Reporting for duty Sir!

First off, the EQ controls on the XXX's distortion channels are active, and adjusting each knob will also effect the other EQ controls. I always started with everything at 12 o'clock, and went from there. I actually never really adjusted it too far from there either. Starting at 12 (all numbers I give will be in o'clock), adjust each knob at a time to get a feel for what they do (return it to 12 before moving to the next knob). How you adjust one frequency will change how the other two frequencies will adjust things. It's hard to explain, and I never fully figured it out :o . All I can say is, play at the volume that you will normally be playing at, turn the master volume up to about 2-3, use the individual channel volumes to equal things out, start with all EQ controls at 12, and a little bit goes a long way. Give your ears a rest after playing for several minutes and come back to it later.

Also, a neat little trick you can do with the XXX, is to use he effects loop as a volume boost. All you do is set your volume, then turn the effects loop on, and adjust it's levels to give you the volume boost you need. That is, if you aren't using it for effects. An EQ pedal will do wonders for the amp when placed in the effects loop. A 3-4 band parametric EQ would be even better.