I decided to post this since I don't see too many reviews out there of this amazing amp. I'll often see posts comparing it to other amps but there's not much in terms of full reviews. In short, it rules. Highly recommended for metal and rock, even country. Actually I'm sure it will excel at any genre. I have run it in a few configurations and will talk about them below. I play metal. The amp has a unique mojo to it and doesn't really sound like anything else out there. It can hang with any boutique amp out there, and for me is my favourite amp to play. It puts a smile on my face every time I play it.
When you play, it plays, when you stop, it stops. This means you can hear every nuance of your technique, and if you are sloppy you are going to hear it but someone with precise control will really enjoy commanding their tone.
OVERALL: overall this amp is very well made. I bought mine used, and I'm guessing it is a mid 00's model. It has the 6 band graphic eq and grey buttons, while the newer versions have black buttons I believe. Mine has JJ KT88s in the power section and Tung sols in the pre. The tone is very precise across all channels. There is no fuzzyness or mud to be found anywhere on this amp. I would say the amp leans generally towards the dark end of things, due to the massive power on tap from the quad of KT88s and the huge low end it can throw at you, but it is still very articulate and cuts like a knife. This amp is also the quietest amp I've ever played. Currently I use the red channel (lead chanel) as my main rhythm sound and the g/eq as a boost for solos, and even with the gain cranked and the volume waaaay up there is no need for a noise gate. The loop works well and can switch between series and parallel and sounds great, and can be used as another opportunity to boost your volume up. Glorious tone throughout, it has totally eliminated my GAS for other amps. There are tons of ways to design your sound on this amp and I think it can pretty much do it all. I've used and toured with loads of other amps, 5153, Engl SE, Diezel Herbert, Engl Savage, Rectos, etc, and the UL to me is my favourite. I use it through a front loaded Bogner Uberkab and play mainly USA Jacksons equipped with bare knuckles.
My only gripes about the amp are 1) no midi 2) shared eq for lead and rhythm (but really it's not that big a deal when using the amp) and 3) I haven't been able to get any customer service from them about a few questions I had about the amp. Related to this, there are no Fryette dealers within a few thousands kilometres of me...
RHYTHM CHANNEL (Orange Channel): On other amps I normally like to run my main rhythm tone through the crunch channel and then have the lead channel for solos, and a clean channel for... clean... I first tried that with this amp and was initially underwhelmed. The rhythm channel without a boost pedal isn't evil enough for a metal rhythm, and I didn't really like how the built in boost mode sounded. To me when I pushed the boost button it got a little... congested so to speak, in the lower mids, and I couldn't really dial it out. So I tried sticking a maxon od808 in front. Well this sounded better, and it was certainly now hot enough, but it made all the channels sound the same and I still wasn't happy with the rhythm tone, plus I lost my clean channel. So then I bought a suhr Kokoboost Reloaded. Its a very nice pedal and I think much better than the maxon. Again, this takes the rhythm channel into high gain distortion territory but it still felt like there was a better tone hiding within the amp.
After using the amp for a number of months now I've come to realize the rhythm channel is more in the vein of a true crunch channel, a mid gain rock sound, like a plexi or some of the other mid gain marshalls, and have abandoned my boost pedals. It has more focus on the high end with less low end and creates a very nice rock tone, but isn't really suited for balls out metal. This is your AC/DC channel. With the various gain switches and controls you can go from a second clean channel to a pretty high gain crunch here, and it all sounds really good. It's very vintagey and is beautifully detailed, tight as hell, and has a nice woody tone to it. It really brings out the guitar you plug into it too, and I can hear the differences between my axes and bare knuckles easily. This does marshall better than marshall. It can do vintage metal tones really well also, think early 80s tone like Holy Diver, but for the modern tones you'll need to approach the amp differently.
LEAD CHANNEL (Red Channel): This is the magic channel. Originally I had this channel reserved for solos, and boy does it deliver. The best lead tone I've ever heard bar none. I like to crank the mids and this delivers in spades, you cut like crazy but aren't every ice-pickey or shrill, nor ever a drop of mud. This is the high gain modern metal tone that people are searching for. With my boost pedals, it was obviously super high gain, and would feedback like crazy if I wasn't playing, but the boost pedals just felt like overkill. What the hell do you need that much gain and distortion for? I liked the tone with a boost and could see people using this configuration with the right set up, but I think boosting the amp takes away it's mojo.
I now use the lead channel for my rhythm tones, have gotten rid of the pedals, and use the g/eq for a lead boost. The gain is set to about 1 or 2 oclock with the edge switch engaged, which boosts your gain as your play higher notes. basically its like a magic solo boost thats there when you need it and gone when you don't. The q/eq is insanely powerful, and I just have very slight boosts to 630Hz, 1.2kHz, and 2.3kHz sliders for a nice volume and tone bump for shredding. Ad in a delay pedal and you are in shred heaven. Solo tone is just awesome, as are rhythms on this channel. Again you have lots of control of you tone in this channel and can go from a really low gain tone to super high gain over the top distortion. I like lots of mids in my tone and have them boosted up pretty high (just under 3 oclock) with bass and treble around 1 oclock.
here's a cool video of Rob Caggiano in the studio shredding on a UL
https://youtu.be/aYpaJmLd32w a rough clip of lead tones.
People say the amp is dry... I don't really know what that means exactly, some say it has to do with not having compression and saturation, but I disagree. The amp is very open and very reactive to your playing. If you aren't hitting hard enough its going to sound wimpy, so you need to be on top of your technique. This amp has no trouble cutting through other guitarists you are playing with, I play alongside Engl powerball, Triple rec, 5153, and sometimes a JVM410, and the Fryette has no trouble punching through. I would describe the lead channel to be very similar to lots of other high gain amps, except all the garbage tone has been removed. No fizz or hiss, no unwanted compression or clipping or the amp struggling to keep up. All that shite is cut out. You are left with just your guitar, crushing everything out there. Its a very raw and naked sound, but I think it is the purest high gain representation of your guitars natural tone out there. Again, this all falls back on you, if you suck or your other gear is junk you are going to hear it.
CLEAN CHANNEL (Green Channel): well its a clean channel. I don't spend too much time here. However, I will say that this channel is the best clean tone I've ever played through or heard. I did use this channel for a country project I dabbled with, it sounded great. With the bright switch you can get all the twang you need. It's a very clear, clean, powerful tone. No distortion here.
To summarize, it's a fantastic amp. If you are thinking of getting one, get it! I did without even playing one based and I'm quite happy I did. I hope someone out there finds the review helpful when deciding what amp to get.
If you are curious as to my general guitar tone, check out my band getting killed by a giant keg monster:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Zb-Pmo7bFA
