Pardon my French, but this is “the shit.” If you prefer to use it with a standard guitar amp, I recommend bypassing the amp’s preamp section by plugging the Lion’s output into the amp’s effects loop return jack only and bypassing the speaker emulation.ĭoes Lion live up to its promise of delivering the “most authentic emulation of a 100-watt late-’60s Plexi head ever”? For me, it’s a definitive “yes.” The tones are very harmonically rich, with roaring mid-range crunch, gut-walloping bass and crystalline, cutting treble, plus dynamic responsiveness and feel that is just like driving a Plexi Super Lead flat out, but accessible at lower volume levels – and won’t cause permanent ear damage.
The pedal communicates with a mobile iOS or Android device and the UAFX Control Mobile app via Bluetooth to provide access to deeper editing functions and access factory and artist presets.īecause Lion is a true amp emulator that also includes speaker emulation, it sounds best connected to a live mixing console or a digital audio recording interface. Other key features include mono/stereo ¼-inch inputs and outputs and a USB-C jack for downloading firmware updates via the UA Connect desktop computer app. The toggle switch on the right engages Super Bass, Super Lead or Brown settings. Speaker emulation can also be bypassed altogether. The Cab toggle provides Dynamic Speaker Modeling emulations of 4x12 cabinets loaded with vintage Celestion 25-watt Greenbacks, 30-watt Greenbacks or a combination of two 25-watt Greenbacks and two JBL D-120Fs that very likely was the combination Eddie Van Halen used when recording Van Halen’s debut album.Īdditional 1x12 EV, 2x12 Celestion G12M-65 Creambacks and 4x12 Celestion Vintage 30 models are available after registering the product.
The Boost function combines emulation of an Echoplex EP-3 preamp with gain that increases up to the 10 o’clock position where the control adds a Boss GE-10 graphic EQ emulation midrange boost curve (for mid-1978 EVH live flavor). The lower three knobs double as Presence, Room and Boost controls when the center toggle is in the “Alt” position (normal controls are engaged in the toggle’s Amp setting). Here, the controls mostly correspond with those found on a Marshall Super Lead: Volume I, Volume II, Bass, Middle, Treble, plus the addition of Output (overall volume level control). The UAFX ’68 Lion features the same form factor as the company’s previous Dream, Ruby and Woodrow amp emulator pedals, providing six knobs, three toggle switches and two footswitches on its top panel.