« Good fawn »

The major difference in this amp to the regular production Vox Ac30 is that is is all hand wired components. There are no PCB boards and everything is hooked up via turret boards. This makes the construction of the unit a lot stronger and easier to fix if you ever run into any problems with the amp. And of course this is the head version so you'll need to pick up a cabinet to plays with this amp. Preferably a cab that is a fawn match.

The combination of this hand wired amp and the Celestion Alnico Blue Dog speakers give a sparkling and a sweet warm classic Vox tone. There are a few different features to this particular amp then the latest reissues that came out a few years ago. One of those being the Hot/Cold switch which changes the treble in the top boost channel. And also the wattage selector from 30 to 15 watts.

UTILIZATION

Key Features and Product Highlights

• Hand-wired turret board construction
• Birch-ply cabinets featuring solid bracing and a natural high frequency diffuser
• All-tube design
• ECC83/12AX7 preamp tubes (x3)
• EL84 power tube quartet; (AC30 models); EL84 Duet (AC15 models)
• GZ34 rectifier (AC30 models); EZ81 rectifier (AC15 models)
• Fitted with matched Ruby Tubes that provide extended dynamic range
• Traditional VOX two-channel design.
• Top Boost and Normal. High and Low inputs for each channel
• The Normal channel provides an additional BRIGHT switch.
• The top boost channel provides a HOT/COOL switch to achieve even more gain
• Master Volume/BYPASS switch completely bypasses the Master Volume section
• OP mode switch cut the amp’s Output Power level in half
• Vintage fawn-colored vinyl, reminiscent of the 1960 classic AC30
• VFS1 footswitch controlls the Top Boost channel's HOT/COOL switch
• A premium, custom-fit dust cover is included with every model

SOUNDS

This amp is more used for country, blues, and mild rock tones. The biggest users of the amp is the Edge and Brian May. Not this particular amp model but the Vox AC30 in general. The best thing about Vox Ac30 is their ability to take pedal extremely well. You can throw just about any pedal in front of the amp and it just accepts the tone from the pedal and blends it with the Vox darker amp character that is present in its voicing.

A Les Paul works quite well with this amp. You get a great blues rock tone that is extremely warm and smooth in tone. I like to use a Strat with this amp as I'm a big fan of the Edge and his Strat is very recognizable in the songs I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For and Bullet The Blue Sky.

OVERALL OPINION


If you need a well built combo amp and are playing anything from country to mild rock then this might be an amp for you. If you use overdrive or effects pedals frequently then this is just about the best amp you could use effects with.

I am not sure what the going rate for these amps are but I have seen used ones going for aroud $1300. That might be a little high for an amp like this but it is hand wired and that price is recognized in that feature. For the regular production Vox AC30 then you would look at about a few hundred dollars cheaper than this. I would recommend this amp to anyone who needs a Vox tone which is very unique and distinct from all other amplifiers.