Vox AC4TV and Marshall Class 5

rhmcfarland

rhmcfarland

New member
Does anyone have experience with both of these, like, in a side by side comparison?
I have listened to plenty of youtubes, and each has it pro's and con's.
The Marshall seems to have the edge in terms of 'room volume,' but you can't really tell for sure with a youtube.

Does the Vox produce a similar level of volume?
Does it compress early on and get mushy?

FWIW, what I would want to do is crank each to about 6, then use some old school fuzz and treble boosters to work the sound with, using the guitars volume and tone. Which do you think would work best in a small venue gig?

Thanks!
 
Re: Vox AC4TV and Marshall Class 5

I've had an AC4TV for about a year and a half and I love the tones plugged straight in with the volume high. Bright, classic rock distortion, clear note separation on full chords, cleans up like a vox, so not completely clean. At low volumes the clean is beautiful and clear though. The speaker in the small cabinet does sound boxy, I haven't had a chance to try it with a 2x12 or 4x12 but I'd imagine it's pretty awesome.
 
Re: Vox AC4TV and Marshall Class 5

Yeah, the Class 5 sounds better in my opinion. The AC4TV is kind of fun to play with, but still doesn't sound as good as the little Fender 57 Champ either. To be quite honest, it doesn't even have as much of a Vox vibe as the other models. At first, I was impressed with the handwired AC4, but after comparing it side by side to the Class 5 and Fender Champ, I wasn't impressed any more.
 
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Re: Vox AC4TV and Marshall Class 5

Gotcha...
I wish I could a/b these using my fuzz, treblebooster and delay.
So much depends on 'face time' with the amp. The Marshall looks pretty cool so far, but I don't want to write off the Vox until I've had some time with both.
 
Re: Vox AC4TV and Marshall Class 5

I've read where people have opened the back up about 3" and they seem pretty happy with the mod.
Is that something you tried?
 
Re: Vox AC4TV and Marshall Class 5

Hmmmm... Intriguing. Any thoughts from the amp techs?

"I forgot to mention in the original post that the EL84 output tube is actually looking for a 5K impedance load. By putting a 10K impedance (16 ohm speaker on the secondary) on the primary they are purposely mismatching the impedance to half the output to 4-5 watts.

What that means in layman's terms is (and based off the size of the output transformer) the Vox AC4TV series are actually 8-9 watt amplifiers stock."
 
Re: Vox AC4TV and Marshall Class 5

You should look into the little Bad Cat Cougar 5. It's a pretty impressive sounding little amp.
It's probably just a Chinese circuit board copy of it's USA counterpart. It's got an FX loop too, so you could put an echoplex type delay pedal in there.
 
Re: Vox AC4TV and Marshall Class 5

Gearjoneser said:
You should look into the little Bad Cat Cougar 5. It's a pretty impressive sounding little amp.
It's probably just a Chinese circuit board copy of it's USA counterpart. It's got an FX loop too, so you could put an echoplex type delay pedal in there.
Click to expand...

Great suggestion, but I think the Class 5 is better quality overall. If he's going foreign then nothing beats Blackstar :)
 
Re: Vox AC4TV and Marshall Class 5

My experience from seeing several of these over the years in the couple of music stores I've been working in...

Vox AC4 is a really cool living room amp for lofi garagey blues tones...

Marshall Class 5 is a small 5w Plexi type sound that loves pedals but overdrives on its own just fine.

The Blackstar is for people who love metal.

I hope that helps.
 
Re: Vox AC4TV and Marshall Class 5

Thanks!
Yeah, I think the Marshall Class 5 would be interesting to hear, cranked to about 5 or 6, along with a Bogner Ecstasy Blue pedal. Of course, my Lovepedal's and BSM will work just fine, I'm sure. (Looking for great classic rock and blues tone.... light weight... something really easy to live with...)
 
Re: Vox AC4TV and Marshall Class 5

Owned both...

The vox speaker gave it small box syndrome

The class 5 rattled. It was years ago when the creme version came out. Found out I wasn't alone in hearing the rattling chassis and it made it hard to flip when it came to sell time.

The vox got snapped up quick and I regret letting it go. Shoulda kept it. It was an ideal travel/late night amp.

The newer class5 are superior, great sounding amps with no audible issues. With its headphone out, it's all you need for home use.

The vox was cool tho, with the attenuator it had. I didn't miss the extra controls other amps have.

Each presents it's merits and downfall. But you'd be hard pressed to find something bad about the newer class5. When I played a newer one, I wished I'd have waited longer to buy one. Can't really fix small box syndrome tho, but it is available as a head version also with the built in attenuator.

Cranking them? Marshall wins hands down. Every time.
 
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Re: Vox AC4TV and Marshall Class 5

"Cranking them? Marshall wins hands down. Every time."

That is my impression of the two, comparing the stock versions, of course.
Weirdly enough, I have never owned a Marshall, and can't really remember ever playing through one even for a short while.
SLO-100? Yup! Marshall per se? Nope. Maybe I'll learn something... Ha-ha! Thanks for the reply, btw.
 
Re: Vox AC4TV and Marshall Class 5

rhmcfarland said:
"Cranking them? Marshall wins hands down. Every time."

That is my impression of the two, comparing the stock versions, of course.
Weirdly enough, I have never owned a Marshall, and can't really remember ever playing through one even for a short while.
SLO-100? Yup! Marshall per se? Nope. Maybe I'll learn something... Ha-ha! Thanks for the reply, btw.
Click to expand...

Won't be a SLO-100, but it'll do its job very well.

Haha, Had to be honest, bud, since I owned both. Anytime!
 
Re: Vox AC4TV and Marshall Class 5

rhmcfarland said:
Hmmmm... Intriguing. Any thoughts from the amp techs?

"I forgot to mention in the original post that the EL84 output tube is actually looking for a 5K impedance load. By putting a 10K impedance (16 ohm speaker on the secondary) on the primary they are purposely mismatching the impedance to half the output to 4-5 watts.

What that means in layman's terms is (and based off the size of the output transformer) the Vox AC4TV series are actually 8-9 watt amplifiers stock."
Click to expand...

Is it even possible to get 8-9 watts from one EL84 in single ended class A?
 
Re: Vox AC4TV and Marshall Class 5

rhmcfarland said:
Thanks!
Yeah, I think the Marshall Class 5 would be interesting to hear, cranked to about 5 or 6, along with a Bogner Ecstasy Blue pedal.
Click to expand...

The Bogner Blue is a good pedal to have. You can put in front of any clean tube amp, and basically have the world of realistic sounding Marshall/Bogner tones. All the knobs and switches allow you to dial in whatever you want.

Used ones are around $200, but it's like buying another amp, when it comes to it's usefulness.
 
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