Overdrive pedals in conjunction with AC30

skay

Cheers for that, sounds like a pedal that could be in my future. I see many clones of this on eBay, so if I see one for the right price (and a nice colour of course) then I might snap one up!

lustycourtier

skay said:

Is the Red Llama more of a fuzz than overdrive? The YouTube videos of it are all fairly poor, but it comes across as fuzzy to me rather than a pedal you could use for chording, which is always the most difficult thing to find for a Vox.

It's the only famed pedal that is meant to work in the top boost channel of a Vox that I haven't tried yet... Is it worth checking out if I want something for just-breaking-up tones?

  Ill have to try a RL. Isnt there a Mike Campbell sig version due?

lustycourtier

Doh, Im thinking of a Camel toe sorry.

DarnWeight

skay said:

Cheers for that, sounds like a pedal that could be in my future. I see many clones of this on eBay, so if I see one for the right price (and a nice colour of course) then I might snap one up!

Yeah, "tweedy" is the general consensus regarding the flavour of the RL's drive - looser, fuzzier low end when pushed, and a bright top end.  No huge mid-range emphasis or hump, which may explain why I like it with Voxes.  The Camel Toe is (I think) a Green Rhino into a Red Llama (both individually switchable).  I can confirm this is a recipe which works really well too...giving my RL a nudge with a TS-type drive in front (I'm using a Mooer Juicer currently) kicks things up a notch nicely!

meltedbuzzbox

voxmanjohn said:

A question for you ac30 users. I am starting to get back into my pedals and want your opinions on which OD suits a vox ac30 for a bluesy/rock tone ???

I would say a bluesy/rock tone is a varied and subjective thing so its hard to gauge what you are after. 

I would advise you try a Nobels ODR-1

It doesn't alter your clean sound at all, its very very transparent and you can add in your OD for subtle levels or a big long smooth singing type of drive. They cost about £40 so there is no real risk in trying one. So if you want your clean tone with overdrive on it, its perfect

Or you could always try a boss blues driver?

voxmanjohn

Thanks all for the info.

skay

Hi @voxmanjohn

No one has mentioned what channel they are running these pedals in to, as the 'Normal' channel is known to be more accepting of pedals, whereas the 'Top Boost' can be really picky, especially at lower volumes. Also how you set up your amps eq, like @Cirrus described, can have a big effect. I used to have my treble at 2 o'clock (standing behind the amp with the letters the right way up) and Bass at 12' o'clock when playing my Les Paul, but my Tele sounds best with the Treble at 8.30/9 o'clock and bass at 4 o'clock, very different settings as you can imagine that really change the midrange content of the sound.

My recommendations (Timmy, Distortron and Rat) are based on sounding good through the Top Boost Channel, not saying they wouldn't work on the 'Normal' one, but as my Vox only has a Top Boost channel then I cannot say how they'd sound into the other channels. Maybe that's why the Hotcake and Treble Boosters never worked for me...

voxmanjohn

I only use the top boost channel on ny ac30 if I am honest. I am thinking either a Timmy overdrive or what do you think to a zebdrive working with a vox ac30

skay

The Timmy is a real winner, especially with the LM1458 chip as previously mentioned, as it smoothes it out a bit. It's a really versatile pedal that sounds just like your Vox breaking up when it's turned up, without having to be blisteringly loud.

No idea about the Zendrive, i'm assuming that's what you meant, so cannot pass judgement on that apart from saying it's not traditionally recommended when poeople are talking Vox.

ICBM

The Zendrive and the Timmy are more or less the same thing with different clipping diodes. Although that can admittedly change the sound quite a lot.

voxmanjohn

What about Lovepedal AMP 11 - I noticed you ran one of these @skay ? Did you run it with your Vox

skay

Yeah @voxmanjohn I used it for a while through my Vox; I wanted a second Timmy pedal to run at higher gain, so I bought this instead to mix things up seeing as it's almost a Timmy under the covers ;-D  

The Amp11 doesn't sound quite as clear as the Timmy as there's always some midrange sheen to the sound, and both the volume level and gain come on way too fast for me, meaning it's hard to fine-tune certain sounds as the pedal ramps up both pretty rapidly even with very small adjustments. The boost option sounds pretty good, albeit sometimes too loud even when turned all the way down, but if you want your guitar breaks to blast through the mix with Marshall-esq distortion then this is your pedal! 

It's not a bad pedal and it can produce some great sounds, plus it does work nicely with a Vox amp, but overall it sounds fairly flat and lacks punch for me. Would I buy it again? Well, no, because I already have one, but still I'd choose the Timmy over the Amp11 for the ability to fine-tune any guitar to the amp. A Timmy just has a superior transparency where you can add bass without it becoming muffled, increase the treble without it sounding thin, and I can always add some mids by kicking-in my Klon clone if needed.

So far it is still the ZVEX Distortron for higher gain, Timmy for low-gain and a Fredric Effects Zombie Klon for boosts which is proving a very hard trio to beat through my Vox.

Good luck on your quest and let us know what pedals you finally decide on!

voxmanjohn

Thanks for the extensive information @skay , I really appreciate it.

Hmmm... Sounds like it is going to have to be a Timmy if I can find one at a decent price.

Gassage

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=cochrane+timmy&rt=nc&LH_PrefLoc=3

Travisthedog

I bought an AC 30 because everyone says they are great pedal platforms

Hokum

Mine hated every single drive pedal I put in front of it

Except one

Get and Xotic AC Booster

jeztone2

I tried the Catalinabread DLS recently & it was rather good

monquixote

Travisthedog said:

I bought an AC 30 because everyone says they are great pedal platforms

Hokum

Mine hated every single drive pedal I put in front of it

Except one

Get and Xotic AC Booster

You would hope with a name like that it would be good at boosting ACs

jeztone2

Ive enjoyed my AC30 so far. I use a Goosoniqueworx 7thvn for hi gain tones and a Modded SD1 for leads stacked.

skay

You would hope with a name like that it would be good at boosting ACs[/quote]

I thought that the AC on the Xotic pedal stood for Almost Clean?

Isn't this pedal a tube screamer-lite kind of effect? I have the RC and BB pedals from Xotic but never thought of looking at the AC due to the dreaded mid hump and bass cut of a tube screamer. Does it work going into the top boost channel often AC30 then? Hmmmmm........

Axe_meister

How about a boost and use the vox'd own overdrive