Harley Benton AC TrueTone

This pedal offers an emulation of the classic AC30 type amplifier in a pedal. It was originally conceived to be used as a replacement for an amp (or more strictly as a replacement for a pre-amp) rather than as a conventional dirt pedal although it can be used in either way. When used as an amp replacement it can be used directly for recording or into a PA for live work.

I use mine instead of a traditional amp and feed the output into the pedals you would normally find in the FX loop (delay etc) and then direct into the PA. I've done a number of gigs with this configuration and if you take the time to dial it in then it is able to produce some truly excellent sounds. I can't comment on it as a traditional dirt pedal as I don't use it like that. Also makes a low cost and handy emergency backup amp if you can't face the prospect of giving up a proper amp.

Many reviewers have commented on the hiss. As some have observed this is to some extend a function of how you set the pedal up. However I found that the biggest contributor to the noise was the sharing of a power supply with other pedals in the chain. When I powered this pedal from its own isolated supply then the problem virtually disappeared.

Clearly a 30 euro pedal it is not able to exactly mimic all the nuances and characteristics of the real AC30 but it is able to produce some very nice usable tones. At the price you can't really go wrong.

Great pedal, gives an authentic AC30 sound. Very happy, this pedal is permanently on, and gives no unexpected 'hiss' -

Some reviewers complain about the 'hiss' on this pedal - the AC30 is a valve amp, turn up the gain, voice and treble on a valve amp or this pedal and you will have hiss. If you play at a low output level of the guitar - then turn down the gain and voice levels on the pedal, then the 'hiss' factor will not be there.

The overall tonal range and dynamics of this pedal are very good. Set at low gain and voice levels there is a tonal quality of 'chime' (U2) that the AC30 produces, and on this pedal it does that very well.

Set at the higher gain and voice levels then the overdriven sound kicks in with a singing tone that has grit without being over harsh.

The tone controls - low, mid, and high when set and 12' give the same tone as your guitar, turn up and its a boost effect, turn down and its reduction. Excellent tonal ranges are possible.

Level, is the level, it also acts as boost.

The overall action and dynamics of this pedal is directly related to the output setting on your guitar. When you first use this pedal set the pedal controls so its the same as bypass and when its on, then turn up the controls to get the sound you are after.

Do not consider any of the negative reviews of this pedal. The pedal is well built, the knobs are well made and strong. This pedal produces a quality AC30 sound.

Bypass switch is not too loud to press down, and signal remains clean.

At this price its worth collecting a few of these True Tones - quality of sound equal to pedals costing 3 or 4 times the amount this one costs. Of course it is a Joyo.

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!

I bought this pedal as I do not own a valve amp and the reviews of the joyo version of this seemed very positive.
I was surprised how versatile this pedal was, with control knobs for bass, middle, treble, as well as volume gain and voice, the voice control when used with gain has a great deal of versatility and even small tweaks can change the sound dramatically.
When used with a transistor amp, in my case a Fender 65 dsp, its like a different amp altogether, smoother tones, especially from gain/voice control, you just have to tweak the amp controls along with pedal controls tofind the sound your looking for.
However, this particular amp has an effects in/out loop, so when this pedal is plugged directly into effects loop and guitar plugged into pedal, its just like using the amp as a stand alone cab, as the guitar is not going through any of the amps build in effects/controls, its just using the ac tone pedal for everything, giving you much more control when tweaking the knobs to find your sound, and then you can just add reverb/chorus/delay or which ever other pedals you desire, as the ac tone is a true bypass pedal, awesome piece of kit for the price

What I love the most is that you can start with a clean sound when the pedal is on. So you can use the pedal as a boost & give it more body or mids to your liking.
With the voice knob you can go from a vintage sound to a more modern overdrive, just sweep it until you find your sweet spot. The drive goes from clean to a sound that's not usable anymore (although someone might like it).
Everyone can get a good sound out of this pedal, but if your a metalhead I think you should look elswere.

I played with various guitars with humbuckers, single coils, p90's over a Roland bluescube & over an old 30w tube amp. This pedal eats all guitars, but with single coils it's a bit harder to find a good sound.

So you get a lot of sound options for a very good price.

I am using this both for recording a guitar through a USB interface and into Logic. I am also using it live to run an electric guitar direct into the PA so I don't have to carry my amp with me to small gigs. I'm really impressed by the tone this pedal produces. It is designed to take the place of an amp so it won't sound so good going into a guitar amp, it's better to feed directly into a PA or hifi sound system. This pedal does the Vox Amp thing, everything from clean chimey sounds through a bluesy breakup and into full on distortion. The 'voice' control gives a wide range of tonality. At this price it is a great pedal to have with you, even if it is only as a backup in case your amp goes down mid-gig.

The HM Ac True tone aims to reproduce the legendary AC30 chime and put it in a pedal-sized box. It won't replace your real amp in terms of sound, but it does sound great. Just a bit different. However, it retains the characteristic chime and breakup of the ac30. In terms of sound sculpting, it has a very sensitive 3-way eq and a voice knob, which affects the mids and the gain of the pedal and can take you from perfectly clean or a tad dirty classic ac tone to a modern hi-gain version of the ac's tone. Very versatile pedal. It's produced in china and has all the pros and cons that comes with this fact. The wires inside this beast are thin and don't seem sturdy. It also produced quite some noise if you crank the gain real high (and its got more gain than anyone needs). However, the casing is solid and made of metal. It could take some serious beating and still be intact. The price, however, for this good sounding pedal, is a steal. All in all, a great pedal. I recommend it to anyone looking for an ac tone in a convenient box to use live, with a wide range amp or with a guitar amp to add that special chime.

When I got this stompbox I did not really fancy the sound. It was very harsh-sounding and brittle, which I couldn't get rid of. Therefore, it soon ended up in a pile of unused guitar accessories and stayed there for quite some time.
Recently, I decided to give it another shot and used it during a band practice. Turns out that the pedal just needs some good ol' power tube love and a pushed speaker; in other words, turn your amp up and the harsh pedally heights will be mostly gone. The sound isn't quite right unless you really cranck it up so it is probably not a great home-use pedal.
As far as the eq and voicing of the pedal goes, the eq is very sensitive (especially at the heights) and quite a bit of the range is pretty much unusable (it does everything you need it to do though), other knobs work as expected and the voice control is a very important feature as it defines the whole character of your sound.
Speaking of sound, i've tried playing it through quite a few amps and speakers. Given that you play it loud, it sounds quite similar to Bryan May's/Adams's tone (well they tend to play pretty loud too, don't they?), especially the lead sounds. Rythm sound is a bit worse but still, for covers it's pretty good and you can tell that it's supposed to sound like an overdriven VOX, which is more than respectable at this pricepoint.
So to conclude it all, if you want the VOX sound, but don't want it that much to actually buy an AC30, this is the way to get pretty close and without any wordly investments.
Also, Thomann's great sevice is there to accept your purchase back, there are no risks.

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.