Which AC30?

[wproffitt]

My bandmate’s AC30 sounded great, but I clearly remember that he needed me to help him lug it to the place where he traded it for some other gear one day. It did sound great, but boy was it heavy! If volume is what you need, perhaps:
1) get one that sounds the way you want. For me, this would involve the top boost channel, but everyone’s tastes are different. If you want THE AC30 sound, it doesn’t seem like this is the time to make compromises if you have to have an actual Vox to do this.
2) buy a hand cart for getting it to rehearsals and shows.

[Dr Tony Balls]

There are too many nuances to say concretely which one to look for, or even what you necessarily want. For example, a modern AC30CC2 whatever is *NOT* the same amp as an original circuit AC30 top boost. That's not to say its a bad amp, they're just apples and oranges (but the apple is hiding in an orange peel).

For my money, the original top-boost circuit cant be beat. When I make em I like to do the "boost" on the normal channel as well and have them blendable like a jumpered plexi.

[Fac 50]

Not helpful advice:
I (briefly) had an AC30cc1 (one speaker) a while back. It was great to have that sound in a smaller, almost portable package. I never did quite get my head around the amp itself. It seemed like a friends stock ac15cc1 was easier to dial in, etc. Also: I only used it in our tiny rehearsal space at the time, which made everything sound strange, but I think I liked either the more speakers of a "normal" ac30 or the lower wattage + 1 speaker of the AC15.

I later (briefly) had one of the AC30hw2 combos, which sounded great, but I ended up sticking with my twin reverb for the big + clean sounds.

Funnily, I just used the folding hand truck this morning that I'd gotten to haul around the AC30cc1 to take a bunch of packages to the post office.

Yeah I had a CC1 and it was a fantastic sounding amp, even with the stock Neodog (or whatever it was called) speaker. Jumpering Normal and Top Boost was just heaven. It used to eat valves though and wasn't really reliable enough for me to gig regularly.

I'd echo the advice about getting a 90s or maybe modern handwired if you can stand the weight. They will have the sound.

Really an AC30 is my favourite amp but they're just too heavy to lug around so I use a Vibrolux, which is a slightly Voxy Fender to my ears at least. If they came out with a GOOD 'Tonemaster' type AC30 Solid State (yeah I know you can get SS AC30s from the 70's and later, but I haven't loved them) I'd be all over it. I tried An AC30 S1, albeit at lowish volume and wasn't impressed and I'm not keen on Top-Boost only.

Final bit of advice - forget the AC15! They are great for some applications but I absolutely guarantee that you will not be loud enough, or have any headroom/space for dynamics in even a medium volume band. I tried this a couple of years ago and even though we have a Ringo-style non-hard hitting drummer I was topped out completely and there was nowhere to go for solos or fuzz passages. I know you can squeeze out a bit more by going handwired or with certain speakers but you still won't have enough volume/headroom. If you're using an HRD on 3/4 volume at the moment I can guarantee that you will not be able to make an AC15 work.

Good luck!

[ElephantDNA]

I like all AC30s, so I'm the wrong one to ask.

[s_mcsleazy]

i can't really keep up with all the models of AC30 at this rate. i can't tell if it's a good thing or a bad thing. i guess it's a good thing because it means there's something in so many different price ranges...... but it does overwhelm you a bit.

[redchapterjubilee]

I’ve only ever played through others’ ac30s (as mentioned before, I owned a Blue’d AC15 and a stock AC10 and still own an MV50AC). My bandmate had a handwired head with matching cab (mixed with Weber Blue Dog and Silver Bell speakers). The studio we recorded at a few times had one of the heritage mahogany AC30s as well. I don’t know how to make that circuit sound good but the engineer knew his amp well and set it up and we dual mono’ed it with my Mark I and the two together sounded great. I have another friend who plays through the handwired combo with greenbacks and his playing and sound are easily one of my favorites of any local style band I’ve ever seen…look em up, they’re called Economy Island.

[PorkyPrimeCut]

I have one of the Heritage Vox amps too - an AC30HH.

I patch the Top Boost & EF86 channels together and it sounds huge!! The EF86 side really fattens it up!
It has a custom-made 1x12 cab which should really have an Alnico Blue speaker in there (the Vintage 30 sounds great though).

I have never seen another one of these heads for sale but I'd highly recommend it.

[Larsongs]

i can't really keep up with all the models of AC30 at this rate. i can't tell if it's a good thing or a bad thing. i guess it's a good thing because it means there's something in so many different price ranges...... but it does overwhelm you a bit.

Budget dictates choice… As do features, reliability, able to use for Practice, Jams, Rehearsal, Gigs, Recording & be an easily replaceable Tube Amp.

In addition to Top Boost, British Alnico Blue speaker I like having Reverb & Tremelo in my Amp.

Vintage & HW are great if you have the budget.

But, even though they are foreign built, the AC15CC1X & AC15C1X Series Vox Amps sound great, are reasonable priced, reliable, have great features & are easy to replace….

[PorkyPrimeCut]

Another thing I should add...

Both channels on the AC30HH use the full set of 4 power tubes (unlike other amps which split them into 2 per channel, apparently making them out of phase when combining both channels) so you can experiment with how you patch them together (high gain EF86 channel into low gain Top Boost channel for instance) and blend together some extremely different settings.
Also, you can use the 4 inputs (2 high and 2 low) as an effects loop which is fantastic for me as I have a separate spring reverb unit that usually has to be added to a pedal chain. I can have it permanently patched into the amp & control it with a footswitch.

This could be a feature other amps commonly have (dunno) and there's a chance it won't work on all 2 channel AC30s.

[ElephantDNA]

i can't really keep up with all the models of AC30 at this rate. i can't tell if it's a good thing or a bad thing. i guess it's a good thing because it means there's something in so many different price ranges...... but it does overwhelm you a bit.

Budget dictates choice… As do features, reliability, able to use for Practice, Jams, Rehearsal, Gigs, Recording & be an easily replaceable Tube Amp.

In addition to Top Boost, British Alnico Blue speaker I like having Reverb & Tremelo in my Amp.

Vintage & HW are great if you have the budget.

But, even though they are foreign built, the AC15CC1X & AC15C1X Series Vox Amps sound great, are reasonable priced, reliable, have great features & are easy to replace….

Maybe it's just me but I really hate the reverb in the CC1. I find it kind of unusable to be honest. But then again my current band doesn't call for a lot of reverb, so I don't use it that often. But when I was working on a project that had more reverb and modulation stuff, I used the polara rather than touch the amp reverb. The trem is great though.

[Larsongs]

i can't really keep up with all the models of AC30 at this rate. i can't tell if it's a good thing or a bad thing. i guess it's a good thing because it means there's something in so many different price ranges...... but it does overwhelm you a bit.

Budget dictates choice… As do features, reliability, able to use for Practice, Jams, Rehearsal, Gigs, Recording & be an easily replaceable Tube Amp.

In addition to Top Boost, British Alnico Blue speaker I like having Reverb & Tremelo in my Amp.

Vintage & HW are great if you have the budget.

But, even though they are foreign built, the AC15CC1X & AC15C1X Series Vox Amps sound great, are reasonable priced, reliable, have great features & are easy to replace….

Maybe it's just me but I really hate the reverb in the CC1. I find it kind of unusable to be honest. But then again my current band doesn't call for a lot of reverb, so I don't use it that often. But when I was working on a project that had more reverb and modulation stuff, I used the polara rather than touch the amp reverb. The trem is great though.

My AC15CC1X has British Celestion Alnico Blue Speaker. The Reverb & Tremelo sound great with that Blue Speaker… I did upgrade the Tubes to Tung Sol’s which made a noticeable difference in the Sound as well.

I have a Celestion Greenback in my Sweetwater Special Edition Vox AC10C1 which has Reverb… I couldn’t bond with that Speaker & bought their Special Edition Speaker for the AC10C1’s that sounds like a Blue. I really like it now. I did upgrade Tubes to JJ’s.. Big improvement.. The Reverb sounds good in it too…

I didn’t care for the Greenbacks in the CC1 & C1.. I did like the Celestion Creamback Speakers though….

That said, I really like the Reverb sound of my Boss Fender 63 Reverb Pedal & the Reverb in my Keeley 30ms Double Tracker Pedal…. Both sound better than Amp Reverbs… Amp Reverbs are just more convenient…

[jorri]

Had an ac30cc1 too, to reply to the previous poster. I actually thought the Neodog killed it, or was maybe the lack of two speakers. But a certain lack of top end roll off was fizzy, and lack of body from only being a single (not good on trebly amp. Nonetheless it was pretty well modded and reliable before i sold it. Solid state rectifier improved sound, the tube one caused most problems. Lowered gain in v3. Modded the reverb because the circuit and blend knob is terrible, like a blanket over it, but the tank is fine and i changed a couple of resistors. And changed a hipass filter which is a common mod. Vintage tubes also made the power section reliable after taking it to a tech, who put them in and it never stopped since. Suppose what was missing was the right speakers- i liked it into whatever other cab was lying around.

[UlricvonCatalyst]

I swithered for a long time when looking for my second AC30, having sold my JMI '60s head in the early '90s for £75, and found the Vox Showroom site invaluable.

Eventually, not being able to track down a Korg-era TB/X I opted for a CC2 (with "poor-relation" Wharfedale speakers). FWIW the concensus seems to be that the tailor-made Wharfedales aren't all that bad at all.

So far, so good, but....not being in a band and never getting to crank it to neighbour-alienating levels I've lately decided that I don't actually need an AC30 in my life after all. I've been trying to sell mine locally for a few months, and have seen at least two others up for about the same as mine during that time too, so I guess there are plenty out there around the £500 mark if you're interested. PM me if you want to drive to Glasgow to buy mine!

[JSett]

PM me if you want to drive to Glasgow to buy mine!

Tempting, but it's a wee bit far - even for me

[JamesSGBrown]

I have an AC30HW with the Greenbacks- i think they take pedals better than Blues. Great amp, though it has blowed fuses and needs a total service after one tour which is annoying. However, we have an AC15CC1 with a Blue in the shop, and for pure guitar>amp tone at a usable volume it absolutely kills.
So I'd say AC15HW for best of both worlds.