My older handwired ac15 anniv

[LARRY GERSHON]

Did some testing this weekend of my 3-4 year old white ac 15 handwired amp. The one with the black panel. Just wished it had more headroom, dont think I can gig with this thing- just too distorted for even moderate guitar work. Any thoughts or suggestions?? I Guess I could change the speaker but dont want to make it harsh sounding. Would a 16 ohm alnico gold make any difference over the stock blue in efficiency? GIve me some ideas and thanks in advance, Larry

www.roserecording.com

 

[teleman1]

Have you tried 12 at7's? I think the Gold would give a bit more headroom.

 

[Trebor Renkluaf]

Learn to like a little dirt in your tone. Seriously, isn't that why many people dig Voxes - their clean/dirty, dirty/clean tone? Love that sound!

 

[cratz2]

My only advice is to learn to love the grit.

Other than that, maybe work on turning the amp up, rolling the volume on the guitar down and adding a bit of brightness to offset the highs you'll lose going that route.

I don't think the Gold itself will give you any more amp headroom but you'll get a pinch more speaker headroom. I used to run mostly strats into my AC15H1TV, into the EF86 channel. Right around 2:00 on the volume dial, it would start getting what I consider dirty and where there was audible speaker breakup. This is with low output pickups. Without ever having done it, I'd think a Gold would allow you to get to about 3:00 or maybe 4:00 on the dial without speaker breakup, but you still have amp breakup.

Are you using the Top Boost channel or the EF86 channel more? I assume you are talking about the H1TV Heritage not the current production Handwired, correct?

Other than that, you'd probably have to think about getting rid of the Vox and getting something Voxy with more headroom such as the Morgan AC20 Deluxe.... which is why I sold both of my Voxes.

 

[bizzwriter]

Maybe pick up an AC30 and sell the AC15? You'll have plenty of headroom.

 

[ken374]

what guitar you using? I played a tele through the ac15 heritage it had great cleans

 

[Trebor Renkluaf]

what guitar you using? I played a tele through the ac15 heritage it had great cleans

Yes they do - but they don't have allot of clean headroom either. But the transition from clean to dirty is magic!

 

[BuddyDog]

Try using the low input for your guitar, and see if that gives you more clean room. I also think using the triode switch on the EF86 side gives more headroom than full pentode mode.