UA Dream and Ruby Versus Iridium and ACS1 - BLIND ABCD Test!
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- čas přidán 13. 07. 2024
- When the new Universal Audio Dream (Fender style) and Ruby (Vox Style) amp and cab simulators were recently released, I very quickly started hearing how they were the 'latest and greatest' in the world of pedalboard mounted amp simulators. "They sound SO GOOD" was the common phrase.
I was skeptical to say the least. I've heard this plenty of times before when new gear was released and have been disappointed many times in the past.
Today I'm joined by Tim, a good friend and Tone Guide. We had been talking at length about how the new UA gear would compare. After many weeks we figured we'd just do a test, on video, blind.
This video is the result of these many conversations and our thoughts.
No, this video is NOT sponsored by any companies. These are our honest thoughts and findings - however unofficial and impromptu. Use this as a starting point to form your own opinion. Don't take our word for it!
Video Content:
00:00 - Intro / What we're testing today
01:47 - Why use a cab sim and not a real amp?
05:49 - Our biases going into the video
09:13 - Fender style test and parameters
10:56 - Fender Audio 1
11:42 - Fender Audio 2
12:28 - Fender Audio 3
12:48 - Immediate thoughts on fender style sounds
13:46 - Tims guess for Fender
14:33 - Vox style test parameters
15:00 - Vox Audio 1
15:35 - Vox Audio 2
16:00 - Vox Audio 3
16:52 - Vox Audio 1
17:50 - Tims guesses for Vox
18:28 - Answers to the blind test
20:37 - Fender answers
23:43 - Vox answers
24:00 - Final thoughts on the contestants
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#universalaudio #ampsim #ampsimulator - Hudba
Thank for this great blind test! I was thinking to get the Dream and now I'm sold. It sounded SO good!
I know it’s like two years later, but I just discovered this channel after having gotten most of the UAFX amp pedals and loved the blind test. I actually guessed the dream and the ruby correctly…just because I own them. 😂 … but it was still cool to be able to guess correctly. The lead creator of these UAFX pedals put a ton of work and heart into it. I’ve watched several videos where he talks about the level of detail and the legwork they did for each individual amp, and it’s very impressive. A labor of love, I think. Will check out more of your videos. Really enjoyed this one!
We have to reconsider also on how the pedals are tweaked, finding the right settings makes a huge difference.
Absolutely; Pedal #2 was brighter and louder. He does not only not know Rob Chapman; also for sure does not have his ears, unfortunately.
This was a lot of fun to watch. I reckon a Dream is in my very very near future.
you and me both.
Great video. Very helpful. Thanks!
Got the dream two days ago, using it for studio recording and it’s quick and amazing
Great video guys. The headphone jack doesn’t matter. You can get a dual TS 1/4” to 1/8” TRS Jack for a couple dollars and plug headphones into the Ruby and Dream. UA has said you can do this and I do this with my Ruby often. Use the Master volume to control the overall headphone volume.
Interesting. This hasn’t worked well for me in the past on other units. Maybe UA has included some measure to deal with this correctly. Or maybe I was just doing it wrong haha. Good to know it works with these pedals. That Dream was a dream, but I doubt I’m going to be switching anytime soon.
This works, yes, but the volume output on the ‘65 Dream was wildly lower than is reasonable. It requires nearly cranking the master to get a usable volume. This was with Shure SE215’s and Sony MD705.
Thanks for doing this. I have an ACS 1 and was considering a Ruby. But may look into the Dream now. My reason to change would be if I can delete a drive pedal from my board. I actually run my ACS1 clean and always have 1 drive on. If the UA pedals have a 1st stage drive I like I could see changing it out. Otherwise I am happy with the ACS 1 when I don’t have an amp as an option.
Great Vid guys! Thanks for putting this together, any thoughts and rehashing this video with the 2.0 ACS1 update. They say it radically changed the tone and feel of the pedal
Ive heard that as well. I haven't spent any real time with the 2.0 update though... But I've only heard good things so far!
the stereo amp function on the ACS1 is awesome it really elevates the sound so much !!
a definite perk of that unit!
Yep the combo of stereo amp with Fender and Vox into headphones still makes ACS1 the winner for me, but would probably go the Dream if it had a headphone jack.
Great demo. Very helpful. Thanks
Thanks for checking out!
Yes they are. The UA modelers are storming the pedal world! I’ve converted 4 friends so far haha. From Kempers, stomp and acs1’s.
haha nice!
I did get everything right on guessing which is which, however having owned an ACS1 I have to say that the "getting smaller with overdrives in front" became much better after the firmware upgrades. Nevertheless I swapped it for the Dream and couldn’t be happier with the sounds I am able to get now. Really stunning pedal with lots of different sounds in it.
Good feedback. Thanks!
1- walrus eras 2- walrus iton 🐴 3- walrus mammoth 🦣
Tech 21 made one few weeks ago, but without inbuilt ir capability
Would love to see this with the new Simplifier mk2 in the mix if ya'll want to do it again some time. Great video!
ya, I need to include that one for sure!
Great review guys! I tried both the UA Ruby '63 and Dream '65 and felt they were the most convincing modelled amp tones I've tried to date, so authentic and truly amp-like - great pedals! However, I eventually sold them as I'm extremely happy with the ‘captures’ I’ve created of my Kingsley Constable, Jester v2 and Squire D tube preamps, in my Quad Cortex.
Nice! that's great to hear. Kingsley is amazing... big fan.
hey thanks for this comment! I have an hx stomp and I'm very close to sell it to get the Dream 65, do you think it's worth it ?
@@christianpacode6073 Whew, it's never advisable to tell someone what gear they should buy...there are so many variables to consider and tone is so subjective. Personally though and having owned a Helix I feel UAs amp modelling is the next level in this type of technology, it's easy to dial-in and sounds extremely close to the the amp circuit it's designed after. But, the Dream is only a Fender '65 DLXR amp model with Tremolo and Spring Reverb...the HX Stomp is many things. You should really consider what your exact pedalboard needs are and then design your tone(s)/effects the way that works best for you. I hope this helps!
@@777strat thanks a lot! Really appreciate it! I thought about what you said, but honestly i’m not even using more than 2 or 3 amps in the hx stomp and i’m having a hard times getting the tone i want, the worse is getting the sound to cut through the mix when i’m live, when everything is playing my sound get lost. I’m so frustrated at times i don’t feel like playing anymore. But i feel like the dream 65 will give me exactly the sound i’m looking for, especially live.
@Dave Davies 🤣🤣 right. I’m giving the hx stomp more time. Thanks a lot Dave!
Thanks for doing this. Curious did you use stock IR''s in the ASC1 and Iridium?
Everything was stock yes. As if you pulled all units straight out of the box.
I know it's been a year, but why didn't you guys throw the Woodrow in the mix/test? Do you have a separate review on that, or did you not prefer it at all? Thnx, Brent
honestly... didn't have one to test! We only had these two in the shop at the time. Still have never had a woodrow on a setup or had one come through for videos!
I recently sold my iridium to a friend, not because I didn’t like it, but so I could try the ACS1. UA sounds good, but I really like the option of different types of amps and wanted to try different amps left and right, and I definitely couldn’t afford 2 units. Additionally I need the headphone amp. This is absolutely 100% my only practicing tool. Someone suggested getting a 1/4” to 1/8” adapter. In my experience that doesn’t work. In the Iridium (haven’t confirmed with the ACS1) the headphone amp is an actual component that can amplify the sound for headphones. This is why it uses higher amperage while running with headphones. Trying to go out the standard ports with an adapter sounds very poor. I admit I could be doing it wrong. Anyway, on the fender test, I almost thought the UA was the iridium because of the amount of gain. The Vox I really had no idea between the three. I have to say though, on the Iridium and Fender I really loved the sounds I had on mine way more than what was played here. These seemed way more dark and muddy than how I set my pedals. I’m sure it was difficult to try to match but both of those pedals can be set to sound way nicer in my opinion. The dream sounded really nice, but I’m not planning on moving my ACS1 anytime soon.
There is a ton of beauty in simplicity
Hey! Thank you for doing the shoot out :D I’d like to run the Ruby and Dream in stereo with a stereo reverb pedal after, then into a DISO+. I’d like to reverse the polarity after the UA pedals. I’m just not sure how to do this. Is there a simple way to do this before it hits the reverb pedal? Thank you
Just watched your video on phase that was really helpful thank you. I’m looking into a dedicated single line phase inverter box now.
We've had a BUNCH of requests for this... We can do it in a custom junction (email me at info@goodwoodaudio.com if you want to chat more about this) but I think we'll need to come out with something in future that takes care of this issue for these two pedals.
@@GoodwoodAudio thank you!
Great video! Could you please tell me where you go the pedal stands from in the background? 👍
I printed them on my 3D printer. Just whipped up a quick design and made about 10 of them.
@@GoodwoodAudio they turned out really cool, nice 👍
great video, i need some advise. I have a Katana Artist and I want to do a WDW, using Katana as center and get a Dream UAFX for the effects amp. Can I run the stereo fx out of my stereo reverb into the Dream then stereo out the dream to a mixer. My Katana is also direct out to mixer as well. Any help would be greatly appreciated. If I was to purchase any needed switches it would be from you all as well.. FYI
You could do this, yes. I've run a very similar rig myself and the soundguy loved it. Sounded huge. Only thing you would want to do is run a dry split (with a mute to the dry amp / Katana). We make "Isolator TX" for this purpose. Then you run through your wet effects as normal - Dream (stereo is fine, yes) - Mixer. Now FOH and monitors can mix wet and dry independently! Big win for everyone. Does that make sense?
@@GoodwoodAudio I think so...I was planning using Isolator TX after my compressor and drive pedals. Split it from there. Dry Katana goes center then into mixer. The wet will start from Isolator TX out to my wet effects and stereo H9 and reverb then into stereo in of UAFX - then mixer . Right ?
Side note - I am wondering If UA is gonna make a Marshall type pedal next?You know people would be all over that LOL. Again, thank you for the advice. Let me know that is right? Thank you!
I agree 100%. When I got an ACS 1 I must have tried 100 IRs to get the few that I like. It’s the only rabbit hole I actually gave up on once I found a few I liked. I use the Vox clean in both sides with two different IRs. The fender and Marshall amps don’t do it for me and I have a 66 Princeton and have owned a Marshall JCM 800.
Very good thank you guys
They have different strengths foe sure. Solely based on sound the Dream and Ruby are unbelievable. The nail the tone, character and dynamics of the real thing. The ACS1 is pretty hard to beat in terms of functionality. Having the chance to use two amps at the same time is really neat and in a live band situation it's going to be hard to tell the difference. But I wouldn't use them for recording, while I would do that with the Dream or Ruby. It's a lot to consider when choosing one over the other. But yeah, think of how much of a gamechanger UA will be in a home recording situation. You can get that shure 57 mic'd amp sound in your flat without bothering the neighbours?! Crazy.
agreed...pretty impressive!
Thanks so much for that blind test. I'm looking for a pedal to run into a mixing board for my small home recording studio. So for that use the lack of a headphone jack is not a problem, I will use the board's jack. I've been considering the UA Dream. I was also looking at a Two Notes ReVolt Guitar Preamp Pedal. However, those are not available yet. The advantage of those are that they are a true preamp.
The two notes stuff is great as well! So many great products out there these days.
The Revolt is not getting high marks from a lot of people who have had the opportunity to use it.
@@BkBk-gy6vr I purchased both of them. The guitar version and the bass version. The Guitar one is way overloaded with treble and bite. It must have been like the SNL Cowbell skit in the development process with that. Someone kept yelling, treble, treble, we need more treble. I can manage it by pre-amping it with my Eden WTDI bass pre-amp. I use it as a compressor anyway. The bass version is better for guitar in my assessment and wonderful for bass. It doesn't have the treble problem the guitar ReVolt has. But overall I'm not as satisfied as I would have wanted to be with the two $400 distortion pedals. I have a Fender MTG Tube Distortion and I find myself going back to. It has a smoother, creamier distortion that I like. I would recommend the bass ReVolt for home recording. It brings my Danelectro 59 reissue bass to life using the clean channel. I also use it for guitar to get a nice tube-amp sound for direct to mixer DAW recording.
Recently did a a side by side with the iridium and the dream 65. Dream 65 does what they claim and does it well, but it’s a one trick pony. The iridium has more options, punch and easier to adjust. Both are great units but I ended up keeping the iridium and offing the dream 65.
Nice! Thanks for the feedback. Thats great to know. Were you using IR's for Iridium?
What were the settings on each pedal? Were they all set to noon, or were they set to try and sound close to the same beforehand.
We spent 30 seconds on each pedal (from memory, B-roll (where might SEE the settings) was done before any actual adjustments were made... The thought being, if you can't get a useable sound on a new pedal in 30 seconds to a minute, it's not an 'amp like' unit. Doesn't need to be 'perfect' but has to be something you can dial up quickly for a gig if needed.
@@GoodwoodAudio please expand on how you setup the Iridium because I can't even fathom how you made it sound that horrible
Listening through the Fender round currently. Although I'm late to the game im interested to play it! I guessed the same answers as Tim did before they came out of his mouth so 1-ACS 2-UA 3-Iridium for the Fender round!
1-ACS 2-Iridum 3-UA for the Vox round.
Wow, pretty amazing the differences here! thanks for this video yall. Very insightful! 👏🏾
@@tkASAP well done!
When I started playing there were no pedals. We would turn everything up on our amps to 10 for overdrive. Number 2 sounds incredibly close.
It was an interesting comparison. But you didn’t say which IR you were using from the pre-loaded options. And the IR selection is there on each of these because it makes a huge difference in the final tone. I have the Iridium and I have one “Favorite” that essentially is my sound. If I just switch the IR out to one of the other 2 options that come in the box, it’s no longer a sound that I like. So if you have a similar comparison in the future, let us guessers know at the end which IR you were using. That’s my request. But again it was very informative as-is. Cheers!
good feedback, thanks!
@@GoodwoodAudioyes, it would be good to do the comparisons with the exact same known great quality IRs. York, Ownhammer, etc. I’ve heard comparisons with Dream and Iridium with the same IRs and it completely changes things. Always hard when comparing 2 variables at once.
I use the dream for recording and it sounds amazing.
I noticed you had pancake plugs in the UA... would 4 of these fit for running in stereo? specifically the SquarePlug SP400
Yes, 4 SP400’s fit sideways on the UAFX pedals.
@@TimHeerebout awesome, thanks
I like the sound of acs1 best…even in blind test…this makes me happy as I own one 😅…I was ready to be disappointed! Anyway. Thanks for the comparison..it was well done and fun to watch/listen to.
It's even better with good IR's! The David Hislop tone matched AC30 IR is unreal.
Glad to hear it! Thanks for checking it out.
@@claytonmurrayguitar how can i get that ir's??
@@skylarmobis4681 google
Good ears! I played along and could pick out the UA units simply on the quality on the treble.
impressive!
I love the ab test. But I wish that you had done the fender emulations and completed that first, and then going into the vox section
good thought!
Makes you wonder if Strymon and Walrus Audio focused entirely on 1 specific amp based pedal, if they'd give UA more of a run for the money? 🤷♂️ This was a fun video!Thanks for sharing!
Good question!
I don’t think so. UAD has such a different philosophy to the whole “modeling” idea. They are digitally recreating the entire circuit of the hardware they emulate, and using r&d that’s partially funded by their partnerships with scholarly institutional research. Strymon afaik is just trying to make the best sounding digital pedals they can. It would be hard for them to compete with uad’s ethos without taking a totally new approach to their mission statement of their company.
@@adamallington4717 the smart way forward now is machine learning, the research papers and tools are already out there. I expect even the lower priced vendors like NUX to be delivering perfect captures of real amps in the next few years. The product differentiators are going to be features, design and ergonomics rather than tone.
@@flyondonnie9578 Yea, it will be more like a tweakable well done capture I think, soon.
I’m sure they would. They just tried to be all things to everyone.
I have never been able to make the Iridium Chime sound as horrible as it did here! What did you run it through a 4x10 fender cab? LOL!
What channel did you guys use on the Ruby?
Sorry, for some reason I wasn't notified of comments anymore. Honestly, it's been so long, I can't remember anymore!
Love the video! Kind of surprised by the take on the iridium. I have one and love mine. Super full and gainy and acts like an amp. Got to have solid IR's though.
I really like my Iridium as well... haha
I can make my Iridium sound way better than the way this Iridium was dialed-in. Idk why no knobs were twisted during this video, as I mentioned in my comment above.
@@gilguajardo7808 nice. Glad you like your Iridium. "Better" is a hard term to quantify which I think we mention in the video (been a while since I went through this vid). Thanks for checking it out.
@@GoodwoodAudio I’ve got Iridium and Ruby. I’d def be happy to have either on my board. Currently have the Iridium on there, because I love using the headphones out for rehearsing and dialing-in tones before a weekend, where I play tube amps.
When I got Ruby, I did my best to compare it to Iridium, which is hard to do with Ruby not using IR’s and Iridium not being able to use the Ruby speaker cabs. At some point I bypassed cabs on both and used Iconoclast to compare the amp models only. I wanna say I was able to get the tones pretty close to each other. So much so that I don’t have plans to sell either. But… Ruby took my treble booster like a real amp. 😳
@@gilguajardo7808 nice! glad to hear this!
Got the Ruby. And haven’t looked back at recording my guitars direct. Use an AC15hw1 live, and the Ruby gets me there
awesome! love it. I used it the other day... took me awhile to dial it in that day for one reason or another. But it's still one of my absolute favourites.
This is such great video, thank you guys! But for anyone using this video to decide how you'll purchase I would say that the sound you get from custom IR's on the Iridium and ACS1 are vastly different than the stock IR's. Just something to consider. For the money, you might be best off buying an ACS1 and running custom IR's, It's half the price considering it can run two amps per output where as the Strymon does one amp at a time and the UA only does one amp per pedal.
Hey Zechariah- Tim from the video here. Custom IR’s can definitely improve tone. However, they don’t really address the big advantages of the UA pedals - feel and response. See my comments on using OD pedals.
I can see Tims all over this. You are right - we did everything 'stock' right out of the box. No apps, no plugins, no extras. Even with IRs though, there is a big gap (in my opinion) on sound and feel still.
I'm not sure, but someone in another comment section mentioned that UA claims you can use the outputs on their pedals with a Y cable and run headphones that way.
Haven't heard that... Would be very curious to know if it's true though. I'd be surprised if it was / if you'd be able to get the level needed to do it.
I didn't see the answers of the blind test, but I'm sure 1-Acs, 2-Dream and 3-Iridium. 2 is the easiest because it's the only one of this pedals that breaks much earlier and like that. It was probably at noon btw. 3 is the Iridium, much less scooped than the others, because you actually need to turn the Mid knob all the way down to get a Blackface sound. It's on the manual, but nobody seems to know and do that. And 1 is Acs, I know very little about it, but sounded very good to my ears.
I have both the Dream and Iridium btw, and I think the Dream is another level of emulation.
Nice Gus. I have to admit - I also didn't know the Blackface tip. Thanks! Ya... Dream is pretty incredible eh. Very impressive.
will any of these guys pleeeeeeease make a Hiwatt model
ooohhhh good idea!!
Marshall first please!
No
Gilmour’s rig, my friend?
@@muusevic So many Marshall AIAB pedals already. One of the Iridium choices is Marshall. A quality Hiwatt emulation is sadly lacking. Actually a 70s Orange one would be nice too. Also a 60’s Ampeg guitar amp one or 50’s Gibson GA-20 or GA-40. I would like Fender brown emulations beyond just a deluxe, including Blonde and blackface Bassman heads. Crap the list just starts growing!
Was only interested in the Vox compare, guessed correctly. Have seen a sort of tribal thing in against UA. I've loved Strymon all along but would go with the Ruby Direct In with my Rickenbacker 325cv64. Would love to see a UA Ampeg w/Jensens and UA Hiwatt w/Fanes. The Fender I don't know. I once rented a Twin Reverb w/Altecs over one w/JBLs. I owned 3 Fender Showman heads with 15" Altecs but I didn't have much of an impression at the time.
Nice. Ya, Ruby is pretty good. Curious if UA will expand this line...
Would love to hear your thoughts on this after the ACS1's recent 2.0 firmware update.
me too! Still need to compare them! Too many good amp sim products to test these days.
I like the sound of the Dream, but consider its options utterly woeful. Primarily, I play bass and am using the Ampeg SGT- DI. Apart from two extra blendable inputs, and a headphone out - which are all great for practice, or can be used to run your own in ears from, I can run four different 1/4” outputs, one completely dry, one with the pre-amp but no IR and one with optional IR. It also has an XLR output with the option to run IR or not.
For instance, if playing a gig that is being recorded, I can send the amped as well as a dry signal to the board and still be able to run an FRFR, a slaved amp, or my own IEM on stage.
The Dream/Ruby allow the user to send one signal to the desk and then put up with whatever signal the desk sends back through whatever monitors the place has (if they have any).
Coudl someone elighten me as i'm kind of new to all these things. If i'm getting rid of my amp and have a Dream or Iridium at the end of my pedalboard, would i be able to go let's say to friends who have a receiver, either stereo or mono and connect my pedalboard to that receiver? And what if i would still want to use my amp, do i bypass the pedal or can i also use the amppedal to create a diiferent sound to my amp?
What’s a receiver? And you would usually turn off or bypass the pedal if you were going to use your real amp.
@@1717jaydog well i mean, let's say you have vinyl turntable, it needs a receiver, like the Teufel Kombo 62 which a friend of mine has. He has with that a speaker left and right for his vinyl. Does it mean i can connect my pedalboard via a iridium and have the sound come of the speakers? He has a Teufel Kombo 62 . Info much appreciated!
cool video... ruby and dream are awesome pedals. very tube like feeling! the dream is a bit more flexible and the perfect pedal platform...
ya... I liked it more than I thought I would. Such a great unit.
@@GoodwoodAudio cool 😎 hope uafx make a plexi next ...that would be awesome! 😉
The ACS1 can also run 2 amps in stereo the Dream can’t so if you sold the ACS1 to buy a Dream you lose half the capability. I use the Walrus live with my pedal board in front and it can sound huge, I’ve never experienced it sounding smaller I think you need to spend more time with it I also use aftermarket IR’s so maybe that’s a factor. Mostly I use a tube amp but some gigs are either limited space or the volume needs to be easily controlled so I went for the Walrus. No complaints from me and I’m a long time tube amp guy.
I own iridium, ruby, dream, helix and quad cortex. And I think the ruby and dream are the best. A bit more dynamic, if i had to just pick one then the dream is my favourite as is the real deluxe reverb amp my favourite amp.
good to know. I get so much mixed feedback. Always good to hear from people that have tried a huge range / own a huge range and have put the time in.
This is good to hear. I’m trying to choose between these exact options, and I’m leaning heavily toward getting both the ruby and the dream and calling it a day until someone makes a JC-120 pedal.
what audio interface is used?
Scarlett
I do not own any of these pedals (yet), but do own a Pod Go. I liked #1 best, #3 was close.
I do not own any of these pedals (yet), but do own a Pod Go. I liked #2 best.
Let's be honest here. The spring reverb makes the dream super easy to get.
haha. ya... i did enjoy that.
It was a total giveaway for sure
Ye he dropped the ball there 🤣
It’s why the iridium sounded flat . Not a fair comparison 😔
@@markandclairethomas2062 eh I own both and the iridium sounds pretty lifeless in comparison
I´m a longtime UA fanboy. but please do a tonex shootout
This is pretty compelling. I think the one other benefit besides MIDI and a headphone jack is the ability to mix and match two amp types with one unit. To do the Twin + AC30 sound in stereo, if I’m understanding correctly, you’d have to buy a Dream and a Ruby, making it more like $800 to get “that sound.” So even though it does stereo, the cost is 2x the Iridium or ACS1 if that blended sound is what you want to play with.
Not that it’s not worth it. To each their own. For me, I’m happy with stock amps and cabs in my HX Stomp as my amp sims (at least until I hear one of these other options for myself and it ruins me forever!).
very true. This comes up alot... 'what about dual amps', but from my personal experience... I'd much rather have one 'amp' in 'stereo' that sounds awesome / inspires me to play than 2 amps that don't - I'm exaggerating a bit here, but that last few percent of 'sounding more lifelike' is worth A LOT! Even with real tube amps it's the same... I'd rather have a mono amp that I'm in love with than 2 amps I can use in stereo that sound pretty good.
You can blend the amp sounds on iridium??
I might be the minority here but I never liked the low end on UA amp plugins which I own many, Buxom Betty, Silver Jubilee, Fuchs etc and can hear that same quality in the UAFX pedal amps. I was surprised to liked the Walrus better than the Iridium which I owned before.
I've never used the plugins from UA so can't speak there... I was also surprised to like the ACS1 more than Iridium... I really wanted Iridium to win, but I couldn't quite get there. Although - no IRs were used, but stock out of the box...no competition.
What about the Orange Terror Stamp? It actually has a tube preamp inside it…. Has effects loop and cab sim and speaker out…
good question. I dont have much experience with it...have tried it quickly and it wasn't for me, but to be fair I didn't go that in depth with it.
Was it too hard to set the gain levels the same?? Damn
Have you guys checked out Boss IR 200?
Not yet! I need to. Any good?
@@GoodwoodAudioboss needs tweaking. I just don t hear huge differences between the current generation of sim pedals. The difference between hearing a fender deluxe in a room and a pedal through monitors will always be big. But the difference in sound QUALITY between hearing a miked up deluxe through monitors and this generation of pedal through the same monitors is very small.
I guessed the UAs only because I’ve read a complaint in a review that the Dream is alway too gainy and can’t get clean. And here the second sample was obviously gainier and than the others. And once I heard the UA in the first round, it was fairly easier to hear the same qualities in the second round.
Need to revisit this with the new ACS1 2.0 firmware update.
agreed!
Fender: don't know 1 and 3, thinking 2 was UA. Vox: 1 was UA. The dynamic thing I felt was there was more ... chest, more low end punch. Let's see how those guesses ended up ...
nice!
Now Strymon should come up with new Iridium 2.0 firmware. :)
imagine!
I guessed the UA in both tests correctly as well but was swapped for the Iridium and ACS1. The Fender is definitely a bit dull on the Iridium, having owned it for awhile. Now I’m in Fractal land and couldn’t be happier, HOWEVER, I can’t help but be intrigued about UA! I wish there could be a Fractal vs UA comparison where the UA has an IR loader after and is using the same as the Fractal to test feel and response.
I haven't spent any significant time with Fractal. would love to... one day! Glad you're happy with it though.
UA is WAY BETTER than Fractal. Glad I sold my Fractal and went UA such better high quality sound. No owners yelling you either like with fractal.
Why not set them all up to sound equally good? It’s definitely possible which makes me wonder why leave some of them sounding so flat and dull…?
We essentially set gain, kept the EQ's fairly equal - although adjust them slightly to suit - and that's it. We could have done EQ after the fact (in post) but with a treated amp (like the mic'd amps these are emulating) seems a bit unfair but an argument could be made either way. We tried to do as little as possible to ALL amp and cab sims and let them speak for themselves as much as we could... But I see your point. We went for "If your headphones were plugged into the pedal for practice - what would you hear... This is close to that approach. Not sure if I'm completely making sense...hopefully.
No love for the Woodrow and it’s my favorite. I’m certain it will be the least sold but cleaner with a 4x12 with nice pedals in the front…it is amazing.
Not disagreeing... we just didn't have one! haha. Looking forward to playing it one day.
I know Brian Wahl is a huge fan of the HX Stomp, but he's talking about these too... How do you guys think it stacks up against that?
I haven't gone nuts on aftermarket IR's which HX is great with. So I can't give a fair opinion here if that is in the equation. If we're talking stock products, UA wins BUT HX is very good even stock with incredible flexibility. If you're talking IRs on HX against stock UAFX... tough one. I honestly don't know!
maybe theres another blind AB test in our future?
I would be very keen to see that!
Man.. I hate that I bought an ACS1 a couple of months before the UA pedals came out.. saying that the ACS1 was really good. I do find it hard to work with drive pedals
it's the way of the industry isn't it? Buy a great piece of gear... and then the next piece gets released.
I thought 1 was Iridium because it sounded flat, 2 the dream, 3 acs, I thought the 3rd sounded best to my ears
My guesses: Fender Round - ACS1, Dream, Iridium. Vox Round - Iridium, Ruby, ACS1
I was disappointed you didn’t spend more time trying to get the pedals in their sweet spot with the same tone . You can get the Iridium to sound a lot better than this comparing it to the dream .
Starting with the dream overdriven sort of spoilt that initial test for me 😔
Totally agree... We could have spent more time on each pedal. It was tricky... we were trying NOT to get used to each pedal before the video so it would be harder to blindly pick each one (not used to them as much this way) but there definitely are improvements to make to the approach next time. Thanks for watching!
anyone can help me where to buy ir's???
Check out www.davidhislop.co/impulse-responses
Would you run a dream or a Ruby directly into an amp with no fx loop and if not, why not?
I wouldn't, no. Mainly because the Dream/Ruby are designed to EQ/simulate an amp... so you're running something that should sound like an amp into an amp (including the speaker / IR emulation). I think you'd get some odd results. Not saying you wouldn't find anything useable, just that your EQ is going to sound ... interesting to say the least.
@@GoodwoodAudio I have a Syrincs speaker which I use for my eDrums, would that be the best thing to use or do I need something else like another amp?
@@LysanderLH in theory it will carry the sound assuming you have the correct load (4ohm or 8ohm or 16ohm cab)... But it probably won't sound as good as a cab / speaker designed for guitar.
@@GoodwoodAudio i just recieved the Ruby today, plugged it into the Syrics, unplugged it, put it back in the box and asked for a refund. It was definitely not right for me. The person i spoke to regarding the Ruby suggested a Line 6 Hx Stomp XL and i’m inclined to agree.
@@LysanderLH interesting! good to know. sorry to hear that though.. a bit frustrating. HX stomp is also very good.
I think how you use these pedals, will decide what you like. If you are going to only use these pedals alone, then the Dream or Ruby have a leg up. However, on a decent pedalboard, it does not matter, I have great modulations, reverbs and tone sculpting options that levels the playing field.
Nice. Other gear definitely does make a difference.
Simple answer with the iridium is to update the IRs with modern York Audio offerings. IMHO, the ones offered in the iridium are okay, but not in the same class as YA.
not the first time I've heard this! NEed to check those out.
Missing from the UA pedals are Effects loops. What's up with that? Balanced audio out would be a great value add too, especially for the price.
For amp / cab sims... it's arguably less of an issue not having an FX loop since you can place them right after dry effects. But I do see your point if you wanted control over pre and post wet effects... However, I think the biggest thing to consider here is just if you want the amp / cab sim placed pre-wet or post since that's really what the FX loop in a tube amp is allowing.
I feel like the Simplifier has the best FEATURES (XLR stereo out, headphone jack, aux input, fx loop) but worst sounds unfortunately. That being said, I just ordered my dream 65 today.
agree!
After a Kemper, I have owned the Iridium, the DLX Simplifier, and the ‘Dream’65. After hours and hours of tweaking (home studio use) , to my ears all of them definitely sound terrible, in terms of tone and dynamics, as compared with my small Fender amps (‘63 Princeton and ‘59 Vibrolux ).
Is it just me? Maybe the UA pedals spound good and have an amp-like response, but I don't think either of them sound like an actual mic'd Deluxe Reverb or Vox AC30.
Tricky to say...there are so many variables... The way I recorded them for one, but also - what's your take on a Deluxe Reverb and AC30 (rhetorical)... What mics, room, era, guitar etc... Hard to put 'one' sound on those amps.
Guesses:
Fender round:
1: Iridium
2: Dream
3: ACS1
Vox Round:
1:Ruby
2:ACS1
3:Iridium
Too bad you didn’t consider to test the all-analogue Deluxe 61 from Origin effects.
It all hinges on what we have access to unfortunately! Agreed...lot's of other options we could have put here. These are the ones we come across the most though / have access to in the shop.
The test is a little obsolete since the V2 firmware update on the ACS1 came out late 2023. The ACS1 was just ok until then but it has completely changed the pedal. UA has done a fantastic job, but people shouldn’t be making any decisions on the ACS1 based on this shootout anymore.
agreed!
I don’t really get the Iridium dislike. I mean, ever since it came out, it was praised as being an awesome pedal. I see it on tons of boards. Even when the Walrus Audio pedal came out, most people favoured the Iridium. Now the UAFX line comes out and all of a sudden the Iridium is crap? I feel like a lot of the flat character you are hearing on the Iridium in this demo is down to simply tweaking the eq.
fair. I don't think the Iridium is crap by any means... it's just when you hear it against the UA stuff, it highlights how much more life / feel the UA pedals have. Before they existed, that comparison wasn't available. But I still would 100% agree that if you love your Iridium, it's a great pedal! This is all just based on opinion at the end of the day... what an individual 'likes' more than something else...
I use a Mark V at church. I’ve yet to work with a sound man who good enough to run in ears and if i’m using a wedge i might as well use an amp.
If a sound man can’t handle what amounts to me changing channels on my amp, he shouldn’t be running sound. Being limited to one base tone is ridiculous.
Do you only play at church?
I still prefer running amps whenever possible as well, but in ears are definitely one of the big perks to it... means I can put my amp in an iso room and crank it. Running an amp on stage (quietly) really is tricky with getting as much out of it as possible.
I don't really play anywhere at the moment! ha. It's rare these days. Getting the itch to play more again though.
@@GoodwoodAudio I'd be willing to try in ears at my current church. The regular sound man has a degree from Full sail and has a solid understanding of sound. I use the 4 cable method with an HX FX, and my amp has a footswitch with an 8-pin din. My base tones all come from the preamp of the Mark V. Thankfully, I don't have to crank it to get a decent tone. That is a lot of cabling to run into an iso room off stage. It might be better to run a reactive load and IRs. It would be nice to not be concerned with my volume. When I play bass, it's easier to worship. My only concerns are hitting the right note and following the kick drum.
I want to start a more hard rock worship team that does special events. I'm praying the right people will come along. There are not a lot of Christian musicians in the small town I live in.
So I’m 14:26 into this video, Grant, and I’m bummed that y’all didn’t turn any knobs on the pedals. Why wouldn’t y’all try to get the best tone out of each of them, and then compare. Like, ya know… dial them in the way you would want to play them. Each of them. Then compare. Or, if #2 sounded best to your pastor, then try match that tone on the other 2 pedals.
we started by finding the best sound on each (before the vid) and then did an AB test... We were trying to keep the video as brief as possible, but will definitely keep this in mind for future!
@@GoodwoodAudio You can get better tones out of that Iridium, Grant. I believe in you! :)
guesses:
fender: iridium, dream, acs1
vox: ruby, acs1, iridium
nice! From memory (been a while now) I think you nailed it?!
It’s a shame that the gain and reverb on all three were not set the same, I felt like it was a bit of a large hint to anyone who has used all three.
fair call! noted.
Yes it was obvious he knew once that much gain (good usable gain) was available. Lol
A Matchless HotBox might have more color than the Ruby. Hard to Tell.
I've always wanted to get some time with one. Almost pulled the trigger a couple years ago but couldn't quite justify it. Do you have one? Worth the $?
Would love you guys compare those pedals to Neuraldsp's Tone King plugin, I guess it'd surpass all of them. It's not a pedal though.
thats the trick eh... where to draw the line. This one was pedalboard friendly units, but I'd be curious if we took off all restrictions as well... who does the most amp-like modeller...
Thanks for the effort but why not tweak the pedals a bit more, just plugging in and saying one is better or worse does not really seem a worthy comparison. I think it also worth pointing out the price point difference you’re getting a number of amps in one with the Iridium and acs-1. The midi is also a big plus, it can be used for subtly changes not a negative at all.
fair points! The goal with these was really to give them each 45ish seconds to dial in a sound out of the box rather than spending hours trying to find it... Essentially how good are they in the first few minutes. Totally understand / agree there is a spot for spending lots of time dialling them in, but really wanted a 'first impression' type idea on these... like I would normally give a real amp. If it doesn't sound good in the first few minutes, I'm moving on to the next one.
@@GoodwoodAudio Ah that makes sense, sry I should have read the comments as you have clearly pointed this out previously! Thanks again for the video, I enjoyed it 👍
Fender:
1. Iridium
2. Dream
3. Acs1
Vox:
1. Ruby
2. Iridium
3. Acs1
Rob Chapman also looks.
Fender round / Iridium - Acs1 - Dream
Vox round / Acs1 - Ruby - Iridium
how'd you do?
It's been a while now I can't actually remember the answers...
@Dave Davies haha. I got to respectfully bow out on this since I was turning everything on / off... I'd like to think I'd get them all right, but I have a feeling I'd fall short of my expectations.
Anyone of these units can sound bad or good. Iridium can hang with anything else with a quality IR. And the UA still has no Marshall model
nice. Ya, we kept everything 'stock'... Still baffles me how aftermarket IR's can sound so much better than the company that spent so much time and money developing the product in the first place...
Why dedicated headphone jack? Can't you simply put the headphones in the regular out?
typically you'd need speciality cables and the output will often not have enough power / not matched for headphones. Doesn't mean you won't hear signal, but its far from optimal.
@@GoodwoodAudio ok
Fender : same as Tim
Fender round; iridium, dream, acs1
Nice! What was your favourite?