I will always keep at least two of the Ultras since they sound different from the XL+ and the III. I ended up buying three Ultras since one is for playing live (I have some GREAT presets for live playing now), one is a back-up, and the other is meant to be left at our studio for recording. It was also a lot easier to use for dialing in a live sound that it was in the past (I am sure that I picked up a few tips, strategies, and tone-shaping ideas from these good souls in the Fractal Forum). I remembered there was a certain feel, tone, and uniqueness to the Ultra that I forgot about since many years had passed but the joy that I had felt using the Ultra was coming back (and then some). The OH Mesa cab opened up the Ultra for me and it made it a LOT easier to get GREAT sounding presets that I could use for recording. I fell in love with the Ultra all over again for recording and playing through my recording interface and speakers (in part, due to Leon Todd's Ultra presets paired with the Own Hammer Mesa cab). He bought one but needed a LOT of help setting it up, connecting it to the computer, creating presets, etc., so I had him leave it with me to get it dialed in for him.
Well, my friend wanted to get an AXE FX but he had limited funds so I suggested to him to get an Ultra.
#ULTRA FRACTAL TRANSFER BETWEEN COMPUTERS UPDATE#
I found with each firmware update that the XL+ kept getting better and I was telling a friend of mine how great it was for effects and recording (I tried using it to replace my JMP-1 for playing live but I could never get an XL+ preset that sounded and felt like a real tube amp going through my Marshall E元4 50/50 tube power amp and Mesa cab). I had purchased an FX8 to go with my JMP-1 for my live playing and I had learned a lot about the effects in the FX8 and scenes so I decided to get an XL+ and it replaced my FX8 in my live rig. I had sold my original Ultra when the AXE FX II Mk I first came out and I regretted it since the Ultra sounded a lot better to me for a long time (all my Ultra presets had been tweaked to what I liked for recording) but eventually the firmware updates for the AXE FX II improved the unit.Īt some point I found that I really liked the AXE FX II Mk I and I stopped missing the Ultra Note that you'd likely want to avoid the AX8 if creating complex FX rigs, as it's CPU is much weaker.įinally, the Ares 2.x firmware port for the Axe II is very good, so you definitely need the Axe II is you want to use the best amp modeling which has for most usage replaced my tube gear (and I'm a tube snob of the highest order!), which on a Axe II lives on it's own CPU (so it doesn't effect FX power), where on a Ultra it shares CPU's with the FX (so it lowers your FX ability when using the Ultra's amp modeling).Ĭurrently, I own the Ultra, the XL+, and an AXE FX III. That said, I used a Ultra for years in that role and with creative programming I was able to get great results (if you want to replicate Scenes as much as possible, you need parallel FX chains controlled via MIDI CC, much more complicated and CPU intensive than the Axe II's Scenes and X/Y features, but doable if you can't swing a Axe II etc. I've used both the Ultra and Axe FX II for FX only with tube gear for years, and I'd say go for the Axe II if you can swing it.Īs noted above Scenes, X-Y, better Editor (USB vs MIDI), and additional CPU power etc.
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