The ADxxVT settings thread!

[Moshe]

New here! I have a 30 that I am really enjoying.

Try this,

boutique clean

Gain - Full
Treble 12 o'clock
mid - 12 o'clock
bass - 9 o'clock
All three volumes - full

maybe a little reverb.

This setting has a lot of nice top end and simply roars, imo. not much dirt though, but it works for me.

Chris

[warren0728]

ok...i'm trying to set up a nice clean jazzy tone on my vox30 to use with my ibanez artcore with dual humbuckers...any suggestions on where to start?

thanks,
ww

[Tone2TheBone]

Warren try the AC15. It's a smooth darker model that would probably sound good on your Artcore.

[warren0728]

any suggestions on where to start settings wise?....

ww

[Tone2TheBone]

any suggestions on where to start settings wise?....

ww

Try starting with everything straight up and then add or decrease as needed for your ears. I think a bit of treble might sound nice (like at 3:00 or so) then you can always decrease that amount on your guitar's tone knob if you wanted. It depends on your ears and how it hits your skull man.

[duhvoodooman***]

ok...i'm trying to set up a nice clean jazzy tone on my vox30 to use with my ibanez artcore with dual humbuckers...any suggestions on where to start?

IMO, the Boutique Clean model is tough to beat for what you're describing. Keep the Gain at 12 noon or less and adjust other settings to taste.

[SuperSwede]

The AC15 sounds great for jazz! I have a couple of nice jazzy sounds made with the UK80´s setting as well (just keep the gain low).

[warren0728]

been playing around and like both the boputique clean and the ac15...both sound great with my artcore....i tended to lean more towards the ac15 setting...i like the darker sound...i am having a good time with this new guitar and so far like it better through the vox than either of my tube amps

ww

[Tim]

I have been reading about jazz on other forums. From what I have learned, it’s more than the guitar, amp and amp settings. One has to learn the jazz cords. These would be MAJ6, MAJ7, dim, 6/9, m7 and many more. It’s a whole new vocabulary. This means lots of studying to do. There is not enough time in one’s life to do what we all want to accomplish, but we sure will have fun trying!

[tot_Ou_tard]

I have been reading about jazz on other forums. From what I have learned, it’s more than the guitar, amp and amp settings. One has to learn the jazz cords. These would be MAJ6, MAJ7, dim, 6/9, m7 and many more. It’s a whole new vocabulary. This means lots of studying to do. There is not enough time in one’s life to do what we all want to accomplish, but we sure will have fun trying!

O yeah! Freaky chords & jazz notions. Those cats love progressions which modulate keys n' such. It's the changes, dig? It's the *changes*.


I agree the Boutique clean would be good, so would any of the models on the left hand side.

[duhvoodooman***]

The longer I use my AD30VT, the more I like the Tweed 4x10 model. IMO, this is the most flexible model on the amp because of the range of tones you can achieve in conjunction with amp controls, your guitar's controls, and an added OD pedal...or two! It's a great model for jazz tones, expecially using the neck pickup of a humbucker guitar, with warm, round, mellow tones. But it really excels for classic rock and blues.

I use the settings in the image below as my starting point, and then play around with the tone stack and the Gain control to get the tones I'm looking for. The Gain knob is useful up to around 2 PM or so, but I find it's too muddy above that. I tend to leave it somewhere in the 10 AM - noon range, and then dial in the amount of overdrive/distortion that I want with one of my two OD pedals--the Bad Monkey and the Radial Tonebone Classic.

For my two humbucker guitars, the combination of the Bad Monkey with these model settings handles most of the classic rock tones I want. Between the amp's Gain knob and the controls on the Monk, you can cover a pretty healthy range of tones, from clean up through a moderate degree of "crunch" or distortion. For higher degrees of distortion, you're better off using one of the AD30VT's higher gain amp models, like the UK '80's and the others on the righthand side of the amp model dial.

For my Strat, the Tweed and Bad Monkey deliver a nice blues tone, but this guitar needs to be boosted more for mid-range distortion levels, and the Tonebone comes in handy for that. As of late, I've taken to using the Tonebone to establish a nice crunchy edge for the "baseline" of a song and then kick in the Bad Monkey for an extra volume and incremental overdrive boost for leads. Works great!

[jpfeifer]

Wow, I should try that AC15 model for Jazz. I have been using the Blackface 2x12 (Fender Twin model) all this time. I need to try some of the other amp models.

I am really happy with the Valvetronix amp. I've been using a AD120VTX for about the past year now and it is one versatile amp.

My favorite amp models on it are the Blackface 2x12 (for clean sounds), the Tweed Bassman model for Blues lead tones, and also the AC30 models for dirty rhthym sounds.

But one of my favorite amp models is the Boutique OD model for fat lead sounds. You can nail a very nice sound for doing Santana, or Gary Moore kind of tones. It's really fat and kind of vocal sounding.

-- Jim

[SuperSwede]

Jim, the darker class A sound is perfect for Jazz. I use the AC15 & AC15TB models a lot. I also like to dial in the UK80´s setting on low gain for a real tasty Mike Stern sound.

[jpfeifer]

That's great. I'll try these other models. I would not have tried them had I not read your suggestions. I really like Mike Stern's tone!

I like Robben Ford's tone too. You can get that one pretty close with the Boutique OD model.

-- Jim

[Robert****]

You guys don't mean you like Stern's OD sound do you? I like his clean jazz sound, but his distorted sound - yuck! I could never play with such a tone, I'd throw up on the spot.

[SuperSwede]

Robert! SHAME ON YOU!
Mike Stern has the most delicious tone I´ve ever heard when he kicks in that DS-1! Add a splash of Chorus and you are in tele tone heaven.
Just listen to the track "You never know" from the 1996 release "Between the lines". Insanely great drumming, iirc its Dave Weckl pounding away behind Sterns power chord fest

[Tim]

Voodooman - I tried your AD30VT settings from the attachment above with my strat with 3 single coils. I got a very good tone which was easily to adjust to various other settings. My only problem was I also had a constant hissing sound out of the amp. I did not have time to try hum buckers with the Tweed 4X10 model. I attempted to play with the noise reduction without any success.

[tot_Ou_tard]

Attachment 670

I often use a similar setting.

As far as how to to tweak the VOX models, the most important thing to undrstand is that the Valvetronix amps try to mimic the behavior of the various amps. This is particularly relevant in terms of the tone knobs. Instead of starting with the tone knobs all at 12:00 start with the settings descibed in the manual and tweak from there. The Tonelab manual has more information than the AD30VT manual; go find that at the VOX home page and read it.

You should really explore the tone space not just mess with gain etc to find the sound you're after. This was a revelation to me. I get better sounds the more time I spend with a particular model.

As Nelskie has often remarked about modellers, it takes a little time to understand them.

[duhvoodooman***]

As far as how to to tweak the VOX models, the most important thing to undrstand is that the Valvetronix amps try to mimic the behavior of the various amps. This is particularly relevant in terms of the tone knobs. Instead of starting with the tone knobs all at 12:00 start with the settings descibed in the manual and tweak from there. The Tonelab manual has more information than the AD30VT manual; go find that at the VOX home page and read it.

You should really explore the tone space not just mess with gain etc to find the sound you're after. This was a revelation to me. I get better sounds the more time I spend with a particular model.

As Nelskie has often remarked about modellers, it takes a little time to understand them.

I certainly didn't mean to imply that the best way to the use the AD30VT is to dial in one amp setting and then just move the gain knob around! My point was that I have found this particular setting to be quite flexible, and can dial in various degrees of OD/distortion by using the Gain in conjunction with two of my pedals.

I often do what you describe, i.e. load an amp model preset (I have the AD15/30/50/100VT presets all posted HERE) and then start tweaking to taste from there. The presets differ quite radically in their various parameter settings, reflecting the large diversity of amps--and tones--they simulate.