Ultra in 2024?

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KeithB103084

New Member
Hey everyone. I was offered an AxeFx Ultra in a FB marketplace trade and I was wondering if anyone could still vouch for this unit in 2024 in a for live use power amp > cab setup. Seems like a fair trade, about $350 of gear on my end for his Ultra.

I'm currently running a POD HD Pro X > Power Amp > 4x12 and I honestly have not been a fan of the HD Pro. Mainly because I always seem to find myself tweaking my settings at practice or on stage and it gets real annoying. I'm interested in the Ultra because from what I'm reading, it seems like its easier to dial in tones without having to go nuts with tweaking. I don't mind deep diving to get the tone right but I'd rather not have to keep adjusting.

I wouldn't be recording with the Ultra. Unit would sit in my 4U rack with my power amp for live shows. Tones I go for are in the metal/hardcore/punk realm. Boosted 800's, 5150s, etc. - I don't use effects so I don't need a floorboard. I would just love be able to dial in a single amp high gain tone and leave it at that.

If anyone out there is still using their Ultra in a similar fashion let me know what if you think its worth it! I would love to get a more modern Fractal unit but its not in my budget right now.

Thanks!
 
KeithB103084 said:
Hey everyone. I was offered an AxeFx Ultra in a FB marketplace trade and I was wondering if anyone could still vouch for this unit in 2024 in a for live use power amp > cab setup. Seems like a fair trade, about $350 of gear on my end for his Ultra.

I'm currently running a POD HD Pro X > Power Amp > 4x12 and I honestly have not been a fan of the HD Pro. Mainly because I always seem to find myself tweaking my settings at practice or on stage and it gets real annoying. I'm interested in the Ultra because from what I'm reading, it seems like its easier to dial in tones without having to go nuts with tweaking. I don't mind deep diving to get the tone right but I'd rather not have to keep adjusting.

I wouldn't be recording with the Ultra. Unit would sit in my 4U rack with my power amp for live shows. Tones I go for are in the metal/hardcore/punk realm. Boosted 800's, 5150s, etc. - I don't use effects so I don't need a floorboard. I would just love be able to dial in a single amp high gain tone and leave it at that.

If anyone out there is still using their Ultra in a similar fashion let me know what if you think its worth it! I would love to get a more modern Fractal unit but its not in my budget right now.

Thanks!
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If core tones are all you care about, you'd probably be better served with a TC Ampworx pedal or maybe a ToneX since they go for 300 used. I had an ultra way back when.. Amp modeling has gotten dramatically better in a very short amount of time. The Ultra has some cool synth presets but that's probably not worth your time.
 
KeithB103084 said:
it seems like its easier to dial in tones without having to go nuts with tweaking.
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I would tell the opposite...
You could be lucky with a bunch of the presets, but even better tones seemed to come from those who had good knowledge on making/picking the best IR for the job, and having more general experience.
As I wasn't that knowledgeable, I did get lucky and enjoyed plenty presets. And some of what others recorded is still among my favorite memories, like the first TriChorus emulation clips by a few of the LA style members.

Anytime I want to say it really wasn't that good, I'm also reminded Dweezil played Eruption with it convincingly...



There's no feel to it yet though, IIRC -- that came in the Axe-Fx II.

I still have mine and wouldn't let it go for $350. Nice peace of history.

Also, you need midi to use the editor, but at least it can be used without having the Ultra on.
 
This was one favorite member, but in the end modelers were not for him...

Still a sound high up in my wish list. IIRC, the preset had at least three PEQ blocks.

https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/80s-landau-sounds.18154

You could somewhat say there's a nice plastic vibe to the sound that you can only achieve with an Ultra...? ;)

-
If you do get it, after a backup put in a new battery if he hasn't yet.
 
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I'll go against the grain. I have an Ultra I won't get rid of because it does a certain metal sound so perfectly. And I've recorded an album with it, so it goes in the"vault" for posterity.
That said I almost never fire it up after getting my FM9. However the Ultra was good enough I skipped the AXEII generation of products all together. The form factor and horsepower is what got me to finally "upgrade".
The Ultra still sounds better than 90% of EVERYTHING out there, so for 350 I'd jump all over it!
 
Musikron said:
I'll go against the grain. I have an Ultra I won't get rid of because it does a certain metal sound so perfectly. And I've recorded an album with it, so it goes in the"vault" for posterity.
That said I almost never fire it up after getting my FM9. However the Ultra was good enough I skipped the AXEII generation of products all together. The form factor and horsepower is what got me to finally "upgrade".
The Ultra still sounds better than 90% of EVERYTHING out there, so for 350 I'd jump all over it!
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💯 Lotta gear out in the world. The Ultra still stands tall next to most of them. If $350 was my upper limit and I wanted dirt simple, I might consider a BOSS ME-90.
 
Ive had my ultra over 12 years. I use it regularly and compare it to Helix Native, Tonocracy, pod hd500, etc etc.... Out of everything ive tried I still prefer the Ultra than anything non Fractal. If its in great shape for that price, id buy 3 more for spares.

I did just order the FM3 and can't wait to see how it goes. Im playing in 2 bands so its time to update my main live rig. Im also suuuppppppper curious how the fm3 will compare to the ultra. Fun times are coming.

Luckily the wife is out of town for the next 3 weeks, cuz im going to be a little distracted!!! ;)
 
Hey guys, I know this is an old thread, but... I need guidance. I posted somewhere else on the forum, but no replies.

I dug out my old Ultra, still works (amazing!), but I want to replace the battery and for that, I need to do a backup and eventually a restore of presets. The problem is my newer PC doesn't have any midi ports. How do you all hook up an Ultra in 2024? My amazon midi-to-usb cable didn't work. What's the hardware and process, please?
 
Dpoirier said:
The problem is my newer PC doesn't have any midi ports.
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I've never seen old PCs with MIDI ports either...

Before Win 10 I used this one. Plug 'n' Play -- didn't need a custom driver. I suspect it was $40-50 15 years ago.
https://www.esi-audio.com/products/m4uxl
Not sure if W10/W11 will still recognize it -- one would expect so if it's a generic device.

I should change that battery too but have no important presets to protect.

I borked the II after changing the battery (I know I can fix it) by accidentally moving to a preset after reinstalling the firmware (or maybe just the battery) while presets weren't yet restored... So I'll need my MIDI interface to work too in order to revive it, AFAIK.
 
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Thanks everyone for your help. I had already gone down the road of buying a cheap midi-to-usb interface from Amazon, and asked here after I couldn't get it working. As a result of your input, I ordered a second cheap Amazon interface, and this one worked (or at least, I was able to dump bank A to both SendSX and save that data as a bank... remains to be seen if I can reload that successfully after the battery replacement, but I suspect this is how we used to do things before FractalBot).

Anyways, for anyone who needs a cheap midi-to-usb interface, the one I got from Amazon which worked is this one:
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B08HMWJWDW?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

This is on amazon.ca, but the brand/description is LEKATO USB MIDI Interface MIDI Cable Adapter with Input & Output

Thanks you all
 
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