upgrading from axe fx ultra

  • Hi

    I am new to this forum and would like to ask any ex Axe fx ultra users that may be on this forum to answer a question for me.

    I am considering upgrading from my ultra, i only record and play at home in general and have enjoyed my ultra but I wonder if I am missing out with the older technology, so my question is how big a difference is there in terms of tone and feel. this is an expensive piece of gear and i don't want to spend the money if the difference in sound and feel is only negligible.

    Hope there are some ex ultra users out there that can give me your opinions.

    Thanks.

  • Hi,


    I have owned an Axe Standard, Ultra, II and currently own a II XL+

    Tone-wise, both the Ultra and the Kemper are easy to come up with great sounding profiles/patches, just a different approach.

    However, in the feels department, the Kemper is king IMO, unbeatable. Through a guitar cab, it makes me believe I am playing a tube amp, it feels great.


    To give some more background about my opinion:

    I find very interesting comparing gear and sometimes I do some A/B comparison between my tube amps, Kemper and the Axe FX, all played through the same amp and cabinet (WAZA TAE (100W Class AB) into a MESA RK 2x12 cab)

    I usually start with the tube amps for building a baseline, then switch to the Kemper and the Axe FX.

    Both the Kemper and the Axe FX sound good, however the Kemper has a depth, richness, compression, elasticity ( for the lack of a better word) which I feel when playing the tube amps, that the Axe FX justdoesnt. Its really hard to describe, is a feeling thing ... Its something that you dont get in the recording. Its not enough that you only listen, you need to be the one playing and listening to get the feel ...


    To me, the Axe FX (my ref now is the 2 XL+, never played the 3 though) feels stiff (yes I have power amp modeling on, cab sim off). It just feels like the same as if I plugged in a non-tube pedal, like the KSR Ceres straight to the WAZA PA into the cabinet. it sounds good, but feels "stiff"


    At the end of the day, that's just my opinion. it's good if you try them by yourself and draw your own conclusions.


    Cheers,

  • If you try it, you will eventually need it! The Ultra is good and the effects are also quite good, better than Kemper's early effects overall though not so good as the updated ones, but what is more important is that it is more digital in feel, less expressive. Not so good for blues playing, for instance. One thing annoying about the Ultra is its lack of headhones output. But sure it is good.

    Never too old for rock'n'roll