China made Voc AC 30's and 15's

[WhoFan]

any scoop on the cheaper tube AC reissue series Vox's made in China these days? i saw one at my local shop, an AC 15 for like $550... weight a ton, really heavy to carry!!!! but after hearing someone road test one they sounded alright...

any one have experiences with these?

[Chickenwings]

Re: China made Voc AC 30's and 15's

yep pretty good...but new speakers are the way to go.

[greatbob6]

Re: China made Voc AC 30's and 15's

yep pretty good...but new speakers are the way to go.

Really? The newer ones like the AC15C1 come with Greenbacks, which are generally considered pretty good speakers. What would you suggest instead?

[FuseG4]

Re: China made Voc AC 30's and 15's

Really? The newer ones like the AC15C1 come with Greenbacks, which are generally considered pretty good speakers. What would you suggest instead?

IMO the greenback is awesome with Vox amps. I had the Night Train and it had that great chime when pushed, but without being harsh.

I've played an AC30 with the wharfedales and they sounded kinda thin that way. It wasn't was I was expecting from that amp. Same with the AC15 with the wharfedale, kinda harsh and brittle.

The feel of both amps was great though. Nice touch responsive cleans and mild dirt with a lot of that sound you can really identify as being 'Vox'.

[super rad stuff]

Re: China made Voc AC 30's and 15's

IMO the greenback is awesome with Vox amps. I had the Night Train and it had that great chime when pushed, but without being harsh.

I've played an AC30 with the wharfedales and they sounded kinda thin that way. It wasn't was I was expecting from that amp. Same with the AC15 with the wharfedale, kinda harsh and brittle.

The feel of both amps was great though. Nice touch responsive cleans and mild dirt with a lot of that sound you can really identify as being 'Vox'.

i remember trying an ac15cc a while back, probably a year and a half ago, and the thing had no low end! i was trying my dot studio with my PG and PC combo, which are fairly fat sounding. dimed the bass and had the treble at 1/3, still extremely bright and airy. this was later at night when there wasn't anybody else in the store btw.

however, the newer models with greenbacks sound much nicer; i got to test one out isolated in the amp room for about an hour a couple weeks ago. they've got a nice low end response while still sounding pretty tight, fuller mids, and grainy/crunchy highs when overdriven. still had that same kind of airy sound since it's a decent sized 1x12 open back combo, but much fuller sounding.

[Chickenwings]

Re: China made Voc AC 30's and 15's

i thought they all came with wharfedales....they are the ones need replacing....
Greenbacks are good.

[GuitarDoc]

Re: China made Voc AC 30's and 15's

What about the G12K or G12H in the AC15? Shouldn't that give it some of the missing low end?

By the way, the AC15 is an awsome sounding amp. I like it much better than the AC30. Nice cleans like the AC30, but breaks up into such a nice crunchy sound when driven.

[ksmith63]

Re: China made Voc AC 30's and 15's

i thought they all came with wharfedales....they are the ones need replacing....
Greenbacks are good.

+1 on replacing the wharfedales.

I had a thread a little while ago about playing through a wharfedale chinese ac30. I really wanted to like it but didn't. Greenbacks are now offered in the british made AC30s and also the Celestion Blues are as well. These are much more $$$ than the chinese ones.

[WhoFan]

Re: China made Voc AC 30's and 15's

opps just noticed i typed VOC instead of VOX in the thread title LOL....

i have noticed a lack of low end with AC 30's and 15's in the past... with the lows cranked it lacks a little bottom end still... but in most pa systems when you mic an amp the sound guy cuts lows from your guitar rig so it does not mush the sound of the bass and drums... so if it's a live gig amp the low end may not be that big of a deal to some players...

ya i do wish they had slightly more lows... my Peavey Classic 30 amp is simularly lacking lows... i figure part of it is the small cabnet size... but even plugged into a larger sealed back cab it has not have that much more low end but it helps... even my 90's C 50 head plugged into a 4x12 is lacking some lows...

The Vox's i saw have an interesting WHO like sound to them in a way... that is what grabbed my attention... had that british sound that VOX is known for...

[trevorus]

Re: China made Voc AC 30's and 15's

I have never seen an EL84 amp with big lows, it seems.

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: China made Voc AC 30's and 15's

Old AC-30's have a pretty healthy low end, same with the old AC-15....
If you had them plugged into a 4x12 cab.....
If you want more.....eh well buy something else!

[whatshisname]

Re: China made Voc AC 30's and 15's

Brian May uses them on tour. I figured his would all be vintage, so I was pretty suprised by it. I don't recall if he's using the stock speakers, though. I want to say that he does. Good enough for him, good enough for me. After all, he knows what an AC30 is supposed to sound like, if anyone.

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: China made Voc AC 30's and 15's

It is all in how you make them work...
I like my AC-15C1 with the Greenback, got a Blue somewhere at work....but I cannot really be bothered to try it right now....
Later on maybe, only thing I'll change is the reverb tank...I don't like the short ones.

[Ashurbanipal]

Re: China made Voc AC 30's and 15's

Brian May uses them on tour. I figured his would all be vintage, so I was pretty suprised by it. I don't recall if he's using the stock speakers, though. I want to say that he does. Good enough for him, good enough for me. After all, he knows what an AC30 is supposed to sound like, if anyone.

Not just on tour . He has a bunch from the 60s onwards but these days, I think, he uses heavily modified TBXs, done by Dave Petersen and Greg Fryer. Basically, they rebuild an amp with just the normal channel - no eq, just a volume control. They're a bit more robust this way as well.

Over the years he's used them with a variety of speakers (Greenback, Blue etc.), and ss and valve rectifiers.

The other important ingredient in his tone is the treble booster, which gives that fat, sustaining, gainy sound on the records and live. Cranking an AC-30 without one is different.

[sbecker67]

Re: China made Voc AC 30's and 15's

Opinions are overall very, very favorable. The only knock against them is the lack of an EF-86 in the clean channel preamp but most comments have been that it's so good as is that it's not a deal breaker.