So I played a Vox AC30 for the first time today...

ksmith63

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It was okay but hardly anything special.

This was a MIC model with top boost, reverb and tremelo ect. Speakers were wharfadele in the 2x12 open back combo.

The amp was bright beyond belief and once I got rid off all the excess treble, the tone would best be described as dull.
 
Re: So I played a Vox AC30 for the first time today...

yep, played an AC30 w/ Blues the other day.

glory.
 
Re: So I played a Vox AC30 for the first time today...

You have to spend some time learning how to EQ these things, but IMO even this version sounds pretty good

you're into high-gain **** though, I wouldn't expect you to like it, if there is such a thing as "dynamic high-gain" it can't be had on an ac30
 
Re: So I played a Vox AC30 for the first time today...

You have to spend some time learning how to EQ these things, but IMO even this version sounds pretty good

you're into high-gain **** though, I wouldn't expect you to like it, if there is such a thing as "dynamic high-gain" it can't be had on an ac30

Well I wasn't trying to play metal on it. Actually I was most interested in comparing it to the cleans on my Budda (with the bright switch on). Maybe it was a problem with the amp having almost no low end.

Quite a few of my favorite albums were done with a 'real' AC30 so I was really looking forward to cranking it up. Oh well.
 
So I played a Vox AC30 for the first time today...

I had a MIC one (the custom classic) and put red fangs in it and nodded it to sound more like a real ac30.

Then I got a valvetech hayseed 30. And threw the custom classic on eBay and have never been happier.

The wharfedales are rather fail speakers. You need blues or clones of them.

Ac30s are painfully bright at times but recorded they sound frigging amazing.
 
Re: So I played a Vox AC30 for the first time today...

try one of the newer models with greenbacks, those sound pretty boss:smokin:
 
Re: So I played a Vox AC30 for the first time today...

I'm going to hold off on my final opinion until I can try a real one with the blue speakers. The next time I jam with that guy I may try it through my budda 4x12. Its solid pine with some really nice custom eminence speakers to hopefully help the AC30s EQ problems. Of course I am going to also bring the budda head so I won't have to suffer mediocre tone again. Lol
 
Re: So I played a Vox AC30 for the first time today...

my budda 4x12. Its solid pine with some really nice custom eminence speakers

wow, how heavy is it and how would you say a cabinet that size compares to a birch-ply of the same size

I'd like to try that
 
Re: So I played a Vox AC30 for the first time today...

wow, how heavy is it and how would you say a cabinet that size compares to a birch-ply of the same size

I'd like to try that

It is close to 100 lbs and slightly smaller than a Marshall 4x12. The speakers are supposed to be based on the Vintage 30 but sound more like a V30 mixed with a greenback. The speakers are rear loaded which is supposed to add bass + makes the cabinet directional. I use beam blockers on the bottom two speakers. It is also interesting to note that the top two speakers are sealed off from the bottom....so the cabinet is essentially two 2x12s that share the same baffle.

How would I compare to a birch plywood 4x12?

This is a tough one because cabinet size and the speakers really have a say in how the cabinet sounds. The only other cabinet that I've played the head through was a slant Marshall handwire cab with Greenbacks (I think).

The budda seems to pack more of a punch in the lower mids. The overall clarity from both cabinets was great but the Marshall seemed to have more of a focus on the upper mids. This is most likely due to the slant construction, not the wood choice. Both cabinets sounded great.

The budda cabinet is ideal for me, the only guitar player in a band where the bass player often doesn't follow the guitar lines. I'm not sure how well it would perform in a band where the other guitar player was rocking another monster tube half stack. I used to be in a band where the singer played through a line 6 duoverb combo w/2x12 extension. He should have concentrated on singing because the low mids of the budda crushed everything coming out of his amp....at the same volume. We had to run the XLR output from the duoverb through the p.a. so we could hear him. Lol
 
Re: So I played a Vox AC30 for the first time today...

I used to be in a band where the singer played through a line 6 duoverb combo w/2x12 extension. He should have concentrated on singing because the low mids of the budda crushed everything coming out of his amp....at the same volume. We had to run the XLR output from the duoverb through the p.a. so we could hear him. Lol

It's funny how stuff like that works--I always used to associate "cutting through" with having a little more treble/high mids than you would if you were the only player. In theory that makes sense because they're some of the more present frequencies to the human ear, but the more I play with other people the more I find it's just about occupying different frequencies. Sometimes lots of high mids and treble end up coming out as fret/string noise and percussive pick attack and stuff like that, whereas a sort of "rolled off" tone will produce seemingly more of the fundamental note and thus be heard more clearly.
 
Re: So I played a Vox AC30 for the first time today...

There is nothing quite like an AC30! They are heavenly sounding amps. Unique in construction & complex in tone. Listen to some of Queen Live. Brian rocks the crap out of them!
 
Re: So I played a Vox AC30 for the first time today...

It was okay but hardly anything special.
This was a MIC model with top boost, reverb and tremelo ect. Speakers were wharfadele in the 2x12 open back combo.
The amp was bright beyond belief and once I got rid off all the excess treble, the tone would best be described as dull.

I was going to stay out of this for fear of hurting feelings of guys that own CC Vox amps but the deal is this...

A Custom Classic AC-30 with Wharfdale speakers is not really an AC-30...go try the new HW AC-30's or a good clone that uses the correct vintage circiut and try it with alnico Celestions and then report back!
 
Re: So I played a Vox AC30 for the first time today...

Based on this thread I guess the AC30CC is the "bugera" of the real Vox.
 
Re: So I played a Vox AC30 for the first time today...

Based on this thread I guess the AC30CC is the "bugera" of the real Vox.

The AC30CC is a great design IMO but they are cheeply built and on top of thaty to get the most from a Vox you need alnico Celestion speakers however you're talking about speakers that are $300+ a pop...thats a lot of cash for a budget amp.

All that said an AC-30 is by no means some kind of life changing thing...it's just an amp.
 
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