I’m just here for the hors d’ouevres and free booze
BTW… I’m loving my GPDI/IR, but I do have high hopes for this PU2, I can’t wait to hear a demo!!
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Ahh you are one of those people that brings their own plate to a buffet
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Thanks a lot for just increasing the value of my 2005 UL GEQ. 
I mean, the new UL is gonna rip!, but a lot of fanboys have been waiting for a new head, and with the DSP stuff in there it’s gonna be a tough pill for the analog purists to swallow.
Steve does his own thing, and it is what it is.
Super glad I decided to hang on to mine. Had it up on Reverb at a total fantasy price, and it took like 2 hours before bids started coming in at the real number.
Is this the Fryette equivalent of a low-serial Mesa Rev F?? Only time will tell!
Love the form factor and midi switching!
I’ve been saving up for a Deliverance II+, but this has caught my eye and would be great for fly out gigs. Can anyone with experience with a Pitbull let me know how they sound/feel compared to the Deliverance? Everything I am hearing in online demos is highly saturated and very dry, I am curious if it can do the thick jcm mid-gain and hiwatt-ish clean similar to the deliverance II+.
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Steve suggested on one of the Malcontents the ULII can cover anything the Deliverance can do. I would not interpreted that as being able to clone the sound.
The UL has a more immediate attack. I see it as slightly more aggressive voiced. Deliverance more forgiving feel. A bit more vintage voiced. Both these amps if you turn up the volume in the room the feel gets better in my view. The power amp saturation.
Just my impressions. Im sure others have had a very different experience. There is a lot of variables.
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Thanks for the response, very helpful! I think I’ll wait around for the PBII to release and try them out side by side then. The space and weight savings would be very helpful.
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Hello,
From my point of view, it’s absolutely perfect for use in bands and concerts (I keep and play my Pittbull Fifty/CL and all my other amp heads safely at home). It will undoubtedly replace my Synergy Rack system.
Is there a planned release date?
Because I’m going to talk to my dealer about it 
I also have a slight reservation about the digital section, but I have some old Rocktron and Digitech multi-effects units from the 90s that sound dated, have unstable analog potentiometers, but whose digital section still works, so if the quality is there, it should still work.
However, I have a question:
If the digital section were to fail, would the amp still be usable? (Without using the graphic EQ and IRs), would there be a way to bypass this section?
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You’ve fleshed out a lot of what I would say in response to that.
It has been pointed out elsewhere that we were somehow negatively impacted by software issues with the GP-3 preamp, for exmple. I would add that of the thousands of those that were produced, a total of three, maybe four suffered from glitches or outright failures in the microprocessor interface. That represents a field failure rate in the range of less than .003 to .004 percent compared to an industry average of 5.00 percent. For a product that came out 25 years ago, I’d say that was a pretty remarkable run.
We have a TC 2290 in our demo room that Steve bought new in 1985. It was updated in around the mid 1990s to replace a multi conductor cable that was known to be fragile and render the unit unrepairable if damaged. That, and a memory upgrade is the only service ever done to it.
Of course, Steve has mentioned Dean Deleo’s 35 year old, heavily toured and still kicking Rocktron Intelliverb many times.
Just like PCB construction which is often maligned as being generally unreliable, it’s the build quality and materials that go into a product that determine long term average product reliability and useful life.
We understand the endusers concern, and we are well aware that every new product that goes out in the world will be judged against the best and the worst of what’s out there. I believe our record speaks for itself.
All that said, bypassing the EQ in the ULII removes the DSP module from the preamp to power amp signal path. We will be posting a complete rundown in the next couple of days.
Steve, Joe and Thomas of Blu Guitar will stream a live discussion tomorrow from our factory and cover a lot of these topics, so stay tuned!
Dave
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Thanks for the response @DavidPhelge. Change can be a little intimidating (especially for us guitarists who tend to run on the conservative side with regards to our gear).
When looking at the ULII, there are so many things that make sense to me about it in 2026. And it seems like an incredibly powerful unit. At the same time, there is a reason (at least psychological) some of us insist on using analog outboard when recording (eg preamps and compressors for vox and tube amps with knobs and no digital for guitars) and it has nothing to do with making sense or being practical (like folks who work on and drive older cars with manual transmission and no computers in them). So, both sides here make sense to me.
All that said, bypassing the EQ in the ULII removes the DSP module from the preamp to power amp signal path. We will be posting a complete rundown in the next couple of days.
Out of curiosity more than anything, does this also remove the D/A A/D conversion?
Thank you,
calis
Hey thanks for taking the time to reply to the thread and clear things up. When put in that perspective that clears up any concerns I had. Looking forward to the official release and planning to purchase one as soon as I can.
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Of course, being an integral part of the DSP platform.
At that point, it only remains active on the IR out, which of course is necessary to process and play IRs.
Dave
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You and me both! Unfortunately, I have to wait until everyone else get’s theirs…
Dave
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But again, if the processor does go out, the EQ is gone with it. The EQ was essential on the original UL, and I have turned away old ULs that didn’t have them. Just because digital gear has survived a long time, doesn’t make it the norm. Alesis Quadraverbs are nigh unusable due to badly designed screens back in the day. Also, times change, and what looks neat and hot now, will look old and busted very quickly. These are mini-TV screens. Think back 10 years ago about what the top of the line screens looked like vs. today. They look cheap and ugly.
I have a very hard time believing that power amp switching will sound anything like the original linear power transformers. SMTP power fails constantly in our daily lives, is noisy, is sensitive to electrical spikes, and requires filtering to prevent the noise by using capacitors on the front end. When those caps fail, as caps are wont to do, you’re gonna have a bad time.
What’s the point of reinventing the wheel? That’s what I don’t understand about this at all. You have a tried and true amp, and a built in audience for that amp. How many times was Steve asked to re-release the UL? I’d bet thousands . And how many people asked for an amp without power transformers, the tube compliment it was known for, no analog EQ, and for it fit in a rack. Oh, and with a screen. I’d bet that number was near zero. Folks that were wanting a UL were quite prepared for the head form factor.
I fully believe this amp was built for the rock star clients that Steve has, and not for the masses. Everything from the form factor, to the weight, to the feature set. It screams “international tour.” Great! But most of us aren’t doing international tours full of rack gear. Most of us do not have to worry about how much the weight of the amp affects the price to move it.
I can’t help wonder how close an LXII and a Synergy UL are to this amp. Because that what this feels like. Steve has had success with that line of gear, and the company has pointed in that direction ever since. We get less amps from Fryette as time goes by, and more gadgets.
Is this sour grapes? You betcha! This is a massive disappointment for me. The only saving grace will be if it truly sounds like a UL or not. But with all the changes to the circuit (more CLX DNA, changes to power section, change to EQ, no power transformers), I just don’t see how it could. I’m sure that some sycophants will brand me a heretic, but I have been a promoter of Fryette for about 2 decades now. I have owned three Deliverance amps. I love the company and the amps. But this is a big letdown for me.
You are all free to disregard me, and enjoy the amp. I guess I need to find another amp to buy this year.
You’re doing what all naysayers do - projecting the downside of every cheaply built, hastily designed and poorly executed past product design on any new product that dares to explore new technology regardless of build quality.
Sorry to say this, but you clearly have no ideal how power transformers work. That argument is entirely without merit. And switch mode power supplies, lets talk about the GPDI/IR. Not one single power supply failure or defect since its release 2 years ago. For every complaint you proffer in advance, there’s a Fryette design that contradicts your argument.
It may (or may not) interest you to know that most display failures are caused by crappy connectors. Not some esoteric hardware defect. Blank screens or glitchy readouts are often caused by switch contact oxidation or software crashes that can often be restored by doing a quick reboot, which is way easier than paying more than a product is worth for a tech to patch lazy execution.
In other words, the things that most often cause tech related products to fail are the same things that cause poorly designed and cheaply built tube amps to fail. The only reason people pitch a fit about tech is fear of the unknown.
That’s not a very compelling rationale for dissing a new offering from a manufacturer that has a strong rep for quality and reliability.
I get that you’re disappointed with the form factor. That’s about the only point you’ve made that has merit. You have a right to your opinion. Let’s just agree to disagree on that and dispense with the least likely to occur worst case scenarios.
Dave
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If that was the only issue with the amp, it’d be one thing. But there are myriad issues with the amp that I brought up that you didn’t mention. I take exception that you think I am dissing this amp or the company. I’d also like to point out the logical fallacy that because someone has designed something of quality before that one should accept that current offerings are of the same quality. As I have said, I have owned 3 Fryette Deliverance amps, happily. It’s my number one. But just because you are excited about the amp, doesn’t mean my opinions about it are less valid than yours, which working for the company, are clearly biased.
I’m sure the screens are high quality. But at the end of the day, it is a screen. A screen simply is not as durable as the rest of the amp. Steve Fryette isn’t making these screens. No matter how good they are, they are screens. Screens die. That’s a fact. Why is it necessary for everything to have a screen on it? Even your GPDI IR doesn’t have a screen. Nor the power load IR. Why this amp? Just because something can be done, doesn’t mean it should be done. In fact, rumor is that the screens were a point of contention in why we haven’t heard much from these amps.
I get that Team Fryette is excited. Because I’m sure it was fun to build something different. But different for the sake of being different is not necessarily a good thing.
What was wrong with the old Ultralead that this was a necessary evolution? The folks asking on forums and social media didn’t seem to be begging for a rack amp with IRs in a rack without power transformers. Seemed to be that everyone that I saw commenting just wanted a new Ultralead. Now it has CLX DNA in it? That’s not an Ultralead. What about the power amp differences? The tube differences? The Graphic EQ difference? Why make it racked, instead of a head?
The only reason for the form factor is because rich rock stars don’t want to cut into their bottom line by paying more for cartage. Again, that’s not something that most of us have to worry about. Even the ad copy for this suggests as much, name-dropping Page Hamilton and his touring.
How is this different than the Synergy setup with a small power amp?
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I’m going to suggest that you follow my lead and read your own posts back to yourself. Why would a rich rock star give a crap about cartage cost? It’s the small budget, cost conscious artists that need to make every dollar count on the road.
Why do we care about them? Because they’re loyal, and are always the ones who apologize to us when they have to rent broken down Marshall rental gear in Timbuktu that gives audiences the impression that this is the gear they use to get their sound.
This is a partnership between us and them to help them project themselves in the best possible light and introduces us to new audiences.
Stop working so hard to manufacture a small minded debate. It’s so much more than what you imagine.
Dave
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I’m sorry to say, but you know very little about what I know of SMTP vs. linear transformer design. There is no reason for the smarmy attitude, frankly. If I am wrong, show me what I said was wrong, rather than casting aspersions. I brought up very specific points, and you choose to focus on how I should just accept that this is what we all wanted all along. That dog don’t hunt.
You are full of logical fallacies. You are using an appeal to authority to argue you point. Just because Steve is an authority of tube amps does not mean he is the only guy in the room. Your entire point has been “trust us, we’re professionals”
Sorry, but no. Again, just because you like it, does not mean that the rest of us have to. The attitude that comes with it is even more off-putting than the amp.
I think I covered that when I said that it cuts into their bottom line. I also know that this was a point of contention for many touring professionals over the last decade, to the point that tours have been cancelled due to cost. Savvy?
Defend your employer all you want. Frankly, if this is the attitude I get from you folks when I am not not satisfied and trying to have a discussion, I’ll put my Fryette gear on the block tomorrow.
It’s great that you work with rock stars, but they are a fraction of your players. I get that the advertisement is good for business, but I’ve never bought an amp because Page Hamilton played one. I’m sure it’s great to rub elbows with them, eh?
You can quit talking down at me, too. My debate has been full of points that you have neglected to discuss. If you can’t speak to me like an adult, then find me someone at your business that will. Because this is all starting to feel like your attitude at TGP, too. You simply cannot stand having someone critical of what you’re doing at Fryette. Quickly, I am becoming less of a promoter, than a detractor.
I’d want to keep the forum product focused. It’s not a place to wine about disappointments of a product you have not even tried. I’m asking nicely.
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Stepping in here. We welcome constructive feedback and criticism. But the forum is not a place to descend into flame wars. I asked for the discussion to stop, it didn’t (additional post deleted), InAbsentia will return, if he/she wants after a short ban.
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