ultra and theres nothing it can't do. yeah it took a while but every time i thought it was missing something i compared it to the amp i based my tones off of and was floored by how close i actually was, some tweaking with the Peq and i had the sound better than my fav amp
 
Hello everyone....I just joined the forum here today because I picked up an Ultra with the Midi sport uno (to be delivered 9/17) for $1200 and I was all excited as I've never had one of these units and then I started reading all the dissapointments here with the Ultra ....Hope I didn't make a mistake....I've just heard so much abot the AXE FX I figured I'd take the plunge.
Any suggestions for a newbie ??

Looking forward to the learning curve :)
 
Don't worry: you didn't make a mistake. If you look around, you'll find way more posts from happy Ultra owners (for example, the post right above yours). Before the Axe II came out, the Ultra was the best the world has to offer, and even with the Axe II, it's still solidly in the #2 spot. You'll have some fun.
 
tele0123 said:
Hello everyone....I just joined the forum here today because I picked up an Ultra with the Midi sport uno (to be delivered 9/17) for $1200 and I was all excited as I've never had one of these units and then I started reading all the dissapointments here with the Ultra ....Hope I didn't make a mistake....I've just heard so much abot the AXE FX I figured I'd take the plunge.
Any suggestions for a newbie ??

Looking forward to the learning curve :)
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+1 you didn't make a mistake it's a great unit and worth every penny you paid for it, which I think you got a great deal. I want to move to an Axe II for some of the other features but the resale on the Ultras have taken a dip which in the grand scheme of things I guess is not a big of deal as I making it out to be.
 
tele0123 said:
Hello everyone....I just joined the forum here today because I picked up an Ultra with the Midi sport uno (to be delivered 9/17) for $1200 and I was all excited as I've never had one of these units and then I started reading all the dissapointments here with the Ultra ....Hope I didn't make a mistake....I've just heard so much abot the AXE FX I figured I'd take the plunge.
Any suggestions for a newbie ??

Looking forward to the learning curve :)
Click to expand...

I still love mine after 2+ years. Just make sure you understand that the unit will sound best through full-range speakers. Personally, I use a 14yr old roland KC500 keyboard amp just for volume (no eq from the amp) and it sounds great.
 
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