Universal Audio LION - Best Marshall Super Lead sound from a pedal? [UAFX Lion 68 Super Lead Amp]

[@SethDStanley]

You are spot-on characterizing Marshall as having all-around fullness of sound. After years of loving Fender cleans but not their overdriven shrill-ness, and VOX edge of break up but missing the warmth, I've realized my favorite amps likely are Marshall based. Of course, growing up in the 90s and early 2000s, most of my favorite bands (Anberlin, Falling Up, Ivoryline, The Classic Crime....that whole genre) basically all used Marshall amps. But even as a worship leader, I've been the most satisfied with those kinds of tones for all the washy clean sparkly P&W stuff. My favorite amp of all time is probably the Benson Chimera. I use the Worship Tutorials Tonematch of that amp (and they use a Marshall amp in their patch for that tonematch) almost exclusively in every patch I make for Sunday. Playing my Harmony Sillhouette through that...a thing of beauty!

[@AmbientEndeavors]

totally! Yeah I feel like I'm just coming around to Marshall's place in the contexts I play in too. I do think guitar pairings matter too; I tend to play guitars with a fairly full range (wide range humbuckers, P90's, occasionally PAFs) and sometimes those meet the big low mids of Marshalls and just create mud. But something like the Harmony whose pickups sound pretty clear and bright to me would pair well with the full Marshall sounds. And yea, there's a reason those bands pick Marshalls! You just can't get the sound or feel from (most) SF/BF Fenders nor Vox circuits.

[@theaaronimal]

Wow! Great cleans!!! Who would have thought!

[@AmbientEndeavors]

was pleasantly surprised myself!

[@JSaltyfabricator]

Dude I came for the pedal demo, and am now a huge fan! Absolutely great music my friend ❤️

[@AmbientEndeavors]

Awesome! Thank you so much :)

[@g-man7687]

Great demonstration of the lion and excellent playing and tone I have the other three UA amp pedals looks like I’ll be getting this one too. These are so much easier to use then most other amp less platforms those other platforms have too much option paralysis. You can get great tones with one of these fast

[@AmbientEndeavors]

Totally. It’s really easy to find some good sounds in these UA pedals. And you have the app too if you want to get more surgical. I’m a fan! Thanks for watching!

[@AndrewZander]

Love your playing. Great way to showcase the variety of tones from this pedal.

[@Andreas_tropicalwinter]

It's Autumn and it rains at the moment. That inteo track is such a perfect Soundtrack to describe that mood... Couldn't help but have it on repeat instantly a few times!

[@AmbientEndeavors]

Love it! It's an overcast fall day here in MN as well, and this pedal just kind of makes you feel like you've got a wool blanket pulled over you, in the best of ways. Thanks for watching!

[@drewroze4168]

Perfect way to start the morning. 🙏🏼

[@AmbientEndeavors]

Morning friend! ☕️

[@goswo]

Sounds pretty amazing

[@AmbientEndeavors]

Agreed. UA is not messing around with these amp pedals

[@jasonwoods305]

Great demo.

[@AmbientEndeavors]

thanks for watching!

[@robertclarkguitar]

I like this one !!!! Keeping eye on it. Glad You reviewed it.

[@AmbientEndeavors]

I was surprised how much I gelled with it too - thanks for watching!

[@Pulse2AM]

I like your music and playing. I wasn't knocked out by the Lion, there's many other options that sound more like a real tube amp like the ToneX pedal and a few that have an actual tube in the circuit. I heard a few other demos of the Lion that were more rock crunch higher gain and it was passable.

[@AmbientEndeavors]

Hey nice that we have a bunch of options to choose from these days.

[@Kibric]

I've been looking for a video like this! All those other UAFX Lion reviews, they kinda felt old to me; but this one is not. Demo riff sounds much more modern, and I totally love these.

[@AmbientEndeavors]

Glad it was helpful! It's kind of fun to get to demo gear that tends to live in a certain stereotypical genre or space, and try and breathe something new or different into it. Thanks for watching!!

[@RPMusicStudios]

The intro reminds me of circa survive with less busy drums. Sounds great

[@AmbientEndeavors]

that's rad. I love Circa Survive!

[@pbosche]

I go down KZbin rabbit-holes for weeks and then end up buying…trying…returning so many items. Just for this and it seems to be as good/BETTER than ANYTHING else on the market. We’ll pay $200 for pedals and $2000 for modelers… Sure a little premium in this…they’re $350 now but this IS the perfect Marshall. Modded. Not different due to age or humidity or who knows what… Just the perfect Marshall amp every time you turn it on. I’ve plugged into the front and back of my Katana Artists and it’s simply perfect.

[@AmbientEndeavors]

Agreed! I was pretty blown away but this one, and as someone who might not rush out to pony up the dough for an actual Marshall, this one has tided me over quite nicely.

[@jash500]

I feel like the elephant in the KZbin-demo-room today is: what does this sound like in stereo with the dream. Just sayin’ :)

[@AmbientEndeavors]

haha touche! It shall be done, the question is just whether Mark J or I will do it first ;)

[@jash500]

@@AmbientEndeavors indeed! Great demo by the way. Really like the clean sounds! (hence my interest in the dream stereo pairing)

[@jash500]

So it’s 10 days later I don’t see ANY videos of Lion + Dream in stereo. I think we need a hero. 🦸‍♂️

[@Flex.49]

Believe it or not I’m more interested in the Lion and Ruby pairing…give me all the mids!

[@g-man7687]

All four of the UA amp pedals sound great stereo with each other being that you can set each side independently to have separate tones for each side

[@zacharyphillips7616]

Absolutely wonderful playing in here. This pedal sounds unreal in your hands. I’ve got a Dream. And though I enjoy it, I can’t make it sound this full. Especially with time based effects. Can I ask where you would normally run this in a signal chain to get the most out of it? I’d love to crack the code so to speak!

[@AmbientEndeavors]

I always run it at the end of my chain. For me, I almost always keep the gain of the dream down around 9:00, and try not to push it with too much volume from drive pedals.

[@post-man23]

Those clean are superb ❤

[@AmbientEndeavors]

agreed! Loving the top-end character and it really gives that warm rich Marshall sound.

[@masterofreality230]

I wonder how it stacks up to something like the EAE Citadel.

[@stephencaines5610]

Can anyone comment on the crackling harsh distortion on the tail of the notes on all the pedal only sound examples?

[@AmbientEndeavors]

what are you listening on?

[@jorgesilva6454]

How would you compare the Lion with a more afordable preamp such as the JA Twin Twelve? Is it worth spending extra money with the UA or does the JA delivers the same response as an overall preamp? Cheers (and inspiring review as always)! 👏👍👏 Ps: I have the Dream and the Ruby and they are definetly really top notch preamps 👌👌👌

[@AmbientEndeavors]

For me it’s a different use case, as the UA provides a complete “amp solution” with cab sims as well as the preamp. I wouldn’t spend the money on the Lion if I was only wanting the preamp feature, but as a stand-alone stereo “amp” it’s great. I would be curious how something like the JA Twin Twelve, EAE Model feT, etc sound into the UA OX Stomp. Hoping to explore that at some point

[@jorgesilva6454]

⁠@@AmbientEndeavorsMakes sense given that the Lion, as you said correctly,looks to be more amp wise than the JA. We’ll be here for that future experiment 🤜🏽✊🤛🏻

[@elliotmorley9075]

12:36 Away We Go by Coheed and Cambria!

[@tomcollins3649]

I’d like to hear you review the Friedman IR X

[@AmbientEndeavors]

Lot of folks curious about that one - I’ll see if I can track one down!

[@TeleCS]

The NU-X Plexi Crunch is a good one too.

[@AmbientEndeavors]

Interesting - might have to check it out! This one is more of an amp modeler / end of chain amp replacement though.

[@jseiver]

I like your clean sounds. Most people just use it for another distortion pedal

[@AmbientEndeavors]

thanks! yeah that was the goal/challenge with this one: to vet the clean or clean-ish sounds as well as the crunch. I was really into what I found on the clean side of things as a different flavor to my usual Vox or Fender style cleans.

[@plantagenant]

Can these be used with a guitar amp, like a pedal, as a preamp? In the effects loop? Anybody have any experience of doing this and how does it sound?

[@AmbientEndeavors]

you can turn the speaker simulator portion of the pedal off and run it more like a pedal, or into a power amp section of an amp. Haven't tried it as I find the main benefit to be the direct recording convenience. It's a great pedal for that, I feel like you'd have a bunch of equally compelling options if you're just looking for a Marshall style preamp pedal...many that won't cost what the UA does.

[@plantagenant]

@@AmbientEndeavors Thanks..Not really interested in a direct recording device. I was looking at the Origin Effects revival drive as you can "model" a number of Amps and its designed to go into the front of an amp if you want to.

[@bryanchurchill1]

6 cabs, not three, right?

[@AmbientEndeavors]

Ah you’re right! Had somewhat limited materials pre-launch, looks like you can get three additional options upon registering the pedal

[@RICO_SUAVE21]

Sounds great! I’m curious to how it would sound into a real amp’s fx loop/power amp with a real speaker 🤔

[@AmbientEndeavors]

It’s an interesting question! I know you can defeat the cab sim, might work alright , I’ve not tried it tho.

[@sgmarshall3]

I’ve used my UA Woodrow into the front of my Deluxe for a little extra bass and grit. It works wonderfully that way. I would assume this probably would work well

[@g-man7687]

All of universal audios new amp pedals have a four cable method to use with amps that have effect loops, I know firsthand It works great you get the preamp from the original amp you’re plugged into and you can switch to one of these pedals or a number of them and have all those different amps at your access 👍 Maybe you want to run into a FRFR speaker, a PA system or front of house, these things sound great no matter how you use it no option paralysis their very versatile you really can’t miss with one of these !

[@PainterDans]

Yes, with a 4cm setup, put the Lion in the return chain. Basically adding 2 channels to your amp

[@maxaeonmusic]

Lion or the Freedman IR-X?

[@AmbientEndeavors]

Haven't played the IR-X , might have to check that one out :)

[@theflamerising1767]

No midi?

[@AmbientEndeavors]

No MIDI on these, no.

[@MatthewSwasta]

When is the album coming out? 😉

[@AmbientEndeavors]

not soon enough

[@122Music1]

Great playing, but God this sounds like crap.. Those crackling uncomplementary overtones are terrible.

[@AmbientEndeavors]

different strokes! what rig are you coming from?

[@marvinmartin3438]

Only $400. No thanks. Too many good choices for half that. Just sayin

[@AmbientEndeavors]

What other options intrigue you in that category?

[@pb25193]

Tonex

[@AmbientEndeavors]

@@pb25193 Tonex is the same price point. Was curious about the OP's options at half the price. I'm not arguing that they're priced toward the higher end of the category, but they've eclipsed the sound and feel of others I've tried in recent years.

[@pb25193]

@@AmbientEndeavors I acknowledge that but I would supplement OPs argument because tonex is more accurate (-40db rms on null test) and let's you load IR, has midi control, and gets you access to thousands of amps on the open market. Personally my needs are fender + vox which would cost me 800$ in the uafx world, and get me less freedom. So the half factor is reasonable. I can't speak for the op's 400÷2 comment. Maybe they have a used walrus idk.

[@pb25193]

@@AmbientEndeavors btw really nice playing, you are truly gifted.