Vox Cambridge 30 Twin Reverb

Price Paid: N/A

Features: N/A

Sound Quality: 9
This is an update to a review I did 'long ago' on this amp, and is meant as encouragement for those who may be on the fence as to whether or not to bother upgrading their Cambridge. From the beginging, I was very pleased with the 'sound' of the amp, but it did suffer from Cambridgitis when I tried to push it. So... I, like some others here, ordered the upgraded optocoupler, as well as the 60w amp chip... total cost, about $25. Now, for those of you who have not tried anything like this modification before, I must say that I had not, either. I possess an affinity for electronic things?, yes... but had I actually soldered things onto a circuit board!... no. So with some skepticism I gathered tools, including the menacing and potentially lethal soldering iron, and set about ripping the amp apart. I figured I would try the optocoupler mod first... if that worked, I'd at least have a Cambridge that functioned as originally intended! Less than an hour later I was putting it back together, knowing full well that it wouldn't work when I turned it on... even suspecting I would somehow have what little hair I still have standing on end as 110v surged through my body. Much to my delight... it DID in fact work! So... one more time I began the dismantling, to install the 60w amp chip. Though, thankfully, much easier to access, this was a trickier job, as I really had no 'third hand' or clamp to hold the tiny circuit board while either disconnecting or re-connecting parts and wires (a must for anyone planning on doing this!). BUT... again, success... and WOW... it isn't just 'louder'... the bass response that SHOULD have been there with 2-10" speakers is now there, and the amp is much brighter and really can now 'cut' through! In fact, the problem now is that the stock speakers can't handle it all! So... I add my voice to those insisting you MUST do these mods... it is not terribly difficult if you take your time and take care, and the little amp you end up with when you are done is MORE than worth the trouble! Feel free to contact me if you need additional details.

Reliability: N/A

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: N/A

Submitted by Mark McNeil at 09/02/2004 14:05

Price Paid: US $200 used

Features: 9
This is a hybrid amp: solid-state 'clean' channel and a 12AX7 in the 'overdrive' channel's preamp. It's got the wonderful Vox reverb and tremolo, buttons for mid-boost, channel select and gain boost. Channel and gain boost are footswitchable with an optional VS-2 switch.

It's rated at 30 watts, but my 15-watt Pathfinders blow it totally away. This may be because of just a few cheap parts and poor workmanship (see Reliability section).

Sound Quality: 5
I use it for all kinds of stuff and use humbuckers, soapbars or a Rickenbacker with toasters. The amp delivers for a while, until it starts losing power and distorting due to overheating.

The reverb and trem are great, but the mid-boost makes everything sound like soapbars. The gain boost is really too potent to use as a boost for solos.

Played at lower volume settings, it sounds great ... very Vox-y. Channel 1 starts distorting too soon (about 5 on the knob) and gets more buzzy with higher settings. This gets progressively worse as the amp gets hot. Can't get a good, loud clean out of it. By the end of the first set it's wide open and sounds terrible. Channel 2 is much better. I usually set the gain at about 3 with the Boost ON and the volume wide open. It's very responsive to attack when set up this way.

I'd rate it an 8 or 9 if Channel 1 was better.

Reliability: 3
I always have an extra Pathfinder 15R in the car for backup; they're bulletproof and loud as hell. The Cambridge is notorious for overheating and optocoupler failure, so I won't dwell on that. Mine arrived DOA from the original owner over Ebay, but I got it working and the seller split the repair cost. Plan on replacing the optocoupler and sweating a bunch of terrible solder joints if you get one.

Also plan on replacing the amp chip with the 60-watt version, as described elsewhere in this FAQ. The amp is only set up for 30 watts because the factory optocoupler is so wimpy. I made the mistake of replacing my optocoupler with an identical OEM part, so it will be replaced with the recommended Fender part when the power chip is upgraded.

The Cambridge is a sweet-sounding amp, but it hasn't got the oomph from the factory to punch through a drummer.

Customer Support: 2
Based on previous experience, Vox and Customer Support are mutually-exclusive. I didn't even bother.

Overall Rating: 7
I've been playing for a long time and wish I could afford an AC-30. If the Cambridge delivered on the design parameters (30 watts, tube preamp, 2x10 Celestions), it would be a good poor-man's AC-30. The potential's there but you have to be willing to dig for it.

Submitted by Anonymous at 08/16/2004 10:52

Price Paid: US $100 DOLLARS

Features: 8
WELL YOU KNOW THE FEATURES ON THIS LITTLE THINGS! I BELIEVE MINES WAS MADE IN 2001 I THINK. AND IT IS THE TWIN SPEAKER. THIS IS LIKE MY PROJECT AMP OR PRACTICE AT HOME AND MAYBE WHEN I INVITE FRIENDS TO MY HOUSE I WOULD HOOK UP MY GUITAR WITH THIS CAMBRIDGE. I DO HAVE AN ACTUAL REISSUE AC30TBX!

Sound Quality: 7
THE SOUND IS NOT TOO BAD FOR PRACTICING AT HOME OR JUST HECK JAMMING.I HAVE A G&L ASAT CLASSIC AND IT SOUNDS NICE, NOT THE BEST THOUGHT.I CAN ONLY SAY ITS JUST DESENT,NOTHING SERIOUS! MY STYLE OF MUSIC VARIES FROM BEATLES TO RADIOHEAD,U2 TO MUSE, AND GUSTAVO CERATI TO SODA STEREO. THE CLEAN CHANNEL IS NICE AND THE SAME GOES FOR THE DIRTY CHANNEL. JUST DONT PUT THE VOLUME ALL THE WAY. I RECOMMEND MAYBE AT HALVE VOLUME.

Reliability: N/A
WELL I DONT KNOW ABOUT RELIABILITY! NO PROBLEMS AS OF YET. SINCE I PURSHASED FOR 100 DOLLARS I DONT CARE, ITS NOT MY AC30 ANYWAYS.

Customer Support: 8
WELL I HAVE DEALT WITH VOX BUT ONLY TO GET SOME INFO. AND THEY ARE STRAIGHT.

Overall Rating: 7
ITS A GOOD PRACTICE GUITAR AMP. THE REVERB AND TREMOLO IS DESENT,NO BIG DEAL. THE FEATURE IS GOOD. CLEAN CHANNEL IS NICE AND SO THE DIRTY. I TRIED TO PUT IT TOGETHER WITH MY AC30 AND THIS AMP CANT MAKE ANY COMPETITION WITH MY AC30TBX. LIKE I SAID ITS JUST A PRACTICE AMP AND EVEN A PROJECT AMP AND IF SOMETHING HAPPENS I CAN ALWAYS USE THE CABINET OR THE TOLEX AND EVEN THE SPEAKERS. I CANT SAY I RECOMENDED BUT IF YOU WANT A PRACTICE AMP JUST TO HAVE AROUND THIS ONE IS OK AND THE GOOD THING ALSO IS THAT ITS NOT TOO HEAVY SO YOU CAN ACTUALLY CARRY AROUND.

Submitted by CHUY at 07/29/2004 21:44

Price Paid: US $100.00 used

Features: 8
Vox Cambridge 30 Reverb Twin. Contains two 10" Vox/Celestion Bulldog speakers. Two channels, one clean one overdrive. Channel one is solid state, the overdrive channel is preamped by a single 12AX7 tube. Built in tremolo and reverb, mid range boost, and gain boost. I could do with more than one input jack.

Sound Quality: 9
The main guitar i've been running through the amp is a Fender Mustang with two single coils. The sound is fantastic. Good low end and a nice distortion. I've also been playing an acoustic through it and gotten some great tone as well.

Reliability: 1
Out of the factory these are possibly the least reliable amps i have ever seen. When i first got the amp it was already in the advanced stages of 'Cambridgitis'. Brown outs, crackling, etc. I took the amp apart, did the opti fix, hit some solder joints and since then the thing sounds incredible. I plan to do the 60watt upgrade next, as soon as the part arrives. If you aren't electrical saavy or don't have a tech, then stay away from these amps. On the other hand, if you do, these amps are great once you do the fix. Especially at some of the prices you can find them for.

Customer Support: N/A
I didn't try to contact Vox. I assume they'd just send me to Korg and then vice-versa. I decided to just save myself the headache. It would have been nice if there was some sort of recall issued, but to the best of my knowledge that never happened. I bought mine used, so the warranty was out of the question.

Overall Rating: N/A
My main amp is a Hiwatt and i have to admit, since i fixed the Vox i haven't touched the Hiwatt. Not saying it's a better amp, but it's definitely fun to play through. Not to mention the huge weight difference. One of the big reasons i got it was to have a smaller amp that i could take around when i didn't feel like dragging around a huge amp. I'd definitely pick up another one if the price was right. I've also been thinking about picking up another to turn into an external cab to run off of this one.

It's hard to rate because on one hand it's a terrible amp, but on the other hand it's a great amp. I guess it all depends on the price and the work involved. I'm sure if i bought the amp new for full price and had the typical problems i'd be a bit less optimistic.

Submitted by jaycrimson at 07/02/2004 19:14

Price Paid: US $152.00 used

Features: 9
Early 1999 version. I bought it on ebay for $152.00 with a advertised "short problem". For the price I felt it had a lot of features. Also the speakers alone made it worth it. Didn't expect it to work at all but when I turned it on it barked to life. Loud for 30 watts.

Sound Quality: 9
Playing around with it I was impressed with its versatility. I have a bunch of guitars but the Charvel model 1 "shred guitar" sounded incredible thru it. I jammed for about 45 minutes thinking what an idiot the seller was when the gremlins appeared! As you've read this amp was conceived one way & built another. A pity because the design is perfect & the production was crap.

Reliability: 2
I did one thing that may help other unfortunates. North Coast music sells Vox vents for the Rose Morris era that are large. I bought 4 of them & installed them along the solid back panel. This didn't totally solve the problem but extended the playing time since it ran cooler. But what were they thinking!! Buy American (see British).

Customer Support: N/A
Hey I thought I was just getting a cab with Celestions. Can't comment.

Overall Rating: 6
I've been playing 39 years & have a collection of 60's Vox amps that were supposed to be unreliable, but they are tanks compared to this unit. I'm rating it midway between awesome & junk only because I knew what I was buying.That wouldn't be the case if I paid the new price for it. When my tech wizard is done with it-he's a genius-I'll probably love it.

Submitted by Rob B at 04/28/2004 21:03

Price Paid: US $350

Features: 7
For the money, this little amp offers some decent features. reverb, tremelo, and a pair of 10 inch speakers. Looks cool, like a Vox should. Two channels, one clean, one overdrive. Called a "hybrid" with a 12ax7a tube in the preamp, but it's really a solid state thing all the way.

Sound Quality: 4
The clean channel is pretty much generic solid state. Decent at lower volumes, then irritating as you turn it up. The so-called "tube" cahnnel is the overdrive channel, and it sounds like a cheap solid state amp distorting badly. Forget the "tube" part. In no way is this a tube amp. That preamp tube is nothing more than a marketing gimmick.

Reliability: 1
Piece of crap! This is where it takes a big hit, in my opinion. Within a couple of hours of light use, it died on me. Took it back to the dealer, who replaced it with another brand new one, still in the box. Guess what? Within a week, the second one died, too. Took the second one back for store credit, got a Fender Blues Jr and never looked back.

Customer Support: 1
My dealer was super about the whole thing. Probably because he'd had others returned for the same problem. But as far as Vox is concerned, I'd give them a NEGATIVE rating if it were possible.

NOTE TO AMP MANUFACTURERS:
Making your customers perform the debugging on your product is a surefire method of getting a black eye with your targeted demographic. Like MANY other reviewers of this amp, I'm now a VERY disgruntled FORMER Vox owner, who wouldn't own another one of your amps if it was on sale for fifty cents.

Overall Rating: 1
Garbage. Even when it worked, it was disappointing. What was I thinking when I bought the first one? Oh, I remember! Vox amps have been around forever and have been the tone of so many great guitarists. Plus, they look so cool! Well, the mighty have become mediocre, in this case. Vox, you should be ashamed of yourselves for releasing this defective merchandise for general distribution. Fortunately for the public, you make guitar amps, and not aircraft or automobiles. Because if you did, those defects would be fatal rather than just aggravating.

Submitted by Del Sanders at 04/03/2004 10:40

Price Paid: US $340

Features: 10
Reverb, tremolo, two channels, two jacks for dual footswitches, line out, headphones out, etc etc. I find it quite versatile; I can get from a nice clean sound to a slightly overdriven, '60s garage rock tone on the clean channel, and from a crunchy rock tone to something that's frankly more distorted than I care to use on the other channel.

Sound Quality: 10
The guitar I mostly use is a Series 10 Rickenbacker clone. So basically, I have the "cheap Beatles" set-up: a fake Rickenbacker 325 and a lower end Vox amp, and that's pretty much what I was going for. It works quite well, too. And the reverb is great.

Reliability: 10
I've had one repair done in 3 years or so, and that one was my fault, so I'd say it's pretty reliable.

Customer Support: 9
I don't believe I've dealt with the company directly; the one time I had it repaired, I found an authorized repair shop through my local guitar store, and the guy there took care of it. The amp was under warranty at that time.

Overall Rating: 10
I fully believe that this amp was a great value. I got exactly what I was looking for (that Vox sound) for at least a thousand dollars less than an AC30. And it has that great Vox look! I highly recommend it.

Submitted by Bryan at 03/07/2004 08:31

Price Paid: US $350

Features: 9
You know the features.

Sound Quality: 10
This amp was made for single pickups! and it rocks! READ ABOUT RELIABILITY!!!!

Reliability: 10
FOR ALL C30 OWNERS!!!!! READ THIS!!!!!!! THIS IS VITAL !!!
The villain of all bad reviews of this amp has a name and location!! it is a crap part that was used on the amp! it's the opto-coupler model LT9914 which is responsible for the tremolo and its located on the circuit board next to the volume pot, all users MUST change this part for a VTC5L3 optocoupler!! even those who didn't yet have the problem. All you hear about crappy sound, low volume, volume variation while playing (after getting warm).....here is the solution besides, there's two pot's called VR11 and VR12 on the C30 Circuit Board that happens to be (most of times) not well regulated, they alter the gain that is sent to the power section of the amp so, when it's not regulated makes in some amps sound crappy (Clipping) ! I also made the modification to 60W don't be mistaken these amps are a bargain! they just need a little tweaking!! I'll give you another important tip check this site www.voxtalks.com the truth is outhere! :) YOU HAVE TO DO THIS GUYS !!! THIS AMP ROCKS! FORGET THE BAD REVIEWS, that's why you see some excelent reviews and some terrible reviews!! DONT WASTE THE CHANCE TO HAVE AN INCREDIBLE AMP FOR A CHEAP PRICE!!! OPEN YOUR EYES AND CHECK THE VOX FORUM !!!! I was about to sell it when a optocoupler went off, thanks vox for using such a crap in it! now I have a fantastic amp! after my research about the problem! One thing I don't understand if VOX put a IC Power to 60W they could ask twice the price! it sounds SO MUCH BETTER you have no idea..... To change it do 60W you just have to change the original IC POWER which is a TDA2050 for a LM3875 (my case I used a LM3876) the best is, the 60W IC costs about 5$ US dollars!!! 2 hours job separates you from a FANTASTIC amp

Now I laugh because people don't believe the quality and headroom of this lightweight amp!!! BTW you can meet me there at the vox forum ! I'll be please to help you folks!

Customer Support: 5
Forget about it! do a research get the schematics, make the mods you'll never ever have to deal with them! (well here where I live they don't exist anyway)

Overall Rating: 10
Before mods 5 after mods 10!!!

Submitted by Anonymous at 03/02/2004 14:45

Price Paid: US $350

Features: 9
This amp has the features I was looking for

Sound Quality: 8
The Clean channel sounds great, Overdrive side a little fat for my tastes (could probably be changed by tube substitutions).

Reliability: 1
Eeeek!! I've never owned an amp this unreliable, and I've had some real clunkers! The "brown-out" issue was evident right off. The tech soldered up some joints and the tremelo issue flared up, which was again fixed by touching up the solder joints (two visits). It seemed reliable enough, but it died at the first gig I took it to (relying on a Pathfinder, which I HIGHLY recommend, to finish the gig). One more trip to the shop. This time it worked better than it ever had and it was a joy through all the rehearsals, plus the ENTIRE GIG! Wow, I thought my problems were over. Unfortunately, I was wrong. It started crackling like it had a bad input jack, but the went away by wiggling the cord end. Thought that was it, but it "browned-out" two songs into the next gig and remains at about half power. I suspect there are more bad solder joints, but the last trip (the fifth?) was at my expense so it probably won't be going back. This amp sounds great when it's working, which isn't that often. Come to think of it, this is probably the least reliable thing, in general, I've ever owned.

Customer Support: 2
This amp spent quite a bit of time in the shop while the tech was trying to get ANY information out of Korg. And this was a Vox dealer!

Overall Rating: 1
I've been playing twenty-some years and own some pretty killer amps. Why I waste my time with this one is beyond comprehension. It had moments of brilliance, in fact the one gig it made it through, I received several compliments on the tone. I was looking for a club amp to take the load off my 64 Deluxe Reverb, and this seemed to fit the bill (on paper, anyway). I figured a few warranty trips would chase the gremlins out of it, but it looks like I was mistaken.

Submitted by Dave at 02/26/2004 10:55

Price Paid: US $300.00

Features: 5
The features on this amp are fine. It is a great sounding little amp. The problem I have had with it is that the power and sound diminish as the amp warms up. As I said in my first review on 3/8/03 temperature = sound quality.

Sound Quality: 7
This amp sounds great when you first turn it on. I have used a varity of guitars with it, Rickenbacker (6 and 12 string), Fender Strat, Fender Tele, Gibson Les Paul, Vox Mark IV and they all sound great through it.
The amp does have a design problem though. As the amp heats up the power drops and the sound quality gets very muddy. I have experimented with this amp since my last review and I have solved most of the problem. The main problem is heat. The amp section is enclosed and there is no way for the heat that is created to escape the cabinet. The heat is created by the power transistor and the transformer. They both get extremely hot. Apparently the heat sink on the transistor does not deflect enough heat.
Since I was not going to sink any more money into this amp I decided to experiment with it. I got out my trusty drill and proceded to drill some vent holes across the back of the amp. This helped but not enough so I drilled more holes (four 1 inch holes on each side of the amp). I covered these holes with vent plates that I purchased from Vox to dress up the holes. This seems to have helped the problem.

Reliability: 1
This amp is only reliable in that you can count on it to lose power and sound quality after it heats up.

Customer Support: 1
Customer support is horrible. It cost me $50 for them to tell me there was nothing wrong with the amp. I had it in the shop twice and both times they told me there was nothing wtong with it.

Overall Rating: 5
The amp sounds great when you first turn it on but you will probably have problems with it when it heats up.
I would seriously buy some other brand unless you can get one real cheap and you feel like experimenting with it.

Submitted by Jay Shrub - The Shrubs at 01/20/2004 07:59