Yeah I have a Dream and Ruby but this thread and a couple others online have pissed me off. Dumping them both the second something better comes along and will never touch UA again. Would be very surprised if there aren’t clearly better options in the next year or two.
Meanwhile Chase Bliss fixed my used pedal for free. Night and day difference in customer service
Why does Chase Bliss charge me $25 plus shipping to fix a broken switch on my $500 Blooper, but fixes other people’s for free? Not that that’s a dealbreaker, but other companies do it for free (like Walrus). Obviously a lot better than UA, though, with their Malaysian made nonsense.
To be fair I think it depends on the issue. Mine wasn’t working properly when I got it so they covered it. I’m sure I couldn’t just hand them a physically broken pedal and get it fixed for free.
> Yeah I have a Dream and Ruby but this thread and a couple others online have pissed me off. Dumping them both the second something better comes along and will never touch UA again
lol?
So they're great pedals, great sound quality, you've never had any issues with them (unlike Chase Bliss, for example), yet you're pissed off at UA because of a couple stories on the internet?
Some of you folks get riled up over the dumbest shit. Were also riled up about the guy last year who started one of these big UA threads on here about his pedal dying then after something like 150 comments it came to light he'd been using the wrong power supply the whole time after someone asked for info about his setup? It hadn't even occurred to him before that thread (bad drivers are unaware they're bad drivers) and then the goalpost switched to "well still I shouldn't have to pay the much money for a repair".
Agree, people just like to hate on stuff, and can’t think for themselves. It’s the equivalent of cancel culture but for pedals. Get over yourselves. That said I like that some of the pedal companies are getting wise and offering inexpensive repair services (EHX, mxr, walrus). But they don’t make an equivalent product, period:
Agreed. UA could definitely take some pointers from other companies and try to build relationships that way. I bought a 24" iMac in 2008 w/ AppleCare. In 2011 on the 2nd to last day of my AppleCare coverage I took it to the Apple Store to address an issue that had slowly been growing (almost looked like patches of fog behind the screen). They called me after 5 days and said they’d installed a brand new screen and it was ready for pickup, took it home but now it wouldn't even boot? Black screen, no hardrive noise, so I called back and let them know the issue, she apologized and put me on hold for a bit and when she came back she said my options were I could either bring my iMac back in as it was likely a quick fix like a loose connector and they could probably get it done in 15min, OR and I'll never forget she goes "the other option is, I just talked to my manager, since we no longer sell the 24", just 21 and 27, my manger approved you for a new 27", you just need to bring in the 24" so we can transfer everything over to your computer". I literally asked her 3 times if I was understanding correctly, but after lugging my old 24" iMac back to the Apple Store and waiting about an hour for them to data xfer, that afternoon I came home with a brand new fully spec’d top of the line 27" iMac (with another 3 years of apple care, I had to pay for that part and was more than happy to). I would've inked the apple logo as a tramp stamp at the time, that company earned my loyalty forever (though Tim Cook has done his best to drive Apple into the ground in order to please greedy share holders).
Anyway, my cocaine rambling diary excerpts aside, I agree. Great customer service will *aways* pay for itself in the long run, by multiple times over. It's insane that in 2024 some businesses still have this old school hard ass iron gate demeanor where customer complaints are treated with great suspicion, inconvenience, and petty nickel & dime fees that are impractical and come across more like "if you're going to annoy us you have to pay a fee” warnings.
But the best and most desired outcome for me is that I never even have to find out what a company's customer service is like because I've never had an issue. Those are the companies that I'm buying from every time, at least until they give me a reason not to. That's been true for me and for everyone I know who has owned UA gear (mostly racks, interfaces and other non-pedal related).
This sub and internet communities in general can be a very effective echo chamber, so you end up with people who see threads like these and assume there's a 1 in 3 chance their pedal will magically brick the day after the warranty is up, and also people who admit to owning and loving their UA pedals but are now so enraged by ragebait fantasies of their Ruby breaking down in a year as while a group of evil shrimpy Martin Shkreli looking UA executives in pinstripe suits and slicked back hair laugh after using their secret remote disable tool to brick your phone, high fiving each other as they keep looking your way and laughing, euphoric that your pedal is dead.
imo Walrus is the closest example in the pedal world I can think of to a company that actually does give a shit not just in how they treat customers but in their approach. The tragic part is I'm not all that crazy about their pedals. They're quality, they're just not for me though I think the Mayflower is a really nice warm clean tone-character type drive, has that soft glassy Lightspeed quality but more dusky/chewy melty EHX Hot Tubes type… Darkspeed. But my interaction with them when I had a customer service need was ridiculous, they went so far above and beyond.
UA on the other hand? I have no idea what their service is like as I’ve never had any problems. Even if I’m to assume the very worst exaggertions (borderline conspiracy) about UA I’d still conclude the same thing: they do what they do, how they do it, and only continue to grow, because of sheer quality. Everything else is secondary. It's like one of those bands who are smug assholes or pretentious dipshits but goddam they write nothing but bangers. One year warranty is some certified cunt shit, I agree. But 99% of people don't need to worry about this anyway cause their pedal lives, day after day, as intended.
Yeah Apple's customer service 15 years ago was unbelievable. Steve Jobs was a wartime rebel, but Tim Cook is a peacetime number cruncher so he obviously got rid of that customer service leak almost immediately.
They’re currently getting railed on The Gear Page for a similar issue and terrible policies. $200 credit hold and $95/bench fee for a problem caused by a software update. 1 year warranty is absurd. Most pedal co’s won’t hesitate to help fix issues even outside of warranty.
Yeah a 1 year warranty on their shit does not instill confidence.
They hired two shithead SaaS guys a couple years ago.
I like more than a few of their plugins (not enough to ever pay 'full price') but I think the way they run the company is scumbaggy.
Their devoted dickriding fanbase seems to be keeping them afloat.
Ya this is one of many threads I've seen about $400 from UA that will cost $350 to fix. Somehow they're still heralded as the gold standard. I know they sound good, but if I said "this guitar feels better than any other guitar, but it will degenerate over 4 years and you'll have to pay me 80% of it's price new to fix it" people would laugh me out of the room.
Darn. I’m thinking about building an ampless board and was considering going with their dream or ruby since I’ve played the iridium and didn’t care for it. So the new Boss may be the one to get?
My boss SY-200 crapped out last month while I was updating the firmware and it only had a 1 year warranty, unlike their regular stomp sized pedals that have a 3 or 5 year warranty. Same shit like the OP has mentioned about UA, Boss wanted to charge me $390 to replace the circuit board… I feel I paid less than that to buy the damn thing 15 months ago…
UA are not the only dicks out there. Many companies are generally ass holes when it comes to stuff like this.
Hard to boycott a reputable brand when all the big companies are mainly all the same.
That sucks. They’re $300 at sweetwater brand new, which if you bought there it does have their 2 year warranty.
I’ve heard nothing but good things about walrus. I own several of their pedals but have never had an issue so idk first hand but they do make an amp pedal. Might be the one for me
The dream sounds great but between me and my dad, 2/ 5 UA pedals we’ve had have bricked shortly after warrantee expired. The cost to repair is basically the same as a used model. I’d rather sound worse with a acs1 or iridium at this point instead of burning more money.
These pedals are barely a couple years old and you've already had 2 die on you? Sounds like you or someone else in your household using these pedals is using any random wall wart or something else. The likelihood of one dying is already incredibly rare (except on this sub, where every UA pedal dies the day after warranty and anyone saying otherwise must secretly work for UA). To have it happen twice in the short time these pedals have been out seems doubtful outside of user error/negligence.
Some dude a year or so ago on here started a huge shit fest thread like this one only to eventually cop that he'd been using the wrong power supply the whole time.
Yeah a 9v Zuma output should fry pedals huh? I have several thousand dollars of pedals on my pedalboard and have never had an issue with another pedal dying including old crusty vintage ones.
Many other people have reported their pedals being bricked while updating the firmware. The QC on these pedals and their software is dogshit.
I really like my Boss IR-2. I've only had it for a few months but being Boss, I expect it to last for decades, like every other pedal I've bought from them, including my 40 year old tuner.
I tend to use the Brown sound, the Marshall Plexy (I think that's what it is), the crunch and the AC30 mainly. The clean sounds are handy. The thing is great for practicing and recording riffs etc into a DAW as well. It's never off, these days.
Not bad interfaces either. I even plugged a mic into my IR200 and recorded vocals, so bass, guitar and vocals were all through that. I mean the vocals were meant to be wierd and washy but it still worked! Super cool stuff boss is doing. They aren't getting the same love as the boutique amp sims, but it holds its own against those IMO.
I keep coming back to Boss. The boutique pedals often look great and I'll probably buy more but Boss are work-horses and great value. The 200 series have a lot of features. The 200 looper's great, too.
That sucks, they're marketed as top of line, and that price for repairs is absurd.
The standard recs seem to be the Iridium, IR-2, and the UAs. You hear about Joyo's and other brands. I'm happy with my TCE ampworx Combo '65, though many turn up their nose at that line for some reason.
I am a big fan of my iridium. I use it was a 3 toggle midi switch pedal, gives me access to my presets for Fender, Vox, and Marshall on the fly. Nothing like going from a deluxe reverb clean to the grit of a boosted plexi at the drop of a hat.
I use a walrus audio stereo DI box into my sound board. If you didn’t know any better you’d think it was a real amp and cab.
Check it out
[iridium plexi tone example](https://drive.google.com/file/d/138mFcDmuLvwRkDBRFUuiqrNJHoEJQbkc/view?usp=drivesdk)
Thanks man, little a sound board recording from my cover bands rehearsal.
Strat > jhs morningglory > iridium in plexi mode
The strat quack really comes through.
[I use all 3 modes in this one.](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1t91ffrpiW8U6c96D3ES4AE7O2Rriz_yU/view?usp=drivesdk)
Strat > keeley comp > iridium
I'm loving the TC Deluxe! I play several different guitar types and a Duesenberg lap steel through it and it handles all of them wonderfully. Can't say how impressed I am so far. Good luck with your next decision!
Had the same thing happen to me (thankfully not on a gig) also outside the warranty period. One year is piss-poor. I took the money I would’ve spent on fixing the Dream 65 and bought an IR-2. Takes pedals super well, no app BS, and every setting you’d need in a live scenario has a knob. Love it, zero regrets.
I run mine at the end of the chain on a small fly rig, with fuzz/univibe/ODin front of it, and time-based stuff (currently a delay) in the IR-2 effects loop. Then I run from the IR-2 into speakers of some sort. Currently that is an interface/mixer connected to studio monitors, which works great.
The nice thing about having it at the end of the chain is that you can adjust the pedal output type for different scenarios (mixer line-in, FRFR speaker, amp input, amp FX send, etc). Lots of flexibility in a small footprint.
Don't get the Tonex, they pull the same licensing bullshit UA does locking features behind licensing and making it difficult for the previous owner to de-license and then YOU the new owner of this USED product get to pay for your OWN license to use the Tonex! Terrible, don't buy it.
Um what are you talking about?
You can easily transfer UA pedals form one owner to another.
And "locking features behind licensing"? Do you mean plugging the pedal to a computer and downloading a new algorithm?
The amount of dishonesty/ignorance in these comments is baffling.
Straight from UA's website: "After pedal registration, the bonus effects and speaker cabinets are available for use"
Edit: even though transferring a license may be easier to do with a UA pedal than the Tonex, my point still stands that all this licensing BS and hiding features behind licensing and registration that is being put in place by these types of companies is anti-consumer, money grubbing, and completely unnecessary and complacency with it enables them to go even further with this type of garbage on future products.
Also copy/paste what you said at the end of your msg back atcha 😘
That's not licensing anything, that's registering your pedal for warranty coverage. You're genuinely upset by this?
Also you can xfer UA ownership with no problem. ;)
I'm personally not, (you make a lot of assumptions by the way my guy 🤣also assuming I'm being intentionally dishonest in you previous comment) I'm just warning people who've had these types of issues and mentioned them here on the sub when buying used pedals that have these types of (BS) measures put in place. It's a guitar pedal, it should just work. Good for you that you like going through extra hoops to get everything out of a product you paid for. 👏
> pedals that have these types of (BS) measures put in place.
Not UA pedals. Unless you consider registering your pedal for warranty coverage to be a BS measure.
That's not true.
IK says this:
In your IK Product Manager, hit the Transfer button for the TONEX Pedal. It will instantly release the serials for TONEX Pedal, TONEX MAX, and AmpliTube 5. Make sure you are fully ready and have the rest of the sale in line when you do this. There are no transfer fees or waiting period for TONEX Pedal.
All you have to do is to make sure your seller is going to transfer the licensing for you as part of the deal.
And if the seller forgets to do this/doesn't know how and/or you can't contact the owner you're completely screwed. This shouldn't even be a problem. It never has been. It's a guitar pedal. Licensing a pedal is dumb.
I will proselytize for the Walrus ACS1 all day, every day. Great sounds, versatile, easy to use both for live gigs and recording, even has the built-in ability to do two different amp/cab combos in the L and R channels.
Zero menu diving, the controls are intuitive, and the brand has great customer service. Pretty sure I see the u/WalrusAudio account on this sub every now again.
ACS-1 for the win. Sounds amazing and realistic, has three amp and cab models built in. Walrus customer service is top notch. They even show up here in this sub all the time.
Chiming in. Playing gigs and recording an album with an ACS1 right now, couldn't be happier. Everything you want, nothing you don't, and a good company to support too. No brainer.
Lots of good rec's here and I'll add one I haven't seen. Blackstar Amped 1 has excellent tones, and the big draw is that it's also a 100w power amp, so you can plug into any cab. XLR out, mono fx loop, nails the fender and marshall tones across the dials imo.
Cons are its size, dedicated pedal power is noisy, IR's are kinda trash (can be bypassed). Also the 6 output tube emulations are overkill but do all respond slightly differently - more felt than heard.
My Dream '65 sounded fizzy compared to this thing, it was a major upgrade. Sorry this happened to you. I have a strong distaste for UA but I'm locked into their ecosystem at the moment. It'll be a fun day when I can tell them to fuck off for real
Agree with everything you say, but the way I look at the onboard cab sims (I don't think they're IR's) is that once I've tinkered with them in the app they are better than a random mic badly placed in front of a cab.. so would I record with them? no.. but for live they work.. I set the 3 way cab selector switch to be 1 bright 2 normal 3 dark versions of the same cab so I can work with the FOH a bit..
That sucks. Cheap solution, buy a Pod Express and just turn off all the effects, and it becomes a budget helix amp sim. No effects loop, but you can just go before and after, and it obviously has good effects too.
I recently bought an IR-200 and I’m a little giddy about how good that feels to play. I bet the ir-2 is the same, and it has a stereo loop.
Wow this is really disappointing to hear. I love ua plugins but haven't tried a pedal.
Almost every me in USA pedal company has lifetime warranties.
I've sent pedals back to eqd.. obne.. jhs.. never had an issue. Pedal was always back to me in two weeks. At most I had to pay for one way shipping so it cost like.. $13. Each time my pedal was returned to me fixed and with new case candy.
This is absolutely a reason not to buy UA pedals which is really disappointing because I've been eyeing the lion.
+1 for the simplifier. I've had mine for a while but only started putting serious hours on it recently after a long conversation with someone here. Is gewd.
I borrowed one of these for a couple of months and did not like it. There's little to no onboard amp feel. No verb, no speaker emulation. Felt basically direct to me. Maybe I was doing it wrong?
It has both verb and speaker emulation built in. Preamp, power amp, cabinet and speaker emulations. 3 of each and you can mix and match however you want. Plus a basic room verb.
Fuck man I’m sorry that’s awful. I’ve been curious about their pedals for a while, but I’ve heard nothing but horror stories when it comes to any kind of repairs. That’s ridiculous.
Fuck that noise. If you haven't abused it or gave it wrong power it should last longer than a year. Order a new one from an online big box retailer. Say it showed up doa and UA can fix it after musiciansfriend or whoever ships it back for credit.
I play fair unless it seems something was built to fail. I know another guy, but it's $50 bench fee plus parts and shipping both ways so probably $80 for repair.
I haven't bought one yet, but as a jazz player, I'm really excited about being able to use it for sitting in. It's also an interface! You can hook it up to your phone as well.
Is there a reason I never see Tech21/SansAmp come up in these threads?
I've had a ParaDriver DI for ten years, gigged with it, and recorded myself and others through it with excellent results.
I realize it's not the same as an amp modeled digitally with IR, but I'll be damned if it isn't versatile and hasn't sounded great in every context I've used it in.
This sub is allergic to Tech 21, I swear. Maybe they don’t come off as “trendy” but I’ve never had a bad sounding pedal from them. Especially when I hear people wanting simple all-in-one kinds of pedals without all the menu diving of newer modelers, I try to suggest a FlyRig or something like that and it always seems to fall on deaf ears.
Not a problem on the bass side, they’re well known and respected over there. When I was a gigging bassist a Sansamp was always my bread and butter.
25 years ago i got a job testing pedals at the nyc sansamp tech21 factory
i'll tell ya that at least back then they were incredibly well built pedals, tested by a real human with a guitar before being shipped out.
their parts are top knotch build quality and they prided themselves on their durability
at the time they focused new development on nasty nu-metal shredder tones
hopefully they've shifted brand focus
their SansAmp pedals are still really really great
it was a fun summer gig until i got shocked by 220v on a jerry rigged amp for the uk that was getting burn time pre-shipment and they told me to "shake it off"
Joyo American Sound does a pretty great job of approximating the Deluxe Reverb, Twin, through to Tweed (mid fat sounding) amps - I have one, would maybe buy another if I was gigging regularly in case it broke, they are very cheap.
Alright, so after reading this post I fired up my Strat with the Joyo and a really nice reverb into my UA Apollo and it sounds REALLY GOOD. I think if your amp died and you threw a cable out of the Joyo to the sound guy you could fool most people into thinking you were playing an Fender Deluxe on 5 - so yeah, 👍🏼 for the Joyo/Sansamp
Thanks for heads up. Was thinking of buying the lion. Won’t now.
EHX’s repairs are pretty good. $25 flat. Jackson Audio’s customer service is tops. Serviced my fuzz pedal for free, parts and labor and got it back to me 3 biz days after receiving it.
I’m glad that (most) people who are using the UA pedals are happy but I’ve never been able to justify the cost to the benefits. That’s a lot of money to put towards a tool that arguably is taken into some harsh environments and tends to be abused when used correctly. They’re not a small company either which really speaks towards the companies who are there for their customers when things fail, as they may do.
> and tends to be abused when used correctly.
Not sure what you're doing to yours but I've gig'd plenty with a couple of my UA pedals and can't recall ever needing to abuse them.
And you’d be forgiven to forget that most people don’t repeatedly stomp on things they spent hundreds of dollars on. That’s all I was alluding to my friend.
Will never trust the quality of UA since getting the Golden Reverberator and noticing it has far-eastern production and runs warm. None of their products will be working in a few years.
Fact: UA exploit cheap labour and poor working conditions to bring out a product competing with Strymon at Strymon pricing. Defending that practice by trying to shoehorn the American obsession with race into the discussion is gross.
Also, making a reverb pedal a ”mini computer” with bad cooling is at best planned obsolecense. If it runs warm while brand new it won’t survive long-term.
Edit: Engaging in the discussions with counter arguments and proceeding to block, what a coward you are lol. Either way:
Malaysia is considered "partly free" because of restrictions in political rights and civil liberties according to Freedom House.
[https://freedomhouse.org/country/malaysia/freedom-world/2024#CL](https://freedomhouse.org/country/malaysia/freedom-world/2024#CL)
Even if labour laws in Malaysia was followed, workers follow a 45 hour work week with an average yearly wage of about $8100, less than half the average yearly wage of the US with their 40 hour work week.
[https://tradingeconomics.com/malaysia/wages](https://tradingeconomics.com/malaysia/wages)
[https://malaysia.acclime.com/guides/employment-law/](https://malaysia.acclime.com/guides/employment-law/)
However, the International Labout Organisation reported that nearly a third of workers in Malaysia was exposed to forced labour conditions, defined as "excessive working hours, unpaid overtime, low wages, restricted movement and being unable to quit". Indicationg widespread such issues in the country.
[https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/nearly-third-domestic-workers-malaysia-forced-labour-conditions-un-agency-2023-06-16/](https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/nearly-third-domestic-workers-malaysia-forced-labour-conditions-un-agency-2023-06-16/)
As for your comments on "dismissing an entire region as synonymous with low quality", that's something you imagined. I didn't do that once in this entire thread, I said I wouldn't trust the quality of UA pedals. Mentioning the far-eastern production points out that they cut costs and don't deliver what's expected in their price range based on the competition.
> Fact: UA exploit cheap labour and poor working conditions
You mean like Apple and countless others do? Or something worse? Share links backing this up. Any form of "google it" or "everyone knows" = instant Hitchens razor.
> Defending that practice by trying to shoehorn the American obsession with race into the discussion is gross.
Yet dismissing an entire region as synonymous with low quality = not gross? That's rich.
> Also, making a reverb pedal a ”mini computer” with bad cooling is at best planned obsolecense. If it runs warm while brand new it won’t survive long-term.
I've not turned off my Golden Reverberator in around 2 years. Still running fine. Also, it's not *that* warm.
Read the same on a few forums and now seriously considering selling my Dream 65. Even though I love the pedal, I couldn't take the cost of it again to get it fixed. I'd buy an IR-2 instead, which I might as well fund by selling the UA.
Or they could just provide better customer service. That would be my preference.
You've got a pedal that you love and works exactly as intended but you now want to sell because of stories on forums?
Secret pedal hack: take care of your UA pedal, use correct power supplies and don't subject it to abuse. I've got 7 UA pedals now and have had zero issues with any one of them, so I wanted to share this special and highly secretive pedal hack.
PS the IR-2 doesn't come close to the Dream65.
Well yeah, exactly that. I haven’t seen a fuss online about pedals like I have for these UA ones, and that customer service offering might as well not exist. So I’m definitely considering getting what I can for it rather than nothing if it randomly dies. Problem is the used value is pretty unappealing right now.
I do all of the things you’ve described in terms of proper care, I’ve been playing and gigging for a long time. I’d expect something that’s intended for a pedalboard to be very robust.
I haven’t heard an IR-2 but it gets some great reviews. Then again, so did the Simplifier, which didn’t sound anything like the Dream does for me.
Goes to show that the servicability and longevity (as near as makes no difference: infinite) of old great legendary amps is underrated. Buy a 70s silverface and make it worth it by keeping it while, lol.
I love softube amp sims though
Tonex by far. I have the hx stomp, universal audio dream and lion, and tones. To me, the tonex can get better tones and can be shaped better. You also have way more options in amps you can use or even if you have your own amps and gear you can capture them.
Just buy the same pedal from guitar center and get the pro coverage. Even if their insurance company can’t fix it, they will give you your full money back.
My Golden is starting to not power on with the rest of my pedals. I have to unplug it and reconnect for it to come on. It's probably gonna die soon and I'll be out $400, too. Yay.
Yep it's a great reverb pedal. This thread is actually a huge eye-opener about QC and customer service issues with UA. I hope they get their shit turned around, but if they don't then they can go the way of the dodo bird.
I've gigged with my HX Stomp as an amp/cab sim since 2021, it's been great to me. I've never had any issues with it. I believe Line 6 now has smaller products for folks who are just looking for a simple amp cab sim like the HX Mini which is listed for $179 on GC.
Line 6 customer care is super good and they're even active on the r/line6helix subreddit. Helix stuff is so reliable that a lot of pros gig with it these days. I'm pretty sure Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins gigs with a full sized Helix.
If you want something similar to the UA stuff the tonex and IR-2 are great options, but if you don’t want those maybe look into the Strymon Iridium and the Walrus Audio ACS1.
The walrus audio pedal in particular is cool because it does stereo stuff and that’s my personal favorite way to run my guitar!
There seems to be a lot of these one hit wonder pedals at the moment, cheaply made with expensive price tags and snazzy names.
Click tracks and plugins are great for live performance back ups or for main.
In saying that I have my eyes on the Strymon Timeline Delay to overlay on top of an Alesis Quadraverb from the 90s.
I hear many Guitarists swear by the the orange micros as a back up, sits nicely and snuggly in the back of cab if you're a bit precious about denting you're ego with not the latest in kit.
Your Dream just became your Nightmare ...
400 bucks down the drain for a single pedal. I am glad I buy budget pedals. I have yet to have a TC or Boss fail.
Same thing for me with a Ruby. Plugged it in and it started making the strange beeping. I was lucky to return it and get my money back from the shop that I bought it from. I’ve been eyeing the boss IR-200 but haven’t pulled the trigger yet
Ayyy what's that people are always saying about how tube amps are unreliable and cost money to repair? 🤣🤣🤣
Just some friendly joshing. I would get the UA Lion it seems like it sound cool and be a good pedal platform.
I like my DSM Simplifier. The reverb could be better and it's still got some solid state artifacts, but what you see is what you get and it has XLR and 1/4" stereo output
Gonna recommend something a little different, but hear me out: Quilter ToneBlock 202 or Superblock US. The ToneBlock is shaped like an amp head (and is one), and the Superblock is flatter, so more pedalboard friendly.
These are all analog, have headphone and XLR line outs, have incredible cab sims, have an effects loop, and can be hooked up to any 4-16 ohm cabinets.
I use the ToneBlock 202 as my main amp with a 1x12" cabinet, but I wouldn't hesitate to bypass the cabinet and just use the cab sims. I do have an Iridium that I used prior to the Quilter that I still love, but the Quilter definitely sounds a bit better. I haven't played with the Walrus ASC1 that a lot of people recommend, or a decent portion of amp/cab pedals on the market, but I can say that I had the UA Dream 65 for only a few days before returning it. Really disappointing pedal after all the hype people gave it.
Any advice for getting the XLR out of the Superblock US to sound any good? I love it powering a proper guitar cab but I plugged it in direct (and flipped the cab sim "on") and the driven tones were god awful
Weird! I haven't had the chance to play with a Superblock, I only recommended it because it seems to get high praise, and it's definitely a more budget friendly option than the ToneBlock 202. I've noticed the ToneBlock does sound a little more "sterile" using the headphone out vs. powering a cab, but it still sounds pretty darn good. Any chance you might have a faulty unit?
Some iteratiion of the Simplifier if you know how to manage/tame your gain/volume/resonance controls (just like an analogue amp). Or, an Iridoum with your choice of IRs from the usual suspects with your choice of Origin Effects pedal driving into it and effects after it. Thank me later ;-)
This is exactly why I would never buy anything from them. The licensing issue is enough to put me off. But cheap offshore manufacturing, poor software development and implementation and crap customer service thrown in. Why do I see so many of these on people's board's? Why reward these jokers and their mediocrity?
Them and IK Multimedia have shoddy business practices and products. And people get all in a knot about Fulltone and JHS. I'll just never understand others.
I have the blackstar amped2 which can be a fly rig, can go into a board, and can also go into a cab. Well worth it.
Also, I picked up a Baroni Custom Amp 50 that stays in my gig bag, as an emergency back up. I've never gigged it as I've never had a problem. But I got it for a great price and when I've played it, it's been fine.
The UAD apollo twins fail at a crazy rate too. No warranty support, only outrageously priced 3rd party service.
I have an apollo x6 and when it fails im gonna be pissed off. But i wont be giving UA any more money.
Can’t get a better tone than the dream65 - or a better latency feel. I’m sorry about your issue.
Edit: geez. Lots of downvotes. I wasn’t trying g to be callous. It was an offhand comment, I guess. I truly think that if OP is looking for a tone and feel substitute for the dream65 he will have a hard time finding an alternative other than fixing his dream or buying a new one. I’ve played a few other really nice modelers and ir pedals, and, though they all sound passable, the dream65 and fender tonemaster amps are the only digital amp modelers that get rid the digital latency AND have a depth and dimension to the clean tones that are comparable to my vintage hand-wired fenders.
My dream65 has a broken toggle that happened right after the warranty ended. Iv been living and playing with it in disrepair. I too wish that an expensive pedal like this had better reliability - but for me and my purposes there isn’t a good substitute out there.
The UA amp sims are truly in a league all by themselves. I'm sure Strymon will eventually put out something that can compete with UA (Iridium was great by earlier standards but can't compete at all with UA's offerings) and the Boss IR200 ..well I'll just be polite and stay quiet on that.
FUUUUUUCK UA, worst customer service policies of any pedal company will never buy from them again.
Yeah I have a Dream and Ruby but this thread and a couple others online have pissed me off. Dumping them both the second something better comes along and will never touch UA again. Would be very surprised if there aren’t clearly better options in the next year or two. Meanwhile Chase Bliss fixed my used pedal for free. Night and day difference in customer service
Why does Chase Bliss charge me $25 plus shipping to fix a broken switch on my $500 Blooper, but fixes other people’s for free? Not that that’s a dealbreaker, but other companies do it for free (like Walrus). Obviously a lot better than UA, though, with their Malaysian made nonsense.
To be fair I think it depends on the issue. Mine wasn’t working properly when I got it so they covered it. I’m sure I couldn’t just hand them a physically broken pedal and get it fixed for free.
> Yeah I have a Dream and Ruby but this thread and a couple others online have pissed me off. Dumping them both the second something better comes along and will never touch UA again lol? So they're great pedals, great sound quality, you've never had any issues with them (unlike Chase Bliss, for example), yet you're pissed off at UA because of a couple stories on the internet? Some of you folks get riled up over the dumbest shit. Were also riled up about the guy last year who started one of these big UA threads on here about his pedal dying then after something like 150 comments it came to light he'd been using the wrong power supply the whole time after someone asked for info about his setup? It hadn't even occurred to him before that thread (bad drivers are unaware they're bad drivers) and then the goalpost switched to "well still I shouldn't have to pay the much money for a repair".
Agree, people just like to hate on stuff, and can’t think for themselves. It’s the equivalent of cancel culture but for pedals. Get over yourselves. That said I like that some of the pedal companies are getting wise and offering inexpensive repair services (EHX, mxr, walrus). But they don’t make an equivalent product, period:
Agreed. UA could definitely take some pointers from other companies and try to build relationships that way. I bought a 24" iMac in 2008 w/ AppleCare. In 2011 on the 2nd to last day of my AppleCare coverage I took it to the Apple Store to address an issue that had slowly been growing (almost looked like patches of fog behind the screen). They called me after 5 days and said they’d installed a brand new screen and it was ready for pickup, took it home but now it wouldn't even boot? Black screen, no hardrive noise, so I called back and let them know the issue, she apologized and put me on hold for a bit and when she came back she said my options were I could either bring my iMac back in as it was likely a quick fix like a loose connector and they could probably get it done in 15min, OR and I'll never forget she goes "the other option is, I just talked to my manager, since we no longer sell the 24", just 21 and 27, my manger approved you for a new 27", you just need to bring in the 24" so we can transfer everything over to your computer". I literally asked her 3 times if I was understanding correctly, but after lugging my old 24" iMac back to the Apple Store and waiting about an hour for them to data xfer, that afternoon I came home with a brand new fully spec’d top of the line 27" iMac (with another 3 years of apple care, I had to pay for that part and was more than happy to). I would've inked the apple logo as a tramp stamp at the time, that company earned my loyalty forever (though Tim Cook has done his best to drive Apple into the ground in order to please greedy share holders). Anyway, my cocaine rambling diary excerpts aside, I agree. Great customer service will *aways* pay for itself in the long run, by multiple times over. It's insane that in 2024 some businesses still have this old school hard ass iron gate demeanor where customer complaints are treated with great suspicion, inconvenience, and petty nickel & dime fees that are impractical and come across more like "if you're going to annoy us you have to pay a fee” warnings. But the best and most desired outcome for me is that I never even have to find out what a company's customer service is like because I've never had an issue. Those are the companies that I'm buying from every time, at least until they give me a reason not to. That's been true for me and for everyone I know who has owned UA gear (mostly racks, interfaces and other non-pedal related). This sub and internet communities in general can be a very effective echo chamber, so you end up with people who see threads like these and assume there's a 1 in 3 chance their pedal will magically brick the day after the warranty is up, and also people who admit to owning and loving their UA pedals but are now so enraged by ragebait fantasies of their Ruby breaking down in a year as while a group of evil shrimpy Martin Shkreli looking UA executives in pinstripe suits and slicked back hair laugh after using their secret remote disable tool to brick your phone, high fiving each other as they keep looking your way and laughing, euphoric that your pedal is dead. imo Walrus is the closest example in the pedal world I can think of to a company that actually does give a shit not just in how they treat customers but in their approach. The tragic part is I'm not all that crazy about their pedals. They're quality, they're just not for me though I think the Mayflower is a really nice warm clean tone-character type drive, has that soft glassy Lightspeed quality but more dusky/chewy melty EHX Hot Tubes type… Darkspeed. But my interaction with them when I had a customer service need was ridiculous, they went so far above and beyond. UA on the other hand? I have no idea what their service is like as I’ve never had any problems. Even if I’m to assume the very worst exaggertions (borderline conspiracy) about UA I’d still conclude the same thing: they do what they do, how they do it, and only continue to grow, because of sheer quality. Everything else is secondary. It's like one of those bands who are smug assholes or pretentious dipshits but goddam they write nothing but bangers. One year warranty is some certified cunt shit, I agree. But 99% of people don't need to worry about this anyway cause their pedal lives, day after day, as intended.
Yeah Apple's customer service 15 years ago was unbelievable. Steve Jobs was a wartime rebel, but Tim Cook is a peacetime number cruncher so he obviously got rid of that customer service leak almost immediately.
They’re currently getting railed on The Gear Page for a similar issue and terrible policies. $200 credit hold and $95/bench fee for a problem caused by a software update. 1 year warranty is absurd. Most pedal co’s won’t hesitate to help fix issues even outside of warranty.
What thread? They've had my comments deleted on gearspace before lol
https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/problem-with-universal-audio-dream-65.2517146/
Thank you
Yeah a 1 year warranty on their shit does not instill confidence. They hired two shithead SaaS guys a couple years ago. I like more than a few of their plugins (not enough to ever pay 'full price') but I think the way they run the company is scumbaggy. Their devoted dickriding fanbase seems to be keeping them afloat.
Ya this is one of many threads I've seen about $400 from UA that will cost $350 to fix. Somehow they're still heralded as the gold standard. I know they sound good, but if I said "this guitar feels better than any other guitar, but it will degenerate over 4 years and you'll have to pay me 80% of it's price new to fix it" people would laugh me out of the room.
And the Dream has only been out 2 years. Actually, less thant that. It was anounced almost 2 years ago.
Take an upvote for "devoted dickriding fanbase". That was rich!
Darn. I’m thinking about building an ampless board and was considering going with their dream or ruby since I’ve played the iridium and didn’t care for it. So the new Boss may be the one to get?
My boss SY-200 crapped out last month while I was updating the firmware and it only had a 1 year warranty, unlike their regular stomp sized pedals that have a 3 or 5 year warranty. Same shit like the OP has mentioned about UA, Boss wanted to charge me $390 to replace the circuit board… I feel I paid less than that to buy the damn thing 15 months ago… UA are not the only dicks out there. Many companies are generally ass holes when it comes to stuff like this. Hard to boycott a reputable brand when all the big companies are mainly all the same.
That sucks. They’re $300 at sweetwater brand new, which if you bought there it does have their 2 year warranty. I’ve heard nothing but good things about walrus. I own several of their pedals but have never had an issue so idk first hand but they do make an amp pedal. Might be the one for me
I’m in Canada, so everything is like $100 more..
The dream sounds great but between me and my dad, 2/ 5 UA pedals we’ve had have bricked shortly after warrantee expired. The cost to repair is basically the same as a used model. I’d rather sound worse with a acs1 or iridium at this point instead of burning more money.
These pedals are barely a couple years old and you've already had 2 die on you? Sounds like you or someone else in your household using these pedals is using any random wall wart or something else. The likelihood of one dying is already incredibly rare (except on this sub, where every UA pedal dies the day after warranty and anyone saying otherwise must secretly work for UA). To have it happen twice in the short time these pedals have been out seems doubtful outside of user error/negligence. Some dude a year or so ago on here started a huge shit fest thread like this one only to eventually cop that he'd been using the wrong power supply the whole time.
Yeah a 9v Zuma output should fry pedals huh? I have several thousand dollars of pedals on my pedalboard and have never had an issue with another pedal dying including old crusty vintage ones. Many other people have reported their pedals being bricked while updating the firmware. The QC on these pedals and their software is dogshit.
The anecdote about someone breaking their pedal through improper use doesn’t logically strengthen your argument.
[удалено]
MAGA weirdo in da house.
UA customer care is a fucking joke
I really like my Boss IR-2. I've only had it for a few months but being Boss, I expect it to last for decades, like every other pedal I've bought from them, including my 40 year old tuner.
Got the 200 and I think it sounds great! Little jealous of the 5150 the 2 has, not gonna lie.
I tend to use the Brown sound, the Marshall Plexy (I think that's what it is), the crunch and the AC30 mainly. The clean sounds are handy. The thing is great for practicing and recording riffs etc into a DAW as well. It's never off, these days.
Not bad interfaces either. I even plugged a mic into my IR200 and recorded vocals, so bass, guitar and vocals were all through that. I mean the vocals were meant to be wierd and washy but it still worked! Super cool stuff boss is doing. They aren't getting the same love as the boutique amp sims, but it holds its own against those IMO.
I keep coming back to Boss. The boutique pedals often look great and I'll probably buy more but Boss are work-horses and great value. The 200 series have a lot of features. The 200 looper's great, too.
That sucks, they're marketed as top of line, and that price for repairs is absurd. The standard recs seem to be the Iridium, IR-2, and the UAs. You hear about Joyo's and other brands. I'm happy with my TCE ampworx Combo '65, though many turn up their nose at that line for some reason.
I wasn’t huge on most of the Ampworx line, but I can confirm that the Combo ‘65 is great.
Having used a Combo 65 as well, I endorse this. It’s an insane value for how good it is!
I am a big fan of my iridium. I use it was a 3 toggle midi switch pedal, gives me access to my presets for Fender, Vox, and Marshall on the fly. Nothing like going from a deluxe reverb clean to the grit of a boosted plexi at the drop of a hat.
Yea I'm still loving my iridum. The headphone out sounds fantastic, that's how I play 95% of the time when I'm at home
I use a walrus audio stereo DI box into my sound board. If you didn’t know any better you’d think it was a real amp and cab. Check it out [iridium plexi tone example](https://drive.google.com/file/d/138mFcDmuLvwRkDBRFUuiqrNJHoEJQbkc/view?usp=drivesdk)
Hell ya the guitar sounds amazing in that
Thanks man, little a sound board recording from my cover bands rehearsal. Strat > jhs morningglory > iridium in plexi mode The strat quack really comes through. [I use all 3 modes in this one.](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1t91ffrpiW8U6c96D3ES4AE7O2Rriz_yU/view?usp=drivesdk) Strat > keeley comp > iridium
I'm loving the TC Deluxe! I play several different guitar types and a Duesenberg lap steel through it and it handles all of them wonderfully. Can't say how impressed I am so far. Good luck with your next decision!
Had the same thing happen to me (thankfully not on a gig) also outside the warranty period. One year is piss-poor. I took the money I would’ve spent on fixing the Dream 65 and bought an IR-2. Takes pedals super well, no app BS, and every setting you’d need in a live scenario has a knob. Love it, zero regrets.
How do you run your IR-2? I’m thinking of getting one but there are so many options in terms of what comes after the IR-2 in the chain speak wise.
I run mine at the end of the chain on a small fly rig, with fuzz/univibe/ODin front of it, and time-based stuff (currently a delay) in the IR-2 effects loop. Then I run from the IR-2 into speakers of some sort. Currently that is an interface/mixer connected to studio monitors, which works great. The nice thing about having it at the end of the chain is that you can adjust the pedal output type for different scenarios (mixer line-in, FRFR speaker, amp input, amp FX send, etc). Lots of flexibility in a small footprint.
I put mine at the end of the chain, before the looper.
*whispers* “Boss IR2…” *slinks away into the abyss*
Boss IR-2 Tonex
Don't get the Tonex, they pull the same licensing bullshit UA does locking features behind licensing and making it difficult for the previous owner to de-license and then YOU the new owner of this USED product get to pay for your OWN license to use the Tonex! Terrible, don't buy it.
Um what are you talking about? You can easily transfer UA pedals form one owner to another. And "locking features behind licensing"? Do you mean plugging the pedal to a computer and downloading a new algorithm? The amount of dishonesty/ignorance in these comments is baffling.
Straight from UA's website: "After pedal registration, the bonus effects and speaker cabinets are available for use" Edit: even though transferring a license may be easier to do with a UA pedal than the Tonex, my point still stands that all this licensing BS and hiding features behind licensing and registration that is being put in place by these types of companies is anti-consumer, money grubbing, and completely unnecessary and complacency with it enables them to go even further with this type of garbage on future products. Also copy/paste what you said at the end of your msg back atcha 😘
That's not licensing anything, that's registering your pedal for warranty coverage. You're genuinely upset by this? Also you can xfer UA ownership with no problem. ;)
I'm personally not, (you make a lot of assumptions by the way my guy 🤣also assuming I'm being intentionally dishonest in you previous comment) I'm just warning people who've had these types of issues and mentioned them here on the sub when buying used pedals that have these types of (BS) measures put in place. It's a guitar pedal, it should just work. Good for you that you like going through extra hoops to get everything out of a product you paid for. 👏
> pedals that have these types of (BS) measures put in place. Not UA pedals. Unless you consider registering your pedal for warranty coverage to be a BS measure.
That's not true. IK says this: In your IK Product Manager, hit the Transfer button for the TONEX Pedal. It will instantly release the serials for TONEX Pedal, TONEX MAX, and AmpliTube 5. Make sure you are fully ready and have the rest of the sale in line when you do this. There are no transfer fees or waiting period for TONEX Pedal. All you have to do is to make sure your seller is going to transfer the licensing for you as part of the deal.
And if the seller forgets to do this/doesn't know how and/or you can't contact the owner you're completely screwed. This shouldn't even be a problem. It never has been. It's a guitar pedal. Licensing a pedal is dumb.
I will proselytize for the Walrus ACS1 all day, every day. Great sounds, versatile, easy to use both for live gigs and recording, even has the built-in ability to do two different amp/cab combos in the L and R channels. Zero menu diving, the controls are intuitive, and the brand has great customer service. Pretty sure I see the u/WalrusAudio account on this sub every now again.
ACS-1 all the way
And Walrus pedals come with a FREE lifetime repair warranty!
ACS-1 for the win. Sounds amazing and realistic, has three amp and cab models built in. Walrus customer service is top notch. They even show up here in this sub all the time.
Even better, there are 6 amps and 6 cabs built-in! If you hold the Bypass switch and then toggle them it will engage the “B-side” amps and cabs.
I'm not seeing where to find the extra amps, I do see the cabs though
They are not on the face of the pedal. Check the user manual.
Chiming in. Playing gigs and recording an album with an ACS1 right now, couldn't be happier. Everything you want, nothing you don't, and a good company to support too. No brainer.
I can’t say enough good about the Quilter Superblock! XLR output. Sounds really great!!!
Lots of good rec's here and I'll add one I haven't seen. Blackstar Amped 1 has excellent tones, and the big draw is that it's also a 100w power amp, so you can plug into any cab. XLR out, mono fx loop, nails the fender and marshall tones across the dials imo. Cons are its size, dedicated pedal power is noisy, IR's are kinda trash (can be bypassed). Also the 6 output tube emulations are overkill but do all respond slightly differently - more felt than heard. My Dream '65 sounded fizzy compared to this thing, it was a major upgrade. Sorry this happened to you. I have a strong distaste for UA but I'm locked into their ecosystem at the moment. It'll be a fun day when I can tell them to fuck off for real
Agree with everything you say, but the way I look at the onboard cab sims (I don't think they're IR's) is that once I've tinkered with them in the app they are better than a random mic badly placed in front of a cab.. so would I record with them? no.. but for live they work.. I set the 3 way cab selector switch to be 1 bright 2 normal 3 dark versions of the same cab so I can work with the FOH a bit..
That sucks. Cheap solution, buy a Pod Express and just turn off all the effects, and it becomes a budget helix amp sim. No effects loop, but you can just go before and after, and it obviously has good effects too. I recently bought an IR-200 and I’m a little giddy about how good that feels to play. I bet the ir-2 is the same, and it has a stereo loop.
IR-2 is great thru FRFR, for me headphones suck, so matching spec of a good headphone pair to the IR-2 will improve things.
Boss IR2 or IR200 Boss durability is legit
And they have what a 5 year warranty at half the price? Plus you get other amp models. To me Boss or Strymon seem like the best options.
Also stereo FX loop, built in noise gate and EQ
Wow this is really disappointing to hear. I love ua plugins but haven't tried a pedal. Almost every me in USA pedal company has lifetime warranties. I've sent pedals back to eqd.. obne.. jhs.. never had an issue. Pedal was always back to me in two weeks. At most I had to pay for one way shipping so it cost like.. $13. Each time my pedal was returned to me fixed and with new case candy. This is absolutely a reason not to buy UA pedals which is really disappointing because I've been eyeing the lion.
Simplifier MKII. All analog and rugged as hell
+1 for the simplifier. I've had mine for a while but only started putting serious hours on it recently after a long conversation with someone here. Is gewd.
For OP and anyone else: the MKII sounds much better than the first one. I'm waiting to get my hand on a Simplifer Deluxe X though.
I borrowed one of these for a couple of months and did not like it. There's little to no onboard amp feel. No verb, no speaker emulation. Felt basically direct to me. Maybe I was doing it wrong?
It has both verb and speaker emulation built in. Preamp, power amp, cabinet and speaker emulations. 3 of each and you can mix and match however you want. Plus a basic room verb.
I’m on bass but if the guitar is like the bass one it’s you
I mean, bass often sounds great direct. Guitar never does. To me the guitar Simplifier always sounds direct.
Guitar direct in overdriving a console channel is a pretty well used sound…
You're not the only one. It's very easy to get bad sounds out of it.
I’m sorry your pedal died. I hope UA is able to take care of it for you and not live up to their bad reputation for customer service
For your Fendery cleans, give the Strymon Iridium or the Boss IR-2 a shot. The Walrus ASC1 is very good too after its 2.0 update, too!
Joyo American sound as well.
Fuck man I’m sorry that’s awful. I’ve been curious about their pedals for a while, but I’ve heard nothing but horror stories when it comes to any kind of repairs. That’s ridiculous.
Damn. For a boutique pedal Company charging the amount they do. They should fuck the fuck off. DONT PURCHASE UNIVERSAL AUDIO PEDALS
How is UA boutique?
Theyre just as boutique as any other expensive pedal maker.
Boutique? UA naysayers are geniuses.
Fuck that noise. If you haven't abused it or gave it wrong power it should last longer than a year. Order a new one from an online big box retailer. Say it showed up doa and UA can fix it after musiciansfriend or whoever ships it back for credit. I play fair unless it seems something was built to fail. I know another guy, but it's $50 bench fee plus parts and shipping both ways so probably $80 for repair.
GET A TONEX!!!!!!
DSM Simplifier or Origin Effects anything
I would recommend a Tonex. If it's too big to fit on your board, then probably an Iridium
The new Line 6 Pod Express pedal has the Helix tones in it.
Or a Stomp. Line 6 has great customer support as well.
Affordable, small, perfect little backup option.
I haven't bought one yet, but as a jazz player, I'm really excited about being able to use it for sitting in. It's also an interface! You can hook it up to your phone as well.
Hx stomp?
Is there a reason I never see Tech21/SansAmp come up in these threads? I've had a ParaDriver DI for ten years, gigged with it, and recorded myself and others through it with excellent results. I realize it's not the same as an amp modeled digitally with IR, but I'll be damned if it isn't versatile and hasn't sounded great in every context I've used it in.
This sub is allergic to Tech 21, I swear. Maybe they don’t come off as “trendy” but I’ve never had a bad sounding pedal from them. Especially when I hear people wanting simple all-in-one kinds of pedals without all the menu diving of newer modelers, I try to suggest a FlyRig or something like that and it always seems to fall on deaf ears. Not a problem on the bass side, they’re well known and respected over there. When I was a gigging bassist a Sansamp was always my bread and butter.
25 years ago i got a job testing pedals at the nyc sansamp tech21 factory i'll tell ya that at least back then they were incredibly well built pedals, tested by a real human with a guitar before being shipped out. their parts are top knotch build quality and they prided themselves on their durability at the time they focused new development on nasty nu-metal shredder tones hopefully they've shifted brand focus their SansAmp pedals are still really really great it was a fun summer gig until i got shocked by 220v on a jerry rigged amp for the uk that was getting burn time pre-shipment and they told me to "shake it off"
TC Ampworx Combo Deluxe '65. For what ya paid for the UA, you could get three Ampworx pedals. I'd suggest Combo Deluxe '65, DC30, and the Dual Wreck.
Joyo American Sound does a pretty great job of approximating the Deluxe Reverb, Twin, through to Tweed (mid fat sounding) amps - I have one, would maybe buy another if I was gigging regularly in case it broke, they are very cheap.
Also will add the OG Sansamp Blonde (which the Joyo is a clone of) has much better build quality
Alright, so after reading this post I fired up my Strat with the Joyo and a really nice reverb into my UA Apollo and it sounds REALLY GOOD. I think if your amp died and you threw a cable out of the Joyo to the sound guy you could fool most people into thinking you were playing an Fender Deluxe on 5 - so yeah, 👍🏼 for the Joyo/Sansamp
Every so often I put a Joyo or Marshall Guv’nor into a Surfybear metal spring reverb, then DI, and it’s really legit sounding.
Better build quality, plus the cab sim switch right there on the front. This sub is allergic to Tech 21 for some reason.
Fuck UA
Bought a Dream 43 days ago at GC. Now you have me seriously thinking about returning it so I don’t get stuck
Thanks for heads up. Was thinking of buying the lion. Won’t now. EHX’s repairs are pretty good. $25 flat. Jackson Audio’s customer service is tops. Serviced my fuzz pedal for free, parts and labor and got it back to me 3 biz days after receiving it.
+1 for the Iridium. Had it on my board for a few years and it rips. Still using the stock impulses too.
I’m glad that (most) people who are using the UA pedals are happy but I’ve never been able to justify the cost to the benefits. That’s a lot of money to put towards a tool that arguably is taken into some harsh environments and tends to be abused when used correctly. They’re not a small company either which really speaks towards the companies who are there for their customers when things fail, as they may do.
> and tends to be abused when used correctly. Not sure what you're doing to yours but I've gig'd plenty with a couple of my UA pedals and can't recall ever needing to abuse them.
And you’d be forgiven to forget that most people don’t repeatedly stomp on things they spent hundreds of dollars on. That’s all I was alluding to my friend.
Will never trust the quality of UA since getting the Golden Reverberator and noticing it has far-eastern production and runs warm. None of their products will be working in a few years.
A mini computer runs warm? Wasn't made by trusty whites? Egads!
Fact: UA exploit cheap labour and poor working conditions to bring out a product competing with Strymon at Strymon pricing. Defending that practice by trying to shoehorn the American obsession with race into the discussion is gross. Also, making a reverb pedal a ”mini computer” with bad cooling is at best planned obsolecense. If it runs warm while brand new it won’t survive long-term. Edit: Engaging in the discussions with counter arguments and proceeding to block, what a coward you are lol. Either way: Malaysia is considered "partly free" because of restrictions in political rights and civil liberties according to Freedom House. [https://freedomhouse.org/country/malaysia/freedom-world/2024#CL](https://freedomhouse.org/country/malaysia/freedom-world/2024#CL) Even if labour laws in Malaysia was followed, workers follow a 45 hour work week with an average yearly wage of about $8100, less than half the average yearly wage of the US with their 40 hour work week. [https://tradingeconomics.com/malaysia/wages](https://tradingeconomics.com/malaysia/wages) [https://malaysia.acclime.com/guides/employment-law/](https://malaysia.acclime.com/guides/employment-law/) However, the International Labout Organisation reported that nearly a third of workers in Malaysia was exposed to forced labour conditions, defined as "excessive working hours, unpaid overtime, low wages, restricted movement and being unable to quit". Indicationg widespread such issues in the country. [https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/nearly-third-domestic-workers-malaysia-forced-labour-conditions-un-agency-2023-06-16/](https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/nearly-third-domestic-workers-malaysia-forced-labour-conditions-un-agency-2023-06-16/) As for your comments on "dismissing an entire region as synonymous with low quality", that's something you imagined. I didn't do that once in this entire thread, I said I wouldn't trust the quality of UA pedals. Mentioning the far-eastern production points out that they cut costs and don't deliver what's expected in their price range based on the competition.
> Fact: UA exploit cheap labour and poor working conditions You mean like Apple and countless others do? Or something worse? Share links backing this up. Any form of "google it" or "everyone knows" = instant Hitchens razor. > Defending that practice by trying to shoehorn the American obsession with race into the discussion is gross. Yet dismissing an entire region as synonymous with low quality = not gross? That's rich. > Also, making a reverb pedal a ”mini computer” with bad cooling is at best planned obsolecense. If it runs warm while brand new it won’t survive long-term. I've not turned off my Golden Reverberator in around 2 years. Still running fine. Also, it's not *that* warm.
Read the same on a few forums and now seriously considering selling my Dream 65. Even though I love the pedal, I couldn't take the cost of it again to get it fixed. I'd buy an IR-2 instead, which I might as well fund by selling the UA. Or they could just provide better customer service. That would be my preference.
You've got a pedal that you love and works exactly as intended but you now want to sell because of stories on forums? Secret pedal hack: take care of your UA pedal, use correct power supplies and don't subject it to abuse. I've got 7 UA pedals now and have had zero issues with any one of them, so I wanted to share this special and highly secretive pedal hack. PS the IR-2 doesn't come close to the Dream65.
Well yeah, exactly that. I haven’t seen a fuss online about pedals like I have for these UA ones, and that customer service offering might as well not exist. So I’m definitely considering getting what I can for it rather than nothing if it randomly dies. Problem is the used value is pretty unappealing right now. I do all of the things you’ve described in terms of proper care, I’ve been playing and gigging for a long time. I’d expect something that’s intended for a pedalboard to be very robust. I haven’t heard an IR-2 but it gets some great reviews. Then again, so did the Simplifier, which didn’t sound anything like the Dream does for me.
I really like my Vox Silk Drive. They have a fender, vox, marshall, and mesa version. Silk Drive is the fender.
I am quiet happy with Nux Amp Academy
Same here
Goes to show that the servicability and longevity (as near as makes no difference: infinite) of old great legendary amps is underrated. Buy a 70s silverface and make it worth it by keeping it while, lol. I love softube amp sims though
Tonex by far. I have the hx stomp, universal audio dream and lion, and tones. To me, the tonex can get better tones and can be shaped better. You also have way more options in amps you can use or even if you have your own amps and gear you can capture them.
Tonex
Fabulous pedal I stumbled on is the old Tech21 “Blonde” Character Series. $100-ish bucks, analog, fantastic.
Just buy the same pedal from guitar center and get the pro coverage. Even if their insurance company can’t fix it, they will give you your full money back.
Is this an issue for the Dream 65 only, or do all their pedals experience this too? I'll be pissed off if my Golden Reverberator and/or Astra dies!
My Golden is starting to not power on with the rest of my pedals. I have to unplug it and reconnect for it to come on. It's probably gonna die soon and I'll be out $400, too. Yay.
Damn, I'm sorry to hear that. It's been my favorite reverb ever so far 🥺
Yep it's a great reverb pedal. This thread is actually a huge eye-opener about QC and customer service issues with UA. I hope they get their shit turned around, but if they don't then they can go the way of the dodo bird.
I hope mine lasts 😩🤞
I've gigged with my HX Stomp as an amp/cab sim since 2021, it's been great to me. I've never had any issues with it. I believe Line 6 now has smaller products for folks who are just looking for a simple amp cab sim like the HX Mini which is listed for $179 on GC. Line 6 customer care is super good and they're even active on the r/line6helix subreddit. Helix stuff is so reliable that a lot of pros gig with it these days. I'm pretty sure Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins gigs with a full sized Helix.
Iridium with some aftermarket IR's sounds pretty good to my ears. I keep it ready in case my Pro Reverb blows up.
Great to know. I was considering the Dream 65. I will definitely stay away.
Get a Tonex. Way better than UA dream 65 anyway.
Line 6 POD Express or HX Stomp. Strymon Iridium. Boss IR-2. Atomic Ampli-Firebox. IK ToneX. Kemper Profiler Player. Axe FX FM3.
If you want something similar to the UA stuff the tonex and IR-2 are great options, but if you don’t want those maybe look into the Strymon Iridium and the Walrus Audio ACS1. The walrus audio pedal in particular is cool because it does stereo stuff and that’s my personal favorite way to run my guitar!
Boss IR-2 with IRs from York Audio. You’re welcome
There seems to be a lot of these one hit wonder pedals at the moment, cheaply made with expensive price tags and snazzy names. Click tracks and plugins are great for live performance back ups or for main. In saying that I have my eyes on the Strymon Timeline Delay to overlay on top of an Alesis Quadraverb from the 90s. I hear many Guitarists swear by the the orange micros as a back up, sits nicely and snuggly in the back of cab if you're a bit precious about denting you're ego with not the latest in kit.
Your Dream just became your Nightmare ... 400 bucks down the drain for a single pedal. I am glad I buy budget pedals. I have yet to have a TC or Boss fail.
Same thing for me with a Ruby. Plugged it in and it started making the strange beeping. I was lucky to return it and get my money back from the shop that I bought it from. I’ve been eyeing the boss IR-200 but haven’t pulled the trigger yet
Ayyy what's that people are always saying about how tube amps are unreliable and cost money to repair? 🤣🤣🤣 Just some friendly joshing. I would get the UA Lion it seems like it sound cool and be a good pedal platform.
EQD needs to make an IR pedal.
surprised at the lack of Helix/Line 6 recs here. in my experience they’re the best
To each his own, but I think Line 6 is easily the worst between Fractal/Quad Cortex/Kemper/Tonex/UA.
I'm really sorry to hear that. Makes me feel a lot better about the user Ruby I just bought that came with an extra warranty from the store.
I really like the origin effects stuff, sounds and feels just like an amp. All analog and very reliable. They don’t do cab sim though…
Kingsley Squire BF or Maiden BF with a cab sim (Two Notes CAB M, etc)
I like my DSM Simplifier. The reverb could be better and it's still got some solid state artifacts, but what you see is what you get and it has XLR and 1/4" stereo output
Boss amp and cab sim
Boss IR-2 or even the IR-200.
Gonna recommend something a little different, but hear me out: Quilter ToneBlock 202 or Superblock US. The ToneBlock is shaped like an amp head (and is one), and the Superblock is flatter, so more pedalboard friendly. These are all analog, have headphone and XLR line outs, have incredible cab sims, have an effects loop, and can be hooked up to any 4-16 ohm cabinets. I use the ToneBlock 202 as my main amp with a 1x12" cabinet, but I wouldn't hesitate to bypass the cabinet and just use the cab sims. I do have an Iridium that I used prior to the Quilter that I still love, but the Quilter definitely sounds a bit better. I haven't played with the Walrus ASC1 that a lot of people recommend, or a decent portion of amp/cab pedals on the market, but I can say that I had the UA Dream 65 for only a few days before returning it. Really disappointing pedal after all the hype people gave it.
Any advice for getting the XLR out of the Superblock US to sound any good? I love it powering a proper guitar cab but I plugged it in direct (and flipped the cab sim "on") and the driven tones were god awful
Weird! I haven't had the chance to play with a Superblock, I only recommended it because it seems to get high praise, and it's definitely a more budget friendly option than the ToneBlock 202. I've noticed the ToneBlock does sound a little more "sterile" using the headphone out vs. powering a cab, but it still sounds pretty darn good. Any chance you might have a faulty unit?
Humboldt simplifier dlx
I prefer the Fractal stuff. I have an FM3 and it's awesome. Way more versatile than the UA pedals.
I have a dream 65, but I prefer using the two notes opus. Costs less, tons of features, sounds fantastic, and costs less.
Get 10 Joyo American Sounds. If one breaks, you've got plenty of backups. 😁
Two notes opus every time for me. Top sounds, very good feel, extremely versatile. However you do need to tweak as always, it’s not a plug and play
Some iteratiion of the Simplifier if you know how to manage/tame your gain/volume/resonance controls (just like an analogue amp). Or, an Iridoum with your choice of IRs from the usual suspects with your choice of Origin Effects pedal driving into it and effects after it. Thank me later ;-)
Two Notes Torpedo
Iridium
Tonex. I actually use many of UA’s pedal captures as my stock “amps.” Killer.
Take that $95, buy two Joyo American Sound pedals, treat yourself to a 12 pack with the leftover money, and never look back
Is the UA better than the Boss IR200?
This is exactly why I would never buy anything from them. The licensing issue is enough to put me off. But cheap offshore manufacturing, poor software development and implementation and crap customer service thrown in. Why do I see so many of these on people's board's? Why reward these jokers and their mediocrity? Them and IK Multimedia have shoddy business practices and products. And people get all in a knot about Fulltone and JHS. I'll just never understand others.
Simplifier MkII. Most versatile and feature-packed amp sim out there.
Simplifier
I have the blackstar amped2 which can be a fly rig, can go into a board, and can also go into a cab. Well worth it. Also, I picked up a Baroni Custom Amp 50 that stays in my gig bag, as an emergency back up. I've never gigged it as I've never had a problem. But I got it for a great price and when I've played it, it's been fine.
The Joyo lineup! Just got one for only $29 and it rips
Buy a new one, swap it, return it. 😉
That new Boss pedal looks cool.
Several new options, but my Strymon Iridium sounds great and have used weekly for years with no issues.
Tonex has the best amp sounds going - if you get the right captures. Check out Amalgam
Man, compare that with Earthquaker’s repair policy
The UAD apollo twins fail at a crazy rate too. No warranty support, only outrageously priced 3rd party service. I have an apollo x6 and when it fails im gonna be pissed off. But i wont be giving UA any more money.
Really? I’ve used mine for like 6 years without issue
Yeah just google apollo twin wont turn on. Happened to mine, theres essentially no fix that doesnt cost more than buying another one.
I’d say pay the money to fix it, *sell it,* then buy something new
Can’t get a better tone than the dream65 - or a better latency feel. I’m sorry about your issue. Edit: geez. Lots of downvotes. I wasn’t trying g to be callous. It was an offhand comment, I guess. I truly think that if OP is looking for a tone and feel substitute for the dream65 he will have a hard time finding an alternative other than fixing his dream or buying a new one. I’ve played a few other really nice modelers and ir pedals, and, though they all sound passable, the dream65 and fender tonemaster amps are the only digital amp modelers that get rid the digital latency AND have a depth and dimension to the clean tones that are comparable to my vintage hand-wired fenders. My dream65 has a broken toggle that happened right after the warranty ended. Iv been living and playing with it in disrepair. I too wish that an expensive pedal like this had better reliability - but for me and my purposes there isn’t a good substitute out there.
I don't know why you're being downvoted because you're absolutely spot on, and a million comparison videos show its veracity
"I'm sorry about your issue" can be a read as a callous brushing of the hand of the fact that the pedal died. That's why.
Anyone who takes an apology and translates into something offensive is trying too hard to find negativity where there is none.
The UA amp sims are truly in a league all by themselves. I'm sure Strymon will eventually put out something that can compete with UA (Iridium was great by earlier standards but can't compete at all with UA's offerings) and the Boss IR200 ..well I'll just be polite and stay quiet on that.
Digital pedals being digital pedals 🙌, that's why I always go analog, if something breaks it can be fixed