I had an intensive session in my studio this afternoon comparing my Vox AC30/4 with EF86 against my 1960 Watkins Dominator and the new Vox MV50 AC, all with the TVS3 as the main echo unit for my Shadows sounds. I have to say that I was blown away by the fact that the humble MV50 AC through it's 8" speaker delivered almost the exact same tone as the AC30 did through it's two 12" speakers and I wouldn't have believed it possible until I heard it first hand. When playing to the backing track you couldn't separate the two amps and I had them on an A-B splitter box. The Watkins Dominator had the same characteristics too, which I expected it would have because Dick Denney nicked Charlie's idea for his AC15 in 1959.
So where does that leave me in my thoughts ? Well for starters I've ordered a second Vox MV-50 and BC108 cabinet so that I have a back up amp and a second cabinet to try iy in a live gig situation. With the second cabinet I'll get the full 50 watts from the amp and it should be amply loud enough to gig with should I wish to use it.
Over the next few days I'm going to fire the Meazzi Echomatic up and have a listen to how that sounds, but I doubt it can be better than what I've heard already because it was near perfection. What was interesting was that I had to reduce the treble on the MV-50 from what I perceived it to be against the AC30. There's a tone in a Vox that other amps seem to lack and having used my Fender Deluxe Reverb for the past two and a half years I'm hearing it more now upon revisiting the Vox amps.
As for the Spark amp that I was raving about, it is good, but it doesn't do an accurate Vox or Fender sound when compared with the real deal. It' is a good practice tool though and has a place in my kit.
But this is about achieving the magic sound of the Vox / Shadows sound but without the weight of the AC30 because the MV50 and cabinet are so small and light and I'm so pleased that I took the time to revisit it and check it out.