Vox AC10 too bright - any fixes?

johnhe

Hi Everyone,

I recently bought a little AC10. I really want to like the amp, but it's just much too bright with my setup. Even with the treble control turned all the way off, the tone is still to bright with my single coil guitars.

Has anyone else experienced this? Am I doing something wrong? Is there something wrong with my amp? Or is it just a bright amp by design?

dindude

I had one, it is a bright amp by nature, but then I like bright so I never found I didn't have enough range but yes the treble was always below 5 on the dial. I think some speaker break in will tame it somewhat or maybe a speaker swap to something a bit darker might help.

richardhomer

I played one a while ago with a Strat style guitar and thought it sounded really good. I tend to like brightish cleans/edge of break-up tones but it didn't strike me as overly bright.

Neckwringer

Don't know if there is a c5 bright cap option for this amp like there is for the AC4-12-c1,might be worth a look somewhere.

ICBM

What happens if you turn the amp up further and turn the guitar down?

Do your guitars have tone controls?

Not sarcasm by the way - these might not be the solution you're looking for, but it's easy to overlook if you aren't used to using the guitar controls. Small changes at the guitar can often fix stuff like this without needing to alter the amp.

JCA2550

The AC10 is quite a bright "chimey" little combo, after all it just uses a single 10" speaker and the tone controls don't offer a huge range of versatility but I really rate it.

I find that the sound gets richer, less spikey and the tone controls become more effective the higher you set the drive level even with a Strat. Running the AC10 "hot" just over the edge of break up and backing off volume on the guitar gives some great fat clean tones in my experience. 

Great little amp!

Gassage

Dimmer switch on studio lighting?

simonk

A really long curly cable? Worked for Brian

Gassage

simonk said:

A really long curly cable? Worked for Brian

He got a BOGOF when he got his perm done.

BoopDeWoop

My (stock) ac10 isn't too bright. The bass and treble pots work together quite nicely and seem to compensate for the lack of middle control. Try adding more bass and keep the treble to half way up. My normal setting are both eq knobs at noon. 

My bigger problem with the amp is it's really loud. Anything above a whisker above zero and it feels too loud for my little office. 

57Deluxe

a little EQ pedal would help - can be cheap as chips from AliExpress... Here's one:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/ammoon-AP-20-Mini-Guitar-Equalizer-Effect-Pedal-5-Band-Graphic-EQ-Aluminum-Alloy-Body-True/32738592576.html?spm=2114.01010208.3.213.ZTjkGj&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_3_10065_10068_10000009_10084_10083_10080_10082_10081_10060_10062_10056_10055_10037_10054_10033_10059_10032_10099_10078_10079_10077_426_10103_10073_10102_10096_10052_10053_10107_10050_10106_10051,searchweb201603_9,afswitch_5,single_sort_0_default&btsid=2f8d118f-4c62-47d3-bff6-1480f157ee22

johnhe

I put an Emi Ramrod speaker in my AC10 today - what a transformation! Still Voxy, but not so ice picky now!