A lot of it has to do with the amp youre using and the gain structure that it has. Vox isnt known for having a tight, agressive rock and metal tone. Vox makes GREAT amps and has a classic tone. Brian may from queen has pretty much used vox amps exclusively for his entire career and he has a beautiful tone. I would kind of go along with what the other guy said. Set your amps to a reasonable amount of gain, like high enough to be distorted without being muddy, and then hit the front of it with an overdrive pedal. Set the overdrive like a clean boost, so you leave the drive down around 1 or 2 at the most and turn the level or volume up. This basically just drives the front of the amp and gives you a tighter, heavier sound. Also play with the bass and lower that if you’re getting a muddy sound. I like a beefy, thick tone but still have to keep my bass low for a lot of amps to get a tight tone. I would keep mids fairly high on just about any amp. Mids make sure you can be heard. Cutting the mids a lot of the time will make you disappear in the rest of the band. Then with the high end, you can play with it to your liking, but I wouldnt let it get “ice picky” where its piercing peoples ears. Also at louder volumes, the sound will naturally get more trebly. Let me know how that works out for you!
