Fryette Pittbull Ultralead II

[thegame]

This is the best short summary of the VHX I’ve heard. You all know I’m a huge Diezel fan and at one point or another I’ve owned almost their entire lineup, including my Blueface VH4. Because of that, I really expected the VHX to be a home run. On paper, it sounded perfect. All the Diezel amps in one head with modern features felt like a great idea.

But once I actually plugged in and started dialing it in, technology aside, the amp felt surprisingly one dimensional. The various modes and voicings that were meant to fundamentally change the character of the amp only seemed to make marginal differences. Everything lived in the same narrow tonal lane. It was also ultra-compressed, kind of "fuzzy" sounding, and generally lacked authority and punch. The amp simply felt flat and uninspiring to play. I was genuinely bummed.

Did it fit in the electronic recycling bin?

 

[Greazygeo]

Yep fair call. Is the matching cab just for looks, or is the something unique about them?

If you are asking about the Fryette Deliverence and Fatbottom cabs, they are different from standard Marshall cabs. The Deliverence cabs are quite different from the Fatbottom cabs. I don’t really like the Fatbottom cabs much, the Deliverence cabs are pretty great though. Especially liked the 2-12 cabs.

 

[PBGas]

Always a fan of rack gear! This is really cool. I just wonder how it can work with all of that heat in a 2U space?
Must have a great fan in it!

I'm waiting/hoping for an updated Bogner Fish at some point. I'd be in for that!

 

[the4thlast1]

Was just thinking about the situation and I don’t have too strong of an opinion either way. It sounds like most Fryette fans just wanted the Ultra Lead to be made again in the same format with some small tweaks or updates. Kinda like what Steve did with the Deliverance series? Just wondering what could have been done to the Ultra Lead to improve on it, it was already a three channel amp with lots of features. Why he stopped building them is odd in my opinion. For a long while the only amp they offered was the single channel Deliverance. Even the CLX wasn’t being built which was my fav out of all his amps.

 

[thegame]

Do you really think Fryette is going to release something that doesn't work or sound good?

 

[Kelly]

The cool thing is there are thousands of Ultra Lead heads out there - could always just buy one of those if you don't like the new one

There were about 500 total made.

 

[Greazygeo]

View attachment 430355

Never had a problem with them…sounded fine to me.

 

[espquade]

The amp has been in production since like 1992 - there are quite literally thousands of them out there


You guys are just way late to the party

Somebody is stock piling them then... as I hardly ever see one come up and as mentioned when they do show up the price is really inflated unfortunately ...

 

[espquade]

Was just thinking about the situation and I don’t have too strong of an opinion either way. It sounds like most Fryette fans just wanted the Ultra Lead to be made again in the same format with some small tweaks or updates. Kinda like what Steve did with the Deliverance series? Just wondering what could have been done to the Ultra Lead to improve on it, it was already a three channel amp with lots of features. Why he stopped building them is odd in my opinion. For a long while the only amp they offered was the single channel Deliverance. Even the CLX wasn’t being built which was my fav out of all his amps.

Only thing most people would have probably liked on the Ultralead was possibly a sweeter clean channel as it was a bit lackluster, or maybe a bit more gain on the crunch channel , but who are we kidding it was really all about the red gain channel anyway which was very unique and killer !

 

[Eazy-ESP]

There were about 500 total made.

How do you know this?

 

[Greazygeo]

Only thing most people would have probably liked on the Ultralead was possibly a sweeter clean channel as it was a bit lackluster, or maybe a bit more gain on the crunch channel , but who are we kidding it was really all about the red gain channel anyway which was very unique and killer !

Funny, I only used the second channel. Had evrything I needed. Even ordered mine with the eq and never used it.

 

[glpg80]

I’d argue you’re describing most guitar players. Guitar gear is one of the few product categories where innovation is often viewed with suspicion rather than excitement. You would never walk into a car dealership and ask for a modern recreation of a 1950s vehicle because the expectation is that newer cars are objectively better. Guitar players do not think that way. Many actively want things built the old way, even when modern manufacturing can produce instruments that are more consistent, more reliable, and often sound and play better.

Dave Friedman has talked about this at length. What he has learned over decades of amp building is that most players are not actually chasing innovation. They want familiar, classic tones with thoughtful refinements around the edges. That distinction matters.

Because of that, I remain skeptical that fully analog tube heads with embedded computers will ever see broad adoption. We have seen this play out before with products like the Diezel VHX. Once you introduce software, screens, and digital control into an amp, you are no longer competing only with other tube amps. You are competing with technology platforms.

By the time the VHX launched in 2020, Fractal, Kemper, and Line 6 had already defined the digital category. Compared to an Axe-FX, the VHX felt constrained from day one. A small screen, rotary encoder navigation, and no true computer-based interface made it feel dated almost immediately. Meanwhile, the Axe-FX offered deeper control, a far better user experience, and an entire ecosystem of amps, cabs, and workflows.

MIDI integration is as far as digital should go for analog amps IMO. IR and other features should be left for other products that are specialized in that feature. The more features you add to an analog amp the worse off your tone suffers. The circuits are dumb sensitive to just about anything.

If I were an amp builder today, I would focus on analog designs. Once you enter the technology race, you are dealing with disposable platforms that can be quickly outpaced. Classic analog amps age well. Tech products rarely do.

It takes considerable time to create something fresh from scratch someone hasn’t copied from someone else. There are very few innovators left. I consider Fryette an innovator.

I’d toyed an idea of a microcontroller controlled analog amp and the feedback I received is exactly as stated above - keep analog amps all analog and digital all digital. The all analog stuff is rode hard and still works. The second you add digital then they become fragile and much harder to debug a problem much further down the road.

 

[7704A]

The second you add digital then they become fragile and much harder to debug a problem much further down the road.

And God forbid you have to replace a toasted chip with proprietary, unavailable firmware on it.

 

[glpg80]

And God forbid you have to replace a toasted chip with proprietary, unavailable firmware on it.

*Stares at Lexicon PCM81*

 

[thegame]

Never had a problem with them…sounded fine to me.

I prefer my tone to be “incredible”, “exemplary”, or even “amazeballs” over just “fine”

 

[Rottweiler]

US can be put up in front of a war crimes tribunal for use of pal, bro and bud then.

Bruh...

 

[Eazy-ESP]

Bruh...

I’ve banned my kids from using this already. Don’t make me add you to the list.

 

[Kelly]

How do you know this?

The serial numbers are sequential. Also, from 2008-2017 the production runs were very small for the Pittbulls. They'd make about 20 every few years.

 

[mentoneman]

 

[rottingcorpse]

Somebody is stock piling them then.

My bad.

I would note that for myself, I like cranking the master on my ULs to noon and barely cracking the channel volumes. Get them KT88s cooking and BOOM! I don't seem to see a master volume on this rack setup. It's probably in the digital parameters.

I'd also add the Steve definitely knows what he's doing. I'm betting this new rack version is an absolute beast.