Boost for a VOX AC?

[diaz]

What kind of boost do you recommend to get a nice thick/heavy sound out of an AC30/15? What do you use?

Thanks

Heres a few clips I like:

[VintageChris]

I've heard some good things about Seymour Duncan Pickup booster, as for me, I use an ibanez Ts9 as a clean boost for my solos

[GuyaGuy]

Rangemaster. I use a Kaden Chirper. It has a bass/general boost as well as the standard germanium treblebooster mode for versatility.

[blackba]

I would check out the Timmy. Mine works great with my AC50, pretty transparent too.

I have a BYOC triboost and never could get it to work with any of my Vox amps in treble boost mode. I think for a treble booster to work, you need the amp cranked, something I am rarely able to do....

[diaz]

Apparently I need to do the "bright cap" mod... intereting...

[aman74]

People seem to really like the Hotcake with Vox style amps. I haven't tried one yet, but it's lower gain overdrive is well respected...I'm not sure if it offers a lot of boost, but I bet it would be fine.

[Cirrus]

I'd recommend the bright cap mod, it does make the amp take boost/overdrive pedals better.

For a clean boost I use the mxr mc-401 at 18v, I love it because it's nice and bright and still stays touch responsive. When I engage it, it jsut pushes the amp into a nice natural overdrive, but stays slightly tighter than if i'd just turned the preamp gain up. I love it for chimey leads.

For overdrive I found I prefer the sound the the SD-1 to the TS-9. The SD-1 has a higher midrange peak and is a little bit more raspy in the treble, and I prefer that for live work to the ts-9, which i found a little too smooth and safe sounding with the ac30.

For heavy sounds, I found the rat to be a good pedal. At the moment my thickest tones come from an EH big muff with tone wicker, boosted by an sd-1 to take away the flabby bottom end. Generally with this amp, I find the thickest tones come from big volume boosts with a little pedal distortion dialled in to taste.

[diaz]

Originally Posted by Cirrus

I'd recommend the bright cap mod, it does make the amp take boost/overdrive pedals better.

For a clean boost I use the mxr mc-401 at 18v, I love it because it's nice and bright and still stays touch responsive. When I engage it, it jsut pushes the amp into a nice natural overdrive, but stays slightly tighter than if i'd just turned the preamp gain up. I love it for chimey leads.

For overdrive I found I prefer the sound the the SD-1 to the TS-9. The SD-1 has a higher midrange peak and is a little bit more raspy in the treble, and I prefer that for live work to the ts-9, which i found a little too smooth and safe sounding with the ac30.

For heavy sounds, I found the rat to be a good pedal. At the moment my thickest tones come from an EH big muff with tone wicker, boosted by an sd-1 to take away the flabby bottom end. Generally with this amp, I find the thickest tones come from big volume boosts with a little pedal distortion dialled in to taste.

Nice, thanks for the ideas, have you tried the Keeley Java boost?

[clc12rock]

I use a RAT to get exactly what you want. Set the distortion pretty low, the filter where you like it and the volume cranked or close to cranked. I personally like the Big box RATs, but I also used one of the new ones for a while and really liked that too.

[diaz]

Originally Posted by clc12rock

I use a RAT to get exactly what you want. Set the distortion pretty low, the filter where you like it and the volume cranked or close to cranked. I personally like the Big box RATs, but I also used one of the new ones for a while and really liked that too.

Cool, thanks - I will check those out - never tried a rat before

[samjbrowne]

Originally Posted by aman74

People seem to really like the Hotcake with Vox style amps. I haven't tried one yet, but it's lower gain overdrive is well respected...I'm not sure if it offers a lot of boost, but I bet it would be fine.

I HIGHLY recommend a hotcake. Here in New Zealand, where they are made, guitarists joke that all AC30s should be sold with a free hotcake included - they are a perfect match for the AC30. Plenty of gain on tap, and if you get a double hotcake, you get two great sounds in one enclosure.

[micjonga]

I use RC Booster and it pushes my AC30 type of amp pretty hard. I have used a Hotcake and really liked it as well. I also have used and currently own a Fulldrive II Mosfet that I like in front.

[Dr. Lo]

If you want that tone, then you need to get the type of treble booster that Brian May uses. My top recommendations would be either the Fryer Treble Booster Plus ($180) or the Covington Fireplace Classic ($75). I own both and they are very, very similar sounding. They put out roughly the same output (35 vs. 36 dBs) and are both fatter sounding than the typical rangemaster booster circuit.

[tele_jas]

By boost, do you mean a volume or clean boost to drive the front end of your amp...... or do you mean some sort of distortion stomp box?

Any clean boost works well, I have SD Pickup booster that does the job well...... But would love a "Flyin Dragon". As for "Thick" distortion, non fuzz, tones.... The BB Preamp + was the thickest OD that I ever had. The Mentatone Blue Collor Overdrive is a real close 2nd, and quite possibly my favorite "thick" OD pedal on my board. It has a tone and a presence knob, so you really get to dial in the amt of highs that gets through.

[diaz]

Originally Posted by Dr. Lo

If you want that tone, then you need to get the type of treble booster that Brian May uses. My top recommendations would be either the Fryer Treble Booster Plus ($180) or the Covington Fireplace Classic ($75). I own both and they are very, very similar sounding. They put out roughly the same output (35 vs. 36 dBs) and are both fatter sounding than the typical rangemaster booster circuit.

Thanks, found 2 videos with the Fryer Treble booster: