I don't agree with your assessment of the Ultex picks. I switched from 1.5mm Tortex Jazz III to the new 1.5mm John Petrucci Ultex Jazz III pick and the improvement in volume & clarity of the notes, and control & precision of my picking style was phenomenal. The way Ultex picks glide across strings is unmatched by any Delrin, Tortex, Acetal, or acrylic picks. Even notes played on my downtuned seven-string guitar at high gain sound extremely clear and articulate with the Ultex picks. They are streamlined for fast and efficient picking. Their mirror-like finished frontal part makes them slide easily over the strings. Techniques like sweep picking, alternate picking, and economy picking are really easy to execute with the John Petrucci Ultex Jazz III pick. Their stiffness which you call ridiculous provides a lot of control to the guitarist. They also highlight a lot of nuances in my playing that otherwise get buried by Tortex picks. Ultex picks are one of the best choices for technically proficient guitarists.

Maybe you don't find them bright because you play guitars with high output humbuckers through bass-heavy high gain amps. I play an Offset Mustang through a bright Fender amp. The Zexcoil Z-Core noiseless pickups on my guitar just sound like overwound single-coil pickups. With my bright set-up, the Ultex picks sound bit too bright. As I have mentioned in my review I am not a shredder, I play Grunge and Pop Punk, so maybe I'm not one of the technically proficient guitarists you describe in your comment. Since you have mentioned that Ultex highlights the nuances of a player then it makes even more sense why I don't sound good with it, my picking style isn't polished and refined enough, and instead of nuances, the Ultex highlights my flaws in the worst possible way.

Your assumption is wrong, I have played single-coil guitars through the clean channel of my amp without any problem with the John Petrucci Ultex Jazz III pick, I've even used it while playing a Strat through a Fender Super Reverb. I never ran into this overly bright tone problem you speak of. On the contrary, the notes played sounded extremely clear and articulate. I think there's either something wrong about your amp or with the way you pick. No offense, but those two maybe valid reasons.

No offense taken, my amp is perfectly fine, there's no problem with it. Others have played through it too and they like how it sounds. However, as I've mentioned in my previous comment my picking style isn't exactly polished and refined. You did mention that Ultex picks highlight subtle nuances of a player's technique, so it's pretty obvious that they highlight flaws in a player's technique too. So that might be a reason why they don't work right for me.

In such an instance maybe you should consider changing your review because in its present state it's pretty misleading and gives this idea that Ultex is some sort of overly stiff and horribly bright material for picks which is not at all true.

Okay, I'll change it.