Vox 60th Anniversary AC15 and AC30 Handwired ... GO!

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doctorock78
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Vox 60th Anniversary AC15 and AC30 Handwired ... GO!

Post by doctorock78 » Fri Mar 24, 2017 10:20 pm

What to expect?! I'm mostly interested in the AC15.. Supposedly they made exact circuit copies of fave vintage examples ('57 for the AC15 and '64 for the AC30..) They are very expensive. Only making 150 of each worldwide. Will they destroy the current handwired series which has more modern circuits? The AC15 60th Anniversary WILL utilize the EF86 preamp tube..... So curious but no demos and the video clip of the AC15 at NAMM sounds kinda lame...

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thedude99
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Re: Vox 60th Anniversary AC15 and AC30 Handwired ... GO!

Post by thedude99 » Sat Mar 25, 2017 8:12 am

How much is very expensive? Approaching vintage prices? Normally I think paying vintage money for a new reproduction is a bit odd - but with vintage Vox amps it might not be that odd. Not the most reliable amps.

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doctorock78
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Re: Vox 60th Anniversary AC15 and AC30 Handwired ... GO!

Post by doctorock78 » Sat Mar 25, 2017 1:40 pm

4k for the AC30 and 3K for the AC15....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAd4p8Tm1CY" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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Re: Vox 60th Anniversary AC15 and AC30 Handwired ... GO!

Post by apreswho » Tue Mar 28, 2017 7:51 pm

Very hefty price for what they are IMO. I'm sure they sound great, and the EF86 does sound amazing, albeit a very specific and finicky tube IMO. I had a Dr Z with and EF86 and I regularly went through handfuls to find non-noisey ones. I'd imagine at these prices though they'd do all the searching for you.

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Re: Vox 60th Anniversary AC15 and AC30 Handwired ... GO!

Post by doctorock78 » Wed Mar 29, 2017 10:45 am

Yeah I am on the list for the AC15 version. Came in just under $2900 shipping included. It's more than I've ever spent on one amp before. I hope it smokes my AC15HW1X... which is an amazing amp. Will report back when it comes.. I wonder if these will catch on fire like the vintage ones since it's the same circuit :)

Anyone ever hear a vintage AC15 4 hole in person?

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Re: Vox 60th Anniversary AC15 and AC30 Handwired ... GO!

Post by eigentone » Mon Apr 03, 2017 9:40 pm

doctorock78 wrote:Yeah I am on the list for the AC15 version. Came in just under $2900 shipping included. It's more than I've ever spent on one amp before. I hope it smokes my AC15HW1X... which is an amazing amp. Will report back when it comes.. I wonder if these will catch on fire like the vintage ones since it's the same circuit

Anyone ever hear a vintage AC15 4 hole in person?
Lucky you. Any idea when it will ship? I called Korg for a less approximate release date, but they were not helpful.

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Re: Vox 60th Anniversary AC15 and AC30 Handwired ... GO!

Post by doctorock78 » Tue Apr 04, 2017 10:49 am

Rep said early April... Kind of wondering if I should wait until some demos are up before pulling the trigger, but then they might all be gone. Like I said before, it has to be one hell of an amazing amp to displace my AC15HW1X.

I wish some Vox employees would leak a good quality demo

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Re: Vox 60th Anniversary AC15 and AC30 Handwired ... GO!

Post by eigentone » Tue Apr 04, 2017 11:02 am

doctorock78 wrote:Rep said early April... Kind of wondering if I should wait until some demos are up before pulling the trigger, but then they might all be gone. Like I said before, it has to be one hell of an amazing amp to displace my AC15HW1X.

I wish some Vox employees would leak a good quality demo
I'm with you. They can do a better job teasing us :D

I have the AC30HW2X with real Celestion Blues and a Mercury output transformer and choke. It's my most-used amp. I also have the AC4HW1. I have been considering the 60th Anni AC15 for EF86 goodness but haven't been able to get much info on it aside from the NAMM sneak peek. I've also been considering the AC30. Decisions… :P

I heard the release would be summer, then spring. I called Korg last week - they couldn't tell me anything.

I guess I had better decide if I want it, which I want, and have $3,000-$4,000 in the amp fund at all times :unsure:

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Re: Vox 60th Anniversary AC15 and AC30 Handwired ... GO!

Post by doctorock78 » Thu Apr 20, 2017 10:23 am

They were up on the Sweetwater website and looking so so fine until a few days ago. Wonder why they got pulled? Any Vox employees on here to chime in? 0.003% of the world wants to know !!!!

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Re: Vox 60th Anniversary AC15 and AC30 Handwired ... GO!

Post by eigentone » Mon Apr 24, 2017 7:25 am

doctorock78 wrote:They were up on the Sweetwater website and looking so so fine until a few days ago. Wonder why they got pulled? Any Vox employees on here to chime in? 0.003% of the world wants to know !!!!
And they were on Sweetwater's sister site - GearNuts. Maybe SW has sold their order ahead of shipment?

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Re: Vox 60th Anniversary AC15 and AC30 Handwired ... GO!

Post by eigentone » Tue Jul 18, 2017 12:44 pm

Vox has finally done their big rollout on these amps. They say September and it looks like a lot of the preorders are filled. Just a heads up to my OSG brethren and sistren. Last call!

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Re: Vox 60th Anniversary AC15 and AC30 Handwired ... GO!

Post by my bloody television » Tue Jul 18, 2017 5:03 pm

doctorock78 wrote:
Anyone ever hear a vintage AC15 4 hole in person?
Yes, I got to play through a 1964 ac15 maybe 5 years ago and it was one of the most harmonically rich amps I've ever played through. It wasn't what I'd call versatile but the sound it put out was oh so sweet. This one was definitely well worn in. You could coax perfect harmonic feedback from it effortlessly. I wonder how these reissues will compare. They do seem well built.

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Re: Vox 60th Anniversary AC15 and AC30 Handwired ... GO!

Post by Shadoweclipse13 » Wed Jul 19, 2017 4:42 am

I was never really into the Vox sound, until I heard Dan's AC30 with EL34's:
https://youtu.be/twk9u9WbCMc

That amp sounds incredible. I wish they'd release an ACCOMMODATION with 34's...
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Re: Vox 60th Anniversary AC15 and AC30 Handwired ... GO!

Post by eigentone » Thu Jul 20, 2017 5:25 am

Shadoweclipse13 wrote:I was never really into the Vox sound, until I heard Dan's AC30 with EL34's:
https://youtu.be/twk9u9WbCMc

That amp sounds incredible. I wish they'd release an ACCOMMODATION with 34's...
I could be wrong, but I don't see/hear any mention of EL34s in the demo/description. I suspect that is not the case because Dan mentioned the OT was original (50W/100W from 2/4 EL34s would cook the OT).

The tube-related mod that Dan mentions is an EF86 mod (to one channel). This is a preamp mod. AC30s originally used this tube in the preamp (which was derived from the AC15), but they found it was too susceptible to develop microphonics in the higher powered AC30. So they switched the AC30 over to 12AX7s. Some people remarked that the 12AX7-based AC30 did not have enough brightness and Top Boost was born.

If you love that raunchier/gainier midrange tone of the EF86, then an AC15 with an EF86 may be the ticket for you. If you want a louder amp, there are amps (such as the DC30) which use EF86 on one channel and 12AX7 on the other. Just be prepared to swap that EF86 more often than other preamp tubes.

For these 60th Anni amps, Vox brought the EF86 back for the AC15. The AC30 is based on a '64 AC30 which had Top Boost and no EF86. There are a few other recent Voxes with EF86 preamps.

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Re: Vox 60th Anniversary AC15 and AC30 Handwired ... GO!

Post by Shadoweclipse13 » Thu Jul 20, 2017 3:30 pm

For the record, I've not played a Vox myself, mostly because I never dug the sound, or at least didn't know I dug the sound. Haha. I probably wouldn't start with the handwired, as it's a lot of money, but it does sound good. I tend to be heavy on the treble on my amps, so I suspect I'd get along with a Vox.

I'm mostly an at-home player, so I think an AC15 would be awesome. I don't usually play with amp gain, so the EF86 channel probably wouldn't be a big deal for me.
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