Sent back Vox AC30CCH - Sigh!

[Stranglehold]

I sent back the Vox AC30CC head that I got from Musician's Friend. I wanted to but, I just couldn't like it. I thought they sounded pretty good when I first heard them in a store but, was a different story when I heard it in my house. The one I got from Musician's friend just didn't sound very good IMO! It appeared to be working fine - I just couldn't find any sounds in it that I thought were great - it was just so-so. Thank god for Musician's friend return policy. I a/b'd it with a Reverend Hellhound - both through a THD 212 cab - & clean or with overdrive pedals I thought the Hellhound sounded better all around for about half the price. Also, the Hellhound was alot quieter. The AC30CC hummed quite a bit. Maybe I just got a dud - I don't know but, I'm not going to chance it again. Let me say that the one I had was brand spanking new - the box had obviously never been opened. I kept it about a week, played it soft, very loud, moderate, etc. & just wasn't that impressed.

 

[Blueser]

Well, better that you got to try it before taking the hit on resale. I suspect that there will be quite a few of these available in the Emporium within the next 4-6 months, after the thrill has worn off.

 

[jivebaby]

Maybe you don't like the vox sound? I thought they sounded as good as any other reissue at half the price. In fact I thought they sounded almost as good as the handwired series. I dont own one but I was impressed. In general, I think the stuff coming out of China is as good as anywhere else in the world. SE electronic mics for instance are coming very close or reaching their german conterparts as far as build quality and sound go. To each his own I guess.

Mike

 

[wordsonyou]

Originally posted by jivebaby
Maybe you don't like the vox sound? I thought they sounded as good as any other reissue at half the price. In fact I thought they sounded almost as good as the handwound series. I dont own one but I was impressed. In general, I think the stuff coming out of China is as good as anywhere else in the world. SE electronic mics for instance are coming very close or reaching their german conterparts as far as build quality and sound go. To each his own I guess.

Mike

That's my impression as well - it sounds every bit as good as an HW and also does the JMI thing very well. When I don't feel like a Vox tone it sounds awful though - especially if you're in the mood for fender.

I have the impression these are going to get some bad reviews though as did the korg uk ones initially, by people that are purists and either want it to be handwired or built in the UK. Generally on HC when people diss the UK ones they say - well that's British labor for you but I can live with it. With the CC series when they are dissatisfied they say - Chinese piece of crap (not that this is what happened in this thread so please take no offence Stranglehold).

I guess all that matters to me is that mine sounds fab. I wish that others would have that experience, but if not I guess I just have to count my blessings that mine is one of the 'good ones'. Then again Don Butler (analogman) says that the CC's sound much better out of the box than the Korg UK series, so that is at least one "respected" vote of confidence for them. I guess they are like any other amp - there will be detractors and those that love them. The same can be said of Matchless, Komet etc. The bonus is you only have to spend 850 to see if you like them, and with the musicians friend return policy that is a very low risk proposition.

 

[Kenster]

Well for what its worth I 've had an AC30CC2 for a month now
playing both at home and at rehearsal. I can honestly say
I am quite happy with it. I also had it at a little tone fest playing along a Two-Rock, Germino C40 , Komet 60, Gabriel 18 ,Constellation and Aiken MKI 18 Watt. We all thought it sounded fab and had its own voxey vibe. It has those voxey clean tones all the way up to decent gain on its own with humbuckers. A strat some may need an OD. There isnt nothing
Classic Rock or Bluesy I couldnt play with this thing.

Even though I think the Vox speakers sounds great I had a Blue laying aroung to mix and I noticed a little more smoothness to
the overdrive tone and a bit sweeter cleans. Otherwise I could
have lived with just the Wharfdales.

Also the feel of this amp inspires me to play clean more often. I think these are quite versatile and a great value.Hopefully they will hold up over time in the reliability dept.

Course doesnt hurt they look classy too.

But.. if it aint happening when you play it back it should go.



Cheers

 

[riffmeister]

coulda been a tube issue. they're funny like that, y'know......

 

[trisonic]

I was reading the review in Guitarist (5 star btw) and it said not only do you have to extract the chassis (natch) but you have to unsolder the speaker connections just to change the tubes.

Best, Pete.

 

[wordsonyou]

That is unfortunate! Luckily I have the head so no unsoldering for me.

 

[Kenster]

Originally posted by trisonic
I was reading the review in Guitarist (5 star btw) and it said not only do you have to extract the chassis (natch) but you have to unsolder the speaker connections just to change the tubes.

Best, Pete.

That can be a pain. Fortunately on mine there was enough
speaker wire so the chassis could slide out far enough. Still
more of a hassle than most amps.

 

[fullerplast]

Originally posted by trisonic
I was reading the review in Guitarist (5 star btw) and it said not only do you have to extract the chassis (natch) but you have to unsolder the speaker connections just to change the tubes.

Best, Pete.

I think the HW may be the only AC30 that you don't need to even slide out the chassis to change tubes....

I'm pretty surprised they did not leave enough service loop in the CC's speaker cable to allow tube changing. In any event, it's easy enough to fix if that's the worst problem they have. I'm curious though, the head chassis must have a speaker jack-why wouldn't the combo chassis be made the same?

 

[riffmeister]

Originally posted by fullerplast
......I'm curious though, the head chassis must have a speaker jack-why wouldn't the combo chassis be made the same?

Crazy Brits!!

 

[Kenster]

Originally posted by fullerplast
I think the HW may be the only AC30 that you don't need to even slide out the chassis to change tubes....

I'm pretty surprised they did not leave enough service loop in the CC's speaker cable to allow tube changing. In any event, it's easy enough to fix if that's the worst problem they have. I'm curious though, the head chassis must have a speaker jack-why wouldn't the combo chassis be made the same?

The combos do have two speaker jacks. One for an extension cab
and one for an external cab that dicsonnects the internal speaker.
I 'd bet you could unsolder or cut the internal speaker wires, fold them up out of the way, and solder in a right angle jack with the
speakers wired correctly. Then use either jack like on the heads.

But I would wait to hear from Vox to confirm this and even then I'd probably wait till the warranty is up or this thing has proven its
reliability.

 

[bluesbreaker59]

I played one of these yesterday and the cleans I felt were pretty nice. They weren't fantastic, but it could've been the 50's RI strat that I was using too.

I saw one man plug in a Gretsch for about 1 minute and then unplug immediately on hearing the amp.

Basically my impression was its a nice amp, but nothing special. No comparison at all to the JMI's that I've heard, and even some of the RI from England that I heard, two in particular stand out, both were absolute BEASTS.

I have NOTHING bad to say about China or Chinese construction, the amp behaved fine, and it looked sturdy by outward appearance. But judging by sound, it just didn't do it for me, like some the old Voxes, or even some of the recent UK RI's. JMO, hope everyone enjoys their's.