Vox AC15CC1 112 Combo

This is a revision to my review below.... under the name Vox Populi
Please skip ahead to the "reliability" section...

Move along....

Okay... I raved about this thing a couple of days ago... Now, get this... I hadn't tried out the footswitch yet (it turns the reverb and the tremolo on and off, giving you the option of either one on, both on, or both off) So, tonight I thought I'd plug it in and try it out. It switch okay, but one of the LED's wouldn't light. Well, as I said in my first review... I am a trained telecom tech (thankfully!), so, not being timid and unafraid of the "voiding of warranty" crap. I opened up the footswitch. A quick look with my $2.99 drugstore magnifying glasses revealed a "shorted" LED. The solder job was defective. I had to get an exacto knife and scrape off the solder that was causing the short. This restored everything to working order but... took my time - to repair a brand new product???!!!. Although it did take me roughly on half hour to take it apart, set up my meter, soldering iron, etc.... can you imagine if I took it back to the dealer.....? Sorry sir, we need to send the whole amp back too... we can't just get you a foot switch because... well, maybe the amp is broken too!!! Frankly, that is WHY I took it apart. A lot less hassle for me to try to fix it ( a BRAND NEW PRODUCT ) than for me to lug it to the dealer and wait...... for what and how long. See next catagory... Although for this category the lowest I could give is a 1 "I think it worked once"... I am certain the footswich NEVER worked... it was shorted out!

Warranty? I fixed it myself... but, I guess if you make the amps with poor quality control and let the customers "de-bug" them and find the flaws... you can fix it up latter when you find where the "weak points" are.... Come on VOX... don't blow your esteemed name on turning out weak products... there is too much of a legacy to loose. If customer support starts with providing the customer with a working product then I must rate it as a 1... but in all honesty I didn't contact them.... I just think they should improve their quality control....

Sorry Vox... I was so stoaked on this amp.... only to plug in a dead footswitch... What is wrong with companies now? They do everything to lower costs... (read, move to China), brag about their high tech manufacturing facilities and all the benefits thereof. And then turn out a product with weak quality. Come on... to test a foot switch all you need, as in this case is a stereo quarter inch cable routed to a test rig that will test A/B switch and light each LED... and all that at 50 cents an hour labor for are hard working Chinese brothers. Why not? Out of box failure is the worst possible failure in my opinion... this amp was a Christmas present to me from my daughter...

Date code on the output transformer says April of 2007 for a build date.... I assume from this that the amp itself was likely built a little bit after that...
This is a pretty simple amp control-wise but it is very versatile sound-wise. Also, as a bonus, it has tremolo that sounds great. This amp is fantastic for blues, jazz and rock.... You would need a pedal to play saturated leads though. The reverb is incredible for bluesy soloing.... it truly enhances both clean and dirty sustain. And, when the reverb is cranked, it's "surf-city" (hello Carlsbad Caverns!) Jazz chording sounds great through this amp, 9th's/7th's/minor 7th's.... a little reverb and a little tremolo and it's as deep as a South Aftrican diamond mine....
One channel, no effects loop, no headphone jack, impedance switch on the chasis underside (8 and 16 ohms).... footswitch for reverb or tremolo on/off. What do I "wish" it had? Well, I guess if I wish it had something more, I would have spent more on a different amp... I suppose a switchable effects loop would be nice, maybe 2 channesl... but, what would I put in the loop? And, an AC15 with 2 channels... well, it really wouldn't be an AC15 then... would it? This amps beauty is in its simplicity.
I just got the amp but I will use it for giving lessons, recording and just playing blues and jazz for my own relaxation. It is sweet and easy to dial in. It has enough power for all of the above but I suppose the clean headroom would suffer playing above a loud drummer in a large venue... that is not what the amp is made for but you could "mic" it. This is a tube amp... 2 12ax7's and 2 EL84's. Classic Vox.

Great sonic variety here. This amp is VERY responsive to pick attack, volume knob setting, pre and master volume settings etc. The bass and treble controls cover a very wide range and interact in a cool way with the other controls, the reverb, the pre-gain and the tremolo.... a little rotation on an of the controls yeilds fertile ground for new sonic discovery. The amp sounds great clean and dirty. This is not a 5150 Chernobyl type distortion generator... it is a more subtle sound... it posseses great depth and really seems to allow for expressive response to "digging in" when playing blues. I would certainly give this amp a strong edge over the Fender Blues Junior.... an amp with basicly the same tube layout.... I have heard and played though both.... and of course the Vox is a little more pricey but you get the tremolo.... nice! I have used this amp with both humbucker and single coil guit boxes.... Of course the hummers make this thing sound like a cruise missle "shock and awe" campaign tuned to dropped "D". Wonderfull, powerful sounding distortion... and you can really bring out some highs in darker guitars with the "top boost" by cranking the treble up... sweet! It brought my Ibanez Jet King II to life. A guitar my band-mates have refered to as "dull" sounding in the past.... With a strat, you get the standard wine glass breaking highs and upper-mids.... and you can hear the sound waves ricochetting around inside the reverb tank..... YES! This amp suits my style when I play jazz, blues and rock.... Heavy metal, agro.... hmmm, not really but, bring on the grunge... Nivrana.... Kurt would have loved this little puppy.
This amp is incredibly guiet.... virtually no hum. It is quiet with my 100 buck made in Indonesia "mini-strat".... and some early Vox amps have a reputation for being very noisely because of their circuit design.....

I thought I'd pop the back panel off today and have a look before I wrote this review.... you know, the China thing. Well, I was very impressed (and I've worked as a tech in the telecom industry in Canada for years). The PC board is neatly layed out, the wiring is routed very precisely and - in sharp contrast to many "cheaper" tube amps - the tube sockets are mounted on the chasis. This is great because it allows the chasis to act as a heat sink and thus avoids heat transferal to the PC board. It also has the added advantage of -because of the "flying leads" to the tube sockets - not causing the tendencey of the sockets to "loosen up" as tubes are added or removed. The wire leads are soldered to the socket rears and then "fly" over to solder connections on the board. Some of my other more expensive amps don't have this reliability feature - Peavey 5150 II, Carvin X100B.... yada, yada... The leads from the tube sockets are nicely "dressed" and routed, the parts quality lookd average consumer grade. The main PC board is stood off from the chasis - keeping it cooler and there is a few "sub-boards". There is lots of room inside the chasis so I have little fear of heat related issues... The transformers look good... and, to the fellow who mentioned tha "plastic" jacks in a review below... sometimes circuit design neccesitates the use of plastic jacks because in certain circuit topologies the "audio ground" is isloated from the chasis ground... this requires insulated (plastic) jacks. This would likely have the net result of making the amp quieter....less hum and background noise. As with most tube amps, the reliability issues are usually related to the tubes themselves, and usually the power tubes.... It is my bet that most of the guys who wrote reviews below about early failures had tube related issues. Think about it... the tubes aren't really tested to someone buys the amp and turns all the knobs to "11" (Spinal Tap). Then, they fail, they hum, they crackle... even before you pour on the milk. And, if Vox happened to get a bad batch of tubes... well, how many amps in a production run would hav got them... Hell, I spent $2,400.00 on a Mesa Boogie will shi*^y tubes in it... after 2 days.... snap, crackle, pop, zap, sizzle, sputter.... talk about post purchase remorse. A new set of 4 under warranty and it hasn't burped since.... I am going to give it an 8 to spread around some good Karma.....

Well... there web site is pretty good... I have a great dealer that I would trust to fix up any issues with this little quasi/pseudo English tone generator.... (You know, the R&D department is still located in Jolly Olde - notice the use of the letter "e" in Olde - England. It looks and sound like a very well engineered and designed product. From first look inside it also appears to be built well, likely using the same caps, transistors and resistors as in your new big screen TV. One year warranty.... the usual, parts and labor. The speaker appears to suit the amp well... I really wonder how much difference the extra 3 or 4 bills for the "blue-guy" would make... some people seem to say it is magic. And, I don't suppose they'd offer it as an option if it wasn't an improvement.

I've been playing for roughly 30 years.... ouch! I would buy it again. I love the sound. What's not to like... it does what it is supposed to do... why would someone buy something that had features that they "hate"! Best "bang for the buck" in its price range.. the most features, typical build quality. I would expect it to last as long as any comparable Fender or Marshall in its price range.... Whoops - of COURSE ther is NO Marshalls in this price range. When will they go "off-shore"? I think this amp actually sports better build quality than the lower end PC board based Fenders....
This amp does not need any more features... what would you plug into the loop that wouldn't f#@k up an already wonderfully earthy basic tube tone? THAT IS WHAT A FREAKIN AC15 IS ALL ABOUT!!!! I think that, once word gets out on the sound of this baby, it will become a future classic... remember when Japanese guitars were "low-end".... now, I wish I had my early 70's Japanese ES335 "copy" back... I sold it for 50 bucks 20 years ago....

I bought a new 2007 AC15 from Guitar Center. Feature-wise, it's fairly plain. I won't rate a product on its features, as we all tend to buy the product with the features we need as opposed to looking for the product with the most features.

This amp sounds great. Others have already done a better job than I can in describing it. I was very pleased with the amp in this regard. Definitely has its own vibe, and not good for everything, but nothing is.

Having read the reviews here, I was apprehensive about buying the Vox. I seldom have trouble with my gear, so I figured what the heck. After having the amp three days, I was plugging my guitar into it when the input jack fell inside the amp. I wasn't a matter of the retainer ring coming loose...they use a plastic retainer ring on these things. I opened up the back of the amp to retreive the jack and discovered that the jack's plastic too. When I re-installed the jack, it wouldn't tighten all the way (even by hand), as the threads were bad. I could simply replace the jack with a metal one, but it's probably not that simple...the jack is attached to a postage stamp sized circuit board so you'd have to be sure to get the right part. And why the heck would I bother with that when Vox doesn't have the sense to use METAL JACKS! They use them on the AC30. The pots are a lot better on the the AC30 too (nicely dampened where the ones on the 15 feel toyish).

Don't know.

Overall rating in my case amounted to returning the amp to Guitar Center. My impression is that they've cheaped out on components too much. It has fewer watts, channels, and features than the AC30, but it's obvious that it has less quality, too. No thanks, Vox.

I've been coveting this amp for years and I finally got one. This is the Chinese made VOX and it's new. I play Beatles/British Invasion cover music as well as original music in my other band.
After 3 gigs I feel good about writing a review. I have had a lot of Vox amps. I own a Pathfinder 15R for recording. I previously gigged on a VOX VR30 that I added a 10" old JBL speaker to and got loads of compliments on my tone...but I want that 12" speaker so I got the AC-15...plus the VR-30 did not have tremelo which I have to have.
I also play bass through a VOX T-60 and have owned a vintage VOX VISCOUNT a few years ago but sold it...too heavy. I'm a VOX man in other words.

I would have got a AC-30 if I had someone to tote it for me but this thing is a beaut. It does JUST what I bought it for..clean tube tone playing British Invasion music.
I play with a Rickenbacker 330 with toaster top pick ups as well as a Dillion J-160E copy (which is FANTASTIC by the way!)
It is not noisy at all...like I say...it's PERFECT for what I play.

I've had no reason to contact VOX at all about this amp...BUT I did have my Pathfider 15R go bad about 6 months after I got it and VOX took care of it pronto.

I used a local warranty station when my Pathfinder broke down and it was taken care of to my satisfaction so I feel good about VOX product.

I've been playing since I was 9...I'm 53 now.
If this amp was stolen, I'd get another one for sure...can't do what I do without it.

This is a single channel amp. The features are prety simple, which was exactly what i wanted. There is a footswitch provided, this switches the reverb and trem off and on. The best feature is the inclusion of a master volume and a top boost volume (this works the same as a pre-amp volume) enabaling you to overdive the amp and get dirty sounds at any volume. The tone controls are bass/treble, trem depth and speed and reverb mix. (I would have liked a middle control too) 15W, (but as it its valve that equates to about 40w solid state) and allthough I have yet to gig/reherse with it (I bought it mainly for home recording) Im sure it would be loud enough for gigging, as everything goes through the pa these days, lound enough to be heard above the drums I would guess, allthough I have yet to test this.

Very good! that classic vox tone is there, andyou can overdrive it at any volume. It will take a few hours of playing for the speaker to break in, but once it does your in for a treat. sounds warm and full of character. I went for the Wharfdale speaker and I am pleasantly suprised by it. I would recomend getting this model over the celestion blue model, as you can allways upgrade the speaker later, (I looked into the price of doing this and it compared favorably with buying the celestion speaker to strart with.)

has to get a low score here Im afraid, as I have had the first amp I bought replaced by the dealer. the problem was it kept blowing the mains fuse when it was switched on Allthough I bought the amp new I think it had been sitting in the shop for a while and had a low serial number. I dare say you could get round this buy putting in a slightly higher rated fuse, but if youve just paid 400 quid for an amp you shouldn't have to do this! This is a known problem with this amp but judging by the reviews on here the concensus seems to be that it has been sorted out on the more recent (2007) models. My dealer sorted out a brand new replacment direct from Korg, and this has worked great, no problems at all. (Ive had it about 3 weeks now) My advice is insist on getting a brand new still sealed in the box model.

I went through my dealer to get the replacement and they were very helpful. The only contact I had was to e-mail a question about the amp before I bought it, and didnt reply. the score below is relating to the dealer (sound control)

When I was looking to buy an amp I narrowed it down to this and the fender blues jnr. The vox shaded it with its amazing good looks, footswitch and overall character. If I'm being honest one of the main problems I had with the fender was it looked like a bedroom practice amp, wheras the vox looked more like a 'real' amp. So though there both 15w the vox looks louder! A word of warning, the vox is a very heavy amp for its size, while no doubt this contibutes to its tone, you should go down to your delaer and practice lifting one up if your planning on doing alot of giging! The single handle on top, while enhancing the vintage looks is pretty useless for carying the amp for distances over 10 yards. Overall build quality of the cab is good (though made in china) and seems solid, the only gripe I have is with the fuse holders (will become worn the first time you chasnge a fuse).

Read the other reviews... trem is sweet, reverb is undecided at this point. I love the master/volume setup.

I just got it yesterday. I've never had so much fun playing my guitar. I've playing for over 10 years and have a classically trained ear. This thing sounds really nice, even at lower volume. Really a beautiful, versatile tone. I put a tube screamer in front of it and wow... Also, you can get this thing to growl alot easier than you can a fender.

not sure. apparently not great though. i'll just keep my fingers crossed.

I've got an ibanez sa160 mahogany with a gibson 57 classic in the bridge and a duncan hot for strat in the neck. I'd cry if this were stolen, then i'd save up and buy another one asap. I love the tone and the versatility. Dont hate anything... we'll see about the reverb...apparently it grows on you. I love this amp.

Made this year (2007) in China, this 15 watt amp has a master volume, reverb, and tremolo. The included foot switch serves only to turn the effects on and off as this is a single channel amp.

I really love the sound of this amp, with single coils, I have an almost bone stock MIM Strat that sounds beautiful through this amp, and because of the master volume, the amp produces warm to moderately distorted tones at reasonable volumes. But even at louder volumes the amp manages to retain the chime that has made VOX amps famous. With controls for both depth and speed on the amp, the sound of the Tremolo is lush, full, and most importantly musical. The Reverb, well... While it doesn't detract from the over all sound of the amp, I find it to be merely "serviceable", as the effect seems to go from sweet, but nearly inaudible to wild and unusable with a relatively small twist on the mix dial. That being said, it does take pedals very well. I own a Bad Monkey, a DS1, a Digidelay and an Octavio, each one sounds fantastic through the amp.

Granted, its only been about 6 weeks, in that time I have had no problems what so ever.

I have yet to have reason to deal with VOX customer support so...

I have been playing for about 15 years, and in that time I have owned various low end (and high watt) amps made by Fender, Crate, Randall, and Marshall.
If this amp were stolen, I would buy another that same day.
The thing I love about this amp is the warm tone. That, and the Tremolo. As I said, I am not too crazy about the Reverb, but it wasn't enough of an issue that it kept me from buying the amp.
I spent the better part of a year trying out lots of low watt (15-30) all tube amps. Crate Palominos, Peavey Classic 30's, Fender Blues jr, 65 Deluxe Reverb Combo, Blues Deluxe Reissue, a few silver face Champs,even an AC30CC. I kept coming back to the AC15CC.

I think the amp is pretty near perfect for what I am doing with it (blues jams, and recording projects). The one thing I am having a difficult time with, is the weight. At almost 50 pounds (the info on the website lists it at 47 pounds)hauling my amp down a flight of stairs and up a few blocks, at the end of a long night can be a bit taxing...

Unfortunatley, this amp was made in China...BUT, this is no compromise to the sound...It just has all the baisics..nothing too special. It comes with a footswitch to work the tremelo//reverb and a lead. So, the control layout is; Power,Standby,master volume,tremelo and reverb,TOP BOOST: Bass, Treble and Volume. I personally like the fact that it has a simle contol panel...Just pure tube goodness! This amp is good for gigging although in some larger situations you will need a mic.

I play Alt. Rock and anything else in that kind of general area. This amp gives a great crunch when the volume is maxed and master voulume is down. When you need the master to be turned up, turn the treble down and you will still get the nice crunch rather than the clean sound. Speaking od clean, it is absolutley beatiful on this amp. It produces a nice jazzy tone. Back to the distortion, it doesnt go wacko but it is enough to get by on. I use it with a Big Muff and it handles it surprisingly well. I'm prepared to say this could be the best sounding tube amp in a while. Very good!

I probably wouldn't gig without a backup only because of the nature of tubes etc. I think Vox have fixed them for this year ((2007)). They probably heard all the scary stories...

The warranty (in Australia) is 90 days. I havnt had the pleasure of ringning Vox..yet..

I've been playing for 10 years and own a gibson melody maker (Awsome) and a 50's/60's Kay Hollow body (Awsome also.) I would probably buy another one if it was stolen..unless i got alot more money and bought a AC30. I'm pretty content with its features, noting too high tech, just the way its sposed to be.. All in all, its a great amp..Killer tone, looovely cosmetics and pretty well priced, too.

This amplifier was made in 2007. I play mostly blues and classic rock styles. Only one channel, but with this amp you do not need any more. I use the amp mostly at small clubs and our rehearsal space. It easily is loud enough against drums in a small club.

I was astounded over how many sounds and genres you can get with this amp. I could easily dial in smoky cool jazz sound and then switch to an ac/dc, not to mention a beautiful beatles vein. I have been playing for about 20 years and tried the Marshalls (impossible to get a good clean sound with my 800),the fenders (one trick ponys, but fantastic for that one blues style), and by a fluke tried the vox and knew that I had to have it. As everyone knows the reverb is not the best by a long shot and if metal is your thing you will be dissapointed, but otherwise this is the answer to your amplification needs. I play a Les Paul and an SG and it sounds great althouth when you crank it up playing heavier stuff it can get muddled, maybe that is the Wharfdale speaker I do not know.

I have had it 5 months and I hope to heck it does not break down like all those Vox hybrids seem to all the time. I would gig with this solely everytime( until it bites me in the rear and then my mind would change). But seriously this amp will put a big grin on your face.

Never had to deal with vox. Mine has a year long warranty, also since it is a vox I bought the extended for a additional year for $26. I like to hedge my bets.

If it were stolen I would get another without question maybe an ac30 if it sounds the same as my 15. All i really could tell someone is go try it out because reading the majority of reviews everybody loves their amps and gets good deals blah blah blah, but these voxes really deserve a good tryout that is the only way to understand that special sound that people talk about, it is really right on the money.

this amplifier is fairly limited in it's features - sure it's got reverb and a nice tremolo, but in terms of tone sculpting, you may have to resort to an eq pedal to milk what you want out of it. It is simple simple simple... in fact, fiddling with the gain and volume knobs produced almost as much tonal differences as fiddling with the two (bass and treble) knobs that it's got.

(disclosure: i play a telecaster) It is very tube-ey sounding - and you can definitely drive the tubes into some nice natural distortion... but I have noticed that the way that the tone behaves varies wildly from use to use - even after the tubes have fully warmed up... I was constantly wondering if someone had knocked one of the knobs...but no, it's just that it was incredibly inconsistent. I toured with a borrowed vintage AC-30 and I thought that the top boost channel from the ac30 was supposed to have been translated into this amplifier, but i was disappointed with the sound from use one... I ended up returning this amp because it just didn't sound good to me on a consistent basis. cheap cheap construction is what i blame.

super inconsistent... i didn't even trust it even after only a couple of weeks... the amp didn't break down on me... but at the club the buzz coming from the amp via my telecaster was so noisy that it almost drowned out the sound of the guitar... beware single coil users...

I've been playing for 10+ years. I use an American Telecaster with stock pickups (not noiseless). This amplifier was my first foray into tube amplifiers... i was looking for The Edge vibe with the ac-15, but did not get anything close to that... It seemed to sound better with humbuckers... but I think that these CC1 made in china amps are just kind of cheaply constructed. It was incredibly difficult to get the tone I wanted out of this amp... I'm going to keep looking...