Re: VOX AC-30? what do you guys think?

CLETUStheFETUS · Post by **CLETUStheFETUS** » Mon Jan 01, 2007 9:55 pm

My friend is getting rid of his Vox Ac-30 head w/ matching 2x12 cab (both in road case) Its not old, maybe a year or 2 and in perfect condition. What do you guys know about Vox. All i know is the have great history and are great for clean tones. Bad thing is I never play clean and like a loud and slightly overdriven or dirty distortion. Play an orignial marshall JCM 8oo right now but have been looking for a way to get some different tones. Hes selling it to me for 1,200$ which seems like a good deal. What do you guys think, worthy purchase?

Post by **i love sharin foo** » Mon Jan 01, 2007 9:59 pm

I have one of the newer AC30 Custom Classics. It's a great, really versatile amp. Gain isn't a problem as the master volume works really well. It is a very dynamic amp that can cover a lot of ground. If the road cases are pretty nice quality, $1200 isn't a bad price, but new, you can piclup a head and 2x12 cab for $1150 new.

Justin

Post by **zhivago** » Tue Jan 02, 2007 2:30 am

I've only played an original 60s one....if the RI ounds anything like it, it's one hell of an amp...the one I played had loads of sparkle and fatness to it at the same time.

playing leads was a pleasure...and plugging in a Rickenbacker was instant Tom Petty

Post by **daydreamdelay** » Tue Jan 02, 2007 4:54 am

I've heard mixed things about the newer Chinese ones.. basically the first year they had some reliability issues that have supposedly been sorted out. I know ILSF is happy with his and like he said you could definitely get a better deal on that amp, see if he's willing to give you a break on it

I've had a few of the british reissue 30's and a 15 which are lovely sounding amps.. you'll have no problem getting that slightly dirty tone (especially with a MV) that's what AC30's do best. they break up so quickly that there's not much of a sweet spot on the cleaner side of the volume knob.. it's in that just about to break up area and of course dimed =

FireAarro · Post by **FireAarro** » Tue Jan 02, 2007 5:50 am

From what I've read on HC the Chinese ones sound pretty much just as good but have reliability issues (cheap parts), like daydreamdelay said, but I haven't read up on them recently so don't trust my opinion.

Post by **daydreamdelay** » Tue Jan 02, 2007 6:08 am

well considering production standards these days and the fact they're made in China it's probably fair to say they're not as reliable as they could be but then how much do you want to pay?

a big part of their move was to make their amps more affordable and competitive so as with CBS taking over Fender you're going to lose something when the company starts looking to cut costs.

I don't think there's a period in Vox's history that they were known for reliability anyway, you could fry an egg inside these amps

jetset · Post by **jetset** » Tue Jan 02, 2007 6:56 am

I have a '63 JMI AC30 which is a great amp - nice volume and a little girth to the notes without too much crunch. To say the old Voxes were reliable is a bit of a stretch. The new ones are fine if you keep an eye on the tubes, and maybe swap in some better ones.

You can get a brand new 1x12 AC30 for $699. They are blowing them out at MF and other places. If you're getting a 2x12, does it have the blue Celeastion speakers in it? That's where the big $$ come in.

-John

stratatak · Post by **stratatak** » Tue Jan 02, 2007 7:00 am

jetset wrote: .

You can get a brand new 1x12 AC30 for $699. They are blowing them out at MF and other places. If you're getting a 2x12, does it have the blue Celeastion speakers in it? That's where the big $$ come in.

-John

Yeah .. .OH MAN .. i want one of those 1x12 babies, i think its a great deal .
. My friend just picked one up so I'm going to give it a shot . this weekend .

I once had an uk ac15 with blue speakers , and it was great for what it was . A lil too trebly for me .. But i've tried a few of those cc 2x12 ones and the amount of options and tones , makes it something to be desired .

But yeah 1200 seems too steep for what you would be getting .

Post by **mezcalhead** » Tue Jan 02, 2007 7:03 am

I love my AC15 .. one of the last Korg RIs made in England before they changed to the CCs. Never had any trouble with it. Although I haven't had the opportunity to gig it hard myself it did serve reliably with my friend's cover band for 9 months or so.

cpeck · Post by **cpeck** » Tue Jan 02, 2007 9:51 am

I just recently purchased an AC30CC2, and it has been treating me really well. My only 'beef' with the amp is that it defaults to having the reverb and tremolo 'on' every time I turn the amp on. If I could sort this out, I'd be a happy man.

Tonewise, I really like it a lot. Fits my sound nicely.

Post by **i love sharin foo** » Tue Jan 02, 2007 12:42 pm

cpeck wrote: I just recently purchased an AC30CC2, and it has been treating me really well. My only 'beef' with the amp is that it defaults to having the reverb and tremolo 'on' every time I turn the amp on. If I could sort this out, I'd be a happy man.

Tonewise, I really like it a lot. Fits my sound nicely.

That is strange. When I turn mine on it is just as I left it. Are you using the footswitch? I am with mine.

To elaborate on what Justin said about the reliability problems with the first year..

I have heard the same things. They were using really cheap Chinese tubes in them at that point and also the really short speaker wire leads. Most of the problems were coming from the tubes themselves. Mine was new enought that it has whhatever tubes they switched over to. I've had it for almost a year and haven't had any problems with it. Also, it doesn't seem to run overly hot. I still have the stock Wharfdale speakers in mine and they sound ok. They aren't great, but after being broken in they round out the tone a little and sound good. At some point I want to switch them out in favor of a Weber Blue bell and Silver bell.

Justin

cpeck · Post by **cpeck** » Tue Jan 02, 2007 1:01 pm

i love sharin foo wrote:
cpeck wrote: I just recently purchased an AC30CC2, and it has been treating me really well. My only 'beef' with the amp is that it defaults to having the reverb and tremolo 'on' every time I turn the amp on. If I could sort this out, I'd be a happy man.

Tonewise, I really like it a lot. Fits my sound nicely.

That is strange. When I turn mine on it is just as I left it. Are you using the footswitch? I am with mine.

Yeah, I use the footswitch so it's ok...it's just annoying/slightly worrying. I have Wharfedale speakers as well, I quite like them.

CLETUStheFETUS · Post by **CLETUStheFETUS** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 7:55 pm

I played it tonight and it was so awesome. It a Custom Classic Vox Ac-30 model, thats is either 1 or 2 years old. I didnt have my jazzmaster to play it on (its in the shop) so I played my SG standard. It sounded so great, with the volume cranked and the blended standard and boost channels you get this super thick swelling sound yet you can hear every note. I am really stoked about it and it will be replacing my original Marshall JCM 800 as my primary live amp. Im stoked to jam it with the jazzmaster tommorow. Thanks for the help guys.

Gill · Post by **Gill** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 2:39 pm

I think the reissues sound great, actually. They really nail the tone, especially with ones with the blue alnico's.

$1200 does seem a bit high, but if the amp sounds killer...

Gill

glimmertwin · Post by **glimmertwin** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 7:39 pm

The singer in my band got one of the new 2x12 Warfdale AC30 CCs for $700s of ebay from a guy who lived in town and was wanting a few hundred to ship(drove away all the bidders). It was slightly used but was in pretty good shape. When he got it home, he was complaining that the reverb was really weak. I opened up the reverb tank and it turned out that most of the springs were broken in the reverb tank. We ordered an acutronics replacement and popped it in - worked perfectly. A month later his tubes started rattling at high volumes. I suspected his tubes were going out so I opened it up and noticed that the tube holders were loose and rattling against the tube - adjusted them and they sounded fine for a few more weeks but started chirping at a gig a month later. I told him to take it to my favorite amp tech here in town and it ended up being the tubes were going out as suspected earlier. One bit of info the tech pointed out - he said of all the new Chinese AC30s he's getting in, nearly all of them are biased extremely hot and go through tubes pretty quickly. It turns out this was the 3rd set of tubes this amp was on(original owner replaced tubes, my singer, replaced the replacements) - the amp was just over a year old according to the original owner.

My impression is, its a sweet sounding amp for sure. I don't have much experience with true vintage AC30s, but the sound is very good and I can hear every bit the classic sounds that made the AC30 famous in this amp as well. They are LOUD - I mean really LOUD and I don't think it's likely you'll run into too many cases where you absolutely need that much volume which begs the question - why not get a 1x12 version or even a two EL84 amp similar to the AC15(not the CCs - they have solid state rectifiers on the 15watters making them not as similar to a AC30). Why hall around all that extra amp(translation - more weight) when you'll likely be using the master volume to cut it down to half power 97% of the time? My 15 watt Bad Cat Cub II matches my singer's AC30 in both volume and chime - well into ear ringing levels - but NOT in weight as mine is half the weight of his.

My Bad Cat is a two EL84 15 watt 1x12 updated Matchless Lightning(with deeper cab for more bass than the Lightning).... which in turn was originally an updated AC15. I Love my amp...but I got to admit the AC30 sounds nice. I guess what I'm just giving you the buyer beware speech because I used to own a Twin Reverb and wish someone had told me at the time I could have gotten away with a Vibrolux at half the weight and plenty of volume... Sometimes bigger isn't always better.

...and by the way, those new AC30s are a pain in the ass to work on. Just getting to the tubes requires removing the entire chassis by removing about 25 screws and desoldering their short speaker wire leads (I installed speaker clips with what little lead I had to work with).