Vox AC30CC 212 Combo

I like the amp better than the original 6 input, 3 channel. This magic box has everything you need. Just add a fuzz(Fender Blender or Tube Screamer),Vox wah, and what ever you need. This thing is LOUD. I leave the master at about 4, in the top boost, the vol is about 6. It sounds like a Marshall stack should, to my ear. The speakers are fine. The Amp is so loud! 33 Vox Tube Amps is louder and a Marshall 100 watt transistor "modeling" amp. You can keep the guitar turned down to 4-5, then work your way to 10 as the musical feedback. I use a USA 01 Strat. This amp and the Fender Blender (or what ever you want to to distortion and sustain and octaves with) This is the Magic Box. I'm thinking any guitar couldn't be that bad? Well.....

Magic Feedback and Tone. I also use this amp for El. piano and other tube sounds from the day. Everything warms up with ,even harmonics. The AC 30 was used to record many a clasic and still is today. It's just so damn unique. The ac-30 looks best on stage in a gray CARAVAN custom ATA case with 4 " wheels. Just take the top off, and the AC-30 sits in the bottom "tray". You can even tilt the amp up a little, if you like.

I was leary about the product made in China. After 14 months and about 500 hours, NO Problem. It sounds as good as the day a bought it. Ablosutely no indication the white stripping, tolex, grill cloth or any thing else not being up to quality from the factory. Not true. This is a great amp.

n/a No Problems

Would have to replace with another Chinese built amp. The AC-30 is a good substitute for a "65" or "Orange" tube amps, at half their price. For the price, worth every penny to sound better. It's all in the tone and the way the tubes can be overdriven. Do Not let the made in China fool you. From a musical stand, not a fix-it person, The AC-30 from China may fool you. You will try not to , but it may sound better than your UK 60,s one.

I bought the AC30CC new in 2008. The fact that you can channel mix with a master volume attracted me -even though I never thought I would buy a Chinese guitar amp! I have done three gigs with it and it is great fro most rock styles (maybe except metal!)

It has the Wharfedale speakers and definately sounds very much like the old '60s model AC30 I used to use. I use the channel blending to advantage for a more broken up sound -very warm and toneful yet still with that Vox shimmer.It has a great clean tone too.

Three gigs with no problems so far, but time will tell. I take my practice amp along as a backup.

No need for support so far

I have played since the early '70s..all styles of music. I change amps around a lot, but at the moment I can't believe the value for money of this new Vox. It's made in China with British input to the design, and the build quality is extremely high -a big surprise. It's darn heavy!! It is definately a tone monster, and the sound of a Strat through this Vox is just heaven. I wish I had this amp years ago.

I bought the 2007 model with Wharfedale speakers. Top Boost channel and Normal channel, with the capability of combining channels. Effects loop, Vintage/Hot settings, Tremelo & Reverb Footswitch. No channel switching persay. Don't let the gearheads fool you! China Rocks! This is a Tone Monster!!! I LOVE the master volume feature. Vox is listening to the players out there...This amp is versatile - don't let someone SELLING a British one tell you otherwise! The reverb and tremelo are cool features too, but not enough to set up the pedal just for that.

I'm a student of Marshall amps. I got out of a vintage 78 Marshall head and bottom to get into Vox. I should mention here that I am a Gretsch guitar player. I have a 2001 White Falcon 7593 with Filter trons, and a 2006 Chet Atkins 1955 6121 Roundup with DynaSonics, and this amp loves Gretsches! The Vox has Waaay more tone than the vintage Marshall. I've owned various Marshalls, and even the boutique Top Hat Club Royale, and this amp impresses me more. I could never get the dirtiness from the Top Hat, so I ended up buying a Fulltone Fulldrive to compensate...just not the same! Let me just say, I doubled my money on eBay selling my vintage Marshall head, and I have no regrets...This Custom Classic with master volume is just the ticket for me. It can get real dirty, and sounds great at low volume, too. I was thinking of upgrading to the blue alnico speakers, because I thought the Wharfedales lackes a little "sparkle", I'm reconsidering now because with a little volume the Wharfes sparkle just fine. But I still may upgrade, because this version of Vox, the Custom Classic, is soooo me. It's a keeper for a perpetual fuss budget.

So far so good...Not much of a new warranty - only 90 days I think. The amp does get awfully hot...(and smells great!)

90 days

I've played since 1977. I've played Music Man, Lab Series, SG, Peavey, Marshall, Laney, Gibson...just about everything. I've always tried to e.q. my amps to sound more dirty, because that's how I like to practice. I was always drawn to Marshall...but I have no regrets switching to Vox...way more tone. I should mention that I owned the little Brian May Vox recording amp...not the same thing at all... The overdrive on the Brian May amp sounds like fuzz, whereas the Custom Classic has tone up the wazoo!!! I don't like the fact that the knobs are backwards though, so you have to tweek everything upside down!

I play a blend of alternative, progressive and post rock. Think Radiohead, Sigur Ros, Elbow and the darker slower side of Joy Division. I was looking for an amp with character, but mainly one which would draw out my own sound without overshadowing it with it's own presence. This amp really does give you a chance to start with a 'clean slate' and tweak to find to find the sound for you.

It sort of has two channels, but they are not switchable unfortunately - I see them more of two different starting points to secure your sound, rather than two options to change between. If you are looking for an amp to give you an array of different guitar sounds in a set, then this is not for you (unless you are a pedal geek) - but if you are looking for an amp to find and define your 'sound', you can't go wrong with this.

There are so many ways you can tweak your sound, it feels a little overwhelming at first - the counter balence between gain and master volume, the choice between the two channels, the option to BLEND the the two channels together, the EQ, the reverb, the cut, the trem, the amp style settings....however, take it bit by bit and you have a great opportunity to really 'design' your sound.

Essentially, the standard contols (gain, volume, bass, treble, cut etc) you fiddle with most - I don't have that much use for the 'custom/classic' switch (doesn't make a world of difference) nor do I mess much with the channel blending (I'm a simple man of simple pleasures, and this option just adds another two or three settings to get confused with!) but there is very little wasted features.

It's very loud and I can't see ever really needing anything else.

All in all, it has enough features to give you a starting point, especially if you are a fan of your own guitar sound, but it isn't an amp for 'feature geeks' looking to have a different sound for every song they play. I'm giving it an 8, as I beleive it has the right amount of features for it's market and design.

I play through it with a Gibson Les Paul. The amp has a great bottom end, and a real meaty tone which fits my guitar perfectly.

It has a very natural distortion which can be found by setting the gain high, or by hitting the strings harder at lower gain levels. I like this, as the amp works along with the dynamic of your song - the heavier you play, the more it starts to break up and overdrive; it is quite easy to find the balence between the gain and master volume to get that break-up closer or further on the scale.

Clean, the amp sings, but I must admit I have never tried to lose ALL distortion at the top end, as our music is quite organic and I like the idea the amp reacts to crecendos.

Like I said, this amp is pretty loud, and I can't see the need of being any louder unless you are playing wembley or something, in which case you would probably mike it up anyway.

Has some quirkyness to it though - part of the fun of tube amps I suppose. Clicks and pops and the odd crackle or hiss here and there; it wouldn't make a very good 'assasin', it's always making some sort of noise. However, it doesn't bother me, and it's not in any way detrimental to the sound or enjoyment of the amp; if anything it adds character.

It seems to grow in 'character' as the months go by, little ghosts collecting inside it to chat amoung themselves when the guitar is silent, but it's not very loud or interfering.

As this is the 'CC' model of the classic AC302X12, there has to be a little bit of forgiveness here and there where they have 'cheaped out' on a part - most notably the power socket at the back; I haven't been the most careful owner with this, yanking the cable out of the back at whatnot - but it isn't very sturdy and has gotten alarmingly loose. My advice would be to not be put off by this, but to be aware of it from the start and detach the cable with care every time.

Another slight gripe would be the tubes - you can't see em, or get at em. When one of those things goes I'm not sure how easy it's going to be to replace. I suppose on the bright side they aren't going to get knocked or damaged; the chasis is very solid.

Which brings me to my final issue - HOW HEAVY IS THIS THING? I suppose in relation to other tube combo's it's not that outrageous, but man this thing weighs as much as Rhino. Not as bad as a Fender Twin, but I'd advise getting coasters or a little trolley or something. Tube V Tube, it's not really an issue, but people who are chucking themselves around every night might want to look at a solid state amp.

No dealings as of yet.

I am the second / rythm guitar in the band, so the simplicity and single dimension of this amp suits me perfectly - a natural, dynamic, thick and basic sound of my guitar to give the platform for my effect heavy lead-guitarist to play over the top. It has a nice natural dynamic distortion, and plenty of tweakable settings to really find and enhance your guitar's voice, but those looking for versatility and variety in their sound are looking at the wrong amp.

However, as I have mentioned, I am in a progressive, post rock sort of band - this amp can be spiced up easily with pedals of course, but it was important for me to find an amp whose natural voice is apealling without disguising it with effects.

It looks good, sounds great, and at a very reasonable price, you can forgive it it's quirks / cheap shortcuts and enjoy a really great quality peice of kit.

The features on this amp are great. The blend-able top-boost and normal channels were an excellent addition, along with the master volume and tone control on the poweramp section. The only thing I wish this amp had included was some form of foot controls for the preamps (you have to make all your tone adjustments manually in between songs).

If you like British tone, then this amp is a must for your collection. It took me a little while however, to really start finding the tone that I thought it was capable of. After a few weeks of playing it, I began really loving it. The amp???s overdrive is really defining but for those of you who want a real hard bite, then this amp may not be for you. I bought an Ibanez Tube Screamer to fix that problem (it makes it sound real cool).

I have yet to have any problem with this amp. It works flawlessly every time I turn it on. I???ve only had it since December though.

Overall, I play an alternative style of rock music and this amp does exactly what I bought it for. I play through an American Srtat and a Gibson es335 and both guitars sound great. My plans are to combine this Vox amp with a Mesa Boogie 2x12 combo. But if you want to play country, most styles of rock, jazz or any other musical style I didn???t mention, than this amp will do it.

There are enough features on this amp to make it a tweakers delight. I'm sort of a tweaker; but, I don't like to have a sit down with a manual at first so the Vox is okay in this instance. Things are labeled pretty matter of factly; flip the switch...if you don't like it, flip it back. It's all there, master volume, reverb, vibrato, top boost, etc. It's almost too much. It is nice to actually get too much for your money as opposed to, too little.

I've played a '63-ish AC30 and I own a ridiculously incredible replica of a JMI-era top boost AC30. This amp is neither one of those, all though it is a nice sounding amp, better than many. I bought it with the Wharfdales, knowing I would change the drivers later. With the Wharfdales the sound is okay. You can definitely tell it's an all tube amp. Nice but kind of lackluster overall. An original will have a noticeably better normal and vibrato channel. When I went to top boost mode, even with the Wharfdales, I was immediately transported to R&B land. I was inspired so much by this tone that I quickly got to work putting in a pair of vintage Altec Lansing 417B's. This is my R&B amp, now. My double stops and punctuations stop on a dime with this amp. I can actually strum an electric with this amp and not be repulsed. With different speakers this amp could be very versatile (blues or greenbacks) but I'm just stuck on how I've got it setup now. I also swapped out the reverb tank for a genuine Accutronics...because...why wouldn't you.

I've read a lot of complaints about this amp and really can't substantiate very many of them. I take care of my stuff. I don't throw my amps around. They are investments in tone. I did have to modify the chasis plinth to make the speakers fit. (see Sound Quality) The screws are cheap; so change them or save yourself the headache and make sure you're using the right size screw driver. Complaints about the screws are a little silly...use the right tool. I thought I would have to change the tubes; but, it came with EH and Tung Sol. No complaints thus far. I've had this amp on for hours at a time, several days in a row tracking in the studio...never caught fire. It's also very quiet. I wouldn't bet on the handles carrying the weight for long; but, neither would the ones on an original. My replica is built like a tank...again, it cost a lot more.

Gotta pass on this one. There are only 3 guys in the world I'll let work on any of my amps...and they don't work for the manufacturers.

Let's be honest, to get an amp that has the vintage, mojo, drool-factor of an original AC30...be prepared to shell out upwards of 25 grand! As of right now, I don't feel like I wasted my money at all. It's already gotten me quite nicely through one project and will be used for others. If you want a jack of all trades amp in a live situation...buy a Line 6.

This amp's tone controls are really just fine-tuners for the 1 good tone pre-channel (2channels) they've already put together. Dont get me wrong though, those two tones sound great.

On other notes,
Reverb is very subtle, too much so for my taste.
I prefer the way they kept the two channels apart. That way, you can blend the two with your foot, using an ABY switcher.
I've used this thing in venues with up to 3000 people, and It's never choked on lack of power. This thing can get LOUD.
Master Vol. was a long-overdue blessing.

For a live setting, this thing's an excellent replicator of it's sister, the top boost.

If You're more of an alternative to classic rock, this'll probably be heavy enough of an amp for you. If you're a metaller, stop right here, you're gonna hate it.

I bought the one with the cheap speakers and I can definitely see the need for better ones after using it for a good 6 months. I'd say to get some celestion G12H30s though, not spend the 500 on a new set of blues.

The overdrive can sometimes get a little hairy for my taste, but I go back and forth very often with that argument. Maybe it has it's off-days. I don't know.

Hummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm... Just a little bit.

Remember, I'm being VERY critical. This is my favorite amp out of all the amps I own. When I play a gig, this one's ALWAYS there, and maybe I'll go stereo with a twin reverb once in a while.

Well, I'm gonna single-handedly oppose every review I've ever read about this amp. They all have horror stories of it blowing before it got home, and turning it on and burning the whole county down, but in the 9 months I've been constantly driving this thing pretty hard, I've had NO problems, never had to replace the tubes, tighten the diamond grille, or anything. Keep in mind, that I never move it without it traveling in an ATA flight case.

Overall, I love my AC30, and I enjoy getting to laugh at my friends' vintage reissue AC30s with no master volume, and playing next to 'em getting twice the tone!

If you want the real British Invasion look, feel, tone, and POWER, and want to keep your arm and leg, buy this amp.

If one of the features of this $1600 Non hand wired Amp isn't Excellent Tone what's the point.

I've played many Vintage AC-30's, they tried to make this New one do to much, it dosen't even COMPARE to a vintage JMI. Yes, It had the Blue speakers in it, which are way to good for this amp.

Vibrato- Cool
Reverb- Cool
Fx Loop - Cool
Modern Vintage switch- Like it.
Hot- or warm switch, - Why not.
Master Volume- Nicely done.



I played it rite next to a Vintage JMI, a Made in England Korg, and
Brian May version. They ALL Buried it. I judged each amp by playing Jangley beatles stuff, Dimeing it for blues, country pickin',Alternative Rock and even jazz. I am well versed in all these areas having played guitar seriously for 20 years. I Tour Record, Yada
Yada.

Also had one at the house for a week... which I Returned here's why.

Vox is not always thought of for Midrange like Marshall or Fender, But Ac30s do have a signature sound there. Unlike the other 3 Vox's, this one had none. No matter how I adjusted tone controls on the Amp or Guitar (Tele or Les Paul) The tone was either Ice picky, or lacking.

The other 3 Ac30's had harmonics spriging from every chord and lick. This amp was sterile.

Do your research, Alnico mag speakers ONLY show their character when pushed to %80 of their volume limit or above. The Ac 30 cc is O.K at low volumes , once you get any where near half on Volume....Mush.or wash out bass.

This thing goes from, O.K. sounding to total crap very easily. The Other Voxes You fire up, tweak the knobs a little and it's on. Your ears lead you through the dials on the other ones. This one is a constant struggle, "I got the jangle but its piercing". "I cut the piercing but the Jangles gone". Etc..... I believe the problem could be VOX Making a bad choice selecting a bad output transformer for this model,As this is the part the gives the amp much of it's over all resonance. And trying to make it have to much preamp distortion didn't help either.. Who the hell buy's an AC30 for that?
I might check out the Hayseed.. I hear it's a good AC30 clone. and it's hand wired in the US for the same price as this.

The posts before me have covered pretty much all of it except the bais switch which i think offers alot in the way of really retentive guys which i like. the reverb damping selector is also cool a real tube rectifier also makes me feel nice and warm.

I love the way the amp sounds right now i am using a lawsuit ibanez ES-345 and its great the trem is smooth and the spring reverb is great. ithe distorion breaks up like this kind of amp should its not ment for metal.

I have Got one with a bad tank first but that could be because spring verb is on the bottom of the cabinet. so i exchaned it for a new one it is tough. very solid in every thing but that tank

The folks a korg are great in that sense and a lot of certified techs

I love this amp. If i lost it i would get another one the next hour.

Blue speaker (nice), normal and top boost inputs (you can a-b switch them and throw away your distortion pedals), hot/worm tube output (33/22 watts) also controls class A mode (Hot) and class AB mode (Warm), two smoothing capacitors (vintage and modern = loose lows v.s tight puchy lows with less compression), speaker output jacks, tremlo, reverb with adjustability to compensate for clean vs top boost modes, brilliance switch for normal channel which you will always have on unles you are doing jazz, bass and treble on top boost will prevent the mids from coming out the more you turn them up and will bring out certain characteristics (very good eq) tone knob controls the amount of highs that goes to the power tubes, master volume controls the output of the power tubes (won't really distort your signal, but that depends on your power tubes that you are using), and as for the tubes it uses a GZ34 which is badass fyi, four el84's, and three 12ax7's. You can replace the V1 position 12ax7 with a nice new old stok 5751 for not that much $ and get more headroom from the normal channel. Not only will this improve your clean sound, but it will allow you to get your volume levels right between your top boost and normal inputs (just like a real two channel amp, but it's a frikin VOX)! Anyone who gives this amp less than a ten is a retard.

Tricky, tricky, and the manual is absolute crap. Make sure it's in modern mode and runing hot (33 watts), which will put it in class ab1 mode (as close to class A as it gets) and then experiement. If you are running the tubes warm, it will sound muffled and you will constantly strive for a better tone, though your tubes will last longer. The reason I am writing this review is because I just found this out about the hot setting and it made a world of difference. My buddy came over who doesn't even play guitar and asked me why my amp sounds so much better than before and it was because I set it in hot mode. It's that important. When running it correctly it sounds better than any other amp out there, no contest. This goes for clean and distortion. You can manipulate both of these sounds based on the tubes you feed the preamps, so I won't get specific as to what the amp sounds like due to this variable.

Your GZ34 rectifier tube will break if you play in a band and you bring your levels up. That said, the amp is solid, but it is demanding on its tubes. I got a Mullard GZ34 because it's built tougher than any of the production stuff out there now (sounds better too) and I can't risk blowing a valve right before a show during power up. That would suck, bad. So, it seems we have a sliding scale of reliablity for the ac30. High maintanance costs = a reliable amp, cheap tubes left in for too long = a really lame night of appologizing to the venue and dealing with a pissed off band that just spent six hours on the road to play this gig while you are thinking "if only guitar center was open now."

Pain in the ass type.

Great amp means great sound and reliable. My personal amp required some research and some work, but it is now both of those. I hope this is helpful to other ac30 owners.

Considering the limitations of the AC-30's of old, I have to give the Custom Classic high marks for the added features. Even though master volumes, half power switches, and effects loops are more the norm these days, to finally see VOX step up is to be commended.

I've owned a JMI era AC-30, a 92 Korg era reissue AC-30, and now the AC-30 CC2 and I can say the sound quality is a 10. Tonally it's not an exact replica of a 60's Vox, but very close. For some things I can say I actually prefer the Custom Classic. I think the normal channel with the brilliance switch engaged is more appealing to my ears then that of a vintage "treble" AC-30. I think the amp sounds great with my tele, strat, or 335. It really seems to love the single coil pickups on my strat in any of the 5 positions.

So far so good. I think there are some inherent design issues with this amp. The soldered speaker leads being one of them. The guy from North Coast does indeed do a nice mod on the speaker leads for no charge if you buy one from them. From what I understand, VOX does it's own QC on it's tubes with a 12 hour burn-in at the factory. I changed my tubes after the first week, so I can't comment on the factory tubes reliability. I put a quartet of NOS Mullards in it and hope I don't have to change them for a long time. I see a lot of these amps on ebay with the grillcloth loose or trim pieces missing or even cracks in the vinyl. Makes you wonder. Mine has been great so far.

The people at VOX r&d in England have actually answered the phone and were very helpful with questions I had before buying the amp. Never had to deal with warranty stuff or the folks at Kong.

I'm going to call it a 9.5. There is no question that this is a wonderful sounding version of the famous AC-30. With the added features like the master volume, pretty nice reverb, bias adjustment switch, smoothing switch, effects loop, etc., the Custom Classic is an amazingly great deal at around a thousand bucks.

The new Custom Classic reissues have...well i won't bore anyone with the features, they've been listed lots of times. the basic one is that there are 2 non-switchable channels, (normal and top boost) and that you can link them with a switch rather than patch cords as in the olden days, i'm told. I would take off some points for non footswitchablity of the 2 channels but love the link feature. reverb is ok, but my Electro-Harmonix Wiggler has got a better-sound vibrato effect (and one of its settings is based on the AC30 vibrato channel!)...

I'm mainly using a Les Paul through it, so far. I go straight in, or sometimes I use the Wiggler and/or a Big Muff. I'm really into the vintage psychedelia right now which is one of the reasons i love the way the amp sounds. It's not too noisy, and can be turned down pretty low (play in an appartment during the day) and still get good tone and 'dynamic response' (pick attack, etc.). The master volume allows for a strictly clean tone or by cranking it you can dirty it up yourself depending on how hard you play. Top Boost sounds good and can get a ton of overdrive, but i prefer a setting i've found using the Link feature (blends normal and top boost channels). If you're looking for this sound, it's great in my opinion. I'm afraid i don't have much basis for comparison with regard to the older issues/vintage vs Custom Classics.

I've read most of the bad stories about the reliability of this amp, especially the Custom Classics. Everyone loves the sound but hates the construction. I would DEFINITELY recommend buying your new AC30CC through www.northcoastmusic.com. This guy runs it by himself, and test-runs each amp for 12 hours, fixes cosmetic blemishes, not to mention any microphonic tubes/other defects before shipping it (double boxes it too) for FREE from wisconsin. No extra fee for this. He also solves the soldering problem on the speakers (when opening amp to changing tubes)described in other reviews, by unsoldering the speakers himself and adding clips for easy access, all for free and under complete approval from Vox USA (won't void the warranty or anything). DO IT THEY'RE GREAT. my amp's had no problems, though i haven't had it too long or taken it anywhere much....

haven't really dealth with them yet, havent had it but for like a month...hope they're good, there's a service center in my town which is lucky.

been playing for 8 years, and own lots of other instruments. i would buy this amp again if it was lost or stolen although saving up the money again would suck. i like the amp overall right now a lot. I compared it to Fenders such as the twin/deville (too loud, can't get cranked sound at quiet volumes), but loved the AC30. Looks mighty pretty too.