New amp this week... help me decide.

astrozombie

astrozombie

KatyPerryologist
I have finally gotten together the funds for my long awaited amp purchase. I knew that I wanted a british amplifier after having owned a few Voxes and Marshalls, I tried the scooped fender clean strat thing but in the end I just couldn't gel with it.

I knew that I would need an amplifier that could be portable enough to help me save on gas mileage while still bringing the volume and tone to gigs and recording sessions. I knew that it had to be a tube amp, and an amp that I felt was up to a certain standard of professionalism as well as looks and quality.

I've narrowed it down to 2 amplifiers:

Marshall DSL 40c (which I would be buying new at around $801.00... the 11.5% sales tax in Puerto Rico is killing me)
Vox AC30 (in this case the older model with whaferdales, which I'd get for $700 used)

I know either would fit the bill but I keep asking myself what I should really go for.

The way I see it, buying this vox is a shortcut to a flagship amp model which appears to have been taken care of well, an amp used by many of my heroes and certainly capable of bringing the tone and the volume...

But the Vox is a used amplifier and I have no real way of knowing what shape it's in without taking it apart and inspecting it inch by inch. I don't know what tubes are in it and I don't know what shape the speakers are in. It's a used amplifier from 2006 if I'm not mistaken, the thing is roughly 9 years old. It will have beautiful clean tones and nice grit... the owner claims the speakers are green backs. Unless he put them in or a previous owner did, that just goes to show how much the guy knows about his gear.

but it won't get me those el34 marshall tones. Some would say the DSL 40c won't get me those marshall tones anyway (haha) but today I tried the damn thing out and in all sincerity it's pretty mind blowing. I liked the quality of the gain, tested the digital reverb which I'll probably never use and liked that there are basically four sounds coming from the amplifier... but kept wondering why there was so much high end to the sound and why the tone itself wasn't very warm.

I looked down at my filtertron equipped guitar and thought "Maybe you really are the problem?" I damned Gretsch for using such "economical and easy to produce pickups" and lusted for TV Jones Powertrons immediately.

I looked down at the EQ and boosted the bass and resonance controls.. lowered the gain.. but the chunk wasn't there. I asked the store clerk if he thought the resulting sound was because of the new speaker and if he thought it would warm up after it broke in.

He said "the problem is that this amp is made in china"

to which I responded: "Hey, my guitar is made in china. What do you mean to say?"

needless to say he realized he ****ed up and said it was a fine piece of equipment and walked away.



So here I am, stuck between jangly vox goodness and Marshall roar... the DSL seemed brittle but I worry for the AC30s gain structure. I worry for my back when I think of hauling an AC30 around.

Right away I discovered the mods that would make the marshall sound warmer and had been researching which speaker to put it in for a while...

It's hard to pick when there's such good options huh? People playing their hearts out with First Act amps at home and here I am being a little girl about what tube amp I should spend my $700-800 on.

I'm ranting but hopefully you guys can see where I'm coming from and chime in?

I keep telling myself "don't choose the Vox because it's cheaper", I want this to be about the amp itself, not it's price. I'd love me some AC30 tone... but I know at the end of the day it won't roar like the marshall. If I could just get the Marshall to have some balls to it's sound...

What would you do?
 
Re: New amp this week... help me decide.

The DSL will never sound like a Marshall stack because it's a 1x12, but if it doesn't warm up enough after the speaker break-in you could always replace the speaker, also changing pre amp tubes could warm it up. What volume level were you playing it? Voxes are finicky, they have great tone, but it seems to be more difficult to get. For a lot of people, like me, love the tone other people get from them, but can never get them to sound right when I use one. Btw vox has been putting greenbacks in ac 30's for quite a while now as the standard speaker, with the alnico blue available for an extra charge.
 
Re: New amp this week... help me decide.

get the dsl 40 and grab an extension cab down the line somewhere.
I know the Vox is awesome but if you have that yearning for el34 crunch the vox is just about everything but that.
Also yeah, the weight. Eff that.

If the DSL sounds thin at all to you then my first question was what was your master volume set at. The high end seems very unbalanced (like on master volume 3 or less I run the treble at like 2/10 and presence at 0/10) unless the master is close to halfway up. The other thing is the celestion 70/80 speaker which is meant to give a more balanced sound with plenty of detail a.k.a lots of damn treble.
Put a v30 in it, bias it slightly warm, and dial it up to halfway, and then see. Set like this, I was able to roll that presence knob back up and THERE was the marshall sound. But GAWD it was loud.
 
Re: New amp this week... help me decide.

Don't you already have an AC15? And $700 for a Whaferdale-equipped AC30 is too much. They're good speakers, but they just don't retain as much value. $800 for a DSL40c is also a bit steep, I wouldn't buy one new.

What it comes down to is do you want a Class A-no negative feedback/creamy-saturation amp, or a class AB with negative feedback/agressively voiced preamp? The Class A NNF uses more poweramp distortion, and benefits from really being pushed over the top, while the Class AB NF amp gets most of the gain from the preamp, and a cleaner power section with less clipped highs/lows, allowing for a more aggressive low end and high end.

What pedals will you be using? A treble booster into the Normal Channel of an AC30 will be your best friend. And if you don't use the Tremolo/Treble boost channels of the AC30, you can remove the tubes for those preamp sections and the amp will run cooler/more reliably, making it more rugged/gig worthy.
 
Re: New amp this week... help me decide.

Vox and Marshall are apples and oranges... Get The Marshall unless you're in a Beatles cover band...

Sweetwater is selling upgraded ones with a Creamback speaker for $699, the same price as the regular ones... Still under $800 even with an 11% tax ;)
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/DSL40CST
 
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Re: New amp this week... help me decide.

Well, I'm a Mesa guy but I can tell you if those were the ONLY choices, I think I would choose the Vox. Look for the best clean tone. There are pedals that can give you Marshall-In-A-Box crunch and even the singing lead tones of a Mark Series Boogie, but finding that sweet Vox chime in a Marshall is impossible to get. If I ONLY played with crunch and fully distorted tones my answer might be different, but with pedals...I think the Vox is the better choice...at least from my point of view.

Bill
 
Re: New amp this week... help me decide.

To me it is a matter of which amp you buy FIRST.

Definitely buy both.

:D

Also, try a Mesa LoneStar.
 
Re: New amp this week... help me decide.

I think I'm going to go with the Vox unless I can snag that cream back marshall at a good price.

I tried that used model today, the owner was wrong! it's not the older cc2 model but the newer AC30c2 model with greenbacks. It was basically in mint condition. I talked tot he owner and expressed my disappointment at the confusion between models and after we parted ways he wrote me a message saying he could give me the amp for $650. It would include the footswitch and it's all in very good cosmetic condition, sounded unbelievable. Made my Gretsch sound the way it does in my dreams.

You guys are right about the clean channel. The marshall just wont be able to replicate that, not to mention the green backs vs the seventy 80 and the feel of 2x12 vs 1x12.

yes, the vox is MDF and the marshall seems to be ply wood... whatever. the vox sounded great, i think the green back speakers will give me a more round tone compared to the alnico blues and I could certainly use that for my driven tones.

$650 for an almost mint vox ac30c2? good deal? i think so.


I sold my ac15 long ago for the Vox ac50 head I owned. I used to plug that into a marshall 410 cab with eminence speakers... it was quite a sound.

I was speaking to a friend about it and said wait, I'v owned an ac15 and an ac50? ive used ac30s live for years and have recorded with them?

I think the marshall super gain sound is only great for certain types of music.. and the vox could definitely handle pedals better. You're right, the vox does also seem to have a more full round sound vs that little marshall combo.


thoughts? I think it's a done deal.

there's a player near me with an older model with whaferdales.. and all wood construction, tube rectifier etc... but he wants $800 for his amp. I'm thinking maybe i can use that $650 offer the other seller gave me to bring that price down.

I understand the vox is more realiable without the tube rectifier (i know about the standby switch debate)

but that newer vox looked incredible and certainly sounded great.

I keep thinking that going with the marshall would kind of be like settling for a cheap marshall vs a full featured vox. Maybe I'm right...
 
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