Fender ULTRA Best American Strat?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 ธ.ค. 2022
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Fender American Ultra Stratocaster FULL DEMO
John and Zach uncase, talk specs, and play the high performance Fender American Ultra Stratocaster in Cobra Blue.
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I went to my local guitar center just to play an ultra strat. Within seconds of holding the guitar, I knew I was buying one. Nothing else compared to the way it feels in my hands. They only had the blue in stock, so I ended up ordering one online in Texas tea. The gold plating and beautiful dark swampy brown color is just gorgeous. Now I get to play the waiting game until it arrives in the mail. So here I am killing time by watching videos that make me want it more lmao.
Great video by the way. I appreciate it.
lol thanks for watching, great choice!
How are you liking it?
@@rob1996ization I’m absolutely in love with it man. Even if I’m not going to play it, sometimes I just open the case to look at it lol. I have plenty of things more valuable than it, but it quickly became my most prized possession. As far as how I enjoy the playability, it is second to none in my book. I’m sure one day I’ll find something else that plays as good or better, but for the time being, I couldn’t imagine a better guitar.
just bought mine from local GC, great price with case in cobalt blue. Knew it would be mine within 10mins of visit. They had the Umbra burst as well, it also looked gorgeous. The neck, electronics, and overall feel makes this a serious piece of engineering, and the sounds I have in store for it will even the tide. Working on brand new album, pigments of my imagination must rain down... Heaven is a place on earth when you've got a Strat Ultra and creative options!
I own a Fender Ultra in Mocha Burst. I shopped around different strats for a while. It’s a really really nice guitar. Very well made. I like the push switch. Pickups are better than you are expecting and the case is super heavy duty.
Does your guitar keep going out of tune sharp?
Just picked up the Cobalt Blue one today. It’s all about the neck. OOOOHH that neck!! Have never played such a great neck. Of course the entire guitar and the Noiseless pups are fabulous. This one is a definite keeper.
Went to Guitar Center to play and compare the Ultra and the Ampro II. I played the Ultra for about ten minutes or so, had the sales person hand me the Ampro II and handed it back to him after about a minute. I was really surprised how much better the Ultra was. I have a JM AmPro II and love the crap out of it so I was prepared to feel the same for the Strat, which I may have had I not played the Ultra first. Now it's all I dream about. I don't own a Strat and that is going to be my first! Now I just need to wait for that 48 month interest free financing deal...
Haven't tried one yet, but having rolled edges on the neck is great. Wish all models came that way from Fender.
Good review. I have the elite Stratocaster I think the noiseless pickups on the Ultra are tuned better than the Elites. However add a little compressor to the elite noiseless and you can color the tone close enough.
I own 4 ultras…
Texas tea telecaster
Trifade strat with maple neck
Cobra blue strat with HSS
And the Texas tea Jazz bass.
Being a fender guy for years…I really like these guitars. They are easy to get around and the neck radius makes all the difference between my other strats and telecasters. Especially the 7.25r reissues I have (I love ‘em, but they are tiring to play)
I love the “S” switching options as well….it all adds to the line for sure.
The tele is my goto these days. I own a great collection of guitars….I’m a big fan.
Wish I could afford that many. Hopefully in the future!
I lost my sidekick (1979 black strat) in an auto accident, about 15 years ago.
I was heading back home from a late night gig & fell asleep at the wheel! 😢
To this day I still have not came across "The one" to replace her. Although this Ultra Strat has me thinking hard about it🤔, reminds me of her sooo much! 😔
Cobra blue. A gorgeous color and especially with that pick guard.
I’ve had the HSS rosewood neck version for a couple years now & really love it. No neck pocket hairline cracks yet! Thanks for the great review!
i have one in texas gold and I love it so much that I thought about getting one in HSS with rosewood neck. My first strat and it delivered. I ended up buying vintage II 61. Love them both and they are very different guitar
nice video, agreed with you on superb tones and finish of this work of art guitar. I literally just bought this and loving it! Didnt even need much setup, playing it thru an Eventide, what could be better?
Fender seems to be going option crazy. I don't have my usual headphones on, and I may not be able to tell from TH-cam anyway, but those noiseless pickups sound pretty good to me.
Man thank you so much I’m totally gona get me one ultra soon wow great video great work showing all the parts and man you play so good and showed each pick up . I hope you get more followers
I just ordered one with a roasted maple neck and surf green body. I played one in the store and I agree with what everybody says about it just feeling...right. I liked the spongy sounding pickups and they gave me an albert king sound at times which I love. the S1 switch really sounds good. Can't imagine anything that can be improved with this guitar.
thank you for taking it apart to verify if humbucker pickups can be put in there!
Some of the more modern appointments don't really appeal to me but the sound is undeniably Fender through and through.
Such a lovely guitar. I played a rosewood burst model at GC and it was painful to leave it at the store.
Hello John & Zach. Those pick ups sound great. I will bet she plays great also. That's a very nice guitar period. Money wise I think it is worth it. A solid Ten. I hope you & your families have a Rocking Christmas. & a Healthy New Year. Signed John (Zepbass) Gregory from Munster Indiana.
I have the cobalt blue ultra strat. Looks good, plays good & sounds good. It's a beast.
I bought my dad one of these and a Fender amp for his 70th birthday during lockdown. He loves it but doesn't dare play it lol. He just jams on his old guitars. Lovely bit of kit tho! Great vid too!
Just got one. Cobalt Blue. It is lovely. Plays so nice.
NGD today for me with this exact guitar...Its superb...really digging it....
Nice enjoy!! Great one for sure, thanks for watching
I just purchased a pre owned Texas Tea (2022) and saved over $500. I used to own an American Standard Sienna Sunburst Stratocaster but had to sell it off several years ago. Was an awesome guitar and hated to part with it. Now that I can afford to “replace it” I thought to go with an upgraded version in another color. Thanks for posting a nice review.
Cobra Blue. I 💙 mine. Has much more to offer than my MIM Player, which is an incredible guitar. Noiseless pups, locking tuners, bone nut, HSC, etc. Better quality components equates to higher cost. Again to each their own. Just don't degrade a top tier guitar if you can't afford it. Nice demo 👊💙
It’s not even very expensive if you’re an adult with a job. 2k is fine.
I'm 1010% convinced those neck pocket cracks you talk about are from the leverage force applied to the body through the neck/screws when propping a bolt-on necked guitar up like that (2:28).
I've never understood why this is necessary. whenever I work on my guitars, I have the headstock lying off the edge of the table and support the neck under the 1st fret just enough to keep it from bobbingup and down, but not enough to prop up the body off the table, and in 23 years of playing/setting up guitars I've never had a neck pocket crack on me.
Ultra series truly are amazing
!
I have the texas tea hss utra,only thing i dont like is the noiseless pick up,planning to change it to custom 54 pup,
Hello,
I have a Stratocaster American Ultra cobra blue and a Gibson Les Paul standard 60s . Both are very good instruments. Two different worlds. The American Ultra is fantastic for Blues and Rock. But the price in France is very high. I tried an American Ultra Telecaster a very good instrument too.
in which situation would you prefer using a Strat and a Les Paul and why? cheers man
I just ordered that exact one last night. Can't wait for it to come in.
Congrats and enjoy! Great choice.
I bought one with Rosewood fretboard.....awesome guitar...
Great review. One correction: That one is called Cobra blue, not cobalt blue. It’s the same color as the Ford Cobra Mustang automobile.
Sold my 2012 Fender Am Deluxe. Only guitar I regret selling. Almost tempted to guy buy it back for $400 more than I sold it for lol. It’s that solid.
I bought an Ultra in the Cobra Blue in 2020, and it's outstanding. The satin polyurethane D neck with the compound radius fretboard is my all-time favorite profile. The pickups are killer. The thing never goes out of tune, even on 1.5-step bends. I know Leo Fender went to Music Man and G&L to perfect his design, but to me, the Ultra series is the perfection of his 1954 vision.
I can't say I'd spend extra for the Luxe. They released it a year after I got my Ultra, and other than stainless steel frets and some other feature so meaningless I forgot what it is, it's the same guitar for $400 more. Not worth it, especially because stainless steel frets on a SSS Strat can sound quickly send your tone into ice pick territory.
For me, the Ultra Luxe was worth it for the stainless steel frets alone. I also preferred the neck carve and the ash body. YMMV.
@@andybown68 I stand corrected about the neck carve. It's a subtle description on the Fender website. I thought it was the same. Did you play the augmented D side by side with the modern D? I'm not sure if I'd notice the difference, but I'm curious what you thought.
I personally avoid ash guitars unless I know how heavy they are. Is yours beastly or did Fender pick lightweight ash?
@@revolead The Ultra Luxe just felt a bit fuller in the hand. Not better or worse than the Ultra, but it suited me better. My Ultra Luxe is slightly heavier than my Player strat, but it’s not a boat anchor.
@@andybown68 I have a Warmoth body custom Soloist with a swamp ash body and maple cap, and it's pretty heavy, but not as much as my Heritage H-150. So I can imagine.
And it's not like my Ultra is light. It's just over 8 lbs, so I doubt ash would be a deal breaker.
Either way, Fender only offered the Ultra when I bought it, and my guitar sounds great. It'd have been nice to have the Luxe option to compare, but I don't think I'd find it $400 better. Totally fine that you do.
@@revolead Agreed, I don’t think one is better than the other. They are both great guitars.
i’ve got the ultra jazzmaster and it plays beautifully
I got mine just 4 days ago and I played more than I played my whole life... What a fantastic unbelievable guitar, in all facets.
It’s Cobra Blue, color modeled after the Shelby Cobra
Very clean sound from that
Could you put this neck on a different guitar or does the contour screw it up?
I have one and dig it, especially the body contours and the neck. It has incredibly stable tuning for a Strat and is very comfortable to play. The Ultra noiseless pickups are easily the best noiseless i've played... but ultimately I still wound up swapping them out for some custom wound pickups. I've just never been a fan of modern Fender pickups, including the custom shop options. I play it more than any Fender strat i've owned, but I still find myself picking up my '21 core model Silver Sky more often. The pickups are something special but it just feels like a more refined guitar from almost any objective measurement when i'm playing it. They're Both really good guitars. I just find myself playing distinctly different things on them because of how different they feel and respond to my playing.
What pickups did you end up getting? I'm really happy with the Ultra pickups, but I have an MIM Fender Classic Player 60s that I'm on the fence about the Custom Shop 69s. I go back and forth about liking them. Curious what you'd recommend. Other than a Silver Sky. Lol!
I had one of these, rosewood fretboard and ultra burst finish. I adored the neck but just couldn't get on with the pickups. I ended up selling it but probably should have kept it and changed the pickups. It sounded too sterile and lifeless to me. I tried really hard to love the guitar but it just wasn't meant to be but I'd buy the neck and stick it on a different strat body with different pups.
Just bought one of these. I thought my tone knob was messed up but turns out it’s a no load pot. Go figure
Bought mine for $1800 when the 1st came out, glad i did
I have one and I really like it!
I need a strat but I torn. Which would handle better overdrive. I am looking for a strat that handle overdrive well., i.e., AC/DC, Beatles Classic Right, where I can plug into a Fender Twin Reverb, and a Marshall Plexi? Does the maple neck handle guitar "better"? Great video like always
This guitar could easily cover that. Especially the HSS model, if you need that humbucker in the bridge. As far as maple vs rosewood, pick whatever you like best. I prefer maple only because it was first and the original neck. That was all you could get on Fenders in the 50's. I'm a traditionalist.
super présentation! merci
Just got mine today.😊
Las pastillas de la American deluxe suenan bien!
Very cool! I want the "quiet" single coils. EC uses 'em in his neck and bridge with his "active" in the middle.... should be good for me.
Heavy at 8+ lbs.... BUMMER...I only have a 1/4 of a right leg stump left with severe nerve damage(Terminal Illness Aortic Dissection twice a failed Femeral Artery Graft... had to let my leg go or get gangrene.... of course I don't care for a Les Paul.... nice neck and joint .... (I hate tremlos...EC blocks his...)
Great tonality..yep the "silent" single coils hint at "The Woman's Sound"...NICE.... ALWAYS wanted a real Fender too... I LIKE IT!!!!
As an Ultra Strat owner, if you play sitting down, as I do, you don't even notice the 8 lbs. The sculpted heel and super easy playing neck make it feel lighter than it is. The don't even notice it's weight unless I pick it up immediately after grabbing my 6 lbs. 11 oz. Ibanez.
How does cobra blue compare with chrome blue? A color that I think is continued.
I have the ultra sunburst. best guitar I have ever bought.
I have the Moca ultra Strat as well sweet
love that finish. good sound!
Cobra Blue!
Strike Hard!
Strike First!
No Mercy!
What a great video have a great weekend
Great overview
Impressive… now I’m between this and the Luxe?
Hi. Which Strat would you recommend if you don't want the push pull stuff?
There's many to choose from, but if you want more of a vintage/classic characteristic without modern switching you can check out the Vintera series: www.zzounds.com/a--3979398/item--FEN0149912?siid=261967
Do you have a price range or preference on where it's made? Thanks for watching.
I went to guitar center simply to kill sometime. I am better off now (money wise) so I decided to start playing the most expensive guitars they had on stock. I went through a couple of Gibsons thinking (these are trash for the price) and the moment I touched the Stratocaster Ultra I knew it was the best guitar I have ever lay hands on.
Anyways, I bought the guitar and had it seating in its case for 8 months (I usually play my takamine guitar). Well my foolish ass decides to place it in Facebook market place because I figured I was never going to play it again. I decided to hook it up to an amp and play it one last time. Bro, I took that ad immediately. Now I am playing it daily. This guitar made me feel the shit I felt when I was 15 years old and first started playing guitar.
I have a Texas Tea. I went to a guitar shop to buy a Suhr. Saw the Ultra and compared it with a bunch of Suhrs. It at least compared equally to the Suhrs on everything except price (it was almost $1,000 less expensive). The feel of the neck was significantly more comfortable and, this is subjective, I felt it was just a better looking guitar. The neck on the Ultra is incredible! It is, hands down, the best neck I've ever played on! Went to buy a Suhr, came home with a Fender Ultra Stratocaster and never regretted it!
What I really want is an ultra with a nitro finish.
same here. hopefully we’ll get something similar in the future
I want an ultra with a solid turquoise body, and a white pick guard and knobs.
Me too but don't hold your breath. I think a Suhr antique classic is the closest option.
How does she compare to the American Pro II 1699.00?
Check out our demo on the Am Pro II: th-cam.com/video/pj_tReB-lZM/w-d-xo.html Thanks for watching!
I don't really understand all the price differences. They all are pretty much the same to me.
Noiseless single coils just don't sound like they should IMO
You’re not wrong. I like how they sound better, but I tend to be a neck pickup guy and I like a warmer tone. I do think you can dial them in fairly close to traditional single coils though.
is the bridge singlecoil worth having instead of hss?
It just depends on your preference. I bought one with HSS thinking it would be more versatile. Turns out I didn't like the sound as i prefer single coils. The humbucker sounded dull, but thats my opinion. Btw the hss changes the way the S switch operates; that's something to consider also.
@@waywardsoul4918 how it change explain
I wonder if Fender have ever considered a short run of guitars using the Ultra Specs but with different pickups. If they treated non Masterbuilt customers to an Ultra with Josefina Campos pickups, plus a Freeway 10 position switch, that would be really something.
Throw on ss frets and they might actually be able to compete with Ibanez again
It’ll only cost $1500 more!✌️🤪🎸🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶
I love the compound radius.
@@martyshwaartz971 they have that in the Ultra Luxe. See discussion above.
A few different colors would be nice. Sweetwater has an exclusive black one, and Chicago Music Exchange had a quicksilver one.
Great review. One correction: That one is called Cobra blue, not cobalt blue. It’s the same color as the Ford Cobra Mustang automobile.
Great video!! How do you join the giveaway?
Thanks! The Gleam giveaway entry link is in our description. Make sure you subscribe and enter on Gleam, the winner will be selected randomly by Gleam when we hit 50,000 subscribers
@@PlayandTradeGuitars thank you!!
I want one but can’t afford it right now. One day….
I own a Texas tea , but that blue ❤️
I find it amazing that even paying over $2000 for the instrument, with an incredible professional setup, in these videos you still hear an audible rattle/fretbuzz. It is apparently inevitable with Fenders.
A compound radius fretboard can be found on Jacksons (owned by Fender) for under $300, yet here it’s an elite feature. Fender should be able to offer that on an import model for $600 or so, maybe market as a “modern player.” My two cents 😊
Go home kid
What are you even talking about
I really wonder what the actual production cost is of an ultra Fender Strat ? I'm sure there is a huge mark up . 🎸✨🎼🎼🎼 ( Aliexpress sell Chinese made Strats for $140 !!!! )
Every player is different, the ultra doesn't work for me and I've played a couple of them. I'm not into the noiseless pickups, locking tuners or very flat compound neck radius. For players like me, the Pro 2 is a much better buy and value for money. I preface that by saying that's just me, doesn't mean that I am right or wrong just my preference.
Cobalt blue? You sure you didn't mean Cobra blue?
I definitely meant Cobra Blue, thanks for watching!
Try a Shijie. Better specs for a lot less.
This is the first guitar I bought for myself and I have zero interest in buying another guitar.
May want to get the color name right…… not Cobalt…. Cobra!
Correct, I was testing you. Thanks for watching
The pickups are CRAP, the S1 switching is LAME, and it doesn't have stainless steel frets. The contoured heel is nice though.
I have one,only thing i dont like is the single noiseless pick up,better change to passive vintage pick up like texas special or seymour
@@bustanorms2028 Dimarzio Area 67 pickups (and Area 61 at bridge position) are the way to go. Better than the Fender noiseless pickups.
@@Thirdgen83 ok thanks
Gleam
Ultras are now, to what Fender's of the past use to be. Even some Ultra's are questionable. So what have they really done here.
Cost cutting. Divert ur mind away from the reality. Like that awful neck pocket. That’s the most crucial joint and they shave off mass quoting accessibility. Ana this guy here misses it out. The kids will rave that it’s all new and shinny.
Similar to the three bolt.
No , its not worth it.
i can't see spending that kinda money on a guitar.. just for the fender name.. it's just not worth it to me...
I would stick with Mexican or Japanese made fenders for value. These are overpriced and overrated IMO. Especially for active musicians, why would you pay so much for a wall ornament. Another Great Wall hanger from fender!
I disagree with your wall hanger remark. I play mine. Every day. I guess if tiu could afford one them you're probably gonna hang it on the wall. To each their own however. Happy hanging! 👊🎸
We have now guitars that have roasted maple necks,stainless steel frets,bone nuts,locking tuners,spokewheel truss rods that go under 200 dollars and this thing costs 2000 plus?Better get that 200 bargain throw top of the notch electronics and call it a day...in fact....why not get two and do the same...it would still be better and cheaper..llol..
Flat radius does not mean its fast, a thin neck does not make it fast. Using those buzz words is very misleading. Just watch Wolfgang rip on a 335, watch Paul Gilbert rip on a baseball bat. Its simply just not true.
I have this exact one. Love it.