
This diagram clearly illustrates Dirk Wacker's wiring mod for this month.
If you want the maximum tones out of an HSS-configured guitar, here’s how to wire the switching and eliminate two pet peeves from a basic auto-split wiring.
Welcome back to Mod Garage. This month we’ll have a deeper look into auto-splitting pickups on an HSS-configured Strat and similar guitars. We covered this a long time ago, exploring the basic version of this wiring in “Stratocaster Auto-Split Mod.” Today we’ll take it one step further with a pro version and discuss what can be done with it.
The HSS setup with a bridge humbucker plus two traditional single-coils is the perfect combination for many Strat players, but it’s not limited to Strats. With the bridge humbucker you have a powerful pickup for soloing and rocking the crowd, while the two single-coil pickups give you traditional sounds and everything in between. When you choose a bridge humbucker with 4-conductor wiring, you can even split it for more possible sounds and to also get the famous in-between “quack” tone with the bridge and the middle pickup together in parallel. That’s exactly where the auto-split wiring comes in when you want an easy-to-operate setup. Let’s have a look what can be done with such an HSS pickup configuration and a 5-way pickup selector switch.
Some players may not need the in-between pickup position with the bridge plus the middle pickup together in parallel. Maybe they can’t use this tone in their musical context, or they simply don’t like these slightly hollow tones with less output. Even Leo Fender himself never liked this tone that he called “out of phase” (which is technically incorrect). These players are fine with a standard 2-conductor bridge pickup and standard Stratocaster 5-way switching.
- Both coils in series (standard humbucker operation with full output)
- Both coils in parallel (a kind of hum-free, single-coil-like tone with less output)
- One coil shut down to ground (real split mode with only one coil engaged)
- With a simple 2-way toggle switch you can shut down one of the coils to ground to get an additional single-coil-like tone from the bridge pickup. This can also be used to get the in-between sound together with the middle pickup. You can also use any standard push-pull or push-push pot, or the Fender S-1 switch, for this operation, so you don’t have to alter the appearance of your guitar.
- If you want more, you can use a DPDT on-on-on switch like the DiMarzio “multi-sound switch” to get all three sounds from your bridge humbucker. This operation can’t be done from a push-pull or push-push pot—you need an additional 3-way toggle for this.
- If you want all four possible sounds from your bridge humbucker, an additional rotary switch is the way to go. We discussed this just a few months ago in “Mod Garage: How to Triple Shot Your Humbuckers.”
That’s where the pro version kicks in, replacing the standard 5-way switch with a “super switch” that has four individual switching stages instead of only two, eliminating the two peeves from the basic auto-split wiring.
Please note: This is only possible with a humbucker sporting 4-conductor wiring. You can’t do this with a humbucker with traditional 2-conductor wiring!
Of course, there are players who don’t need all the gadgets. They simply want a powerful humbucker tone in the bridge position and the typical traditional Strat tones from all the other switching positions, including the in-between position of the bridge plus middle pickup. The auto-split wiring is perfect for these players because it’s a set-and-forget situation.
What will happen without the auto-split wiring when dialing in the bridge humbucker together with the middle single-coil pickup in parallel? You won’t hear a big difference in sound compared to the bridge humbucker alone, simply because usually the bridge humbucker is a lot louder compared to the single-coil and will dominate the tone by out-acting the single-coil. To combat this problem, the auto-split wiring will automatically (hence the name) split the humbucker into a single-coil by shutting down the other coil to ground for a traditional in-between sound of both pickups, like we all know from a regular SSS-configured Strat. The switching matrix of the auto-split wiring looks like this:
- Bridge humbucker with both coils in series for full humbucker operation
- Bridge humbucker split + middle single-coil in parallel
- Middle single-coil
- Middle + neck single-coil in parallel
- Neck single-coil
Deciding what coil of the humbucker will be sent to ground leaving the other active could easily be the subject of a whole column. Depending on the winding direction and polarity of both pickups, you usually don’t want to end up with an out-of-phase tone when both pickups are engaged and when your middle pickup is RWRP (reverse-wound, reverse-polarity), you also want to have the hum-cancelling function this switching position can provide. So … choose carefully!
While the basic version of this wiring works great, it has some peeves that some players complain about:
- It’s not possible to freely arrange the dual tone controls. They are fixed to one for the middle and the other for the neck single-coil, leaving the bridge humbucker without any tone control, like in standard Strat wiring.
- You’ll have to use individual tone caps for each tone control.
That’s where the pro version kicks in, replacing the standard 5-way switch with a “super switch” that has four individual switching stages instead of only two, eliminating the two peeves from the basic auto-split wiring.
Good idea, but unfortunately the road to hell is paved with good resolutions.
The super switches are physically a lot larger compared to the standard version, so take care that they’ll fit into your guitar. Recently I had to upgrade an Ibanez HSS guitar with this wiring, and it was impossible to put a super switch in without extensive routing to make space for it. I had such problems before with Yamaha and Fender guitars. The PCB-based versions of this switch require less space, so often this is the way to go.
Often such extended auto-split wirings are trying to also handle what I like to call the “resistance paradigm.” Fender used 250k pots for their guitars with single-coil pickups in the early days, while Gibson used 500k pots for their humbucker-loaded guitars. I don’t think the resistance values were chosen for any tonal reasons. We’re talking about the 1940s and ’50s, when they simply didn’t have the choices we have today. Especially Fender used whatever was available in large quantities for a low price, and it’s likely that Gibson had a similar approach.
Today you can still find unfounded rumors all over the internet that single-coils sound best with 250k pots and humbuckers with 500k pots. While the basic idea behind this contains some truth (500k pots still leave some high-end with a humbucker while 250k pots prevent the single-coil from sounding too harsh), such rules are not set in stone and usually such debates totally neglect that we’re talking about a passive system.
Often 500k pots are used for an auto-split wiring, incorporating some additional resistors to “convert” them to 250k for the single-coil pickups. Good idea, but unfortunately the road to hell is paved with good resolutions. Digging deeper at this point is too much for this column but may be a good subject for a follow-up. My personal recommendation: Forget about it. In more than 20 years, I have tried every variation of such jack-of-all-trades wirings and not a single one really worked in a useable way. Here are my two cents regarding such a wiring:
- A good and useful distribution of the tone controls is one 500k pot for only the bridge humbucker and the other one 250k for the two single-coils.
- Using two tone caps (one for each tone control) is simply perfect for this wiring, i.e., I really like to use a small cap value for the humbucker to control the warmth of it plus a traditional value for the two single-coil pickups.
- Using a 250k master volume works excellent because in a passive system like a Strat, you can benefit from the much better taper regarding evenness compared to a 500k pot. The loss in high-end compared to a 500k pot is marginal: measurable, but not audible. Using a treble-bleed network is a matter of choice and up to your personal preferences.
The wiring layout seen in the diagram at the top of this page is what I recommend and that most players will be happy with, so here we go. I assume that the middle pickup will be a RWRP type, and as usual, I used the Seymour Duncan color code for the humbucker. If you have a humbucker from a different company, you’ll have to convert the shown color code with one of the converting charts online. The bare wire of the humbucker always goes to ground, no matter what type it is. I tried to keep the illustration as clean as possible by leaving out all ground wires, so, as usual, they’re shown with the international symbol for ground. Solder all these connections to the back of a pot of your choice.
That’s it. Next month we’ll build a cool and simple yet very effective diagnostic gadget for electric guitars and basses. I use it in my shop daily and you will love it for sure, so stay tuned!
Until then ... keep on modding!
- Three Must-Try Guitar Wiring Mods - Premier Guitar ›
- How to Get the Most out of Hum-Sing-Hum Wiring - Premier Guitar ›
- Guitar Shop 101: Coil-Tap an HSS Strat - Premier Guitar ›
Fender introduces the Stories Collection Mike Campbell Red Dog Telecaster, paying tribute to the iconic guitarist's heavily modified instrument. Featuring two signature humbuckers, a custom single coil bridge pickup, Bigsby tremolo, and a unique "Destruct" circuit, this Telecaster allows players to channel Campbell's legendary tone and style.
Today, Fender Musical Instruments Corporation (FMIC) and the Fender Custom Shop (FCS) introduce the newest member of the ‘Stories Collection’ family—a series of instruments that pays tribute to iconic Fender guitars and basses that have been uniquely modified by the legendary artists who played them. Mike Campbell, the tasteful and versatile player who is responsible for some of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ most memorable riffs, has teamed up with Fender and the Custom Shop to develop the Stories Collection Mike Campbell signature guitars - the Red Dog Telecaster and FCS Limited Edition Masterbuilt 1972 “Red Dog“ Telecaster—two reproductions of Campbell’s stunning and heavily modified Telecaster that gives players the opportunity to create their own sonic identity through the framework of one of rock and pop’s greatest guitar players.
“Telecasters are the heart and soul of rock and roll music and this one is a beautiful instrument,” said Mike Campbell. “I could tell The Red Dog was special as soon as I picked it up. It felt like it was in the right place at just the right time. The humbuckers give it so much power and such a wide variety of tones while the destruct button really sets it apart from just about any other tele.”
The tale of the Red Dog Telecaster began when one of Campbell’s former students living in Florida offered to sell him a guitar. However, after seeing the guitar in question, it became clear that this was no standard instrument pulled from the rack. Campbell was presented with a bright red Tele equipped with humbuckers in the neck and middle position, a Bigsby tremolo and, perhaps the guitar’s most idiosyncratic flourish, an onboard electronic boost dubbed the “destruct” circuit. As any other lifelong guitar devotee would, Campbell bought this glorious Frankenstein of an instrument without a moment’s hesitation. The Red Dog was subsequently used most memorably on the Heartbreaker’s track “Refugee” and is prominently featured in the song’s music video. All throughout his storied career playing with Tom Petty, as a session guitarist, alongside Fleetwood Mac and touring the world with his solo act The Dirty Knobs, this singular Telecaster has been inextricably linked to Campbell’s career and legacy as one of rock and roll’s finest players.
The Stories Collection Mike Campbell Red Dog Telecaster offers the same level of craftsmanship and sonic capability at a more accessible price point. The two signature Mike Campbell humbuckers in the neck and middle position bring a low-end growl and high octane output that sets it apart from other Telecaster guitars. However, the custom single coil bridge pickup delivers the caliber of twang that people worldwide associate exclusively with Tele guitars. A Bigsby B5F tremolo allows players to extenuate riffs and solos with an additional level of flourish and attitude. Perhaps the Red Dog’s most exciting feature lies beneath the surface—the “Destruct” circuit. With the push of a sleek silver button on the control plate, an added 34 dB of gain can be activated for complete tonal dominance.
“It’s our mission to honor the legacy and sonic character that Mike Campbell has infused into every note played on his beloved ‘Red Dog’ Telecaster®,” said Justin Norvell, Executive Vice President of Fender Products. “Every scratch, modification, and battle scar tells a story, and with these meticulously crafted recreations, we’re giving players everywhere the chance to channel that same timeless energy and write their own musical history.”
While the Red Dog Telecaster came into his hands already modified, its custom features were universal and powerful enough to elevate Campbell’s personal playing style and the same can be said for Fender’s painstakingly detailed and powerfully crafted recreations. The FCS Limited Edition Masterbuilt 1972 “Red Dog” Telecaster is a jaw dropping representation of the instrument as it exists today—dings, paint chips, dents and all by FCS’s Senior Masterbuilder Dennis Galuska. Outfitted with vintage replica Arcane, Inc. pickups and signature “Destruct” boost circuit wired by Analogman, this custom Telecaster can achieve the same biting jangle heard on “Refugee.” Features include a flat sawn maple neck with custom Oval “C” back shape, 7.25” radius fingerboard, 21 vintage upgrade frets, 5-way pickup sector and vintage style Jazzmaster bridge with threaded saddles.
“The ‘Red Dog’ Telecaster® is a testament to how a heavily modified instrument can be both deeply personal and universally cherished,” said Chase Paul, Director of Product Development - Fender Custom Shop. “There’s an undeniable magic in an instrument that evolves alongside its player, and every modification on this guitar serves a purpose, working together to create something greater than the sum of its parts. Dennis Galuszka and the Custom Shop dedicated countless hours to faithfully recreating every detail, bringing players and fans as close to Mike’s legendary Tele® as possible.”
Stories Collection Mike Campbell Red Dog Telecaster® ($3,499.99) Revered for his tasty rhythms and fiery leads, Mike Campbell is responsible for many of the iconic hooks from the Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers catalog. For decades now his faithful Fender guitars have been at the heart of his trusted formula for award-winning tone.Campbell bought what became known as the “Red Dog” from a former guitar student in Florida, complete with Bigsby tremolo and a powerful onboard boost, known as the “Destruct” circuit. Mike’s iconic 1972 Red Dog Telecaster is featured on the Damn the Torpedoes track “Refugee” and can be seen in the accompanying music video. The Stories Collection Mike Campbell “Red Dog” Telecaster features an Heirloom™ nitrocellulose lacquer “Red Dog Red” finish, 1-piece maple neck with 7.25” radius fingerboard and 21 vintage-style frets as well as an onboard “Destruct” boost circuit. The custom Mike Campbell Red Dog pickup set features two vintage-style humbuckers and a single-coil Telecaster bridge pickup, Bigsby B5F tremolo and a custom Red Dog neck plate. Custom accessories include a vintage-style case, strap, picks and certificate of authenticity.
Unique, versatile and utterly original, The Mike Campbell “Red Dog” Telecaster pays tribute to a veteran Heartbreaker with a serious knack for writing extraordinary songs and delivering catchy, captivating and magnificent guitar parts.
Fender Custom Shop Limited Edition Masterbuilt Mike Campbell 1972 “Red Dog” Telecaster® ($20,000.00) With raw, powerful riffs and explosive leads, Mike Campbell firmly established himself as one of the greatest guitarists and songwriters in music history—and throughout his accomplished career, Fender guitars played in integral role in his creative expression. One of his most noteworthy instruments was his modified three-pickup Telecaster that would come to be known as the “Red Dog.” Fender Custom Shop Senior Masterbuilder Dennis Galuszka partnered with Mike to recreate this incredible guitar. From beautifully faded red metallic finish to the worn and Bigsby B5 vibrato tailpiece, every nick, ding and scratch was meticulously replicated to bring this tribute guitar to life. Loaded with vintage replica Arcane, Inc. pickups and a “Destruct” boost circuit wired by Analogman, this Tele plays, sounds and feels just like the guitar heard on “Refugee.” Its two-piece select alder body and custom-shaped, one-piece maple neck feature a well-loved Relic® lacquer finish, while the hardware is aged to look like it’s been played for the last five decades. Wonderfully unique and with a storied past, the Limited Edition Masterbuilt Mike Campbell 1972 “Red Dog” Telecaster is a fitting homage to such an incredibly captivating and inspiring musician. Other premium features include flat sawn maple neck with custom Oval “C” back-shape, 7.25” (184.1 mm) radius, 21 vintage upgrade (45085) frets, 5-way switch, 3-ply parchment pickguard, vintage-style Jazzmaster® bridge with threaded steel saddles, vintage-style “F”-stamped tuning machines, bone nut, two American Vintage ‘65+ string trees with nylon spacers, deluxe hardshell case, strap and certificate of authenticity.
For more information, please visit fender.com.
Fender Stories Collection Mike Campbell Red Dog Telecaster Electric Guitar - Red Dog Red
Stories Collection Mike Campbell Red Dog Tele, MapExpansive range of subtle thickening and focusing tones to fuzz. Great alternative to run-of-the-mill overdrive and fuzz. Enables surgical shaping of guitar sounds within a mix.
Interactive, sometimes sensitive controls make certain tones elusive and lend the pedal a twitchy feel.
$179
Catalinbread Airstrip
With the preamp from a Trident A-Range console as their target, Catalinbread conjures up a varied gain device that can massage or mangle your guitar tone.
Replicating a recording console preamp in a pedal is a pretty elementary idea, but it’s inspired stompboxes as varied as theJHS Colour Box andHudson Broadcast. All recording desks—and the pedals that imitate them—have their own color. Catalinbread’s Airstrip chases the sound of a Trident A-Range channel strip. (Search “Trident Studios” to get a handle on the kind of clientele the place attracted back in the ’60s and ’70s).
Presently, a new Trident A-Range channel strip costs thousands of dollars. An original? Well, only 13 desks were made, so you can probably get a nice used Rolls Royce for less—if you can find one. Rightly then, one should temper expectations about how well a $179 pedal can ape a priceless console. But like many preamps in a box, the Airstrip excels at a wide range of gain-shaping tasks, from surgical boost and EQ shadings to fuzzy, filtered, ready-to-rip-through-a-mix Jimmy Page/Beatles/Neil Young-style direct-to-desk tones. Even at extremes, the Airstrip is sensitive to touch, volume, and tone dynamics, enabling pivots from light (if very focused) overdrive to ’60s germanium-fuzz-like sounds with changes in guitar volume and tone. And though it’s dynamic and responsive, at many settings it also exhibits lovely compression tendencies, softening transients before giving way to wide-vista tone blooms—a great recipe for spare, lyrical, melodic leads with a ’60s biker-flick-soundtrack edge. Without any of its market-leading competitors around for comparison, it’s hard to say exactly how the Airstrip aligns with their EQ biases and core tones. What is certain is that there are scores of mellow to unconventionally aggressive colors here to explore.
AI, which generated this image in seconds, can obviously do amazing things. But can it actually replace human creativity?
Technology has always disrupted the music biz, but we’ve never seen anything like this.
AI has me deeply thinking: Is guitar (or any instrument) still valid? Are musicians still valid? I don’t think the answer is as obvious as I’d like it to be.
As a professional musician, I’ve spent the vast majority of my days immersed in the tones of tube amps, the resistance of steel strings under my fingers, and the endless pursuit of musical expression. Each day, I strive to tap into the Source, channel something new into the world (however small), and share it. Yet, lately, a new presence has entered the room—artificial intelligence. It is an interloper unlike any I’ve ever encountered. If you’re thinking that AI is something off in the “not-too-distant future,” you’re exponentially wrong. So, this month I’m going to ask that we sit and meditate on this technology, and hopefully gain some insight into how we are just beginning to use it.
AI: Friend or Foe?
In the last 12 months, I’ve heard quite a bit of AI-generated music. Algorithms can now “compose,” “perform” (with vocals of your choosing), and “produce” entire songs in minutes, with prompts as flippant as, “Write a song about__in the style of__.” AI never misses a note and can mimic the finer details of almost any genre with unnerving precision. For those who are merely curious about music, or those easily distracted by novelty, this might seem exciting … a shortcut to creating “professional” sounding music without years of practice. But for those of us who are deeply passionate about music, it raises some profound existential questions.
When you play an instrument, you engage in something deeply human. Each musician carries their life experiences into their playing. The pain of heartbreak, the joy of new beginnings, or the struggle to find a voice in an increasingly noisy and artificial online world dominated by algorithms. Sweat, tears, and callouses develop from your efforts and repetition. Your mistakes can lead to new creative vistas and shape the evolution of your style.
Emotions shape the music we create. While an algorithm can only infer and assign a “value” to the vast variety of our experience, it is ruthlessly proficient at analyzing and recording the entire corpus of human existence, and further, cataloging every known human behavioral action and response in mere fractions of a second.
Pardon the Disruption
Technology has always disrupted the music industry. The invention of musical notation provided unprecedented access to compositions. The advent of records allowed performances of music to be captured and shared. When radio brought music into every home, there was fear that no one would buy records. Television added visual spectacle, sparking fears that it would kill live performance. MIDI revolutionized music production but raised concerns about replacing human players. The internet, paired with the MP3 format, democratized music distribution, shattered traditional revenue models, and shifted power from labels to artists. Each of these innovations was met with resistance and uncertainty, but ultimately, they expanded the ways music could be created, shared, and experienced.
Every revolution in art and technology forces us to rediscover what is uniquely human about creativity. To me, though, this is different. AI isn’t a tool that requires a significant amount of human input in order to work. It’s already analyzed the minutia of all of humanity’s greatest creations—from the most esoteric to the ubiquitous, and it is wholly capable of creating entire works of art that are as commercially competitive as anything you’ve ever heard. This will force us to recalibrate our definition of art and push us to dig deeper into our personal truths.
“In an age where performed perfection is casually synthesized into existence, does our human expression still hold value? Especially if the average listener can’t tell the difference?”
Advantage: Humans
What if we don’t want to, though? In an age where performed perfection is casually synthesized into existence, does our human expression still hold value? Especially if the average listener can’t tell the difference?
Of course, the answer is still emphatically “Yes!” But caveat emptor. I believe that the value of the tool depends entirely on the way in which it is used—and this one in particular is a very, very powerful tool. We all need to read the manual and handle with care.
AI cannot replicate the experience of creating music in the moment. It cannot capture the energy of a living room jam session with friends or the adrenaline of playing a less-than-perfect set in front of a crowd who cheers because they feel your passion. It cannot replace the personal journey you take each time you push through frustration to master a riff that once seemed impossible. So, my fellow musicians, I say this: Your music is valid. Your guitar is valid. What you create with your hands and heart will always stand apart from what an algorithm can generate.
Our audience, on the other hand, is quite a different matter. And that’s the subject for next month’s Dojo. Until then, namaste.
Genuine, dynamic Vox sound and feel. Plenty of different tone-sweetening applications. Receives other pedals as nicely as a real amp.
Can get icy quick. Preamp tube presents risk for damage.
$299
Tubesteader Roy
tubesteader.com
The Roy is an exceedingly faithful Vox box that brings genuine tube dynamics to your pedalboard.
This is an interesting moment for amp-in-a-box pedals. It used to be novel to have a little box that approximated the tone signature of an iconic amp. Nowadays, though, modeling pedals and profilers can give you many digital emulations in one package. Nevertheless, there are still worlds of possibility in pedals that copy amp topology in discrete form—particularly when you add a real preamp tube to that mix.
That’s what Montreal builder Tubesteader did with the Roy, their entry in the Vox-Top-Boost-AC30-in-a-box race. The Roy is a 2-channel preamp and overdrive built around a 12AX7 vacuum tube—a design gambit that is relatively uncommon if not totally unique. The tube makes the Roy look much more vintage in spirit at a time when sleek, black Helixes and Fractals are overtaking stages. In some ways, it looks like an antique. It can sound like one in the best way too.
Riding the Tube
The Roy comes in a handsome brownish-red enclosure, with an unsurprising control layout. The rightmost footswitch turns the pedal on and off, and the one at left switches between the identical channels. Each channel has an output volume and gain knob; the controls on the right are assigned to the default channel, and when you tap the left footswitch, you engage the left-side control tandem. The treble and bass controls between the two volume and gain knobs are shared by the two channels, but a post-EQ master tone cut control, which rolls off additional treble frequencies, is mounted on the crown of the pedal beside the power input. The input and output jacks occupy the left and right sides, along with a 3.5 mm jack for external operation. The Roy runs at 12 volts and draws 350 mA, and the included power supply can be reconfigured easily for a range of international outlets.
Tubesteader’s literature says the pedal’s tones are generated via a high-voltage transistor in the first gain stage coupled with the 12AX7, which operates at 260 volts. That preamp tube is nested at the top of the enclosure’s face, underneath a protective metal “roll bar”. Trusty as it looks, when there is a glass element on the exterior of a pedal’s housing, there’s an element of vulnerability, and transporting and using the Roy probably requires a more conscientious approach than a standard stompbox.
Royal Tones
Compared to the Vox's own Mystic Edge, an AC30-in-a-box from Vox powered by Korg’s NuTube vacuum fluorescent display technology, the Roy feels warmer, and more dynamic, proving that the 12AX7 isn’t just there for looks. The Mystic Edge could sound positively icy compared to the Roy’s smooth, even breakup. The Roy is very happy at aggressive settings, and in my estimation, it sounds best with output volumes driving an amp hard and the pedal’s gain around 3 o’clock. That recipe sounds good with single-coil guitars, but with a P-90-loaded Les Paul Junior, it achieves roaring classic-rock greatness. I’ve always felt Voxes, rather than Marshalls, are better vehicles for dirty punk chording. The Roy did nothing to dissuade me from that belief. And the pedals' midrange punch and bark in power-chord contexts lent authority and balance that makes such chords hit extra hard.
Though the Roy creates many of its own tasty drive tones, it really comes to life when pushed by a boost or overdrive, much like a real amp. When I punched it with a Fish Circuits Model One overdrive, the Roy was smoother and less spiky than a cranked AC30, yet there was plenty of note definition, attack, and the harmonic riches you’d turn to an AC for in the first place. A JFET SuperCool Caffeine Boost also brought additional depth and color to the output and broadened the pedal’s voice.
If you’re most comfortable with a real Vox amp, the Roy is a reliable and familiar-feeling stand-in when managing a different backline amp. In at least one way, though, the Roy is, perhaps, a bit toofaithful to its influence’s design: There’s a lot of treble on tap, and it’s easy to cook up tinnitus-inducing frequencies if you get too aggressive with the treble control. Noon positions on the cut/boost tone knobs sound pretty neutral. But I found it difficult to push the treble much past 2 o’clock without wincing—even with the tone cut control set at its darkest. (This quality, of course, may make the Roy a good match for squishier Fender-style designs). The relationship between the Roy’s treble and bass controls also takes time to master. The two don’t just add or boost their respective frequencies, but also add or subtract midrange, which can result in intense and sudden gain-response changes. As a general guideline, a light touch goes a long way when fine tuning these frequencies.The Verdict
The Roy isn’t exactly a bargain at $299. Then again, this Vox-in-a-box can stand in for real-deal Top Boost tones and the 2-channel design means you can move between an AC’s chimey cleans and ripping cranked sounds in a flash. If you’re squarely in the Vox amp camp, you’d be hard-pressed to find a more authentic means of achieving that range of clean-to-crunchy sounds.