Omg, I’m fan girling so hard right now because I had no ideas my rig got dipped! Thanks guys. Granted I just threw this comment in before I heard the dip, maybe they roasted it. I’ll see! Thanks guyys
@@隠れた thanks! I was really just going to the matchy matchy! I just recently picked up a ‘62 jazzmaster (it’s got a refin) that I’m super stoked on. It didn’t make the picture because I got it after the submission, but more importantly, it’s not green 🤣. It’s my only vintage guitar, but I love it
I am glad UA is getting into the pedal game in a serious way. That it wasn’t just a “oh here is a guy with some nice ideas lets have him do a project for us” and is more of a “we will become a major player in the high-end pedal market.” Now they just need to move to making eurorack modules
Removing the headstock does really great things for tuning stability, Strandbergs are really well engineered in terms of practical engineering, the ergonomics, the technical aspects are a priority over looks.
Got a Dream 65 a couple days ago. Shit is bananas. I'd say it's about 75-80% close to a real amp. I got a bunch of real amps. I had the Simplifier and I'd say that was maybe 50% to a real amp. To my ears this UA stuff is the FIRST digital to sound anywhere near tubes. Most stuff captures amps at one state, this captures the range of the amp dynamics. Like I said - about 80%. Totally happy with this unit. It's great for when you like fender amps but can't get away with running one. For me it's a glorified headphone amp at night. Love it.
Wanted to love the Iridium for direct recording [didn’t], so I bought a Helix, which sounds decent but I really don’t enjoy the interface (even HX Edit) or how broad every parameter is. Just got the Ruby and put it at the end of my pedal board. Love it. Easy interface and takes pedals pretty much the same as my real AC15. Very happy. Selling the Helix (not a hater, just not my thing). If you’re an amp person, you might prefer these UA pedals.
This somewhat mirrors my experience. I sold my HX Stomp, despite the fact I consider it an amazing piece of gear. Maybe the best value to features and quality proposition in the entire history o guitar gear up to this point. The Dream 65 is nowhere near as flexible, but it gives me what I want, how I want it.
@@Lynx33PL Totally. Well said - I agree the Helix and the Stomp are amazing - and I hear tons of great examples on youtube of people getting great sounds. It's all a question of how you want to work. I've always been happy with the functionality of real amps, just not the practicality of mic'ing them in a home studio setup. When I first got the Helix a few months back, I was pretty excited by all the amps and effects, but quickly cooled on how you interact with it. I missed my pedal board and real AC15. The Ruby is enabling me to get back to that feel and easily record good tones without blowing up the house with massive volume. Cheers.
I'm thinking ,maybe, we are gonna see a slight boost in power amp sales with some of these pedals. Using the return is basically turning amps into power amps.
Here’s a thought/plan. I ordered the UA Dream 65. I have a Bartel Sugarland, a Mojotone Champ that I built and a 57 Champ reissue. I love amps and prefer them. I use a Boss TAE to attenuate and/or go FOH and/or when we practice with in ears to keep spouses and neighbours happy. I also have HX Stomp. I use my pedals in front of the stomp as an amp modeller only and EQ. I do not like the complexity of the HX Stomp. I am simple minded! My plan is to trial the Dream at the end of my chain into the effects loop of the Boss TAE. That then uses the preamp/reamp section of the TAE. Then I will send direct to FOH and to a speaker cab with a Celestion alnico Cream 12 in 8ohm for onstage sound. Just another option, and as Zac said it is a back up for amp if i am using amps attenuated with TAE at a gig, quick fix. Cheers gentleman.
I love the idea of these pedals. I don't play out much, just with a group of buddies on the weekends, can't get into the vast world that digital has to offer but also can't afford or always find the real thing. Been looking into the revival drive from origin effects for that reason! But I definitely hope to see more companies/builders come out with more stuff like these pedals!
Saw a recent Nita Strauss rig run down and on her solo tour she is running a digital pedal board straight to house just to be able to tour on a low budget. But after spending significant time getting desired tones, doesn't feel like there is huge tonal sacrifice
On the Vox thing, agree the new Chinese ones don't really nail the tone, but the handwired ones ones out of Vietnam are terrific. I had a 1998 UK made AC30 and it was just too damn loud, sold it and picked up the AC15HW1X with the Celestion alnico blue stock, it's great. I'm normally not a huge master volume guy but it works pretty well on this amp, jump the normal and top boost channels and it's straight Beatles/Queen/REM depending on how much OD you're dialing in. I really love it, I think it's a great value if you're looking to do a high quality Vox thing without getting into the UK made or Morgan/Matchless boutique territory (which are obviously all really pricey).
I disagree about the amps. Having two amps that are similar sounding but different power levels makes the rig super flexible. If you know what you like and are focused on one sound, why not lean into it?
They don’t really sound that similar, but honestly, I just like small amps… the tone King is always attenuated. I don’t like to shake the house too often. But mostly, I use the second amp when I have friends who want to play together and don’t want to lug an amp
@@CGlover113 Now that's hospitality! I know what you mean though. My main amp is a 50W Victory Kraken. It's always attenuated at home and at band practice. The kraken is a lunch box head, so it's no problem to carry around for me. The tone king would be a PITA to lug around, so I would likely bring the Benson if I couldn't crank the tone king.
I need more I/O. UA apollo is out of my $ range. Been looking at Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 and Clarett +8. Want the best possible sound. Do you guys think the Clarett is worth the extra $500?
You could look at the Evo 16. That’s 8 pres and you can get 8?16? in and out via ADAT (the system can do a total of 24 in and out I believe). It costs something like $500
@@jloiben12 THIS. I own an Arturia Audiofuse 8Pre and an Apollo Twin x and really like them both (I even use them connected via ADAT) but if the Evo 16 existed back then I would 100% have bought it over the Arturia one. BEST BANG FOR YOUR BUCK in my opinion.
Thinking it could be good in a situation where you are using a different style amp and you run the pedal after an A/B box to front of house to get two different amp sounds without bringing two amps?
I immediately got GAS when I saw these UA pedals, especially the Woodrow. Then I used your Tweed Sound video as a comparison to set up my Iridium for a Tweed on the FAV channel... Ya, I don't need a Woodrow now. Thanks Rhet
I just need to say you have to be absolutely nuts to think you can't tell the difference between a maple board and something else, especially with the newer polyester-finished maple fretboards.
When you’re making a high margin you only need to fill a sliver. UAD has always been « high margin low volume » and never a « low margin high volume ». I don’t see why they would change for their pedal line
Good episode guys. I've been in the market for a AC15 head or something boutique Voxy and although the UA Ruby would probably be a good option I'd just feel so much better twisting knobs on a new amp head instead.
I gig with a boss katana 50 and 6pedals, 1 guitar. Nice and easy. One of My drives has s mixer out so if I need to I can run it as my amp in some situations.
Rock concerts are a weird beast, they work well in big halls and stadiums, in a small club it's just gonna sound bad, it's a matter of physics / if it's quiet the amps don't breathe and it sounds bad, if you run the amp high, nobody's gonna hear themselves on stage, and there is no way to make the PA sound to a modern standard. So rock in a club can only sound good with small amps wide open or digital.
I’d argue the low stage volume precedent/expectation is a move in the right direction in most situations and venues. I work primarily in small 200-500 cap venues (the kind of rooms the majority of bands are playing) and have dealt many times with guitar amps dominating the space, bleeding heavily into vocal mics, and making any attempt at a balanced and enjoyable mix basically impossible. It’s really an unnecessary disservice to the audience, just so one guy on stage can “preserve his tone” and have his rock star moment. Yes, air moving through a guitar cab could be considered integral to the live rock sound, but most concert goers in this millennium have no interest in being deafened at a show. I see people wearing earplugs at shows barely peaking over 90dB and the vast majority of the crowd wearing them for shows pushing 100+. So the move toward lower volumes is simply in response to what most audience members want. I’d always rather be able to give them a balanced, clear mix at a volume they can enjoy without earplugs. And I would assume most bands want the same if they’re being honest.
Rhett brings up an interesting point; is it up to the artist or the venue to make the decision of digital convenience vs. amps moving air? It seems like artists want to do it for continuity, but at what price. I don't want to be able to hear myself talk at a concert, much less the idiots around me debating whether to get another Miller Lite or check in with their third cousin....
Reviewers are saying the UA modelers are miles beyond what everyone (line6, kemper, axe fx) is doing, is this true? Is it worth selling an hx stomp to get one of this and use it with pedals?
I have the dream and ruby and am coming from the iridium. I liked the iridium a lot, the UA pedals are definitely more amp like and definitely have more potential to sound realistic.
1:09:00 I just want to see the insurance bill for that room that JHS streams from and I want to know all the precautions that are taken to keep there from being any issues that can send that room up in fire. Not only does there have to be hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of pedals but there are a not insignificant number of pedals that Josh has that, if something were to happen to them, the number of those pedals that exist in the world would decline in a market moving way
I HAD Kemper and I never wasn't total happy with it. There is too much possibilities and too much of everything included very bad profiles and only few realy good ones (for me). I always needed play/create/record silently and easily, so when UA comes with RUBY and DREAM I knew I have a problem ;). I sold my Kemper and the next day I had DREAM. Today it would be RUBY DREAM, cause AC is almoast behind my doors... and I play AC15HW RedFang Alnico + Green 2x12 ;). Will I miss KEMPER... I don't think so. These are fcKing good sounding pedals and NEXT generation of home recording for me.
I thought that Gibson was not doing namm this year? Not fender. Suhr..many others who you'd expect to be industry leaders...I guess it was more about something else this year for those guys but not exactly leadership behaviors out of clear kings of the Hill...just seems odd and a slight to those who have helped put and keep them on top...not to mention a record amount of new gear guitars and effects from them that have been supported by the same folks
The point of the UA Pedals Dream was to make 'the' state of the art Deluxe Reverb right doing to the spring reverb. Even making music for a client where in 99% of the cases the music is part of the whole to sell something. The client wants quality but couldn't give a crap that the sound was chosen from 200 choices or one. So why not have the perfect Fender. Add several of the best analog pedals and your guitar sound could not be better ..yes as good or different but NEVER better. So in one simple zero time wasting pedal all ones needs for a modelling amp for recording, live application or as a travel rig are covered. To me it is nobrainer choice. It unlike all else will keep you out of the constant redundancy of all other units because in the end it will always be a great pedal on your board.
There wouldn’t be much useful purpose of midi with these. They only hold one preset and you can assign the foot switches to perform whatever function you want.
@@daviddowns16so what you’re actually saying is that you want them to have a bunch of storable presets. If they did, midi would probably have been included. But that’s not the kind of product they’re intended to be. They only have one preset, so midi would be kind of useless. There are plenty of other options out there with tons of presets and midi for people who want that.
@@Deaddinoproductions Your assumption is that midi is only used for presets, so therefore it is useless. There are many uses of midi that don’t include presets. Expression values over midi, cc values for parameters, off and on, etc. etc. Your assumption is the cause of only one preset is the effect for the lack of midi. I think the real answer is the lack of midi causes only one preset. These amp devices can probably get by without, but the real value of midi would have been on the golden, astra, and starlight. Those are the same tech as decade old strymon pedals (which are going to be updated soon).
You can tell the difference in fretboards. I prefer ebony > rosewood > maple. On the cheap Asian Vox. I have been hand building tube amps since the 80s. Guitar and hi-fi. My cheap AC15 with a Celestion Blue, does not suck. In fact it's f'n awesome. So do not agree. Hi from the internet.
The scooters were ridiculous. Straight out of the Who's Quadrophenia - so stupid. Are we watching something from the Star Wars universe or some strange 1960s England Mods???
Too many guitar players are like Harley Davidson riders in the motorcycle community. Technological improvements are frowned upon because it makes the experience somehow not authentic. It’s a whole thing. LOL Also, the newer James Tyler headstocks aren’t too bad. The old style was… unique? I’m trying to be nice here!
Rhett - When you do the videos on these pedals, please address why they didn't include MIDI and extensive presets. Once I realized MIDI was missing, my GAS for the Ruby ended pretty quickly.
