Vox AC15

late 90s Korg version - Brit manufactured. I have owned this for 5 years. Single channel but with pre-amp boost ( never use it ) 15 watts - no effects loops. 47 pounds ( this is really important for me ) I think there are new ones called a " CC "- from China - with extra knobs and loops - weigh over 60 lbs. I need to be able to carry it up stairs, etc. - 50 is my limit - amp before this was a tweed bassman - 50 lb. Light weight modelling amps are out there - but at stage volume they don't have that real EL 84 thing going. I use this in small bars/clubs - just right for this - 4 piece. Tremolo ( really good ) Reverb - noisy - never have cared about this or had it looked at - don't use reverb ( With AC chime reverb is silly )

I use a Casino with bigsby into a Keeley blues driver into the #1 input ( slightly higher output ) - After I started with this Vox my pedal board went from 10 pedals down to one
( so now instead oif a 'pedal board' it's just a pedal.... ) . I play 3-4 hr nights - cover dance music - all the goofy stuff people dance to from 60s to now . I only want to gig once or twice per month because it's for fun - but - like I said it would not be "fun" with a 60lb + amp. Most tones are guitar straight to amp - with the treble near max and bass partly up it gives me the open chime - glassy thing ( this is my absolute favorite guitar sound ) - the casino + this amp gets it - I also have used my tele - but that epiphone is the one. -have not found a need for the pre-amp volume boost - although it's a good drive it can't beat my Keeley. With the treble backed down and neck vol PU on the guitar dialed back I get a sweet sort of compressed sound that is my second favorite - then I use the bridge PU clean - and sometimes bridge PU into Keely ( gain low ) for pushed sound. Ten years ago I would have said EL84 low watt amps are all one animal . Uh-uh - not true. By Bad Cat $2500 cub went away on ebay - also my goldtone. Vox really is special - this is the only amp that gives me the glassy chime. The person who sold this to me had changed out the stock speaker to a Celestion blue. Fortunately he included the original Bulldog ( Milton Keynes ) - as soon as I put the Vox bulldog back in - all that high end shimmer was there again. I have heard that there are newer Chinese AC 15s ( not the "CC" ) - also light weight. - but the only speakers available are the warfdale or the celestion blue. The Milton Keynes bulldog makes the over the top sound difference.
The only noise issue is with the reverb kicked in - Not an issue - don't use it and not motivated enough to take it in. I've used the same Yogoslavian tubes for 5 years - no replacements needed yet - seems like a long time.

I have a quiet little voice that whispers to me: " It's a Vox - you'd better take a back-up...."
Here's what I do - I have a cheap little modeling pedal in my car - if the amp crashed I could put this pedal into the PA I guess.

I don't know.

I have played 40 years - 100s of guitars - maybe 20 amps - never got to be a virtuoso at it but I can front a band with energetic rhythm noises and rhythm style leads. I have stayed with this amp longer than any before. This gives me 2-3 top notch tones - that's just right. The thing is when you walk into a live music setting you always hear humbucker + Marshall or maybe tele/strat into fender or maybe PRS into Mesa, etc, etc, etc, etc.. - same old thing. But Casino + AC 15 is special. Oh yes one more thing - the smell !! Great amps cook hot - Fenders have a certain smell - especially old black faces - this AC 15 has the BEST.

Acutually ive found the ac15 to be very versatile. I play in a band in which im lead guitar. we play a lot of indie and the ac15 is perfect for our sound. However i also play a wide variety like jazz, blues, rock, and metal. I play all of it through my ac15 its great. I do wish that there would be a separate clean and distorted chanel so that i wouldnt have to keep switching the volume controls back and forth. But not big deal.

I think the clean channel is great. it does get a little distorted at high volumes but nothing to fret about. I also think the distrotion is great for most music. however if youre into metal or hard rock, you may not be satisfied with the distortion. But its nothing that an overdrive pedal or distortion pedal cant fix. It works for me.

I have never had a problem. NEVER. Its the only amp i have and i never feel like id might need a backup.

Ive been playing for 6 years and have played a lot of stuff but the ac15 pretty much blows away anything especially stuff in the same price range.

The piece I picked up is a child of the Spring, '06. I am a shit-kickin' Country player grown out of Malmsteendom. I have been using a 2203 and matching 4x12 (G12Ms) cab. since 1981 and needed something with a little less, well... heft all-around, if you know what I mean. This amp fits the bill without any contest from me. SIngle channel, master volume little pepper with enough spice to sauce the town. I wanted straight-forward, simple but rich tone and found it here. The amp has everything I want and nothing I do not need. With regard to power; like I said, everything I want and nothing I do not need. The stock tubes, like with every piece of gear, needed replacing, but this has more to do with my aesthetic sensibility than, necessarily, the construction quality of Chinese vacuum tubes.

Simply, the AC15 jangles and chimes with an honest and bold, yet not overstated character that subtly steps it forward when necessary and, in the same breath, slides it seemlessly into an ensemble mix. I have no complaints about this little shit yet. It is a single channel tube amp and does what it does very well; it holds a shiny face when I hold back and diddle and breaks up superbly when I punch the front end. I use custom Music Man/ Chandler guitars loaded with Duncan singles and SGs with stock hums for beef when I need it. It helps me serve up all the Country goodness I need to and does so without an inklin' of a fight.

My Marshall have never given me trouble and this Vox should behave itself as well, I feel confident about it. Additionally, I work on my own gear and am authorized to service Korg products, so... My situation is, well, a bit on the privileged side of the tracks, I guess.
Accessories and components will always be what they are... disposable and replaceable. Tubes will be tubes. If they don't "go bad," you're probably not using them.

I've sold Korg gear for years and have a direct relationship with the company, so I have no issue when I need something fixed.

I've been playing for nearly thirty years and have owned so many different pieces of gear, but always driven back to or stuck around products of the Korg company. If my AC15 were stolen of lost, i'd buy another one. I hate nothing about it so far. I cannot compare it to any other amp, because it certainly is an animal of its own-- if it weren't, I wouldn't be interested in it. if you want comparisons, read somebody else's rant. If you want an amp that sounds like other amps, buy a Line 6. I do wish that it could grow a beard, pay off my loan debt or talk like Don Johnson, but...

2006 Model

Sound has potential if capacitors are upgraded, tubes are replaced with Mullard 12AX7's/Electro Harmonix EL-84's and speaker is changed out with a Celestion Alnico Blue 15 watt 8ohm speaker. I tested it with a broken in Celestion Vintage 30 as well and the drive sounded way better for you guys who play a little on the harder side.

Master Volume, Universal Tremolo, Shitty reverb that needs to be changed out with a Korg reissue box to sound like it should. Jacks are totally cheap and need to be replaced with Cliff UK jacks as used in the korg reissues.

Transformers are total shite and really kill the sound but if replaced with decent transformers this amp is totally sutible and to my liking.

The chickenhead knobs are cheap looking but decent enough to keep. You can replace those with korg reissue or original JMI era knobs if you like but I didn't really mind the new knobs even though they are just push ons and don't have a screw to lock them down.

The box, grille, handle and tolex are way better quality than the previous reissues in my honest opinion and I'm really happy with the cosmetic looks. The tolex is crap on my korg reissue. I've had a few of my korg reissue handles break and but luckily the amp never made it off the ground to fall down whew...

After upgrading everything the amp sounds 110% better and super close to a JMI model but louder and with more gain. It sounds like an early 60's Fender princeton reverb which is rad!

so there you have it, spend $400 or $500 on a used one which I'm sure will be in abundance after people realize what crap the insides are, upgrade the parts and you are on your way without shelling out big bucks for a reissue model.

As far as features go the amp is very simple as VOX's are meant to be.

I play a Les Paul Custom, Les Paul Classic and a Tom Anderson Strat through mine.

The classic is loaded with a Seymour Duncan SH-4 in the neck and the origianl gibson 490 in the neck.

The Custom is loaded with a Tom Anderson H3+ in the bridge and H1- in the neck.

The Anderson Strat is loaded with stock anderson single coil pickups.

The amp suits the Team Sleep and radiohead style of music but get a reissue if you want that true beatles vintage sound.

I highly reccomend tossing that cheap imitation greenback made by wharfedale into the trash because it kills the amp's tone.

It seems very reliable at the moment but only time will tell. I'll give it a 7 because I am weary of the insides without the upgrades and a 9 with the upgrades.

Haven't had to deal with them yet but VOX has always been pretty good to me with customer service.

I've been playing for 10 years. I also own a Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier Tremoverb half stack which I love to death with EL34's in the power section!!! Marshall JCM 800 50 watter which is killer as well.

It's sad that I too cannot reccomend this amp to anyone. I shake my head in shame to VOX. Who the hell changes out a tube rectifier for a solid state silicon rectifier? Cheap bastards that only care about profit now... Goodbye to VOX and their clever marketing schemes for now until they get their act together.

Vertically integrated... what the hell does that mean anyways?

Bought in 2006, with the Wharfdale or whatever its called speaker. Got a B stock item, had some cosmetic damage on the tolex. I'm not a big fan of channel switching amps so this is not a problem. It does appear to have lots of cost saving measures done to it, plastic this and that. Overall it seems well put together. Plenty of power for a club show for what I do. I like the fact it has an ext speaker jack, plus 8 ohm and 16 ohm taps (read the manual of course). I debut'd this amp Wed night 12 Apr 06 at a show we did at a restaurant here in Lynchburg (yes the Jerry Falwell holier than thou Lynchburg).

Definitely a rock n roll amp, I play mostly strats and teles all with single coils. Nice and jangly, smooth overdrive to a point....you can overdo the gain. Very bright, probably because of the Wharfdale speaker. I may order a Blue Pup from Weber to tame that a bit. Or not! Amazingly quiet amp.

In the old days I blew up alot of amps, but as I get older I haven't done that. Not sure how long this one will last as I've just gotten it and have no idea of the build quality. The reverb doesn't work now, but I think it may be a broken wire in the tank.....easy fix. However I distinctly remember VOX amps of old being brutally unreliable. Can't be any less reliable than the new Marshalls or Mesas with all their switching and unreal multiple signal paths. I try to be a bit ginger with things but I have to transport the gear to play. I guess if you drop stuff often or don't load it properly to minimize wear and tear its your own @#$%ing fault. But sh*t happens.

None so far.............1 year warranty, haven't checked to see where a service center is. I'm an electronics tech by trade and will most likely repair it if it sh*ts the bed.

Glad I bought it, really adds a new voice to my arsenal. Most of my other amps are all Fenders so this is a nice change. I'd buy it again with a Blue speaker next time. The only thing I wish it had was a Marshall 18 watt combo attached to the side of it!

New Chinese-made single channel, master volume with Tremolo & Reverb. Use amp for small club gigs. This is a circuit board(pcb) amp with 2 12AX7 preamp tubes and 2 EL-84 power tubes, and a Vox Wharfdale Chinese 12" speaker, which looks like a Celestion G12 30H

Using Strats and Teles for a country and classic rock gig, though humbuckers sound great, too. It sounds like a Vox. Good, even frequency response.Reverb and Tremolo suprisingly good. The amp is not very noisy,either. I set the amp clean (Vol.@ 9-10 o'clock) and master vol up most the way. Using a pedalboard w Maxon Comp on most the time and Keely Blues Driver or Fulltone OCD for overdrive. I think the OCD sounds better(more British). The amp sounds great, once burned in for 15-20 hours. The Wharfdale speaker sounds good, but I put my own Celestion Blue in the amp. This amp was made for the Blue. Great chime and cleans, as well as great overdrive sound. Odered from an online store. The amp actually sounds better than I thought it would. If the amp is pushed too hard, you'll get a bit of ghost notes in the distorted sound, so don't get this amp if you're running 2 Metal Zones into it. It works best for clean and Plexi-like Brit Overdrive.

Don't know yet. The amp had Russian tubes in it, which I replaced with JJ tubes.I've had good luck with JJ's being reliable. Choose a good retailer, like Eurotubes.I'm not affiliated with them. I take a backup preamp to gigs, but have never needed it.

No contact with these people. Amp warranty is one year. Tubes and speakers, 90 days.

Been playing over 30 years. Have a couple BF Fenders, %by13, Blueverb, Carr and a couple others. Chose this amp because it looked like a good value. I don't really care if it isn't hand-wired...it still sounds good. I would like a slip cover for it, but don't know if Vox has one. A minor niggle: The piping on the bottom of the amp wasn't glued on. Other than that, construction was good, all screws were tight. I would recommend the AC15CC1X with the Celestion Blue.
I'd replace this amp if it were lost.

This is a brand new Vox AC15 Custom Classic. It was manufactured in November of 2005 in China :-(. It is a 15 watt 1x12 tube combo. It runs off of 2 EL84 power tubes and 2 12AX7s.This is the one with the Vox special designed 12 not the $300 blue Alnico. Most folks think Vox amps are all class A however they are not. This is an A/B amp. The controls are layed out as follows: Power and Standby, Master Volume, Depth, Speed,<-(Tremelo) Mix <-(Reverb) Bass, Treble, Volume, Input. I play an assortment of ALL genres. I peck around with everything from rock, blues, funk, worship, classic rock etc etc. This amp suites me fairly well, but it could never be my signature amp. I am a minimalist when it comes to guitar so this amp does what I need it to therefore I can't complain about lack of features. That's what makes it cool right? If I wanted to flip switches and twist knobs I would get a Mesa Road King.


Oh.... BTW this amp comes with a flimsy little footswich for turning the verb and trem off.

I play a Tele and a PRS with P90s. I don't have a guitar at the moment with buckers so no comment there. With both of my current I can dial in a good sound pretty quick. I like to dime the master volume and control my overall volume with the other volume control. This gives a nice warmer tone. This amp can be very raspy sounding if you don't EQ some of the high end out, but that's what some folks like about Vox right? I also like to set both volumes volumes at 5'O Clock for a nice grinding, biting sound. If I need to clean it up I just roll off the volume. The tremelo is quite nice and can be very strong if you need it. Be careful with the reverb though. I really don't care for the verb on this guy. I am a Blackface reverb cranked to 7 junkie, but this amp's verb just plain out is unusable above 1.5 to me. I find myself wanting to play alot of open chords with a delay behind it. The dirty stuff this amp is capable of is cool, but might take my Fender loving ears a little time to ajust.I also am having a hard time getting this guy EQ'd to where my modded TS9 sound the way I like it. Overall the amp is worth the amount it costs(less than $600 new) but I can sum up my overall impression of the amp thus far with a few words: BRIGHT......Sterile(can be; not always though)Presence (can really bring the chime out of single coils)Jangly, chimey, sparkle!

This is where I get a touch nervous. The amp has very thin tolex. It has cheap feeling badging, amp handle and the input jack is plastic. I gutted the amp the night I got it and the insides look cheap to my eye. These are just observations and me being honest. It obviously wasn't enough to keep me from buying the amp especially since I plan on using it at home. This guy will see no gigging.And to credit the amp the cabinet feels fairly solid as does the chassis itself. If you are a geek like me and want to see the insides of the amp you can look at them on my Photobucket site:

http://photobucket.com/albums/a284/B_Bent/Vox%20AC15CC/

I give it a 6 just because of the potential I see for upset. If you are a hardcore gigging musician I would make sure this guy gets treated like gold.

No experience whatsoever.

I have been playing for over 10 years and have had every brand of amp known to man. I am a self diagnosed tone/gear junkie. If this amp were lost(how do you lose an amp? LOL!) or stolen I would not be in a hurry to replace it since this is just a fun amp for me to try. And as much as I may have painted a somewhat bad picture of this amp it's really not bad. It's just that it is more of an outside of the box amp for me. I love old Fenders and what can you say those old Fenders with 6L6s are gonna be fatter than a 15 watt amp with EL84s.

This amp is the new vox ac15 cc1 which is now made in china (to save money, i guess) and seems very similar to the korg reissue vox ac15, except it only has one input, solid state rectifier and cheap looking power switches. Like the previous review, its best to look at the vox website.

Im using this amp with a rickenbacker 360 and a 62 custom telecaster. My main type of music is mostly radiohead, beatles, the who, rem, etc. The sounds this vox ac15 cc1 make are not really that good (in fact very average) when compared to the previous reissue korg ac15, and i cant help feeling that these chinese made ac15s are cost cut versions of the reissue ac15 (great pity) - obvious changes are ditching the tube rectifier for solid state circuit (totally yuck, and short-sighted of vox) and possibly other circuit changes. Bottom line is that it doesnt sound like a vox ac15 should do.

this amp is only a couple of weeks old and, so far, seems just fine (touch wood).

havent really had much contact with vox, but when i have spoken to them they have been very helpful.

ok, first of all this amp is very cheap for a vox ac15, but dont be fooled: you dont get something for nothing. I cant really recommend this amp (which is a real shame) even thou it looks great, and the simple fact that it is a vox ac model. I will be looking for a korg ac15 reissue to replace this one, as they sound so much better, and just to clear any doubts, im not a vox snob who only praises english made voxs of past.

For the specs, it would be best to go to their website. It has all the basic features for a single channel amplifier.

I have owned the amp for 2 weeks now and still do not love it. I have played it with a 335, tele, strat, 73 deluxe tele, and a reverend wolfman. I want to go on record and say that tone is completly subjective. I have owned 2 other Vox AC15 TBR amplifiers over the years and regret selling them. I thought this amp would be a great addition and get that wonderful vox tone. It does have the vox sound but not that classic rich, organic, musical tone. I played it with a 1x12 cabinet with a weber blue dog and that helped. It still is lacking something and I am not sure what it is. I would have to say it has a certain solid state sound to it, not to knock SS amps. The AC15CC1 to me sounds good for a $600.00 amp, but by no means does it compare to the AC15 reissue. I am not a tone snob, but I expected more from VOX. Like I said this amp is great for a $600.00 amp, but to me no worth keeping.

To soon to judge, but I will say it has tube rattles and cabinet buzzes I can not get rid of.

Could be a great amp for some, I was just disappointed with the sound and performance.

As you know already if you've made it this far - Korg built these amps in the late '90's and a while into this century. . . but now they're not available. Too bad. It's pretty much the best amp I've ever owned. In fact I have two of them with the Blue Celestion AlNiCo speaker. Couple that with a Rickenbacker (or Gibson, or Fender, or YOUR guitar) and it's THE sound.

Are you kidding. . . classic tones you know the groups that used these. . . all the vibe and tone and power is there in a smaller package. Having carried around giant rigs, this is refreshing to move about. Of course you should buy a rolling anvil style case. . . get one on eBay for $65+shipping. . . . if you can't afford the case, you can't afford the amp

The master gain configuration is great. . . you can run the input gain all the way and just keep the master down and get serious toneful grind with your Les Paul. . . you'll need to keep that pot cleaned out as leaving it in this position will definately create dead spots on the pots. I've had these amps a couple of years and play out professionally each week and teach at home with them and they just put all my other amps in the music room to shame.

Could be a little finicky. . . but so is my wife of 25 years. Only problem I've ever had was a constant blowing of the fuses. . . due to a bad recitifier tube. . . Don't gig without a backup-but I don't think you'll need one if you keep it tuned up. . . and don't beat this one up-it's your best friend. . .take care of it

Are you kidding? I would repair it myself.

I'm old. I've had them all. Bogner, Matchless, Fender, Reverend, Two Rock, Peavey(sic),Magnatone, you'll keep this one. . . I sold the others (except for a Super Reverb I use with my pedal steel)
Pluses: Killer tone and sound. Relatively lightweight. . . Beatles soul. . . .jangle. . . great gain

Minuses: Terrible tolex, a bad rectifier tube will blow fuses, difficult access to tubes, no customer support (but we don't depend on that anyway, right?)

Result: Given all the problems, consider this one a beautiful blonde you'd be crazy not to want to play with in every sense of the word. . . . I'll never get rid of mine (wife or VOX AC-15) but then again, I do have 2 AC-15's. . . hmmmmmm. . . .