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Plugged it in for a while this afternoon. Well, it's a Vox, it's heavy as heck (head version), tons of options, tonally sounds very much like an AC30 should.

Doesn't knock my socks off though (spoiled by Two Rock forever more I guess). I'm going to give it a good go this weekend, try it through some different speakers and whatnot. Just see what it can do.

I did dirty it up really hard tonight and it sounded really really good. Everytime I get worked up about an EL84 amp, I get one and then it never sounds as good as my 6L6 stuff. I need to stop this insanity.

But, with a 45 day approval period, I'll not overreact and send it back too quickly. Tone is every bit the JMI AC30's of yesteryear I've played before. Great value at $849, free shipping, no tax.

Sounds awesome Scott! So,you think this is gonna be a keeper? How about some pics I always love the sweet classic tones of the EL84's.

generally speaking, dont el84's dirty up in the power stage alot smoother than most 6l6 amps?

How are them cleans scott? How does it sound with a strat? How's the reverb?

ive been wanting to try one of those but no one has one around here. how loud is it full up?

Scott...How much better is the AC30 tones compared to the Valvetronix head's AC30 tones which are pretty darn good?

John

is this one of the Vox amps that Jonesy was talking about from the amp show!?

You need to quit messing around amp; grab a Mesa Boogie Blue Angel

2 6V6s=18watts
4 EL84s=30watts
combined for 38watts
Reverb to die for.........

Best of both world amps!!!!!!!

that does sound really good man...and in a 4x10 no less...i'd love to play through one!

I've been hearing nothing, but rave reviews on it, so I'd like to hear whether or not it really measures up to the old school JMI ones (with some more time to really play with it).

That's the problem with expensive amps is that nothing cheaper ever seems to sound as good. I'm sure you're Two Rock Custom Reverb pretty much annihilates everything below it. I can't tell you how many boutique amps that people have raved about that didn't work for me or my Fargen Epic 30 DC simply blew away.

Update:

Cleans are really really nice. Amp rocks my butt off. For 850 total, you'll not find another AC30 clone that can do what this one can do.

I didn't hear a lot of difference in the EQ switch between the classic and the AC30Handwired. But, I didnt' spend much time with that portion.

The reverb is acceptable, but I am very spoiled by the Two Rock. Reverb is nothing to write home about.

Trem is better than the verb.

Jumpering the two channels didn't do much for me. There are some subtleties to it.

I was running it in quot;warmquot; bias mode, classic settings, 8ohm Two Rock cab (ceramic).

Tonight, the wife will be in Houston at her mom's hospital so I'll have some extended hours to really mess around with it.

Comparing to the Valvetronix is hard. I never thought the Valvetronix nailed the AC 30 completely. It was close and sounded pretty good. Hard to compare because the Valvetroinx can do SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much more.

Compared to a JMI, I like the master volume feature better on the new AC30CC. Tone is never going to be classic JMI 60's tone side by side. Then again, two JMI era AC30s will often sound a bit different from each other as well. Tonight I'm going to put in some better tubes and see how much better the amp gets.

I think Gearjoneser was dead on in his advice... if you have a recent AC30 Reissue, sell it. The price of these new Custom Classics is such that the reissue AC30's of the past few years are going to lose a LOT of value.

The box it came in was flimsy and the box looked battered. Amp head was 52lb's. Amp looks pretty unscathed from its adventure, but I'm going to call the vendor and let them know how bad of shape it was in. the Box lid was almost completely open when it arrived via UPS. I swear I will never purposely use UPS for anything, ever again.

Tonight, more fun with settings, I'll try it with an alnico JBLD130F (15quot;), better tubes (JJ El84's and a few GT 12AX7M Mullard copies).

Better report to follow. Did I say I liked the master volume a LOT! It works great. I was always a fan of the AC30HandWired, but never could part with the cash. I still think the AC30HW sounds better than this AC30CC, but for less than half as much cash, it's very close in the tone department.

ooohhhh....sounds good man...real good...especially for the $$$'s!!!???

I tried to pick up the 2x12 Alnico Blue combo today...didn't budge (and I'm not a wimp either!).

and the 2x12 is 999 i think!

Very slick scott, excellent deal. Around what setting does it start to break up?

im VERY interested in these things.....gotta try one out soon

Man, I want one soo bad, and with a treblebooster to enter Brian May territory~!

Did they reissue an AC15 too?

First, you wont' need a treble booster.

Second, it breaks up early and often. Not a ton of clean headroom tonight. Keep in mind, I've only played it with humbuckers and p90's. I'm sure the Tele will have some more clean headrom. There is a switch on the back, for a warm versus hot bias. The warm bias is supposed to break up earlier, with a total of 22 watts, like an old 4 input Vox AC30. The Hot bias is 30 watts like a 6 input AC30, more headroom.

The quot;normalquot; channel has no tone controls. Just a presence, gain (vol) and master. There is a brilliance switch that turns it from a normal old AC30 to a AC30 Treble boost. There's the other channel, the Top Boost. It has treble, bass, along with the gain (vol), master and presence control. The verb and trem work on both channels.

from : localhost/ran it into an alnico JBL D130F tonight. The amp seems to prefer alnico speakers. If you get a 1x12 with a ceramic, you'll probably want to try a Red Fang speaker in it. Very similar to a Celestion Blue Alnico tone. So, plan on adding $100 to the price.

The amp is darn loud. Not overly clean though. I put in my ear plugs and cranked the crap out of it. Beautiful overdrive.

Reverb... I really played around with the tone control on the verb. I like having the option. Really interesting amp.

Time will tell if the build quality is sufficient to hold up to constant transport to and from gigs. I thought some of the piping, both the white around the front and the gold accent stuff looks cheap and like I'll have to have a tube of superglue standing by. The white piping doesn't quite meet at the seam, about a 5 mm gap. I am getting picky though. The tolex stuff looks pretty sturdy.

I've often said how Rivera gives the best bang for the buck of the under $1000 amps. The new AC30CC gives that a run for its money.

My favorite settings are the ones that imitated the AC30 Handwired. I really fell in love with that amp a few years ago. A lot of purists complained that it was too far off from a classic AC30. I never cared about that, but loved the tone. Put the Top Boost EQ curve to Custom, put the bias switch to Hot (30 watts), turn the smoothing from vintage to modern and oo la la!

I think a 1x12 with an alinico speaker is the ticket. The head is huge and weighs 52 lbs. Too long. I like the short chassis of my Two Rock. Compact is good. The Vox head is longggggggggggggg.

Now to decide if there are enough tones in there to justify keeping it. The cleans are really good, but the overdriven tones are stellar.


Originally Posted by Scott_FFirst, you wont' need a treble booster.

Second, it breaks up early and often. Not a ton of clean headroom tonight. Keep in mind, I've only played it with humbuckers and p90's. I'm sure the Tele will have some more clean headrom. There is a switch on the back, for a warm versus hot bias. The warm bias is supposed to break up earlier, with a total of 22 watts, like an old 4 input Vox AC30. The Hot bias is 30 watts like a 6 input AC30, more headroom.

The quot;normalquot; channel has no tone controls. Just a presence, gain (vol) and master. There is a brilliance switch that turns it from a normal old AC30 to a AC30 Treble boost. There's the other channel, the Top Boost. It has treble, bass, along with the gain (vol), master and presence control. The verb and trem work on both channels.

from : localhost/ran it into an alnico JBL D130F tonight. The amp seems to prefer alnico speakers. If you get a 1x12 with a ceramic, you'll probably want to try a Red Fang speaker in it. Very similar to a Celestion Blue Alnico tone. So, plan on adding $100 to the price.

The amp is darn loud. Not overly clean though. I put in my ear plugs and cranked the crap out of it. Beautiful overdrive.

Reverb... I really played around with the tone control on the verb. I like having the option. Really interesting amp.

Time will tell if the build quality is sufficient to hold up to constant transport to and from gigs. I thought some of the piping, both the white around the front and the gold accent stuff looks cheap and like I'll have to have a tube of superglue standing by. The white piping doesn't quite meet at the seam, about a 5 mm gap. I am getting picky though. The tolex stuff looks pretty sturdy.

I've often said how Rivera gives the best bang for the buck of the under $1000 amps. The new AC30CC gives that a run for its money.

My favorite settings are the ones that imitated the AC30 Handwired. I really fell in love with that amp a few years ago. A lot of purists complained that it was too far off from a classic AC30. I never cared about that, but loved the tone. Put the Top Boost EQ curve to Custom, put the bias switch to Hot (30 watts), turn the smoothing from vintage to modern and oo la la!

I think a 1x12 with an alinico speaker is the ticket. The head is huge and weighs 52 lbs. Too long. I like the short chassis of my Two Rock. Compact is good. The Vox head is longggggggggggggg.

Now to decide if there are enough tones in there to justify keeping it. The cleans are really good, but the overdriven tones are stellar.

Nice reviews about your amp Scott...The recent Vox stuff has been great...I would have opted for the same amp you bought but I bought my VTH before your series came out...I was in a local Sam Ash listening to a guy that bought the combo 2x12 version of your amp...Nice and chimey and really had the whole AC30 thing in spades(At least I thought)...

Enjoy Scott...

thanks for the review...... did you get it online somewhere?

I went back out to my studio and played for several more hours last night. I love this amp with the master cranked and control through the individual gain(vol) knobs.

Swirl and lots of it. I had a Trem Cat a while back and I think the AC30CC compares favorably to it in a lot of areas. The amp is full and has a sweet top end. One of my old problems with EL84 amps in general is that sometime the high end can get a bit harsh. The CC gives you enough optons to tame some of that harshness. So far, the trick for me is to not turn up the gain too far. Keep the power tubes on the edge of distortion and give it just enough gain to get where you want and no more. Like that with any MV amp, right?

I think the ideal version of this amp is not the head which I have. I'm thinking the 1x12 with a Red Fang in it would be damn near perfect. Like I said earlier, I was running it through a 1x15 Tweed Pro that has a reconed JBL D130F.

YOu can get the CC with Blues in it, but due to power restrictions of the speakers, it has to be in the 2x12 config. A 1x12 with a blue would get blown. But a Red Fang can handle much more than a Blue and the tone is very close to my old ears.

Just my two cents.