Vox AC30CC Head

Price Paid: 720 (EURO)

Features: 9
Two channels:
1) Normal/Brillance = perfect! I plug any guitar or bass and it sounds loud and noiseless. The brillance switch turns on the real Vox sound, meaning that it's different from any other amps I've played with (BluesBreaker, Twin Reverb, Blues DeVille). It has a great sustain and it's crisp and clear. I've been looking for this sound for years.. I've bought mine one week ago, but i think i'm gonna order another one quite soon!

Sound Quality: 10
I use a classic 50 (made in Mexico) strato and my own replica of a Red Special (with Burns Trisonic pickups by Kent Armostrong) and then I use a 4x10" open back cabinet with Eminence Speaker;

I use a Rickenbacker Chris Squire Limited Edition 4001 bass or a '78 Precision Bass and then I use a SVT 18" classic Ampeg cabinet

It's great for both bass and guitar; I suggest to use the normal if you don't need a strange eq (it means that you might like your cabinet tone!)

As I said before it's clear and hot; the reverb it's long and it's very nice to have the possibility to use the Tone to bost or cut some frequency of the reverb tail. The vibrato is amazingly natural and adds some crunch that is really "british"

Reliability: 9
Mayby only the mains plug seems to me a little bit cheap.
other finishing are very good and there is nothing that let you know that this amp is made in china .. or, if you are a little more open minded, this am is made with great care by experienced people that will give Europe and U.S industries a lot of trouble in the next future!

Customer Support: 10
I've been waiting for this amp for 6 months, but the customer service was quick and concrete

Overall Rating: 10
The best amp I've ever heard.

Submitted by Ludovico at 01/02/2006 08:10

Price Paid: US $850

Features: 9
You've read the reviews lots of features. Enough to soothe me. The only pain in the ass was switching the inputs

Sound Quality: 7
I used this with 2 custom teles and a rickenbacker. Tried a les paul through it. Main pedals i used were a keeley mod ts9-time machine boost-memory man-wiggler-worm-qtron-big muff-eq pedal.

The tones on this are pretty good. It nails the classic ac-30 sound almost to the t. I wouldn't notice the difference between this one and a vintage one.

With that being said, i really liked this amp until i cranked it up. At low volumes this baby shined. Once i turned it up to almost full volume, it squealed and hissed at me. It was totally unusable.

The thing is that i really liked the tone of this amp. It was a great compliment to mr dr z maz 18. But the simple fact of the matter is that i cranked it and it didn't perform.

It really sucks, i sent it back and bought a jazzmaster guitar. Still i wonder if i should try another one out, maybe i got the bad one of the bunch.

Don't let this review fully take you away from this amp. For tone it gets a 9. But the squeal docks it a few points.

The trem is very nice.

I can't say the reverb was that nice on here. It works for playing chords and that type stuff. But it definately doesn't have that lush reverb that my dr.z has. So it gets docked a point for that.

So without the problem it gets a 9 for sound. The clean is jangly and the crunch is smooth, the overdrive is awesome. Trem is good, reverb is okay. Squeal sucks

Reliability: 5
The only problem i had was the squeal so it gets a5

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: 7
Overall its a wonderful sounding amp. I am tempted to buy the combo or maybe give another head a shot. We'll see. But overall if it doesn't squeal then its a 9 squealing its a 7

Submitted by Anonymous at 12/16/2005 16:10

Price Paid: 1150.00 (Australian)

Features: 8
AC30CC Head made 2005. All the features have been mentioned below. For essentially a 2 channel amp it's a little odd that they're not footswitchable....instead the footswitch is for Verb/Tremolo ON/OFF...to me, odd.
(You can get around this by using an A/B/Y pedal)
But other than that it is a very full-featured amp, should keep most people happy as to how they want to run it...place their effects..etc etc.

Sound Quality: 9
(I'm running this head through a Peavey 5150 slant cab @ 16ohms)
Up until now I've never had an amp that does the clean/semi-clean/slightly broken up type thang....now I've got that. It's got the classic Vox tone but to my ears can also sound quite Marshall-like when pushed into overdrive territory.
The master volume is helpful for lower volume practising etc. but the tradeoff is a less full tone. I think eventualy I'll incorporate an attenuator like a Hotplate to run the power valves where they sound best (ie..full whack!)
It's "only" 30 watts...but it's a LOUD 30 watts.
My main guitar is an EB/MM EVH signature model, and with this amp, is a very nice partnership. Great for classic rock type tones.
I quite like the Tremolo, although as mentioned before the Tremolo rate could be faster at the highest setting...(maybe I'll mod this at a later date.) The Reverb is not to my taste, but I never use reverb with my live rigs anyway so that's no great loss.
The background noise is really quite low...nothing compared to high gain amps (my other amp is a 5150 head....nuf'said).
The settings on the back of the amp to switch wattage & filter caps are subtle, but I DO feel the difference. I've settled on 50ohms/44uF as my preferred choice, this offers a 'tighter' overall feel for me.

Reliability: 10
So far I'm impressed with the build quality. I've had a look inside, everythings's in order, nice wiring, no bad solder joints, all valves seated correctly. No screws are loose, have been stripped or over-tightened (a problem others HAVE encountered). No flaws or marks externally either. All switches and pots tight & working as they should.
I know the quality of the valves as been questioned by other owners, and some have had microphonic issues out of the box (or the dreaded 'motor-boating' problem.) Touch wood, everything's been fine with mine so far, but I will be buying some replacement valves to experiment with very soon. (Probably a set of EI Gold's & JJ's)
I can at this point only give it a ten 'cause everything's working as it should....(ask me this question in a years time hehehehe)

Customer Support: N/A
N/A

Overall Rating: N/A
I've been playing live 22 odd years, if this was stolen or lost I'd get my insurer to get me another one straight away.
For an all valve brand new VOX amp I personally think this is excellent value for money. The Made In China tag doesn't bother me one bit...more importantly it's designed by Vox UK.
I only wish that out of the box you could footswitch between the Top boost & Normal channels rather than switching the Verb/Trem on/off. I also wish that ALL amps (regardless of brand) came standard with an amp cover.....but that's just wishful thinking on my behalf! :-)

Submitted by Dave at 09/01/2005 22:46

Price Paid: US $850

Features: 9
Serial #370. This amp has many switches that tweakers can have fun with; but also sounds good without much twiddling. Dual channels that are linkable, but not a channel switching amp. This amp has everything that I need. Plenty of power for small and medium gigs. Both reverb & tremolo!

Sound Quality: 10
Used with Rick 330, G&L Legacy Special, Gibson SG, Reverend Slingshot Custom. Played through the $300 VOX V212BN cabinet(with Wharfedales).

This is the amp sound that I've been looking for 15 years! It has all of that chime and grind that you've heard on recordings. I am absolutely 100% excited by the sound of this amp. It's put my Fender Deville 4x10 to rest in the closet. It is as quiet as any other well made tube amp when idling. Both the reverb & tremolo sound great. Either single coil or humbucker guitars are awesome through this. It covers a wide range of musical styles from twangin' clean to rockin' dirty. It doesn't speak metal though - see Mesa for that. Follow the included settings card at first since some of the best settings are'nt intuitive.

Sounds fantastic with the Wharfedales. I can't imagine how another $550 for Celestion Blues could make it even better?

Reliability: 9
I was afraid of what I might end up with after reading some of the downer reviews here. But mine was built flawlessly and worked perfectly right out of the box. I feel sorry for the players who have written problem riddled reviews since they're are missing out on a wonderful experience.

Customer Support: N/A
No opinion here. Their website is kinda clunky and they don't sell head covers yet. The manual is too short and gives no basic tube change info (it doesn't even say what tube types are in it).

Overall Rating: 10
This is the only piece of music gear that I have ever bought that I would give a 10. I've tried a bunch of stuff. If you love a complex chimey guitar tone, the clang of EL84 tubes in class A, this is clearly the holy grail for $850. I don't know how it stacks up to the $3500 boutique amps cause thats out of my league.

I'm overwhelmed.

(Check out the review on page 188 the Sept '05 issue of Vintage Guiter Magazine. They love it too.)

Submitted by gearhund at 07/29/2005 10:31

Price Paid: 860 (euro)

Features: 8
Look Below for further info. Really nice head with a lot of "tweaking" possibilities.

Sound Quality: 9
I'm playing on a Duesenberg John Platania (semi hollow body) with P90 & Duesenberg pickup and a Tele with Jon Suhr PU's. Both guitars sound excellent on this head. Tele "twangs" like never before and the duesenberg (which is a real tonemonster) sounds very lush. My music style is pop with a few hints of blues, and this amp really does the trick for me. It's a lot of fun getting these "dirty clean" sounds on this amp. It's very direct and respons really well. I set the switches on the backside on 22W and modern, which sounds real crispy in clean. The reverb is nice if you use it in small amounts. The tremelo is very usable although my Fulltone Supatrem sounds better.

I experimented a lot with cabinets and finally I stayed with the wharfdale speakers. I tried (the new) alnico cabs from vox and did't like the sound. Then I used a Bogner Vintage 30 2*12 cabinet (expecting very much from it) and the sound was terrific but... I missed the sound from the standard wharfdale speakers. For the time being, I stay put with the wharfdales, but in the nearby feature, I'll get myself a Bogner 1*12 closed back with V-30 to combine them both.

The distortion, if you crank the amp up, is realy nice with my Duesenberg P-90), especially with the two channels blended. ( I use the Barber Launch pad for this, you can switch between clean and top boost and also use the two channels together). With my Tele I like my pedals (Z vex Super Hard On, Blue Boy OverDrive and T-rex Dr Swamp) better.

I'll give it a 9 because it has excellent price-quality value. Nevertheless, if you compare the AC 30 CC head with a Bogner Metropolis (my favourite amp) it falls short, but hey, the metropolis costs more than twice as much.

Reliability: 6
So Far So good, but I think the clothing of the head is rather chinese quality. The first day a bumped - slightly- against the wall and there was a peace of plastic clothing (about 1 inch) which fell off. I can't imagine this will happen with a "real" american or british amp.

Customer Support: N/A
Ok I think, didn't need it so far..;

Overall Rating: 9
Excellent amp! I owned a peavey delta blues before, wich I really liked, but this amp is definetly a higher class, although it's not the best amp out there, but considering its price, maybe it is... ;-)

Submitted by Anonymous at 07/23/2005 15:21

Price Paid: N/A

Features: 10
Plenty, if you got an ear for them. You can dial in the sound YOU want on this baby. I have not been impressed with any new fangled mass produced amp in years. (And I mean years) I'm a tube man. I've heard a number of boutiques but each had a unique sound that I was not used too. Maybe it just wasn't on any record that I liked. I don't know

Sound Quality: 10
This sounds great but with all the features you real do have to understand each switch to get this thing to rock the way you want it to. It would be an easy amp to pass up if the settings weren't the way you liked them; so you got the sound that means something to you. I know a lot about amps but I'm thankful that the Guitar World (Don't get me wrong I normally wouldn't touch that mag but someone had the article on Voxtalks---they should have it on voxamps.com as well) article went into detail concerning each switch and how uou can use it to your benefit. Also I'm ashamed to admit it but the little "settings card" that comes with the amp to me was absolutely necessary. It has "clean" "classic" "overdrive" and "crunch" I'm not sure with this amp I could get to each of those without help (listen I rebuilt my Fender 68 head completely--I'm not a complete idiot---I mean not complete anyways) Once you have those down and they are great settings you could go from there, if you need to.

Reliability: N/A
Motorboating out of the box. Customer support was very helpful. Turned out to be one of the chinese 12ax7 tubes. They have EH for power and a Sovtek for the rectifier. A NEW AMP WITH A REAL TUBE RECTIFIER---YEA! Sorry I'm 53, I shouldn't act that way. I had a couple of EIs that I could swap to get it working. Here is the politically incorrect kicker. I like the sound of the chinese tubes better. They are sending me a whole new set to see if that is the motoer boating problem. I couldn't wait for them to come, but that was the problem. If your going to get any tube amp you better get up the guts and knowledge to at least change the oil. I've only had it a week so I'll refrain from a score here but it's as quite as a dead mouse right now.

Customer Support: N/A
Very good. One year warranty.

Overall Rating: 10
Finally a vox AC30 I can use in my bedroom. I'm using with two Eminence RedCoat speakers. I like the warfdales but these use alnicos so I went this route. It sounds like the sound to me. I've been shooting for this for years. I've tried to make my fender sound like this---stupid, it sounds great as a Fender. That was a long process. Tried to get my Velocette 15 watt class A to sound like this. That by the way is also a great amp. Didn't happen. I had a Korg AC 30 with blues. Too heavy and too stinking loud, so out the door she went. Now this. End of search. Don't worry I don't mind it ended. I'll live.

Submitted by Terry at 07/16/2005 15:40

Price Paid: US $850

Features: 10
Excellent features. Now if only they could work for you...

Sound Quality: 7
4X EL84, but even though it's a Vox, this is really a Class A/B configuration: sounds great, but the high fidelity is a little rounded off compared to Class A EL84 amps (like my Top Hat Club Royale, Matchless Lightning or Dr Z Carmen Ghia). The blending of the channels was nice. The reverb on this particular head was ganky; I tried out the AC30CC2x combo with Cele Blues and that reverb was lush. The tremolo sounds organic but the pace when opened up is too slow; its construction led me to return the amp within the 30-day, 100% satisfaction guarantee at my local retailer (one of the giants on-line, actually) since it started "motorboating" with nothing plugged into it the second time I used it, and I just don't need the hassle of repairs/warranties/lost playing time/etc.

Reliability: 2
After everything I read about Vox reliability, including the AC30CC series, I prayed that I'd be a lucky one. But I was not a lucky one. The ganky reverb and the motorboating contributed to my first and last tube Vox experience (love my Pathfinder and both Brian Mays). Even the 212 I tried out had its particular issue distinct from the head (horrible treble squeal with Master up, treble up, dialing in TB & Normal volumes for loudness past 3:00) that indicates manufacturing inconsistencies. Too bad: I'm back to saving up a lot more dough for hand-made, point-to-point amps.

Customer Support: N/A
Hadn't needed 'em before, not going to use them now.

Overall Rating: N/A
I wish this amp was as good as it ought to be.

Submitted by donnyrocker at 06/20/2005 16:07

Price Paid: US $850

Features: 8
Everyone else has posted the features. It's pretty good as far as features go. The channel mixing was a little disappointing though. It doesn't do that much but give you a little more dirt when you have both channels cranked.

Also the cut knob doesn't do as much as i expected. Mr dr z cut knob totally changes the tone. The cut knob on this changes tone very small.

The EQ features work but could be better.

Overall it has some great features. But some don't work as well as I would like. But overall I can get what I want out of it.

Sound Quality: 8
I use a tele with antiquity strat pickups, jazzmaster w/ p90's, and hollow body tele with filtertrons. Effects are keeley compressor, boost, and ts808 mod.

Overall the sound is good. For the price range it can't be beat. It doesn't sound as good as my orange or dr.z/ But they cost $1500+. If you have $1500 buy a z or an orange. If you don't this is the next best thing. Beats any fender.

The clean sound is great. Very comparable to the orange an z. Its very sparkly and spanky.

Overdrives very nicely. Nice tube breakup. It does need a bit of compression to fill out and become usable for leads. I have to take off a point for that.

Tremelo is really great. But the reverb can't cut it. My z's reverb gets a 10 this reverb gets a 6. This was a let down. It will sound good for rhythm. But won't work at all for blues.

The major drawback of this amp is its hiss. When i crank it, it hisses. More of a squeal. It's not noise coming out of the speakers, but squeal coming from the amp; at leat i think. It's annoying but I can deal with it

I really like the tone. It is worth $850

Reliability: N/A
too soon to say

Customer Support: N/A
Never called

Overall Rating: N/A
Great Amp at a great Price. Like I said before it is not as good as an orange or a z. I would say it can perform and sound up to about 90% of a z or an orange. So for the price it is the best amp out there.

Submitted by Anonymous at 06/04/2005 14:40

Price Paid: US $850.00

Features: 7
This amp has a boat load of features (many of which don't really work very well) covered elsewhere here. Before I start, I want to clarify that so far, I love this amp. So if my review seems a little harsh, it's because I think they miss the mark in some significant ways. Mostly marketing though. The bias switching and filter swithcing to my ears does little or nothing. The trem goes too slow for my taste. The reason I give a 7 is the reverb. It sounds very nice and seems very controllable for as gainy an amp as this. As far as versatility, turn it down, it cleans up, turn it up, it grinds with the best. More about this in a moment. I hate the master volume, but that's cool, I hate all master volumes. Volume wise, it's almost perfect for my band and venues. In other words, sometimes it's a tad loud, sometimes it's not loud enough but very often, it's exactly right. More maybe than any other amp I own. For the responsiveness to guitar volume manipulation and the cool reverb, I give it a 7.

Sound Quality: 9
I want to state that this review is done by a gigging guitarist on stage with my usual bandmates with whom I've been playing for several years and in rooms I also have been playing for several years in. Also, the rig I'm using it with is a two amp rig, the second amp being a mid-sixties JMI top-boosted AC-30 so I'm actually A\Bing onstage. Ok, here's where the rubber meets the road. First off, it sounds NOTHING like an AC-30. When I say AC-30, I mean JMI or Vox Product, not re-issues. The normal channel is not dark like an original and will not yield the Brian May tone with a Burns guitar and top boost pedal. Likewise, the top boost input sounds nothing like an AC-30 either. The literature and user manual would have you believe that you can get it to sound like a 4 input AC-30, a JMI top boost and George Harrison's amp on Nowhere Man ( I think that's the song). Well, it sounds like none of those amps. At all. Not even close. Well Mark, what does it sound like then, you might ask? It sounds an awful lot like a late '60's jmp Marshall but with more filtering. Tighter in the low end. It's very aggressive and articulate and cleans up very well. My favorite amp happens to be a '68 plexi front 50 watt 1987 circuit so I guess I'll compare it to that. It's not quite as loud (good) so I don't have to attenuate it. It is easily as aggressive and is tighter in the low end (more filtering?). Even when using an A|B box to switch or blend the inputs, it behaves way more like a jmp. The top boost being a little brighter and the normal being a tad thicker sounding. When blended, you get a bit more gain and thickness. It's very cool. It does not take that well to boost pedals and absolutely hates my Analogman Sunface fuzz (the jmp loves boost pedals and especially, fuzz). That's ok as it has enough grind for almost anything I play without boosting. It tends to "crap out" with too much input signal (ok, I guess that's kind of like a vintage AC-30). No matter though. For me, the tone and feel are really, really good, just not good like an AC-30. If you are buying one to replace your vintage AC-30, whatever you do, don't sell the vintage amp first! I'd say it would be a better replacement for your late '60's Marshal 1987 jmp. Soundwise, possibly the best sounding new amp I've ever owned.

Reliability: N/A
I hope nothing goes wrong later as I don't like to work on these type of amps (pcb construction).

Customer Support: N/A
Korg is huge. Coincidentally, they own Marshall as well.

Overall Rating: 9
If Korg wanted to give me a useful feature instead of a lame master volume and bias and filtering switches that don't really do anything, I would much rather have a switch for tube or solid state rectification as maybe it would even get closer to that perfect jmp tone. Overall, for the money, this amp is a big winner. It seems to like my strat as well as my Les Paul equally and responds to nuanced playing and volume manipulations magnificently. The reverb is beautifully subtle and I can hardly tell when it's on. I sure hear it when I turn it off though. It hangs with amps costing 3 times as much.

Submitted by Mark Gregg at 06/03/2005 18:25

Price Paid: US $850

Features: 10
Same features as listed in other reviews. Way more than anyone needs and a fab master volume!!!

Sound Quality: 10
I use teles. The amp is stone quiet except when the trem is on (just like any other amp). If you like Byrds, U2 and Beatles guitar sounds you will love this amp. Clean and semi dirty tones are the best I've heard and I'm a boutique snob. Metal gain? Look under Peavey 5150.

Reliability: 10
Been abusing it for 5 weeks now - nary a problem. So far so good!

Customer Support: 10
They answered my questions promptly so far- unheard of for a big corp.

Overall Rating: 10
I have sold my boutique collection which included Komets, /13 and Budda amps, as well as my 1962 AC30. This amp outshined them all and at a fraction of the price. These are not less reliable than any UK or boutique amp I have owned. Don't be scared people, these are the real deal, and at this price how on earth could you go wrong. As good a Vox as I have ever heard!!

Submitted by deathcabconfessional at 06/01/2005 20:57