Aethyr Posted December 12, 2011 Share Posted December 12, 2011 Hello everyone! It's my first post in these forums, and I have a question to ask you guys. I am the owner of an Epi Gothic LP Studio. I'm not ashamed to admit that I picked the guitar for its looks alone about 3 years ago; It looks unbearably sexy after the chrome pickups and knobs replacement. Anyway, the guitar was second hand already when I bought it, and now it counts 7 years of use; Suffice it to say that it has its fair share of dents and scratches, but it has served the metal well. It's fitted with a Seymour Duncan TB-6 at the bridge and the matching Duncan Designed version on the neck. As you can tell, it wasn't meant to be a versatile instrument, and as my headbanging youth has come to an end, I've been looking to buy a guitar that will be more versatile. Seeing as I've played acoustic for longer than I've played electric, and also considering the fact that I have a huge thing for Epiphone guitars, I've had my eye on the Ultra series for quite a while now. My frustrations with my aging but well loved instrument have made me decide that I need a new love to warm my fingers, but some things are holding me back. First of all, I want to use the guitar by plugging it into my computer. My rig is put together from scrap pieces and gifts mainly, but I go from a Vox Tonelab LE to a small hybrid amp and straight to the computer using an M-Audio FastTrack Pro, and the computer goes out to a stereo system. I don't mind skipping that and going straight to the PC (frees the inputs for a mic jack as well), but here lies the major problem; I am a Debian Linux user, and I am wondering if I will be able to fully utilise the Ultra III's capabilities in Linux. Does anyone have any answer to this? If not, I will ignore it, and if it comes to the worst, I will do a windows installation, but I would really like to avoid this. Do the available alternatives like Ardour and Rakarrak work with the Ultra III? Will the Ultra III even be recognised as an audio device? Some NI software is supposed to work with Linux, but I don't have much faith in that, and I think it only concerns Guitar Rig 2/3... If someone has some experience working with Linux, I would like some info on this. Otherwise I'll probably just throw myself into the hell of experimentation. Secondly, I would like opinions on the quality of the instrument. I realise these are the epi forums and I will get showered with flowery comments, so I'll explain what I mean: Is it worth upgrading to the Ultra III, or should I get some more money and grab a higher end Epi or even a Gibson? I want to get a good acoustic sound but still retain the versatility to sound heavy, so the Ultra series seemed like the best marriage, but in the end of the day, how much better is the Ultra III than the Studio quality wise? I include bindings, wood quality, hardware etc. in this... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brad1 Posted December 12, 2011 Share Posted December 12, 2011 Welcome to the forum. I can't help you out. But someone here can. Me thinks this is a Rastus question. Rob? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RaSTuS Posted December 12, 2011 Share Posted December 12, 2011 Welcome to the forums, there's a great bunch of geet geeks around here, I hope you like the place. First up, I despise window$ too, unfortunately I had a hard disk crash a few weeks back and have been forced to use it, it sucks balls big time and I'm doing everything in my power to remedy that, I've been a Linux dude for the past 12 years or more, the only way to fly IMHO. I normally run Gentoo Linux, which is a fully source based distro, everything has to be compiled from source code to install it, and it doesn't have the application support many of the pre-compiled distros do, so I'm not sure what's available to you. If you can find an ASIO driver for Debian I'm pretty sure that will do the trick, it's a cross platform driver that handles audio through USB devices. As for the Ultra-III, I don't think that's your best option as you mention your acoustic roots, they also have an Ultra-339 coming out that is a semi-hollow version of the Ultra, it would probably suit your playing style better in that regard. Google results for Ultra 339 Epiphone News article on the Ultra 339 Hope this was of some help, please let us know what you think of that option, cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aethyr Posted December 13, 2011 Author Share Posted December 13, 2011 Welcome to the forums, there's a great bunch of geet geeks around here, I hope you like the place. First up, I despise window$ too, unfortunately I had a hard disk crash a few weeks back and have been forced to use it, it sucks balls big time and I'm doing everything in my power to remedy that, I've been a Linux dude for the past 12 years or more, the only way to fly IMHO. I normally run Gentoo Linux, which is a fully source based distro, everything has to be compiled from source code to install it, and it doesn't have the application support many of the pre-compiled distros do, so I'm not sure what's available to you. If you can find an ASIO driver for Debian I'm pretty sure that will do the trick, it's a cross platform driver that handles audio through USB devices. As for the Ultra-III, I don't think that's your best option as you mention your acoustic roots, they also have an Ultra-339 coming out that is a semi-hollow version of the Ultra, it would probably suit your playing style better in that regard. Google results for Ultra 339 Epiphone News article on the Ultra 339 Hope this was of some help, please let us know what you think of that option, cheers. Thanks for the reply, didn't expect to find a Linux geek so early xD Yeah I know of Gentoo, lovely lovely distro if you have the time required to get it running. I choose debian mainly because it's the middle ground, easy to get running but provides that Linux sophistication layer. It's also the only distro that works 100% with my PCs without taking 3 days to config and is not Ubuntu. Well, thanks for that info on ASIO, it'll save me a lot of trouble searching for drivers if the need arises. That Ultra-339 looks very sweet indeed, I'd love to get my hands on that. However, I doubt it will demonstrate the versatility of the LP - I'm still looking to play on high gain settings with that guitar and I'm also an LP slave . I don't want the Ultra only for the acoustic part, I want it because it's an option and it will also fill that role nicely - acoustic simulations without a dedicated pickup are disappointing to say the least. At least I know what to look for if I am still disappointed with the Ultra III (which I doubt will happen). To be honest, even the LP's chambered body got me thinking about possible resonance causing feedback on high gain settings, so I really don't know about getting a semi-hollow... I have to admit though, that ES has triggered my Epiphone Acquisition Syndrome even further... I can't deny that it looks delicious to the part of me that is a dedicated acoustic player Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RaSTuS Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 That Ultra-339 looks very sweet indeed, I'd love to get my hands on that. However, I doubt it will demonstrate the versatility of the LP - I'm still looking to play on high gain settings with that guitar and I'm also an LP slave . I don't want the Ultra only for the acoustic part, I want it because it's an option and it will also fill that role nicely - acoustic simulations without a dedicated pickup are disappointing to say the least. At least I know what to look for if I am still disappointed with the Ultra III (which I doubt will happen). To be honest, even the LP's chambered body got me thinking about possible resonance causing feedback on high gain settings, so I really don't know about getting a semi-hollow... I have to admit though, that ES has triggered my Epiphone Acquisition Syndrome even further... I can't deny that it looks delicious to the part of me that is a dedicated acoustic player I have two Ultra-IIs, one in each colour they made, LOL. They are tremendous guitars, I don't think you'll be disappointed with the U-III. I was actually considering one myself until I saw the U-339, It makes me horny just thinking about them. As for feedback on high gain, that's really not a problem, not as much as people make out anyway, it's easy to control by varying your proximity to the amp and the direction you're facing, in fact, I find it an asset, because once you learn how to control it, you can use it creatively to make some amazing sounds or dismiss with it altogether, thing is you can learn to silence it or add some flavour depending on your mood and the mood of the music you're playing. The last 5 electrics I've bought have all been hollow/semi-hollows, I'm smitten with them, and they're much lighter and easier to manage than a solid body, chambered or not. Yeah I know of Gentoo, lovely lovely distro if you have the time required to get it running. I choose debian mainly because it's the middle ground, easy to get running but provides that Linux sophistication layer. It's also the only distro that works 100% with my PCs without taking 3 days to config and is not Ubuntu. Well, thanks for that info on ASIO, it'll save me a lot of trouble searching for drivers if the need arises. I like Gentoo because it gives you the ultimate control available on any readily available OS, right down to specifying what processor features and memory footprint each program and/or library uses at compile time, I like to be the boss of the computer, not the reverse. Then of course there's the security aspect, it makes window$ absolutely laughable, it uses way less resources with way more functionality. But best of all, IT"S ALL FREE, as are all the applications, window$ isn't even in the same ball park, not even the same city, damn, not even the same planet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aethyr Posted December 13, 2011 Author Share Posted December 13, 2011 I have two Ultra-IIs, one in each colour they made, LOL. They are tremendous guitars, I don't think you'll be disappointed with the U-III. I was actually considering one myself until I saw the U-339, It makes me horny just thinking about them. As for feedback on high gain, that's really not a problem, not as much as people make out anyway, it's easy to control by varying your proximity to the amp and the direction you're facing, in fact, I find it an asset, because once you learn how to control it, you can use it creatively to make some amazing sounds or dismiss with it altogether, thing is you can learn to silence it or add some flavour depending on your mood and the mood of the music you're playing. The last 5 electrics I've bought have all been hollow/semi-hollows, I'm smitten with them, and they're much lighter and easier to manage than a solid body, chambered or not. Mmmhm, I guess I'll go for a trip down to the dealer and pick up a normal ES, see how it goes... I suppose I have nothing to lose but everything to gain Thanks again for the great replies. It's awesome to see such a great community here, it's not every day you find a music community that is helpful to relative newbies instead of patronising - I really expected uneducated fanboy answers before a helpful one came by... Thumbs up and thanks for the help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RaSTuS Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 Mmmhm, I guess I'll go for a trip down to the dealer and pick up a normal ES, see how it goes... I suppose I have nothing to lose but everything to gain Thanks again for the great replies. It's awesome to see such a great community here, it's not every day you find a music community that is helpful to relative newbies instead of patronising - I really expected uneducated fanboy answers before a helpful one came by... Thumbs up and thanks for the help. Good idea, grab a 339 or ten and just screw around with them for a while, get a feel for them so to speak. And, no problems, glad to help, don't be a stranger, I'm sure many would be interested in what you discover and what you end up with, not to mention the experiences getting it to do something with Linux too of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aethyr Posted December 13, 2011 Author Share Posted December 13, 2011 Good idea, grab a 339 or ten and just screw around with them for a while, get a feel for them so to speak. And, no problems, glad to help, don't be a stranger, I'm sure many would be interested in what you discover and what you end up with, not to mention the experiences getting it to do something with Linux too of course. Sure, I'll update you once I've got it ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobinTheHood Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 Mmmhm, I - I really expected uneducated fanboy answers before a helpful one came by... LOL. Not in here. Usually anyway. I cant really speak for the Ultra Series, but if you are concerned about retaining the ability to play heavy riffs and you dont think the Ultra will cut it, keep in mind that its not uncommon (actually its very common) for a player to have multiple guitars in his arsenal to fit specific playing styles. Keeping the Goth LP for just that purpose might be something to consider, and your expectations for a new guitar wont have to be quite so broad. They say that every electric player should have a humbucker guitar, a single coil guitar and either a Telecaster or a shred guitar, depending on which way you lean. And then you should top off the arsenal with an acoustic, an archtop electric and a bass. Something to think about and GAS over if nothing else. Let us know how you feel about the Ultra after you get a chance to play with one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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