Welcome to our comprehensive guide to the best Vox-Style pedals and Vox-in-a-Box overdrives! If you are interested in pedals inspired by other classic amps, you may want to check out our articles about the best Plexi-Style pedals, Dumble-style drives, and Fender-in-a-box pedals. Coverage of similar stompboxes can be found in our overdrive category.
Article updated on Sept 29, 2022
What’s the “Vox Sound”?
The iconic sound of the Vox AC30 combo amp is inseparable from Rock n’ Roll.
Used by countless legendary bands from The Beatles to Led Zeppelin to Queen to U2 to Radiohead, Vox amps are known for their chimey clarity and tight low-mids, as well as their crisp breakup tones.
Part of the reason for the shiny presence of Vox amps is the “top boost” circuit, a second amp channel with a brilliance control that adds up to 30db of boost at 10khz. The presence of Vox amps is conducive to live band settings in which you need a lead guitar to cut through the mix.
A testament to the popularity of this amp is that, together with its older but less powerful sibling the AC15, it’s been around pretty much unchanged since the late ’50s. The company produced a few more variants (like the AC50 head, and the mysterious UL730), but no other model reached the popularity levels of the AC30.
For a brief history of the Vox AC30 and to get a better idea about what the “Vox sound” is, check out this video by Rhett Shull.
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Best Vox-Style Pedals & Vox-in-a-Box Overdrives
Many pedal builders have tried to replicate the unique tone and breakup of Vox amps in stompbox format – here are the best ones available today.
1. Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive MOD
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A simple 3-knob setup that belies versatile Vox style tones. Imparts that unmistakable Vox clarity and chime into your rig. The Cut knob is a low pass filter that can dial back the potential for ice-pickiness. There’s also a massive but legendary double version of it, with tons more features: the Dual Channel AC-Tone.
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2. UAFX Ruby Top Boost
$329 | Click title for video. Buy it new on Sweetwater or Thomann or Amazon, look for deals on eBay or Reverb.
A fully-featured, stereo, authentic emulation of a Vox AC30, with three speaker options, three channels (Normal, Brilliant and Vibrato) and three amp versions — stock and two common modifications — that capture the sparkling cleans and rich overdrive of the popular British amp. Mic, cab, and Dynamic Room Modeling technology allow for tone fine-tuning. Through a special special “4-cable” mode, it can add two additional channels to your amp. A Bluetooth app allows for preset storage and extra functionality.
3. Victory Amplification Copper
$279-999 | Click title for video. Buy it new on Sweetwater or Thomann or Amazon, look for deals on eBay or Reverb.
This is a three-member family of pedals inspired by the company’s Copper amplifier voiced after the Vox AC-30. The compact pedal version the Copper V1, was designed in collaboration with Adrian Thorpe of Thorpy effects, and it’s a simple amp-in-a-box with controls for Volume, Gain, Bass, Tone and Treble. The two bigger versions are both called Copper V4, but one is a full-fledged power amp you can plug into your cab, while the other only features the preamp stage.
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4. Vox Mystic Edge
$179 | Click title for video. Buy it new on Sweetwater or Thomann, look for deals on eBay or Reverb.
Attempts to recreate the AC30 sound in a pedal using Vox’s own Nutube technology. Has 3 modes: Standard for normal pedal-chain usage, Preamp for line-level devices like keyboards, and cab sim for DI recording or ampless playing. Includes a bright switch for the iconic top boost and an OLED screen that displays what’s happening to your signal in real-time.
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5. VS Audio JangleMaster
A Vox AC-30-style amp-in-a-box with an added boost circuit that can sound either like a clean boost or a Rangemaster Treble booster, hence replicating a pedal/amps combo that was all the rage in the rock and pop of the ’60s. The Cut control (on the yellow boost side) functions as a high-cut knob. Also, it affects the dynamic response and high frequencies of the pedal. The AC-30 side (in purple) sports a 3-band EQ featuring Bass, Cut, Treble knobs, allowing for significant tone sculpting. The interplay between the Gain and Volume knobs can produce a saturation range going from sparkly clean to fully cranked.
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6. Aclam Dr. Robert
Unlike the other pedals on this list, the Aclam Dr. Robert is based on the Vox UL730, an ultra-rare hybrid solid-state / tube amp that the Beatles used extensively on the recording of Revolver. With a midrange control that interacts with the other knobs (Gain, and Volume) for contouring your base tone, this is not your average gain pedal. The Mach Schau! (Make a Show) boost switch kicks things into spitty amp saturation. It does a convincing job of capturing those chimey, cutting Beatles tones.
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7. Carl Martin AC Tone
$169-221 | Click title for video. Buy it on Reverb.
A simple 3-knob setup that belies versatile Vox style tones. Imparts that unmistakable Vox clarity and chime into your rig. The Cut knob is a low pass filter that can dial back the potential for ice-pickiness. There’s also a massive but legendary double version of it, with tons more features: the Dual Channel AC-Tone.
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8. Joyo AC Tone
Not all cheap pedals disappoint! The Joyo AC Tone is a well-regarded and insanely affordable take on the Vox-style amp-in-a-box. Surprisingly feature-rich, it can be used as a normal drive / EQ pedal or as an amp sim at the end of your pedal chain into a PA or direct into your audio interface. It has a 3-band EQ as well as a voice control that allows for lots of tonal possibilities.
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9. Mooer Day Tripper
The Vox-style pedal of the Mooer mini preamp lineup includes a 3-band EQ, volume and gain controls, and a switchable cab sim that can be run directly into your recording interface or a PA. It also has 2 channels with different gain levels, which can be switched between via the main footswitch in secondary operation.
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10. Catalinbread CB30
$169 | Click title for video. Buy it new on Sweetwater or Amazon, look for deals on eBay or Reverb.
Based on the classic AC30, Catalinbread included interactive treble and bass controls that scoop the mids as they’re turned up. The gain range goes from clean to edge of breakup to full on amp overdrive. Takes boost pedals very well, and can be run at 9 or 18 volts for more headroom.
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11. Pettyjohn Chime MkII
This AC-30-style overdrive by a quality boutique brand is not meant to only be an amp-in-a-box style pedal, but rather a versatile low to mid-gain overdrive with premium components and extended tweakability. Features include parallel blending between Germanium / LED clipping, a pre-gain boost control, a high pass filter ranging from 30 to 700hz, and a musical tilt EQ.
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12. Menatone Top Boost in a Can
Regarded by many as the gold standard of Vox-style pedals but almost impossible to find, Brian Mena’s TBIAC is a replica of the entire Vox AC30 circuit, complete with the tone stack. It also includes a sag control for amp-like compression and an independently switchable boost circuit into the front end. There are all sorts of different versions of this pedal, including ones with larger and horizontal cases.
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13. Catalinbread Galileo MKII
$169 | Click title for video. Buy it new on Sweetwater or Thomann, look for deals on eBay or Reverb.
A “Queen in a box” pedal replicating Brian May’s famous signal chain of always-on treble booster into Vox AC30. Touch responsive and clear-sounding, with a fuzzy edge that is the hallmark of Brian May’s stacked guitar lines.
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14. Thermion Breakthru
$209 | Click title for video. Buy it on Reverb.
A two-channel overdrive pedal modeled after Vox amps throughout the years. Comes with a two-band EQ, high-end cut, gain knobs for each channel, and a vintage/modern/preamp switch. Vintage for classic 60s tones, modern for more gain, and preamp for running direct into a cab sim or power amp.
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15. Skreddy Rubber Soul
$208 | Click title for video. Buy it on Reverb.
Based on a small Vox combo amp (probably the AC15), the Rubber Soul combines the tones of the Vox normal channel and the bright channel as if you were jumpered from one to the other. A 3 band EQ allows for plenty of tonal tweaking and an optical compressor circuit (Sag control) is placed after the gain stage for amp-style compression.
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16. Westminster Effects Geneva V2
It replicates the sound of a classic Vox AC30 amp, including cab emulation, which can be turned on and off through a toggle switch. It offers both a 1/4 and an XLR output, great for recording direct or stereo configurations. The five knobs allow for a wide range of tones, with three EQ knobs (Bass, Treble and Top Boost, which adds presence) and two gain stages.
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17. Tone City Black Tea
An affordable 3-knob clone of the Carl Martin AC tone. While lacking the high grade components that Carl Martin chooses, the Tone City seeks to makeup for it in price.
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18. Kingsley Squire
From boutique tube pedal builder Kingsley comes the Squire, a versatile preamp pedal. The Squire has enough output to run directly into a power amp, into a cab sim for direct recording, or as a boost into the front end of an amp. The Top Boost model is designed after the classic Vox top boost circuit from the 60s.
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19. Bearfoot FX Copper Topper (previously Emerald Green)
It has similarities to Beatfoot FX’s beloved Honey Bee pedal, but voiced to capture low to mid-gain Vox overdrive tones. Once the drive is cranked up past noon, the pedal starts to compress and sag like an amp would. See also the Emerald Green Distortion Machine, a high gain version of the same tones.
20. Tone City Model V
A larger foundation style pedal with two gain stages and a ton of drive on tap. Switchable between AC15 and AC30 modes, with separate gain controls for each. A boost can be engaged into the front of the pedal as well.
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Good but Discontinued Vox-Style Pedals
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Relevant Videos about the Vox sound
Fender vs Vox vs Marshall, What’s the Difference? (Reverb.com)
Vox AC10 vs AC15 vs AC30 (The Tone King)
1 comment
Fullpedal Alchemist says:
Nov 4, 2022
The Greer Amps Royal Velvet should definitely be on this list!