Vox AC30

[MikeAB]

I'm after some expert help!

With the dawning of arthritis I am thinking of having a last Shads blast by buying a 'proper' AC30 (no sound next door problems by the way).

I have an AC15 VR which I've never really warmed to, and I get my best sound through headphones and the AC30 Amplug - which I use to record with - and is fantastic. I use the H & C Signature Echo and a Mexican Marvin Strat with 11's.

Looking at ebay there are loads on sale but also lots of variations - speakers etc etc.

I am no expert on amps so if anyone knows what versions to avoid I would appreciate the tip (eg a VR version!).

Mike

[bazmusicman]

I have two for sale. One is a VOX 1964 JMI AC30 all hand wired, which is the holy grail one to have.

Also I have a Shadows 50 Anniversary VOX JMI AC30 Number 6 of 10 Limited Addition, all hand wired as used on there Final Tour.

PM for details.
Regards, Baz.

[dave robinson]

One era definitely to avoid is the Rose Morris period when the AC30 had a circuit board with the valves on it. I had one that was supposed to be a 'special edition' with leather handles and an anniversary plaque on the back. I was nothing but trouble and didn't sound that good either. Bruce's tech man, Mick Johnson had a go at fixing it as did another AC30 expert from Scarborough and it would not operate properly, due to the circuit board overheating and constantly distorting, causing bad connections.
I was advised by the late Roger Alcock that this was a bad design fault and no matter how much it was repaired, it would fail again due to the poor design. I got rid, part exchanging it at a music store. The one I have now is hand built by Australian engineer Rod Jinks, an AC30/4 with EF86 in 'as new condition and up for sale on Gumtree and eBay.
The best ones are hand wired as the originals were as is this.
I've listed it silly prices but open to sensible offers.

[dave robinson]

Thinking about this and drawing from my own experience I'd like to add the following.
An all tube AC15 will give very similar tones to an AC30, as we all know The Shadows were using those on the early recordings.
I have had the reissued TV front AC 15 from Vox (The Heritage) as well as a few weeks use of a friend's JMI AC15 and each had the EF86 circuit and delivered the tone. The only reason for moving them on was that they lacked volume for live gigs.
Fast forward to today and I have re-located my Vox Valvetronix AD50VT into a very lightweight pine cabinet and added a Celestion Creamback Neo speaker to keep the weight down and I use it on the AC15 setting miked up through our desk, after comparing with the Vox AC30/4, Pinnacle and my original 1960l Watkins Dominator and it does the job perfectly. The big difference was putting the Creamback speaker in there, it sounds as good as the Vox Blues. That amp cost me less than £200 brand new in 2004.
I have spent a lot of money in the past to get to where I am with the sound and happily for me I have sold all of that stuff and got my money back, at the same time learning some big and very useful lessons.
Yes, the AC30 is a very necessary tool if you are in a gigging Shadows type outfit, but there are other ways to achieve the sound.
For instance, the TVS3 sounds incredibly close just DI'd into a recording desk if you get the tone right at the input. Not an amp in sight. Because it has a preamp circuit built in to emulate Hanks's early sound, the TVS3 delivers the tone on almost any guitar amp with careful setting up of the GAIN and TONE controls.
Another way which I have been using is by my Zoom G5n into the desk, or the Kemper Stage unit, each of which I programmed the parameters to get the sound. It's all about understanding the tone.

[MikeAB]

Thanks for the responses - still confused but at a higher level.

I think an AC15 may be what I need.

But what about the importance of speakers - it seems to my non-expert reading that Celestion, Alnico, Vox, Blue, Greenback are the important words/variables - with online comments seeming to favour Alnico Blues.

Which type does your Jensen choice match Dave?

Any views anybody? (I only 'play' Shads tones!)

Thanks.

Mike

[dave robinson]

This is the model that I bought around 2022 years ago and it is the one to avoid at all costs because of the problems hi-lighted by Mick Johnson Roger Alcock, Electro Music in Doncaster and the chap in Scarborough who's name escapes me, No matter how much money I threw at it, the same problems recurred due to a poor design flaw. Mine was a back one and all the 'experts' that were dishing out advice at the time on these boards actually were recommending I buy it and get rid of my Boogie - yeah right. Avoid at all costs.

[roger bayliss]

Thanks for the responses - still confused but at a higher level.

I think an AC15 may be what I need.

But what about the importance of speakers - it seems to my non-expert reading that Celestion, Alnico, Vox, Blue, Greenback are the important words/variables - with online comments seeming to favour Alnico Blues.

Which type does your Jensen choice match Dave?

Any views anybody? (I only 'play' Shads tones!)

Thanks.

Mike

I have an AC15HW which came with a greenback. I played through it at a friend's and we thought it did not give the true Shads tones. We connected an external speaker cab with a Boss Katana 100 speaker and the tone improved greatly. I was already considering the Blue Alnico , so I went ahead and got one and fitted it.

The AC15HW or AC15HWX are great hand wired amps and the tone circuit is like the 60s Voxes, whereas the present day ones have a slightly different tone circuit. It affects the cut in the mids as you change the bass control , so not true 60s Vox sound.

The AC15HW also has a treble boost switch on normal channel which makes it more usable. Also master volume can be bypassed so it's more like 60s amps were . Great amps if you can get one and lighter than the AC30s.

The 1994 - 2004 era get good reviews . Avoid the 70s Thomas Organ and 80s Rose Morris they say (no personal experience)
Here's an article might help.

https://www.voxshowroom.com/uk/amp/ac30tbx.html

I also owned a Vox Heritage AC30Hw which had the sound. The build quality is not great , but as far as sound goes, they are very good as is the Ac15 heritage. I prefer the AC15HW X overall as better quality build.

The Vox AC30 sound is probably best defined as 1964 for many. The AC30 has sounded differently ever since !

One thing you could try, if you get an amp with send return, you can use an amp sim like the UA Ruby into the return and bypass the preamp. Done this on a Katana see video below. Used a Line 6 Stomp then. But if you want the Vox look might not be what you are after.

https://youtu.be/OvrHuP6M4rg?si=Sa0xOALB6db4hru4

[MikeAB]

Thanks for all this info - much to research and consider.

I am no expert but it makes me laugh when good guitar players show videos of amps to compare them and always run with some degree of distortion. They and the YouTube comments then rave about the differences or performance which to my ears can usually be replicated in any blinking amp using volume/EQ and a suitable pedal.

Shads sound just too un-cool I guess - but surely is the best to test the supposed 'clean' channel differences.

Just getting old I suppose.

Mike

[Garystrat]

This might be of interest to you:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GywN6v7Myw8

[shadphil]

Hi Mike have you thought about the Vox MV50 AC i know a few members have these including myself there a great sound and not as heavy. Phil