what distortion pedal for a Vox ac15

[man-in-moon]

Title pretty much says it all. A cover band wants me to join them and I need a a heavy distortion pedal. I will be playing everything from clean country and blues up to alice in chains and mastodon. My setup is a les paul junior into an xotic ep boost, jetter gold standard into a vox ac15. With the setup I have I can cover most of the music but not the heavy stuff. I know the guitar can handle it I tried it with orange rockerverbs and peavey 6505. The amp takes pedals well so it should be doable.
So what would you guys suggest pedal wise? I know the best option would be 2 different amps. But funds and space will not allow it.

 

[chadd]

Re: what dostortion pedal for a vox ac15

Re: what dostortion pedal for a vox ac15

Something like a Wampler triple wreck should be able to go as heavy as you want. A couple different pedals would give you a lot more flexibility.

 

[Nacho8807]

Re: what dostortion pedal for a vox ac15

Re: what dostortion pedal for a vox ac15

The Palisades from Earthquaker Devices is a pretty sweet box with two gain options plus a boost.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: what dostortion pedal for a vox ac15

Re: what dostortion pedal for a vox ac15

The Bogner Red is Jerry Cantrell in a box. A man in a box! :biglaugh:

 

[man-in-moon]

Re: what dostortion pedal for a vox ac15

Re: what dostortion pedal for a vox ac15

I will check out both of those. Around here about all I can try in person are mxr and boss pedals.

 

[Demanic]

Re: what dostortion pedal for a vox ac15

Re: what dostortion pedal for a vox ac15

Keeley modded MT-2.

 

[Securb]

Re: what distortion pedal for a Vox ac15

If you are going to do music that spans so many genres I would suggest the Classic Distortion Plus. You can dial in anything from a clean boost to face melting metal. It has a 7 band programmable EQ and 6 presets. There is also a built in noise gate. You can get anything from Marshall or Boogie amp distortion to classic stomps like the TS9, RAT and Big Muff. I have used mine side by side with my vintage stomps and the Classic Distortion captures every tone and in some cases sounds better.

 

[speakerjones]

Re: what distortion pedal for a Vox ac15

A RAT or one of its boutique variants.

 

[Firebrand]

Re: what distortion pedal for a Vox ac15

Wampler Sovereign. It's the first distortion box Wampler made that is not based on an amp. Seriously cool. Another one that I have enjoyed is the Cusack Fuzz Screamer. A I can say is wow. A ts9 with a fuzz tone stack in a single pedal.

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: what distortion pedal for a Vox ac15

Honestly a vox ac 15 just doesn't have the headroom for "heavy". It can certainly do dirty, but heavy, no. They are a great amp for sure with a rich sound but 15 watts of class a el84 power is just not the tool for the job. No pedal can make it sound like a bigger class ab amp. Have a look around for alternatives if you need "heavy". I know the concept of a different amp seems expensive but you can easily waste a lot of money on pedals trying to fit a square peg into a round hole

 

[man-in-moon]

Re: what distortion pedal for a Vox ac15

I managed to go try some pedals today. I took my amp and guitar with me so I could use my own setup. The pedals I tried were
bogner red
rat
Fulltone ocd
Jetter gold standard
big muff
fulltone fulldrive
mxr super bad ass distortion
eh soul food
mxr prime distortion
metal muff
I tried different combos of pedals and different orders. The rat sounded good but not quite what I wanted. The bogner red was nice but did not seem to like my setup. The OCD was the best soundong pedal. Until I tried the mxr super bad ass on a whim. I was completely surprised running through my vox and a single P90. It was keeping up with a peavey 6505 as far as gain. After tweaking the knobs a little I was able to cover alot of ground. I found a winner so I told the sales guy to box it up. He hands me a mxr prime distortion to try. I plugged it in and was surprised by it as well.
It sounded alot like the rat just a touch smoother. I was able to dial in zz top tones up to mastodon. I couldnt decide then the sales guy informed me since I was getting the super bad ass and a dyna comp that I got a prime distortion for free. As some sprt of a special they are running. So I jumped on it.

 

[El Supremo]

Re: what distortion pedal for a Vox ac15

If I could only have one dirt pedal, it would be the RAT. A good treble booster (with adjustable freq. range) into that VOX could sound plenty heavy too and a bit more old school.

 

[Progbusters]

Re: what distortion pedal for a Vox ac15

AC15 doesn't mate well with all pedals and for that metalz sound I had a hard time finding one and I just ended up getting another amp. But what worked sorta for me are a T-rex mudhoney (like a Rat); Devi Ever pedals like torn peaker and aenima, EWS Fuzzy Drive, and maybe the Homebrew full metal jacket.

 

[Securb]

Re: what distortion pedal for a Vox ac15

I managed to go try some pedals today. I took my amp and guitar with me so I could use my own setup. The pedals I tried were
bogner red
rat
Fulltone ocd
Jetter gold standard
big muff
fulltone fulldrive
mxr super bad ass distortion
eh soul food
mxr prime distortion
metal muff
I tried different combos of pedals and different orders. The rat sounded good but not quite what I wanted. The bogner red was nice but did not seem to like my setup. The OCD was the best soundong pedal. Until I tried the mxr super bad ass on a whim. I was completely surprised running through my vox and a single P90. It was keeping up with a peavey 6505 as far as gain. After tweaking the knobs a little I was able to cover alot of ground. I found a winner so I told the sales guy to box it up. He hands me a mxr prime distortion to try. I plugged it in and was surprised by it as well.
It sounded alot like the rat just a touch smoother. I was able to dial in zz top tones up to mastodon. I couldnt decide then the sales guy informed me since I was getting the super bad ass and a dyna comp that I got a prime distortion for free. As some sprt of a special they are running. So I jumped on it.

Congrats sounds like you found your tone. I love going super heavy with smaller tube amps. My 15 watt Excelsior takes to a high gain stomp very well. Big points for thinking outside the box and not being a tone sheep. There are enough guitarists out there that sound the same.

 

[Nacho8807]

Re: what distortion pedal for a Vox ac15

Glad you found something you like! That's the best distortion box MXR has ever made IMHO. But I'm glad you tried a bunch through your rig and trusted your ears. That's the way it should be done.

 

[Johnny the Kid]

Re: what distortion pedal for a Vox ac15

I used the Super Badass for a bit before I committed to my POD as my only effects processor. It was pretty hard to part with it. The Prime Distortion is a really nice pedal for $40 that it costs. Next time you go to the shop check out the Classic Overdrive from MXR as well. It is a really cheap pedal but has a Tubescreamer clone and a Zakk Wylde Overdrive built in with the two switched between a jumper switch inside the box. A common mod (and one that I made) is to remove the jumper switch and replace it with an On/On toggle. Drill a hole in the chasis and you have a nice bluesy overdrive and a slightly ruder one.

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: what distortion pedal for a Vox ac15

Until I tried the mxr super bad ass on a whim. I was completely surprised running through my vox and a single P90. It was keeping up with a peavey 6505 as far as gain. After tweaking the knobs a little I was able to cover alot of ground. I found a winner so I told the sales guy to box it up. He hands me a mxr prime distortion to try. I plugged it in and was surprised by it as well.
It sounded alot like the rat just a touch smoother. I was able to dial in zz top tones up to mastodon. I couldnt decide then the sales guy informed me since I was getting the super bad ass and a dyna comp that I got a prime distortion for free. As some sprt of a special they are running. So I jumped on it.

Is that different than the 78 Badass Distortion? I just checked the deal, looks kind of cool. Is the Prime Distortion basically a modded Tube Screamer?

 

[man-in-moon]

Re: what distortion pedal for a Vox ac15

The super bad ass has more gain on tap than the 78. Plus the extra EQ helps. The prime distortion sound similar to the rat I tried. Has a decent amount of gain. It's not a smooth distortion. It has a some fuzz to it. Overall it's a pretty decent pedal.

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: what distortion pedal for a Vox ac15

Cool, sounds like a nice setup.

 

[eastbayj]

Re: what distortion pedal for a Vox ac15

I think a Rat is the ticket with your amp. Buy the oldest one you can get, there is a difference. A few high end pedals are the same price as an amp, especially used.