The secret is................................................ ..........................turn the volumes UP on that amp. The amp comes alive when you play it that way.
The other secret is................................................ ..................use your volume knob on your guitar to vary the gain. (clean or dirty). An amp that has punchy good gain (not too much now) will always sound it's best with your guitar volume knob lowered. It drives better.
Vary the gain to your preamp distortion level liking. Cleaner sounds but still with punch and bite...lower it down until it cleans up or (also see above). This part is highly subjective so mess around with the knobs until you like what you're hearing.
Well I found my notes on the cool clean settings on the Vox so I think I'll just post them here.
This is a very cool ever so slightly compressed Boutique clean sound.
Model - Boutique OD (used because of the clean punch I described above)
Gain - 9:00
Volume - Dimed (all the way)
Treble - 1:00
Middle - 12:00
Bass - 12:00
Effects - Comp (compressor) with the EDIT 1 knob set between 9:00 and 12:00 depending on how much compression you wanna hear. The EDIT 1 knob is the amount of compression when the effect is on.
Master - 1:00 or more
Rear Variable Volume Level - 75% of full volume. (I like this setting because it seems to sound quieter than maxed out. Less speaker hiss.
This setting sounds really sweet with both single coils and humbuckers. With humbuckers I usually lower my guitar volume. I'll do the same with the Strat for various tones. I think about the only time I dime my guitar volume is when I am playing a solo or something. Usually my guitar volumes are at around 7 or 8 because I like that sound of the treble coming through when I'm playing rhythms.
Another cool one that is really raunchy....
Model - US HIGAIN
Gain - 9:00 (more or less to your liking but this has lots of good drive when using your guitar volume to control the gain output)
Volume - 12:00
Treble - 1:00
Middle - 1:00
Bass - 1:00
Effects - Comp (compressor) with the EDIT1 knob at 1:00...again vary to your liking.
I use this sound to get a "pedal induced" gainy clean sound. You should use your guitar volume to clean this up! If you play this full out you're gonna say "dang that's metal man!" ...but with the guitar volume down to like 5 (half way or so) it makes a really bitey clean sound as if you kicked in an overdrive pedal. I used this setting before I got my Bad Monkey and Blues Driver. This settings works best on single coil guitars.
I also should note that I've lowered my noise gate to almost nothing on the Vox. I didn't like the factory setting...it was cutting off my notes when I'd let them sustain. With the noise gate set at this more open setting the amp sounds even better.
Guitars/Bass - MIM Fender Classic 50s Strat, MIM Fender Standard Strat, Squier Classic Vibe 50s Tele, Gibson Les Paul Studio, Epi '56 Gold Top Les Paul, Martin DSR acoustic, Sigma Martin Auditorium electric/acoustic, Squier Jazz Bass.
Amps/Cabinets/Modelers - Model 2558 50 watt Marshall Silver Anniversary Jubilee combo w/ Celestion Vintage 30s, 4x12 Marshall cabinet w/25 watt Greenback Celestions, Fender Blues Junior w/ a couple of Billm mods, Line 6 POD 2.0, Roland Micro Cube
Pedals/Effects - Cry Baby Classic Wah, Boss TU-2, Boss NS-2, Boss RC-2 Loop Station, Ross Compressor, MXR Micro Amp, Danelectro FAB Echo, Danelectro FAB Chorus, Danelectro Chicken Salad, Marshall Guv'nor Plus, Marshall Echohead, Duhvoodooman's Zonkin' Yellow Screamer, Digitech Digiverb, Digitech Bad Monkey, Dunlop Fuzz Face, Homemade Loop Bypass pedal, Duhvoodooman's Sonic Tonic (Maxon SD-9 clone +), Voodoo Labs Superfuzz
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Originally Posted by tone2thebone