I got the AC15C1 as soon as they came out. Here's my take on pedals : Headroom - this is what you have at your 9 o'clock gain setting. This is where it will accept most pedals, but why not let the actual tube amp do the talking? Compression - this is what you have when you run the tube amp just at the point of breaking up. Somewhere between 10-12 o'clock with a AC15 and most guitars. When you try to send more guitar (volume or frequencies) into a compressed amp it doesn't get much louder, but it becomes more compressed with much more and much muddier bottom end. This dynamic combines with the use of the guitar volume control - you turn down and it cleans up but doesn't lose much volume. You can use compression dynamics to get awesome sounds with the right kind of pedals + guitar volume control. You want something that doesn't add any bass, but rather removes it. Something that adds treble or even mids, but no bass. Brain May runs his gain on 10 and uses a treble booster plus his guitar volume to produce a large range of sound. My personal favorite thing to plug into the front of a compressed vox is wampler Tumnus which is a clone of a gold klon. This pedal tightens up the bass and makes the guitar front and center in amazing ways. This pedal is wizard level. You will have much better results with a 'transparent' overdrive or a simple dirty boost pedal and a compressed vox than you will with 500 pedals and low gain amp setting. If you plug in 'full body' overdrive into the compressed vox you get a wall of sound and out of control, flabby bass. It can sound awesome, but it's like coloring the whole picture black and then hanging it in a dark room. The absolute worst pedal I ever plugged into my own AC15C1 is the big muff pi nano thing. It's an almost fun sound, but it's not even in the top 1000 of good sounding fuzz for a vox. My personal favorit is the fulltone '69 pedal with germanium bits. It sounds absolutely wonderful. Like cotton candy to the bigmuffs road tar. Too bad there are no really good demos of the '69 using the dynamics of amp and volume because this pedal works great with compression dynamics and volume. When you turn your guitar down you suddenly understand where Jimi Hendrix got his clean sparkly sound. If I could only keep one pedal to use with my vox it would be this one because it is great fun, but the tumnus is pro level sound. tl;dr turn up the amp gain and use pedals that are built for that instead of low gain and emulation type things and enjoy the profit.
Dude thank you this is so insightful. I just got the amp today and distortion pedals were causing tons of noise humming. Now I understand the science behind it. Question: why is this not a problem with my Marshall jcm 2000 dsl 50 head? I’m guessing because I usually keep it quieter and don’t allow the tubes to break up as much. It doesn’t have a master volume like the ac15 does. I think I just answered my own question?
Yeah I loved how you had all the pedals move by themselves and hook up, very clever and fun to watch. Since our amps and pedals almost have a personality of their own it was really cool.
I played an AC15C1 yesterday. Great amp, love the Top Boost. I tried a new EHX Big Muff Op Amp with it, using the Top Boost and Normal channels. In Top Boost, a little fuzz goes a long way. Keep the fuzz level and sustain settings low, and this combo gets a really cool fuzz that is totally controllable with the guitar's volume knob. I'm thinking about upgrading to this model from my AC10C1.
I totally agree! I have an AC15C1 and whilst the top boost (clean) will take pedals, the natural, openness and warmth of the normal channel is (in my opinion) much better.
I think anyone who says they don't take pedals well either hasn't played one or plugged into the top boost channel with too much gain. Normal channel clean and it'll take most pedals fine.
Hey, I'm not an expert in sound waves either, but I get that same "crap" tone with my OD pedal and my AC15 cranked. I think it has something to do with destructive wave patterns, much like the technology used in sound-cancelling headphones. The wave patterns from an OD pedal sometimes create the exact opposite wave pattern as the natural drive from the AC15, making the sound "flutter", for lack of a better term. The negative waves from one source and the positive waves from the other cancel each other out. I'm sure google will give you a better explanation haha.
Landon, thanks for showing the effects thru a clean amp. The Vox AC-15 is an outstanding choice, there’s nothing it can’t do. Very helpful video, thanks and stay well.
Great sounding amp. I picked up an Ibanez TS Mini today as a direct result of hearing you play Nelson's guitars through yours. There must have been a UK delivery this week as no dealers had them now they're available everywhere again. Just think, if you were on 1% commission you'd have £0.69 now! With your amp running distorted and already distorting/compressing the signal, there simply isn't enough headroom to take the high output of the fuzz pedal too. Try turning your guitar volume down, maybe that will help to maintain more clarity. Maybe also try engaging the Wicker switch on the Big Muff to let more high frequencies through.
the TS mini is awesome. I love that pedal, glad the videos helped you decide to get one. I convinced Nelson to get one last year too. thanks for the tips on the Fuzz. I'm the kind of guy that runs all the guitar knobs at full volume/tone, so ya I never thought of turning down the guitar. and the wicker might do what you say. I've never found a good use for it, it just adds so much HIGHS.
The Big Muff Pi never sounds good on top of a driven amp. What I would've liked to have seen was a ProCo Rat or Turbo Rat plugged into that thing. In the early 90s, I got a great sound from my overdriven Fender Twin when I stomped on the Rat.
I love your walls, using different shaped acoustic foam as artistic decoration is a great idea. One question, if you have gaps like that, does it still do much for sound absorption?
+Chris McErvale hey thanks! they do a vood job. check out some of my videos in this playlist about soundproofing I might discuss it in those videos. Soundproofing, ruclips.net/p/PLUKDOD2AiVChK0LaGRWNprtkej__U23NK
Yeah it's a myth that Vox amps don't take pedals well. Total B.S. My 30 takes the OCD with my Strat & LP waaaay better than my Bassbreaker15, and my Blues Jnr doesn't really like the OCD unless I'm in HP with a humbuggy guitar.
Same here, i run my ac10 with a maxon od808 and, j rockket blues note and green rhino OD. I stack them all to give me a really good metal distortion if needed. Otherwise each pedals sound great on its own, and ill use the maxon or Green rhino as boosts when the blue note is engaged. All sounds great regardless how you stack them.
Dude vox amps are known for taking pedals very well idk where you heard that they are known as one of the best pedal amps out always have for the longest time I love my vox with pedals and without pedals it sounds great both way and ive tried many many amps and zi will say that vox amps take pedals better then any ive heard so far ita got that boutique tone also and for the price you really are getting an amazing amp there are alot of major amp brands out there but not many have that boutique tone box does and thats amazing for the price
I heard "Bulletproof.. I wish I was" there :) How well does the amp do high gain? I'm thinking of buying either this amp or the Fender Bassbreaker 15. Recently started playing in a band and need essentially great cleans (U2, clean rythym), good crunch (AC/DC, G'NR) but also high gain stuff (Muse, Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters). Do you think this amp could handle all that?
Marijn Stam Bullet Proof was there for sure. I scatter random Radiohead riffs throughout most of my videos. the ac15 does high gain fairly well. but go try it out in a store to hear for yourself too. bassbreakers look awesome
I wouldn't say it's a high-gain amp. You could boost it to overdrive but if you want a foo-fighters type overdrive, loot at what Marshall has on offer for the price. Alternatively, look at tight sounding distortion pedals, not overdrive. You still will hit breakup in a band setting as this is only 15w. This amp is a 'looser' style of overdrive, great for blues and overdriven rock, but not to the point of Foo Fighters overdrive (at least, their GOOD stuff early on up to and including Color and the Shape)
I have the same amp and ended up selling the Big Muff for the same reason. In my case though, it seems like it worked OK with humbuckers but my main guitar is a Jaguar and it sounded super thin and at the same time muddy (if that's even possible :D). Long story short, Big Muff Pi is gone and I have now a MXR Distortion+ clone that sings!
Yeah, problem is that all other distortion pedals or overdrives sound way better with the amp slightly cranked so having a Big Muff renders all the other pedals useless. I could have use one channel for the Muff and the other for the rest... but I rarely use the normal channel so I didn't think about that.
Most of this amps don’t have FX LOOP... so if you use a delay with the amp distortion sounds horrible...the BOSS DS1 sounds like a boutique pedal compared to this sound
Hey great vid!, I just bought an ac15 today and have 3 of the pedals you demo'd so it was great to stumble on your review!, by the way which input are you using Normal or top Boost? Cheers
ah that's too bad. Ac15C1? just wondering how you dial it in. I use top boost, Bass (11 O'clock) Treble (1 o'clock) Channel volume (12ish). Then I dial in the drive pretty high on the TS.
Has anyone tried a CMatMods Brownie OD with the ac15? I've been thinking about getting this amp for a while now and I'd like to know how it handles that pedal particularly...
Its funny, as someone who listens to a lot of doom/stoner metal, hearing describe the doom tone as shitty is pretty funny. Vox probably doesn't have "the" best doom tone (and he has the wrong guitar for it) but that sound he talking about is the quintessential doom sound.
Perhaps a better way of saying it is the Big Muff doesn't degrade the signal to the point of being so "wooly" as some fuzz pedals do, it's still a fuzz sound but I think the further you push the signal degradation the more wooly it gets. Probably sounds different in real life tho, recording is almost towards a Fuzz Factory wooly sound... though I agree it isn't great haha
HELP I can’t find an overdrive which sounds ‘nice’ with my ac30. I run the amp just to the point of breakup, as a clean tone, and then run either a germanium drive, or a way huge green rhino into the normal channel - the top boost is too bitey for me. But all I get is this wobbly flabby bass end sound!!? It’s not smooth and is just a mess.
I need some help pleaseeee ! I have been looking for an amp for months by now and I can decide ! I want an amp that I can use for years or at least something good ! I have 4 options: Vox ac15c1 / bassbreaker 15 / Supro Thunderbolt /blackstar htclub40 mkII. Which one do you think is the best of those amps I mentioned. I am open to recommendations on any other amps ! Thaaanks !
I bought the ac15 a few years ago, and am just starting to buy pedals. I just realized that there is no effects loop. Does it matter? And what if I’m running more than one pedal at a time like a compression and delay . Thanks Landon
I would imagine that any amp that's already distorted/broken up is going to sound like crap if you run a Big Muff through it. Its simply over-distorted.
Tube amps are even order harmonics when overdriven.Add in aMuff they are designed for odd and even harmonics,so your canceling out alot of frequencies.
Ac15.... classic amp. The Big muff section at the end was interesting. Sounds like the muff is fighting with the natural OD crunch. Although we all know it isn't, it sounds almost like a valve is not seated right or about to give up. At first it sounded like classic ZZ Top, then just went very odd.
lando27music you think it might have to do with the guitar/settings you're using or is it just the bright nature of the amp that makes it sound like that? (Sorry I'm asking so many questions, the Muff is probably my most used pedal)
I can't really say why it didnt sound good. I would assume something with the amp. I can't recall if I had it in the top boost or normal channel. that said, I just recently tried the big muff in a Marshall DSL20HR and it sounded great to me.
Im a fan of AC15 as well as of the big muff, so too bad they work bad together. (or do they sound good if the gain on the amp is low enough?) anyway, thx for letting me know that. cheers. :D
Chi Gamy Beauty lies in the ear of the beholder, and I think a Muff sounds great with an AC15 as long as you've got the master volume set high enough (and you're also not completely distorting your input channel), preferably above 10 o'clock. There's a point at which you've got to give the Muff some breathing space and headroom within the power tubes for it to bloom instead of within the preamp stage. Granted, I also like the just broken-sounding effect of a Muff flubbing a bitty amp out, but as I said at first, beauty lies in the ear of the beholder.
lando27music I have a fender twin reverb and a roland cube, but I began to play with other band and I was looking for a new amp aligned with the band style and give to the group a specific sound. I bought the vox ac15c1 and it is amazing!!!
Good vid. I have an AC15C1 and whilst the top boost (clean) will take pedals, the natural, openness and warmth of the normal channel is (in my opinion) much better. Less clutter and more room :)
Lando27Music I really like to set the drive very low and run the level pretty high, pushing the preamp on the amplifier into a little more gain, and making it cut through the mix a little better. Give it a shot and let me know how ya feel :)
Future Landon, first off, nice hair in this video. I mean wow, what the heck is going on? Okay on to the topic, I’m considering buying one of these but I’m wondering why you got rid of yours? I’m a current subscriber and never see this amp so I’m just guessing you got rid of it. Anyhow, stay groovy.
That big muff is just way way to much man lower setting please but its sounds pretty good I have a vox also and I also have the tubescreamer mini thing is just amazing but I didnt like the tone you were getting for some reason like the setting were way off our when you edited the video something happened I have noticed on alot of videos the quality of tone through vox amps just dont sound good over youtube some do but alot of people have a problem editing then to get them to sound like they do when your in the room its on in like andertons they explained they could never get the video to actually sound like the amp they said the tone was so good and they couldnt get it to come out on the youtube vidoe that is until they did the ac10 video
The muff has strange clarity when you turn the sustain up all the way, at least it sounds like that to me. Crank sustain and put volume and tone at 1:00 and it just sounds amazing
cool choices on the guitar! i would in it a hot gold Lace not the blue ;) And if you really want to check how an amp deals with pedals throes at it something more complicated than drive and chorus. Try Tremolo FX. And if you add a DB Meter it will be a nice touch
+Amit Sapir hey there, the ac15 has a built in tremolo and it sounds awesome! I actually have done DB readings on the amp. Check out my videos about soundproofing on my channel to see some samples. Take care!
it is the most classic Strat sound. Clapton, Beck they all used it the hot gold is a little bit more punchy, is the best selling pup from Lace. BTW can the red dually do metal? it is supposed to be very hot
This is a bad review. I owned this amp and sold it for not having an effects loop. Sure it can take everything at low volume.. but try having a good crunchy tone and putting a reverb in front of that...
hey thanks for the feedback and you just gave me an idea for a video. I'm going to do a blind tone challenge to see if people can hear the difference between using an FX loop with pedals, and not using one. :)
fpolloa , ya know I’d rather had an fix loop, but original vintage tube amps like Marshall’s and Vox didn’t have all that fluff in the day. Lucky to have reverb then. Don’t be an amplifier snob.
What's your Fav pedal to put in front of an AC15? the Vox AC15C1: the Vox AC15C1: Sweetwater: imp.i114863.net/43o9Z Amazon (US) amzn.to/2FrTKj6 Amazon (CA) amzn.to/35wDUP1 Amazon (UK) amzn.to/35SUqZT Thomann (Euro) bit.ly/3k9QEz4 0:00 - Hello 2:07 - Tone Samples 8:02 - Goodbye
lando27music - Yeah it's slick man. You should def check one out.👌 has the master bypass switch, hot/cool mode switch, half power mode, and it has high/low inputs for each channel. No reverb or tremolo though.👎 Has the best clean tone I've ever heard!
i love how it takes the tuner
it keeps the best Tuner tone! haha
lando27music I disagree. Every time I turn my tuner on the sound goes out. Literally not a peep. This amp clearly can't do tuners. 😂
😂
I got the AC15C1 as soon as they came out. Here's my take on pedals :
Headroom - this is what you have at your 9 o'clock gain setting. This is where it will accept most pedals, but why not let the actual tube amp do the talking?
Compression - this is what you have when you run the tube amp just at the point of breaking up. Somewhere between 10-12 o'clock with a AC15 and most guitars.
When you try to send more guitar (volume or frequencies) into a compressed amp it doesn't get much louder, but it becomes more compressed with much more and much muddier bottom end. This dynamic combines with the use of the guitar volume control - you turn down and it cleans up but doesn't lose much volume.
You can use compression dynamics to get awesome sounds with the right kind of pedals + guitar volume control. You want something that doesn't add any bass, but rather removes it. Something that adds treble or even mids, but no bass. Brain May runs his gain on 10 and uses a treble booster plus his guitar volume to produce a large range of sound.
My personal favorite thing to plug into the front of a compressed vox is wampler Tumnus which is a clone of a gold klon. This pedal tightens up the bass and makes the guitar front and center in amazing ways. This pedal is wizard level.
You will have much better results with a 'transparent' overdrive or a simple dirty boost pedal and a compressed vox than you will with 500 pedals and low gain amp setting.
If you plug in 'full body' overdrive into the compressed vox you get a wall of sound and out of control, flabby bass. It can sound awesome, but it's like coloring the whole picture black and then hanging it in a dark room.
The absolute worst pedal I ever plugged into my own AC15C1 is the big muff pi nano thing. It's an almost fun sound, but it's not even in the top 1000 of good sounding fuzz for a vox.
My personal favorit is the fulltone '69 pedal with germanium bits. It sounds absolutely wonderful. Like cotton candy to the bigmuffs road tar. Too bad there are no really good demos of the '69 using the dynamics of amp and volume because this pedal works great with compression dynamics and volume. When you turn your guitar down you suddenly understand where Jimi Hendrix got his clean sparkly sound. If I could only keep one pedal to use with my vox it would be this one because it is great fun, but the tumnus is pro level sound.
tl;dr turn up the amp gain and use pedals that are built for that instead of low gain and emulation type things and enjoy the profit.
Dude thank you this is so insightful. I just got the amp today and distortion pedals were causing tons of noise humming. Now I understand the science behind it. Question: why is this not a problem with my Marshall jcm 2000 dsl 50 head? I’m guessing because I usually keep it quieter and don’t allow the tubes to break up as much. It doesn’t have a master volume like the ac15 does. I think I just answered my own question?
Post a video man!, I am struggling in particular to get my big muff sounding any good and its annoying me! aaargghhh!!! Cheers
Yeah I loved how you had all the pedals move by themselves and hook up, very clever and fun to watch. Since our amps and pedals almost have a personality of their own it was really cool.
When you see a Vox and Tele Plus, you know there's gonna be some Radiohead
absolutely! although I put Radiohead riffs into almost all my videos 👍🎸
I played an AC15C1 yesterday. Great amp, love the Top Boost. I tried a new EHX Big Muff Op Amp with it, using the Top Boost and Normal channels. In Top Boost, a little fuzz goes a long way. Keep the fuzz level and sustain settings low, and this combo gets a really cool fuzz that is totally controllable with the guitar's volume knob. I'm thinking about upgrading to this model from my AC10C1.
if you like the ac10, you'll be happy with the 15 too. enjoy!
How was the ac10 for pedals?
I’m 5:57 into this video at the chorus pedal and all I’m still thinking about is how long it must have taken to do that intro.
hey thanks for watching. took me a good while. I've done many similar intros. :)
That Radiohead tone was on spot!!!!
thanks! I don't recall which part. I put random Radiohead stuff in a lot of my videos
That intro was fantastic! Great work.
Perry Scinta hey thanks! glad you like it 😁
Because of the brightcap on the TB channel, use the Normal channel when you use stompboxes.
good tip thanks!
I totally agree! I have an AC15C1 and whilst the top boost (clean) will take pedals, the natural, openness and warmth of the normal channel is (in my opinion) much better.
I think anyone who says they don't take pedals well either hasn't played one or plugged into the top boost channel with too much gain. Normal channel clean and it'll take most pedals fine.
Hey, I'm not an expert in sound waves either, but I get that same "crap" tone with my OD pedal and my AC15 cranked. I think it has something to do with destructive wave patterns, much like the technology used in sound-cancelling headphones. The wave patterns from an OD pedal sometimes create the exact opposite wave pattern as the natural drive from the AC15, making the sound "flutter", for lack of a better term. The negative waves from one source and the positive waves from the other cancel each other out. I'm sure google will give you a better explanation haha.
Thx for your post. Got the same problem with my RAT clone.I'll try and roll back the amp gain.
Just picked up an AC15. Nice little amp. Great segment to illustrate the types of pedals through it.
thanks!
RUclipsrs take notes on that intro!
hey thanks! I've done a ton of those intros 😁👍🎸
Sad because Big Muff didn't work... But the others are very good:)
That intro was awesome man. Must have taken a long time. I like the boss dd-20 delay and the voodoo lab sparkle drive.
hey thanks! ya it takes a little while to animate those intros, but it's fun. I like most Boss pedals, I'll have to check out the sparkle drive
Landon, thanks for showing the effects thru a clean amp. The Vox AC-15 is an outstanding choice, there’s nothing it can’t do. Very helpful video, thanks and stay well.
My pleasure!
Just a tip ... Vox amps LOVE the Proco RAT! Thanks for this vid! Great job!
Great sounding amp. I picked up an Ibanez TS Mini today as a direct result of hearing you play Nelson's guitars through yours. There must have been a UK delivery this week as no dealers had them now they're available everywhere again. Just think, if you were on 1% commission you'd have £0.69 now! With your amp running distorted and already distorting/compressing the signal, there simply isn't enough headroom to take the high output of the fuzz pedal too. Try turning your guitar volume down, maybe that will help to maintain more clarity. Maybe also try engaging the Wicker switch on the Big Muff to let more high frequencies through.
the TS mini is awesome. I love that pedal, glad the videos helped you decide to get one. I convinced Nelson to get one last year too. thanks for the tips on the Fuzz. I'm the kind of guy that runs all the guitar knobs at full volume/tone, so ya I never thought of turning down the guitar. and the wicker might do what you say. I've never found a good use for it, it just adds so much HIGHS.
I kind of enjoyed how chaotic that fuzz tone was
The Big Muff Pi never sounds good on top of a driven amp. What I would've liked to have seen was a ProCo Rat or Turbo Rat plugged into that thing. In the early 90s, I got a great sound from my overdriven Fender Twin when I stomped on the Rat.
Some clip bright caps off top boost for less fizzy pedals with low gain
fantastic vid, exactly what i'm searching for. Just bought a vox ac 15 used in mint condition!
Best wishes and greets from Bremen, Germany.
I have a Vox TB18C1 and that too takes pedals fine.
Well I think I know what amp I’m upgrading to for my home studio! I’ve had a cheap amp for years!
Cool!
you can't have a tele plus with lace sensors and not play a jonny greenwood riff somewhere let's be honest ;)
+james oliver ha for sure! check out my other videos, tons of radiohead riffs 🎸😁 ruclips.net/video/w7nwRmzfm2w/видео.html
I have been, I'm thinking of getting an ac15 so I've been watching a few. Great stuff man!
james oliver oh right on! still my fav amp. thanks for checking out the videos
I love my jhs double barrel through it. I use it as a transparent drive/boost and a nice medium od.
marshal brown nice! jhs make some great stuff. ive heard they do a cool Soul Food mod
3:20 THERE GOES MY HERO
you got it! 🎸👍
I love your walls, using different shaped acoustic foam as artistic decoration is a great idea. One question, if you have gaps like that, does it still do much for sound absorption?
+Chris McErvale hey thanks! they do a vood job. check out some of my videos in this playlist about soundproofing
I might discuss it in those videos.
Soundproofing, ruclips.net/p/PLUKDOD2AiVChK0LaGRWNprtkej__U23NK
would an f/x loop solve the problem of using the Big Muff with break up?
Yeah it's a myth that Vox amps don't take pedals well. Total B.S. My 30 takes the OCD with my Strat & LP waaaay better than my Bassbreaker15, and my Blues Jnr doesn't really like the OCD unless I'm in HP with a humbuggy guitar.
Same here, i run my ac10 with a maxon od808 and, j rockket blues note and green rhino OD. I stack them all to give me a really good metal distortion if needed. Otherwise each pedals sound great on its own, and ill use the maxon or Green rhino as boosts when the blue note is engaged. All sounds great regardless how you stack them.
Dude vox amps are known for taking pedals very well idk where you heard that they are known as one of the best pedal amps out always have for the longest time I love my vox with pedals and without pedals it sounds great both way and ive tried many many amps and zi will say that vox amps take pedals better then any ive heard so far ita got that boutique tone also and for the price you really are getting an amazing amp there are alot of major amp brands out there but not many have that boutique tone box does and thats amazing for the price
1:28 this is where it all started! Haha just kiddin. Great demo!
I heard "Bulletproof.. I wish I was" there :)
How well does the amp do high gain? I'm thinking of buying either this amp or the Fender Bassbreaker 15. Recently started playing in a band and need essentially great cleans (U2, clean rythym), good crunch (AC/DC, G'NR) but also high gain stuff (Muse, Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters). Do you think this amp could handle all that?
Marijn Stam Bullet Proof was there for sure. I scatter random Radiohead riffs throughout most of my videos. the ac15 does high gain fairly well. but go try it out in a store to hear for yourself too. bassbreakers look awesome
I have a Vox AC15 and a 1993 Fender Blues Deluxe. I love these amps. The vox I use for more of my heavier tones. It's a great amp.
+Nicholas Jordan love the Blues Deluxe too! I don't own one but had a chance to play with one for a video recently.
It's a sweet amp. Combinging the AC15 and a blues deluxe sounds like heaven. They blend really nicely.
I wouldn't say it's a high-gain amp. You could boost it to overdrive but if you want a foo-fighters type overdrive, loot at what Marshall has on offer for the price. Alternatively, look at tight sounding distortion pedals, not overdrive. You still will hit breakup in a band setting as this is only 15w. This amp is a 'looser' style of overdrive, great for blues and overdriven rock, but not to the point of Foo Fighters overdrive (at least, their GOOD stuff early on up to and including Color and the Shape)
I have the same amp and ended up selling the Big Muff for the same reason. In my case though, it seems like it worked OK with humbuckers but my main guitar is a Jaguar and it sounded super thin and at the same time muddy (if that's even possible :D). Long story short, Big Muff Pi is gone and I have now a MXR Distortion+ clone that sings!
+Jesus Gutierrez ok cool, so it wasnt just me! ya the amp has to be clean to dial in the Bug Muff
Yeah, problem is that all other distortion pedals or overdrives sound way better with the amp slightly cranked so having a Big Muff renders all the other pedals useless. I could have use one channel for the Muff and the other for the rest... but I rarely use the normal channel so I didn't think about that.
+Jesus Gutierrez same, exactly!
best intro ever
Matias Dment oh thanks! I've done a bunch likw that. 👍😆🎸
Most of this amps don’t have FX LOOP... so if you use a delay with the amp distortion sounds horrible...the BOSS DS1 sounds like a boutique pedal compared to this sound
What about ad15vt, is it works on mooer GE100 pedal effects or not?
any pedal will work
Hey great vid!, I just bought an ac15 today and have 3 of the pedals you demo'd so it was great to stumble on your review!, by the way which input are you using Normal or top Boost? Cheers
thanks! always Top Boost
My tube screamer sounds like ass through my ac15, the frequency bump from the TS just does not match. I LOVE my original rat pedal through it though!
ah that's too bad. Ac15C1? just wondering how you dial it in. I use top boost, Bass (11 O'clock) Treble (1 o'clock) Channel volume (12ish). Then I dial in the drive pretty high on the TS.
Has anyone tried a CMatMods Brownie OD with the ac15? I've been thinking about getting this amp for a while now and I'd like to know how it handles that pedal particularly...
Its funny, as someone who listens to a lot of doom/stoner metal, hearing describe the doom tone as shitty is pretty funny. Vox probably doesn't have "the" best doom tone (and he has the wrong guitar for it) but that sound he talking about is the quintessential doom sound.
Yeah how did you get that spirit in the sky distortion?
Haha I like how at the end you find a FUZZ sound, this is what fuzz is... you are using the Big Muff as an overdrive pedal
+Torbjörn Svartrike how is it used as an overdrive pedal? 😁
Perhaps a better way of saying it is the Big Muff doesn't degrade the signal to the point of being so "wooly" as some fuzz pedals do, it's still a fuzz sound but I think the further you push the signal degradation the more wooly it gets. Probably sounds different in real life tho, recording is almost towards a Fuzz Factory wooly sound... though I agree it isn't great haha
I imagine this would not be suitable for a line6 hd500 or boss gt100 ? I mean this kind of amp is meant to be used with separate analogic pedals?
+German Stelmakhovich ya just stick to regular single pedals
HELP
I can’t find an overdrive which sounds ‘nice’ with my ac30. I run the amp just to the point of breakup, as a clean tone, and then run either a germanium drive, or a way huge green rhino into the normal channel - the top boost is too bitey for me. But all I get is this wobbly flabby bass end sound!!? It’s not smooth and is just a mess.
+Jordan Lambert Try a tubescreamer pedal into the normal channel. worth a shot. other than that I can really help. I don't have an ac30. 😁
lando27music will give it a go. Great video man
+Jordan Lambert oh hey thanks! really hard to troubleshoot tone issues over the internet! good luck!😁👍🎸
Crowther Hotcake and your done. Trust me, went through the same thing.
I try high gain pedal which is palladium in normal channel and its good
+fedboy21 cool I haven't seen those
I need some help pleaseeee ! I have been looking for an amp for months by now and I can decide ! I want an amp that I can use for years or at least something good ! I have 4 options: Vox ac15c1 / bassbreaker 15 / Supro Thunderbolt /blackstar htclub40 mkII. Which one do you think is the best of those amps I mentioned. I am open to recommendations on any other amps ! Thaaanks !
hey I love the ac15. but thats just me, it's tough to tell you what you'd like. tone is a personal thing 👍🎸🙂
Lando27Music thanks ! You sound amazing in your videos ! Keep on going !
hey thanks! appreciate it. share my videos around 😁👍🎸
I bought the ac15 a few years ago, and am just starting to buy pedals. I just realized that there is no effects loop. Does it matter? And what if I’m running more than one pedal at a time like a compression and delay . Thanks Landon
maybe this can help you decide if it matters to you :)
ruclips.net/video/l0bb_7ckjM8/видео.html
anyone know whats the norm to start with overdrive into distortion or distortion into overdrive...for instance boss sd1 into ds1 or ???
I say experiment and use what sounds good to you 🎸👍
Funny intro. The Vox AC15 sounds good both with and without pedals.
Landonimation returns! haha thanks. ya it's a solid amp. except for the Fuzzzzz push, I still haven't got any bad sounds from it. :)
I would imagine that any amp that's already distorted/broken up is going to sound like crap if you run a Big Muff through it. Its simply over-distorted.
good chance I'd say!
Hey man great video
I've been watching your videos they're very good..what do you think about mesa boogie Studio 22+?
thanks! no that's one brand I've never tried yet. hopefully one day
Tube amps are even order harmonics when overdriven.Add in aMuff they are designed for odd and even harmonics,so your canceling out alot of frequencies.
bob bitchen cool thanks for the info, thats kind of the assumption I had but wasnt sure
It must have taken forever to do the intro alone! Much respect dude!
ah thanks! ya I have that in many of my videos :)
Yeah! It’s very creative!
Ac15.... classic amp.
The Big muff section at the end was interesting. Sounds like the muff is fighting with the natural OD crunch. Although we all know it isn't, it sounds almost like a valve is not seated right or about to give up. At first it sounded like classic ZZ Top, then just went very odd.
I think I should have tried the normal channel
I'm planning on buying one of these pretty soon, how does it take the Big Muff with max sustain?
hey there, I haven't tried it at full, but from my experience, it didnt sound good at mid level or whatever I had it set to in the video.
lando27music you think it might have to do with the guitar/settings you're using or is it just the bright nature of the amp that makes it sound like that?
(Sorry I'm asking so many questions, the Muff is probably my most used pedal)
I can't really say why it didnt sound good. I would assume something with the amp. I can't recall if I had it in the top boost or normal channel. that said, I just recently tried the big muff in a Marshall DSL20HR and it sounded great to me.
lando27music ah yes, Muff + Marshall is a killer combination
Thanks for responding mate, I'll see if can find a better amp for what I try to play
No problem! I love getting questions, never feel you're asking too much. :) take care
Will it work with my Boss ME-80?
Im a fan of AC15 as well as of the big muff, so too bad they work bad together. (or do they sound good if the gain on the amp is low enough?) anyway, thx for letting me know that. cheers. :D
Oh btw I laughed at the "call or fax" part. Good job. XD
Chi Gamy I had trouble dialing in something that I liked. I'm sure it can be done. might just need a different guitar, or something 😁👍
Chi Gamy hey thanks. I blabber on a lot and cut a lot out, so I dont even remember what I said haha. 🎸🎸
Yeah, blabbering could be the spirit of a video. :)
Chi Gamy Beauty lies in the ear of the beholder, and I think a Muff sounds great with an AC15 as long as you've got the master volume set high enough (and you're also not completely distorting your input channel), preferably above 10 o'clock. There's a point at which you've got to give the Muff some breathing space and headroom within the power tubes for it to bloom instead of within the preamp stage. Granted, I also like the just broken-sounding effect of a Muff flubbing a bitty amp out, but as I said at first, beauty lies in the ear of the beholder.
What was your setup for the big muff? mine sounds hedious.
ruclips.net/video/kTPlDUV67U0/видео.html
Is it the ac15 with greenback speaker or blue?
JafethAlcantara13 this is the Greenback model
lando27music I have a fender twin reverb and a roland cube, but I began to play with other band and I was looking for a new amp aligned with the band style and give to the group a specific sound. I bought the vox ac15c1 and it is amazing!!!
+JafethAlcantara13 Awesome! It's a great amp
Looking forward to this vid - added to my Watch Later. That's my amp too :)
awesome, thanks Darren
But is it better than a line 6 spider?🤣
no. that's impossible :)
just found your page, love your vids! thanks!
Tony Tombstone hey thanks! appreciated 🎸👍
Airbag 😎🤝 congrats sir
+Leonard Crainie you got it! I've got all kinds of Radiohead riffs/references scattered in my videos. 👍🎸
is this the ac15c1 or the ac15cc1?
this is the ac15c1. thanks for pointing that out. I've added a note in the description. :)
Just subscribed to your channel and love it but I want to buy an vox av 15 can anyone PLEASE HELP I NEED TO HOW IT TAKES PEDALS. ☮️🎸🤘!!! THANK YOU
hey thanks Tim!
Excelente vídeo!!! Br
Great video!
+Jairo Amorim thanks! 👍🎸🎸😁
How long did that intro take to make?
probably a good hour or two :) It's tougher making amps walk around which I've done in other videos :)
You just start playing?
Scott Fox I played rhythm and sang in a band years ago, but trying to play lead, ya pretty new to that
Cool, good vid
+Scott Fox hey thanks!
Good vid. I have an AC15C1 and whilst the top boost (clean) will take pedals, the natural, openness and warmth of the normal channel is (in my opinion) much better. Less clutter and more room :)
Thanks Ruiseart!
Airbag!
Paolo S you got it!
Great animation at the beginning 🤣
Pedro Augusto hey thanks!
Great amp, love mine
+Surfrby same! 😁
Place your TS808 first as it has a true bypass. ;)
Nicholas Jordan cool man thanks! I usually plug everything in without too much thought. I'll put it first in the future. 👍🎸
Yup. I'm building guitar pedals now. I just breadboarded my first one.
Gotta set that Tube Screamer correctly.
ya I don't recall what I was doing in the video. what's your favourite dialings? I'm always looking to try to ideas :)
Lando27Music I really like to set the drive very low and run the level pretty high, pushing the preamp on the amplifier into a little more gain, and making it cut through the mix a little better. Give it a shot and let me know how ya feel :)
cool will do!
Great INTRO video
hey thanks!
Future Landon, first off, nice hair in this video. I mean wow, what the heck is going on? Okay on to the topic, I’m considering buying one of these but I’m wondering why you got rid of yours? I’m a current subscriber and never see this amp so I’m just guessing you got rid of it. Anyhow, stay groovy.
Love the intro!
+Nick B thanks! I've done a bunch of those
Pretty time consuming too, I bet!
absolutely, but fun, or I wouldn't continue them! :)
Keep up the fun! I do animation/explainer videos for a living. Time consuming, but always worth it.
That big muff is just way way to much man lower setting please but its sounds pretty good I have a vox also and I also have the tubescreamer mini thing is just amazing but I didnt like the tone you were getting for some reason like the setting were way off our when you edited the video something happened I have noticed on alot of videos the quality of tone through vox amps just dont sound good over youtube some do but alot of people have a problem editing then to get them to sound like they do when your in the room its on in like andertons they explained they could never get the video to actually sound like the amp they said the tone was so good and they couldnt get it to come out on the youtube vidoe that is until they did the ac10 video
ya very tough to capture in room sounds unless you have a good ribbon microphone I hear
The muff has strange clarity when you turn the sustain up all the way, at least it sounds like that to me. Crank sustain and put volume and tone at 1:00 and it just sounds amazing
Very Cool intro
thanks Leo!
cool choices on the guitar! i would in it a hot gold Lace not the blue ;)
And if you really want to check how an amp deals with pedals throes at it something more complicated than drive and chorus. Try Tremolo FX.
And if you add a DB Meter it will be a nice touch
+Amit Sapir hey there, the ac15 has a built in tremolo and it sounds awesome! I actually have done DB readings on the amp. Check out my videos about soundproofing on my channel to see some samples. Take care!
I meant Flanger! Tremolo works on changes in the volume, so most amps. dont have problem processing it
oh Flanger ok! I actually don't have one and never have played one :)
oh hey, how would you describe the Gold lace compaed to a Blue? I've seen them before, just never played one
it is the most classic Strat sound. Clapton, Beck they all used it the hot gold is a little bit more punchy, is the best selling pup from Lace. BTW can the red dually do metal? it is supposed to be very hot
That intro lol😂😂😂😂😂😂
This is a bad review. I owned this amp and sold it for not having an effects loop. Sure it can take everything at low volume.. but try having a good crunchy tone and putting a reverb in front of that...
hey thanks for the feedback and you just gave me an idea for a video. I'm going to do a blind tone challenge to see if people can hear the difference between using an FX loop with pedals, and not using one. :)
Good idea!
fpolloa , ya know I’d rather had an fix loop, but original vintage tube amps like Marshall’s and Vox didn’t have all that fluff in the day. Lucky to have reverb then. Don’t be an amplifier snob.
That black Tele could have been tuned better
Nice sounding amp though
7:10 Even my Squier SP-10 10w does not sound that farty. And its distortion is the worst ever.
Ya it was a rough tone. :)
lol that fuzz sound was horrible
What's your Fav pedal to put in front of an AC15?
the Vox AC15C1:
the Vox AC15C1:
Sweetwater: imp.i114863.net/43o9Z
Amazon (US) amzn.to/2FrTKj6
Amazon (CA) amzn.to/35wDUP1
Amazon (UK) amzn.to/35SUqZT
Thomann (Euro) bit.ly/3k9QEz4
0:00 - Hello
2:07 - Tone Samples
8:02 - Goodbye
lando27music - Loved a morning glory through mine. I have a hand wired now and I use a rockbox boiling point. Sounds boss.
ah nice. the hand wired have the white colouring right? and I'm pretty sure some extra features from what I recall
lando27music - Yeah it's slick man. You should def check one out.👌 has the master bypass switch, hot/cool mode switch, half power mode, and it has high/low inputs for each channel. No reverb or tremolo though.👎 Has the best clean tone I've ever heard!
+Terrance Turner very cool! I would miss the reverb, tremolo meh 😁
lando27music get the TC electronics SKYSURFER
so much better then stock reverb
Especially because you have more tunes to play with
02:07
No entiendo por que los gringos tienen un chingo de equipo cuando a veces no tocan ni mergas primo, que coraje vivir en un pais tercermundista..
??
Dbag
haven't heard of that pedal
That Big Muff pedal sounds horrible on all accounts! I mean just terrible!
ya I'm not a fuzz fan, so I'm not sure if it's just this model, or how the ac15 handles most fuzz
Play the guitar properly 🙏☹️
But how did you hook them up
)