PRODUCT REVIEW
Xotic Effects
AC Plus
There are lots of great overdrive and distortion effects for hard rock and metal
players that want balls-to-the-wall distortion, but I’ve had a hard time finding one
that’s as good at a more subdued setting, and an even harder time finding one
that fits the guitar I play and doesn’t ride
roughshod all over my tone.
I usually play pretty clean, with the amp
set at modest gain and a fairly flat EQ,
so I can hear the distinctive flavors my
Telecaster offers from the different pickup
settings – sharp and twangy, smooth and
jangly, thick and bluesy. But I like to hear
just a little grit in there, too, especially at
the bottom-end, and a mild breakup when
I really lay it on. Whatever particular tone
I’m going for, I’m always trying to build on
top of that distinctive Tele sound, but it’s a
fragile thing and it gets washed out pretty
easily when I start adding effects.
The AC Plus is actually two stackable
channels – a gain booster and a preamp
channel – but it goes a lot further than
other similar two-in-one effects since
it offers more than just gain and level
controls and a bass/midrange lift at
the preamp stage. You can also switch
between hard and soft clipping on the A
channel to go from a crisp, clean boost
to smooth, warm overdrive, fine-tunable
with the three-band EQ. By adding the
B channel and adjusting the second gain
stage, you can push the overdrive a little
bit further or make it sound like a really
fat scream. Much cooler though is the
fact that you can switch the direction of
the stacked channels, from A>B to B>A,
and change the dynamics of the gain
structure significantly. This lets you coax
an assortment of overdrive flavors from
a single box, loose and fuzzy to tight and
super-crunchy, all with huge sustain and
no extra coloring of your tone.
Whatever style or guitar you play, this
booster knows how to get out of the way
and help your guitar do what it does best.
For single-coil pickup players who need
versatility and sensitivity, this box is a real
blessing.
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That’s why I like the AC Plus so much;
I love the way my guitar sounds, and it
doesn’t make me give that up to get an
overdrive with range, flexibility and precision. From the moment I plugged it in,
I was impressed by its transparency; it
sounds like my guitar, just a lot more of
it. It preserved the clarity and presence of
my tone through everything I did with it. It
adds an edgy heft to the lows and mids,
thickens the trebles, and gives the signal a
livelier feel with terrific, even sustain – but
leaves your distinctive sound intact.
Through humbuckers the AC Plus sounds
closer to the dense, tubey compression
with pronounced midrange that you get
with other distortion pedals, but with the
same precise control over gain structure.
It sounds great set up for a brown sound
– think Leslie West meets Brian May.
Xotic Effects USA
MSRP $280
xoticeffects.com
