Boost pedals for a Vox?

[kingmedicine]

Been on the hunt for a good second stage drive pedal for my AC15HW for awhile now and seem to be narrowing in on looking at some sort of clean boost (or dirty boost?) maybe. I'm looking to get some OSG opinions, as I am not too familar with boost pedals in general (my previous amps have all been closer to the 40-50 watt range, so I mostly stuck to overdrives and distortions).

I'm running my AC15HW (with a Weber 30W blue dog) dirty-ish/up near the edge of break up (a hair under noon on the volume) and typically use a Hotcake as my main overdrive with the drive control a little under halfway. This works great for most of my dirt needs and is quite responsive to the volume control, which I like. I'm looking for something to run before or after the Hotcake that ups the volume and dirt level without the bottom end totally flabbing out. I've tried a Rat, a couple TS-style pedals, and a rangemaster-style pedal which didn't quite do it for me. Recently, I've been using a Zvex Super Hard On clone, with the volume up pretty high, after the Hotcake, that sounds pretty great and is super close. I like the added presence, volume, and slight dirt increase, but the bottom end gets kind of uncontrollable at times. Are there any boost pedals that are sort of close to the SHO, while cutting back the bass slightly? Or is there a different type of clean boost I should be looking at? I'm looking less for a boost for leads and more for a boost for "big" chord parts.

[oid]

The Boss GE7 makes a great clean boost, you get 15db of boost or cut at 7 frequency ranges and master of +\- 15db.

Never tried one for dirty, need to see how it sounds driven one of these days.

[Unicorn Warrior]

Rat..seriously. Un-modded Proco rat 2 through my hand wired ac-15 and ac30 were the most glorious drive sounds I've ever had. I used for boost and for heavier settings. I miss the Vox and rat combo more than anything since I've gotten rid of my voxes

[andy_tchp]

Or not.

I've tried a Rat, a couple TS-style pedals, and a rangemaster-style pedal which didn't quite do it for me.

[DrQuasar]

Saw the topic and came in to say Hotcake but you've already got that. I don't know what will work for you, but I've been curious about the JRocket Archer or other klone and the JHS colorbox/crayon. I've also always thought about using a compressor as a boost for the use you're describing (big chords) like a Diamond CPR-1 or something like that. Sounds like you'll want something with an eq to control the bass. Have you tried a Blues Driver?

[stevejamsecono]

Honestly based on what you're saying it sounds like the Rangemaster would have been perfect for it. Sad to hear it wasn't your thing. Which kind did you try, a traditional germanium one? You might consider giving the Catalinbread Naga Viper a spin because it is more flexible (tone control, "heat" control, etc.) so you might get something more to your liking out of it. Otherwise, I'd echo whomever said the GE-7.

[kingmedicine]

Thanks for the tips everyone. I hadn't thought about using an EQ with a level control, but that makes a lot of sense. I'll have to look into klones and comps as well (and add a BD-2 to my list).

The rat sounds great with the Vox, definitely. I'm not sure what I don't like about it in a boost application though, felt too saturated for lack of a better term (but I had a hard time hitting the added gain level I wanted, which was quite low on the dial). I've thought about looking into low gain variants a little, but see that most people seem to use the Reutz mod for that (which is a mod that I felt took a lot away from the rat at the same time).

I'll have to revisit the rangemaster thing I guess. I've tried two that I think were both germanium based: an Analogman Beano and an EQD Bows. They both felt like they were either too woofy or too trebley. I forgot that at the time I tried them, I was using the top boost channel mostly though..whereas now I usually only use the normal channel. I'll definitely give the Naga Viper a look, which seems to be silicon as well.

[fibreman]

Tip on the Rat - the BYOC Mouse has 5 or 6 different Rats in one box. Probably 2 of them will do similar to what a brand new off the shelf one does - where you can't get it low enough to clean up smoothly before it disappears entirely. But I guarantee one or two of the options - one of them might possibly be the Turbo Rat but don't quote me on it - you can absolutely get it to boost, smoothly and articulately. Adds a hint of gain but it sounds like that's what you're after. And it's wonderful.

It's on my list of pedals I need to get back

[Jestapali]

I play with a Vox AC30 and also a Hotcake. I find the TC Spark (after the Hotcake) to be an awesome pedal for a variety of needs. It is a great booster, it can add more dirt if you want to, or it can be used as tone control as well, to give more definition to that sometimes washed Hotcake ... it's really working well for me.

[kingmedicine]

I play with a Vox AC30 and also a Hotcake. I find the TC Spark (after the Hotcake) to be an awesome pedal for a variety of needs. It is a great booster, it can add more dirt if you want to, or it can be used as tone control as well, to give more definition to that sometimes washed Hotcake ... it's really working well for me.

Hmm interesting. What's the character of the gain like? Is it a pretty neutral sounding boost (or I guess is it smooth or compressed)?

[Jestapali]

I play with a Vox AC30 and also a Hotcake. I find the TC Spark (after the Hotcake) to be an awesome pedal for a variety of needs. It is a great booster, it can add more dirt if you want to, or it can be used as tone control as well, to give more definition to that sometimes washed Hotcake ... it's really working well for me.

Hmm interesting. What's the character of the gain like? Is it a pretty neutral sounding boost (or I guess is it smooth or compressed)?

The TC spark is very transparent. It has 3 modes: Clean, Mid an Fat. I mostly use it on clean mode with the gain at 25% . It just boosts your signal without adding much more. If you want more gain or a fatter sound, there is plenty too, but I use other pedals for that. If I feel like the Hotcake needs a little more bass or it's not cutting well enough, I just step on the Spark. I'm sure that there are other options out there, but this one has been working very well for me.

https://www.tcelectronic.com/Categories ... ans(en|en)

[somanytoys]

Rat..seriously. Un-modded Proco rat 2 through my hand wired ac-15 and ac30 were the most glorious drive sounds I've ever had. I used for boost and for heavier settings. I miss the Vox and rat combo more than anything since I've gotten rid of my voxes

Hmm, I just got a couple of (smaller) Vox amps, I may have to try to get my hands on a rat or a rat clone and check that sound out one day. That's one very common pedal that I haven't ever tried, that or the Hotcake. I've read lots of good things about the Hotcake with the Vox.

I use a modded BD2 on one of them, just to offset the sound of an Mad Professor Amber in the other. It's good for that, but I don't know how it would be standalone, I figured that the BD2, somewhat like the TS9, excels in the midrange, and the Vox amps already have plenty, unlike the Fenders.

[kingmedicine]

^^^ The Vox/Jazzmaster/Hotcake combo is magical (at least to my ears). I feel like the Jazzmaster and Vox work really well together already, and I like that the Hotcake retains quite a bit of bottom end (which can become too wooly, but in general comments the kind of reduced bottom end of the JM and Vox). Especially if you're using a smaller Vox amp that's breaking up a little, it works great.

Again, thanks for all the suggestions everyone! I've got a couple different boost pedals, a treble booster (still on the hunt for a cheap Naga Viper though) coming and found a BD-2 to try and borrow, so I'll give them all a shot at our next practice.

[shoule79]

My favourites with my JM and AC30 were a MXR Micro amp and a klone. Both usually fed into an old Rat 2.

[apreswho]

I also use an AC15HW as my main amp. I tend to run it on the edge of break up also. Fuzz sounds aside, my gain stages tend to be 1 pedal for my heavy dirt/"distortion" (but not quite,) and 1 pedal for my sort of "more" or slightly boosted sound.

I've run through a handful of different pedals in that "more" spot on my board and what i've landed on as being my particular favorite is the EQD Westwood.

You've got plenty of volume on tap if you just want a cleaner boost as well as a two band active EQ. I personally find the characteristic of the breakup to be very similar to that of my AC15 within moderate gain amounts, so while the pedal does add a bit of its own character, its so similar to the vox to my ears it just feels like i've stepped on a foot switch for the amp.