For guitarists who play with a Vox AC15 amplifier, it’s best to know which channels to use when getting the most out of their effects pedals.
A Vox AC15 has two input channels, the Normal and Top Boost channel; the normal channel has a mellow tone that’s ideal platform for effects pedals and low gain overdrive. The Top Boost channel has a higher treble voice with more gain with a bass and treble controls for sparkling clean tones and rich midrange overdrive. The AC15 can be a great platform for effects pedals no matter what the music genre, but it’s best to know which channels to use to get the most out of your effects pedals.
Unlike the Top Boost channel, the normal channel doesn’t have a bass and treble eq control, and makes it perfect for overdrive and distortion pedals that have a two-band or three band eq. The normal channel is good for higher treble or gain pedals or “Marshall amplifier” voiced pedals.The Top Boost channel gives musicians more tonal variety with the bass and treble eq, and makes it an ideal platform with lower gain or bass heavy overdrive, distortion and fuzz pedals.
Other pedals like time based effects such as delays and tremolos work great with both channels along with modulation effects like phasers, chorus and reverb; though it depends on the overall tone the player is wanting to get out of their Vox AC15. Another way to carve out a desired tone from an AC15 is to use the adjust the tone cut knob and master volume control, both knobs control the overall output and tone control of each channel.
No matter how many effects pedals a guitarist has or the genre of music he or she plays, it’s important to know how to use an amplifier’s channels and get the most out of your effects pedals.
Chris Clines Music and Gear 