Harley Benton AC TrueTone Reviews

VOX-ish toneon budget

To get most of this pedal, you need to run it as a preamp (so in FX-loop return jack) - then it sounds quite alright and VOX-like. Plugging it into an input it can be hit or miss I guess. If you treat it as an overdrive pedal, I would say that there are better options out there. It gets quite thin and sharp sounding at least for me. You can plug it in a direct box or into an interface, however there are no cab sims built in this, so you are going to need one unless you want to sound like garbage. I guess this pedal is for those who do not want to pull the trigger on a VOX-amp, but want to get a similar sound now and then. I have 2 VOX amps hence I plug in this pedal less and less as the time goes on. It just is not that amazing. Good - yes. Good for 30 euros - sure. On top of everything it takes more space than your typical BOSS size pedal.

Cant fault it

A full amp in a box. Great variation in sounds but difficult to switch between sounds easily. Small tweaks make big sound changes and you are spoiled by the amount of choice. You might need 2 or 3 of these to switch between they're that useful. I use this and the American on a pedal board. Can't fault it at the price.

good addition to my sound

I only wanted to add a kind of AC30 sound to my Roland Jc 22. Not other amp sounds, otherwise I bought a Mooer or Nux ampcabsim. Mission succeeded for 30 euro ! Compared to other AC 30 pedal and plugin sounds, this is really good. Much tone shaping. Very Fine.

Unbeatable sound for the price

I have at home a real VOX AC30 (which this pedal aims at simulating) and I can say that they really sound alike. The knobs are easier to use and the desired sound can be dialled in seconds.

It's also a very good substitute for an amp when recording or playing live, as this can be directly plugged into a mixing table and it's very portable. The only drawbacks are the fact that it's not stereo (as it's going to be at the end of your signal chain) and that it's quite bulky if you want to include it in your pedalboard, but these are not dealbreakers in my opinion.

Great musical tool.

Thanks for the quick delivery. I ordered three of these boxes. American, AC Tone and British, still working on them. They are what I need at this time. Makes me move around lighter. Thanks again.

Copy of the box ac30 amp and overdrive

This amp pedal is very good if you want to get that squeal and Brian mays tone. I use it on my boss katana on clean setting and then switch on the pedal and you get that amazing distorted vox sound.

This is just way better than it has any right being for this price

That's about it. It sounds great direct and can be manhandled into serving as a distortion pedal going direct into an amp. Twisting either the "voice" or "gain" knobs past three o clock will put you into the twilight zone of fuzz-like tones, which is fun.

It is probably far better than you expect it to be and not as good as a well set-up PC amp-sim can be - there is less high end for example, but this can be fixed with an EQ.

Feels like it's built like a tank.

Yet another great petal from Harley Benton!!

That is my third HB petal. You can get sweet and heavy tones out of it. Paired with The HB vintage overdrive into my THR5.. the result is awesome! I own another petal from the HB true tone series (the British one) and I'm already considering to buy them all!!

60s tone in a box

I was looking for something similar to the electro harmonix english muffn that wouldn’t break the bank. I play a lot of 60’s garage, rock and power pop. This thing nails it and can even do some hard rock genres. Great pedal for the price.

Amazing pedal for very little cash

I love this pedal. It sounds very close to the tone of a vox Ac amp. This even sounds great going straight into the PA. Great pedal.

Amazing value and quality - as a drive pedal and an amp substitute

Such a ridiculously low price for something so good. This pedal does exactly what it's supposed to. As a pedal on your board it will add Vox AC30 dirt and bite to your clean or dirty signal. It also works great with other drive, fuzz and modulation pedals. It can also be used as very portable amp that you can record directly from. Not as good as a real cranked tube amp, obviously. But if you want that kind of tone and feel, this is a very cheap way to get a good approximation of it.

From clean to Rectified sounds.

I've owned American Sound pedal, and it was very good for getting Fender 5e3 Deluxe '57 sounds. But AC True tone is much more versatile: from clean Beatles to medium classic punk punch. As a bounus You get Rectifier-like sounds at a maximal gain/voice settings. Can't go wrong. Best choice as a first pedal for beginners. Highly recommended. Cons: were not detected.

Metallic box, sturdy knobs, good sound, only eats battery fast, better to have DC 9V charger

For those VOX tones

Although this is marked as an overdrive and even the manual says so, it actually simulates the VOX AC tones which was my reason for purchase.

Pros: There are plenty of options for tone shaping here, separate B/M/T as well as a voice control that adds gain and character. That alone makes it extremely versatile for an overdrive/amp sim in this price category.

Cons: 4 stars for handling and sound because balancing the level/drive/voice takes some tweaking, the same as balancing the gain and volume settings when driving a VOX amp. Those controls all influence each other as well as the final output level.

Overall, plenty to play with and value for money is incredible at this price point.

H B AC tone Pedal

The AC tone pedal does what it is Built for, I am Happy,

I have not found anything I did no like about it,

more than an AC emulator

great treble boost and drive pedal

Great Sounding Pedal

This is a great sounding pedal the between the "Voice" and "Dive" knobs you can really dial in a good number of Rock and (70s/80s) Heavy Metal Tones. The pedal is relatively quite and easy to use. I’ve only used it in front of an amp and it sounds great. I’m switching Rigs soon and going to try it as a PreAmp... I’m hopeful it will sound great as a pre-amp as well.

— Recommend —

Best of the Trutone series.

I use this either straight into a Katana, an old Pod Pro preamp, or into my audio interface, then use Amplitube/Guitar Rig ect for cab sims/effects ect.

Although everywhere says it's great direct I find it really needs some speaker simulation software to make it great. It is brilliant to "warm up" digital software or preamps and gives a really nice valvey feel. When using it with the Katana I just run it as a boost/dirt pedal, or as an always on amp sim as its easier than messing about with the proper amp, and tbh, its actually better at doing the AC amp thing than the Katana.

The EQ section of this pedal is very powerful and all the knobs do something very noticeable and I think they got it just right as things only start to get a bit wild at the extremes.

Tonewise, you can go from pristine sparkly cleans all the way through to wild saturation, I dare say you could bang a few old school metal tunes out of it! For me it's the cleans, or just a smidgin of dirt where it really shines though!

I own the orange one, the purple one, this one, and I've just ordered the white one...and I'm not really a high gain guy, I just want the full set because they are really that good! This one is my personal favorite, but they all do what they are advertised as...and do it well.

For 30quid can't go wrong!

Cheap version of Tech 21 sansamp, sounds very good.

Colleague use in Beatles revival, can you imagine better recomendation?

Vox in a box

This is simply unbelievable at this price. Solid build quality, fantastic emulation of the tone and sound characteristics of the classic AC series. The controls are smooth, responsive and versatile, from jangly-clean, crunchy overdrive right through to full on breakup which can also, all be achieved at neighbour-friendly volumes through a small practice amp. It can be used in front of an amp or directly into a PA. What’s not to like? Just buy one!

Pros: everything I mentioned above and more.

Cons: this didn’t exist 40 years ago!

To summarise: An awesome piece of kit at an amazing price.