NAD: Peavey Ultra 60

[Bad.Seed]

I've been on the hunt for the old school teal stripe Ultra for a few months. I've had a few, always buy and sell them because they're so chead, but they end up being the first to go once I need to fund another purchase.

Here we are again, picked this one up off of fellow RT'er savant421. Showed up today in super clean condition! As of right now, I'm not sure if it's the room or the tubes, or even the cab, but it's a little quackier than I remember. Hard to balance out the mids and highs without making the amp sound muffled or overly bright, but this room tends to sound harsh.

Here's a little clip, recording with a sennheiser e609 doin the ol' lazy dangle mount.

 

[311boogieman]

I hate you.





Great bargain amps for sure. Precursor to the XXX right? Not as bright and harsh though? Sounds great to me. Tell me more about how you recorded this? Also, at 1:03 are switching to bridge pup only? Sounds better. If so what were you doing before? Neck? Both? OKTHXBAI

 

[MetalHeadMike]

Sounds mean as Phuck! Reminds of the Triple X tone from so many Exodus albums.

 

[Bad.Seed]

I hate you.





Great bargain amps for sure. Precursor to the XXX right? Not as bright and harsh though? Sounds great to me. Tell me more about how you recorded this? Also, at 1:03 are switching to bridge pup only? Sounds better. If so what were you doing before? Neck? Both? OKTHXBAI

Yessir, followed directly by the Ultra Plus, and then the XXX.

Truthfully, I find the XXX easier to control than the ultra. The Ultra can be a bit thin and boomy at the same time. It takes real careful EQ'ing to balance out.

Also, I was on the bridge pickup the whole time. I think the room was having an effect on the mic/preamp compression because there is definitely some volume/bass swelling going on here and there when I listen back.

I used the sennheiser e609 directly into the iRig Pre on my Samsung S10

 

[311boogieman]

OK. At 1:03 it looked like you did something different on guitar. Again - bad ass and nice riffing.

 

[Kordoba]

I hate you.





Great bargain amps for sure. Precursor to the XXX right? Not as bright and harsh though? Sounds great to me. Tell me more about how you recorded this? Also, at 1:03 are switching to bridge pup only? Sounds better. If so what were you doing before? Neck? Both? OKTHXBAI

Yessir, followed directly by the Ultra Plus, and then the XXX.

Truthfully, I find the XXX easier to control than the ultra. The Ultra can be a bit thin and boomy at the same time. It takes real careful EQ'ing to balance out.

Also, I was on the bridge pickup the whole time. I think the room was having an effect on the mic/preamp compression because there is definitely some volume/bass swelling going on here and there when I listen back.

I used the sennheiser e609 directly into the iRig Pre on my Samsung S10

It's definitely pumping, but I can hear through that and think it sounds killer. IMO the first gen Ultras have a mesa mark sound to them. Maybe sotosprince can get in here, I would like to hear what he thinks.

Regarding your iRig pre, do you have the newest version of the the pre or the discontinued one? The one listed on sweetwater is a a smaller/streamlined version of the broken unit I had a few years ago.

 

[Bad.Seed]

I hate you.





Great bargain amps for sure. Precursor to the XXX right? Not as bright and harsh though? Sounds great to me. Tell me more about how you recorded this? Also, at 1:03 are switching to bridge pup only? Sounds better. If so what were you doing before? Neck? Both? OKTHXBAI

Yessir, followed directly by the Ultra Plus, and then the XXX.

Truthfully, I find the XXX easier to control than the ultra. The Ultra can be a bit thin and boomy at the same time. It takes real careful EQ'ing to balance out.

Also, I was on the bridge pickup the whole time. I think the room was having an effect on the mic/preamp compression because there is definitely some volume/bass swelling going on here and there when I listen back.

I used the sennheiser e609 directly into the iRig Pre on my Samsung S10

It's definitely pumping, but I can hear through that and think it sounds killer. IMO the first gen Ultras have a mesa mark sound to them. Maybe sotosprince can get in here, I would like to hear what he thinks.

Regarding your iRig pre, do you have the newest version of the the pre or the discontinued one? The one listed on sweetwater is a a smaller/streamlined version of the broken unit I had a few years ago.

I would assume the newest version, I just bought it from GC new a week ago in store. Ha!

The cab was coupled to the floor and the floor under the cabs is completely hollow. Add to that, the room is square with noting in it but a computer desk and hardwood floors, so It's not the best room for recording. LOL

 

[Kordoba]

I hate you.





Great bargain amps for sure. Precursor to the XXX right? Not as bright and harsh though? Sounds great to me. Tell me more about how you recorded this? Also, at 1:03 are switching to bridge pup only? Sounds better. If so what were you doing before? Neck? Both? OKTHXBAI

Yessir, followed directly by the Ultra Plus, and then the XXX.

Truthfully, I find the XXX easier to control than the ultra. The Ultra can be a bit thin and boomy at the same time. It takes real careful EQ'ing to balance out.

Also, I was on the bridge pickup the whole time. I think the room was having an effect on the mic/preamp compression because there is definitely some volume/bass swelling going on here and there when I listen back.

I used the sennheiser e609 directly into the iRig Pre on my Samsung S10

It's definitely pumping, but I can hear through that and think it sounds killer. IMO the first gen Ultras have a mesa mark sound to them. Maybe sotosprince can get in here, I would like to hear what he thinks.

Regarding your iRig pre, do you have the newest version of the the pre or the discontinued one? The one listed on sweetwater is a a smaller/streamlined version of the broken unit I had a few years ago.

I would assume the newest version, I just bought it from GC new a week ago in store. Ha!

The cab was coupled to the floor and the floor under the cabs is completely hollow. Add to that, the room is square with noting in it but a computer desk and hardwood floors, so It's not the best room for recording. LOL

When I say pumping, it sounds like the iRig/phone is overwhelmed and trying to squash/limit the signal. Like in a DAW when the signal is too hot and the compressor/limiter plugins can't keep up with the hot levels they are being fed.

Anyway, thanks for the info on the iRig. I see the newest version is only around $40 so gonna order another one from Sweetwater just for shits n' tits.

 

[Bad.Seed]

I hate you.





Great bargain amps for sure. Precursor to the XXX right? Not as bright and harsh though? Sounds great to me. Tell me more about how you recorded this? Also, at 1:03 are switching to bridge pup only? Sounds better. If so what were you doing before? Neck? Both? OKTHXBAI

Yessir, followed directly by the Ultra Plus, and then the XXX.

Truthfully, I find the XXX easier to control than the ultra. The Ultra can be a bit thin and boomy at the same time. It takes real careful EQ'ing to balance out.

Also, I was on the bridge pickup the whole time. I think the room was having an effect on the mic/preamp compression because there is definitely some volume/bass swelling going on here and there when I listen back.

I used the sennheiser e609 directly into the iRig Pre on my Samsung S10

It's definitely pumping, but I can hear through that and think it sounds killer. IMO the first gen Ultras have a mesa mark sound to them. Maybe sotosprince can get in here, I would like to hear what he thinks.

Regarding your iRig pre, do you have the newest version of the the pre or the discontinued one? The one listed on sweetwater is a a smaller/streamlined version of the broken unit I had a few years ago.

I would assume the newest version, I just bought it from GC new a week ago in store. Ha!

The cab was coupled to the floor and the floor under the cabs is completely hollow. Add to that, the room is square with noting in it but a computer desk and hardwood floors, so It's not the best room for recording. LOL

When I say pumping, it sounds like the iRig/phone is overwhelmed and trying to squash/limit the signal. Like in a DAW when the signal is too hot and the compressor/limiter plugins can't keep up with the hot levels they are being fed.

Anyway, thanks for the info on the iRig. I see the newest version is only around $40 so gonna order another one from Sweetwater just for shits n' tits.

I knew what you meant! That's also what I meant by swelling. I think it was struggling handling the bass frequencies.

Honeslty man, I'm having so much fun with this thing! It works way better than I anticipated.

 

[Kordoba]

Thanks for the guidance on the iRig and the sweet clips!

Got iRig #2 on the way, lol. I don't want to hi-jack/shit on your thread, but if you want to hear my Ultra 60 click on the link in my sig and scroll down a bit, it's in there.

 

[ultimatemetalguitartones]

I hate you.





Great bargain amps for sure. Precursor to the XXX right? Not as bright and harsh though? Sounds great to me. Tell me more about how you recorded this? Also, at 1:03 are switching to bridge pup only? Sounds better. If so what were you doing before? Neck? Both? OKTHXBAI

Yessir, followed directly by the Ultra Plus, and then the XXX.

Truthfully, I find the XXX easier to control than the ultra. The Ultra can be a bit thin and boomy at the same time. It takes real careful EQ'ing to balance out.

Also, I was on the bridge pickup the whole time. I think the room was having an effect on the mic/preamp compression because there is definitely some volume/bass swelling going on here and there when I listen back.

I used the sennheiser e609 directly into the iRig Pre on my Samsung S10

It's definitely pumping, but I can hear through that and think it sounds killer. IMO the first gen Ultras have a mesa mark sound to them. Maybe sotosprince can get in here, I would like to hear what he thinks.

I'm here dude! I commented on his YouTube video! I love the ultra 60 and as an ex ultra plus owner I definitely agree. The 1st ultra series sounds a lot like a mark iii or sth. They have amazing note separation but not the same fast response. Having said that they are so easy to record. Let's hope they one day an ultra 60 will pop up in Europe!

 

[ErikT]

Dude you are killing it lately with NAD's and clips! Grats and great riffing bro!

 

[Bad.Seed]

Dude you are killing it lately with NAD's and clips! Grats and great riffing bro!

I've been on an amp buying binge after I sold off a lot of shit earlier this year! I just keep finding deals, can't say no

 

[Bad.Seed]

So, #1, pretty sure my iRig took a poop from me trying to run a mixer signal into it. Going to see if GC will exchange it tonight, because that little thing has been a godsend. Live and Learn?

Also, I swapped V1 and V2 preamp tubes out last night, and that definitely smoothed the amp out some. It has a couple chinese tubes in V1 and V2, and I think that was one of the reasons for the brightness. I typically don't care for JJ preamps in anything but a MArshall, but they fit the bill here. Darker and smoother, sounded better to my ears for sure than what was in it.

I did manage to catch this video last night when the iRig was working. Playing on the Ultra Channel with Ultra gain off, boosted with a Mesa Grid Slammer. Pulled out the ol' peavey butcher cab with K85's, always forget how good these cabs are! Also, the low end on the ultra is CRAZY punchy. I played my 5150 through the cab after the Ultra, and it didn't have near the low end push that the ultra did. The active eq really allows you to push some frequencies

 

[savant421]

Enjoy sir!

 

[Kordoba]

So, #1, pretty sure my iRig took a poop from me trying to run a mixer signal into it. Going to see if GC will exchange it tonight, because that little thing has been a godsend. Live and Learn?

Also, I swapped V1 and V2 preamp tubes out last night, and that definitely smoothed the amp out some. It has a couple chinese tubes in V1 and V2, and I think that was one of the reasons for the brightness. I typically don't care for JJ preamps in anything but a MArshall, but they fit the bill here. Darker and smoother, sounded better to my ears for sure than what was in it.

I did manage to catch this video last night when the iRig was working. Playing on the Ultra Channel with Ultra gain off, boosted with a Mesa Grid Slammer. Pulled out the ol' peavey butcher cab with K85's, always forget how good these cabs are! Also, the low end on the ultra is CRAZY punchy. I played my 5150 through the cab after the Ultra, and it didn't have near the low end push that the ultra did. The active eq really allows you to push some frequencies

We be burnin' thru Irigs like a hot knife thru butta!

 

[Kordoba]

Love it, and it reminds me of some of sotoprince's mark clips.