Vox AC30BM 212 Combo

I bought my amp new recently from a guy in Toronto that had used this amp twice for recording and decided to get rid of it. I immediately scooped it. Always wanted to own a Vox AC30. I won't go into all of the features this amp has to offer. It's already been covered by other reviews. I started looking on the net the minute I bought this amp because I wasn't a 100% satisfied with this amp. It had a horrible undertone and swelling effect to thee sound. So I started looking on the net to find out any information that I could find on this amp. Lo and behold, I stumbled upon a website by this guy in England at www.mikeryde.com. He had a very long article on this amp, that was supposedly manufactured to the same specs as this guy Dave Petersen's amp, that was built for Brian May back in somewhere around 1998.. To make a long story short, Mr. Petersen designed an AC30 special amp for Brian May. This guy at Vox by the name of Steven Grindrod was commissioned to put out an exact clone of this Petersen AC30. Well needless to say, Mr. Grindrod for some reason decided to deviate from the original schematic of Petersens'. The end result as Mr. Mike Ryde puts it, was a poor exercise in futility to duplicate this amp. Well Mike Ryde offers the step by step conversion of this amp back to the original specs of Mr. Petersen. They are easy for a tech to follow. I got the kit from Mr.Petersens' company called Sheresound ltd. in England. I also went to Mercury Magnetics for an exact clone of the old Vox Albion output transformer. After having my tech complete the conversion on Mike Rydes' website, my amp was transformed into one of the best sounding VoxAC30's that I have ever heard. So anybody out there that has one of the amps, do the conversion. This guy Mike Ryde is right on the money with this amp. with the mod it's great.

As far as what kind of guitars that I use with this new amp of the Petersen conversion, they're mainly just a few strats and les pauls and a Gibson B.B. King Lucille. With the conversion, you really get all of those old Beatles Vox sounds and with a treble booster by Fryer, you get Brian May to the T. With the Petersen conversion AC30, you get two channels, one with treble boost and one just with a normal channel. But believe me when you play through this amp now, you don't need a lot of knobs to work with to get a sound. Just plug in and play. it's all there. Turned up to max this amp gets one of the nicest overdriven and distorted sounds that I have ever heard. I have JJ EL84's and mullards in the preamp. This amp only carries two preamp tubes. I can also still cut the power in half use only two tubes instead of four.30 watts to 15 watts. This amp suits anybody who really likes that old Vintage Vox amp sound. One of the guys in California that helped me considerably was a guy named Don Butler. He does these AC30 mods all the time to vintage as well as modern Voxes. Check him out. He really knows what he's talking about.

As far as reliability goes, I believe that I will have this amp for many many years. It's rock solid. I have never had any dealings with Vox warranties or anything like that. I have my own tech who can pretty much handle any problem that i throw his way.

Never dealt with Vox, like I said before.

I've been playing professionally for 35 years and have used alot of gear. I presently use a Mesa Boogie Revolver Leslie cab and a two twelve vintage 30 Mesa cab. I also use Mesa Boogie Tremoverb. Not to drag this out much longer, but anybody who owns a Dual rectifier by Mesa, that just hates the way it distorts or even for a good clean sound, do yourself a huge favour and order some 6v6's and KT 77's from Eurotubes. They transformed my amy into a sound that I never thought was possible. Check their site. It's great.

I have one of the last 20 Vox AC30 BM amps made. I am never amazed at the idiotic reviews of this amp by people that do not even own the amp. A guy played it at store for a few minutes barely on and it did not suit him? 1 volume control on amp. By rolling my guitar volume the amp will clean up. The feature here that made me keep my Brian May AC30 is the vintage tone. Ever since I played an old Vox head and cab with alot of tubes in it weekly at lessons a long time ago I've alvays wanted that raw off the hinge distorted woody tone. I've gear hored myself buying and trying dozens of amps, guitars and effects but zero bring me back to the old Vox sound in my head that I hear through this Vox AC30 BM amp. Mesa and Marshall have proven than with all their knobs and switches they still can't sound like an old Vox. I've bought them and sold them ultimately wishing for that old Vox distortion or at least warm Fender tweed breakup. Tone found here. Obviously few can use this amp properly and even Vox recommends to you the regular AC30 for your average compromise style. The treble booster's low switch setting should be turned up a bit. A mod maybe further down the road.

Believe it or not alot of people said a Les Paul and an AC30 don't mix. You know REM, Tom Petty that is Vox rock. I've had Marshall 1971 Superlead, 50 watt metal panel 1987, and 6 old Hiwatts and none of those sounded this good at full tilt. Without buying these amps and trying them for months to years I would not know what works for me. I'm after the ultimate sound and this Vox is a great sounding amp in my collection. Having heard some old ac30 vintage snobs amps that did not have the balls of my unworthy made in China junk amp made me glad that I have an amp that few will ever have. The clean is distorted at high volume espescially with my Les Paul's. This amp is about a unique kind of distortion that only comes through a tube rectifier and 4 el84 tubes of power. The Randall AC30 module or the Line 6 modeler is not this! How does it suit my style? Well it suits me fine for vintage rock tone. If I want modern I have other amps for that.

My issue was the Chinese rectifier. It caused the amp to lose power and choke it the longer it was on. It sounded better though with the Chinese rect. for the first couple minutes due to less headroom and the amp distorted more and sooner, a softer distotion. I noticed the same thing in my old Fender, the JJ gz34 gives the amp a cleaner output which I don't want, boo hoo! I removed the internal tube shield allowing me to see power tubes through vents and allowing amp to let some heat out. So no beers on my AC30 guys! The Celestion Blues and the amp are made in China which I don't like but no one cares what I like anyway.

If you can replace tubes then you can rely on yourself for customer support. Dozens of modifications for the cc model and none for the BM model. I guess the BM model already had 30+ years of Brian paying techs to mod his amps to be like my AC30 BM model. Vox in China is - s a d l y - superior to Marshall making these amps because M used cheap transformers with laminations that looked like the horrid jcm 900 junk iron with thin tone. If you want a reliable amp buy an old Fender!

I'd like to see all Vox amps made in USA with high quality Wima vintage repro capacitors with no pc boards but no one at Vox asked me for my opinion. I hate that this amp is made in China but look at the back of your TV and all other electrical gear. I cover the comparisons earlier. Too many people hear with there eyes, a Matchless must sound better than a rat fur Rivera with a metal speaker cover. Without the Beatles and Vox where would we be? Playing accordion on a Sound City or Selmer Brit amp? HAha.

It was designed to optimize alll features

Excellent!

Vox AC30 Brian May Limited Edition Handwired Amp.
It has defect in material and workmanship.
There is an ugly looking 5 inches (approximately) cut (gap) between golden strap and material, which covers the front of the amp. The location of the cut is below the "VOX" golden logo.
It looks like the material, covering speakers at the front of the amp, had not been measured properly (not enough material to reach the golden strap under the "VOX" logo area). The curved border of the material on the left side of the amp is lower than on the right side of the amp. The golden strap had not been installed evenly and curved down at the same area, where the gap.
Thanks God my other amp from Marshall has been made in England!

This is number 249, out of the worldwide limited special edition run of 500 units.
Features on the amp are limited to the bare miniumum - but this is the whole point of the amp. Essentially it is a replica of Brian May's amplifier set up, and is specifically for people wanting to achieve his unique tone. It is a classic AC30 normal channel, with a built in Treble booster unit - designed to Brian Mays specification. On the top of the amp, there is a volume knob, on/off switch and standby switch only.
There are some very nice features on the back panel however, that i love. Firstly there is a switch to change the power down to 15 watts, instead of the full 30. There is also a switch for turning on and off the booster, and another one for changing the boost from low to high settings.
Unusually you plug your lead into the back panel, not the top.
I rate the features as 10/10, as it does everything it says on the tin and more !

My god this thing is AMAZING. If you love Brian May, you are going to love this thing. For me, it is tonal heaven. I've searched for years for the right amp, gone through literally thousands of pounds, and never been happy with the tone. Until now !
I've tried out the custom classic AC30 CC2X, which is really good, but its just not in the same league. I just got rid of my Hughes and Kettner trilogy, as i was fed up with that sound. This totally rocks however ! You have to dial it up to maximum to achieve "the tone", which everyone associates Brian May with, but the clean effect is also fantastic, especially is you take off the boost completely and pull down the volume pot on your guitar.

Never had a problem with it. However only had it for a relatively short time period so far. There are alot of bad stories going around about the reliability of the Custom Classics. Nevertheless, the fact that the Brian May edition is predominantly hand wired, (unlike the other) and has his endorsement should certainly signal a quality item.
All valve amps need a bit of care and servicing, so dont buy one if you arent prepared to look after it !
Also whilst on the subject of Vox reliability, i'd like to say that i've gigged with a valvetronix AD120VTH + cab for the last 2 years, and never had a problem at all with it.

Not needed to contact

I've been playing for about 20years, and gigging for 5 years in total. I own a lot of guitars, my faves being - prs custom 22, Orville by Gibson les paul, RS classic, 1980s Burny les paul, FStrat.
I've been through alot of amps : Marshall stack, Hughes & Kettner Trilogy, Line 6, Vox Valvetronix.
If this was lost or stolen, i would be seriously gutted. I'd try my hardest to get one again, but given the fact they will be rare as hens teeth in a short while, it probably wouldnt be possible.
In view of the fact it is a collectors item, never to be repeated and performs such a unique, highly sought after sound - it HAS to have a 10

Made in 2006. Yes, I've only had it for a week, but for those of you wondering about this amp I thought you could use some info. Luckily, after playing for 30 years I can make a pretty good judgment quickly at this point.

If you haven't seen it yet, the Brian May AC30 is made in China, is primarily handwired, and features a control panel with ONE knob (volume). Just like my little tweed Champ, only very loud. Exactly what I've always wanted!

The amp is basically the normal channel of an AC30 with blue speakers (which are my favorite). They add a treble booster that is built-in, and both switchable on the back of the amp and via an included footswitch. It also has a handy half-power switch that works perfectly.

So, I guess if you compare to other amps, it basically has very few features. If you're like me, this is a GOOD thing. Therefore, I won't rate it in this category.

The booster has low and high settings. It adds quite a bit of gain. Without the boost, the amp sounds like a very nice normal channel AC30 (the best sounding vintage one I've owned was a non-top boost model). With the boost on, the volume and gain jump quite a bit. You can use the low setting for a medium overdrive, or with the boost set to high, you get gobs of saturation, even at pretty low volume. Cranking the volume all the way up, I'd say this is louder than the other 3 AC30s I've had in the past (one 1965, one 1964 TB, and one 90s Korg reissue). It also has way more gain on top than any of those.

With a Strat or Tele you get that great Fender/AC30 tone which is one of my favorites. Turning the volume knob on your guitar down lets you control everything from clean to gigantic right from the guitar. With Gibsons, you can sustain for days. It is truly incredible how massive this amp sounds, yet warm at the same time. It sounds great with Les Pauls, it sounds great with semi hollow bodies.

For sound I will just compare it with other AC30s I've had or played. You can do a very fine "normal" channel sound, a nice crunchy distortion, and ultra-creamy saturated distortion too. Tone-wise, this is seriously the equal of any other AC30 I've had, and since I love the sound of AC30s I'll say 10.

It seems as well built as any other amp I've seen lately...no rattles or anything when cranked up, so hopefully it will be sturdy. I know AC30s have the rep of being kind of finicky, but maybe I've been lucky as I've never had troubles with any of mine, old or new.

N/A

I have "too many" guitars & amps (I actually can't count them without being there with them). I'd say this amp is perfect if you don't care about anything but getting a big huge distorted, warm sound with as much gain as I can ever imagine wanting. As I said, you can also back it down, especially with the boost off, and get a very nice classic AC30 normal channel sound. There's no way to change the e.q., but it sounds nice with any of my guitars and honestly it hadn't occured to me that I might want to change the settings for any of them. I suppose you could put an e.q. pedal in front of it for more versatility.

Overall, if this amp works for your style, you'll give a 10. If you need an amp to do stuff this one can't do, you won't. So I will just say that for me it's a 10, but before you buy, know that you are buying 3 sounds with no on-board e.q.

Possible downsides:

It weighs a lot.

It's not a cheap amp, and perhaps some of you would rather just tear everything except the normal channel of an AC30 and add a treble boost and get the same thing. For me, after the rackmounted 80s, and the too many dials & channels 90s, I'm ready for a one knob wonder that sounds great with no effort on my part. And it is pretty looking too.