I have been enjoying my new VOX AC4TV amp with the single power and single preamp tubes. Also, it has a 10-inch speaker which is very competent as a component of this little combo. Although the AC4TV is best as a home, practice amp, and with a little tweaking of the amp dials and the guitar knobs, you can utilize this amp in a live performance situation, provided it is a smaller coffee house type venue.
Initially, I was having trouble with the FDR-1 pedal causing springy sounding crashes, almost random pops, when the "reverb" setting was on. I played with the controls and eventually found that by taking the gain (provided for the purpose of creating distortion-- which I prefer to get from the tubes in the VOX) and setting that "gain" at the lowest possible level (7-8 o'clock) to get rid of those unwanted sounds. Next, turn the volume of the pedal up past 12 noon and it smooths things out nicely. The pops/crashes went away, and the tone cleaned up like a true Fender tube amplifier! Wow!!
I suggest the VOX's 1 Watt setting for home, which is plenty loud, even with the VOX at less than "half" on the volume and half way up on the tone, you will still get a bit of crunch by turning the Strat's neck pickup up to 8 or 9. I practice and enjoy the cleans at 4 or 5 with these settings. I think the small, compact VOX AC4TV is a great amp and enjoyable to use at home, but adding the FDR-1 to this rig completes the picture. -- Guitar Man
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