Never played a VH4 but I will not play any amp without an eq in the loop. Secret sauce in my world. Makes every amp I've owned/played sound like the tone I expect to hear. Many scoff at the notion of playing with an eq of OD pedal and that's fine, to each is own. I get PHENOMENAL results. And I'm not put out by using them even on a $5000 amp
As far as tightening IMHO, I get much better results on that front with a TS type pedal "clean" boosting the front end. Others mileage will surely vary but that's my 2.