15 of the Best Compact Enclosure Vox in a Box style Overdrives

Controls - Volume, Drive, Voice, Treble.

The Emerald Green Distortion Machine (EGDM) Silver Silicon Edition -  is one of my favourite distortions of all time - yielding both superb Vox and Marshall flavours - depending significantly on the Voice control. To date this has been my most used Vox style pedal - which replaced the Catalinbread Galileo very early on - and then held that slot for several years. The Pettyjohn Chime delivers more Chime and Harmonic Crunch - while the EGDM has a greater gain range overall. Of course BJFE has ended its association with Bearfoot FX now - so this exact model is discontinued - while you can of course get the very same circuit from the original full-fat BJFE brand - obviously at a little higher premium. I feel everyone should have an EGDM as it is so versatile and so easy to dial in!

Controls - Bass, Mids, Treble, Volume, Presence, Gain, Mid Boost : On/Off, Bright Boost : On / Off

The Bispell Proxy is distinctly UL730 leaning and precisely honed to deliver the Fab 4's back catalog. It certainly has that magic sparkle, chime and bite of those classic Vox amps, while it's not been engineered really to reach the more crunchy Brian May Top Boosted Vox style tones. I will have hands on one of these in a few weeks and will be putting it through its paces - I feel that with the various boosts and 'Tone Components' I have in my pedal / signal-chain that I will be able to juice it up to near enough the required level of saturation. It certainly has all those core classic Vox characteristics in spades!

Controls - Level, Bass, Treble, Sound : Clean > Crunch > Drive.

Boss's Vox take has plenty of range to it, while I feel there are others here that are slightly more chimey as such - it certainly does a decent job of replicating most of those core tones across the different varieties. Some of these others though have somewhat superior harmonics, chime and bite. The BC-2 is still worth a go if you can get your hands on one. To date this has had just a few short sweet rotation on the board - including during July 2021 Boss Month!

Controls - Level, Drive, Cut.

Carl Martin make some really decent stuff - and there are always a few of those on my wishlist - while some of these older more classic types aren't particularly sexy as such. The AC-Tone remain a significant candidate and I really like Carl Martin's DC Drive too - which has been long intended but not quite reached the top priority yet. I personally tend to lean into the extended feature types - and would typically look to acquire those first - before I look at the simpler editions. The Carl Martin AC-Tone is certainly worth consideration, but possibly not quite in my top tier of preferred candidates.

Controls - Treble, Bass, Volume, Gain.

The CB30 is the essence of the classic Chimey AC15 / 30 - without the Top Boost (Naga Viper) which is integral to the more Brian May style Galileo (below). You can imagine this as the Galileo without the Top Boost - so it doesn't have that range or crunch - but it has all the chime. Me personally I would always typically rather go for the Galileo - but for those more interested in the early UL730 and AC varieties - then this is surely your preferred candidate! 

Controls - Volume, Tone, Gain.

My very first Vox / Brian May style pedal - this one is most definitely honed towards those tones - adding an internal Naga Viper Treble Boost circuit to the CB30. Texturally this has always been great - while I feel it's a little lacking in output and overall gain range. I had this in the chain for the best part of a year initially - before I brought in the Bearfoot FX Emerald Green to replace it. I still think the Galileo is decent - but it could do with some slight improvements.

Controls - Volume, Gain, Tone.

Nick Greer is a master amp and overdrive circuit designer / maker and has so many killer pedals to this name. He utilises the same steel core transformer here as used in the Greer SOMA preamp. The Royal Velvet actually is a mix of the full fat Vox AC30, and Nick's own Thunderbolt 30 amp. I kind of overlooked this when it first came out but was so impressed with the very recent Black Mountain Crunch Drive - that this had to feature as a pair to that on slots #17 + #18. The Royal Velvet should be with me next week and I will then put it though its paces and report back further! 

Controls - Volume, Fail / Clipping : Smooth Edge of Breakup / Diode Lift / Tube Distortion, Gain.

It's tricky to know what the status of Sean Michael's Lovepedals is as they fairly randomly get discontinued and then before long you have another limited batch release. I don't believe there have been any Englishman pedals recently - so I'm sticking it on the discontinued list for now - while I think I've seen the odd one still at some of the dealers. This is a very simple Voxy Box - with just 2 knobs, and a 3-way clipping selector - which sort of delivers the core 3 Vox style modes discussed in the above intro. I typically prefer a little more granularity and extended range - while this is still a really decent sounding candidate which has found favour with many.

Controls - Gain, Level, Speakers (Celestion) : Blue / Green, Voicing : B (Top Boost) / T (Traditional / Stock).

Supposedly a short-lived offshoot of Homebrew Electronics - I don't believe M.A.D. Effects pedals were around for very long. The only residue of this one's reign is a single reference on Reverb.con and some slightly odd demo videos. I had to heavily retouch and add contrast to one of just two rough images available of this pedal - which had at least 2 different colourways - the more typically rusty Vox colour that some of these have, and a paler blue edition as pictured. Quite distinctively different with 2 x 2-way voicing switches - rare as hens' teeth though as fas as I'm concerned - not seen any in the wild for years!

Controls - Treble, Bass, Hi-Cut, Level, Gain, Boost, Sag, TBIAC Footswitch, Boost Footswitch.

This was my third Vox pedal and is still a long-standing favourite of mine - it has wonderful range and granularity and really sounds superb. While it's replacement - my custom Pettyjohn Chime II has a touch more crispness and harmonics to it - which I really like. They are largely interchangeable though - and overall the Menatone TBIAC has more range and granularity. The Germanium Clipping Diodes of the Pettyjohn are obviously pretty special though. The TBIAC often gets a rotation on the board - in fact so does other perennial favourite the Bearfoot FX Emerald Green Distortion Machine - those 3 have been at the core of my Vox sound for going on for a decade now. Each has subtle nuances of difference and each is probably preferable for certain scenarios and tones - I certainly would not like to be without any of them.

Controls - Level, Clip : Ge > LED, Drive, Tilt EQ, HPF : 700 > 30, Boost.

Before the Greer Royal Velvet arrives - this is my current favourite. incumbent - actually a custom edition - MKII Chime with Max Harmonics Mod. The clipping mod really crisps up and adds definition and harmonics to the output - so you really get the most superb Brian May style crunch - while the Gain doesn't quite go high enough - and so I supplement with a couple of my in-chain boosts and tone-components. The Chime II sounds superb really - and I use it for Brian May and U2 Edge style tones mostly - but a few other applications besides. It's funny how all of these Vox pedals are brilliant in their own right - and each definitely has its strengths and specialist applications. While so far none of these are entirely 100% perfect for my needs. The Pettyjohn Chime II is definitely one of the best - where I'm surprised to see there is a Chime III on the cards now - with additional 'magnetics' - preambly some form of onboard transformer or similar. The sound of the Chime II is sport on really - its just needs a touch more gain to reach a few of Brian's more saturated tones - while like I said - I have easy ways of achieving that supplementally!

Controls - Volume, Gain, Bass, Tone, Treble.

I had long since announced my intentions to acquire the entirety of the Victory V1 Preamps range - where I started off with The Jack and The Kraken - and the intention was to do The Copper and The Sheriff pairing next - for the #17 + #18 slot combination. While as is often the case - various other influences and inspirations occur - and new opportunities present themselves. So that this Copper has slipped down the schedule a touch - where the Greer Royal Velvet and Bispell Proxy are just ahead of it in the queue! I've been impressed with all the Victory V1's - and knowing that my friend Adrian Thorpe designed all those circuits really underlines the quality and verve of those pedals. This pedal journey is all about jumbled and juggled priorities - and the one thins that remains constant is that things change! I look forward to getting the Copper and Sheriff onboard in due time. What I've heard to date really impresses me!

Controls - Volume, Bright Switch, Gain, Bass, Tone Cut, Treble.

These Valvenergy Vox boxes are somewhat  unique in being powered by Korg's new Nutube mini vacuum tubes. I feel Korg kind of bungled the roll-out of these as it did not really properly engage the pedal community - those pedals did not really have the demos needed to elevate their status. And ever since the damp squib that was the Ibanez Nutube-powerd NU Screamer - the Nutube brand has somewhat failed to properly take off. A lot of these Valvenergy pedals are already appearing in bargain bins - but the same happened to the now legendary Roland TB-303 and TR-808 devices - so it's not necessarily indicative of long term impact. Something was definitely lacking during the launch and those pedals failed to properly resonate with consumers. I'm obviously prepared to give things a go - but perhaps I'm hearing something within the Nutube signature that doesn't quite appeal to the senses - in terms of how the breakup renders. I'm more than willing to give things a go though - and I tend to do a proper investigation on these Vox Valvenergy pedals before long - while it will most likely be done rather opportunistically - so not sure of timescales quite yet!

Controls - Top Boost, Treble, Bass, Cab Sim Switch, Dry Thru Switch, Volume, Gain, (always on!).

An interesting diversion from these other pedals - the Westminster Geneva has no footswitch - and is intended as an always-on Amp Emulator that you build your rig around essentially. For those like me for whom Vox is only one of many flavours I like to draw on, in it's not really a suitable solution - as I don't use any form of Looper / Switcher - which could otherwise bring the Geneva in or out of the signal chain. I'm not convinced on the utility of always-on pedals - don't see why we could not have a footswitch here - it would make this pedal more versatile and usable in many more rigs. As it is - without a switch - it is somewhat less usable for most scenarios. This one sounds pretty great - but is unlikely to ever grace my pedal-chain in this format!