Vox AC30's and Distortion Pedals

merlin

Gassage said:

7th post before the obvious mention of a Crowther Hotcake?

I put a Crowther Hotcake in front of my AC15 HW1 when I had it. It seemed to me the perfect combination. They were designed to go in front of an AC30 so I had to try one and it worked like a charm. Both gone now as I'm preferring the tweed route, but there you go...

keir

ThePrettyDamned said:

Rats work well, but my absolute favourite is the boss DF-2. This has a brilliant low gain overdrive or can do a really good rock crunch. 

The rat is good for overdrive, distortion and fuzz. 

For fuzz, though, the ones that play best are the zoom ultra fuzz and the boss DS-2 in turbo mode. It's very different to the df-2, loads of sustain and made mostly of midrange frequencies. Does a great lead fuzz tone. Not so much rhythm fuzz... 

Vox amps are pretty picky with pedals. Marshall in a box types don't seem to work well, nor do tubescreamer types, although they're not completely rubbish either. 

A favourite of some others is the Nobels odr-1. I like this one, but don't own it - I would like to get another one though. 

I went to see a band called The Big Moon and their lead guitarist had a df2 and trex mudhoney into an ac15 and sounded great. 

Fez

Back when I had an AC30 I used to like the Boss DS1  there weren't as many distortion pedals available then and no Keeley mods or such like (que the 4 Yorkshire men). I'd had a Big Muff which was OK but I hate the EH build quality and one day it just died.

Dominic

deano said:

Treble booster into the normal channel. Job done.

Absolutely correct - a cranked old school Treble Booster of Rangemaster type 
Beano Boost or Throback Strangemaster is the tool
Absolutely fantastic sound

deano

Dominic said:

deano said:

Treble booster into the normal channel. Job done.

Absolutely correct - a cranked old school Treble Booster of Rangemaster type 
Beano Boost or Throback Strangemaster is the tool
Absolutely fantastic sound

But us real men used 'em into NMV AC30's! None of this namby-pamby EUSSR master volume nonsense. Them were the days! I heard that! Pardon?

Seriously it's not big and it's not clever. Well, yes it is actually. Just don't worry about that ringing in your ears. It will go away.

professorben

ThePrettyDamned said:

Gassage said:

7th post before the obvious mention of a Crowther Hotcake?

I did try one, once, but I think it was into a fender amp. 

But yes, everyone goes mad for this one. To be honest, I can't imagine a better low gain distortion effect than the df-2 so I pretty much stopped looking after I got one. 

Then the second spare. 

 

Spares are for Jessie's. 
I'll take it off your hands for you. 

I wont even charge you. 

TheMarlin

I run a Tumnus into a Barber Burn unit.  Between the two, it covers all gain bases in need. I also run a pre amp up front, either a Nocturne Atomic Brain or Symbal Pre Driver (sometimes both).... if I want to set all hell lose. 

ThePrettyDamned

professorben said:

ThePrettyDamned said:

Gassage said:

7th post before the obvious mention of a Crowther Hotcake?

I did try one, once, but I think it was into a fender amp. 

But yes, everyone goes mad for this one. To be honest, I can't imagine a better low gain distortion effect than the df-2 so I pretty much stopped looking after I got one. 

Then the second spare. 

 

Spares are for Jessie's. 
I'll take it off your hands for you. 

I wont even charge you. 

Aww, this place is so kind to me. 

No.  

Seriously, my main one has a broken knob but the pot works. I bought a second because it is getting on and I've used it, successfully, into amps of all voices. It doesn't sound the same into a blackface as it does a Marshall, but it does still sound good and is useful. Not many pedals have that. 

professorben

ThePrettyDamned said:

professorben said:

ThePrettyDamned said:

Gassage said:

7th post before the obvious mention of a Crowther Hotcake?

I did try one, once, but I think it was into a fender amp. 

But yes, everyone goes mad for this one. To be honest, I can't imagine a better low gain distortion effect than the df-2 so I pretty much stopped looking after I got one. 

Then the second spare. 

 

Spares are for Jessie's. 
I'll take it off your hands for you. 

I wont even charge you. 

Aww, this place is so kind to me. 

No.  

Seriously, my main one has a broken knob but the pot works. I bought a second because it is getting on and I've used it, successfully, into amps of all voices. It doesn't sound the same into a blackface as it does a Marshall, but it does still sound good and is useful. Not many pedals have that. 

It was my first ever dist pedal when I first started playing, I think it's in my mums loft possibly, but she denies it, along with an Arion SAD-1 Delay and an Ampeg Flanger. 

flatout

I think it depends what you're looking for, any quality OD or distortion is going to make at least one great noise in front of an AC30. I have an AC30HWH with twin blues, and get great results out of a TS808, OD808, Rocket Archer, and Digitech CM2 hardwire overdrive. But I think my favourite is my OCD, which is mega!

susbemol

Agreed, most good quality overdrive and/or boost pedals work great with the AC amps. To be honest, it baffles me when people say the amps are picky... they really do work well with lots of different options. 

deano

susbemol said:

Agreed, most good quality overdrive and/or boost pedals work great with the AC amps. To be honest, it baffles me when people say the amps are picky... they really do work well with lots of different options. 

I think it's when people use a distortion ir overdrive into a Top Boost channel, when by definition the TB channel has the equivalent of a treble booster built into it. It's like putting an OD or distirtion box in front if a Rangemaster. Most folk have never used a Treble Booster, and then they try to effectively stack drive pedals in front of one.The result is usually a bit of a mess.

The best drive from a TB AC30 is, in my opinion, from the amp itself, or from pedals specifically designed for the TB channel like the Hotcake. Anything else is either a lottery or dependant you the players knowledge of the frequencies being boosted and cut, both in the TB channel and the drive pedal.