Before you purchase UAD Lion must read. Bugs with app and tech support.

[Americanevents]

Heads up!

huge complaint coming. UAD has lost its way..
I’m going to start with the end. UA has put their resources in sales and marketing and their product and tech support is now awful! In fact it’s such a disappointment I’m done investing or referring them.
I am a looong time Uad user and was a fan. I own 3 apollo 16s and other hardware, I own the Ruby pedal and the entire UAD plugin library. I’ve spent many thousands of dollars with this company.
I purchased Lion pedal for Xmas 2023.. what a disaster. To register had to update firmware, update UAFX app and desktop app. Easy..
after hours of app not working, it shuts down as soon as opened ect (uninstalls and reinstalls yadi yada) knowledge base iOS compatibility, endless research ect. UA has major bugs to work out with product and support. Their marketing is A plus tho!

I decided no more time lost in space, let’s open a support Tix bc my issue is not covered in K base. Well tech support has disappeared. From safari and chrome all instructions to open a support tix or links are inaccurate. Forget about talking to a live human or even a place to contact them. The website which used to allow a support Tix has disappeared.. at least temporarily. Can you imagine buying a product, doesn’t work as advertised, then instructions on how to get support are not accurate? I sent this thing back as fast as I received it. FU UA! Done with your lousy support. Shame on you!

 

[SimonA]

Jupp, UAFX quality control is something between super lousy and non-existing. Obviously, UA has no professional test set-up in place for UAFX firmware and app updates. They rely on users like us for beta testing. I am fairly sure that the algorithms are developed in-house by UA but everything else is outsourced and this is why it is so bad. My impression is that Tore & James, Marketing and the DSP-Algo guys earn top dollar, while everything else needs to cost as little as possible.

 

[SimonA]

But the pedals do sound awesome! (if you are not distracted by debugging for UA)

 

[Vondragonnoggin]

I haven’t experienced any issues with mine. I had to update firmware once by PC (Win10 laptop), then the app connected fine.

The one caveat I’ve had to follow was that if the phone goes into Lock Screen, then I need to close the app and re-open to connect again, but after learning that, it has connected every time.

 

[Americanevents]

Heads up!

huge complaint coming. UAD has lost its way..
I’m going to start with the end. UA has put their resources in sales and marketing and their product and tech support is now awful! In fact it’s such a disappointment I’m done investing or referring them.
I am a looong time Uad user and was a fan. I own 3 apollo 16s and other hardware, I own the Ruby pedal and the entire UAD plugin library. I’ve spent many thousands of dollars with this company.
I purchased Lion pedal for Xmas 2023.. what a disaster. To register had to update firmware, update UAFX app and desktop app. Easy..
after hours of app not working, it shuts down as soon as opened ect (uninstalls and reinstalls yadi yada) knowledge base iOS compatibility, endless research ect. UA has major bugs to work out with product and support. Their marketing is A plus tho!

I decided no more time lost in space, let’s open a support Tix bc my issue is not covered in K base. Well tech support has disappeared. From safari and chrome all instructions to open a support tix or links are inaccurate. Forget about talking to a live human or even a place to contact them. The website which used to allow a support Tix has disappeared.. at least temporarily. Can you imagine buying a product, doesn’t work as advertised, then instructions on how to get support are not accurate? I sent this thing back as fast as I received it. FU UA! Done with your lousy support. Shame on you!

But the pedals do sound awesome! (if you are not distracted by debugging for UA)

When working 100% agree. Most guit bass pedals you would purchase from Roland to boutique brands are simple plug and play. Some with a simple app. UA went in with next level modeling. Great and love the tones., however if your company ethos is not about the end user you will lose market and your rep will get slammed. one reason Amazon is such a great company is their focus on customer satisfaction and ability to resolve quick. Doesn’t matter how great your product is if your tech support and customer service is complicated and frustrates customers.
I own an entertainment company that employees over fifty musicians, I’ve sent out the email to stay away from these pedals for live performances. Sad!

 

[Americanevents]

Jupp, UAFX quality control is something between super lousy and non-existing. Obviously, UA has no professional test set-up in place for UAFX firmware and app updates. They rely on users like us for beta testing. I am fairly sure that the algorithms are developed in-house by UA but everything else is outsourced and this is why it is so bad. My impression is that Tore & James, Marketing and the DSP-Algo guys earn top dollar, while everything else needs to cost as little as possible.

agreed. Notice how strong UA’s marketing is. its awesome! I receive UA emails daily about sales and the ease of purchase is fantastic! Buuuut you have a problem with a product, then FU! Search our knowledge base. Can’t find solution, Good luck getting a human to resolve. They should at least use cheap outside us tech support so they lose the rep of awful after sale. I’m done with them!

 

[SimonA]

I haven’t experienced any issues with mine. I had to update firmware once by PC (Win10 laptop), then the app connected fine.

The one caveat I’ve had to follow was that if the phone goes into Lock Screen, then I need to close the app and re-open to connect again, but after learning that, it has connected every time.

Lucky you. I discovered two of their latest bugs and spent multiple hours testing and debugging for UA:

ASTRA huge volume boost after updating to Firmware 1.1.7

Hi, since updating my ASTRA to firmware version 1.1.7 I am experiencing a huge volume boost of around 6dB when engaging the pedal in my chain. This is the case for all algorithms also the ones where I can't control the output volume (Flanger, Dharma-Trem). This is mega annoying since I want to...

uadforum.com

Del-Verb Voicings gone after firmware and UAFX control update

Updated my del-verb yesterday to version 1.1.3 and Uafx control to 2.2.0 in the hope to get the possibility to turn on/off delay and reverb independently while in tap-tempo mode. Well, that did not happen :cry: Moreover, it turned out that I could not find my two of my favorite spring voicings...

uadforum.com

I consider both of them major bugs that should not happen for pedals with this price tag. Furthermore, UA seemed absolutely clueless and asked for videos and other support from my side. This is absolutely unprofessional.

 

[kkroe]

Everyone I spoke to before buying the UAD told me the same, the tech support is extremely slow considering the price tags..

All I can say is that the amount of email for promotions and ads on Instagram is 10/10

 

[UniversalAudio]

Heads up!

huge complaint coming. UAD has lost its way..
I’m going to start with the end. UA has put their resources in sales and marketing and their product and tech support is now awful! In fact it’s such a disappointment I’m done investing or referring them.
I am a looong time Uad user and was a fan. I own 3 apollo 16s and other hardware, I own the Ruby pedal and the entire UAD plugin library. I’ve spent many thousands of dollars with this company.
I purchased Lion pedal for Xmas 2023.. what a disaster. To register had to update firmware, update UAFX app and desktop app. Easy..
after hours of app not working, it shuts down as soon as opened ect (uninstalls and reinstalls yadi yada) knowledge base iOS compatibility, endless research ect. UA has major bugs to work out with product and support. Their marketing is A plus tho!

I decided no more time lost in space, let’s open a support Tix bc my issue is not covered in K base. Well tech support has disappeared. From safari and chrome all instructions to open a support tix or links are inaccurate. Forget about talking to a live human or even a place to contact them. The website which used to allow a support Tix has disappeared.. at least temporarily. Can you imagine buying a product, doesn’t work as advertised, then instructions on how to get support are not accurate? I sent this thing back as fast as I received it. FU UA! Done with your lousy support. Shame on you!

Sorry you had a bad experience. What is your ticket #? Happy to look into it for you and make it was handled correctly.

 

[Carl]

Well. I bought a Lion '68 when it was first released a little while ago. BT connection is unstable and the app doesn't work very well. But guess what. I am using the buttons and switches on the pedal and I am having so much fun playing through it. For the first time in my life I have a really good Marshall sound at line level without using a big Marshall head, an attenuator and an OX Stomp.

Sure, UA needs to sort out the app and the BT issue, but while they are working on that we can still enjoy how great the Lion '68 sounds and responds.

 

[SimonA]

Well. I bought a Lion '68 when it was first released a little while ago. BT connection is unstable and the app doesn't work very well. But guess what. I am using the buttons and switches on the pedal and I am having so much fun playing through it. For the first time in my life I have a really good Marshall sound at line level without using a big Marshall head, an attenuator and an OX Stomp.

Sure, UA needs to sort out the app and the BT issue, but while they are working on that we can still enjoy how great the Lion '68 sounds and respons.

Yeah, also love the pedals, although I am repeatedly puzzled and annoyed by UAs blunders and design decisions/omissions. Received the Lion 68 and Galaxy as Christmas gifts but haven’t had the chance to try them out yet.

 

[rodd]

Well. I bought a Lion '68 when it was first released a little while ago. BT connection is unstable and the app doesn't work very well. But guess what. I am using the buttons and switches on the pedal and I am having so much fun playing through it. For the first time in my life I have a really good Marshall sound at line level without using a big Marshall head, an attenuator and an OX Stomp.

Sure, UA needs to sort out the app and the BT issue, but while they are working on that we can still enjoy how great the Lion '68 sounds and respons.

I hope yours gets sorted out soon. I have noticed a huge improvement in the bluetooth connection reliability with the latest firmware and app updates. The app still takes a bit to connect, but so far has been much more reliable.

But yes, Lion is really good with just using the knobs and switches. That was the main reason I was okay with buying it, knowing I had trouble with bluetooth with my other pedals up to that point. But then shortly afterward they released the firmware updates and they've all been much better.

 

[klasaine]

Received the Lion 68 and Galaxy as Christmas gifts

Those are nice presents, and relatively dear. You must’ve been looking at a lot of ad copy.

 

[jaeger28]

Sorry you had a bad experience. What is your ticket #? Happy to look into it for you and make it was handled correctly.

well I think he wrote that he was unable to issue a support ticket because it disappeared from the site and as he already sent the product back I don't think he needs one anymore.

 

[klasaine]

I know it doesn’t help now but in the future, scroll down to the bottom of any UAd page and click either support or contact us. If you choose contact us, click the banner that says request support. A blue icon will show up in the lower left hand corner. If the issue isn’t solved with whatever docs they suggest, type Agent or Request agent in the next dialogue box. This will get you an email exchange, ticket and ticket number.

No, I don’t like the chat bot and I definitely think that UA support should get better and that a phone call option should be reinstated.