Vox AC15CC1 112 Combo

I don't know when my amp was made. Who cares? It's too new to be called vintage. The specs on amp are clearly listed in a million other places, I'm not gonna repeat them. Personally I wish it had a mid control. However the fact that it has tremolo outweighs that neg. I'll trade mid control for tremolo anyday. The reverb is a little cheesy sounding but I don't play surf music and don't use very much reverb so it's not that big of an issue for me. This amp is plenty loud. I play in rooms with 500 capacity and this amp does fine. If it's not loud enough for you, you might consider buying a hearing aid. Some folks talk about the "cheapness" of this amp's cosmetics. So what! It's an amp! It's the SOUND that matters. If your all "hung up" on how your amp "looks" maybe you should consider a career in museum management. But, if your a decent enough musician to play in a band that gigs regularly, your equipment is gonna get banged up. Besides they sell road cases for most any amp.

My band plays classic rock such as Cream, Led Zep, Who, Free, Stones etc. and we also play some tunes by newer bands as well such as Govt. Mule, Foo Fighters, Collective Soul etc., you get the picture. My main guitar is Gibson L.P. I mainly use two pedals an Xotic Scot Henderson RC Booster which stays on all the time and a Fulltone OCD pedal for solos. I keep the Preamp vol on amp around 12:00 and adjust Master vol to room. This little amp sounds great for my purposes.

Had it about six months using it about 4 hrs a night 3 - 4 days a week. No probs yet. (Knock on wood)

Haven't needed to contact CS yet.

I'm 50+ yr old guitar player and I have been gigging professionally for over 30 yrs. I've owned and used literally dozens of amps, both tube and solid state by all the prevalent companies, lesser known companies and have had quite a few custom made amps. Alot of people out here are snobs about where (geographically) some amps are made. I've played and owned some good 'ol American, British and Canadian manufactured amps that were a P.O.S. As far as this particular amp is concerned?.. Yeah it's made in China. SO WHAT!! It all boils down to how it sounds. In my opinion, and yeah, yeah, we all know the definition of opinion, this little amp is an excellent value for the money. I wouldn't care if it was made by a hair-lipped monkey on desserted atol that was once used for nuclear testing, I'd be bummed if it were ever stolen and I'd probably buy another one. Besides I can buy 4 or 5 of these for the price of some of those over-hyped, over-rated, and over-priced boutique rigs.

This is a perfect amp for what I play. Rock, indie rock, country, or blues. It is a very versatile amp if you know how to create great sound through the use of tone, guitars, and pedals. The AC15 is my first tube amp. It is also my first amp I have owned without foot switchable channels and I love it. When I first purchased this amp I was a bit worried about the single channel and playing without a channel footswitch. I have adapted well with the use of an overdrive pedal. I have also learned with the purchase of this amp that the dynamics of playing comes from the way you pick your guitar, not by the volume at which your clean and distorted channels are set.

Reverb on this amp is good, not great. If you want reverb, use a fender. I still use the reverb and it works well, but it could be better. Tremelo on this amp is growing on me. At first I didn't like it or use it much. The more I play, the more I tend to use it. As I broke the amp in, the tremolo is becoming more versatile.

I love the versatility of this amp by simply adjusting the master volume and volume. It can go from clean to crunchy and sounds great.

I give the features an 8 because I think the reverb could be a bit better, or maybe becuase it is not similar to the reverb I am used to from fender amps.

Sound quality is exceptional. I will start with tone. I have never owned an amp that responds so well to the tone control on your guitar. I play a fender strat, and I am loving the sound that this guitar produces with this amp. It responds very well to pickup position, guitar tone, and picking dynamics. As for the amps tone, with the use of the low and high tone settings, you can lock into a variety of tones. Even with the use of an overdrive pedal, I get almost too much tone at times.

Volume on this amp is good for my use. I am in a basement band. We practice here and there and play parties and such. We use a PA and mic our amps. I have yet had to really crank this thing up and let it loose. It is loud enough for a band and small gigs but can break up a bit a higher volumes. Good thing we have a decent PA. Good thing about the volume, I can get good breakup at lower volumes. The results are great tone without having to crank the amp too loud.

With the use of an overdrive pedal ( a rather cheap, durable, and decent sounding pedal, the Boss OD-1), I am loving the dirty sounds I get from this amp. The amp never gets completely clean like a fender, but even when it is crunchy, you can hear individual notes. It has helped me become a better guitarist from a technique approach. I can hear my mistakes unlike back when I used a solid state distorted amp.

It appears to be built solid. It is rather heavy to be hauling around. I haven't had any technical issues yet, I hope I don't have any. Some reviews say it is horrible when it comes to reliability. I think if you know how to take care of something it will be reliable. I try to take good care of this amp and I haven't had any issues yet. If I were playing a gig, I would have a backup no matter what kind of amp I have.

I think I purchased a warranty but I can't remember how long it is good for. Maybe 1 or 2 years. Have not had to deal with customer service.

Overall, I give it a 9. I love the tone on the is amp. I love the versatility. I love the way it has helped me become a better guitarist. What more could you ask for. It fits my music style. It fits my needs. Sure, if I played metal, or If I played large gigs, this amp would not be good for me. But I play rock, indie, and country, and it suites my needs well. It has plenty of volume for practicing in my basement, and it can hold its own when playing with the band. I never thought a 15 watt amp would be enough volume, but it is. After I purchased this amp, I started to notice all the other artists that use VOX custom classic series amps. I am impressed. There is very little that I would complain about with this amp. I suggest to get yourself one. It is affordable and it sounds great.

This is a great amp! I played a ton of amps a few days ago, fender blues junior, fender pro junior, orange tiny terror combo, orange tiny terror head and cabinet, vox night train thru a vox 212, vox valvetronix series (30 and 50 watt), and a few marshall mg series.

The ac15, IMO, had far and away the best clean tone. The tremolo and reverb channels are really nice, especially the tremolo. I'm not a big reverb guy, so I tend to keep it pretty low if I'm going to use it at all, but the tremolo adds some really interesting depth to the tone. The volume boost section is great for producing a nice growl, but you won't get a metalesque distortion out of it. The only thing I wish is that the volume boost was footswitchable.

It sounds great on its own, but if you want to switch between clean and a bluesly classic rock drive, you can't. As such, I'm using an MXR distortion 3 pedal, which set low, gets a great overdrive tone. I'm looking into a variety of valve based overdrive effects, because I don't want to loose tone, but the MXR is fine for now.

The 15 watts is more than enough, it has this silicon rectifier, which I don't really know what that is, but I know it is supposed to make it such that the amp is really able to run at a full 15 watts. This thing is big, heavy, and loud!

The back panel is in kind of a weird location, inside the open back, pointing down into the amp cavity, not straight out the back.

I'm using a PRS Soapbar II, sounds great. Sound quality is second to none, in my opinion. I think the tone of this amp would suit any blues, rock, or jazz player. If you are looking for wicked fuzz, this amp is not for you. But you are shopping for the cleanest purest tone you can find, this amp is it!

Only had it a few days, so far so good. I picked up a heavy duty hand cart for it, 12" speaker tube amps are really heavy. I want to protect my back and the amp! The model in the store had a few issues it seemed with keeping the power cord plugged in. This is mostly due to the location of the back panel, as described above

This amp is made in china, but I can find no negative reviews in this regard.

Haven't had to deal.

I've been playing for about 13 years and this is the first nice amp I've ever bought. I've only ever owned crummy solid state practice amps. This thing is worth every penny. If it was lost/stolen, I'd buy it again in a heartbeat. I guess it wasn't until recently that I really started thinking of amps as instruments in their own right. But once I had that perspective, and really started listening and paying attention to tone, this amp was the only choice.

Vox AC15CC1 with stock speaker. 2008. Single channel verb and really nice tremolo. Using primarily in my project studio. Plemty of power for this and could probably keep up with a drummer in the field. This is my second vox (the first was a SS monster in the early 70's but we wont go there)....Foot switch for verb and trem. Verb sounds strange listening to only the tail after a note but is excellent in small amounts and rounds out the individual notes WHILE you are playing. Not your "one amp to rule them all" but has great tone to complement others.

This is where this amp really shines. I own a Ornage Tiny Terror, Marsall DSL and 1936 cab, Fender Super 60, Roland Cube 30 and others and the Vox is a whole new animal. Thick beefy tones on every string with just the right amount of grit easily dialed in. Folks use the term "organic" and I agree. The best part about this amp is that it reproduces the tones of all your guitars in an unusual way. You can start using the tone and gain controls again instead of leaving everything always dimed and really "hear" your guitar! Fantastic versitility this way. Warm rich..not as clean as the Fender and WAY warmer than the Ornage or the Marshall...Sounds great with my Schecter C-1, Epi LP plain top, Ibanez Artcore semi hollow (talk about tone control!)and even a mexi-tele with vintage noiseless pups but sounds best with humers. Clean(er)smokey and fat is where it's at! If you are looking for heavy cruch get a Orange..(one trick pony but it does it very well)

I have used this amp only in the studio and so far so good. Have heard of other issues with fuse, input jack, etc. (C'mon guys you can change a fuse!!) No problems here.
Seems solidly built..heavy..but then try lifting a Super 60 with the transformers from H%ll!!

Warranty on most parts is short (90 days) but with a tube amp thats the way it goes. Never had to contact Vox.

As said this amp is VERY different than my others but it is really great. Knew it was excellent from the first chord..really! Been playing over 30 years..yikes!!! and settled into the stuido life long ago. Since I can easily plug into all the amps and different guitars it is really easy to hear the TONE this amp makes. Buy it without one hesitation unless you need more power and extreme cruch (or 2 channels). I read all the reviews and bought one without hearing it and I am very happy. Put a ribbon mike and a good pre (Great River, etc) and you are in tone heaven!!

The features are already covered in the previous reviews. The tone is good at low to medium volumes, but I can't honestly say the amp is real versatile.

This rating is a melding of two aspects of the tone: lower volume and higher volume. At low to medium volume, this thing sounds really great. Probably the best "sort of" clean I've heard. Just really nice. The tremolo is awesome, and I have no issues with the reverb either, I think it's fine. To get any sort of volume out of this amp though, you have to crank the top boost, and that's where the problem comes in. It is absolutely the worst sounding, gritty, harsh, lo-fi (not in a good way) distortion I've ever heard. I think a solid state Crate sounded better than this thing. So I'll halve it and make it a 5. It should actually be lower, as you'll need to crank it to play in a rock band.

Zero. Nada. Nothing. There is no other way for me to rate this amp. I owned one of these for less than 24 hours. I bought it at the Denver Guitar Center one afternoon, and returned it to the Colo Springs GC the next morning. I had already tried out two of them along the front range. Both of them had issues (GC in Pueblo, something was wrong, I don't know what, the trem was intermittent, and the amp would lose volume while playing; GC in Colo Spgs, the reverb was intermittent, sometimes it would come on, sometimes not). I tried both of these amps with and without the supplied footswitch and got the same (bad) results. Even with this experience, I took a chance on the one in Denver because of the 30-day return policy. I played it about 15-20 minutes up in Denver, and it sounded nice, but I wasn't comfortable cranking it (I hate when others do that). So I bought it and drove it 50 miles back down to my home in Colo Springs. I plugged it in, powered up, waited 2 or 3 minutes for Standby, and then switched it on. I went to plug in the guitar, and there was a problem with the jack. The plug would go in, but it was tricky. I looked down in it, and there was an obstruction of some sort. I can only assume it didn't handle the 75mph drive down from Denver, which also tells me it ain't gonna withstand night after night of gigging. That did it for me: 0 for 3, coupled with all the other bad reviews of Vox quality on this review board, and back it went. I don't know how anyone could trust one of these things to gig with. If it works for ya, great.

N/A

Nothing I can add, except the looks are so cool, and the low-to-med volume is really beautiful, and that was w/o the AlNiCo Blue, I can't imagine how good that would sound. They need to get these quality issues addressed though, it's just ridiculous. Ended up with a new Peavey Classic 30, which of course is a different amp, but the "clean" channel does have some similarities to the Vox. However, with the PV, it actually sounds BETTER when cranked, unlike the Vox. Also, the PV is much louder.

short in features, the reverb is junk even at low setting

use old gibson les paul style and frankenstrat, soud quality is brittle and thin, with no depth. noisy with all of my pedals. reverb, junk..

bought it at 3:00, returned it at 5:00.

na

bought it because I wanted an older, thicker tube amp, i was very dissappointed in the sound. I'm using a vox ad120vt and it kicks its but hands down and has great effects onboard. especially the tape delay. Also have a 1949-50 epiphone emperor amp head, it is from heaven. seriously, these old amps with 6l6 tubes are by far the best sounding amps in my 25 year experience. if anyone has any info on this old head, please contact me at mattkeohen@hotmail.com thank you

Features, so here we go, Ac15cc1, stock.
One channel, no more is needed, nice and simple,control panel doesn't look like the cockpit of the space shuttle !!!
I play some british invasion, other styles as is required, mostly we write our own stuff, we have done all the cover stuff, boring!
I mostly play at home, with a couple of friends, so I don't need heaps of watts, suits my needs perfectly.
Usual tube combo, 2x12ax7's pre amp, 2xEL84's power amp.
I prefer JJ's in my pre amp section, have left stock sovtecs in power amp.
Standard speaker, had to play it at loud volume for several gigs to get the speaker to loosen up a bit, stock speaker sounded good to me,once broken in, not as bad as some reviewers have stated, personal taste I suppose, basically I take the attitude, of, how much is enough ?
If you want to constantly experiment with speaker, valve combinations, you will never be satisfied, as there is way way too many variations avaliable, keep it simple.

Very good sound quality, nice thro my ES335, and ES175,Gold top, sounds a bit like um s--t thro fenders, ugly sounding guitars!
Good break up, depends upon settings used, can be a bit muddy, but not too much of a problem, just adjust it accordingly.
I write down my settings used for each song we write, so I get the sounds I want out of it every time no worries.
As I have afore mentioned, styles played are some british invasion, but mostly we write our own stuff, can be any thing we dream up, no thrashy trash, any one can play thrash !
Good fret board skill is the thrill, not volume!
Don't use pedals, I'm from the old school, learn to play the guitar properly, and you can get most sounds you desire.

Have owned this amp for one year, no problems with it at all, nothng, not a thing.
Well that's not entirely true, I broke the tip off one of the JJ's whilst replacing the valves, BUT, that's not vox's fault, is it ?
I don't need a back up, I trust this amp for home use.

Not needed to date.

I have been playing guitar constantly (as a hobbie, daily) sinse high school, I am now 48 years old, have played all your usual amps, state and valve, hybrids, messa, Peavy ,Ac30, Fender rubbish etc.
Played in many bands, owned several Fender telecasters, mostly Gibsons ES models tho, don't play Fenders any more, yukkkk!
There is nothing like experience, so I guess I would have to say, at this stage in my life, this amp is ideal, Marshall stacks etc. (and other high wattage amps) are good if you perform at large venues, and want that "send me deaf" sort of sound, I won't go into all the amps I have owned,just a few as mentioned above as it is not necessary.
I would rate this amp as a very good low wattage amp, nice sound, tonal variation excellent, break up nice, depending upon settings.
Relaibele and sexy to look at !
Betta than my ex wife...lol
Would buy it again.

Simply put, it a single channel all-tube 15 watt amp that sounds beautiful. Just beautiful. You get knobs to set rate and depth for tremolo, but I'm not into that sound so it's useless to me (and most I'm guessing.) You get reverb, gain, and master volume, which offers some tonal options. Some might want a separate gain channel, but I get my overdrive through a pedal, so no problems there. At 15 watts, it's loud. I can keep up with a drum kit no problem, and dont even have to dial it up all the way. That said, I can drop the volume low enough to play with my baby boy sleeping upstairs, and the tone is still mint. Do not waste your money on the Celestion speaker upgrade. It comes with a Wharfdale that sounds great, and only gets better as it gets older. Biggest problem - it weighs a tonne! I'm scoring this an 8 only because there could be many more options.

Here's the reason you buy the AC15cc1. It sounds AWESOME. I play with an Elitist Les Paul Standard with Gibson custom humbuckers, and the combination is nirvana. I can go from stunning clean, to hard rock crunch, which is where I spend most of my time. The overdrive is smooth and articulate. But I prefer to get my drive from a BBE Green Screamer. Now let me tell you, this amp, with the BBE pedal and my Les Paul is tone heaven. This is the sound I would hear on albums and say "man, I wish I could make my guitar sound like that." There is a very, very slight power hum when you go from "standby" to "on", but you'd have to have your head up against the cabinet to hear it. As mentioned above, the Wharfdale speaker is great... you'll notice the tone get warmer as you play and the speaker loosens up.
Here's the most telling part about how good this amp sounds....I love to tinker (new tubes, new speaker etc) and I can't bring myself to even unscrew the back of this amp cause if it's perfect, you don't mess with it.

No issues at all. There were a batch of these amps that had bad fuses way back when, but that's no longer an issue. And I don't understand people complaining about plastic knobs - everything on this amp has a solid, substantial feel to it. That point is made more evident by the fact that it's heavier than a 1955 Chevy big block, but I think the weight is where some of the tone comes from. Don't let the overseas production sway you from this amp...their standards are obviously high. Nonetheless I give it a 9 cause nothing's perfect.

Never used em. Would probably be a horror show, cause all companies usually are. I always expect to be hung out to dry after the in-store return period.

I'm guessing you're comparing this amp to another low wattage all-tube amp like the Fender Blues Junior, Blackheart Little Giant, Peavey Classic...etc. I tried em all before I purchased the VOX - and none measured up tonally. That's with humbuckers. Single coil may be different, but I doubt it.00
If it were stolen, I'd buy another the next day. Simple as that.
I've been playing on an off since I was 7. I'm now 34.
I play mostly hard rock... Guns n Roses, Kiss, Clapton, Van Halen, 80's hair bands. And the VOX can nail em all.
Good luck with your purchase.

Stock AC15 CC1, 2008 model. Everything you need without overcomplicating things: master, tremolo depth & speed, reverb, bass, treble, pre-amp volume. Single input, single channel. The AC15 comes with an on/off footswitch for the tremolo and reverb which is really handy and cool of Vox to throw it in as part of the package.

I bought this amp for home use, recording and small gigs - fits the bill perfectly, and I mean perfectly. I love the simplicity of this amp but it's the sound that matters and this amp has it in spades.

I've been pleasantly surprised at how powerful this amp is at only 15 watts. Even at gigs I get plenty of headroom between the preamp and master so great for getting the sound right. It is ridiculously heavy though so carting it around is a drag ??? worth it though.

I play an Epiphone Casino which has P-90 pickups, so it is a classic British Invasion rig. My style is mainly clean with that gorgeous Casino semi-acoustic, glassy, jangly sound. I play folk rock and classic rock styles with a bit of blues in there. The Vox suits the Casino like you wouldn't believe! An amazing match! Matching the guitar to the amp is hugely underrated and my experience really showed this.

After wanting a good low powered tube amp for a while, I narrowed it down to the AC15 and a Fender Blues Junior. I took my guitar up to the shop and played through both for about an hour. The Vox was insane and super responsive to anything I did: playing dynamics, EQ, guitar tone and volume etc. But when I switched to the BJ I struggled to find a good sound. That's no slight on the BJ, it just didn't seem to work with the Casino ??? probably better suited to Strats and Teles. It was the upgraded BJ as well with the Jensen speaker and different tube configuration. The sound was really boxy no matter what I did and it broke up really early; in a way it was really just one sound. I plugged back into the Vox and simply melted as this beautiful sound overwhelmed me.

The clean (master right up, volume down low) is clean as: glassy, smooth and creamy if you know what I mean. To overdrive it, crank the volume and drop the master. It's not a massive drive but perfect for most situations. It's not switchable either so you'll need a drive pedal if playing live (I got a Boss OD-3 which works great with it, and pretty much everything else).

The tremolo has to be heard to be believed ??? truly amazing and giving a quintessential 60s sound.

Many have dissed the reverb but I don't know why. I've found it very versatile with a smooth and deep sound. Mixed with some tremolo you can do the surf thing really well too.

The AC15 CC1 has the Warfdale speaker as stock. The Celestion option was outside my price range and while I was thinking I might upgrade later, I've been so impressed with the Warfdale that I doubt I'll bother. It's breaking in nicely and simply sounds beautiful.

Built like a tank (and weighs about the same!). There are apparently some issues with this so I'm being careful and watching it closely. Seems really well-built to me.

Not needed.

I've been playing for a bit over 20 years but really seriously for about ten. My other guitars are a Maton 225 acoustic and an Alvarez AD60s 12 string. The Casino is my dream electric and suits me perfectly. The Vox AC15 is made for it and I'd buy another one in a heartbeat if it were lost or stolen or, dare I say, if it broke).

Simple as they come. I have a Mesa Boogie nomad 45, vintage fender bassman and other amps and for me this is the perfect feature set. Simple. The thing that makes this feature rich for me is the way the guitar tone comes through - versatility by maximizing the instrument's tones.

My main guitar is a gibson ES 137 - 'buckers and a hard tail. Love the tone. I also have a PRS singlecut and a vintage fender mustang. Again, the amp really brings out the guitar tone. It is warm, can growl (turn it up - saturate it and see) and is just about the closest thing to what I imagine a tube amp should sound like.

no issues yet

again, nothing to report here, I am going on an extended International tour - I will let you know.

tone is king with this thing. I needed to scale down a bit. On long tours it gets to be a pain hauling around vintage fender gear with cabs etc.. The tone is great - forget the price, I woiuld have paid more for this. The tremelo is smooth, the foot pedal is clean (no pops or fuzzz) and I have to say I am totally impressed. If I close my eyes and just play it - not thinking about the propaganda this way or that, I just know this one in particular is for me.

well people have done an already pretty thorough job of this so ill run thru it quick. made in china but what isnt nowadays? more versatile then you might think, change how and what you play and ull find it can do more then you might think. i doubt i played the same things as the other reviewers, im in to heavier stuff. i still really like mellow cleans, and the raunchy overdrive, but i also like hard rock tones(iron maiden,randy rhoads) and occasional older metal(metallica and such). i knew it couldnt do metal but i wanted to see how far it could go past classic rock. these features although seemingly simple can do a lot more then meets the eye.

Now i just tested this amp i a store to get an idea of the ac30 which i was actually planning to buy. i was quite unimpressed with the amps i tried before this in the store including a genz benz el diablo and the black pearl which is more similar to this amp. i plugged in a valvetronix and was pretty suprised to how it sounded. Then i tried the ac15 and my jaw dropped, the valvetronix was garbage compared to this! this is what a tube amp should be! i went through all the classic rock stuff like queen and then even tried some hard rock(Dont wrry, definitly NO metal) and was suprised it kept up. i mean it could use more gain( wished i coulda plugged in my ts808) but as they say, tone is in the fingers and i made my fingers do hard rock. she followed and what was lost with gain was made up with rich harmonic overtones, beautiful! i have never really been happy with my amp tones and am ALWAYS dispointed with the amps i try with very few exceptions. Now i havent tried every amp but there are only 5 amps i havent been left wanting. The ac30,ac15,jcm 800,plexi, and the mesa boogie express 5:50. obviously a bogner would or something would be on that list but as i said i havent tried every amp. ill give it a 9 because nothing is perfect but that rich harmonicy sound sure comes close!

i only tried it in the store but it sure looked beat to hell with scratches and cuts. voxs r known for being fragile so becareful with that tolex!

no idea

this amp had something that no other amp iv tried had. it just simply sounded like a real tube amp with the real soul of the tubes coming through. this sucker was also super loud! easily hold itself in a jam situation but she wont stay clean! This amp at the very least is worth a plug in at a store and a whirl, i promise ull love it. this is coming from a person who has NEVER done a postive review and i always bash where i can because the person reading the review needs to know where there might be faults. i never found any but i never got to try it too long. just dont count on this thing doin marshall gain levels perfectly. it can stretch that far but it IS a stretch!

sorry for my english!

new Ac15cc1 with stock speaker, stock everything. Very versatile amp, from warm clean to warm thick tone. single channel, no effects loop, no line out. basic, made to sound good, that's it. would dig another channel and the other features but i'm not complaining. i gig with this amp and haven't needed to push it past '5' or so to keep up with the rest of the band (bass, keys, drums, another guitar, vocals).

I love, LOVE this amp. It blows away my fender twin (although they're totally different beasts) for warm wonderful tone. turn up top boost and it gets warmer and more broken up, beautiful musical tone. It sounds great with my strat, but incredible with my SG (epiphone g-400). It's got presence and a tone that really fits great in a band sound. Pedals sound GREAT with this amp. Again, my twin sounded sterile next to this thing, pedals the same. the vox ac15 is my new favorite amp (ac30 rocks too). I play rock, honky tonk/country, reggae, surf with it. the amp can stay pretty clean but at loud volumes it's gonna break up--- it's only 15 watts after all. Distortion doesn't approach metal, but anyone who plays metal would not be looking at this amp.

Sounds like the amp can break down judging from other reviews. Works fine for me so far.

Emailed a question about the amp before ordering it- got a response quickly. good job.

I've had my Twin for 22 years; it does clean tones nicely but CAN'T do distortion, and it had no presence, no clarity when pushed. It's a nice tone, just not dynamic or musical. The AC15 is the opposite. It's a beautiful tone that stands out with amazing warmth. Hugely variable in tone, the controls all seem more responsive than other amps. The only other amp I still really drool for is the ac-30. I'd also love to check out the celestion speaker in this. For the money, the best amp I've ever had or heard.

same features as them all..30 watts..1 12 inch speaker..i like the features..good reverb and tremolo...good master volume...it works great...it is plenty loud...great tone..sounds killer..

i play all styles.....the sound of this amp is great.....unfortunately, the stock warfdale speaker is the biggest piece of tone sucking crap i ever heard....if you can afford one, buy a celestion gold 50 watt speaker.....in this amp, it sounds totally freeking amazing....

get a good tech...this amp will break....on a whim...the chinese use the cheapest possible parts..but somehow make an incredible soundng amp...even the screws they use are pitiful cheap....they should have their ases kicked....use some quality fuses and decent screws, you chinese bums.........

i bought it used..

i rate it 10 for sound, with a good alnico speaker..like a celestion gold or a red fang ......a 4 for sound with the original speaker...this is the only ac-30 an older guy can possible move around...i wish it had decent hardware....the grill cloth droops too...if you can buy one used, buy one that a good tech has already repaired...it'll probably be reliable after that..

This is a followup review, now that I've had the amp for more than a year now.

I use a homebuilt strat/tele hybrid, although the bridge pup is a Dimarzio from a Mosrite Mark II, gets me about mid-way between the strat and tele sounds, which is what I was looking for ... I also play a 50s reissue ash Tele, which sounds truly awesome through this amp. I have a few other guitars, but pretty much stick to these two these days.

I kind of wish there were a boost switch built in, but you can't have everything, can you?

But don't let the 15watts fool you-- this amp is plenty loud, thanks to the 12 inch speaker really. I haven't run into an occasion where I wished I had more power, frankly. And usually I get yelled at to turn down (happened at a gig the other day, at an open air show no less, the sound guy kept asking me to calm the thing down...).

Let's get this out of the way: I still love it, it's exactly the amp I wanted, the amp I need. And I'm playing a dual-amp setup in the new band, I'm tempted to get a matched set.

Mine's still stock. I'll be tempted to replace the tubes soon, but the speaker sounds just great, now that it's been worked in. No reason to change it, really.

Only thing about the amp...it really seems to take a long time to open up...a good hour or so, maybe more. At first, the sound is a little stiff, a bit cold, even sterile. But after a while, the amp really starts to sing. Nice and warm, a nice bloom and sustain that isn't there when you first start to play. It's not always possible to turn the amp on in advance though, which is a bit of a problem.

The reverb is really over the top...a bit much. Turn it up much past 9 o'clock and the sound just gets drenched. And not in a pleasant, surf-like way. I tend to switch it off when playing alone. With the band, on the other hand, the reverb sounds really great, helps the guitar snuggle into the mix, without getting in the way at all...kind of weird. Part of what I like about the amp though.

I bought the amp for the tremolo, and it's still one of my favorite features. It's a nice, soft-edged, rounded tremolo (I have a pedal for sharper-edged tremolo sounds).

I don't like the sound of the boost all that much-- I tend to keep it at about 1 o'clock. More than that and it has a harsh, thin sound that doesn't appeal to me. I use a DIY Tubescreamer with Fat mod in front of it instead. I tried running the power tube at maximum and turning down the boost, but I haven't mastered that yet, seems more difficult to get the sound I want that way. I also keep my guitar volume at maximum, I don't like the cut in the highs when it's turned down.

Since I play single-coil guitars pretty much exclusively, I'm more accepting of a bit of hum and noise...now that I'm routing most of my effects to the second amp (I split the output from the Tubescreamer into the two amps--the Vox gets the cleaner path), there's not all that much noise to deal with though. But the other amp gets so noisy, it doesn't matter anyway.

As for fitting my style...hard to describe what I'm doing, since it's a bit eclectic -- but the Vox lets me get the job done.

This is why I'm writing a followup. I had the fuse issue--blew the first one the first day I had it. I replaced it with a stronger fuse, blew that too.

I eventually figured out I just wasn't shutting the amp down properly. The Vox works better if you put it on standby, then wait a few minutes while the tubes cool down, before shutting it off altogether. (I also leave it on standby for a few minutes when just turning it on too).

Ever since I figured this out, I haven't had a problem with the fuse. Haven't had any other issues with the amp yet.

I don't imagine the company will be helpful. I bought the amp at the local music store because I know they'll take care of me if I need them.

Like I said, I'm thinking of adding a second AC15CC1 to match this one, since I'm using a dual-amp rig these days. Right now my second amp is a Laney VC15, but it suffers from its 10" speaker--a shame. I'd be tempted to get a Fender, since the sound would be so much different from the Vox. Anyway, I'd definitely replace the Vox if I ever need to (hope I don't).

2007 modle the non-blue edition

I have the Vox AD30 10" and I have to say this AC15, stock, is a step above the ad30 in this reguard: It is more particular in the guitars you plug into it. The sound of the guitar itself comes through better. The ad30 fatigues the ear sooner also. Expect a long break in peroid for the Warf.. speaker. but it is not a horrible speaker.

Now if you are NOT going to improve this amp with tweaks then buy the AD30. The Tung Sol reissue that was in mine is crap compared to the real thing. (Tung-Sol 12AX7A) Try another 12AX7. Anything, I recomend the Tung sol 12AX7A. The speaker replacement vastly improves the amp I used the Celestion Vintage 30 16 ohlm (china) sound much better, what ever you use $80 or so on ebay it will be worth it. One thing I noticed right away was the full use of the Master and Gain, a good speaker lets this amp come alive. The reverb unit is shat, Gordon Ramsey would have a field day with this worthless piece of crap. The good thing about this amp is you dont need reverb it can sound so good. but get a proper box if you want/like reverb. Like everyone else said it goes into cavernous piles of shat 1/4 turn into it. At 12 o clock its worthless. The best news is replacement of the EL84's are cheap, what ever you do JJ's TAD -if they will fit- is a cheap plus. Although the Electro Harmonix arnt that bad. Go for the pre-amp and speaker first.

Look for a cheap AC15cc1 on ebay in the future for 400+ and dump 200 into it. Then you will get an amp that it should be for retail.

I was looking for a tube amp for home use to replace my marshall 8240 valvestate combo, which doesn't really sound good. After trying some fender amps and this ac15, the choice was obvious. I like the clean in this amp. features are ok, but it would have been nice to have 1 clean and 1 "drive" amp section. Tremolo is a nice feature, but i don't really like the reverb sound, maybe i'll replace it someday.

I mainly use a american standard fender strat and tele. It's unbelievable how well this amp reproduces the characteristics of my electric guitars. very responsive. I don't use it for shows, only for home use (for shows i use a marshall tsl100+1960cab). Live, i play alternative rock at home i play all sorts of music. don't really know how this amp sounds with humbuckers

My amp had a fuse problem. The mains fuse blew repeatedly. The problem was that VOX put a wrong fuse in the amp. It came with 630mA. After my local dealer contacted VOX they stated that a fuse of 1,6A should be used instead of 630mA (Netherlands, Europe). This is the only problem i had, but i won't give it a low rating because of this.

UPDATE 9/3/2008:
I really did not like the sound of the amp with an overdrive pedal. So i replaced the wharfedale speaker with a celestion heritage greenback speaker (G12M20). WOOOWWWWWW!! What a difference. It's like having a totally different amp. The good thing is, the characteristics of your guitar remain intact, as with the wharfedale. If you like to play rock, i suggest you give it a try. It sounds absolutely superb.
I also bought a reverb pedal (holy grail by EHX), because is didn't like the reverb.

very well handeleb by my local dealer and good info from VOX. Maybe it's a good idea from vox to send a letter out to vox dealers to address this fuse problem

for such a small amp (size and watts) it sounds great, even on low volume.

I play rock and blues - mostly in the studio. I use a lot of different guitars but mostly my USA Deliuxe Strat with noiselss pick-ups.

This AC15 has few features but the tone is both phenominal and flexible. The interactivity of the treble and bass controls is something to behold.

Switchable reverb and tremelo - very useful.

Simple but toneful and loud enough.

You can make any tone you want. Clean sounds are great but get good pedals in front of the amp - in fact, just get one good overdrive/treble booster (spend more than ??150) and you'll be in tone heaven for ever.

Make a setting on your amp that suits your guitar (using gain, bass and treble controls) then use your guitar volume, tone and pick-up selector to dial in a huge variety of tones. The interaction between guitar and amp is very useful for live work.

I use a 2002 American Deluxe Strat with noiseless pick-ups.

Haven't had it long enough to say. But I got it second hand two months ago and accidently left it on for 48 hours. Got back into my studio and there were no problems whatsoever.

Not applicable.

Having played for around 30 years and had so many amps, I can honestly say this is my favourite.

Can't wait to use it every day and I am finding new sounds all the time.

As other reviewers have noted, it's an AC15. It's simple.

If you like superloud clean tones, then this might not be loud enough for you. But if you like the edgey roundness that slight power distortion imparts -- a certain breadth of tone -- then this should be loud enough for the kinds of bands you'd be playing in if you wanted this tone (i.e., drummers who aren't ridiculously loud).

I'm an Americana roots-rocker, so the clean tone is killer. Nice bass reponse even with the Wharfedale (tried it with a Buddha and it was actually too dull. Don't know about the Alnico blue, but I think I'll break it in and see how the Wharfe settles in).

Very quiet, comparatively.

With crappo ElectroHarmonix tubes, it thins out in the bottom as the gain is increased. I expect a new set of matched JJs will tighten this up.

I'm not a big fan of any Vox totally gained out. But that's just a matter of taste. I love the lower power because I can get the output section really humming, generating a nice saturation without killing the front row in a bar.

This is one-trick pony in my mind. Either you like what it does, or you shouldn't have it. I wouldn't want any Vox as my only amp. I like other tones.

Unknown. No problems yet.

Unknown. No problems yet.

I've played about 30 years. I own a Les Paul, an old SG, teles, strats, etc. They all sound great through this.

I would always want some type of Vox in the arsenal. Records very nicely. Excellent presence. Not my favorite live amp, though.

Don't like it much for leads, but for rhythm, it's the best amp I own (and I have a lot, including a Sundown, Peavey Classic 30, Fender Hotrod DeVille, Marshall JCM 800, Line6 Flextone).

Buy one used for $400 and you can't go wrong.

This is a 2007 custom classic, made in China. One channel, Vol, treb, bass, master vol.

2 EL84's and 2 12AX7's so it's economical to retube.

Silicon rectifier, but it feels very much like a tube.

It's extremely versatile.

It works great with HB's and single coils. Very quiet. Beautiful tone, it's all in there: it's got the chimey Beatle sounds and the Brian May crunch.

I use a Barber Small Fry about 70% of the time, and a Barber Tone Press about 10% of the time, and a Nova delay about 90% of the time. This amp loves pedals.

I run everything at 12 oclock, with the exception of the master which is sometimes maxed (when I can get away with it).

This is a loud amp, suitable for small clubs and functions.

I have the stock Wharfedale. It was pretty harsh sounding for about 2 months, but it's been sweet after having been broken in. Many rave about the Celestion Blue, and I originally intended to put one in, but I'm telling you this speaker is decent. Wait until it breaks in, you might decide to keep it.

The amp arrived DOA. Problem was tubes. Vox sent replacements. Amp has worked perfectly for 9 months.

Vox takes and returns calls.

Been playing 40 years, and have owned many amps. For $540 this is a phenomenol deal. Boutique sound, Walmart price.

Not many but who needs more than what this will do??

Frickin' amazing. Stock is very good, new tubes/speaker upgrade is unbelievable! Just get your pre/master leveled out and put a nice overdrive/booster in front for a whoopass tone! I use a Burriss Boostier in front of mine, or a Zinky master blaster. Amazing!

Don't know yet, from what I hear beware!!

Buy this, I have owned Dr. Z's that don't sound this good.

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...

Pretty basic amp which I like. On/off, Standby, Master, Trem., Rev., Bass, Treble, & Volume. Single input, single channel. Footswitchable reverb and trem. Cool amp.

I play on a Standard American Strat (single coils)>Fulldrive 2>ProCo Rat2>Keeley Katana Clean Boost>True Bypass box>Boss Chromatic Tuner>Boss DD-6 Delay. You can get just about any sound that you want out of this amp except for metal. It has pretty good headroom for a low wattage amp but can get really dirty. The factory speaker is definately not the best speaker that I've ever heard but it is descent. I replaced the factory speaker with broken in Celestion Seventy-Eighty that a buddy of mine had and that helped out a little bit. I also added a Weber Beam Blocker which I suggest everybody get if you play on a cranked amp. Takes those center cone highs and evens them out with the mids/lows. Before I bought the amp I hooked up a friends Weber Alnico Blue Dog speaker to it and this thing was incredibly smooth with that speaker. My friend is the manager of a music store and peoples heads were turning to see what was making all those great sounds they were hearing. The speaker was undoped, 16 ohm, 50 watt model and it sounded fantastic. I am currently saving for one. The reverb on it is pretty trashy sounding but I'm not a big fan of reverb so that doesn't bother me any. The tremolo is definately one of the better features on this amp. It it one of the better sounding trems I have heard. I play mainly contemporary christian music and I use this at my church of about 500-600 people and it suits the situation pretty well. It is probably one of the loudest 15 watt amps you will ever hear though. Pretty quiet for a tube amp.

So far so good. Haven't had it very long so I can't really rate this part of the review but I don't anticipate any problems coming from it. Seems pretty well built. I did take the back panel off and looked at the inside and the quality of the build looked to be very very good.

I like simplicity when it comes to amps. I looked at a Dr.Z Carmen Ghia for a while just because it has two knobs. One volume and one tone knob and that is it (of course a power switch). Z's are little bit out of my price range but this amp is definately a keeper. If it were stolen or lost I would probably buy another one or look into buying the new handwired model. The only thing that I might would add is maybe an fx loop and a pentode/triode switch like the handwired has but that stuff is no big deal.

Before I start. Let me say in my opinion I think I am qualified to clearly state the virtues of this amp...... A little full of myself maybe.. I know everyones got an opinion just like everyones got an armpit and some stink.... Anyway This in my opinion is the best bang for your hard earned buck you will find. That is if you like the three dimensional chime laden sound it produces. If you want to shred look elsewhere this tone is old school. I back up my comments about this amp buy stateing I am on my third Matchless amplifier touted by many including myself as the best amplifier money can buy. I have spent hours paying Victoria's , Black face deluxes, Hiwatts, blues juniors, Bassmans, Marshalls, etc etc etc. and I have had the privilage to own at lots of them as well. Now all these amps have different atributes and wont suit everyone. But all are good. I currently own a Matchless Lightning loosely based on this amp. Also had a Dc30 and Phoenix nearly $20000 worth of testing here, I love the lightning and all the Matchlesses but must say these are very close pure organic tone. I love my Vox ac15 I bought as back up for $850 as much but in its own way as my Matchless. Take time to get to know it it will be the most versatile amp you ever own.

10...... beatuiful the Celestion blue is nicer but dont drive it past 12.30 and it will sing.

there is a know fuse issue. Pete Renold well known amp tech in OZ looked it over and said wow dont touch it just replace the wrong rated fuse.

dont know

playing professionally 20 years supported some of the bigest name acts in OZ, tour the us, recorded an albulm at Sony stuios Syd. blah blah blah who cares .... We are here to talk about this amp notr really toss off about Ive got this guitars etc etc etc etc The only reason i said what I have had is to help people from spending their cash on the wrong bit of gear

Tremolo! To my knowledge, there are only 2 15-watt tube amps with built-in tremolo readily available these days, at least in Europe. I had the Ampeg J12T, which sounded great, but lacked a footswitch for the tremolo, and a few other needed features. And then there's the Vox AC15 CC1...well, I do believe I've finally found my amp. It has tremolo, an 'interesting' reverb, both foot-switchable (and the footswitch has a detachable cable, which I consider a big plus), a nice-sounding 12" speaker, has a master volume and a gain/top boost knob, and it's 'only' 15 watts (which puts out nearly the same real volume as a 30 watter). I don't like high-watt amps because I like to overdrive the power tubes and that's more difficult to do with a high-watt amp. When I gig, the guitar is always miked anyway, but it's definitely loud enough for a small club--as long as you're looking for an overdriven sound. I don't miss an effects loop, since I prefer things to go straight in. A second channel or at least a footswitchable gain boost would have been nice, but I have other pedals for that.

I love it...it's 'the' sound I wanted. Two days after I bought it I brought it to a gig...played four sets...and by the end of the evening, the amp was just transformed. That is, if it sounded a little sterile at the beginning of the night, but the end of it, the amp just sang...the sound developed a true bloom to it, a shimmer, a brillance... hard to describe. Except that it changed the way I played that night (not that I'm all that good though), for the first time I had the feeling that I was playing the guitar AND amp together. I suppose it's possible that changing the speaker could make it even better, but I probably won't ever both, I really like it as is, and I'm not much of an amp modder.

Here's the thing: the day after I bought I went to turn it on and...nothing. The fuse blew. I ran it back to the shop--since I'd read some of the reviews here--ready to just return the amp. But the tech calmed me down, tried out a new fuse. His explanation was that the stock fuse was specc'ed too close to the amp's upper limit, and that and the fact that it either a defective or cheap fuse, or both, made it blow. He replaced it with a slightly higher-rated, slower fuse(the original was 125 and he put in a 180, I believe, I'm relying on memory). And since then I've had no problems. So maybe this info will help others. Hard to give a rating on this though, I've only had it a month. I'll get back to you next year.

Haven't tried yet. The amp appears solidly built, well-finished. It's also a lot bigger than I thought, so it looks like a 'real' amp.

I really like this amp. It's the amp I've been looking for, I've wanted a Vox for years, couldn't afford the price of the older models, and I'm really grateful the CC line came out. It has all the features I want, and the sound I wanted, so I'm quite pleased. I haven't had it long enough to discover things I don't like about it. Right now I use either my strat (MIJ, never goes out of tune) and my hand-built telecaster through it, both sound great.

No effects loop and only one amp but it is a budget valave amp so you to an extent you are getting what you pay for. It is, however, a vox and it sounds like a vox. It is pretty loud and it was perfect for practice and could be used for smallish gigs or recorded.

I liked the sound. I wasn't particularly fond of the reverb and I have a separate pedal for that anyway. It sounded a bit thin and splashy for me. The tremolo was ok but it isn't really part of my style. The amp is great for those British sounds of the 60s but you can also dial up those great trashy alternative sounds like REM. With dealy you can also nail some of that edge stuff. This amp really does sing. It really is a great sounding amp for the price but I gave it a 7 because of the reverb and the tremolo.

Here is the big problem. Had it about two months and the fuse blew. Sent it back and after I had had it back for a few weeks it started making some very nasty crackling noises. Sent it back again and as soon as I took it out of the box it was still making crackling noises and within ten minutes the fuse blew again. Sent it again and got a NEW amp. The first thing the new amp did was blow a fuse. Within two weeks it had blown three fuses and it started to make those dreaded crackling noises again. I gave up and swapped it for a Fender Blues Junior after that.

Customer support were actually quite helpful and sent me UPS labels to send it back directly to them so I didn't have to deal with the shop I bought it with. They never actually ultimately solved the problem though and sometimes they never returned my calls.

Been playing for about five years and have a highway tele, gibson 335 and a ricky 360. Maybe I was just really unlucky with these two amps but I just ran out of patience in the end. I loved its sound and really wanted it to work out but I guess it wasn't to be. It can be the best sounding amp in the world but if it doesn't work it doesn't work. I obviously would not buy another one because I went for the Blues Junior in the end.

This is a 2005 VOX AC15CC with the Wharfdale speaker. Single channel, no effects loop, reverb, tremolo, and master volume. I've only been using this amp at home and at low volumes, so please keep that in mind. I needed a low powered amp that i could rock on and still have it sound good. I love vintage style tube amps and this really leaped out at me as a good choice. As far as versitility is concerned, i gave it a 6 due to the fact that you could probably only use it in the studio or at home because of its size and lack of a two channel configuration. But let me assure you; it is LOUD! Most tone freaks would say that the presence of a master volume inhibits that overall tone. Well let me tell you that the master volume is just just what this amp needed; by twiddling with the preamp and master volumes i can get a nice warm yet chimy clean (at a low volume) and a nice crunchy overdrive by spinning the master all the way up. This is not a hard rock or metal amp mind you but it does respond to picking dynamics rather well. Pick closer to the bridge and pick harder and you're looking at some rock and roll!

I will admit it initally that i am a tone freak! I played a 70's Fender Twin for the longest time and from what i've heard that isn't even the pinnacle of fabulous tube tone! But when i went to purchase a new gear setup; having sold all my old equipment, i settled on VOX as an interesting alternative due to their current affordability. Well i wasn't disappointed! In fact, i'll say it: I am a VOX only player now! That is how great this amp sounds. It just has a little magic that i can't put my finger on. It is chimy yet warm, and can rock with the best. I've never played a older VOX but it doesn't matter to me because this amp just sounds GOOD! MAny other reviews commented on the reverb as being very thick and rather unbecoming. I agree. It is a little over the top, and i keep it on a very low setting. The tremolo is fabulous, not always useful or wanted but it is easily switched off by the included footswitch. If you just want something great sounding to play in your apartment or house or for home recording this would be a great little amp. I can't express how much i love it! I have been playing a Tele through it an it sounds yes very twangy but i have also played an SG classic with P-90's and a standard Strat through it both sound great. Especially the SG! The p-90's simply rock through this amp! I have not run effects through it and probably won't because it really shines as a "plug-and-play" amp. Any power/bar/open chords sound amazing and while i don't get a "hot" lead sound through my Tele, i can only imagine this thing wailing with a good lead guitar like a Paul or Strat.

I, to date, have had no problems as others have mentioned. No blown fuses of tubes and very little noise. It seems to be well built but coming from owning used, vintage amps, anything new is wonderful to me. If you worry about it failing i would suggest keeping fuses around, which i believe will need to be ordered through your VOX dealer and keep an eye on the tubes, otherwise, it should do it's job well! Since i have not gigged with it i can't provided adequate details on how it may perform in such a situation.

Have not needed to contact VOX/Korg for anything...

For tone freaks on a budget, who need a good recording amp or a nice jamming amp; i would highly recommend the AC15CC. I am currently considering trading it in for it's bigger brother the AC30CC having learned that the AC30 has a low power switch. Go to your local dealer and just play one! I guarantee you'll smile!

Bought brand new Dec. 2006

you know the rest. Not a lot of features, but features not needed!!
Reverb and Tremolo.
Just roll back the volume!!!!

WOW!!!!!!
Now this is a "Guitar AMP"
Great Clean tone.
Great distorted tone....and cleans up when you turn your guitar volume down!!!!

Reverb is superb!!!! just dont use much of it!!!! keep it to a min.
Tremolo just another great EXTRA...

I have the model with the stock Wharfedale speaker, I love this tone.

At real high volume this speaker does break up and is not the best sounding...but this is at HIGH volume.
If i need high volume i have a marshall cab with 1x12 heritage speaker....this amp sounds great with this set up...at high volume

i give it a 10

I have had it for about 4 weeks, have not taken it out of the house yet.,need to get a cover for it.

I have read bad reports on reliability....But i think it will be better than most people think.........we will see, give it a 6, i will do a follow up in 1 year

I have a good dealer

TONE....TONE.....TONE!!!!!! THATS ALL I CAN SAY

I have played for 30 years, (holy crap) i have owned many tube amps, and WITHOUT A DOUBT this is the best sounding amp i have owned.
I consider the reverb and tremolo a great bonus's

I cant believe i can get this sound for under $600.00

I WOULD BUY THIS AMP AGAIN!!!!!!

this amp was made in2006.i can play blues ,rock,funk,punk reggae,etc..through it,very well.this is a one channel amp, and it has a reverb and trem.i am running it with an old marshall 1 by 12 extension cab.i switched the ohm switch to accomodate this addition.this amp has all the features i need.i play clubs with it. it has enough power for the rooms we play.it is a tube amp of course.i like the wharfdale speaker.the marshall cab i use with it has a similar sounding speaker in it.

i have found i can get a good selection of tones from it using my board.it is very good for clean sounds and it will rock.i set the amp wih the master and channel volume at half,the treble i set at one clock,and the bass i set at 11 o clock. this gives a good usable clean sound which will drive when i use my tubedriver or my comp.they each cause a differrent type of overdrive,very pleasing.for some reason this amp has a very nice reverb,i have seen some which did not.i have played a 64 strat a 94 strat and dean hollowbody jazz type guitar that has humbucks through this amp.they all worked very well with it.it s not to noisey and works within the styles i play in.

i do not know if this amp will hold up,but my other vox is doing very well.

my dealer is super,i have no doubt i will be taken care of.but i have not dealt with vox directly

i have played for over 30 years.i have had fender marshall peavey sunn ampeg etc.. i would get another of these if somthing happened to it.i love its simplicity.i like the stock wharfdale speaker,i tried out one with the blue speaker,it was wonderfull for clean stuff but sounded brittle when driven.i dont like the short cuts it materials like pots and knobs.but as long as it works i will live with it.i have not seen a problem with the tolex covering others have spoken of.but then again i invested in covers for my vox amps

Everyone else has already stated the controls. The stock tubes are Tung Sol 12ax7s and El84s, very nice.

This amp sounds great. The clean sound/headroom is short lived but very musical. Fantastic Light break up sound once you hit the Master and Pre-gain volume at half each. This amp won't do a rockin' Marshall or Orange style overdrive on it's own, even with the Pre-gain/Master Volume cranked it just gets messy.

Like most tube amps, the Master does little but add mud once you've cleared half-way. I also find the pre-gain gets too unmusical when it's completely pinned.

Lately I've been using a TS 808 for my overdrive needs. It compliments the VOX sound very well, classic overdrive/distortion. I use the 808 for gigs and usually run the amp wide open, towards the second song the amp is warm and in its prime condition.

The Tremolo is lovely on clean or gritty settings.. Not a big fan of Distorted Trem. The Reverb is very touchy, I wish it was more faint/ambient. I find the decay is darastically too long.

Mine has held up well. I've run it wide open (Master and Pre totally cranked) for several shows and it hasn't crapped out yet, although I never doubt the death of a transformer.

N/A.

If you're looking for lot's of volume, look elsewhere. This amp can handle most clubs no problem but it is only 15 watts, so a microphone is usually needed.

I've yet to run it through a 4x12, but that time will come. This one's a keeper.

12" Wharfedale speaker, providing 15 Watts through an all-valve preamp, power valves and a solid-state rectifier. Considered class AB, this amp is also fit for Class A classification, apparently. On-board Trem and Reverb, which are controllable through the bundled 2-way footswitch. You buy the AC15 for its vintage tone and faithfulness to its heritage, if you want zany multi-effects, invest in a Valvetronix or the like.

The trick to this little baby, like most valve amps but especially so in this case, is to allow around 5 - 6 minutes for the tubes to heat to full temperature. After doing so, crank up the volume over the master to hear some of the finest, genuine overdrive you've ever heard, complete with subtle harmonics and just total creamy, but punchy tone. Alternatively, lower the master and you will hear the warmest sounding clean sound you could ask for, with a dynamic response i've not heard on anything short of a Fender Hot Rod series.
Reverb is extremely subtle, but the Trem is totally there and totally worth having. A simple, traditional top boost EQ with bass and treble controls are all you need, and that's all you get - you'll have no trouble finding your sound on this amp.

Vox generally gets a bad rap, ESPECIALLY its valve amps. But then so do Marshall, and Hughes and Kettner, and hundreds of others, so don't let bad raps sway your affections when you go to buy this amp. Valves are valves - you'll need to replace them the same way you would any other amp. Build quality is excellent - serioulsy, the stigma of Chinese construction becomes a myth in this particular instance, the tolex and cloth and just general he solid feel of the amp is really satisfying. Without a doubt, the finest looking amp i'll ever own, as beautiful as furniture as it is as an amp, this is what i imagine when i think boutique.

Vox are quality controlled and owned by Korg, although my warranty runs through One Man Band music shop in Banbury and those guys are yet to let me down, so i'm happy just dealing with them.

I have been playing for roughly a decade, and i have been through a lot of gear in that time, and then some. I needed to settle on an amplifier that i knew would give me superb tone, totally vintage style and faith that all i'd have to do now is find as good a guitar to match. This is the loudest little amp i've ever heard, so it's ideal for intimate gigs, yet you don't have to thrash it to get a great sound, so its equally useful at home. At 3, it'd happily drown out my old Laney 65 watt at near max, without a second through, but it wouldn't have to sound cack in the process. Buy this amp because you know you want the total vintage experience, and that an original AC15 will be ten times the price. It was the first amp to inspire a whole genereation of music in the UK, so buy it because you owe it!
It's important, if you can, to square this up to a Blues Junior, not only because of the price similarity but because that'll be the clinch as to whether the Vox sound is right for you.

The features are mentioned below. In my opinion it has all, Vox needs.
The Reverb is a bit thin. The Bass and Treble are interactive, so it costs a little time to find the best position. Of course you need different positions for Humbucker/Single Coil. A second input would have been nice!

It sounds just like I supposed it to sound: warm and a bit inspecific, typically brtitish. Not with the force and strength of the AC30 of course, a bit weaker and litte more dirt. In former days i Played a AC 50 and the problem with this amp was, that it sounded fantastic but only with Volume pumped up. with the CC1 you get a veritable valvy crunch at a decent Volume (combined to a AC30). Good for home practise!!!

It?s built in China, so you don?t get a Rolls Royce type Amp of the former british Empire. the Knobs are a cheap Joke. I wouldn?t mind better materials. The input jack is an bit weak. No problems in use so far, no breakdowns.

didn?t need it so far

Playing 20+ Years i heard a lot of tube amps and i Played quite a lot. My first amp was the mentioned AC 50 and I liked it from the very beginning. The AC 15 is a little brother of this ancient sound Monster, it?s more versatile, but hasn?t the strength of a AC30 of course. If you play most of your gigs with bands i suppose you?d better buy the AC30. If you need an amp for Home use and duo/trio-performances I would highly recommend the AC15. But I?m definitely addicted to VOX. I really love that muddy warm sound when it get?s crunchy and the decent brightness if you play clean (watch the interactive Bass/Treble positions.) My guitars are a 1971 Gibson SG Custom, Epi ES 335, and a Robert Cray Strat. Normally i play without external effects, sometimes a Boss DD3, a T-Rex Comp Nova, and s TS9-Clone of a little one man factory in Germany (MEK). With the MEK (as a clean Boost you get close to the fullness of a AC30.

New VOX AC15CC, with which I have tried three different speakers: the VOX Wharfdale (stock in the cc1), the Celestion Blue (stock in the cc1x), and the Weber BlueDog. In my opinion, this amp has the perfect balance of features: Single channel, Reverb, and Tremolo (both footswitchable on/off with the included footswitch). It has a sttandby switch and single input jack (which I like better than having two anyway). I REALLY like the 8 ohm / 16 ohm toggle switch VOX has included, allowing you to swap different speakers more easily. Also, it has 2 speaker jacks, so you can run two cabs or the internal speaker and another cab simultaneously.

I give it a 10 for features because I think VOX really picked the essential features, making this the perfect stripped-down little brother to the AC30. Also ? the master volume addition is great! This has become a perfect sized amp for me to play both at home and at gigs.

The amp in general sounds fantastic! I love the signature VOX sound, and this AC15 has nailed it! Be prepared though ? if you want clean headroom you should buy an AC30 instead? the AC15 does not have much clean headroom. It does have, however, the most incredible light crunch sound that I have ever heard out of any amp, ever. For best results, I keep the master volume cranked and dial the top boost to about 11 o?clock. For playing at home, I simply turn the master volume down to about 11 o?clock as well.

Like I said, I have tried three different speakers in this amp. I bought the cc1 version of the amp, with the Wharfdale speaker installed (because I already own both a Celestion Blue as well as a Weber BlueDog). Here is how the break down:

Wharfdale:
This is VOX?s version of a GreenBack (I think) ? and it does an ok job. Unfortunately, it sounds a little flat and lifeless to me... kind of ?cardboardy? if that makes any sense. The Wharfdale is not a bad speaker though? it will do the trick if you like the GreenBack sound.

Celestion Blue:
Wow ? this speaker truly transforms the amp. It really comes to life and sounds much more organic and musical than the Wharfdale. It has a gorgeous bell-like tone to it that is warm and creamy, without the ?muddiness? that you find in GreenBacks, etc. Definitely MUCH better sounding!

Weber Blue Dog:
The BEST sounding speaker I have ever heard. It is essentially identical to the Celestion Blue ? but even a tiny bit creamier in my opinion! Gorgeous ?bell-like? tones, and the growling overdrive crunch is stunning. Each Blue Dog is hand built to order, which I think is amazing ? especially considering it is $175. I know that sounds like a lot for a speaker, but it is still a lot cheaper than the Celestion Blue!

I HIGHLY SUGGEST PURCHASING THE CC1 WHARFDALE VERSION OF THE AMP ALONG WITH A WEBER BLUE DOG! This is actually cheaper than buying the amp preloaded with a Celestion Blue ? AND you?ll have a spare speaker laying around afterwards! Find a 20% off coupon for Guitar Center, and the amp is only $480 new, + $175 for Weber, + $35 for a full re-tube set from Eurotubes ? and you have an INCREDIBLE sounding amp for less than $700 (significantly cheaper than you can usually find the cc1x version of the amp for).

Tremolo: Very very nice sounding. I am really impressed with it, and use it very often.

Reverb: The stock reverb tank is only ok. I replaced it with a larger 17? Accutronics tank, and the reverb quality improved drastically! It is now very nice and very usable. I suggest doing this, as a new tank is only about $25-$30, and it is very easy to install. VOX should ship these amps with a better reverb tank.

Speaking of tubes ? I retubed mine with JJ power tubes and EHX preamp tubes (the best tube combo in my opinion). This was a decent improvement in sound quality over the stock tubes, which were EHX power tubes and Sovtek preamp tubes. Definitely a 10 for sound quality!

Perfect so far. I?ve been gigging it and playing it at home for about 4 months now, and I have not had any problems at all. I drag my Traynor YCV20WR along as a backup (also a pretty cool little amp) ? but have never had to use it.

N/A

I am willing to say this is the best amp value I have ever come across, and the Traynor is a close second. I think the build quality is very high ? I was actually very impressed with the internal wiring when I opened it up. It seems very nicely routed and soldered.

With the speaker upgrade, new tubes, and new raverb tank, this amp just blows me away everytime I hear it. Sometimes I even listen to my own half-assed recordings and think, ?Wow ? does my amp really sound that good??

I ended up keeping the Weber BlueDog in this amp, and putting the Clestion Blue in my Traynor. I couldn?t be happier. By the way, I play an American Strat.

Master volume, Tremolo, Reverb, Bass, Treble, Volume. One input, Two rocker switches for On and Standby, Switch fro 8 or 16 ohm. Made in China with Waferdale speaker and tube driven except the reverb and tremelo are solid state. No effects loop and other nonesense.
I use this amp live and have had it about 3 months and play 3 or 4 gigs a week.
I won't mind a mid control and bright switch. Can leave the Master Volume contol out.

I've tried this amp with a Strat,Les Paul and Tele. When I first got it I was somewhat disappointed. It sounded thin and trebley. I had a Weber blue alnico pup, so I tried that and what a difference. It is a great sounding amp now- Night and day. I haven't changed the tubes yet and I expect it to improve more when I do and I have not had any problems yet. The reverb is way over the top and sounds like the Ventures surf party at a pretty low setting. The tremolo seems pretty good but seldom use it. The Master volume they could have left out and I just leave it on 10. I use pedals and a THD Hotplate with the other volume on 5 or 6. I love the sound of my Zendrive through this setup. This is a great sounding Class A Amp for little money. I also have the Celestion blue but prefer the Weber. I paid $500.00 for the amp and $90.for the speaker. It is had to find this good of tone without spending twice as much. I know I have about 25 anmps right now and have owned about 50 others. If I rated this amp with the Waferdale I would give it about a 4. With the Weber I rate it a nine not counting the Reverb.

So far so good. Changing tubes is not to easy on the job. I keep a Rockman for a spare.

I haven't a clue, and would fix it myself or have a local guy work on it. This one area where the point to point is nice.

I have been playing professinally for over 30 years as my means of income. I own a lot of amps many that I will be getting rid of just because it just gets to be to much. This will be a great working man's amp if it holds up. I can buy four these for the cost of some boutique amps that I have, so this is a good value. The cabinet seems to to be Ok and the workmanship seems good. I wish it were a little lighter like my Reverend Kingsnake. If you buy one don't forget to buy a Weber alnico blue for it. In this case the speaker truly is have the sound. I wish they made this in hand wired point to point.

Warning !!
I recently purchased a Vox AC15cc. It was the one with the wharfdale speaker and it sounded great. I did a couple of gigs with it and then it died. Tuned up before the first set and suddenly no lights on and no sound. It was away 3+ weeks and I was told that a valve went down and took out the fuses, but it was fixed. Next gig it went down again. I took it back to the retailer (who was great) and he replaced it with another one (with the Alnico spkr) and it last 3 hrs and went the same way. I've just exchanged it for a 65 Deluxe (reissue).
I can't tell you how disappointed I am, I loved the sound but reliability can't be compromised.

I used it for small rooms and I ran it with a TS-9. Too easy. sounded great. When it worked.

This amp has no reliability. I've had two in 5 weeks and they're both dead. I even checked to see if they came in different shipments in case there was an accident. There was no accident.

I am in Australia, they're imported by Yamaha here. They replaced the first one and that was the most I could ask for. The second one died and I;m sure the retailer will get some joy from the wholesaler as well. The retailer replaced it (+$) with Fender 65 deluxe reverb. It's a beautiful amp and more than 2x the price. It has a great sound but is very different. It's reliable.

I can't rate an amp that doesn't work

Has all the features I need, tremelo and reverb. 15 loud watts

With my sg the sounds are incredible, pushed to a slight crunch is where it shines, with my Mosrite its bright and twangy just like I like it, my Les Paul is a bit muddy trough it but its kinda muddy through anything. Perfect for garage/retro rock.

No problems yet. Seems pretty solid.

Haven't used it

I have been playing for about fifteen years and I love this thing. I currently just use the Vox and my Orange combo. The vox and orange sounds really compliment eachother. No heavy metal sound here {thank God), just awesome chimey crunchy goodness. The only thing I will do to it is replace the wharfdale speaker, and upgrade the tubes.


I would definatly get it again if it were stolen

Reissue of vintage-style amp, so no channel switching, effects loop or other goodies. Just a simple single channel amp with reverb, tremolo and a master volume.

I bought this hoping to get AC30 tone at a lower volume. I use a homemade Strat with SSH pickups and a vintage tremolo. At lower volumes (for miking in close quarters) the sound is thin and brittle. The amp warms up when cranked, but doesn't have the magic of an AC30. It was impossible to get a good preamp distortion using the master volume at the levels I could play at. The pedals I used in front of the amp came out thin and lifeless. This is not an indictment of the amp, just my personal experience. A new AC30 with a power brake would probably do what I want at the volume I want, but I don't have 2 G's right now, so it's off to Ebay. In the amp's defense, it sounds very good clean when cranked to a decent (loud) volume, and would probably sound a lot better with the Celestion Blue and some different tubes. The reverb is too deep and tubby sounding for my taste, but the tremolo is excellent.

Out of the box there was a strange crackling sound when I hit a Bb on the 4th string. It seems to have completely disappeared and there have been no other problems since.

Vox has been just so-so in the past.

I've been playing too long and have owned too much equipment, from blackface Princeton and Bandmaster to a red Plexi and various Boogie and Carvin combos, and most of the amp modellers. The overall sound of this amp is thin and bright, with almost no warmth. I attribute part of this to new tubes/speaker and the speaker design itself. I question a tube amp with only 2 12AX7A tubes and no rectifier tube-there must be a bit of solid state circuitry somewhere inside. If I could play louder and upgrade the tubes/speaker it would probably work for me, but I'll probably try the Laney VC15 to replace it.

perfect features for me, except that the sound of the reverb is not acceptable.

i use alot of pedals and it takes them very well. ill mainly be using this with a rickenbacker 330-12 and an eastwood airline and also a 2004 american strat. it sounds awsome no matter what i play through it. has elements of fender tone in it..bright and twangy and not at all muddy unless you turn the bass up and treble down. then it does gett very unclear. the tone controls seem to be very sensitive. unlike my fenders, or any other amp i have ever had, witht he vox i notice that very slight movements of the tone knobs makes a sudden and veyr obvious difference and its fun to listen to all the ways that you cant change the overall sound of this amp simply be turning the two tone controls.

when my pedals are not being used, the amp is nearly silent. the clean sound is really nice. in my opinion quite fender-like. but, this is my first vox amp and i can hear the obvious tonal differences between this and my two fender amps, a deluxe reverb and a twin reverb. the vox has a sweet sound but with a touch of something that i cant describe. i hear occasional ghost notes or harmonics which i really like. the distortion is ok. i have never owned a tube amp that had a distorted sound that i loved.. i usually use one or a combination of my 3 distortion pedals. i prefer to have my amps tone clean, and then color the sound with pedals. there is not a lot of head room on this amp. seems to be a little more than my deluxe reverb for some reason..which is 22 watts.

i have always been a fender player and always will be, specifically, a fender twin player. however, i cant carry the twin to practices all the time so i got the vox as a band practice amp and for small gigs, having always loved the vox sound. i think it will work out perfectly for this purpose.

however, the reverb is horrid. its there, but thats the problem. its strong but leaves this trail that colors the sound, sours the sound and in a way that actually hurts my ears. sorta reminds me of my old Kustom 50's reverb....though that one is totally uncontrolled. the vox reverb is tight but unfortunately ruins the tone by coloring it

im going to replace the tank with an accutronics to see if things improve. this amp would be great for everything i play if the reverb was great...i tried to play some paul butterfield blues style stuff...you know, 60's reverb drenched psych blues riffs.. no way can you do that with the stock reverb. its terrible.

i will note that when i got this amp, i played it for about 45 minutes straight before i realized the reverb was not even on...it sounded that good to me. i usually ALWAYS have my reverb on, at least to 2, or 3...for a little ambience. i dont play for long periods with a dry tone. so, i was really shocked when i looked and noticed the reverb was off. i was very impressed. in the way that my fender twin sort of sounds like there is a chorus pedal on, when in fact there isnt, is the type of thing going on with this amp although i cant describe it. its pretty rich and 3 dimensional and complex sounding for a $600 amp

for $600 im blown away.

The trem is just as good as my fenders, and even as good as my Kustom. no complaints there

I have the regular speaker, by the way. So far, I love it. Unlike my fenders, this little amp has a very noticeable tight and punchy bottom end. the bass is really well defined and pleasant...not sure if its the circuit, speakers, cabinet or what. i suspect its a little of everthing..but i noticed it right away and i love it

i have no idea. i will keep fuses and tubes with me. i dont anticipate any major melt downs with this. i left it on all day and it doesnt get very hot. i leave it on with my loopstation playing through it for hours to break in the speaker and everything and also to test it to see what it can take as far as constant playing and abuse etc..

so far, no problem. im not nervous about it at all. the build quality seems awsome...i got mine unopened in a vox factory box. i removed it from the box myself and noticed 2 imperfections. 1, the gold metal strip had a small dent in it and the grill cloth was not put on symetrically....its a little uneven. I can see how this would piss some people off. i dont really care. im more concerned with the tone and reliability of the electronics.

the foot switch is plastic. it looks nice from a distance but im a bit concerned about it. im very careful with my gear though, so im pretty confident it will last

I have no idea. never dealt with them

If the new reverb tank makes the reverb at least a little bit usefull, I will give it a 10.

As it is, with the shit reverb, I give this amp a solid 8, considering the price, the size and the power and weight etc.. I do not believe that you can get a better amp in this price range. The only thing that competes with it is the fender deluxe reverb - similar weight, size cost, tone (somewhat).. I can get an awsome twang from both the vox and the fender.

2006 vox ac-15 w/blue speaker. one of the best looking and sounding amps on the market. i play rock and roll slanted towards the indie side and this amp gets all the right sounds. so much cleaner than the fender hot rod deville that i had prior and the crunch when cranked up is the best. i also enjoy that it comes equiped with tremelo and that you can switch it on or off with the foot pedal (and also the reverb, which i personally think sounds really good). i use this amp mostly at home in my apartment, but i also play with a couple of friends once a week and this amp really cuts through the mix and is plenty loud enough to be heard over my drummer who plays hard and loud.

i play a 1996 fender american telecaster through my vox and they sound great together. it sounds great at low volumes in my apartment and even better when cranked up. it takes really well to my effects pedals too. i use a american big muff and boss delay and with a little bit of tremelo and reverb i get some really awesome sounds. i tried both models of the ac-15, the one with the more expesive celestion blue speaker and the one with the factory wharfdale. i will have to say both amps sound great. the blue has a different quality that is hard to explain that i personally liked a little better.

so far i have had my amp for about 2 months and every thing seems to be great. it feels sturdy and seems well built.

never had to deal with them.

overall i would definitely recommend this amp. i tried several other smaller tube amps such as fender pro jr, blues jr. and hot rod deville before i realized i wasnt getting the sound i was looking for. the price was definitely a litle steep, but to finally have the sound i have been looking for is worth it. if it were lost or stolen i would do what i could to get it back.

See Below

Its just too darn loud!!!!!! I bought this as a practice amp. Ive had two vox amps in the past and theyve both been pretty good. So as theyve both broken now (dont ask!) I thought Id splash out on an AC15CC1.

Id actually read all the reviews here first before sending off for the amp and made the unusual decision to buy it without trying it out first! Doh!!!

So after agerly awaiting its arrival confident that it would be the coolest amp ever I was shocked at quite how impracticably loud it was for home use.

Its pretty much either off or f**king loud! I like playing with gain and I would just have to have cracked it up to ear splitting to get any break up.

So basically Ive sent the amp back :( and Im gonna get my Vox VR30 fixed (a vv good amp which Id heartilly recommend and at 30 watts is a full three times less powerfull than the AC15 - go figure!)

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Too loud as a practice amp. also the tremolo and reverb sucked!!!

This amp is the 2006 Vox AC-15CC1, a reissue of a reissue (of the old AC-15TB and TBX, which were damn near impossible to find when they were out, I only saw one at Guitar Center, sounded great but the price tag almost killed me!). This amp is as basic and as cool as it gets, it has every feature most guitar players would need (great tremelo, nice smooth reverb)and the very useful master volume. I bought the model with the ceramic Wharfedale speaker because I have a blue alnico Celestion sitting in a drawer, so I decided that this would be THE AMP to use it in. This review concerns the amp with the Wharfedale speaker, I might do one after I put the Celestion in. The amp has only one input (the old AC15TB/X had two), which I always prefer--keeps people from wanting to plug in with you (hey, get your own amp, buddy!!), there are no effects loops, headphone jacks, nada. Just a plain Vox AC15, very versatile, it does the trick for me, since I play mainly in smaller clubs, so I can bring this in and use it, rather than the British-built AC30TBX (with the Celestion Blues) I used to own, which was more of a coffee table than a guitar amp, it was too big and heavy for normal daily use. This AC15 is loud enough to temporarily paralyze small game at 20 yards, and all the Vox harmonics are there, it just sounds like a Vox amp, which is superb. I mainly play older rock, surf music, 1960s American garage and folk-rock, older British rock (Beatles, early Who, Rolling Stones, Pretty Things, the Yardbirds, mod bands like Small Faces and the Creation, etc, some 70s punk and new wave as well), so it fits the bill perfectly. The amp has a tube pre-amp and power amp, the reverb and tremolo are both solid state, and so is the rectifier circuit, and it uses some kind of sag circuit to approximate the sound of a tube rectifier when it's pushed to sag. Some guitarists swear by tube rectifiers, I've used amps with both solid state and tube rectifiers, I say they're both fine. Here's my take on this issue: the less tubes in a Vox amp, the better, since Vox amps are notorious for overheating, since you had, I think, 11 tubes hidden inside the cabinet on an AC30, maybe 9 in the AC15TBX, with these little vents on top of the amp cabinet which do little or nothing to push the heat out, so you've basically plugged your prized guitar into a fire hazard. Besides, we've come to that point in electronic engineering where we can produce a solid-state reverb and tremolo that sound fantastic (yes, they do), and a solid-state rectifier doesn't really faze me in the least, remember that the Twin Reverb also has a solid-state rectifier, and no one's ever complained about them, the 1980s Paul Rivera-designed Fender amps also had solid-state rectifiers, I had a Fender Concert that sounded great, so there you go, no big deal.

I'm currently trying the Vox out with a few different guitars, mainly a Fender '62 Jazzmaster reissue (my number one guitar, sounds and plays like a dream), a Squier Telecaster (great cheap guitar, great twang, and I can take it out and drop it accidentally and not care!!), and a borrowed Les Paul Special. Needless to say, all guitars sound amazing through the amp. I usually run everything through my 1968 Fender Princeton Reverb as my main amp, but with the Vox, it's apples and oranges. The Fender amp gives the sweet Fender tone it's known for (a great sound), and the Vox gives out the brittle, multi-harmonic, "blizzard of nails" tone that Vox is legendary for. Man, what a sound! It's as sweet or as agressive as you want it to be, and considering I play a number of styles (surf music, early US and British Invasion rock and roll, some folk-rock and psychedelic rock, going up to pub rock, punk, new wave and beyond that), the sound fits all of them. Believe it or not, running a Jazzmaster through a Vox amp is not only just for playing Elvis Costello or Television songs. It's a versatile combo, the Jazzmaster pickups really shine through the Vox, it sounds good with the blues or any rock style, I'm sure it would sound great through a big-bodied Gibson for jazz runs as well.

Regarding the amp noise factor, I think they finally figured out how to quiet these beasts down. The amp is not noisy at all, it's dead quiet, and noise is one of the big problems with Vox amps (of course, reliability is the biggest one, it has been for decades). However, two things I notice about this amp: one, it hates cheap pickups (it'll buzz like hell if you put a cheap guitar through it with cheap pickups), and two, possibly due to the 2nd- and third-level harmonics Vox amps put out (which is part of that amazing Vox sound, thank you Mr. Dick Denney), you will sound like crap if your guitar is even the slightest bit out of tune (anyone of you out there who know the quirks of Vox amps already know this, but if you don't know about this aspect of Vox tone, make sure your tuners don't slip while you play--oy vey!!). As far as the SOUNDS the amp makes, well, pull out your Beatles, Stones, Kinks, etc. LPs and give a listen. Hell, pull out your Queen LPs while you're at it, and dig out your R.E.M. CDs, that sound is on records right to the present day, that sweet harmonic and thick breakup is there in spades. The reverb is not like a Fender reverb; it's not the big, crashing reverb you can get lost in. The Vox reverb is a different sort of animal, it's a subtle nuance, a smooth echo that follows the note, you can adjust the length of time that it reverberates, but it's not a Fender reverb, it never has been, not on any Vox amplifier, but it is still a great sound, and the tremolo is as great as any Vox I've ever heard, maybe better. I really do wish it had the Vibrato feature the old AC30s had, but it's just too complicated a circuit, you can get a cheap pedal that approximates the sound, so I can live without it.

The distortion is, well, distorted. The master volume is really needed on this amp, because if you didn't have it, you couldn't get that great Vox crunch without going deaf, this amp is damn loud for 15 watts (due to the innovative Vox circuit, once again, thank you Dick Denney). But it has the Vox crunch for sure, and if you crank it up, it goes flat-out screaming distortion. So you really have to know what kind of sound you want to get out of this amp, since you can really overdo the overdrive on this thing, and it gets really gritty. I think this is probably due to the Wharfedale speaker, it's a decent speaker but it's completely mismatched for this amp. First of all, it's not a Blue Celestion "Bulldog" speaker (ha ha), but that means a couple of things, mainly the old blue Bulldog is an alnico speaker, which makes all the difference in Vox amps. Since the Wharfedale is ceramic, it results in more of a hi-fidelity sound, the sound is clearer and punchier, but not as warm and round. The bulldog has more midrange as well, which is important in getting the tone right. The Wharfedale sounds great, but the speaker emphasizes the top end of the sound, it's more trebly, so the breakup is more jagged. Second, the impedance and wattage are wrong. The classic Blue Bulldog is an 8-ohm speaker that handles 15 watts. The magic sound that Vox was known for was due to those blue Celestion speakers, they were always closely matched to the amp's output, especially in the case of the single-speaker AC15 and the twin-speaker AC30, where the blue Celestions were perfect, they matched the amp's output wattage perfectly, so they could be pushed to the hilt. The Wharfedale is a 30-watt speaker, 16 ohm impedance, so it not only has a different impedance (this does supposedly influence the sound somewhat), but since it's capable of having 30 watts pumped through it, it doesn't go to the top of it's output range, so the amp won't get that "holy shit, it's about to blow!!" sound that an overdriven Vox amp has. However, the Wharfedale sounds good, it gets that nice chime and squishy overdrive, so it's a great bargain (especially since the Celestion costs about $275-300 street value), and once the speaker breaks in, it'll get warmer. So a nine for the Wharfedale, I dig it.

Ha ha ha, reliability with a Vox?? BLEAH-HA-HAR-HAR-MWAH-HAHAHAH!!! Personally, I really don't give a crap if a classic Vox amp is about as reliable as an old Jaguar (speaking of old English craftmanship...), which is of course, not that reliable. They just look so damned beautiful and sound so extraordinary, I would devote myself foolishly to its care and maintenance, just to hear myself playing through one!! I'm actually an amp tech in my spare time, so I've been under the hood of a lot of old and new Fenders, Voxes (both tube and solid-state), Ampegs and some Marshalls, so I can fix an amp if it blows up. However, I'll tell you this: I did something smart this time around. Rather than buy my Vox amp from your usual music store chain (name your favorite/least favorite, folks!!), I bought mine through North Coast Music (www.northcoastmusic.com). It's a one-man operation, and the owner goes through the amps he receives from Vox, checking for weak tubes, bad cosmetics, and burns in the amps for 12 hours before he sends them out. The amp arrived double-boxed, well-packed, and it was perfect, no blemishes, no mars, no nonsense, and it worked perfectly right out of the box. I've heard stories about these amps and the new AC-30s having problems, well, so what else is new?? The old British-built AC-15s had problems with bad transformers, the output trannies would blow out within a month, and the replacements would also blow up. No, it's not the amp's fault, it's the fault of the component supplier. Remember, all the British stuff (this goes for Marshall, too, as well as cars, motorcycles, whatever else the Brits made or still make) is not completely built from in-house parts, there's lots of farming out of transformers, cabinets, trim, pots, what have you. So you have a good chance of getting bad runs than if all the parts are built in-house, which doesn't really occur in amp manufacture. However, now the Vox amps are built in China, apparently it's all built in-house, and here's the kicker: this amp seems to be built impeccably. I pulled the back off the amp to check out the guts, and the build quality seems to be first-rate. I have never seen a Vox amp where the wires were so neatly routed, all the tube socket filament wires were neatly routed to the board, nothing connected together to cause any noise, the solder joints are perfect, the boards are neat, the parts are installed neatly and securely. It's almost as if they have to really, REALLY prove themselves here, you know, "Listen, guys, this is a classic British amp now built in China, people are grumbling, let's show them how well we can do it, okay?" The British AC-30 TBX I owned was quiet at first, then suddenly got very buzzy (bad tube filament wire routing, typical problem with the old Voxes), then the standby switch started to go bad. This amp was built by the folks at Marshall amps, and it was constructed like shit. Horrible solder joints, of course, the standby switch went dead after maybe 4 hours of playing time, and all the components were installed very sloppily, the silicone they used to keep the parts seated was squirted all over the place. What a mess. Just to think, it was built by Marshall! So, let's see what the Chinese can do, maybe once all the kinks are ironed out, we'll have Vox amps that will actually last the whole gig!! And if you're wondering about the quality of the components they use, the resistors, caps, diodes, and wiring are the same as the British amps, the small parts come from the same suppliers, the pots look a little cheaper, but the pots on the British AC-30s were lousy, and Vox has used cheap plastic input jacks since 1960, so what the hell, for an amp that's a thousand bucks cheaper, I'm willing to take my chances. So I'll have to get back to you on the reliability on this amp, but I'm optimistic, I already used it more than the Brit AC-30 I had, and it's still working, so 10 for now...

I called Korg for a manual for my British AC-30, and Korg was very helpful, they took my info, sent the manual out in a week. I personally think they're as good as any other company out there, I had good luck with ordering parts from Fender, Ampeg is fantastic, and the Korg people were fine. And remember, I bought my AC-15 from North Coast Music, I just didn't walk into a local Guitar Center and buy an amp (I couldn't find one in my local Guitar Center even if I wanted to buy one there!), so my amp was already checked out and put through it's paces, and my chances of getting a lemon were significantly reduced. If you're seriously considering getting one of these amps, I would say to contact North Coast Music, especially since you'll be lucky if you find a Vox AC-15 at your local music store. I'm not plugging anyone here, I just tried a different route, which turned out to be the best one for my needs. I tried ordering an AC-30 CC1x (the single-speaker AC30 model) from a local store, I waited at least two months, and of course, the amp never arrived, the store never called Korg about the order status, oh well, I took the money I put down on the AC-30 and bought a Telecaster with it. The warranty for the amp is a year, so what, if it breaks after the warranty expires, I'll fix it myself. I'll give a 10 for customer support from my past experiences with Korg, not sure with this amp yet, hopefully I won't have to call them for a long time.

I have been playing guitar since I was about fifeen years old. I spent the first few years banging on it more than playing with a pick and my fingers, but hey, I got some lessons, and I now bang my guitar with a pick (I guess you can tell I play mostly rhythm guitar, huh?). I spent years using Fender amps, I owned three Deluxe Reverbs, I found a Super Reverb in the trash and restored it. Then when I was about thirty-five, I started thinking, "you know, I really like the sound of Vox amps, why don't I get one?" I liked the look of them, really stood out from the workmanlike Fenders, they sounded different, and being that I've been a fan of British products for years (MGBs, BSAs and Triumphs, oh my!) so I decided on getting a Vox in the near future. Then I went to Little Steven's Underground Garage Festival on Randall's Island (New York) back in the summer of 2004, and I checked out the backline on stage: Fender Twin Reverbs, Marshall JCM stacks, and Vox AC-30s. The Fenders looked like tree stumps on stage, the Marshalls were enormous, ugly and sounded like typical modern-day Marshalls (hmm, hard to get clean sounds on them, and I don't think people really know how to set them just right, except for the Ramones, who turned everything up to 10 and sawed away), but then there were the Voxes. I noticed them right away, and they sparkled on stage. I saw how much the light flickered and flashed off the gold fascia strip (fancy word for trim strip)and VOX logo on the front of the amp. They looked like dandies at a burger joint, just standing out boldly and glowing, winking, dying to be noticed. Then one of my favorite British mod bands, the Creation, got on stage and played. Eddie Phillips (the Creation's guitarist, he was the first one to use a violin bow on the guitar, before that Page guy, and Eddie was so good that Pete Townshend apparently wanted him to be second guitarist in the Who. Pete was also joined the Creation's fan club, so there!)had his ES335 plugged into the Vox amp, he had his violin bow ready, and the band started to play "Making Time" (You can hear this song in the film "Rushmore," if you're interested). Well, the day after THAT, I went out and bought an AC-30, I couldn't be without one. My god, the sound it made was incomparable to anything I ever heard, I would just play simple guitar chords through it, I had never heard open and barre chords sound like that before. I'll tell you, I never heard D major the same way again! However, the amp was too heavy (71 pounds), too big for anywhere I would play it, so I never used it (then the standby switch started to act funny, such is a Vox). I also needed a keyboard for a band I'm in (I'm primarily a keyboard player), so I figured the Vox had to go, I bought a Yamaha Motif, all was well. But damn it, that Vox still gnawed at me, then when I found out about the AC-15 getting reissued, I said, "NOW is the time," so I bought one. Best damn musical purchase I've made in years. Okay, so it's still heavy (50 pounds), but it's not the behemoth the AC-30 is, it's the size of a Deluxe Reverb, so I can bring it to a club, and the rest of the band can still stand on stage without my amp getting in the way. I also have the Princeton Reverb, a Squier Tele butterscotch Affinity series (great cheap guitar), and my Jazzmaster. I really cut down on my gear as of late, due to space and financial needs, but the sound of this amp inspires me, it just looks and sounds amazing. If it were stolen, I would definitely get another one, hopefully it won't get to that, but at least now I could afford one, as opposed to the last British Vox AC-15s. I would avoid the British AC-15s for the most part, I know some people like the older ones better, but I know how they're built, and I wouldn't touch one, especially not for the prices they're currently selling for. This amp has the typical Vox quirks, the extremely thin tolex covering (actually it's called Vynide, I only know that because I had to order some for an amp restoration) is there as usual, so you need an amp cover (I've got one), and the amp is a Vox, so you've got to baby it a little more than a Fender amp, or else parts will strip, fall off, get bent or broken, get ripped up (sometimes that happenens even when you DO take care of a Vox), or whatever, but that's the price you pay for owning the Jaguar XKE of amplifiers (big deal it's built in China, it's still a British amp, I don't care where it's built, no one else could ever have created such a beast as the Vox amplifier but the Brits, it's a masterpiece). You eventually have a love-hate relationship when you use Vox amps, I've had some Vox amps going all the way back from the JMI years to the present Valvetronix series (a great line of amps, if you ask me), and the older ones were always a little dodgy. However, I think the Vox people have come a long way with this amp, if not with the design, then at least with the build integrity. It looks like they put time into the redesign of the amp, the electronics look solid, it'll take time to work all the kinks out, but it's the same for any production line. The amp needs nothing else to make it great (maybe the Blue Celestion, but save your pennies and dimes, get it when you can, this amp sounds great with the Wharfedale speaker, so you can wait a while), just take care of it, don't throw it into the van carelessly night after night, and you'll be rewarded. And if you have it under good lighting, you might just see that gold flashing, it'll be winking back at you.

2005 Vox AC15 CC1. Features include Volume and Master Volume, Bass and Treble control, Reverb and Tremolo. It has two speaker outputs, with an impedance selection switch for 8 or 16 ohms, and a Reverb/Tremolo footswitch. The amp uses 2 12AX7/ECC83 preamp tubes, and two EL84/6BQ5 power tubes. Solid-State silicon rectifier, with passive SAG circuit.

The reverb is great once you get used to adjusting it. It's very deep and surfy sounding. For normal playing i usually keep it just under a quarter of the way turned up. I could do without it having a Master Volume, but oh well. Also, i'm thinking of putting in a tube rectifier. Quite heavy for a 15 watt combo, at around 50lbs. On that note, it's one of the loudest 15 watts i've ever played. Along the lines of an Orange AD15. I'm planning on swapping out the Wharfdale Custom speaker for a Celestion Alnico Blue. In my opinion, they should have all come stock with the Celestion.

First off, i've been using this amp with a Fender Telecaster with Lindy Fralin Blues Specials or a Fender Mustang with stock pickups. When turned on the amp is silent. I wouldn't know it was on if it wasn't for the pilot light. It has a great clean tone, as long as you don't turn the pre volume up too high. Otherwise you get a unimpressive overdrive. On the other hand, if you keep the pre volume just under halfway and crank the master volume it's got a really great breakup. As i said before, nice reverb once you get used to it. What i've used of the tremolo i've liked. Not too overpowering.

I play a lot of folk-rock, brit-pop, surf, etc. and this amp is well suited for all of those styles. I wanted something to play small clubs with and thusfar this amp fits the bill. Can easily play along with drums, bass, keys, etc. I've never had to turn it up all the way to keep up. Great overdrive without making yourself deaf.

Though, i could really do without the Master Volume.

I haven't had any problems, and i don't anticipate any. Within the first 15 minutes of owning the amp i had the chassis pulled out so i could go over the wiring. I was impressed to find that the tube sockets were chassis mounted and wired to the board. Extremely clean wiring with quality transformers. Nice heavy cabinet. Plastic input jack most pose a problem down the road. Possibly the best quality Chinese made amplifier i've seen.

While i had it apart i swapped out the tubes (Sovteks) and replaced them with JJ Preamps and Amperex EL84s.

Korg is usually pretty good with customer support. The speaker and tubes are covered for 90 days, and the rest of the amp is covered for one year. (Provided you don't modify it to have a tube rectifier.)

Overall i'm very happy with the amp. I'm dying to hear it with the Celestion Alnico Blue in it though. It's my main amp for gigs now and i get a lot of compliments on the tone.

Pros: Nice Tone, Good Construction

Cons: Weight, Master Volume

I guess that sums it up.

This is the standard version without the Blue Bulldog. Two volume, treble ,bass, reverb and tremelo. No boast or channel switching here.

I tried this with a Les Paul and a tele. It seems a bit on the thin side with a tele. I ended up with the treble off. I hooked it up to a Vintage 30 and it sounded a bit better. I have a Blue bulldog but have not hooked it up yet. I don't care for the reverb unless your doing Ventures or surf music. The footswitch for the reverb and tremelo seem ok. Contruction looks ok. Tube access is poor. Seems to break up nicely when cranked. The price is ok on this amp.

Don 't know yet.

don't know yet.

I've been playing professionally for over 30 years. I have many amps. Not sure if I will keep it or not yet. I keep trying other stuff and going back to old Fender amps.

It is what it is. Reverb and tremolo added over original models from the 60's, plus a master volume. Very simple amp.

I was disappointed. Pretty thin sound really, and you can only run the pre-volume to about 10/11 as others have stated, after that it fizzes out to a nasty snarl. Tried on both single coils and hummers. Same result. Reverb is just bad. Kind of in the background. Should have left it out. Tremolo is good however, how many songs do you really use tremolo for except the occasional CCR cover? Just have to say I was disappointed overall. For $600, you can get a much better amp.

Don't know, brought it back too soon. Worked fine for the week I had it.

No idea.

Spend a little more and get a vintage Vox, or as some others have said, go after the British made models. The Chinese are getting better everyday at making gear, but it's still in the infantile stage and the mass production factor really shows on alot of the gear right now. You really don't have to pay much more than $600 to get a much better amp out there. I was disappointed, because I really liked the old Vox amp sound I once had, and this ain't it. It hints at it, but it should nail it.

This is a 2006 model AC15 Custom Classic 15 watt amp from Vox. It has a single Vox 12 inch custom speaker. This is an all tube amp. I comes equiped with 2 EL84 power tubes and 2 12AX7 preamp tubes. This is a very versatile amp for the styles of music that I play. (Blues, Classic rock). It is a single channel amp with a volume and a master volume control. It comes with a footswitch for the onboard tremelo and reverb. It also has a line out so hooking up a cab is no problem. The only option I wish that it had would be a boost control other than that it has everything I need. I use this amp at home and it has plenty of power (this is tube 15 watts!!!)

I use a standard Fender Strat with Mightymite single coils. For the style of music that I play this amp sounds fantastic. If you are a metal head look elsewhere this does not do high gain but a rich, creamy tube overdrive. This is a very quiet amp. I used to own a Fender Blues Jr. that was very noisy. This amp barely makes a sound. It does hum a little when both volumes are pegged. With the two volume controls and the bass and top boost you can get an amazing variety of sounds. The clean is very clean, you get that Vox chime. When you crank up the volume you get a nice tube crunch.

This amp is very solidly built. I feel I could depend on it and I would gig with it without a backup. I have only had the ampa short while so I can't really talk about the reliablility but I have had other Vox products and they were very reliable.

Have not had to deal with customer support.

I ahve been playing for about 5 years. If this amp were lost or stolen I would run right out and buy another. I really love everything about it. Vox has been doing things right. Compared to other 15 watt tube amps this one is heads and tails above the others. If you like the sound of an all tube amp and you are looking for low power but this amp.

Had to try this since it was reissued. Most of the same features on paper but they replaced vintage toggle switches with cheap plastic ones. Also has only one input.

I have been playing for 25 years all styles of post modern rock. Playing a Less Paul Gold top now. Sounds close to the Korg TBX but not quite as warm and musical. Also the control panel just doesn't look as good.

NA

Never tried

Sounds fine but again the Korg TBX rules. If you can find one of those I would pay the little extra more to get the original

It is one channel - tremelo - reverb - standy-by - 15 watt 12" combo - made in China - mine has the Blue Celestion speaker upgrade - makes a huge difference in tone. 2 el84 power tubes and 2 12ax7 pre-amp tubes. A footswitch to turn on and off the tremelo and reverb is included - I gave it a rating of 10 in this catagory because this type of amp normally does not have many features other than tone. It is heavy (50lbs) for a 15 watt amp so be prepaired.

I use a '59 reissue Les Paul, a Les Paul DC classic and a 335 through this amp and the tone is to die for - very careful settings are important to getting the right tone out of this amp. If you crank it up to 10 to see how it wails , you may be disappointed. A little too much gain and the tone washes out in my opinion. I usually set the gain around the 10 o'clock position and then set the overall volume from there. If you get just the right setting for the guitar that you are using the tone is outstanding. Completely different from Fender or Marshall tone - the amp is nice and quiet - I replaced the tubes right away with Mullard 12ax7s and some kind of vintage GT el84s and that has improved the tone as well.

While I had the amp apart for the tube change I looked around inside and the amp seems solid and well built - I ran it for a week straight when I got it to see if it would blow up (it didn't)- traditionally Vox amps have had reliability issues and these new Chinese ones may be the same or better. Time will tell though. I have had Marshall, Fender and Tophat amps that blew up right away. I hope this one works - I'll rate it a 10 for now

The amp carries a one year warranty - Fender has a 5 year warranty on their amps these days and thats a great warranty - I did email Korg a couple of times for some information and they replied within a day both times so I think customer support is OK - I know Fender has NO support. Based on my limited experience with Korg I give a 10

To be honest I have two other Vox amps and I love the Vox tone so I am probably a little biased towards Vox - it is important to get an alnico magnet Celestion speaker in your Vox , whatever Vox you may have. Thats a big part of the secret to Vox tone.

Well It is the New Vox AC15CC1. I play alt rock and got tired of my old Silver Face Twin Reverb so I went out an bought this amp.
You can find the features for this amp anywhere so I won't write them down.

The sound is great on this amp I use my Fender Strat (with SRV picups in it) And my Gibson Les Paul Double Cut. My style is much like a Brit-Rock feel to it so the amp works great for it. You can get much variety on this amp you just have to play with it for a little while. I'm very very impressed with the Clean sounds you get with it it is very much to me a bell like sound to it very clear. But with distortion it sounds very good as well. (not sure if this amp is for every one ie.. Slipknot ect... )

Can't really say much on the reliability on this amp yet. BUt I have used it for about 10 hrs and no problem yet.
When I was doing the reserch on this amp I noticed that the Vox AC-30CC1 had alot of problems with it. I did ask sweetwater and American Musical Supply did they correct them and it seems that they did.
The only problem is that the tubes are hard to get too.

Never Delt With them. But Korg is a big company so I'm sure they are hard to deal with

I have been playing for 10 years I have My Les Paul Double Cut, Fender Strat, Some Ibanez that I use for slide work and My Martin For amps I use my 1970 Fender Silver Face Twin. It really does sound good with all of these differnt guitars. If it was stolen I would go and buy a new one.
The only thing you really need to know about this amp if you are looking into buy one is that the amp is VERY HEAVY. so it is kinda hard to move around with but other than that its a great amp.

pretty basic amp 1 channel volume and gain 12" wareldale speaker

I play a 335 thru it and it sounds soo good.best sounding amp (for me)out there.i also own a fender 1967 blackface and this this sounds so much better.It has that chimmy shimmery vox sound you cant get any where else.very clean with that nice vox crunch.

here is where the problem occurs.had the amp for less than a week and started hearing this pinging sound thought it was the reverb tank(not)the next day went to play thru it and it just shut down on me.i have returned it and am hoping it was just a lemon.ive ordered another one so only time will tell.Ive owned vox amps in the past and have never had a problem with them (t60,pathfinder)

took it back and are sending me a new one.

best sounding amp ive ever played thru(personal opinion)iv'e played or owned badcat's matchless,mesa,dr z,peavy,fender and traynor.none sounded as sweet as this amp.i am concerned about the reliability of this amp though.it should not have shut down on me after a week of playing.Im gonna give vox another chance hopefully the next amp will last.i know these are made in china now and they have cut corners to save the consumer money. but regardless of how sweet an amp sounds if you cant depend on it to gig with it's useless.

Great classic features, Everything you would expect from a vox!

What a sound! Blows the old AC15TB out of the water! The tremolo is great, the reverb is very versatile and when cracked up, you can really shred this thing!

no problems as yet

not needed as yet

just one, buy this amp NOW!