Opinions on the Peavey Ultra plus vs Triple xxx

[ultimatemetalguitartones]

I 've been looking for an amp to keep company to my mark III blue stripe! I ve found some good deals on a triple xxx and the older peavey ultra plus. Opinions? Unfortunately these are not sold locally so I can't try em. Thx!

 

[apophis]

Go ultra plus. More warmth and crunch channel kills.

 

[crankyrayhanky]

My bandmate had a XXX in the beginning to mid 00s
The amp sounded killer live and in the studio- nice and thick
Weird thing though, when I played it, I didn't like it, only liked when others played it (?)

I had Ultra Plus for a few years in the early 10s. I loved that amp! Put eq with a slight mid cut in the loop and hit a OD boost in front and it was unbelievably good. I wish I kept that amp! On a side note, that amp is obe of the very few that could not be profiled by Kemper (verified by CK himself). Also, note that there was a Mesa mkiv vs Ultra Plus video out there somewhere that highlighted how close the amps could get in tone.

Either amp should be a screaming value

 

[ultimatemetalguitartones]

My bandmate had a XXX in the beginning to mid 00s
The amp sounded killer live and in the studio- nice and thick
Weird thing though, when I played it, I didn't like it, only liked when others played it (?)

I had Ultra Plus for a few years in the early 10s. I loved that amp! Put eq with a slight mid cut in the loop and hit a OD boost in front and it was unbelievably good. I wish I kept that amp! On a side note, that amp is obe of the very few that could not be profiled by Kemper (verified by CK himself). Also, note that there was a Mesa mkiv vs Ultra Plus video out there somewhere that highlighted how close the amps could get in tone.

Either amp should be a screaming value

Thx a lot for the detailed answer! I can't seem to find this video! Let me know if you can find it because I would be really interested in listening to it! As a matter of fact I was reading some reviews and two guys claimed that it had that old mark voicing!

 

[ultimatemetalguitartones]

Go ultra plus. More warmth and crunch channel kills.

Thx man!

 

[Kagami]

I owned an Ultra Plus for several years and it is a nice amp but it doesn't have presence or resonance knobs like the triple does (it has a 3-way resonance switch) but I never owned one of those so I couldn't do a direct comparison. I kept mine in the tight setting and just cranked up the treble a bit. Downside is you can't switch channels w/o the footswitch.

 

[ultimatemetalguitartones]

I owned an Ultra Plus for several years and it is a nice amp but it doesn't have presence or resonance knobs like the triple does (it has a 3-way resonance switch) but I never owned one of those so I couldn't do a direct comparison. I kept mine in the tight setting and just cranked up the treble a bit. Downside is you can't switch channels w/o the footswitch.

Thx for the input! The one I've been eyeing comes with the original footswitch!

 

[crankyrayhanky]

Ok, that Mark IV comparison video is gone. I found the remains of it in this thread, which has some good Ultra chat as well as a link to Fluff's video. Fluff recommneded to me to get all EH glass and that turned out really well as I recall.
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=131132&p=1523030&hilit=peavey+ultra#p1523030

Yes, this amp may be "the one that got away" for me.
I used it for the solos in this video here at 0:07, 2:40, and 3:49 (I'm wearing the Eagles jersey). Probably used a single 57. Probably one of my better lead tones:

 

[ultimatemetalguitartones]

Ok, that Mark IV comparison video is gone. I found the remains of it in this thread, which has some good Ultra chat as well as a link to Fluff's video. Fluff recommneded to me to get all EH glass and that turned out really well as I recall.
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=131132&p=1523030&hilit=peavey+ultra#p1523030

Yes, this amp may be "the one that got away" for me.
I used it for the solos in this video here at 0:07, 2:40, and 3:49 (I'm wearing the Eagles jersey). Probably used a single 57. Probably one of my better lead tones:

No shit! I was literally looking up on the Internet and I ended up watching ur video just some minutes ago! lol Cool video dude! Fluff's video sounds so freaking tight and ballsy! I think this amp would would compliment my mark III really nicely!

 

[crankyrayhanky]

Thanks yo! We had a blast doing it. We did a few of them back then, I can't believe it's been 8 years, I need to cook up another internet jam soon.

 

[ultimatemetalguitartones]

Thanks yo! We had a blast doing it. We did a few of them back then, I can't believe it's been 8 years, I need to cook up another internet jam soon.

You should definitely do that!

 

[JSutter]

I had a XXX, then an Ultra Plus. I played them side by side for a bit then sold the XXX. For reasons I don't remember I preferred the Ultra. We were playing Trivium and KSE type stuff at the time. I sold the Ultra and bought a Mark V. I ended up missing the Peaveys so I got a JSX.

They are all in the same ball park (3120 and XXX II as well).

 

[Inearthed]

I used to own an Ultra Plus, it sounded great when it worked. Issues I had with it were the color changing logo could get unplugged too easily (just from moving around, the amp heating up, playing at loud volumes) which would cause issues. Also, might get flamed for this but there was also a very slight amount of latency when changing channels on the amp via the footswitch --- yes I am serious. I used it in a band where we went from high gain to clean throughout songs and there was a delay. Enough that it was annoying. Maybe mine had a gremlin but those were my main problems with it. Ended up selling it and switching back to a 5150 after fighting with it for a year or two.

Definitely was warmer / smoother than the XXX / JSX but the XXX / JSX cut through a mix better.

 

[Shask]

They are very similar, but they took the Ultra+ and fuzzed it up to give it more of the Recto tone that was popular at the time. The Ultra+ is a little clearer and smoother, more like a Mark series, where the XXX is a little more saturated and fuzzy, more like a Recto series. However, when I say that, they are not as dramatically different as those 2 mesa amps. They are basically the same base design tweaked in slightly different directions.

 

[Shask]

My bandmate had a XXX in the beginning to mid 00s
The amp sounded killer live and in the studio- nice and thick
Weird thing though, when I played it, I didn't like it, only liked when others played it (?)

I had Ultra Plus for a few years in the early 10s. I loved that amp! Put eq with a slight mid cut in the loop and hit a OD boost in front and it was unbelievably good. I wish I kept that amp! On a side note, that amp is obe of the very few that could not be profiled by Kemper (verified by CK himself). Also, note that there was a Mesa mkiv vs Ultra Plus video out there somewhere that highlighted how close the amps could get in tone.

Either amp should be a screaming value

I wonder why they cannot profile them. They are a full tube audio path, so that is weird.

 

[Shask]

I owned an Ultra Plus for several years and it is a nice amp but it doesn't have presence or resonance knobs like the triple does (it has a 3-way resonance switch) but I never owned one of those so I couldn't do a direct comparison. I kept mine in the tight setting and just cranked up the treble a bit. Downside is you can't switch channels w/o the footswitch.

The XXX has the tight/med/loose switch also. I like it best on loose. It is still pretty tight on that setting, but has a little bit more of that 5150 chug in that setting. The XXX also has a channel switch on the front panel. That is what I use, but I plan on building a footswich for it one day.

The JSX is the one with the res/pres controls. It also has an adjustable noise gate. The XXX and Ultra+ have the gate built in to the stock sound.

 

[crankyrayhanky]

My bandmate had a XXX in the beginning to mid 00s
The amp sounded killer live and in the studio- nice and thick
Weird thing though, when I played it, I didn't like it, only liked when others played it (?)

I had Ultra Plus for a few years in the early 10s. I loved that amp! Put eq with a slight mid cut in the loop and hit a OD boost in front and it was unbelievably good. I wish I kept that amp! On a side note, that amp is obe of the very few that could not be profiled by Kemper (verified by CK himself). Also, note that there was a Mesa mkiv vs Ultra Plus video out there somewhere that highlighted how close the amps could get in tone.

Either amp should be a screaming value

I wonder why they cannot profile them. They are a full tube audio path, so that is weird.

This was a while ago, but I think it was reading it as if a gate was into the circuit (Ultra Plus). Is it possible that there some kind of real gentle gate built into it? IDK, either way, those profiles came out like garbage

 

[ultimatemetalguitartones]

Thank you everyone! Some really interesting info! I think I'm leaning towards the plus! The seller is gonna send me a video tomorrow.

 

[Shask]

My bandmate had a XXX in the beginning to mid 00s
The amp sounded killer live and in the studio- nice and thick
Weird thing though, when I played it, I didn't like it, only liked when others played it (?)

I had Ultra Plus for a few years in the early 10s. I loved that amp! Put eq with a slight mid cut in the loop and hit a OD boost in front and it was unbelievably good. I wish I kept that amp! On a side note, that amp is obe of the very few that could not be profiled by Kemper (verified by CK himself). Also, note that there was a Mesa mkiv vs Ultra Plus video out there somewhere that highlighted how close the amps could get in tone.

Either amp should be a screaming value

I wonder why they cannot profile them. They are a full tube audio path, so that is weird.

This was a while ago, but I think it was reading it as if a gate was into the circuit (Ultra Plus). Is it possible that there some kind of real gentle gate built into it? IDK, either way, those profiles came out like garbage

I could see that. The Ultra+, XXX, Rockmaster Preamp, JSX, etc.... all have a "coring circuit" in them. It is basically a very primitive noise gate circuit that is basically 2 parallel diodes in the circuit path after the 3rd gain stage if I remember correctly. The JSX has it also, but has a pot in parallel with it as a mix control. Its not really a gate, but it cuts out small signals like hiss. I wonder if that circuit was jumped with a wire if the profiling would work.

 

[MetalHeadMike]

Ok, that Mark IV comparison video is gone. I found the remains of it in this thread, which has some good Ultra chat as well as a link to Fluff's video. Fluff recommneded to me to get all EH glass and that turned out really well as I recall.
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=131132&p=1523030&hilit=peavey+ultra#p1523030

Yes, this amp may be "the one that got away" for me.
I used it for the solos in this video here at 0:07, 2:40, and 3:49 (I'm wearing the Eagles jersey). Probably used a single 57. Probably one of my better lead tones:

Love the jersey

I borrowed a 3120 (rebadged xxx I think) recently and upon first plugging in laughed at how stupidly gained out and compressed it was..in a very bad way. I threw it in the corner of the basement and was getting ready to return it to the owner. Last night I thought I'd try it again before I return it and actually found some really good metal tones. The key for me was turning the gain down to the lowest possible setting on both channels and hitting it with an OD. Also the loose damping setting is WAY more ballsy/punchy thean the tight and sounds/feels best to me. Think I'm gonna hang on to it a bit longer.