Vox AC-1 Mini Combo

Price Paid: US $45

Features: 10
Made in 2001 or 2002. Great for almost any style of music. Has 1 and 1/2 Channels. Great practice amp. Looks like a AC- 30. Solid State. Vol. , Cut , and Gain. Head Phones. It Runs on a 9 volt batterey or a 9 volt outlet thing i never used. 2 2s.

Sound Quality: 10
I play a Squier Stratocaster 2001 made in China (don't worry its a good Squier.) It has stock pickups but set in a great position. This is my main guitar (besides my Acoustic) It sounds great threw this amp. It sounds Better then my fender Champ 15. When i use this on recordings it sounds like a damn AC-30 for a cheaper price. I can get Vox Tone out of this baby. Turn the Cut off Volume 3/4 and the gain less then halfway and you got a fucking AC-30.
The disortion is not modarn. It cant be used for punk.
Some of my friends have mini amps because when we are in school and when we bring our guitars in we don't feel like bringing our damn tube. My one friend has a fender mini twin. Its a very cute amp it kicks this amp's ass on the the killer disortion it has but my vox kicks ass on tone this amp has the best tone for a mini amp. My other friend has a no name brand prime mini amp. Its one watt and really sucks. The damn thing disorts at 1 on the clean channel ok. THe only reason he bought it is because he uses it for bass also. This amp is the best mini amp sound wise.

Reliability: 10
I can depend on this amp i hope it lasts many years. I treat it kindly it treats me kindly. I love it. Hell ill gig with it.

Customer Support: 10
I have no warrenty but if it breaks ill buy a new one.

Overall Rating: 10
as i said before I play a Squier Stratocaster 2001 made in China (don't worry its a good Squier.) It has stock pickups but set in a great position. This is my main guitar (besides my Acoustic). Its a nice black guitar. Now i would have better stuff but im really a keyboard guy so i play guitar as a hobby, no lessions. I have been playing for about a year on guitar but i think i sound like 2 years because i have been playing piano for almost 8 years! and you no thats the universal instrament. I have a boss BR-532 digital studio which has built in fxs which is really nice. i plan on buying a peavey transtube with fxs soon. I also plan on getting a new keyboard around next year. One day i hope on getting a rickenbacker 325c64 or somthing. the pit rules. This amp its a great vaule and worth every penny. Go to the store and buy it now!!!

Submitted by Curly of the Pit at 07/05/2002 07:06

Price Paid: N/A

Features: 10
For what it is I think it is perfect. I got it for I think 40 dollars when they came out. At first I used the 9-v battery. and was pleased and entertained enough to get the thing....but. When you use any ac adapter, it sounds so good and loud.
I was shocked. I had had it for weeks and was amazed that it was the same battery sucking box.

Sound Quality: 10
Very nice! I am writing this review, becuse i read someone elses were they said "i hope you are not going to use it in the studio." or something like that. What ever man. I recorded a guitar solo on a compilation disk with some reletively high production and you would never guess the amp used!!! I propped up the amp on a chair, set up a neumann super expensivo mic and plugged my fender telecaster direct with no effects.. turned up the amp no drive or cut, and got an incredible sound. It is a rock amp, and it is IDEAL for the studio, simply because it gives you an alternative to the usuall overdrive sounds... Very cutting high tones. lots of fun. That guy who wont use it in the studio is just limiting himself. my rating for this would be a 12.... as long as you use the ac adapter of course. with a battery it sounds super shitty. if you play it loud or hit the strinigs hard, the sound cuts out. so for get the battery unless you are in the woods...
fun fact:
buy a 25 dollar smokey amp too. use it as a pre amp to the ac-1 one and turn it all up up up and you get the sounds of ten thousands big muffs in a pit of HELL...

Reliability: 10
never a problem, and I have done anything but baby this thing. so easy to fix if you had a problem. I have opened it up only due to curiosity and bordom. to see what is inside, and cut out the thick plastic grill behind the cloth... so the speakers are only covered by the cloth... clearer soundnow.

Customer Support: N/A
don't know . would not bother over this. if it blows i will get a new one, or fix it. anyone could it has about a dozen solder points and a few wires. very simple and the speakers could be replaced easy..

Overall Rating: 10
SO good. for the price it is worth it for studio experimenting or late night practice or whatever...fun toy. or serious amp depending on your mood.

Submitted by Jonathan Bennett at 08/21/2001 08:40

Price Paid: N/A

Features: N/A
This is an update of my earlier review with a tip I'd like to pass on. Go to Radio Shack and get part #274-248A (1/8" phone jack, closed circuit type) and hook that in between the speaker lines. I thought I'd do this to see how it sounded with some of these unpowered computer speakers and/or travel speakers to see how that worked out tone wise. The kicker was hooking it up to the 12" speaker in my Tech 21 60..... amazing how good it sounds (no wise cracks about the Tech, ok?). For two bucks you get 2 of the little jobs. Skip buying some 15 watt practice amp. Do this modification and it will sound better than or equal to 90% of those!

Sound Quality: N/A
I was surprised at the amount of bass it can kick out with an extension speaker. Overloads at about 3/4, but that is much louder than conversation level anyway.

Reliability: N/A

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: N/A
This little trick gives it a 10

Submitted by Larry Emory at 04/01/2000 22:50

Price Paid: US $35

Features: 8
I really like the adjustable gain, much better than an "on-off" switch, and it is actually useful! Chicken head knobs are cool & smooth in operation. The detailing of the plastic is nice. I would have preferred if the headphone and power input were on the top, like on the Epiphone mini (which is great in it's own way...) Some sort of strap or belt clip might have raised the score.

Sound Quality: 9
I am using a '58 Gretsch double anniversary (I got when I was 16)and an Olympia EA-15 (Tacoma ac/elect import version). It can't show the nuances that the Gretsch can do, but I love the sound of it, almost as good as the tube amp I got with the G back in '66. The ability of the amp to dial in such a wide range of sound from such a little box is great. I use a Zoom 505 with it (seems a must). Then the colors you can crank out really show. It gives just enough crunch to The Olympia to make it sound very rock 'n roll.

Reliability: N/A
I don't know how much of a thump it could take, nor would I care to know. I do like that it fits in my case. I'm moving to Asia, so unless it gets jacked, maybe I can report later on how it does in severe situations...

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: 10
I've been playing since I was 16, but layed off for about 15 years. Hmmm, I'm 49... do the math. It probably will get stolen, and I would buy another, no doubt about it. I also got one of those guitar ace headphone amps, and this sounds much better through a stereo or whatever. Save some money, and it looks so cute!!
I also got the Epiphone EP-1 (going on the road backpack style doesn't lend itself to mesa boogies!!). That amp has a more natural open sound, so it is perfect as an acoustic mini amp. This for rock and roll. So I won't feel bad taking them both.

Submitted by Larry Emory at 12/21/1999 09:43

Price Paid: US $40

Features: 10
Dunno what year it was made. If you're resing the reviews, you already
know the controls...pretty simple & straightforward. Looks very cute--
a mini AC-30, complete with cloth speaker cover...

Sound Quality: 10
I play rock (not the a-word), mostly U2-style...It works great for my style. Sounds just about perfect when I jam with my U2 "Under A Blood
Red Sky" CD...I play a Hamer Slammer DA-03 Daytona Strat-copy (which
is pretty decent itself)...Gives me a nice sound, warm, nice
distortion...doesn't sound tinny at all...To summarize it, it is
perfect for what it is designed (as a practice amp) and for even
more (maybe recording).

Reliability: 10
I don't gig, so I dunno...I do have gotten carried away playing and,
by pulling the cable, have dropped it from my desk about 4 times...
Nothing rattles and hums in it (pun intended), and it still works
perfectly.

Customer Support: N/A
Beats me.

Overall Rating: 10
I've been with it for a year. My guitar is a Hamer Slammer DA-03
Daytona, and I also have a Digitech RP-10 effects proc. (I don't use
the Digitech with the AC-1, though). It works perfectly for me...If
I lost it or whatever, I'd buy another one the next minute...I
strongly recommend it to my friends...If you want to buy a cool
practive amp -- this is it.

Submitted by Jose Kercado at 10/26/1999 14:18

Price Paid: US $30.00

Features: 2
Volume, Gain, Cut--described in other reviews. I'd prefer an on/off switch. I think the best feature is that it's cute as hell--looks like a AC-30 for "Guitar Hero GI Joe."
Would prefer the input jack not on the top becuase it makes the amp wanna tip over, but putting the jack on the front usually makes it even worse. Maybe on the side? There's a hole for an AC adapter, but the amp doesn't come with one. The battery hook up is not the traditional 9 volt type with snap locking connectors so my AC adaptor for 9 volt that fits snap locking connectors won't fit.

Sound Quality: 4
Let's be real. IT'S A TINY LITTLE PLASTIC PRACTICE AMP. You're not gonna drive a 4-12 with it, you're not going to use it as a preamp, and hopefully you're not going to use it in the studio. Stacked against amps in it's class, it probably sounds pretty favorable. However, I have had a couple of similar sized amps in the past. I still have one called an "Afterburner" which really sounds about the same. When I played the AC-1 in the store with a crap guitar, it sounded like crap. When I got it home and plugged in my Les Paul, it sounded much better. It actually can go louder than you'd imagine by the looks of it. What's hilarious is that you can actually get feedback out of it. Not the sqawky, squealy, undesireable feedback you'd expect, but the good stuff! Further, you can really fuzz it out with the gain, or back off the gain and clean it up. The "Cut" (bass-treble) nob dosen't seem to have as much effect as the gain nob.

Reliability: N/A
My guess is that if it falls on anything other than carpet, there will be damage (at least to the outside plastic). And your cord could easily pull it off a table top.

Customer Support: N/A
Not really applicable.

Overall Rating: 5
Been playing 12 years. If it were stolen or lost, I wouldn't lose sleep over it. What do I love about it? Mostly The Vox look, including the diamond grillcloth. It's got a decent tone for what it is, and I like that it'll do feedback, but it still sounds "plasticy." Using plywood instead of plastic might have helped the tone a lot. What do I hate. Nothing really. It's what I expect. Anything I wish it had? Yeah--little tiny EL-84s, ECC83s, top boost, and a chrome stand! I paid $30 for this amp (new) and that seems about right. I see that others have paid more--up to $45. I wouldn't have paid that much for it. The AC-1 may be a little better, but I don't hear a substantial difference in tone between this and other micro practice amps I've owned.

Submitted by David B. at 10/26/1999 10:42

Price Paid: US $35.00

Features: 9
1999 Vox AC-1 practice amp with 1 big ole watt of solid state power, three knobs (Volume, Cut, and Gain), a headphone out and a power in if you want to use an adapter. I like the fact that it has little tiny chicken-head knobs, that's a cute touch. The "Cut" control is a bit odd, you turn it all the way to the left to get full treble, and as you turn it to the right the sound gets more bassy. A little counter-intuitive but not a big problem. Wish the headphone out was a 1/4" instead of 1/8" because I'd like to see how this would drive another amp. What's amazing to me is that the little Volume and Gain controls actually DO work together to get different sounds out of this thing! I'm not saying this will replace your AC-30 or your Fender Bassman, but I am saying that at this size, and for this price, there are a lot of tones in this little plastic critter. It has no on-off switch; you plug into it, and it's on, and when you unplug, it's off. Odd but not something that bothers me a lot.

Sound Quality: 9
I use a Rick 330, a Harmony Rocket and a Fender Jazzmaster with this thing, and it really works well with all three. To me it seems a lot less noisy than the Marshall MS-1 that I had before, although it doesn't get the same ferocious distortion. It actually has a clean sound, which you can't really say about some of the other little tiny toy amps. The AC-1 has a lot more tonal character than most of its competition. It actually sounds very Voxy. I recorded a lead with it, using my Harmony Rocket, and close-miked with moderate gain dialed up on the amp, it sounded very 60s and Beatleish. I really like playing with this little amp and seeing what it can do, and it seems to be able to do much more than its competition. I like it better than the Marshall MS-1, which is saying a good bit since I really liked the MS-1. Unfortunately I dropped the MS-1, and that was all she wrote. But the Vox seems to open up a whole new area to explore as far as tiny amps go. I like it. It's got Character! I usually use small amps like this only for recording, because you can close-mike them and get humongously distorted sounds without getting evicted or served with divorce papers. The Vox is nice because it can get you the "eviction tone" without the eviction volume, and it can also get a variety of cleaner tones that are very useful for me in recording situations.

Reliability: N/A
I wouldn't gig with it, of course, it's totally unsuitable for that. And it's plastic, so I wouldn't want to drop it. As far as servicing, et. al., that's ridiculous, because it cost me $35.00, so if it broke I would just get another one. And I WOULD get another one, if something happened to this one.

Customer Support: N/A
I have never dealt with Vox but once owned a Super Beatle solid state amp. If the Super Beatle had been any more of a dog I would have had to buy tags for it and get parvo shots. The AC-1, however, is a well-behaved little puppy. As I said before, if there was a problem with it, I'd just buy another one. No need to bother "customer support."

Overall Rating: 10
I've been playing for a million years and I have a reasonable amount of gear. If anything happened to the AC-1 I would get another, simply because of the fact that the first time I recorded with it, I got a great 60s tone that helped me ding the solo first time out of the box. I'm really taken with it in all aspects. When I went buying, I compared it with a Marshall MS-1 and a Danelectro Honeytone, and it was clearly superior to both. That may sound strange when you're talking about 1-watt plastic amps, but it's true; the Vox just plain sounded better! I think Vox really did a great job on this one.

Submitted by Anonymous at 10/04/1999 10:28

Price Paid: US $40

Features: 5
Gain, Volume, Cut knobs.... input, headphone and 9V ac plug... 2 speakers...

Sound Quality: 9
Like everyone else who reviewed it before, I am quite pleased and surprised by this little amp. It's bright and I can get some sweet tones (and some good feedback) out of it, even with my incredibly crap guitar. The bass response is not that great though. I can't get distortion out of it, but maybe that's just cause my pickups are bad. Stomp box solves this problem.

Reliability: 6
I'm sure it's dependable, as long as it's treated nicely.

Customer Support: N/A
Dunno... the store I bought it from gave me a 1 year warranty.

Overall Rating: 9
I just bought this amp yesterday, mainly to use it while I'm away from home. I'm really pleased with it. It's amazing for what it is.

Submitted by Anonymous at 09/14/1999 10:20

Price Paid: US $39

Features: 5
This one-watt solid-state amp features volume, gain and cut controls (cut is basically a treble roll-off). The weird thing about the "cut" control is is works like a reverse tone control, and you get the brightest sound when it's on "0". This took some getting used to. For a small practice amp, I guess it really has all the controls you could ask for, but I would make some changes. First of all, it would be better if the gain was independent from the volume. Also, I think a contour knob to kill the midrange would have been more helpful than the cut. Considering I most commonly play hardcore type music, the midrange is a bad thing and always seems to be looming around. But for blues and rock, this thing pretty much kicks ass.

Sound Quality: 10
Remember-I'm rating this based on how it sounds compared to other one-watt amps. I have previously owned a Fender MA-10, and it sonds like crap compared to this. My choice was between this or the Mini-Twin, and as soon as I heard the tubey-60's smoothness of this thang, I was taken. It has amazing hendrixian sounds, and you can aproximate the sound of a plexi by fiddling around with the knobs. TIP: To use this thing to it's full potential, use an EQ infront of it!

Reliability: 10
Ive had it for 6 months, and no problems at all.

Customer Support: N/A
never dealt with them, I'm not aware of any warranty.

Overall Rating: N/A
I personally really like this thing...I kinda think of it as an effect. It has a wide spectrum of overdrive sounds. The clean sounds are worthless, and you cant get a heavily saturated distortion out of it, but who cares. The smooth, tubey overdrive more than makes up for all of that.

Submitted by Robb at 02/07/1999 09:20

Price Paid: US $39

Features: 9
Made recently in China for Vox in England. About the size of a 1982-era Walkman, but styled EXACTLY like an AC-30 (complete with cloth grille). Runs on one 9-volt battery or AC power. Two micro speakers, chicken heads for gain, cut (tone) and volume, a headphone jack. Top-mounted jack which, when plugged into, turns the amp on. One delicious watt of peak power. My real rating for this thing is a 10, but I'm saying 9 since 10 says "very versatile." This is not versatile in the least, but it's great.

Sound Quality: 10
For what it is, incredible. The Marshall micro-stack is great looking but a piece of crap. The Fender Minitwin is awesome compared to the Marshall, but is also a piece of crap compared to this. The sound is clear, crisp, resonant and incredibly (as others have noted) REALLY DOES sound reminiscent of a real valve Vox, especially at high gain with a Les Paul. Brian May on a bedroom budget!

Reliability: N/A
Leave it on your desk or pack it gently in your overnight bag and you shouldn't have a problem.

Customer Support: N/A
Come on now. It would cost about as much to ship it to England as it would to buy another one.

Overall Rating: 10
This thing is ingenious and solves a problem -- what amp to use when almost everything is too small. It's cheap, sounds great, looks great, and does what it's supposed to do wonderfully. If you can find one, buy it. Here the 10 really applies, "fantastic value" is dead on.

Submitted by Anonymous at 10/05/1998 10:20