AC30's have been used all across the music industry, ranging back from The Shadows to the ever-popular Brian May. It's also been the main focus for this pedal, the AC True Tone, so how well does it fare?
First and foremost, I've never used an AC15 or AC30 myself, so I can't compare the two soundwise. What I am able to do is to dial in the sounds used on songs such as "It's a Kind of Magic" or "We Will Rock You" with ease, and I have to admit, for a ¤30(!!), all "solid-state" pedal, it does a darn good job. The knobs feel very durable and the sounds it produces are very convincing. I've received lots of compliments about my tone and nobody even suspected I was using this pedal!
The AC TrueTone covers a whole range of overdrives, but with the voice and drive knob fully dialed in, you can easily tell the difference between this and the real deal. When using a lower driven setting, the sounds are more convincing and more natural sounding (where as it also responds to differences in playing, such as a lowered guitar volume or other pedals in the pedalchain).
I would recommend this pedal to anyone who needs a durable, reliable and well-sounding backup, or anyone who wants to try out and/or experiment with AC-esque sounds!
A little hint, use this pedal on the effects-loop return or into a PA system for the best sounds! If you use the AC TrueTone on an amp's main channel, your guitarsignal will go through two preamps, resulting in a very dreadful, shrill sound if dialed in improperly. It can be done, but you will have to do a lot of tweaking!