From Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, and AC/DC to Van Halen – the bone-rattling crunch of the legendary Marshall Super Lead amplifier has been the epitome of British Rock music since the 1960s, and Universal Audio has packed these iconic "plexi" tones into its Lion 68 Super Lead Amp effects pedal. The Universal Audio UAFX Lion 68 Super Lead Amp boasts faithful reproductions of three vintage amps: The original 1968 Super Lead amp – after which it is named – with the same bright capacitor as the earlier JTM45 model, the less aggressive and warmer-sounding Super Bass amp, and the unique "Brown" amp, which is a Super Lead model throttled down to 90 volts using a Variac to achieve added saturation and compression. This is perfectly complemented by 4x12" cab simulations of 25-watt Greenback, 30-watt Greenback, and combined 25-watt Greenback/JBL D-120 F speaker cabinets.
The Universal Audio UAFX Lion 68 Super Lead Amp faithfully reproduces the high-quality sound, dynamics, and playing feel of the iconic original amps and allows a wide variety of sounds to be created in a heartbeat. The pedal features six knobs for individually adjusting the gain of the two amp channels, the overall output level, and the bass, middle, and treble EQ bands, or adding presence, boost, and room after activating the Alt function via the centre switch. Users can easily record their own sounds directly in the stompbox and use them later on during live gigs – played either as an individual effect or through a real guitar amp via an additional switchable channel. In addition, Universal Audio's UAFX app offers a whole bunch of enhanced modelling functions, such as preset loading, footswitch mode selection, and various settings for noise gate, bright cap, four virtual input routings, ghost notes, and the four-cable mode that facilitates playing through a real amp.
The Lion 68 Super Lead Amp from Universal Audio, which packs decades of Rock sounds into a compact design, is the perfect tool for live use, quick demo recordings, studio environments, and playing through real amps. All the relevant functions can be intuitively controlled directly on the pedal, while the additional UAFX app provides a wide range of further configuration options. The Universal Audio UAFX Lion 68 Super Lead Amp allows an extremely wide variety of Rock sounds to be dialled in thanks to three switchable amp types, three cab sims (two additional 30-watt Vintage and EVM12L speaker cab models can be downloaded after product registration), noise gate, and boosts that are based on a Maestro EP-III preamp and a Boss GE-10 EQ. Furthermore, the convenient preset footswitch allows users to instantly store their individual controller settings as a preset and recall them later if they want to use another sound alternative.
Few manufacturers can draw upon a wealth of audio engineering experience comparable to that of Universal Audio. The company's founding father Bill Putnam, along with his friend Les Paul, have an admirable reputation as trend-setting music producers and developers of legendary analogue studio technology. Putnam recorded Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters, and Sarah Vaughan, and was Duke Ellington's favourite sound engineer. He developed the famous 1176 Peak Limiter and distributed the Teletronix LA-2A level amplifier. This earned him a posthumous “Technical Grammy Award” in 2000. In 1999, Putnam's sons, Bill Putnam Jr. and James Putnam, re-founded Universal Audio, transferring their father's analogue vision and craftsmanship to the digital music world. Their product range includes audio interfaces, dedicated DSP farms, and a variety of plug-ins, as well as analogue hardware devices.
The Universal Audio UAFX Lion 68 Super Lead Amp pedal is eminently suitable for flexible use in a wide range of applications – from studio and stage to demo recordings, or even as a safety net during concerts. The integrated four-cable mode also allows the pedal to be combined with a real guitar amplifier (provided it has an effects loop) and additional pedals in order to create the perfect setup for a specific sound or application. The four-cable mode even allows a signal source other than a guitar to be connected to the Lion 68 Super Lead Amp pedal's stereo inputs and outputs. Thanks to three legendary amp models, an integrated booster, a noise gate, and a selection of perfectly matched cab sims (based on the Ox Amp Top Box technology), the Universal Audio UAFX Lion 68 Super Lead Amp offers a highly flexible solution with exceptional sound quality that users wouldn't normally expect to find in such an ultra-compact pedal.
Modelling - made by Universal Audio
Universal Audio is one of the market leaders in the field of modelling-based studio technology and effects units. Even classic tube amplifiers are emulated based on the circuit diagrams of the sometimes rare originals, right down to their individual components - including the specific values and characteristics. This minute attention to detail allows a virtual image of the original to be made digitally, which includes the latter's tonal characteristics and the variations that can be made to them using the controls provided. Simulations of sought-after boosters, the appropriate speakers, and supplementary effects are also included to enhance the basic sounds. And even though one wouldn't think it to look at the pedals, their stereo signal path means that two simulations are independently at work at the same time. It goes without saying, of course, that a master volume control is provided - so that signature tube saturation can be achieved at any volume level.