Chinese Vox AC30s?

[ancientbones]

Valvetech Hayseeds cost a little more than $1500, new, if you want it to be a proper AC30 clone.

There was one for sale in Montreal last year for exactly $1500 CAD. It was beautiful, too, with the whole head and cab enclosed in a Bob Burt Cabs setup, natural pine. I went to try it out and... I know this is so not doom, but... it nearly killed me, how loud it was. 30 Watts Class A, and it was switchable to 15 Watts, too, either way it was like, a stadium-worthy amp. The guy selling it (the bassist from The High Dials, oddly enough) admitted that he'd played arenas with it on half volume and that master was essentially useless.

It sure was awesome though! Maybe just overkill without an attenuator. It definitely came ready to bust out some Brian May riffs.

The Chinese VOX amps are actually very reliable. Laura Jane Grace from Against Me! uses two AC30CC2s on the road and saves the Matchless stuff for the studio/home. I think Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy has endorsed the AC15 models and uses them in-studio. If you go with AC15 you can find the Vietnamese AC15HW for about $1000 used. Here's one on Reverb now.

Not really into the AC15 as much. 15w just doesn't seem like enough headroom. I'm definitely feeling more comfortable hunting down a chinese vox now though. Either that or just finding a silverface twin. I mean nothings going to kill that but it just doesn't have the same mid-rangey brit sound.

[frigid midget]

Valvetech Hayseeds cost a little more than $1500, new, if you want it to be a proper AC30 clone.

There was one for sale in Montreal last year for exactly $1500 CAD. It was beautiful, too, with the whole head and cab enclosed in a Bob Burt Cabs setup, natural pine. I went to try it out and... I know this is so not doom, but... it nearly killed me, how loud it was. 30 Watts Class A, and it was switchable to 15 Watts, too, either way it was like, a stadium-worthy amp. The guy selling it (the bassist from The High Dials, oddly enough) admitted that he'd played arenas with it on half volume and that master was essentially useless.

It sure was awesome though! Maybe just overkill without an attenuator. It definitely came ready to bust out some Brian May riffs.

The Chinese VOX amps are actually very reliable. Laura Jane Grace from Against Me! uses two AC30CC2s on the road and saves the Matchless stuff for the studio/home. I think Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy has endorsed the AC15 models and uses them in-studio. If you go with AC15 you can find the Vietnamese AC15HW for about $1000 used. Here's one on Reverb now.

Not really into the AC15 as much. 15w just doesn't seem like enough headroom. I'm definitely feeling more comfortable hunting down a chinese vox now though. Either that or just finding a silverface twin. I mean nothings going to kill that but it just doesn't have the same mid-rangey brit sound.

Had a mid seventies 100watt twin reverb for the longest time. It ate pedals for breakfats, and had tons of clean headroom. The spikey cleans can get a bit too bright though, I personally like Vox cleans a lot more these days. They're just a bit more hairy, or for a more cliché adjective that I guess kinda nails it: 'chimey'

[ancientbones]

Valvetech Hayseeds cost a little more than $1500, new, if you want it to be a proper AC30 clone.

There was one for sale in Montreal last year for exactly $1500 CAD. It was beautiful, too, with the whole head and cab enclosed in a Bob Burt Cabs setup, natural pine. I went to try it out and... I know this is so not doom, but... it nearly killed me, how loud it was. 30 Watts Class A, and it was switchable to 15 Watts, too, either way it was like, a stadium-worthy amp. The guy selling it (the bassist from The High Dials, oddly enough) admitted that he'd played arenas with it on half volume and that master was essentially useless.

It sure was awesome though! Maybe just overkill without an attenuator. It definitely came ready to bust out some Brian May riffs.

The Chinese VOX amps are actually very reliable. Laura Jane Grace from Against Me! uses two AC30CC2s on the road and saves the Matchless stuff for the studio/home. I think Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy has endorsed the AC15 models and uses them in-studio. If you go with AC15 you can find the Vietnamese AC15HW for about $1000 used. Here's one on Reverb now.

Not really into the AC15 as much. 15w just doesn't seem like enough headroom. I'm definitely feeling more comfortable hunting down a chinese vox now though. Either that or just finding a silverface twin. I mean nothings going to kill that but it just doesn't have the same mid-rangey brit sound.

Had a mid seventies 100watt twin reverb for the longest time. It ate pedals for breakfats, and had tons of clean headroom. The spikey cleans can get a bit too bright though, I personally like Vox cleans a lot more these days. They're just a bit more hairy, or for a more cliché adjective that I guess kinda nails it: 'chimey'

That's why I've been looking into AC30s! Fender clean is nice and everything but you can't really get a twin to break up at a reasonable volume without using some kind of pedal. I get that sort of super loud super clean sound out of my amp I'm using right now and I'm kinda bored of it. Plus it kind of has a fender mid-scoop going on which I'm not super stoked on.

[casecandy]

you can't really get a twin to break up at a reasonable volume without using some kind of pedal

This is why I personally like Fender more than VOX.

[technicoloraudio]

The amp you are looking for is called a Genz Benz Black Pearl. Check the bay and musicgoround website. They can be had for <800 and they're fucking awesome.

[ancientbones]

The amp you are looking for is called a Genz Benz Black Pearl. Check the bay and musicgoround website. They can be had for <800 and they're fucking awesome.

Never heard of it. Found one that says it has 3 10" speakers in it. I wonder how that sounds. I'm mostly used to 12" speakers, especially for guitar. Haven't seen many 10" speakers used with guitar stuff.

[xrleroyx]

The amp you are looking for is called a Genz Benz Black Pearl. Check the bay and musicgoround website. They can be had for <800 and they're fucking awesome.

Never heard of it. Found one that says it has 3 10" speakers in it. I wonder how that sounds. I'm mostly used to 12" speakers, especially for guitar. Haven't seen many 10" speakers used with guitar stuff.

Sounds great and the resale value on them is absolute shit. I had one for a bit, really cool amp. If I remember correctly, I got rid of it for way too cheap

[frigid midget]

Valvetech Hayseeds cost a little more than $1500, new, if you want it to be a proper AC30 clone.

There was one for sale in Montreal last year for exactly $1500 CAD. It was beautiful, too, with the whole head and cab enclosed in a Bob Burt Cabs setup, natural pine. I went to try it out and... I know this is so not doom, but... it nearly killed me, how loud it was. 30 Watts Class A, and it was switchable to 15 Watts, too, either way it was like, a stadium-worthy amp. The guy selling it (the bassist from The High Dials, oddly enough) admitted that he'd played arenas with it on half volume and that master was essentially useless.

It sure was awesome though! Maybe just overkill without an attenuator. It definitely came ready to bust out some Brian May riffs.

The Chinese VOX amps are actually very reliable. Laura Jane Grace from Against Me! uses two AC30CC2s on the road and saves the Matchless stuff for the studio/home. I think Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy has endorsed the AC15 models and uses them in-studio. If you go with AC15 you can find the Vietnamese AC15HW for about $1000 used. Here's one on Reverb now.

Yeah, same here. I usually crank the volume and keep the master volume down, which gives me a nice crunch that's not at all compressed like a Marshall jcm, and it's the sort of gain level you could never squeeze out of a sf twin, especially not at somewhat manageable volume levels...

Not really into the AC15 as much. 15w just doesn't seem like enough headroom. I'm definitely feeling more comfortable hunting down a chinese vox now though. Either that or just finding a silverface twin. I mean nothings going to kill that but it just doesn't have the same mid-rangey brit sound.

Had a mid seventies 100watt twin reverb for the longest time. It ate pedals for breakfats, and had tons of clean headroom. The spikey cleans can get a bit too bright though, I personally like Vox cleans a lot more these days. They're just a bit more hairy, or for a more cliché adjective that I guess kinda nails it: 'chimey'

That's why I've been looking into AC30s! Fender clean is nice and everything but you can't really get a twin to break up at a reasonable volume without using some kind of pedal. I get that sort of super loud super clean sound out of my amp I'm using right now and I'm kinda bored of it. Plus it kind of has a fender mid-scoop going on which I'm not super stoked on.

[the_mexican]

i have one of those custom classic ac30s that i picked up cheap (500 or so). that is the one i reccomend has normal and top boost channel linking and a switch for high gain reverb. that reverb is dreamy.

[artdecade]

I've been using a Vox Custom AC30C2X for a couple years with no problems. Its been nothing but reliable for me. My back hates it though... darn thing weighs a ton.

[casecandy]

My back hates it though... darn thing weighs a ton.

This is the curse of the AC30 and the Twin Reverb...

[xrleroyx]

My back hates it though... darn thing weighs a ton.

This is the curse of the AC30 and the Twin Reverb...

Casters

[waltdogg]

Not a Vox. But if you can find one for cheap (for some reason people like to ask way too much for these... but,) an AXL Akita 40 is more or less an AC30 with a high gain channel. I don't remember how well it took pedals though. And I never changed the tubes or speakers which that amp desperately needed swapped.

[ancientbones]

Not a Vox. But if you can find one for cheap (for some reason people like to ask way too much for these... but,) an AXL Akita 40 is more or less an AC30 with a high gain channel. I don't remember how well it took pedals though. And I never changed the tubes or speakers which that amp desperately needed swapped.

Damn. These are pretty cheap used, though there aren't that many for sale it seems.

[waltdogg]

Yeah I found the one I had on CL randomly a few years back, it was like $200 I think? I used it stereo with my MIG 100H. That was a sweet tone.