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versatile clean and gain pedal
I bought this pedal as I do not own a valve amp and the reviews of the joyo version of this seemed very positive.
I was surprised how versatile this pedal was, with control knobs for bass, middle, treble, as well as volume gain and voice, the voice control when used with gain has a great deal of versatility and even small tweaks can change the sound dramatically.
When used with a transistor amp, in my case a Fender 65 dsp, its like a different amp altogether, smoother tones, especially from gain/voice control, you just have to tweak the amp controls along with pedal controls tofind the sound your looking for.
However, this particular amp has an effects in/out loop, so when this pedal is plugged directly into effects loop and guitar plugged into pedal, its just like using the amp as a stand alone cab, as the guitar is not going through any of the amps build in effects/controls, its just using the ac tone pedal for everything, giving you much more control when tweaking the knobs to find your sound, and then you can just add reverb/chorus/delay or which ever other pedals you desire, as the ac tone is a true bypass pedal, awesome piece of kit for the price
I was surprised how versatile this pedal was, with control knobs for bass, middle, treble, as well as volume gain and voice, the voice control when used with gain has a great deal of versatility and even small tweaks can change the sound dramatically.
When used with a transistor amp, in my case a Fender 65 dsp, its like a different amp altogether, smoother tones, especially from gain/voice control, you just have to tweak the amp controls along with pedal controls tofind the sound your looking for.
However, this particular amp has an effects in/out loop, so when this pedal is plugged directly into effects loop and guitar plugged into pedal, its just like using the amp as a stand alone cab, as the guitar is not going through any of the amps build in effects/controls, its just using the ac tone pedal for everything, giving you much more control when tweaking the knobs to find your sound, and then you can just add reverb/chorus/delay or which ever other pedals you desire, as the ac tone is a true bypass pedal, awesome piece of kit for the price
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A
soft - nasty - vintage - modern, it covers it all.
What I love the most is that you can start with a clean sound when the pedal is on. So you can use the pedal as a boost & give it more body or mids to your liking.
With the voice knob you can go from a vintage sound to a more modern overdrive, just sweep it until you find your sweet spot. The drive goes from clean to a sound that's not usable anymore (although someone might like it).
Everyone can get a good sound out of this pedal, but if your a metalhead I think you should look elswere.
I played with various guitars with humbuckers, single coils, p90's over a Roland bluescube & over an old 30w tube amp. This pedal eats all guitars, but with single coils it's a bit harder to find a good sound.
So you get a lot of sound options for a very good price.
With the voice knob you can go from a vintage sound to a more modern overdrive, just sweep it until you find your sweet spot. The drive goes from clean to a sound that's not usable anymore (although someone might like it).
Everyone can get a good sound out of this pedal, but if your a metalhead I think you should look elswere.
I played with various guitars with humbuckers, single coils, p90's over a Roland bluescube & over an old 30w tube amp. This pedal eats all guitars, but with single coils it's a bit harder to find a good sound.
So you get a lot of sound options for a very good price.
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o
Well, for the money...
When I got this stompbox I did not really fancy the sound. It was very harsh-sounding and brittle, which I couldn't get rid of. Therefore, it soon ended up in a pile of unused guitar accessories and stayed there for quite some time.
Recently, I decided to give it another shot and used it during a band practice. Turns out that the pedal just needs some good ol' power tube love and a pushed speaker; in other words, turn your amp up and the harsh pedally heights will be mostly gone. The sound isn't quite right unless you really cranck it up so it is probably not a great home-use pedal.
As far as the eq and voicing of the pedal goes, the eq is very sensitive (especially at the heights) and quite a bit of the range is pretty much unusable (it does everything you need it to do though), other knobs work as expected and the voice control is a very important feature as it defines the whole character of your sound.
Speaking of sound, i've tried playing it through quite a few amps and speakers. Given that you play it loud, it sounds quite similar to Bryan May's/Adams's tone (well they tend to play pretty loud too, don't they?), especially the lead sounds. Rythm sound is a bit worse but still, for covers it's pretty good and you can tell that it's supposed to sound like an overdriven VOX, which is more than respectable at this pricepoint.
So to conclude it all, if you want the VOX sound, but don't want it that much to actually buy an AC30, this is the way to get pretty close and without any wordly investments.
Also, Thomann's great sevice is there to accept your purchase back, there are no risks.
Recently, I decided to give it another shot and used it during a band practice. Turns out that the pedal just needs some good ol' power tube love and a pushed speaker; in other words, turn your amp up and the harsh pedally heights will be mostly gone. The sound isn't quite right unless you really cranck it up so it is probably not a great home-use pedal.
As far as the eq and voicing of the pedal goes, the eq is very sensitive (especially at the heights) and quite a bit of the range is pretty much unusable (it does everything you need it to do though), other knobs work as expected and the voice control is a very important feature as it defines the whole character of your sound.
Speaking of sound, i've tried playing it through quite a few amps and speakers. Given that you play it loud, it sounds quite similar to Bryan May's/Adams's tone (well they tend to play pretty loud too, don't they?), especially the lead sounds. Rythm sound is a bit worse but still, for covers it's pretty good and you can tell that it's supposed to sound like an overdriven VOX, which is more than respectable at this pricepoint.
So to conclude it all, if you want the VOX sound, but don't want it that much to actually buy an AC30, this is the way to get pretty close and without any wordly investments.
Also, Thomann's great sevice is there to accept your purchase back, there are no risks.
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WF
VOX-ish toneon budget
To get most of this pedal, you need to run it as a preamp (so in FX-loop return jack) - then it sounds quite alright and VOX-like.
Plugging it into an input it can be hit or miss I guess. If you treat it as an overdrive pedal, I would say that there are better options out there. It gets quite thin and sharp sounding at least for me.
You can plug it in a direct box or into an interface, however there are no cab sims built in this, so you are going to need one unless you want to sound like garbage.
I guess this pedal is for those who do not want to pull the trigger on a VOX-amp, but want to get a similar sound now and then. I have 2 VOX amps hence I plug in this pedal less and less as the time goes on. It just is not that amazing. Good - yes. Good for 30 euros - sure. On top of everything it takes more space than your typical BOSS size pedal.
Plugging it into an input it can be hit or miss I guess. If you treat it as an overdrive pedal, I would say that there are better options out there. It gets quite thin and sharp sounding at least for me.
You can plug it in a direct box or into an interface, however there are no cab sims built in this, so you are going to need one unless you want to sound like garbage.
I guess this pedal is for those who do not want to pull the trigger on a VOX-amp, but want to get a similar sound now and then. I have 2 VOX amps hence I plug in this pedal less and less as the time goes on. It just is not that amazing. Good - yes. Good for 30 euros - sure. On top of everything it takes more space than your typical BOSS size pedal.
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GM
Amazing value and quality - as a drive pedal and an amp substitute
Such a ridiculously low price for something so good. This pedal does exactly what it's supposed to. As a pedal on your board it will add Vox AC30 dirt and bite to your clean or dirty signal. It also works great with other drive, fuzz and modulation pedals. It can also be used as very portable amp that you can record directly from. Not as good as a real cranked tube amp, obviously. But if you want that kind of tone and feel, this is a very cheap way to get a good approximation of it.
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IW
Good Pedal.
I first purchased this pedal just to have that pinch of a VOX amp.
Its VOICE feature is very interesting and offers a wide range of amp types sound of VOX.
Knobs are very sensible....which is a good thing.
Casing is in metal and shows to be very robust,
Nice finish paint.
I recommend anyone to buy this pedal and experience it......hummm...at this price...I believe you got nothing to loose anyway....
In my way...it was a very good quality vs price deal.
Ivan
Its VOICE feature is very interesting and offers a wide range of amp types sound of VOX.
Knobs are very sensible....which is a good thing.
Casing is in metal and shows to be very robust,
Nice finish paint.
I recommend anyone to buy this pedal and experience it......hummm...at this price...I believe you got nothing to loose anyway....
In my way...it was a very good quality vs price deal.
Ivan
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NA
Still trying to find my way with this
Looking for Iconic AC30 sounds i.e Brian May/ Edge despite trawling you tube for set ups still have not found my way with this. It does not mean it is a bad Pedal, it just needs a lot more experimentation.
The build quality is excellent.
The build quality is excellent.
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j
IF you are careful, it'll sound ace!
Some people have moaned about hiss on these units, I think this is mainly down to poor settings. If you spend that bit of time getting the right sound, it very much emulates the AC tone great. If the gain is too low and the output is high, itll hiss a bit, but gain it up a little more and it's great. There very much is a sweet spot for it, and if you get it right, it'll warm up a sterile amplifier and make the world of difference. No brainer for the price!
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A
Great pedal for the money
This pedal is fantastic value for money. It is well made (all metal enclosure) and the construction feels reliable. Because of the 3-band EQ and the voice control (in addition to the usual volume and gain) it is very versatile and the user can achieve a wide range of sounds, from pure boost to great distortion. Another feature that adds to the versatility is that this pedal is actually an amp simulator rather than a traditional overdrive pedal, so it can be used directly into the effects loop of an amp for different output altogether. The only problem that I have found with these pedals is that they tend to introduce slight hissing to the sound, but at less than 30 Euros per pedal, that is a minor complaint. It is difficult for me to say whether the AC Truetone does a good job of recreating the sound of actual Vox amps closely, but again given the price I do not particularly expect it to sound just like an AC30.
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