Vox AC30 - lighter option STRYMON IRIDIUM

[MeBHank]

The speaker sound is a big part of the sound of amand amp sims Justin. I have a set of Celestion IR's , each sound different and affect tone. The Joyo does not have a speaker sim, but does have a control to shape the sounds as you know.

I remember my Vox AC15 HW had a greenback when got it, changing to a blue was very noticible and the Shads sound came out.

I've had JMI Vox amps with both Celestion and Goodmans speakers, Roger. The difference is clear.

I have been aware for a while that, as good as the Joyo is, it's lacking something. I can hear it in my recordings of gigs and at home, and also in my YouTube videos. In live settings it makes a bit less of a difference because the PA speakers affect the sound in a similar way to an amp cab.

Hi Justin, I saw demos on You Tube of the Iridium and because they were so good, I knew that it was what I needed to nail the tone correctly and it worked for me. I didn't like the price, but luckily shopped around and found mind for £240 which I was happy with.
I too have the Joyo and find it lacking, though it is pretty good. I was using my Zoom G5n as a full solution, having had the Kemper and Line 6 Helix, both of which did great amp/speaker sims but failed in other areas, prompting me to move on.
I finally figured the Strymon would fit the bill, as a dedicated amp & cab modeller and I am not disappointed, I recommend the Iridium with confidence. To some folk, they may struggle to 'get it' but I hear the difference when comparing, as do my band mates.
I believe it would benefit your excellent show.

Thanks, Dave.

Before this thread I had been considering the Vox MV50 but again I was unsure about how it would sound DI'd without any form of speaker emulation. The one time I've heard it I was knocked out, but that was through a speaker cab, so no good for me to judge how it'd work for me. I'd probably have ended up trying to track down a dedicated speaker emulation unit.

I'm in the process of drastically improving my sound after years of being unable to keep myself 'in the game'. On your recommendation I'm going to try the Iridium. If it's that good at copying a Vox plus speaker cab then I think it's worth my time.

Thanks for your efforts for us once again.

[dave robinson]

The feature I like is that when using the Vox AC30 option, there's a choice of cabinets and as well as the expected 2 x 12 blues, there's also a single 12" that I like, as well as on the Fender Amp, there's the option of a 2 x 10 cabinet that has a unique early rock 'n roll sound - Think Ernie Shear & Move It. I don't hear the differences too well myself, but Arthur whom you know and Dave, our sound man, each can hear the differences and when I play the old hits for them when we set up on a Wednesday afternoon, it's a great learning curve as we listen and compare with the actual records and discuss the subtle differences in tone, that each of them can recognise much better than I. The only reason I don't get much closer to Hank's old sound is because of my choice of string gauges, which are lighter and produce excessive sustain compared to Hank's early recordings.
They have helped me immensely to shape the tone and it's really good to have other people's opinions to bounce off.
We enjoy the discussion and we're all amazed how this little box makes such a difference, adding the tonal quality of a 75lb valve amp.

[roger bayliss]

Here is a comparison of the Joyo AC Tone against the TC Electronics DC30 (with blue Celestion Sim) and it is clear what the difference is. You can mix the Two Channels normal and Brilliance (top boost) on the DC30. The AC Tone was a great pedal for less than £40 though !

https://youtu.be/6aRwRwurYWk?si=Ufp38of1QMtZSTX4

I had seen a post somewhere, when someone mentioned the Strymon had a blend of two Channels for its sound (normal and brilliance)

You get 3 amp sims with the Strymon and IR choices etc and the Fender Deluxe isxa great sound too.

[roger bayliss]

Just ordered the TC Electronics DC30 from Andertons £99 will try it out and report back in a few days . Good buy and apparently based on a 1965 AC 30 , with blue speaker sim . I was convinced after seeing a uTube video by Mike Herman's .

Another comparison of several units against amps worth a listen


https://youtu.be/7j5i1EsAgys?si=08a15SS54GMbHDfG

[roger bayliss]

Got the TC Electronics DC30 Friday afternoon and tried it out through the headphones with the speaker sim. I thought it reflected the AC30 sound quite well and put my TC Electronics Triple Delay through it and sound like I would expect it to. Did not use EQ during this sound test.

I downloaded and installed the firmware update before I used it by the way

I noticed the channel knobs needed to be around 10 'O' Clock to get it clean sounding for Shads, but plenty of volume on headphones. The normal and brilliant channels can be used on their own or mixed together.

Today I put it through my Katana Head return socket with EQ, echos and compression and tried it on a number of Shads tunes against The Shadows playing on CD. I found the sound was quite close.

I will not get chance for a while to try at the club through the PA , but I expect it will sound like I heard on headphones and be good.

Like all of these things, you do have to dial them in, to get the desired result, and I found the tone controls worked as you would expect.

On price I paid of £102 with delivery, I think this is one of the cheapest options, yet it does the job quite well overall. I do have a UA Ruby which is probably a little bit better overall, but that cost more than 3x this did. This is quite close to the Ruby though.

All of these amp modellers have their own quirks and on those video tests by guitar bonedo you can hear differences.

The DC30 is much better than the AC Tone and gets you the right sounds.

Your choice in the end.

[grochamedeiros]

Hi folks.
I know i'm new here, but i would like to leave my opinion anyway.

I have the Zoom G3x and i'm impressed by the AC30 amp + cabinet simulation on it.
Paired with the 6 band EQ, i do have a very close sound.

Tried other amp simulations (ACTONE and Ampworks) and the Zoom sounded more authentic.
I plug it on a 50W clean amp with the Zoom 508, and it's perfect.

Of course it's not the same of real original equipment, but it gives a run for it's money.

[dave robinson]

I agree about the Vox AC30 being very good on the Zoom and I did use it for a while - until I began to run out of 'slots' for my other effects. Some of the echo patches alone use four slots on the Zoom, then theres reverb and compression which fill it up, so that's why I bought the Strymon Iridium,which gives me a Fender Deluxe Reverb, Vox AC30 and Marshall all in one box, complete with speaker sims. That frees up the Zoom for effects only and having tried it in home and gigging for the past two weeks I recommend it 100%.
A little expensive unless you find a good deal as I did, but with Strymon you get what you pay for - quality. For a pro it's a no brainer.

[dave robinson]

This is an update on my experience using the Strymon Iridium for those interested and it's a very positive one indeed.
I bought it over three weeks ago now and in that time used it at our weekly Thursday night bash, replacing my Vox amp and opting to use monitors only for my stage sound, then routing the same signal out through our PA and achieving excellent Vox tones and people actually commenting how well it sounded in the mix. We did a gig at another venue last Friday and all I took was my Strymon Iridium, Zoom G5n and Stratocaster which were routed straight into our Dynacord mixing desk, the one we use on a Thursday night. Because the desk is set up for our band, the idea was always to be able to go anywhere and reproduce our sound wherever we played and I was delighted that we achieved that goal, just by using the house PA system, which by wonderful coincidence was very similar quality to our own, but instead of our RCF ART745 powered speakers they had Electrovoice ElX 12 and a Powered sub. The sound was spot on and at last I am confident in being able to trust my idea of routing all guitars and drums direct through the PA system, without the need of a back line. Even the drums, as we use the new Roland VAD 506 electric kit which I have programmed to be tonally very similar to Brian Bennett's recorded Ludwig sound on The Shadows singles. I used The Rise And Fall Of Flingel Bunt as a guide to setting up the tones of the drums and cymbals and save it to a patch and it works very well. It means that we are well in the 'ball park' of what we are wanting to put across to our audiences and total level control is possible without any one instrument being too loud or too soft, having trained our sound engineer to copy those early Shadows mixes as closely as possible.
So in conclusion, I can confidently and 100% recommend the Strymon Iridium and tell you that it does replicate the sound of a real Vox AC30 and cabinet through the PA.
Happy days !