Vox ac15c1 brightness

i don't have an AC-15, but i play a lot of quiet music, or with acoustic musicians. the first thing i do is knock the treble down on any amp to where i can't hear the hiss at idle. then i bump it up as necessary for the guitar, nothing more.

 

I don't think I've ever played with the treble control past 12 o'clock, regardless of the amp.

 

The top boosr channel has an extra pair gain stages - so yes, it's more gainy and more noisy. It's like having a Tube screamer in front of a conventional amp turned on at low level.

 

When I got my AC15c1, I used the TB channel exclusively. Perhaps, that's why it took me years to appreciate the Tone Cut knob. I never understood why anyone would use the Tone Cut at all. It seemed to me like you're putting a blanket over the amp.

Then, I moved to the Normal channel (a couple of years ago), and I started to appreciate how dialing in the Tone Cut accordingly can make a huge difference (also in terms of background hiss). These days, my starting point for the Tone Cut is around 12noon, but I will adjust depending on room/ears/mood etc.

 

I had mine at unity, (12:00), but I used an A/B/Y box, and used to run normal and top boost channels at the same time. It gave me a chimey, and fat quality to my tone!

 

If you aren't pointing the speaker sort of at your ears, your aren't hearing how perhaps painfully bright your sound actually is. Get it on a stand or up on a chair and then adjust your tone.

 

With any Vox amp the way to do it is turn your tone stack right down...thats the first thing...they dont behave like any other amp...set the tone cut at 12 o clock...run the amp hot...master volume up...channel gain to suit and build your tone up not down...they can run away from you if you let them...control your stage volume with your guitars controls...otherwise a vox is an unforgiving beast....wind them right off ..vol and tone...if you dial channel vol now your ears are safe...for now
i run mine flat out.on master and channel vol..yet can take it clean and a whisper to blizzard of nails on guitar only like that...bring your guitar volume and tone up a bit and start setting tone stack...you might find you wont even need to...your guitars tone knob might be enough...but these things...all of them work best from that angle...run them hot and you will notice the sound thicken as you wind on your guitar volume...give all that a go...ive used vox amps for years...my AC30VR im using at the mo...modded a bit...sounds far superior to my fender twin...and its just as loud if i want...yet its sensitive enough to go to a clean whisper...nice for jazz...without using effects or touching the amp
they were designed by a guitarist...not a boffin

 

I've had mine since 2008... I'm still not convinced I have totally figured it out. Don't feel bad!

 

I have had mine for about three years now.I for sure don't have it figured out!

 

Tone cut at noon to start. Dime the master volume then turn up the channel volume until someone complains, then turn it up one more notch, unless the person complaining is the person paying you.

 

Yep. I use the normal channel exclusively now and roll the tone cut down (counter clockwise) until the shrillness disappears and the tone thickens up. I also recently started using an amp stand, which allows me to roll even more treble off since it doesn't have that boominess from coupling with the floor anymore.

 

Rediscovering the top boost with my tele.

Got the bass turned way up playing on neck pickup and tone on guitar rolled all the way up. Actually It's kinda fender territory. Been playing my Princeton a lot for a while before now.

These settings have a certain something. Not too loud, and clean, but full and fat.

 

I used an AC15 as my main amp for a while. I liked it. But eventually sold it and got a Deluxe Reverb, which is better and easier to work with.

 

All the way to the right is full treble. As you turn it to the left it cuts the treble.

 

Hi.

I find it useful to often turn everything to zero when I turn the amp off, and rebuild again next time. Sometimes I'll choose one control, set it to something arbitrary to start, and then rebuild around that. etc.

Amps drift, our ears drift, tastes change, etc. I find this helps me to stay fresh, to some degree.

Although not as frequently, I do the same with pedals too, particularly anything that delays or modulates.

Pax/
Dean

 

I've owned 2 different AC15C1 amps over time. The first one was in racing green color and got foobarred into a family squabble and lost.

The second one I "just had to have" years later, I was thinking I was replacing an amp lost to stupid family stuff, so I bit. This one was even cooler, it was in elegant purple.

For a while when I first got the second one, I thought "oh my god, there is way way too much treble"... then I realized there was an EQ knob cranked on my Diamond CP-1 Compressor. I turned the EQ on the compressor back to unity, yet the amp still made way too much treble for my liking.

No matter what guitar I plugged in, and even with the treble dialed way back... too much treble.

I finally came to the conclusion that this was not the amp for me if you couldn't control all that treble tone.

So I sold it.

And I decided whole heartedly Vox amps aren't for me or my ears.