Best pedal to give an AC-30 sound through a twin

[BobbyRay]

Best pedal to give an AC-30 sound through a twin. Ha ha ha, yes I know this is a ridiculous request. It's kinda like asking what would make my Ford Aerostar perform like a Corvette? Or what kind of pickup would make my 87 Hondo Strat sound like a 59 Les Paul?

Well I can't afford an AC-30 right now or anytime soon for that matter. So any suggestions would be appreciated.

[ledogboy]

It's kinda like asking what would make my Ford Aerostar perform like a Corvette?

Are you calling my Twin an Aerostar?

Honestly, I don't know how you could make one sound like the other. I have both a JMI era AC-30 with integral TB and a '73 Twin Reverb that I've altered to blackface specs. I actually prefer the Twin for most things. One thing I have done is to remove the master volume from the Twin. It was a shitty one anyways. I replaced it with what get's called a"RAW" control (hey, I didn't name it, David Allen did) which is basically a pot that bypasses the amps tone stack to give it a bit more grind. If one cranks the amp with the Raw around five-ish it gets a real purty distorto jangle (at least with my ES-335). I have been known to use a Weber Mass or THD hotplate to control the volume, but not always.
As for pedals, the Radial/Tonebone hot british might be of interest to you, especially if you keep the Twin stock/clean (it's a pretty grindy pedal). You could also consider putting some Yellow Jackets in the amp and swapping out your 6L6's for EL-84's.
Hope all of this makes some kinda sense- I'm on a coffee rampage right now. Whooo! Best of luck,
Ryan

[E-Rock]

You could try an OCD, or maybe a Gaspedal Carb. Both seem able to get me close to AC30-ville.....

[BobbyRay]

Are you calling my Twin an Aerostar?

No not at all, I drive an Aerostar.

Thank's for the replies so far, I've yet to hear of either one of these pedals.

[mn412]

You could try the Menatone Top Boost In A Can. Also the BGFE Emerald Green Distortion Machine. Good luck finding the Emerald Green.... though

[Rodgre]

I use an AC-30 as my main live amp, and use a Top Boost in a Can to kick it over a little. The TBIAC is nice in that it has a nice squishiness that is very Voxy. That said, the biggest obstacle in making the Twin have that kind of tone is the speakers. You could run your Twin through a Vox-style cab and it will sound a bit more Voxy....

Try the TBIAC or my favorite, the Vox Valve Tone, if you can find one.

If you want, if I get a chance over the next week, I'll make some recordings of various Vox-like pedals through a Twin here at the Lounge...

Roger

[Coco]

A Vox Valvetone might work, although they are discontinued now. They sound great.

[BobbyRay]

the biggest obstacle in making the Twin have that kind of tone is the speakers.

I have a cab with 2 vintage 30's. Would that be a little closer to what would be in a AC-30? I also have an old 2 ch. Carvin head (the X100A, before the larger X100B version) that has a very Fenderesque sound on the clean channel and a marshall type sound on the 2nd. Maybe that route would be a little closer.[/quote]

[AstroDan]

For the amount of money you'd have to spend to get anywhere near a satisfactory Vox sound, I think the cheapest way would be to use a maxed-out Dynacomp.

[BobbyRay]

Intresting,... The MXR? I thought that was just compression, does it have any Distortion or does it just drive the amp harder?

I've never used one of thoose either, I feel a pedal spree coming on.

[AstroDan]

A Twin is just such a 'hard' sounding amp and really would never reach the compressed mid-ranged majesty of a Vox, outside of changing the speakers, tubes and thusly, the entire circuitry. A Dynacomp at least gives you the compression and IMO the Dunlop re-issues even have a nice break-up, which is even a step closer. Just don't expect the rich, harmonic soaked, walking-on-a-pile-of-bricks kind of sound.

[jamoo]

maybe sell the twin and buy a $600 chinese 15?

valvtronix?

[ThunderFaceWizardHead]

If your into the DIY thing or know someone who is, this looks like a decent option:

http://www.runoffgroove.com/englishchannel.html


I've been wanting to build one of these for awhile.

[ciminosound]

The English Channel thing looks interesting. The old Matchless stuff might be good for you too. One of their footpedals, was it the Hotbox? Basically the pre amp from an AC-30. I've seen the schematic kickin around the web if you are a DIYer.

[AnalogElectric]

A Twin is just such a 'hard' sounding amp and really would never reach the compressed mid-ranged majesty of a Vox, outside of changing the speakers, tubes and thusly, the entire circuitry. A Dynacomp at least gives you the compression and IMO the Dunlop re-issues even have a nice break-up, which is even a step closer. Just don't expect the rich, harmonic soaked, walking-on-a-pile-of-bricks kind of sound.

That was my feeling as well. Mostly thinking a compressor with a side chained EQ.

If anything else, I bought a locally home-made pedal called "Blackbox" that is considered an over-drive pedal but when used thru a Fender Twin with a Mustang guitar with the pedal's germanium "soak" fully turned up, it had that Vox AC-30 sound.

The only other thing that's come close, for me, is a Line6 POD that we tweaked for a good hour or so... but wasn't quite the same.

You could also try recording a guitar thru a DI: one dry signal goes to a separate track and the other "link" signal goes to the twin; mic up the twin and then play around with the DI signal with amp modelers... mix to taste.

Regardless, if you want the tone of an AC-30 right out of a twin, I'd look into overdrive pedals that have really rich and deep tone saturation... not BOSS or DOD. Also, stay away from the Mesa Boogie tube V-Twin overdrive, it's not gonna get you what you want, it's a lot less of what your after.

Just a few vague suggestions :)

-- Adam Lazlo