Vox AC30-TB

Price Paid: US $775.00 used

Features: 10
1965 JMI Vox AC30-TB. Grey panel top boost, silver alnico speakers, plain Woden transformers, swivel tilt stand, and original Vox cover. I bought this amp from a friend in 1978 who was the original purchaser. He only used the amp lightly for about a year before he quit playing. When I bought it, it still had the original Mullard tubes in it and still sported the showroom hang tag on its center handle. Everything was perfect about the amp's condition.

By now, everyone knows the AC 30 3-channel drill - Top Boost (Brilliant), Normal, and Tremolo. The Top Boost channel uses all 3 tone controls (Treble, Cut, and Bass). The other two channels only have the Cut control at their disposal. I never use the Tremolo channel because I find the tremolo too harsh and abrupt. However, that bit is of no concern to me, as I never use a tremolo circuit to begin with. I have always been pretty much of a "bare bones" player and use effects sparingly. I expect the amp and guitar, in conjunction with my hands, to create that "perfect tone" we all carry in our heads. For me, this amp simply does it all no matter what guitar I plug into it.

Many people say that the AC30-TB is limited as to the tones that can be coaxed from the amp. I beg to differ. I do things the old fashioned way - I daisy chain the Top Boost and Normal channels together with a short jumper cable. Primarily, I plug into the high-gain input on the Top Boost channel and jump the low-gain input of that channel to the high-gain input of the Normal channel. This way, I get loads of versatility because the voicing of the two channels is entirely different from one another. If I want that crystal clear bell chime, I simply turn the Normal channel volume down all the way and adjust the Top Boost volume to where I need it. If I want full out distortion, I dime the Normal channel and bring up the volume on the Top Boost channel to the desired level depending upon which guitar I am using at the time. I also tweak the tone controls to suit what I'm going after.

Face it folks! This is an old amp design and, for its day, it was loaded with features. If you feel Vox should have at least included a reverb and a master volume, then you haven't been around long enough to know that those features would have been superfluous in a live situation. No one played dirty back then and an on-board reverb just got lost in the acoustics of night clubs and dance halls.

Sound Quality: 10
The Top Boost (Brilliant) channel is just that - Bright. The treble control is shelved at a higher frequency than most other amps but that is part of what creates the beloved Vox chime. The other part of the chemistry is the Vox/Celestion alnico speakers. The Cut control is somewhat akin to an old radio tone control in that it sweeps between treble and bass but in a mid-range sort of way. The Bass control, like the Treble control, should be used judiciously. Both of them are VERY active and a little bit goes a long way. The amp is also amazingly loud. When needed, I tame its volume down with a THD HotPlate.

No matter what guitar I use, I can get spectacularly clean, rich, warm, and chimey tones to glorious, raging distortion with wonderful compression, sustain and lovely harmonic overtones. In the 80's and early 90's, I had a difficult time getting decent tubes but now I load the thing with JJ Tesla's and am very satisfied. The JJ's give me the closest tone to the original Mullards of all the tubes I've tried to date.

The guitars I use the most with this amp are a handmade "Strat" loaded with Duncan pickups, a '69 Les Paul loaded with DiMarzio pickups, a stock '59 Gretsch Country Gentleman, a '74 Rickenbacker 450-12, and, most recently, a Burns Brian May Signature. This amp allows each guitar to have its own voice no matter what settings I use. I'd say this is the mark of a truly great amp! The only pedals I use with this amp are an ancient Boss Chorus, a 1965 Vox Wah-Wah, and a Crispy Cream Treble Booster built by Scott Humphrey. I use the Wah very little and only use the treble booster with the Brian May Signature.

I play hard rock, blues, a little jazz and some country using this amp. I only turn to my Marshall when I want to have that signature Marshall sound. Otherwise, the AC30-TB can cover it all with ease.

Reliability: 10
In the 27 years I've had this amp, I have only needed the services of a professional amp tech twice. In 1981, the amp needed its first new set of filter caps. In 2004, it got a new set of filter caps again. In addition, any parts that had gone too far off spec were replaced with NOS parts. When I first got the amp, I noticed how hot it ran so I fabricated a new upper back panel (to preserve to original), cut a hole in it and installed a 5" whisper fan. Since then, I have never had a heat problem. I also control the higher modern voltage issue the cheap, old-fashioned way - I always place a 100' 18 gauge extension cord between the power outlet and my amp. That shaves off enough line voltage to keep the old girl happy.

I toured, recorded and rehearsed with this amp for many years and only had to pull out a backup amp once. That was when the filter caps went south the first time. It was my primary amp from 1978 to 1995. The only special thing I did to it when I was out on the road for 4 solid years was to re-load the thing with EVM 12L's to protect the Vox speakers. The alnico speakers are back in it now protected by the THD.

If this isn't reliable, I don't know what is!

Customer Support: N/A
JMI - May you rest in peace! Thanks for the great amp.

Overall Rating: 10
Sound quality and tone are very subjective topics. However, let me put it this way. During my 45 years of guitar playing, I have owned many amps, in a variety of models and configurations, from all the major manufacturers. I have sold nearly all of them except this amp. The Vox AC30-TB gives me almost everything I want. The only other amps I use besides this gem are a Vox AC30/6 TBX (which is about to get the full Don Butler treatment) and a Marshall 100 watt Plexi over a 1960a 4x12 loaded with Celestion G12H's. Probably the only amp I regret having sold was a 1964 Fender Bassman.

If someone stole my '65 AC30-TB, I would hunt down the thief like a dog! Then, I would do whatever it took to get another. This is my favorite amp of all timeŋ Period!

Submitted by Ian M. at 07/18/2005 01:22

Price Paid: 950

Features: N/A
1965 Jenning Vox AC 30. Bought it from Ampaholics in Surrey. Sounded great in their shop. Got it home, but it didn't sound the same as my mates. Turned out that Goodhand-Tate (poncey name) had re-coned the speakers - looked fine but sounds harsh. Other bits in the amp had been messed with too. Spent another small fortune getting it sorted, but still needs a pair of genuine speakers to make it good. Beware. Not an honest fella - shop elsewhere. Buys his stuff on E.bay and part exchange junk from music shops, bodges it up then then doubles the price to the unsuspecting. Be warned, buy elsewhere.

Sound Quality: N/A
Now that it is sorted, it is everything I expected, apart from the sound being a bit harsh - pair of genuine speakers will sort this - more expense, but live and learn.

Reliability: 10
Too old to gig with without a backup. Still 40 years old so ......

Customer Support: N/A
Lots of spares avaliable. Lots of people can work on them - and some that can't of course (or they are just not honest fellas).

Overall Rating: N/A
Too long to remember. Met lots of friendly sharks in my time. Made it, lost it. Still playing. Like some of the new rock stuff coming through. Hope for the future. Stay safe and watch out.

Submitted by Mick at 05/27/2005 14:28

Price Paid: US $7,300 used

Features: 8
I have two JMI AC30's from different years and am reviewing both. Pricing above was for BOTH amps. $4,500 for the '62 and $2,800 for the '66. The first is a candy panel 1962 top boost, blue alnicos, Albion transformers, CHROMED chassis courtesy of Plexi Palace (hence the price). The second is a 1966 grey panel top boost, silver alnicos, plain Woden transformers (not painted green). The amp is three basic separate preamp circuits feeding one power amp section. The amp is a one trick pony. However, with an A/B switch I run both the normal and TB channels simultaneously. Instant channel switching! The third tremelo/vibrato preamp section can be used on it's own or combined with another channel. With a bit of simple patching, relatively versatile - certainly useable. My styles of music are pop & rock, the amp suits these just fine. No effects loop, don't need it. No reverb, it would kill the character of the amp anyway. I don't wish for any additional features, with the flexible input patching it has everything I need. The amp is KILLER for recording, both clean and distorted tones. Depending on the drummer & application, it may/may not have enough stage power. With my drummer the amp runs out of clean headroom, but the distortion level is perfect (I have a VERY loud drummer). Both amps are in my studio, I rarely use them live. Plenty of power in a studio environment. I rate the amp an 8 due to no internal channel switching, effects loop, reverb. But keep in mind I never need those features.

Sound Quality: 9
Okay, here is where the amps are VERY DIFFERENT. The '62 has dark, thick tones with pronounced lower mids, soft highs. The '66 is brighter with more ringing high end. They BOTH are VOX airy & chimey, and both shine with single coil pickups, mini humbuckers, or full sized humbuckers with low gain. I run out of loud clean tones quickly with Gibson Alnico 490 humbuckers, so the amp still SOUNDS great, it's just less versatile. With low gain pickups and channel switched inputs, the amp is either clean & chimey or saturated & spongy. Good enough variety for me, even with no pedals. The clean channel any channel WILL distort at high volumes - not an issue in the studio. I would describe both amps tones as chimey, airy & spongy. The distortion is never harsh. I run both amps together and the sound is GLORIOUS! But since nothing is PERFECT I rate the amps sounds as 9. Plus they are finicky regarding pickups.

Reliability: 8
Everyone dismisses old AC30 amps as "unreliable". It depends. Albion & Woden transformers are preferred and more reliable components then Parmiko (which were used after David Jennings sold the company). Also, most ALL JMI Voxes were built well. These original Voxes are reliable IF they are properly serviced and maintained. That means new caps & tubes when required. Operating voltages should be periodically checked. These amps GET HOT. A second set of top vents would have been helpful in the original design. If you are good with a router you can add them. My Voxes have only failed when I installed "NOS" tubes. Now I use only brand new current production tubes and have no problems. I rate the amps an 8 due to the high operating temperatures.

Customer Support: 1
Ha Ha! There hasn't been a JMI VOX company in almost 40 years.
Sorry, Korg doesn't count.

Overall Rating: 9
I've been playing 28 years, semi pro. If it were stolen or lost I would get something else - they are simply too expensive. You buy a Vox for the tone, which is GLORIOUS (did I repeat myself?). I compared my Voxes to Matchless amps, which I sold to buy these. The Matchless had too many upper mids and sounded "boxy" to my ears. (Don't get me wrong, Matchless amps are excellent).

Submitted by David LaCava at 03/16/2005 12:01

Price Paid: 800 (EURO) used

Features: 9
Made in England ca. 1978 to 1980. (Rose Morris era) I use it mainly with my 2 Rickenbacker guitars 330 and 330/12. You can plug 6 guitars into this amp, but I only use the brilliant channel. The normal channel sounds a bit dark, the vib/trem channel interesting, but itīs nothing against the brilliant channel. Simply perfect. Pure jingle-jangle.
Whatīs missing? A Master-Volume would be ok, but what I really miss is a reverb. So I bought a cheap stomp box for this,and it works great.

Sound Quality: 10
The sound is absolutely incredible. I use it only clean with the "cut"-switch turned off completely and I can get all the classics out of it (Beatles, Byrds, The Smiths...)
We were comparing the AC 30 with a Fender Blues de Ville (also tubes), and the AC 30 won by far. Itīs really a different league.
This amp isnīt very variable, and for distortion this one is not the right one. You love or hate it. My advise: If you like clean sounds, buy this. If you like distorted sound, go and buy something else.
10 points here of course, no question.

Reliability: 8
I have this one since a month now and changed the tubes one time, as the they were quite old. Itīs buzzing a little bit sometimes.

Customer Support: N/A
Donīt know.

Overall Rating: 10
Playing since 15 years now. 2 Rics and a Tele.
If this amp was stolen I would kill the thief. If this amp was lost, I would kill myself. I will never buy a different one, execpt another AC 30.
The best thing is: The AC 30 upgrades any guitar. Even cheaper guitars are sounding good, and good guitars are sounding great.

Submitted by Bernhard at 02/23/2005 09:23

Price Paid: US $1500

Features: 10
Mine is a rare Rose Morris era Vox AC30 made in 1991. It has all the same features previously stated but with the addition on Reverb.

Sound Quality: 10
Sounds like smooth, silky, chocolate. I play in an Alt Rock band, but my roots are blues/funk-based. This amp covers it all.
I mostly play just the Normal channel with the tone cut knob at 10 o'clock, volume is on full (keep reading to find out how my ears can stand the volume.) It originally came with greenback speakers, I've swapped those out for Vintage 30s. Man what a difference! smoothed out the highs, and punched the mid-lows. I also use an A/B/Y box to channel switch between the normal channel and the Brilliant channel. This is the only way to do this. Of course the brilliant channel is on full as well with the bass at (3 o'clock) treble (1 o'clock). Now the only way youre ears can handle this is to use an attenuator of some sort between the amp and speakers. I use a Marshall PB100 powerbrake. Keep in mind these are 16ohm cabs. The PB acts as a master volume. But its wide open on stage most of the time anyhow. With the Powerbrake I can "Y" the output to another cab. I use a showman cab with a greenback and a jensen. Man, when used in conjunction with the V30's, life couldnt be better, time doesnt exist. Now folks,, when you drive your AC30 as hard as I do in this setup,, youre gonna find out quick that there aren't a whole lot of tubes that can hold up to the abuse. My personal preference has been JJ tubes both pre and power. 1year4months and counting No Problems!! I had a closely matched quad put in. Let them warmup properly for 20 mins and cool down in stanby for 5min when your done and your tubes will go the extra mile.
I never use the Reverb or the Tremelo. Just an analog delay, chorus pedal, Boss DS1 (to overdrive, not dist,, all knobs at 12o'clock) and another overdrive pedal.
I mostly play an american Telecaster. I just roll off the volume on my guitar to get a clean tone (if there is such a thing, but you guys that drive this amp know what I mean.)
If you have this amp and only play in your home,, get out there and get a PB100/hotplate/Dr Z attenuator (about $200-400) so you can really see/hear what these amps are all about. Sure, you get a great clean tone at low levels, but nothing a bassman or a twin can't get. Roll the volume up to the tone where other amps can't even dream of reaching.

Reliability: 10
If your amp is popping or getting volume "jumps" , you aren't allowing your tubes to warm up enough. Turn on your amp, go make yourself a sandwich, come back and rock out till you puke. good times.
Almost a year and a half on the JJ's I threw in, and Im still cranking out tone. Take care of your tubes, and your amp will sing to you.
Ive gigged with this for 2 years with no backup, practice for 3 hours 3x's a week, and never had any problems with it.
Oh yeah, make sure your tubes are closely matched. If you dont know what Im talking about,, take your amp in to a pro and have him order the tubes for you. Or ask some guys here.

Customer Support: 10
never dealt with them,, I wouldnt know who to go to anyhow. Rose Morris? JMI? Korg?
whatever, thats what forums are for.

Overall Rating: 10
Ive been playing for 17 years actively. Ive owned soo many amps and guitars its sick. One day a friend took me into a vintage shop and I tried out an AC30 for the first time. From the 2 minutes it took for the Sales guy to walk over to me to tell me to turn down,, I knew where my tone was gonna come from for the rest of my life till I get rich ofcourse. :) Smooth, silky chocolate. Ive sold my 100 watt Marshall DSL Stack for this 33watt 2x12 box with no frills or thrills, and havent looked at anything else.
Amps ive owned/tried: Marshall DSL/TSL/JCM 800/ MARSHALL Artist/Mesa Boogie Nomad 100/Nomad 55/Carvin XB100/Fender Bassman/MusicMan HD130r/HD150/LINE6 crap/fender twins/JC120. And I still only play my AC30. Though I will give alot of credit to the Fender Bassman 4x10 combo's. A respectable alternative.
www.Mannaray.com

Submitted by Gary C. at 01/11/2005 17:27

Price Paid: US $2935.00

Features: 8
Not sure of the year its a reissue bought new in 2000. I always loved the tone of these amps and not only gig but have a recording studio so I need a variety of amps. I give it an 8 due to no reverb.

Sound Quality: 10
Awesome tone I was mainly using this as my clean tone amp with a Les Paul or a Rickenbacker. Very good amp for that jangly sound but starts to dirty up at higher volumes. After a few months it started making really weird noises while just sitting after being played for a couple hours, I figured it was the tubes going.

Reliability: 2
Well now for the bad news I used this onstage and bought a very expensive flight case to protect it during travel so I did not mistreat the thing. It was retubed several times which can get
kind of spendy if you buy quality tubes. After it went out on me at a gig I would not gig without a backup. 2 months after the last retube
it went out on me at a show.....thats it, if a piece of equipment fails on me twice on stage it never goes on stage again. I will retube it (AGAIN) and only use it for studio work where it doesnt matter as much if it craps out. Bottom line its not the amp for a regularly gigging musician.

Customer Support: N/A
Never dealt with the company as the distributor for the US is back east and I live out west.

Overall Rating: 3
I will have to knock it way down due to the reliability issues. I have several different fender amps, marshall amps, and a couple of smaller crate amps. I have 18 guitars and have been playing in bands and recording for over 30 years. Great studio amp if you can afford it for the unique sound, but for a gigging musician, especially if you don't have tons of cash, get something else.

Submitted by Pat Vaughn at 08/06/2004 15:42

Price Paid: 550 (Ģ) used

Features: 10
Although the amp has minimal features they can be used to great effect, and any number of tones can be created using the 3 channels all with low and high inputs( so 6 in total).
Mine is an 80's model with reverb and vibrato features, although the vibrato effect has recently stopped working. However I don't mind as I never used it anyway.It has G-12 speakers and cut, bass and treble tone controls.
I play rock'n'roll music and have always found it loud enough to cope at gigs (which with a PA shouldn't matter anyway.

Sound Quality: 10
I use a '77 Gibson the Paul with seymour duncan pick-ups.
I use the brilliant channel for my clean sounds and the vibrato channel ( which overdrives at a much lower volume) for a really honking typa 60's sound. Also I use a Boss Blues driver on both channels for a more fuzzed up modern sound.
For my solos I also use an ibanez compression pedal which used in conjunction with the 2 distortions is possibly the biggest fattest sound I have ever heard from an amp.
It took me a while to get used to using all these different tones and sounds but was well worth it.
It also has great sonic capabilities for feedback which I am presently mastering.

Reliability: 8
I have had no problems except the loss of the vibrato effect. This doesn't matter to me and appart from that it has been great.
Also I buy my equipment from a long-time indepedent guitar shop who carry out repairs to my gear free of charge. hurray!!

Customer Support: 10
Like I say its second hand

Overall Rating: 10
Before buying this amp I have Had Marshall, crate, peavey, laney, fender and carlsboro amps. In my opinion the vox had by far the most character (and looked the best). Also some people I have spoken to claim the 80's version to be one of the worst. This may be true but there will always be exceptions, I was going to swap mine for a '68 version but it really didn't sound as good. So make up your own minds cos when it comes down to it nobodies opinion matters but your own.

Submitted by wils at 04/28/2004 13:22

Price Paid: US $1100

Features: 9
Bought it used, I think it's a 2001. This thing has unbelievable gain, sweet tone; sounds amazing clean or dirty. It's a bare bones Class A tube amp, no reverb, vibrato isn't that great.

Sound Quality: 10
I use a Tele Nashville Deluxe through the normal channel and a Gretsch Tennessee Rose through the Brilliant channel and it's a dream. I bought it to play in larger venues and theatres but it sounds great at lower volumes at home also. I use a Yamaha GT Stomp and I can dial in just about anything you can think of: Sparkling clean tones, slightly overdriven to thrash tones, punk tones etc. The tone cut feature is very good, I found that it produces more mid range than a typical Fender tube amp.

Reliability: 9
I Just got it, haven't had any problems.

Customer Support: N/A
I haven't called them so nothing to say here.

Overall Rating: 10
I've played a bunch of Fender and Marshall tube amps and the more recent "clone amps". I've been a Fender advocate for many years but nothing comes close to the AC30 in terms of gain and versatility of the tone. There expensive, but worth every penny. You gotta try one.

Submitted by Kevin E at 04/16/2004 14:09

Price Paid: N/A used

Features: 9
it's an oldie, maybe 30-35 years old, don't know, great for blues, rock, surf, you name it...that british crunch and overdrive if you turn the volume knob high up, otherwise use a pedal for very high gain (i use marshall bluesbreaker 2 and it's a great combination).
doesn't have many features though, but who needs them?3 channels (brilliant, normal and tremolo), volume, bass, treble, cut, reverb, vib. tremolo and speed (for vib.t.).i use it all the time and it works perfectly, it's also loud enough to play in any club.you guys which are hung up on buttons and artificial effects and similar knobs take 3 for this rating.

Sound Quality: 10
i use a strat.sound on this machine is the best i've heard ever, no wonder that beatles, animals, hendrix, clapton, queen and many others used this amp.sound gets distorded at high volumes, maybe some of you find this as a minus, but i just turn volume on my guitar down and it's clean.i don't know how these new vox's sounds like, but this one is the best!i'll never sell it.

Reliability: 10
like i said, it's very old, but still in one piece!i broke a handle on it, but it's not a surprise after such a long time.i'll change the tubes, they're pretty old too.i'd use this amp anywhere and anyhow, without backup.

Customer Support: N/A
if there was anything to fix, i'd try to do it on my own, i think that the warranty is long gone.

Overall Rating: 10
every guitar player has it's own taste, i say that all of you should hear this amp before buying any other, if there was a "hall of fame" for amps, this one would surely get in immidiately.you hear this amp every day, listening to beatles, clapton, queen, animals, cream, hendrix, yardbirds, etc., just try it, you've got nothing to lose!i highly recommend it.

Submitted by Anonymous at 01/05/2004 08:13

Price Paid: US $1600 used

Features: 10
I think it's a 90s.
It gets a zillion tones, all excellent, from clean to end of the world.
3 channels - vibrato, normal, brilliant.
The vibrato channel is kind of goofy - you have to patch it into one of the other channels with a short cable - on it's own, it's such an extreme effect is virtually useless. At best, it gets kind of a leslie sound.
I use this amp at gigs and at home in my studio. It has an overabundance of power.
The main thing is it gets the best tone you've ever heard.

Sound Quality: 10
My main guitar is a cheapie (that I continually pick for for it's tone), a Squire SuperSonic, 90s, Japan.
The AC30 suits my style well because I like to play clean a lot but I like to have headroom to crank the thing up and get a nice overdriven sound, which the AC30 is unrivaled for by any other amp. I play rock, pop, blues, r'n'b, country.
At high volumes, there is some degree of noise, but the signal-to-noise ratio is neglegeble.
You can play clean loud enough to get over a loud drumer in a small club.
The distortion is the most colorful, detailed, rich, sweet, yummy distortion in the world. Ref "we will rock you" Queen.

Reliability: 10
So far, no problems.

Customer Support: N/A
not applicable

Overall Rating: 10
I've been playing gigs since age 15 in the early 80s.
If lost stolen, would have to be replaced.
I just love this amp, period. It rules.
The only other amp I like as much as this is my Balls M18 http://ballsamps.com/ which is a clone of a Marshall 18 watter / Watkins Dominator. My only beef is the weird tremelo, but I guess that's part of it's charm. Overall, this is the greatest amplifier in the world.

Submitted by Tim Boykin at 11/11/2003 09:02