Any love for Vox amps?

[Larsongs]

I watched a few vids...there's definitely a difference between it and the AC15...but, not a huge difference.

The tube version seems a bit warmer and fuller...maybe bassier.

But for home/church playing I figured the VR would be fine and it was considerably cheaper.

I will post when it comes...shipped today!

Congrats!!

I thought the VR meant it was SS & Valve. Specs don't say. Would be great if it at least has 1 - 12AX7 Tube.. My brother has an older little Vox SS Modelling Amp with a 12AX7 Tube that is a good sounding Amp.

I notice the Speaker is a Celestion VX Series... A 10" version came in my AC10C1. It was too harsh to my ears & I swapped it for a Celestion Greeback which I like & still use sometimes.. Then I opted for a Special Design Weber DP-10 Speaker which has a Celestion Alnico Blue Sound which I really like....

I just mention it to let you know if it isn't exactly the Sound you're looking for there are simple things to try... You'll never regret having a Celestion Alnico Blue Speaker or Greenback for that matter.. They can always be effectively used to upgrade just about any Amps Sound if need be....

Let us know all about it...

[somanytoys]

I did the same thing. I did not care for the VX10 or the VX12 speakers that they came with. The speakers make a big difference.

If you aren’t really impressed with the amp, I would try a different speaker before you let it go. Upgrades will usually help it to sell anyway, if you still decide to.

I have a 10” Greenback in the AC4TV, and I’m getting a 10” Weber Silver Bell for the AC4C1 TV, and selling the 80th Anniversary Celestion G10 Vintage that’s in it now. The Vintage isn’t bad or anything, but after a few months, I wanted something different for what it can do. My 12” Silver Bell is great, and I think the 10” is going to be perfect for that.

The Blue speakers (alnico especially) really seem to be a “love it or hate it” kind of thing, but Greenbacks seem to be pretty universally liked with the Vox amps. Some people may like other things better, but nobody seems to hate on the greenies. The Greenback I took out of my AC15 also sounds good with either side of my not-Fender Deluxe/not-Marshall Plexi amp as well.

[Tafarel]

Plus one for the Celestion Blues. I had my first gig friday with the AC15 HW (played a JM through it) -- prior to that I had been using a Supro Thunderbolt, which I still love. Afterwards, some of the other guitarists in the crowd (my friends, so they probably weren't going to be negative) seemed to feel that the tone floated above and around in a distinctly 3D manner. It still had the visceral grit, too. The other guitarist plays a JM through a Supro DualTone. I think the balance was pretty good from the comments I gathered afterwards.

I could hear myself onstage, as well, without any auxiliary monitoring. So, from my utterly unscientific and small sample-sized research I can happily say it's a great gigging amp -- I just wish it were 15 pounds lighter; but then it probably wouldn't sound as good.

[somanytoys]

That’s really nice. Great way to describe the sound, too.

I feel like mine does a similar thing. Even though I usually play the Deluxe through an alnico as well (Silver Bell), the sound from the AC15/Blue seems to sort of work around the more constant sounds of the deluxe. It’s really something kind of magical.

You know, if you like that sort of thing.

[Tafarel]

That’s really nice. Great way to describe the sound, too.

I feel like mine does a similar thing. Even though I usually play the Deluxe through an alnico as well (Silver Bell), the sound from the AC15/Blue seems to sort of work around the more constant sounds of the deluxe. It’s really something kind of magical.

You know, if you like that sort of thing.

...and I do. The other guitarist plays the more bedrock meat and potatoes riffs, usually with multiple effects, and it sounds huge. I am usually playing either clean, or with the Mantic Proverb reverb, or perhaps a touch of the Strymon Deco tape saturation. The amp/speaker project these sounds so beautifully, it makes me want to play all day, which, in the end, is vastly important.

[somanytoys]

Wow, that sounds like the perfect situation for you and your sound. I’m sure that does make what you play and what you use really sing and swirl around the other sounds.

It’s great when something sounds so good it makes you want to play all the time.

I just had a 10” alnico Silver Bell delivered and installed it in my AC4C1 TV, and it sounds great. It replaced an 80th anniversary Vintage, which I played again for a few minutes before I swapped them out for reference. The Vintage is a really nice sounding speaker, but the alnico sound just seems to go better with the sounds of the Vox AC line, I think.

[Tafarel]

That's cool. The Silver Bells are a great speaker, although I only have experience with the 12 inch, which I used in a Marshall Bluesbreaker -- it made it into a much more dimensional-sounding amp than the Vintage 30s that were in it. Ultimately, I used one Silver Bell and one V30 -- that combo had an even more 3D sound, I think, because of the relative difference in efficiencies between the two speakers. I could be wrong, but I know that I really liked THAT sound.

That's interesting about your Vox AC4 and the Silver Bell -- timely, at that. A friend of mine just bought an AC4 off Reverb. He got a great price on a mint amp with the intention of replacing the speaker in it with something more chime-y. I will point him towards the Weber. Thanks.

[jakeisjake]

I thought the VR meant it was SS & Valve. Specs don't say. Would be great if it at least has 1 - 12AX7 Tube.. My brother has an older little Vox SS Modelling Amp with a 12AX7 Tube that is a good sounding Amp.

I notice the Speaker is a Celestion VX Series... A 10" version came in my AC10C1. It was too harsh to my ears & I swapped it for a Celestion Greeback which I like & still use sometimes.. Then I opted for a Special Design Weber DP-10 Speaker which has a Celestion Alnico Blue Sound which I really like....

I just mention it to let you know if it isn't exactly the Sound you're looking for there are simple things to try... You'll never regret having a Celestion Alnico Blue Speaker or Greenback for that matter.. They can always be effectively used to upgrade just about any Amps Sound if need be....

Let us know all about it...

I think you are correct...VR stands for Valve Reactor (I think)...but I don't know what exactly that means.

I will let you know on Wednesday or Thursday!

[somanytoys]

I bet that would be a nice sound, those 2 speakers together. Kind of like what I do with an AC and a deluxe. I want to try the 12” Silver Bell I have as an extension cabinet to the AC15, see what the C Blue and the Silver Bell sounds like together. Just haven’t done it yet.

The 10” Silver Bell definitely has a better sound for the AC4 (I think). The Vintage sounded good, much better than the stock VX10 that they come with, but the alnico seems to do it much more justice.

Weber also makes 10” Blue Pups, if he’s interested in the actual Blue sound. But he wouldn’t regret the Silver Bell.

[Larsongs]

What's different about the sound of the Silver Bell & the Blue?

[Tafarel]

This is just in my limited experience, and others can certainly speak to it better than me, but in a nutshell, the Silver Bell seems a little smoother throughout its range. It doesn't seem to do the 'blizzard of nails' top end that the blues can do. It is a little more sedate and anonymous than the Celestion or Weber Blue Dog, but anonymous in a really delicious way.

Sorry, not explaining it very well...

[somanytoys]

This is all about alnicos, I don't have any of the ceramic Blues or Silver Bells, only Greenbacks and others.

I would say that the Blue has a more nasally tone, and really reacts to the higher registers, more than any other speaker I think I've tried (I haven't tried tons, though). It can get shrill (but can be tamed) and mine has what I think is called "cone cry" or something, it's a sort of high pitched feedback/whine. Not sure if that's something I'll just have to live with or it's because it's not quite broken in yet. I'll have to figure it out as time goes by.

The Silver Bell seems to be a little more rounded and robust - it still produces the highs, but also pronounces the rest of the spectrum well. It's a little more like the Greenback, but still different in that it seems to concentrate or project the higher mids and highs better, somewhat similar to the Blue. I think the Silver Bell may be somewhat based on/comparable to the Celestion Gold, but I'm not positive about that. I think I read that somewhere.

I played the AC4C1 with the Silver 10 with the AC15 & blue last night, and it sounded really good. I need to feed the AC4C1 to the 12" Silver Bell, to get a 12 to 12 comparison. I also played it with the AC4TV & Greenback 10, and it sounded good as well, but there wasn't that nasally character from the Blue, which I'm really starting to like a lot and missed.

I hope that helps, the Blue is very distinctive, but the Silver is (so far) the closest thing to get what the Blue can do but without losing other elements.

[chrisrnps]

That high pitched feedback / whine sound is probably not “cone cry” if it’s really high and doesn’t change pitch with the notes you play. On a Blue, you can hear “cone cry” when the speaker’s at least halfway to Brian May levels of “pushed” and starts to have a hard time faithfully reproducing the signal - it sounds more like related but often atonal over / under pitched tones that follow (or follow in the opposite pitch direction, such as you bend a note up and a “ghost” tone bends down) the notes you play. It’s either annoying or part of the charm.

[somanytoys]

Oh, I see. It’s not really that high pitched, more the tone of a ‘70’s car horn. It’s not like normal feedback, which is why I wondered. And it’s not being pushed all that hard.

It could just be getting too much feedback for some reason, and I’ll have to find out why. Or so something is wrong with the pedal chain (?) .

[jakeisjake]

I only had a chance to play it for about 20 minutes last night...

but first impressions are: underwhelmed. I had the volumes at 3/4 and it wasn't even loud. the same with the reverb...

It has a great sound, tho.