I purchased my Ultra-G direct box out of intrigue, and I'm glad I did. I am an experienced player, performing at some of the top night clubs in Columbus, OH with built in sound and experienced sound engineers. Every one of them has complimented the sound of the Ultra-G box, and at least two of them have decided to buy some of them based on hearing how good mine sounds. It's better than a mic in a live setting when used through a conventional line out, hands down. If you think otherwise, you must be using it incorrectly.

The idea behind this item was to enable you to connect an electric guitar directly to a mixer. Hooking an electric guitar into a PA results (of course) in a very flat tone. This little baby REALLY helps the tone and sound. I'm not over impressed with the simluated cab sound (effects pedal does a much better job...of course) but the clean sound is very clear and crisp.

This thing works great. Used it direct outa my line out. You can A/B between the amp sim and really hear the difference. And it cheap. Built like a tank. I wish you didn't need batteries like the Palmer but I hooked up a universal 9volt and mounted it right in the amp. It lives up to it's intention. And I did not notice any noise. Handy little do-dad don't cha know.

Those guys who are saying the cab simulator adds hiss must have defective units. It should not add any hiss and it works quite well. My first one died right away, but the 2nd is still working. It is a great alternative to micing.

I bought this primarily to use instead of a mic on my low wattage tube amp (blackheart little giant head). I was tired of running a mic and having to worry about placement, cables, etc.

I run it straight into a mixing board, that feeds my computer. It sounds great on recordings- fairly transparent, and soudns even better with the speaker emulation.

I also found a second use. I love the tone of my blackheart amp, but 5 watts wasn't enough for medium gigs. Now, I also use it live by running the signal out of the Ultra-G into the preamp-in on a crappier 60-watt tube amp. I use the 1x12" cabinet that gets fed directly by the amp for a monitor, and use the 60watt tube amp as the main sound source (or I could feed the house PA directly using the Ultra-G if I were so inclined).

There are some slightly more transparent units out there, and if cost is no issue, feel free to use them. But this does a solid job for $40. Can't ask for too much more. I've had little to no hiss, and no reliability issues at all with pretty regular use over the past 13 months.