Hey all you guitarists out there.
Does anyone know how Valvetronix amps are for emulating Brian's sound? I have a Burns Red Special and a Vox Brian May Special ("Deacy") amp. I was thinking of using the treble booster in the "Deacy" to drive a Valvetronix in AC30 mode. How do these two generally work together?
I was thinking about the AD30VT, but that doesn't have an AC30, only an AC30TB, which is fine, because that's what Brian uses, but he plugs into the "Normal" channel, and I assume it's the "Top Boost" channel being emulated here, although I'm not sure. Does anyone know about that? Or would it be better to pop for the more expenive model with the regular AC30?
I tried a Valvetronix 30 out with a Burns and have to say I was slightly dissapointed. Although it sounded pretty close to the BM sound, I found the gain just didnt go enough as I wanted. I prefer using me Korg fx pedal (basically the technology the Valvetronix is loaded with). Although this isn't as warm as the Valvetronix (which is due to the valve in it) I still find it OK for my needs, plus theres a bit more drive. If your seriously thinking of getting one, I would try one out first with your Burns. Plus you could also run your Vox BM into it, thus giving it more drive... Not sure if it'd work aswell going into a electronic unit rather than the plain AC30... The best thing to do it give it a go!
Maybe I didnt spend long enough with the amp, playing around with it...
I think the Line 6 ones might be cheaper though, so don't rule one of those out either. There are also cheaper, smaller Valvetonix now, but I don't think these looks as nice with the metal grid...
Hmmmm... hope that helps abit! The best advice really is to try them out yourself and decide in your own mind whats better... Good luck!
Hm. The demo of "Brian Rocks" at link sound pretty good, that's without the Brian May Special amp. On the other hand, that's a model that has the AC30 setting, where the smaller ones only have the AC30TB.
Farlander wrote: Hey all you guitarists out there.
Does anyone know how Valvetronix amps are for emulating Brian's sound? I have a Burns Red Special and a Vox Brian May Special ("Deacy") amp. I was thinking of using the treble booster in the "Deacy" to drive a Valvetronix in AC30 mode. How do these two generally work together?
I'd never seen the Valvetronix before, so I don't know. . . I'm going to looks at it more closely. . . but I did get Native Instrument's Guitar Rig software recently and am very impressed with the Vox amp and cabinet emulations. Demo available from the website. link
Well, I was looking for a real amp. I could always track down a real AC30, but the Valvetronix just seemed like a cheaper, easier to maintain option, and it has a ton of other amps and effects on there, which I like. But AC30 emulation is very important to me for playing Queen songs.
I have recently purchased the Vox AD15VT which has all the setting of the ad30vt. I love it. I don't own a Burns Red Spceial but I have been playing my Strat through it. I am not really trying to get Brian's sound though. The digital delay is reason enough to buy it! I have set it up so it is fairly close to the delay and echo from Brighton Rock on SHA. I messed around w/ the BM Vox amp but really didn't like it. Maybe it will recreate that sound running through the Valvetronix. I enjoy this amp so much I am upgrading to the 30 watt. I did try the Line 6 as well as the new Marshall 15 watt & also the Fender Frontline 25. They couldn't come close to the Vox. I know this thread should probablly be in the personal section but who cares. I was going to post all about it in there, but you stole a little of my thunder. That OK though. How do you like your Burns Red Special? I tried a few of them and found it uncomfortable to play. It doesn't mean I wont buy one eventually, but I am setting my sights on a Les Paul first. Let me know what other sounds you can get w/ the Vox amp.
Well, since the Vox "Brian May Special" amp is not supposed to give you his regular sound, but his "Deacy" sound, and I think it does that very well, it's great for what it is, in my opinion.
I love my Burn Red Special. It did take some getting used to, but I don't ever play on anything else now. The pickup on/off and phase switches give you an incredible number of sounds. You can sound like Brian or not like Brian. Anyway, I really like it.
The Valvetronix will give you a good BM tone. Not as good as an AC30 at full blast but if you've got neighbours then that option is out the window. The Valvetroniv has a master volume so you can in effect play the amp at "full volume" with the master lower so get a more managable volume without losing as much of the sound as you would if you had an AC30 at lower volume.
The valvetronix has a built in treble booster effect but personally I don't think this has the oomph that the treble booster in the Vox Deacy does. I use my Deacy treble booster to drive the Valvetronix.
Yeah, I do have neighbors :)
So does your Vox Deacy work well through the Valvetronics? Which model Valvetronics do you have? If it's one of the bigger ones, do you use the AC30 or the AC30TB amp?
I've got the AD60VTX. The Brian May patches on it use the AC30 but I prefer the sound with the AC30TB. A little bit of chorus or delay helps too.
There is a foot controller for the Valvetronix - model VC12. This is a great piece of kit and has extra patches programmed into it. The "Bohemian" patch on this pedal is my favourite sound of the various BM patches.
The Vox deacy's treble booster used through the Valvetronix is definitely better than the built in treblebooster.