BOSS Nextone Amplifier (EL84 Setting) Vs Vox AC15

The BOSS Nextone amp is the newest amp to come from BOSS. Fresh off of the success of the Katana amps, the Nextone takes a page from the Katana, but clearly shares DNA with the Blues Cube series. It features four different tube settings. For the sake of this review, I'm focusing on the EL84 British setting, so I'm comparing it with my Vox AC15 combo.

Cleans:

Right out of the gate, the Nextone is impressive. I am a fan of Vox amps. I've owned and used a Vox for years. In the room, playing big open chords, the chime is there. The sound is big and focused. Of course, with reverb and delay, the sound is pure ambient greatness. There is note definition without a hint of mud. While the higher register is bright and chimey, The experience with lower notes is where we lose some of the similarities. It may be due to the different cab designs, but the Vox seems to shake everything around it. At similar volumes, the BOSS doesn't seem to resonate as well. Besides that, the BOSS produces great clean sounds, but it lacks the big bottom-end that the Vox has.

Crunch:

I've recently discovered that the Vox dirty sounds are somewhat... polarising. Where I enjoy turning up my AC15, others can't stand the sound. Now, guitarists are known to be a tiny-bit particular about their tone so the difference between love and hate could be psychosomatic, but it is a difference of opinion. Vox may not be known for their crunch sounds, but I enjoy how the breakup is a little trashy with a big bottom-end and chimey highs. As I increased the gain on the Nextone however, the breakup was not the same. It wasn't bad, but this was probably most different the amps sounded during the test. I did my best to EQ the Nextone a little closer. No dice.

Recording:

So, the amp I used for comparison is the Nextone Studio. I decide to make a short recording I could go back and listen without the influence of room noise. I listened to both amps through headphones to compare. What I found is that the clean tones are impressively similar. While I enjoyed the way the Vox filled the room when playing live, recording by micing the speaker removed that effect entirely. The Crunch tones again were where I heard the most difference again. The breakup was a  little more generic than the Vox. The Nextone wasn't bad, but it's not a replacement for my Vox.

Conclusion:

The BOSS Nextone isn't a stand-in for a list of amps, but in the case of the EL84 setting emulating a Vox. It does a decent job of copying the clean chime. During recording, the results are similar. One isn't far and away better, and that is probably the best thing you could say about this amp. It's a little like cooking with garlic powder instead of fresh garlic. Is the product better with one over the other? Probably. Is the product drastically different at the end of the day? Not really. The Nextone is what it is. When it is all said and done. It is a Solid State amp doing an impressive job at imitating a tube amp.

Ugly Truth About Vox AC30 Custom Head

Yes, Just before NAMM this year, Vox announces the release of their AC 15 and 30 in a Custom Head.

From Vox:

The VOX AC Custom Series now available in classic head and cabinet set.

Based on the design of the classic AC30, the new VOX AC30CH and AC15CH are now available as a set of amp head and cabinet. Featuring a new reactive attenuator, these AC custom series units provide even more flexibility for live performance or playing at home.

Amp heads and speaker cabinet that inherit the classic VOX look and sound

Just like the other amps in Custom Series, the AC30CH and AC15CH heads utilize 12AX7 tubes in the preamp and EL84 tubes in the power amp.

The V212C speaker cabinet completes the package and features two 12-inch Celestion G12M Greenback speakers for that classic British tone.

The Normal and Top Boost channels each have a dedicated volume control, and the Top Boost channel also provides Treble and Bass tone controls. In the Master section, there’s the distinctive VOX Tone Cut and Master Volume that allow you to obtain a variety of sounds ranging from the extraordinarily sparkling VOX clean tone to a powerful, raw overdrive.

The familiar VOX Tremolo and Spring Reverb from the Custom Series are also found in the new AC30CH and AC15CH. These effects can be switched on/off using the optional VOX VFS2A foot switch.

What is a reactive attenuator?

This is a newly designed attenuator that uses VOX’s Reactor Technology to send speaker drive information to the attenuator, optimising the interaction of the speaker and amp at any volume. This allows the speaker and amp to behave in the same way at stage or bedroom levels, delivering a sense of power and tone that cannot be obtained from conventional attenuators.

So Vox is putting out a head and cab for their flagship amps... again.

They've Already Done This

That's right, Vox have offered heads for the AC30 and AC15 in the past. It hasn't been news, but here it is 2016 and they are back at it. So why now? I've always liked have a separate heat and cab. It allows me to plug into different speakers without any hard work, it separates the work load of carrying an amp, and I think it looks cool. But Vox has offered these very amps in head and cab combos before, maybe they didn't sell well and they stopped for a time. They are back now, but does that warrant any excitement?

They've Changed Things

They've given these amps an attenuator. Vox states that it uses their "reactor technology". If by this they mean the same tech they used in their "valve reactor" amps, then keep these thing away from me. The VR series of the popular AC amps were some of the worst takes on the hybrid amp concept I've ever heard from Vox.

Thing Have Stayed The Same

The Reactor Technology sounds scary, but the fact that they have given the AC15 head an effects loop is disappointing. If they had, I'd might look into changing out my current AC15 combo for a Head and Cab unit. It looks like they didn't take the time to give the little bother any upgrades, besides that attenuator... bummer

These amps might be great, but I guess we will have to wait and see when we can actually get out hands on some of them.

Hands On Review Of The Electo Harmonix Crayon Overdrive

There has been a lot of talk about this little pedal. Most web-stores don't even have the Crayon on there sites yet. A local store selling through Reverb.com was able to hook me up with one. The main thing is that everyone wants to know what other pedal it sounds like. Well I've tried it out and I can now tell you. However, that would be blowing my load a little too soon. So here's what owning and using this particular pedal has shown me.

It's Pretty Good. 

A lot of people liked what they heard from the EHX video demos. The Soul Food was a huge hit, so when they debuted a new light/medium overdrive peoples ears perked up. The Four knobs are a departure from most of their small drive pedals. Giving us Bass and Treble to manipulate is a step up. The clipping is musical and satisfying. The Bass and Treble are responsive and flexible. The Gain take you from clean to filthy with a twist. There is plenty of meat on these bones too. Playing a Tele through a Vox AC15 you'd expect twangy and spanky, but with this pedal engaged you plenty of grunt to thicken up that Tele sound.

The Name Is A Little Silly, Considering...

This pedal is one of the best clean boosts with the gain dialed back. It really preserves the sound of your guitar when playing through it. It doesn't jack with your tone in a bad way. Tube screamers will always add that mid-hump, but this pedal, when set correctly, will give you your tone right back to you, only louder. But not much louder. Much of the volume remain hidden until you start to add gain. But that is the reason to buy an overdrive, right? Besides being named after a childish art utensil, "coloring you tone" is considered a no-no, so when the hype video said the pedal did just that, well, it was a little bit of a face-palm moment.

It Gets You Close To That Sound With Minimal Effort

If you look at my pedal board, you will see that I like stacking my gain pedals. I have a Soul Food almost always on and cranked up to push the next pedal (Tube Screamer/OCD/Super Badass). Some times I'll run the TS into the OCD to get really noisy. I like combining Overdrives with other pedals to simulate the effect of a overdriven amp while keeping to bedroom levels. Not to say that other pedals need  a another in front of it, but this pedal has gotten pushed-a-little-too-hard (in a good way) sound all by it's self. There are a lot of things that I like about the Soul Food in this pedal, but mixed with better EQ and great clipping section.

In Conclusion

If you are in the market for a single pedal to do must of the heavy lifting of your dirt section and don't want to full with stacking different pedals, then this might be right up your ally. What the Soul Food lacks in flexibility, The Crayon Does rather well, with the bonus of being transparent in the best way possible. This pedal is a little more than just the "pre" section of you gain section. It has the grunt to be your entire overdrive section. It does play well with other though. Especially if the other pedal is heavier. All in all this pedal is a great box. Even if it turns out to be heavily "inspired" by another pedal, this pedal is a great addition to an already pretty stellar list of pedals in EHX's line.