Vox AC30CC Head

Read on for features. You know what this has to offer or you wouldn't be here reading. I'll just say that this is the best under-50 watt head out there today for a reasonable price.

My best friend has the 2X12 combo with Weber Neo speakers (they are alnico but made with the new neobydinium magnets) I wanted the head version because the combo weighs as much as a truck! I played the head version in the store through a 4X12 and immediately loved it. I bought one off ebay and got it in 7 days. Woooo hoooo! First thing I did was connect it to my 2 X 12 cab, loaded with two Celestian Vintage 30s. I was a little disappointed with this cab because it sounded really mid-heavy and it couldn't be eq'd away. that sucked. So I hooked it up to my friend's combo and gave it a whirl. It is a completely different amp with the Weber speakers. It perfectly nails the old school sound I think of when I think VOX! What the hell...I paid for that sound and that's what I want-so I bought two Weber NEOs and installed them in the 2X12. Holy crap! And they're not even broken in yet. These are made for the VOX.

Too soon to tell.

The VOX sound has always been my favorite. This head nails it. Combined with a good pair of Webers it is like going to heaven.

If you're here, you're already somewhat interested in this amp and should know what features it has (or doesn't have). Congratulations on your interest in this amp, because you are on to something good. Read on ...

This amp has great features, especially the ability to blend the Top Boost and Normal channels with the flip of a mini-toggle. Also a brilliance switch to really enrich your tone. I went with this amp over the Heritage Handwired AC30 because of the blending feature, and I'm glad I did. To my ears, there is no loss of killer tone in going with the CC instead of the HH (plus it's less expensive).

You can actually choose to choke this amp down to 22 watts with a switch on the back if you want a warmer breakup and less headroom. You can also pair the head with either an 8-ohm or 16-ohm cabinet. If you really want these details, I'd head over to the official Vox website. It's all there.

Simple but effective EQ controls. The famed cut control is there. Also, an off switch on the effects loop to bypass that circuit altogether. Just an excellent overall design that serves the ultimate paradigm - TONE. Has good reverb and tremolo, maybe not the best I've ever heard, but very good nonetheless.

To answer the posed HC questions above, I play a Tele through this amp. The only effect I use (on occasion) is a DynaComp. The style of music I play is a wide variety. Jazz, blues, rock, country, whatever. I pride myself on my musical diversity. The amp is not noisy, but it is a tube amp and it runs a little hotter than some. The clean is a Vox clean, rich and chimey with a hint of hair. But oh so good. Brutal distortion? No, but I don't have any interest in that kind of thing anyway. And yes, this amp can get plenty loud and can keep up with 99% of the bands in existence in a raw, unmiked rehearsal or gig.

Now, let's get subjective, which is why most people value Harmony Central in the first place. I want to give this amp an 10, but I won't because I have never heard an amp re-create the tones in my head 100%. If that were ever to happen, then I would run away to a deserted island that had AC power and never return to civilization. But with that said, this amp gets awfully close to producing the sounds I want to hear outside my head.

The Vox tone is there in spades. Chime all day long, if that's what you're after. Grit without being too gainy. Just a very musical amp. Adds a real musicality to your playing. Each note deifned in a chord, plus nice natural sustain. Just straight-forward EL84 goodness. Sounds good at all volumes.

Like other reviewers have pointed out, speakers also play a big role so keep that in mind. I've played this head through Celestion, Eminence, Wharfdale, Jensen ... I can get very pleasing tone through any of them. The amp gets you in the neighborhood, the speaker gives you the exact address. That's what the amp's knobs are for. Don't be afraid to dial it in!

I've never had any issues through gigs, rehearsals, or practice. But I've always made sure to replace tubes when necessary. It's preventative maintenance, just like you do on your car or any other piece of machinery. Do that, and don't bang it around and you'll be fine.

I've emailed Vox USA a couple of time with off-the-wall questions, and always received a response within a few hours. Can't complain about that.

OK, time for the soapbox, and the true reason I took the time to write this review to begin with. I have an issue with players who knock Chinese made products. I am not Chinese. I live in rural America, and I only know a handful of Chinese people (and they're all super cool). But I'll tell you what I do believe - as evidenced by my AC30 - that Chinese people can put together an amp as well as an American can. You think Chinese people don't take pride in their work? BS. They are every bit as human as you are.

Look, I'm loyal to my country. I drive a Chevy truck. I play an American Tele. But my amp is Chinese. So what? I'll tell you "so what" - it's all about tone, tone, tone. That's it. I'm also fiercely loyal to tone. In my musical world, there is nothing else. I've played through so many different amps, from British to American, factory-line to hand-made boutique, from vintage (including an old AC30) to modern. To my ears, the CHINESE-MADE AC30 is one of the best sounding amp I have ever played through. Period. Like I said earlier, even it can't exact the "perfect tone" in my brain, but I'm getting closer and closer thanks to this amp.

If you're on this page reading these particular reviews, let me say that Vox Inc. has the recipe you want. I can't tell you how many (expensive) AC30 clones I have sampled/owned that try so hard to brew that Vox flavor. Some get close, but there is no substitute for the official Vox taste, whether it's cooked in the Far East or just across the Atlantic. Go for the original, you'll probably even save some $$$ doing so - how smart does that make you?

Forget about geography. Forget about politics, forget about elitism, forget about cost (if you can afford to), forget about image, and concentrate on TONE. If you can do this, you are a step ahead of a lot of musicians out there. Ask yourself a simple question: which amp sounds the best? Your answer may be something other than the Vox AC30 CC. As long as you are happy and honest with yourself, that's all that matters! Rock on.

But I would strongly encourage you to try the Custom Classic. Don't let its Chinese origins sway you. If you value awesome tone and want the Vox sound, you owe it to yourself to at least try it. The AC30 CC has really opened up a sweet tonal universe for me and allowed me to concentrate on my music once and for all. And that is, of course, the most important thing.

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get a alnico gold and it will sing like a mother. screw the alnico blues unless you want speaker breakup which is lame if you ask me. i couldnt give a flying bird about it being a circut board. It sounds fantastic and i have played the handwired ac30s this amp sounds just as good. Its all about the speaker. My CC with the gold would rock any handwired with a bad speaker hands down.

so far so good

who knows?

20+ years playing. I really like it for recording but prefer my twin for live. I like headroom and like to play loud so the twin is easier to control with a pedal. I wish it was 40 watts.

This amp is very versatile. I recommend getting the head rather than the combo (which I've also owned) and using different cabinets for even more variety.

I'm using mostly a Les Paul Custom 1968 reissue with this amp to play classic-style rock on original recordings. It records very well with Celestion Blues, V30s, or even the Mesa Black Shadow 90W speaker. I've used a Strat and a Gretsch CC too, and they all sound great.

I've had fuses blow and tubes die inordinately. I believe the trick to this is to never use the Standby switch. There is a voltage spike in this amp caused by using the Standby, so I'm leaving that switch in the on position at all times. Another solution would be to replace the rectifier tube with a Weber Copper Cap solid state rectifier (which wouldn't be damaged by the voltage spike, so one could use the SB switch as a mute. There's a full explanation of this at http://vintageamps<dot>com/plexiboard/viewtopic.php?t=75667&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

Warranty repair for an internal fuse replacement was no problem. Otherwise, I have no experience with them.

I owned the 2x12 cabinet with Celestion Blues for a month. It sounded great, but seemed too prone to failure, so I returned it out of fear. I'm hoping to keep the head version, which I've had for a bout 3 months now, using mainly the separate Vox 2x12 cab with Celestion Blues (V212BNX). The Blues sound a lot better to me than the Wharfdales. This is a great sounding amp at a very reasonable price. It is not first-rate quality construction, for sure, so expect it to need repairs. I have had various amps by Fender, Marshall, and Mesa, and this is one of my favorites. I like to use "British" and "American" guitar sounds together, and this is a little better for me than the Marshall sound (which I also like, though).

It's a pretty simple amp but it has a few more options than the previous British built AC30's. I really like that the two channels can be blended. It also has tremolo and reverb.

I play a 1997 US Tele with a stock bridge pickup and a Texas special neck pu. I run it through an Avatar 4x12 with 2 Eminence Wizards (greenback copies) and 2 Eminence Red Fangs (Celestion Blue Copies). I really like the way this amp sounds. It sound pretty close to the oringal British version. However it's not quite as chimey. When I first bought it it had some crappy chinese tubes in it. I quickly replaced them with some JJ el84's. To me, that made a huge differece. Everything was much clearer and I got some more clean headroom. If you keep the volume at a reasonable level then you can stay fairly clean. If you are looking for a crystal clear clean tone then I don't recommend this amp. It's a Vox not a Fender. This is unmistakably British sounding. Lots of trebles, a ton of mid and a nice amount of USABLE bass. A few years back I had a Mesa Tremoverb and while it sounded good by itself, it always got lost in the mix. The AC30 sits nicely in the mix. You can every note. By itself you may think it sounds thin but if you are in a band like me, then that doesn't matter. Also, it's the perfect amp for small gigs where they don't mic the amp. I also play a 1982 Hiwatt Custom 50 head that sounds amazing but to get to the "sweet spot", you have to crank it and when it's cranked, it's far too loud. The AC30 is loud, but not too loud. A few years back we recorded a record and our producer had one of the AC30 handwired heads that cost him well over $2000. The only difference in sound between that amp and mine was that the handwired one was just a tad clearer. But that small difference is not worth the extra $1300+. All in all, I really dig this amp. It's not quite as awesome as a DrZ Mazerati, but it is a hell of a lot cheaper.

The reverb went out pretty quickly. That's the only problem I have ever had with it.

I really don't believe in giving out 10's on this website because frankly, no one has built the perfect amp. The closest I have ever come to a 10 is when I demo'd a DrZ Mazerati. However, that amp is not diverse at all. It's a one trick pony. (But man does it do that trick well)

WAY great features for a VOX amp, that's for sure. Addition of the master volume knob is excellent, as is the blendability. (I leave it blending the channels nonstop) If you're looking for a channel-switching amp, well you'll be let down. It's made to plug-in, set a tone and play all night without changing much. The included footswitch does activate the tremolo and the reverb, which is nice.

It also has switches on the back for vintage/modern and warm/hot (for preserving tube life). I pretty much leave it on modern at all times and hot.

This thing is KILLER for tone. If you like clean all the way to nice and dirty, this will get it there for you. Channel blendability allows you to dirty it up pretty high, if you crank the gain on both channels simultaneously. I pretty much always leave channels blended anyway.

I've been playing studio for 10 years now and it by far is the easiest amp for getting a tone that sits in the mix that I've used. I used to use an AC30 6TB...the British-made one that everyone raves about. It was nice, but WAY harder to dial in. Live, you either need to crank the snot out of it, of hook up a powerbrake to it to get any good sounds.

If you really want the best results out of this amp, you really do need to invest in at least one Celestion Blue speaker for your cab. My cab has a Celestion Blue and a Celestion Green, and it makes for some very nice double-micing options, as well as diverse sounds. The stock vox speakers in the cheaper cabs...eh...kinda bland by comparison.

I have a Les Paul with P-90's, a Fender Strat, and a Flying V with ceramic humbuckers. This amp sounds GREAT with all (especially the Flying V!). If you like the U2 rock found on Vertigo, this amp will dial it in great. If you like the clean ringing tones...perfect. I'd recommend using with a Maxon OD808 tubescreamer pedal, or a Barber Burn Unit EQ...both of which give tremendous results, the barber being a bit harder.

What this amp DOES NOT do is the cranked marshall sound. If you like monster power chords, go for a Mesa Rectifier or a Marshall for something in-between.

Hmmm...this is not an amp that I would take on the road...at least not wihout a backup. They started making them in China for the AC30CC's and although it brought the price down nicely, you can tell these things aren't as well made. I haven't had any problems with mine...YET, but I'm expecting it will bring more than most amps. Just plugging into the jacks, you can tell they're more cheaply made. I'm kind of scared just plugging in!

Nothing broke yet.

9...great sounding amp. You get what you buy...China-made VOX tone. I'd way rather own this over a british-made AC30 6TB, even if it means repairing it a bit more.

If you want channel switching for clean/dirty, don't get this amp. If you have great sounding OD/Dist pedals, you'll be VERY happy with this amp. Like I said, thow a Celestion Blue in your cab and you'll be a happy camper.

The features have been covered by just about every reviewer on this and other web-sites. As far as I am concerned, this amp has all the features I need and use. Normal, with brilliance switch, and the always pleasing Top Boost channel with standard/custom EQ settings. The vintage/modern smoothing filter cap switch and the hot/warm bias switch on the back are also great tone tweaking tools. The reverb and tremolo are perfect for my taste and needs.

When it comes to sound quality, The AC30CC is second to none. I always go for good rich, warm, clean sounds and musically pleasing tube saturated overdrive. These are the kinds of tones that has made the AC30 a legend and perhaps the most copied amplifier sound the boutique makers try to emulate. The newer, and affordable, Vox AC30 line blow the competition out of the water. I love to play old style Rock & Blues with some Progressive Rock thrown in. This is a very broad range of modern music and it includes loud and soft melodies and riffs, and the some use of various pedals. The AC30 is perfect for this. It accepts pedals very well (I don't use the FX loop as I run my pedals before the inputs) and the amp is very responsive to guitar controls ie; volume, pick-up mode and pick attack. My main guitar is a Strat (hot rodded with Seymour Duncans), but I also use on occasion an Epi Sheraton (335 style semi-hollow thinline) with 2 PAF humbuckers. 30 watts, which can get painfully loud, are more than enough for 99% of any playing. Only 1% of guitarists need more to fill vast stadiums, and most of them just mic lower powered amps anyway. There is plenty of head room in either the hot (33 watts) setting or the warm (22 watts) setting. The reverb, while not drippy surfy wet, is very musical and adjustable. The tremolo is also very useful but some may find it does not get fast enough for their taste. I am not a big tremolo guy but I do use it very subtly on occasion. The EQ is a tone tweaker's wet dream. You can find any tone or sound (except of course brutal metal) you desire. It is in there, no kidding!!!

No problems so far.

Have not needed it.

This amp is my dream amp. The sounds I hear in my head and the sounds I want to play come from this amp. I bought the head version and the 2x12 cab because of portability. The combos are very heavy and I am not getting any younger. I don't have a personal roadie or amp tech to haul my gear, so I have to do it myself. I am 51 and have been playing, (off and on) for 30+ years. Having just retired from my day job, I can spend more time playing and enjoying my music with the little band I have joined. We get together a couple of times a week for practice and/or bar gigs and have a blast doing so. Since I got my AC30CC, the enjoyment has increased tenfold. I also like the accolades I get about my sound from the other guys in the band and from the people who hear us play. I would cry like a new born baby if this amp were lost. If it was stolen, I would hire James Bond to find it. I would get another in a New York Minute. There is a reason why the Vox AC30 is legendary. TONE, TONE, and more TONE !!!!

Standard AC30CC controls and features.

If you buy this amp, you know what your getting.

Lots of tweaking options.

I use the head with the matching 4x12 cabinet.
This amp is one of the nicest sounding amps i've ever played, its suits my style perfectly (Yarbirds, Led Zeppelin, Neil Young)
I use a Fender Classic Esquire and a VOX Wah with this amp and thats all. The term "Tone Heaven" gets thrown around loosely these days but this amp is Tone Heaven no doubt. You can play anything from quiet jazz to ear spliting Zeppelinesque riffs. The versatility of this amp is also excellent, it has many little features you can use to shape the sound. I run mine (the back controls) 22uF-vintage and 82-warm. I usually plug into the top boost and link the chanels, the master volume is also handy for keeping it under control. Although i had some problems with it, it has a little bit of hum which is understandable and i do use a single coiled guitar, but sometimes it can be a bit much which is anoying when recording, but maybe my guitar needs shielding.
I basically plug and play with this amp no bullshit pedals just a wah, it can hold its own volume wise rediculously well, don't be fooled by the "30watt" label, this thing will tear your nutsack apart.
If your looking for the early Led Zeppelin, Jeff Beck Group, Yardbirds or other sounds the VOX AC30 head nails them like jesus. basically from Beatles to Miles Davis it can get whatever sound you want with just a bit of patience to twiddle the knobs, besides heavy metal overly distorted nonsense.

Well, here we go. Built in china.

About a month after owning it i went to turn it on and it was dead no light came on, so i rang the store where i baught it and they palmed me off to warranty repairers and thankfully it was still under warranty and was fixed for free a tube had blown and a capacitator had needed replacing. this is totally unaceptable for the price i paid for this amp. then after about 3 months the amp was cutting out at loud volumes. so i didn't use it for abuot a month and eventually went out and baught some new EL84 Tubes, JJ's ones. The amp came back to life snappy as hell and haven't had a problem since (the warranty repairers had replaced the original tubes with cheap soviet tubes one had a crack in it) So after all that stress this amp has come out shinning.
This level or reliability from an established brand like Vox is UNACCEPTABLE, espacially not for the amount of money these things are and when a young kid like myself goes broke to buy one.
But coming from china it is no surprise, the only benefit i see is it keeps the price down. if only they were point to point wired, and came with a decent set of tubes maybe there wouldn't be these issues.

Didn't deal with Vox themselves only the warranty repairers here in Sydney and the Importers for Australia. As above repaired under warranty. tubes are only under warranty for a month though.

I've been playing for 7 years, my other instruments are:
Fender Classic Esquire
Vox Wah
Fender Bassman
Maton 1967 Magnetone 12 string
Melody Acoustic
Washburn D-10.

if it was stolen or lost i'd hunt down the SOB who stole it and have some sweet sweet revenge. i'd definatly buy another if i had the money and couldn't find the culprit though. i just love the biting tone of the top boost chanel, that with a single pickup telecaster, has the most bitching tone ever.
Apart from the little issues with relibility of the tubes, this amp in my eyes is the best amp ever, well worth every hard earned cent.

See VOX website

This is tone paradise.
I play a Jeff Beck strat and a 62 hot rod american vintage strat.
I have an orange 4X12 cabinet with celestions.
The vox cabinet appeared to be of low build quaity with a loose grill and lower quality wood. I don't know what wharfdales are but if they are that much cheaper than the celestion blues, it makes me doubtful.
I sold my orange amp after buying this. The sound quality and versatility blew the orange back across the atlantic. The orange was mushy, midrange mud. This is blue sky and lightning!
This amp is made for strats. I got rid of my les paul and gretsch after getting the VOX.
They sounded good, but the strats are unbelievable through this.
I can achieve any sound from 1952 to 1992.
Great cleans and astounding clear and classic crunch.
Fabulous for the blues and classic rock.
I love the sound that Angus Young achieves - clear, steely biting, trebly - and with this simple setup - strat + VOX - I can achieve it. It blows my mind.
I like the normal channel because it is simple - gain + master. The brilliance switch gives it top end while without it it takes some of the sting out of the high end. It is throatier and more mid dominated than the top boost channel. The gain is powerful but clear.
The top boost channel is shimmery and clear. It helps humbuckers cut through. EQ is really responsive - only high and low with mid scooping out as they go up. With the gain set high, I get a clear, strong, bite - the lows punch like a buzzsaw, the mids hold together but don't overwhelm, and the top end cuts diamonds.
Blending the two channels ups the gain and the body of the sound and helps provide more overdrive, sustain, and gain. This is a great feature - throw your overdrive pedal away. The only downside is there is no footswitch to do this but if you have an index finger you can make due.
Reverb sounds like reverb. Tremolo is just plain weird but I suppose someone uses it.
Tone cut is basically a reverse presence and is useful.
I just jam in my house and I have not turned the master volume past 2. This is loud as hell.

Perfect performance so far.

No need for support

Best sound out there for blues, classic rock, modern rock.
With tweaking and pedals, I have no doubt this can do metal.

Made in 06, all tube 30 watt head version of the famous combo. Not a replica at all, it takes all the best bits from your favourite AC30s of yesteryear and pops them all into one unit. Normal + Top Boost channels, linkable - but not switchable either via the amp or footswitch. Top Boost channel has an independent volume, 2 band EQ, with 'Standard' and 'Custom' switch. Normal channel has it's own volume and 'Brilliance' switch. Both channels make use of the reverb controls (tone and mix rotary controls, plus a high drive/low drive dwell switch, which alters the general volume and decay of the 'verb), and the tremolo controls (depth and rate). Finally, theres the master volume and a tone cut control, which are global.

On the back of the amp theres a couple of holes for extention cabs (8 or 16 ohms), fx loop (+4db & -10db switch) and one for the included footswitch (trem and reverb on/off). For studio bound heads, theres an option to run the amp at 22 watts instead of the 30 (might just about save your ears), run the valves hot or just plain warm, and a pretty subtle control to alter the overall sound of the amp between vintage and modern. AC30 junkies will probably just leave this at vintage.

Footswitchable channels would have been nice (it's almost a shame to have to plonk an overdrive pedal between guitar and amp), but
footswitchable reverb and trem is a far nicer touch, really useful.

Plastic VOX badge is an ugly blot on an otherwise beautiful object, but i suppose if they're going to cut corners anywhere i'd rather it be here than something more vital on the inside.

This one is going to live at home for a bit till i can bear the thought of maybe touring it.

All the features are useful, everything in it's right place.

I'm mostly playing through this with a 2004 Japanese Fender Jaguar, but also with a 2003 Godin SD (H-S-S), which sounds a bit like a more refined hot Strat. For now it's going through a stock Marshall 1922 2x12 cab, sounds tons better than the 1x12 Orange it was going through in the store and is almost a perfect fit.

Once you get to grips with the controls it becomes obvious that this amp will flatter pretty much any guitar you put through it, give it that AC30 'chime' - you'll recognise it when you get it.

The Normal channel doesn't really kick in till the volume hits about 8 o clock, sounds pretty weak up until then. Between 8 and about 1 o clock there's that classic clean chime, after that it starts to break up, till flat out you're just getting lo-fi grunge. You won't need to rely on this for decibels though, whether the amp is set to 22 or 30 watts the master can more than look after itself. If you're struggling for volume and/or clean headroom then you play too loud anyway. The brilliance switch is a nice touch, gives the clean channel a couple of voices. One will cut through just about any mix, the other is quite a bit duller and will just about locate those cleaner sounding early Zep / Sabbath tones.

The Top Boost channel is, for me, where the magic happens. The chime is even more evident, the EQ is a masterclass in subtlety, while pushing the gain towards it's higher echelons, the resulting break up is much smoother, 'crunchier'. The tone cut next to the master control is great for just backing off the ear-piercing 'jangle' of some single-coils, or for preventing fatigue at high levels.

The trem is just a little bit noisy, though once you're playing you won't notice one bit, it sounds beautiful. Gently coupled with the reverb flat-out and the Jaguar's pokey little bridge pick up, it's constantly tempting to reach out for that 4-note 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond' motif. This sound is stunning, shimmery and vintage sounding, once you've nailed it once it's irresistable - i keep finding myself coming back to it. Just a little hint of trem in most clean sounds seems to keep things sounding nice and vintage, great for 60s style rhythm playing, reggae chord stabs, high open chords and arpeggios.

The reverb doesn't particularly sound like a proper spring reverb, but it's pleasant enough, if it's that much bother you can scour the forums and get advice on retrofitting a different reverb. That said, my last Marshall had a spring reverb and sounding shocking in comparison to this, too long and heavy a decay.

It definitely sounds British, not quite as fat and punchy in the midrange as a Marshall, though it can climb most of the way, and not quite as 'hi-fi' as a Fender Twin, though it does something close to that too, albeit imparting it's own character somwhere down the line. Wherever it seems to fall inbetween those two camps, it finds ways to put a smile on your face. I've never owned a proper vintage AC30, but i'd assume you could A-B some nice ones and comfortably replicate all their sounds on the CCH with unnerving accuracy.

I'd want it flightcased for transport before i'd even consider gigging it, mostly because it's so heavy it's liable to get dropped or bashed against things - it's much heavier than a JCM900. I'm not sure there's many bands on the club circuit touring back-up amps - there'd certainly be no reason to suggest this couldn't withstand a series of tours. Maybe keeping spare fuses, valves and a transformer in the kit bag would be ample peace of mind. It runs quite hot but nowhere near the blistering temperatures of my old JCM2000 (proved fatal in the end). This has much better ventilation it seems (3 good sized vents right above the valves - don't put your beer on it!!!), everything is pretty well spread inside too.

Some amps like the JCM900, you don't mind letting other bands use occasionally just because you know there's practically nothing they can do to kill it except knocking it clean off a half stack (and they can usually survive that sort of abuse). Despite being cheaper than the 900, this feels much more precious, i can't seriously see myself letting anyone else but me use it in a live situation. Sorry guys.

Never dealt with VOX, local dealers seem a bit scatty but friendly enough. It's got 12 months warranty on it, should be plenty to see it through its 'bedding in' period.

Been playing for 10 years, own a bunch of keyboard gear, a Big Muff, Boss DD-20 & Chorus Ensemble along with the afforementioned guitars. Amp-wise i started off on a Peavey practise amp, and upwards through a Marshall VS30, a JCM2000 combo which i broke. I've got by over the last couple of years with a little 10-watt oddity with a hi-fi speaker in it, it's a joy to get back to having a 'real' amp.

I've had humbucker loaded guitars, but i settled for single-coils on the basis that i love that chimey sound, and ever since breaking the JCM i've vowed to have myself THAT sound. I'm besotted with this amp, if it was stolen i'd first hunt the thief down and break both of his legs.

When i bought it i tried it against a few Fender amps (all more expensive than this), a couple of Orange amps (only the Tiny Terror was cheaper, and that has, like, 3 dials on it???), and the 2x12 combo version of this amp. I absolutely detest Line6 style amps, you know, the ones with a million effects and emulations onboard but ultimately no soul. I don't think i'll ever buy another Marshall - i feel like i've grown out of that big honky sound. I've no desire to sound like Slash, though the state of my hair these days might suggest otherwise.

For little over ??400, this is unbelievable value. I'm astonished. Only a Twin can even begin to come close and that's more that twice the price (admittedly a combo). It makes the JCM sound like a wounded caveman, a dinosaur even. It's the bomb, i'd recommend anyone with any taste in vintage guitar sounds to stop here first, even if they've got two grand to burn on one of those esoteric handwired boutique amps. The only let down is the plastic badge, though you could probably cast your own if you had enough time, and if that's all it takes to own a piece of British amp history, then great.

All that's left now is to hunt down one of those 6x12 / 8x12 Vox cabs on eBay...

The features for this amp are really good, such as all its power usage switches on the rear and its effects. If you want the finer details for this then the Vox website has all you need.
The only things extra I would have liked would be channel switching included on the footswitch and maybe a line out but you can get by without.

The clean sound for this amp really is beautiful. Especially through the Top Boost channel. The Normal channel is still nice but compared to the Top Boost can feel a little dull. (However the Tone Cut control by the Master Volume can easily brighten up the Normal Channel) The amp delivers a very full sound and the Treble and Bass controls are comprehensive enough so that you get the level of clarity you want easily. Both channels will stay clean until roughly 12 'o' clock on the dials.
The clean headroom was something I was a little concerned about before buying but it really is fine. I'm using it for recording and live and I haven't needed to have the clean sound compromised for it to come through. Its sound cuts through a mix very well.
The distorted sounds this amp can produce are very classic sounding. It does produce a fairly wide range of tones from just breaking up to nearly 70's type Marshall distortion, however it doesn't provide the modern smooth overdriven sound that a lot of players do look for, but it sounds so great playing thin lead lines and open chords I don't mind.
Reviews I read did claim that this amp's ditortion was suitable for everything except metal but I did find that playing fuller chords, the amp could sound fairly muddy and unclear. The distortion would be nicer if it could a little more versatile.
The next thing to mention is the amp's effects. The Reverb on this amp is stunning. It can easily be subtle but can also really distance your sound. However, even on its highest settings, it never seems overbearing and never destroys what you attempt. I love it so much that I find myself rarely using my delay pedal to thicken up textures.
The other effect this amp has is Tremolo. I'm not very experienced with tremolo and I don't use it very much, but it does seem very smooth here and the Speed and Depth controls seem all that most players would need from it.
Another thing I want to point out is that amp is great with pedals. It makes my Marshall Jackhammer Distortion/Overdrive sound absolutely huge. It's amazing.
I love the way the Vox sounds, if it wasn't for the slightly messy distortion I'd give it a 10 here.

I was worried beforehand as I'd never owned any kind of valve/tube amp so I thought it might be very fragile but it's built like a rock. It feels solid down to the dials, switches and even the grill cloth.
I'm still very careful with it but the day I got it I needed it straight away for a fairly rough gig where it needed to be driven pretty hard all night and it did fine. It'd be nice to be able to afford a back-up but I really don't feel like I need one

I don't know sorry, but they seem like a good company.

I've been playing around 5 years. I use the amp with an Epiphone Les Paul and a Peavey Valve-King 4x12 cabinet. If something happened to this I would definately want another one.
The price of this amp is incredible considering it's what other similar products sell for
Also, one final point, I was worried about the mere 30 watts of this amp, but once you are using all valves/tubes, wattage is nothing. This amp will easily compete with a loud drum kit, robably around a 150 watt solid state amp and is definately useable live.
I am very tempted to give this amp 10 out of 10 but it's not perfect. It's close though...

My CCH is one of the earlier ones, serial # in the 100-200 range.

Tones of features, but I was able to dial in a great tone in less than 10 minutes.

The amp has 2 channels, Normal and Top-Boost. They can be linked via a mini toggle by the input jacks. While the channels are not switchable, a lot of players are using an A/B/Y box to switch between or combine channels--you'll than have a channel switching amp.

I play original rock most of the time, but also play contemporary Christian music at my church--we cover everything from Country music to heavy Rock styles--this amp will do it all.

It also likes pedals--a bonus.

Great tones--everything from glassy cleans to heavy break-up for blues or rock. Can you say The Who?

It's not an Ultra-gain amp, but with some decent OD pedals you can get to classic 80's/90's rock.

So far mine has been highly dependable. I always have a spare amp (Crate Power Block) no matter what I gig with.

I've heard other players reporting rectifier tube issues (cheap tubes failing) or internal fuses blowing, which requires you to go into the amp for replacement--I haven't had these issues as of yet.

N/A Haven't needed any customer support.

I've played for over 30 years, and have found an amp that covers it all.

I have already purchased an AC30 CC2X, and have had great results with it as well.

I love the ease of setup, and the rich tones it provides.

I do not like the difficulty of servicing. To replace tubes you have to basically dissasemble the amp. To get to internal fuses you have to pull out the chassis and remove the slider board--forget a quick fix at a gig if this happens.

Two very different sounding channels, trem, verb, lots of room to tweak tone, some switches on the back to go from modern to vintage voicing, it's all good.

Channels aren't footswitchable.

Sounds absolutely glorious. Clean to squishy golden overdrive and distortion, all sounds great. I wouldn't use it for metal though, there's there beautiful warm compression-y chime thing happening in there that might make everything sound too pretty.

Trem is a tad noisy but not too bad. Better than most pedals.

Reverb can go nice and dark.

I've had it a week and it hasn't caught fire yet, so it's doing better than the vintage Vox I borrowed for the studio that time.

Feels nice and solid, but I'm on the lookout for a cover for it.

Hopefully I won't need to find out.

It loves my guitars, and it likes to go loud. Have tested it with Gibson L6-S, a very old no-name strat clone, and a twangy 60's home made oddity. It especially likes the Gibson.

Works well with a Crowther Hotcake pedal; not so good with my NYC Labs XXL. Again, it's not an amp for shredding on.

This amp has made me excited about playing guitar again. Can't wait to get it out on a stage.

Brand new VOX AC30HH Head-33 watts, etc.
2(?) channels-"blendable", great construction, effects loop---etc., etc., etc.

Check out the VOX website for all the other specs, please.

Used the head right out of the box, played a Gretsch 6120 and a Jay Turser 335 copy. Execellent with both guitars. Fantasic tone-after all this time, VOX is STILL what's happening! I am so impressed with the quality-both construction and sound. I have owned several AC30 combos-from the early to later 60's, and one of the "Laney-Made" pieces of crap from the 80's. This one, without a doubt, is the best sounding of all of them. And with the added features, I am able to dial-it-in to whatever I want. I am convinced that if you cannot get a decent sound out of this amp-you should take it back and buy a Peavey...or Line 6....or whatever....

Just received it 3 days ago, and used it for 10 hours playing live, plus another 4 hours just playing at home. I have read the mixed reviews on the site, and I was a bit "scared"-however, after a thorough inspection, all the problems that have seemed to plague these heads with other players are not the case with mine!

And the tubes in this one are perfectly fine-thank you....

No need right now-but everytime I have contacted VOX (KORG) in the past-they have been very responsive.

I have been playing for 35 years, 27 of which on a semi-professional/professional level. I have owned a least one of every major guitar amplifier manufacturer out there....and it ALWAYS has come back to VOX.

If you need channel switching on your amplifier for "dirt"-invest in a stomp box or something. Or learn to use the volume control on your guitar.

When I play through this new head, it really is responsive to where I have the volume/tone controls set on the guitar.

Made in 2006...got it brand new. You guys have already heard more then enough on the specs... 2 inputs, effects loop, etc... I play everyhting on this amp...rock, experimental, jazz, blues, you name it. This amp lets me accurately cover cover almost everything: from David Bowie to the Beatles, the Stones, Zep, Floyd, the Band...even alot of newer stuff like Groovy Aardvark! This amp is so versatile, the onyl stuff I can't do is metal...I need a big Mesa or Marshall for that...but hey, luckily I dont play metal.

I use this amp in my studio at home, and i bring it with me when we record professionaly. It doesn everything for me. Basic 30 watts, so more than enough for the studio...and since its tube, itll get me through small shows without the need for miking it.

I run a Gibson ES-335 Custom through it with Classic '57 pickups, as well as a Customized Fender American Strat that a buddy lends me sometimes. Works well with both no problem. It runs the Strat like it was built for it, but I personally like the ES through it a bit more.

Clean is shimmery and perfect, overdrive is awesome. No complaints...the clean stays relatively clean when cranked, which is pretty impressive. Distortion is very bluesy/classic, so I wouldnt call it brutal.

Overall here: Amazing!

I depend on this thing with my life, but thats not to say I dont bring a backup. I haven't had a problem with it yet. I still run it with the original tubes...so they may need a swappin' soon...

I got it with a three-year warranty from the store I bought it from. I havent had to deal with it yet...

I've been playing guitar for 3 years, im mainly a drummer, but its tough to record solo albums with just drums and keep it interesting...haha. I own other cheap guitars...Vantages (6 and 12 strings)and acoustic guitars. Ive got a Fender Pro 185 Red Knob, great amp, plus some smaller practise amps. I use everything in my home studio.

If it were lost (it wont ever happen) or stolen (I'll find him) I would totally get another! These things are incredibly affordable for the quality...I'll compare this to $5000 + amps that my friends have got any day.

this amp has deceptively few knobs to tweak, but it is definitely a tweaker's amp- especially when using the top boost input with its interactive treble and bass controls.

the reverb is very cool. it sounds more like reverberation in a large hall than a fender spring reverb. i use just a touch of this to add a bit of space to my sound.

the tremolo also sounds nice, although i have no use for it in my music.

one of my main concerns before buying an ac30 was the lack of ventilation for the tubes. but it turns out that the head has much better ventilation than the combo versions. i was pleased to discover that the head is open in the front behind the grill cloth in addition to the usual top vents.

i use a strat. i have a couple different distortion pedals in front of the amp. the head goes into an Avatar G212H cab with Vintage30 / G12H30 speakers, which i like very much.

i bought this amp because it has the most beautiful clean sound i have ever heard on any amp. it is warm and fat with just the right amount of sparkle. when you kick in a distortion pedal, it is harmonically rich.

i run it on the "hot" bias setting which makes it about 33 watts (according to the manual). i run the master volume all the way up and use the top boost channel at about 9 o'clock (if looking at the controls right side up). at this setting it is very clean. if i play really hard, it will just begin to break up. if i put it up higher, it eats into the headroom and my pedals don't sound right in front of it. i wouldn't mind if it had a bit more headroom, but it's still good enough.

i have tried cranking it as well, with no help from pedals and it is a pretty awesome sound, with lots of feedback and sustain. it gets a brutal sounding distortion that could probably even work well with metal. and it can also be much too loud this way. using a master volume is not really the solution because it tames the sound too much. it would probably be better to get a power brake or a hot plate.

there is some hiss when it idles, and it's not 60 cycle hum. strangely, when i turn on my boss digital delay pedal, this hissing gets amplified- even when everything in front of the delay is muted! it's a mystery to me. for whatever reason this amp seems to like taking an analog delay much better.

i'm not sure about the reliability because this is a new amp. i've been playing it every day for a month and have had no problems so far.

one issue that came up was the bleed between channels. even with the input link switch turned off, there is still an amount of bleed between the normal and top boost channels. i talked to my dealer at northcoastmusic.com about it. this appears to be common among the custom classic ac30s, but it's no big deal. just roll down the volume of the channel you don't want to hear.

i haven't dealt with vox directly, but northcoastmusic.com was very responsive and helpful.

i really love this amp. if it was stolen, i'd get it again.

if i could make a custom version of this amp, i'd want the tubes to be accessible without having to take apart the chassis. i'd propose just being able to remove the front, or a more radical rearrangement of the components. i just really think it's a pain to change the tubes the way it is, but i'll put up with it only because i love the tone so much.

also, as i mentioned before, i'd want more clean headroom, so a higher power version, 50 watts perhaps, would be welcome.

2006 AC30 CC Head follow up review. Giving 9 here, in order for Vox to receive a 10 they need to add channel switching so you can go clean to dirty in a click and add a tube compliment diagram in the manual.

Ok I am now labeling the Amp the official "Chinese Plexi" with Vox tones on tap. See the Rob Math demo video on the CD from the December issue of Guitar World year-end review guide with the babes on the cover or maybe it's out on the internet. One of the best live demo's I have seen from any amp manufacturer. I am getting anything from country picking twang to sizziling ZZ top blues to harder edge styles out of the amp. I now blend the two channels and roll the bright cut back for a warmer yet dark midrange with a sweeter bright plexi tone. This amp absolutely loves pedals on the front end mainly due to the excellent(no tube info in manual)12ax7 Tung-sol's in the preamp, lots of quality front end headroom. I haven't changed the power tubes to JJ's yet but that probably would be an upgrade over the stock El84. Not sure about improving the rectifier tube which I think is the GZ.

So far so Good, very solid build. Buy the head not the combo. You will have reliability but will need to spend more for speaker/cab options.

Ok the plastic gold VOX emblem screams cheap, the brown cloth is cheezy. I may paint mine black and get a diecast emblem. However, it excell's at price, tone and bells & whistles. There is now an amp that exists for the working musician that owners will brag blows the high price stuff away. Conversely, cork sniffers will complain about this amp. A/B'd some of the gear I don't use now like a Crate VC30 sounds flat PCB processed compared to the new VOX. I'd say the VOX is the much improved next generation VC30 for those of you that know that tone. To my ears the VOX does do a very close Marshall plexi tone but I have never owned a plexi so take it with a grain of salt. Marshall & Vox factory engineers a Korg probably all worked on designing this amp or at least it sounds like it.

2005 VOX AC30 CUSTOM CLASSIC HEAD (made in China) see other reviews for specs....mine is the same.

I compared my Vox against my buddies 1971 AC30 with BullDog speakers and I was able to emulate his tone. I have to say, I prefer a combination of both channels on my AC30. Like other reviewers, I would rather be able to channel switch than turn my reverb on and off by foot.

I also tried a Vox cab with 30 watt Celestion p, I have owned a few amps. Fender tube types mostly, Marshall 800 and 900s, Peavey Classics, Crate, Sunn, Rack Amps......and the list goes on. I never did however, own a boutique amp, but I feel like I got one now.

Ladies and gentleman, I am being straight up on this because I believe when a player drops a pile of cash for an amp they are going to gig with, it is important to ask others who have owned the same. I am a intelligent man, maintain my own gear and I spent a bit of time making up my mind as to what I would buy before I bought the Vox.

Also, I read all the reviews at Harmony Central and really had mixed feelings before I spent the money. Not everyone likes the Chinese Amps. Therfore, I want to share what I have found.

First let me say, I bought the AC30 combo before I got the head. The combo was fine but it was too heavy for me. Man, the weight is like a Fender Twin. With the head, I can comfortably move my amp cab and head to and from gigs.

I have noticed that head seems to be quiter compared to the combo in terms of line noise when not playing. It also seems that the head reverb is better sounding. Perhaps this is due to isolating the reverb spring tank from the speaker cab.

Tone is subjective, but I don't need a stomp box to get the sound I want. A little boost in EQ for solos and some analog delay comes in handy although, and I have a couple of pedals to get that. I love the sound of a first position "G" chord through my AC30.......It is big and filled with character. Various websites offer soundclip samples and I found them to be right on.

Even the vibrato circuit (although not as creamy as my Custom Vibrolux) is very usable.

I am impressed.

As much as any musician can depend on an amp, I can with my AC30. I have had all kinds of amps fail at one time or another. Backups are always a great idea.

I bought a matched quad of Teslas (JJ) power tubes and some EH 12AX7s and tube rectifer from the Tube Store. AC 30s are known to run hot and after reading all of the info at the Tube stores website....I figured the new tubes would be an upgrade to an allready great amp. Haven't installed them yet.

I would venture to say that the AC30 head runs cooler than the combo. The entire front face of the head is grill cloth anf the tubes are subject to more ambient air than in the combo variety, I think.

I have head my Amp for two months and so far so good. The Chinese thing really ate at me but, I would not own an AC30 now at the old prices either. So I guess I am feeling better. Ultimately it is all about rocking. If you have gear that will last and sounds the way you want it to sound than...Life Is good!

A cover sure would be a nice upgrade from Vox. I would have gladly spent another 30 bucks for a thick Vinyl cover.

I only did one email and got a prompt response to my question.

I would be bummed and I would get another if my Vox were lost or stolen. Also, I wouldn't trade it for a vintage model.....If you know what I mean. I really got more than I hoped for and that doesn't happen enough when it comes to gear......

I chose this amp over everything else I looked at. The new 20 watt marshall tube head (also very nice but pricey).....and various vintage Fender Supers.

I wish Vox would extend the warranty for the Chinese stuff until it is proven in the trenches (clubs). I also wish the toggle switches were more substantial. Oh yeah......The rubber feet on the head don't quite match the speaker cab (Vox) handle placement.....It sits even and secure but really does a number to the cab handles.

2006 VOX CC Head. Versatile enough with two channels and link function, reverb & tremelo, 8 % 16 ohm speaker switch. Features mentioned ad nauseum.

Guitars: Mexican strat w/ HS-3 & hot rails, Yamaha SBG 500 w/ pearly gates & stock neck. Schecter elite with duncan invader & stock neck.
Style: Blues & Rock, Hard Rock.
Sounds: Front end using Timmy pedal, Barber LTD, Barber DirectDrive & DOD YJM 250 Clone. Cabinets 4x12 Mesa Recto w/ V30 & Marshall 1960 w/ greenbacks (chinese). Hate to give it the honeymoon "10" but OMG this thing really destroys probably 90% or more of the boutique amp market. Suprisingly, the YJM overdrive sounded the best. The Vintage 30's (didn't like until now so I'll eat my shoe) sounded better than the Greenbacks. The end of the day jaw dropping tone was the Strat into the YJM into the head with the "tag" clean setting into the normal channel then into the Recto cabinet. Cheap amp head, cheap OD pedal, & cheap overseas guitar with name brand pickups = boutique tone & fat bank account.

Chimes with that bell tone any vintage gear head will love. The high gain tones were not quite Marshall EL34 tone but with the Yamaha SG knock off and pearly gates it was very sweet in it's own way. I also chose the modern voicing for the Marshall sound. I also am using the 22 watt mode vs the 30 watt mode which was so loud on the Mesa cabinet you could hear it from the basement outside about 3 houses down the block.

Where was this head 20 years ago?

Clean, clear and LOUD right out of the box. Idle, there are slight hum variations based on the back panel settings but almost all Class A vox type circuits are noisy. Mainly it so far is perfect. I am barely concerned about the hum and it is too new to judge so no opinion.

N/A

Would buy another if lost or stolen. Love the price, I will not complain about chinese labor taking us jobs for the remainder of the year. Not to offend but there were two VOX AC-30 handwired reissues that were uselessly silent with blown fuses at that big guitar chain so I didn't bother to save up for a point to point just because of some tube noise. This VOX and a used JTM-45 bluesbreaker reissue were the two best sounding amps in the store which says alot when people actually mention 2 & $3000 amps in a review of one costing less than a grand.

Features covered in previous reviews. I play a mix of classic rock, blues, R&B, with some newer stuff thrown in. The amp has enough different tones to hang in there on just about anything. The amp is quite loud for 30 watts. I have not had a chance to really open it up yet, and if I did, my neighbors would call the cops. Can't wait to try it at a gig. The channel blend feature is very useful and helps to add girth to a particular tone when enabled. The only feature that I wish for is channel switching. Subtract one point for that. I guess I will need to buy an A/B/Y box for that.

Use the amp with Fender American Standard Strat w/Hardtail bridge & Kinman AVn Blues, Yamaha AES 620, Reverend Slingshot Custom, and a few others. I have to say that the tones that are attainable on this amp are excellent. The overall complexity and chime that this amp creates is astonishing, whether clean or dirty. I agree with the other reviewers who talk about the amp sounding Marshall-esque when using higher-gain settings. I have been able to dial in some excellent clean tones that sparkle as well. It definitely sounds like AC-30's that I have heard on recordings. The amp works well with all the guitars that I own and sounds especially great with single coils. Using the head with a Reverend 410c cabinet loaded with 4x10" Reverend All-Tone speakers. I may spring for the Vox cabinet loaded with Celestion Alnico Blues at a later time. The reverb and tremolo are both usable, although when the amp is idling with the tremolo turned on, you can hear a strange warble. Not sure if this is common with amps that have tremolo built in. I will deduct a point for that. Haven't tried the amp with my pedals yet (Reverend Drivetrain II overdrive, Boss DD-6 delay, Dunlop Cry-Baby, Ibanez stereo chorus) as I have been so satisfied with the stock tones. Overall, an excellent sounding, versatile amp!

N/A Will hold off on this until it is used at a few gigs. I have encountered no problems so far after about 10 hours of use at home. The construction does appear to be of good quality. The amp does get very hot, although based on what I have read, that is common for AC-30's.

N/A Was able to register the product on-line which is a plus. Haven't needed support yet so I will pass on this section.

Been playing as a hobbyist for about 30 years. Just started playing at local bars a couple of years ago. Also own a Reverend Hellhound 40/60 Amp combo, Ampeg Reverberocket 212R amp, old Silvertone tube amp, Line 6 PODxt, and a few other goodies. Have always wanted a Vox amp but never wanted to spend the $$$. This amp provides great tone for the money. I would purchase again and if something happens to this one, I will. This amp comes as close to a 10 (nothing is perfect) as any amp that I have played through.

if your looking at these reviews you know what it is and what it does

coolest feature compared to the oldies is the master volume
you can get a great sound at a realistic volume

one thing i found weird is they have a switch on the panel to flick the top boost in but its not footswitchable easily fixed i guess with a good tech

i give it a 10 for features compared to other voxes ive played

sounds great with my strat,tele and lp

you can hear the guitars character coming through

its dirty but still clean its bright but full i cant think of any other way to describe it

i set it with both channels on at about 1 oclock depending on what axe im using and just play i love the sound

im using a fender tonemaster 412 cab with v30's and it sounds fat

sounds voxish im not gonna say its the best amp in the world beacause there are probably better ones out there which i'm sure youll see plenty of people trying to justify why they spent so much on their fantastic amp

but the truth is this thing sounds good, great infact i was very surprised especially with the price it is cheap

i have owned my fair share of amps and still own a fender and a marshall but this thing does what neither of them do

this is what freaks me out i am worried about it

but this thing is quieter than my other amps and sounds huge no probs whatsoever no noise no squeels hissing pops nothing

to be honest its the made in china thing that scares me

but it cant be less reliable than a dinosaur vox

in australia yamaha are the distributers for vox ive never had to deal with them but there is a yamaha warranty repairer close and i know those guys (because theve seen my fender and marshall not my vox)
so im not worried about the service side yamaha are huge and arent going anywhere either is the repairer hopefully either is my vox

it's good it's cheap i love the sound

i have way to much expensive gear have been playing for to long and when i heard these things were coming out I couldnt believe they were making them in china and was turned off by that alone

then the other day i walked in to my local shop to say hi to the guys and i heard someone playing my soon to be amp i said to the guys what is that it sounds huge and they laughed cause he knew my thoughts on the chinese stuff

trust me get your head around the chinese thing they are good they are cheap they are built well they are loud as and they do something which none of my other amps do like i said before dirty but clean bright but fat just play (beware of the wharfedales i wasnt impressed by the cheaper vox speaker boxes use celestions)

Two channels:
1) Normal/Brillance = perfect! I plug any guitar or bass and it sounds loud and noiseless. The brillance switch turns on the real Vox sound, meaning that it's different from any other amps I've played with (BluesBreaker, Twin Reverb, Blues DeVille). It has a great sustain and it's crisp and clear. I've been looking for this sound for years.. I've bought mine one week ago, but i think i'm gonna order another one quite soon!

I use a classic 50 (made in Mexico) strato and my own replica of a Red Special (with Burns Trisonic pickups by Kent Armostrong) and then I use a 4x10" open back cabinet with Eminence Speaker;

I use a Rickenbacker Chris Squire Limited Edition 4001 bass or a '78 Precision Bass and then I use a SVT 18" classic Ampeg cabinet

It's great for both bass and guitar; I suggest to use the normal if you don't need a strange eq (it means that you might like your cabinet tone!)

As I said before it's clear and hot; the reverb it's long and it's very nice to have the possibility to use the Tone to bost or cut some frequency of the reverb tail. The vibrato is amazingly natural and adds some crunch that is really "british"

Mayby only the mains plug seems to me a little bit cheap.
other finishing are very good and there is nothing that let you know that this amp is made in china .. or, if you are a little more open minded, this am is made with great care by experienced people that will give Europe and U.S industries a lot of trouble in the next future!

I've been waiting for this amp for 6 months, but the customer service was quick and concrete

The best amp I've ever heard.

You've read the reviews lots of features. Enough to soothe me. The only pain in the ass was switching the inputs

I used this with 2 custom teles and a rickenbacker. Tried a les paul through it. Main pedals i used were a keeley mod ts9-time machine boost-memory man-wiggler-worm-qtron-big muff-eq pedal.

The tones on this are pretty good. It nails the classic ac-30 sound almost to the t. I wouldn't notice the difference between this one and a vintage one.

With that being said, i really liked this amp until i cranked it up. At low volumes this baby shined. Once i turned it up to almost full volume, it squealed and hissed at me. It was totally unusable.

The thing is that i really liked the tone of this amp. It was a great compliment to mr dr z maz 18. But the simple fact of the matter is that i cranked it and it didn't perform.

It really sucks, i sent it back and bought a jazzmaster guitar. Still i wonder if i should try another one out, maybe i got the bad one of the bunch.

Don't let this review fully take you away from this amp. For tone it gets a 9. But the squeal docks it a few points.

The trem is very nice.

I can't say the reverb was that nice on here. It works for playing chords and that type stuff. But it definately doesn't have that lush reverb that my dr.z has. So it gets docked a point for that.

So without the problem it gets a 9 for sound. The clean is jangly and the crunch is smooth, the overdrive is awesome. Trem is good, reverb is okay. Squeal sucks

The only problem i had was the squeal so it gets a5

Overall its a wonderful sounding amp. I am tempted to buy the combo or maybe give another head a shot. We'll see. But overall if it doesn't squeal then its a 9 squealing its a 7

AC30CC Head made 2005. All the features have been mentioned below. For essentially a 2 channel amp it's a little odd that they're not footswitchable....instead the footswitch is for Verb/Tremolo ON/OFF...to me, odd.
(You can get around this by using an A/B/Y pedal)
But other than that it is a very full-featured amp, should keep most people happy as to how they want to run it...place their effects..etc etc.

(I'm running this head through a Peavey 5150 slant cab @ 16ohms)
Up until now I've never had an amp that does the clean/semi-clean/slightly broken up type thang....now I've got that. It's got the classic Vox tone but to my ears can also sound quite Marshall-like when pushed into overdrive territory.
The master volume is helpful for lower volume practising etc. but the tradeoff is a less full tone. I think eventualy I'll incorporate an attenuator like a Hotplate to run the power valves where they sound best (ie..full whack!)
It's "only" 30 watts...but it's a LOUD 30 watts.
My main guitar is an EB/MM EVH signature model, and with this amp, is a very nice partnership. Great for classic rock type tones.
I quite like the Tremolo, although as mentioned before the Tremolo rate could be faster at the highest setting...(maybe I'll mod this at a later date.) The Reverb is not to my taste, but I never use reverb with my live rigs anyway so that's no great loss.
The background noise is really quite low...nothing compared to high gain amps (my other amp is a 5150 head....nuf'said).
The settings on the back of the amp to switch wattage & filter caps are subtle, but I DO feel the difference. I've settled on 50ohms/44uF as my preferred choice, this offers a 'tighter' overall feel for me.

So far I'm impressed with the build quality. I've had a look inside, everythings's in order, nice wiring, no bad solder joints, all valves seated correctly. No screws are loose, have been stripped or over-tightened (a problem others HAVE encountered). No flaws or marks externally either. All switches and pots tight & working as they should.
I know the quality of the valves as been questioned by other owners, and some have had microphonic issues out of the box (or the dreaded 'motor-boating' problem.) Touch wood, everything's been fine with mine so far, but I will be buying some replacement valves to experiment with very soon. (Probably a set of EI Gold's & JJ's)
I can at this point only give it a ten 'cause everything's working as it should....(ask me this question in a years time hehehehe)

N/A

I've been playing live 22 odd years, if this was stolen or lost I'd get my insurer to get me another one straight away.
For an all valve brand new VOX amp I personally think this is excellent value for money. The Made In China tag doesn't bother me one bit...more importantly it's designed by Vox UK.
I only wish that out of the box you could footswitch between the Top boost & Normal channels rather than switching the Verb/Trem on/off. I also wish that ALL amps (regardless of brand) came standard with an amp cover.....but that's just wishful thinking on my behalf! :-)

Serial #370. This amp has many switches that tweakers can have fun with; but also sounds good without much twiddling. Dual channels that are linkable, but not a channel switching amp. This amp has everything that I need. Plenty of power for small and medium gigs. Both reverb & tremolo!

Used with Rick 330, G&L Legacy Special, Gibson SG, Reverend Slingshot Custom. Played through the $300 VOX V212BN cabinet(with Wharfedales).

This is the amp sound that I've been looking for 15 years! It has all of that chime and grind that you've heard on recordings. I am absolutely 100% excited by the sound of this amp. It's put my Fender Deville 4x10 to rest in the closet. It is as quiet as any other well made tube amp when idling. Both the reverb & tremolo sound great. Either single coil or humbucker guitars are awesome through this. It covers a wide range of musical styles from twangin' clean to rockin' dirty. It doesn't speak metal though - see Mesa for that. Follow the included settings card at first since some of the best settings are'nt intuitive.

Sounds fantastic with the Wharfedales. I can't imagine how another $550 for Celestion Blues could make it even better?

I was afraid of what I might end up with after reading some of the downer reviews here. But mine was built flawlessly and worked perfectly right out of the box. I feel sorry for the players who have written problem riddled reviews since they're are missing out on a wonderful experience.

No opinion here. Their website is kinda clunky and they don't sell head covers yet. The manual is too short and gives no basic tube change info (it doesn't even say what tube types are in it).

This is the only piece of music gear that I have ever bought that I would give a 10. I've tried a bunch of stuff. If you love a complex chimey guitar tone, the clang of EL84 tubes in class A, this is clearly the holy grail for $850. I don't know how it stacks up to the $3500 boutique amps cause thats out of my league.

I'm overwhelmed.

(Check out the review on page 188 the Sept '05 issue of Vintage Guiter Magazine. They love it too.)

Look Below for further info. Really nice head with a lot of "tweaking" possibilities.

I'm playing on a Duesenberg John Platania (semi hollow body) with P90 & Duesenberg pickup and a Tele with Jon Suhr PU's. Both guitars sound excellent on this head. Tele "twangs" like never before and the duesenberg (which is a real tonemonster) sounds very lush. My music style is pop with a few hints of blues, and this amp really does the trick for me. It's a lot of fun getting these "dirty clean" sounds on this amp. It's very direct and respons really well. I set the switches on the backside on 22W and modern, which sounds real crispy in clean. The reverb is nice if you use it in small amounts. The tremelo is very usable although my Fulltone Supatrem sounds better.

I experimented a lot with cabinets and finally I stayed with the wharfdale speakers. I tried (the new) alnico cabs from vox and did't like the sound. Then I used a Bogner Vintage 30 2*12 cabinet (expecting very much from it) and the sound was terrific but... I missed the sound from the standard wharfdale speakers. For the time being, I stay put with the wharfdales, but in the nearby feature, I'll get myself a Bogner 1*12 closed back with V-30 to combine them both.

The distortion, if you crank the amp up, is realy nice with my Duesenberg P-90), especially with the two channels blended. ( I use the Barber Launch pad for this, you can switch between clean and top boost and also use the two channels together). With my Tele I like my pedals (Z vex Super Hard On, Blue Boy OverDrive and T-rex Dr Swamp) better.

I'll give it a 9 because it has excellent price-quality value. Nevertheless, if you compare the AC 30 CC head with a Bogner Metropolis (my favourite amp) it falls short, but hey, the metropolis costs more than twice as much.

So Far So good, but I think the clothing of the head is rather chinese quality. The first day a bumped - slightly- against the wall and there was a peace of plastic clothing (about 1 inch) which fell off. I can't imagine this will happen with a "real" american or british amp.

Ok I think, didn't need it so far..;

Excellent amp! I owned a peavey delta blues before, wich I really liked, but this amp is definetly a higher class, although it's not the best amp out there, but considering its price, maybe it is... ;-)

Plenty, if you got an ear for them. You can dial in the sound YOU want on this baby. I have not been impressed with any new fangled mass produced amp in years. (And I mean years) I'm a tube man. I've heard a number of boutiques but each had a unique sound that I was not used too. Maybe it just wasn't on any record that I liked. I don't know

This sounds great but with all the features you real do have to understand each switch to get this thing to rock the way you want it to. It would be an easy amp to pass up if the settings weren't the way you liked them; so you got the sound that means something to you. I know a lot about amps but I'm thankful that the Guitar World (Don't get me wrong I normally wouldn't touch that mag but someone had the article on Voxtalks---they should have it on voxamps.com as well) article went into detail concerning each switch and how uou can use it to your benefit. Also I'm ashamed to admit it but the little "settings card" that comes with the amp to me was absolutely necessary. It has "clean" "classic" "overdrive" and "crunch" I'm not sure with this amp I could get to each of those without help (listen I rebuilt my Fender 68 head completely--I'm not a complete idiot---I mean not complete anyways) Once you have those down and they are great settings you could go from there, if you need to.

Motorboating out of the box. Customer support was very helpful. Turned out to be one of the chinese 12ax7 tubes. They have EH for power and a Sovtek for the rectifier. A NEW AMP WITH A REAL TUBE RECTIFIER---YEA! Sorry I'm 53, I shouldn't act that way. I had a couple of EIs that I could swap to get it working. Here is the politically incorrect kicker. I like the sound of the chinese tubes better. They are sending me a whole new set to see if that is the motoer boating problem. I couldn't wait for them to come, but that was the problem. If your going to get any tube amp you better get up the guts and knowledge to at least change the oil. I've only had it a week so I'll refrain from a score here but it's as quite as a dead mouse right now.

Very good. One year warranty.

Finally a vox AC30 I can use in my bedroom. I'm using with two Eminence RedCoat speakers. I like the warfdales but these use alnicos so I went this route. It sounds like the sound to me. I've been shooting for this for years. I've tried to make my fender sound like this---stupid, it sounds great as a Fender. That was a long process. Tried to get my Velocette 15 watt class A to sound like this. That by the way is also a great amp. Didn't happen. I had a Korg AC 30 with blues. Too heavy and too stinking loud, so out the door she went. Now this. End of search. Don't worry I don't mind it ended. I'll live.

Excellent features. Now if only they could work for you...

4X EL84, but even though it's a Vox, this is really a Class A/B configuration: sounds great, but the high fidelity is a little rounded off compared to Class A EL84 amps (like my Top Hat Club Royale, Matchless Lightning or Dr Z Carmen Ghia). The blending of the channels was nice. The reverb on this particular head was ganky; I tried out the AC30CC2x combo with Cele Blues and that reverb was lush. The tremolo sounds organic but the pace when opened up is too slow; its construction led me to return the amp within the 30-day, 100% satisfaction guarantee at my local retailer (one of the giants on-line, actually) since it started "motorboating" with nothing plugged into it the second time I used it, and I just don't need the hassle of repairs/warranties/lost playing time/etc.

After everything I read about Vox reliability, including the AC30CC series, I prayed that I'd be a lucky one. But I was not a lucky one. The ganky reverb and the motorboating contributed to my first and last tube Vox experience (love my Pathfinder and both Brian Mays). Even the 212 I tried out had its particular issue distinct from the head (horrible treble squeal with Master up, treble up, dialing in TB & Normal volumes for loudness past 3:00) that indicates manufacturing inconsistencies. Too bad: I'm back to saving up a lot more dough for hand-made, point-to-point amps.

Hadn't needed 'em before, not going to use them now.

I wish this amp was as good as it ought to be.

Everyone else has posted the features. It's pretty good as far as features go. The channel mixing was a little disappointing though. It doesn't do that much but give you a little more dirt when you have both channels cranked.

Also the cut knob doesn't do as much as i expected. Mr dr z cut knob totally changes the tone. The cut knob on this changes tone very small.

The EQ features work but could be better.

Overall it has some great features. But some don't work as well as I would like. But overall I can get what I want out of it.

I use a tele with antiquity strat pickups, jazzmaster w/ p90's, and hollow body tele with filtertrons. Effects are keeley compressor, boost, and ts808 mod.

Overall the sound is good. For the price range it can't be beat. It doesn't sound as good as my orange or dr.z/ But they cost $1500+. If you have $1500 buy a z or an orange. If you don't this is the next best thing. Beats any fender.

The clean sound is great. Very comparable to the orange an z. Its very sparkly and spanky.

Overdrives very nicely. Nice tube breakup. It does need a bit of compression to fill out and become usable for leads. I have to take off a point for that.

Tremelo is really great. But the reverb can't cut it. My z's reverb gets a 10 this reverb gets a 6. This was a let down. It will sound good for rhythm. But won't work at all for blues.

The major drawback of this amp is its hiss. When i crank it, it hisses. More of a squeal. It's not noise coming out of the speakers, but squeal coming from the amp; at leat i think. It's annoying but I can deal with it

I really like the tone. It is worth $850

too soon to say

Never called

Great Amp at a great Price. Like I said before it is not as good as an orange or a z. I would say it can perform and sound up to about 90% of a z or an orange. So for the price it is the best amp out there.

This amp has a boat load of features (many of which don't really work very well) covered elsewhere here. Before I start, I want to clarify that so far, I love this amp. So if my review seems a little harsh, it's because I think they miss the mark in some significant ways. Mostly marketing though. The bias switching and filter swithcing to my ears does little or nothing. The trem goes too slow for my taste. The reason I give a 7 is the reverb. It sounds very nice and seems very controllable for as gainy an amp as this. As far as versatility, turn it down, it cleans up, turn it up, it grinds with the best. More about this in a moment. I hate the master volume, but that's cool, I hate all master volumes. Volume wise, it's almost perfect for my band and venues. In other words, sometimes it's a tad loud, sometimes it's not loud enough but very often, it's exactly right. More maybe than any other amp I own. For the responsiveness to guitar volume manipulation and the cool reverb, I give it a 7.

I want to state that this review is done by a gigging guitarist on stage with my usual bandmates with whom I've been playing for several years and in rooms I also have been playing for several years in. Also, the rig I'm using it with is a two amp rig, the second amp being a mid-sixties JMI top-boosted AC-30 so I'm actually A\Bing onstage. Ok, here's where the rubber meets the road. First off, it sounds NOTHING like an AC-30. When I say AC-30, I mean JMI or Vox Product, not re-issues. The normal channel is not dark like an original and will not yield the Brian May tone with a Burns guitar and top boost pedal. Likewise, the top boost input sounds nothing like an AC-30 either. The literature and user manual would have you believe that you can get it to sound like a 4 input AC-30, a JMI top boost and George Harrison's amp on Nowhere Man ( I think that's the song). Well, it sounds like none of those amps. At all. Not even close. Well Mark, what does it sound like then, you might ask? It sounds an awful lot like a late '60's jmp Marshall but with more filtering. Tighter in the low end. It's very aggressive and articulate and cleans up very well. My favorite amp happens to be a '68 plexi front 50 watt 1987 circuit so I guess I'll compare it to that. It's not quite as loud (good) so I don't have to attenuate it. It is easily as aggressive and is tighter in the low end (more filtering?). Even when using an A|B box to switch or blend the inputs, it behaves way more like a jmp. The top boost being a little brighter and the normal being a tad thicker sounding. When blended, you get a bit more gain and thickness. It's very cool. It does not take that well to boost pedals and absolutely hates my Analogman Sunface fuzz (the jmp loves boost pedals and especially, fuzz). That's ok as it has enough grind for almost anything I play without boosting. It tends to "crap out" with too much input signal (ok, I guess that's kind of like a vintage AC-30). No matter though. For me, the tone and feel are really, really good, just not good like an AC-30. If you are buying one to replace your vintage AC-30, whatever you do, don't sell the vintage amp first! I'd say it would be a better replacement for your late '60's Marshal 1987 jmp. Soundwise, possibly the best sounding new amp I've ever owned.

I hope nothing goes wrong later as I don't like to work on these type of amps (pcb construction).

Korg is huge. Coincidentally, they own Marshall as well.

If Korg wanted to give me a useful feature instead of a lame master volume and bias and filtering switches that don't really do anything, I would much rather have a switch for tube or solid state rectification as maybe it would even get closer to that perfect jmp tone. Overall, for the money, this amp is a big winner. It seems to like my strat as well as my Les Paul equally and responds to nuanced playing and volume manipulations magnificently. The reverb is beautifully subtle and I can hardly tell when it's on. I sure hear it when I turn it off though. It hangs with amps costing 3 times as much.

Same features as listed in other reviews. Way more than anyone needs and a fab master volume!!!

I use teles. The amp is stone quiet except when the trem is on (just like any other amp). If you like Byrds, U2 and Beatles guitar sounds you will love this amp. Clean and semi dirty tones are the best I've heard and I'm a boutique snob. Metal gain? Look under Peavey 5150.

Been abusing it for 5 weeks now - nary a problem. So far so good!

They answered my questions promptly so far- unheard of for a big corp.

I have sold my boutique collection which included Komets, /13 and Budda amps, as well as my 1962 AC30. This amp outshined them all and at a fraction of the price. These are not less reliable than any UK or boutique amp I have owned. Don't be scared people, these are the real deal, and at this price how on earth could you go wrong. As good a Vox as I have ever heard!!

This is a follow up to my review below. It is almost a month later since I got the amp and it has been used for 5 hours a day with no problems. My impressions are still that this amp compares very well to the JMI and HW products. Since owning this amp I have now sold my Top Hat KR and my Matchless DC30 - it is that good. I wish that boneheads would refrain from reviewing a product that isn't actually working. If you get one and it is not working right don't review it. Wait until you have actually heard one and then factor in the non working one into the reliability rating. Trashing all the other criteria like sound quality is really very dishonest and is just an attempt to get even with the company.

This amp simply is the best bang for the buck in the history of good tone.

Amp was made this year, it's the AC/30CCH. Blues,jazz,country,rock&roll,
instrumentals,even electrified folk,funk,soul. 2channels but it does'nt need channel switching though you could put an A/B switcher in front of the 2 inputs. The effects loop's good for delay/chorus/flange. I played thru this amp for 3 weeks before putting a pedal in front of it. I use this amp in my studio but it fulfills my need for a small class A amp to play out with. Plenty of power,headroom and with the handwired features of switching out caps and bias makes for good versatility without the $3K+ price tag. I've played thru some very expensive gear. Vox's use to blow up on stage when I was a kid. This sounds like a Vox.

Gibson Les Paul,ES137,ES335,all with '57classic humbuckers,PRS Custom 22 with Mcarty Pu's, 2 Fender Tele's with JoeBarden and Seymour Duncan Custom Shop 48 Broadkaster pu's, Fender JB Strat with Lace Sensor Hot Golds, Fender Squire 12 string with Duncan US pu's, ESP Ltd7string with Duncan Designs a Fender Electric mandolin with a Fishman and 2 Martins with Fishman Rare Earth soundhole pu's and even they sound great thru this amp. You can get differing types of clean,hairy and overdriven tones using the caps ouput bias as well as the various channel options. I found the amp to be exceptionally quiet even near mini flourescents and pc display. I use the 82warm bias setting and the 44uf filtercaps. The only noise was when I plugged in pedals; they were the groundloop not the amp.

Vox was notorius during JMI days, we'd joke about needing a fire
extinguisher as a necessary along with sneakers to keep from getting
zapped. So as yet have no opinion yet. They should have a "sofarsogood"
instead of that stupid stoner awesome.

Not very and I don't base that on a friend of a friend or mom in law's
dog. I had several questions about registering product on line and also
questions on construction and I got squat and answers via email that
sounded as canned as an autoreply, meaning they had nothig to do with
what I was asking.

36 years as a guitarist, 53 years as a musician. I own 5 Fender Amps dating between 1961 and 1967,a'69 Marshall Metal front 50watt TremHead .A VHT Two/Fifty/Two Tube rack setup and a POD2.0. They all work, I've used them all for studio and gigging. I'd buy this one again unless I
heard the quality went in the crapper. I love that I spent less than the$2K to$5K I was agonizing over to get that signature Vox sound. I have several different speaker cab/setups so the head was the best choice for me. I have'nt been able to get a bad sound out of this amp yet and I get to put the difference I saved not buying a Matchless, or AC Handwired,BadCat towards a new guitar. If the quality coming out of China stays consistant then we're in trouble as the fit and finish on this amp was Boutique quality.

Bought it new after hearing a friend's. Was not at all disappointed with the tones, they were very good right out of the box! Swapped in some E.I. El-84's and some nos preamp tubes and it got even better. My friend A/B'd his with another friend's early 60's AC-30 and there sure wasn't $2000 worth of difference! Lot's of bang for your buck here in the tone dept. Do have a few issues with it. Cheapo Chinese hardware ain't up to snuff. All 4 chassis bolts were bent at install and one broke off upon removal. Replaced those with some heavy duty US construction screws - problem solved. Switches on back panel are cheapo and you need a tool to change positions, a footswitchable loop would have been nice in place of the manual switch on the back, custom/normal eq switch doesn't seem to do anything? Some of the circuitry components aren't the best quality parts possible, but it'll be an easy cheap upgrade to do. But all that stuff seems minor when I turn it on and play. I'm getting great tones! I'm happy, especially at this price point!

Played it with a variety of speakers I have here: JBL D-130F, Weber alnico California, Weber P12N, Weber blue pup & silver bell, Celestion blues. Liked it best with the Weber P12N's and of course the Celestion blues. Getting great tones from rock overdrive to blues to clean. Nice chime. Really enjoying this amp!

Remains to be seen. I take care of my gear though. I don't think it's built as robustly as it could be, and probably wouldn't put up with much abusive handling.

Emailed Vox for a schematic but got the stock "not available" brush-off answer. Grrrr! Servicing/upgrading one could be an issue for some folks.
I'm not about to drive 100 miles for "authorized" service here. I just think a schematic should be standard fare. All my Fenders came with them!

Gave it a 9 just because it sounds so good! I've been a musician for 30+ years and took up guitar about 8 years ago. Since then I've owned about 25 amps and at least as many guitars. Most of them cost a lot more than this! Tone was what I wanted and it's what I got. If that's what's most important to you, and you don't get a first-run lemon, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

AC30CC Head, made this year,2005.... New model from the China factory.
I used to own the Korg AC30, two years ago I sold it because of concerns about the PCB construction... so I went into the hand wired boutique world...buying several and always wanting the expensive "Clones" to sound like the AC30 I used to have... Now I am back with more features than I am used to...

I have had so many amps since the 1960's when I started playing that it is hard to remember them all... Many, many handwired tube amps, not to mention the ones I used and didn't own... The AC30CC is one of the best amps I have ever had the pleasure of playing thru! I got the matching 2x12 cabinet with Wharfedale speakers which I think sounded great....alot like the Celestion G12H-30....but I have two vintage VOX AlNiCo Blues that I got out of a 1960's VOX cabinet and put them in... Very Awesome! Plug in my Tele, hit the power switch and I feel like I've called a "Legion of trumpet playing Angels" at my fingertips...
That is with the stock tubes....
Also great with pedals!!!

Still concerned about the PCB and being one of the first to own the "New Model" AC30CC head.... Are we, the new owners, Guinea Pigs for the reliability? So far so Good!
Maybe the guy posting right below me about his with the low ratings had bad tubes or a fluke somewhere! It happens....

But that price I would get another one....AND MIGHT!

At this point way to early, thank goodness, to need customer support for anything...

I have to give this head and cabinet a high rating because it is everything and more that my Korg AC30 ever was, which I really missed after I sold it.... I have felt like a dog chasing its tail with the boutique stuff I went thru in the last couple of years, just to get back to a VOX AC30 sound....

The amp has a lot of features. You can patch the Treble Boost and Normal Channel together, change the eq from a tone stack to a more marshallesque eq with the bass and treble functions. The ideas are good on the amp. But What good are the features if they sound like crap! But I have to say the amp is supposed to be versatile. But I cannot with clear conscience say that it sounds as versatile as the features that are on the amp. So a five is fair in this regard.

I am using a Gibson SG Standard with Seymour Duncan Phat Cat P-90's and Pete Cornish G-2, Pete Cornish Battery Wah, Fulltone Deja Vibe, and some other cool stuff. My musical style is based off of classic rock so this should be the perfect amp for me. Unfortunately this is the biggest disappointment of an amp I have experienced in my life. I was really wanting to love this amp because I've had a really good experience with my Vox AC30 2000 Reissue that I feel sounds very excellent, it just had some "Ghost Note" issues that Pete Cornish told me was due to the Power Supply not being adequate. I thought it was annoying enough to sell it and buy into the new Vox AC30 CC and chose to get the 2X12 Celestion Blue Alnico's to compliment the Head. The cabinet sounds incredible with other heads. But now onto the Vox AC30 CC Head.

The Vox AC30 CC Head is Garbage!!! I got it in and the footswitch didn't work for the Reverb side. The Tremolo side worked fine but didn't sound as good as my 65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue tremolo. But I didn't buy the amp for tremolo, I wanted that Vox AC30 overdrive like my Korg Reissue w/o the "Ghost Notes" This amp had "Ghost Notes" on the treble pickup at a low volume of about 4. For me to get any resemblance of a good overdrive sound I had to turn the Master Volume all the way up and turn the Volume to about 3/4 of the way up and it still sounded like a stompbox style overdrive. It was as uninspiring as Star Search! I tried the Normal Channel and it sounded pretty dead with the brilliance switch on but brighter with the switch off of brilliance. The switch jack was put in exactly 180 degrees of where it was supposed to be. So the Quality Assurance at the NEW CHINESE FACTORY is not very good. The patching link switch was a very good idea, but when you stack crap on crap it sounds like even more crap. What surprised me most about this amp was the lack of highs even with the Blue Alnico Speakers. The Master Volume is TERRIBLE!!!!!! It's unusable!!! It sounds flat and like you were using a Marshall Power Brake which are very terrible in their own right.

Now on to the cleans, not chimey by any stretch. I must say it almost sounds solid state. I don't know what they put in this amp but it is seriously lacking Edge!!! I am thoroughly disappointed in the sound of this amp.

This is at very best an unusable amplifier due to the "Ghost Notes" at moderate volumes. This should be enough to keep anyone from wasting their money on one. And if that is not enough then the Quality Assurance should be enough. Mine came with a broken switch on the footswitch.

The amp looks cool though! If you want to look cool and don't care about using an amp void of tone this the amp for you!

I wouldn't trust the reliability of the amp even if it sounded good. The switches are cheap and a little loosey goosey. The power supply on these things are definately not adequate enough to rely on them enough to record with. All you solos would sound partially in and out of key/tune. Mine came out of the box not working properly.

What's the point!? It's obviously a poorly designed and poorly put together. Nothing for Customer support to do but apologize.

Well the amp doesn't sound good, it doesn't work properly, and is a waste of time and money. I've owned and performed with Germino's, Dr Z's, Fender Deluxe Reverbs, and Vox AC30 Reissues. All were toneful and musically rich amps and obviously on a whole other level than this amp. Vox has decided to compare this amp with boutique amps, I'm afraid alot of people will be as disappointed as me. I just wanted a Vox AC30. Vox if your reading this review PEEEEEAAAAASSSSE make a real AC30 again! I love them, but this is seriously a crappy amp! You've cut too many corner with this one! I am now in the process of returning it and will be finding another amp to buy in place of it.

2005 Vox AC30 custom classic head. Just pulled it out of the box tonight (UPS thankfully didn't destroy it as I know they are capable of...) The first review clearly states ALL of the features per the vox website, so I don't really need to go there. I've gotta say that this is one of the most cleanly and logically laid out amps I've ever played. Very easy to get familiar and comfortable with. Under the hood its got Electro-Harmonix el84's stock (which are pretty good el84's--are you listening MESA/Boogie...) and a sovtek GZ34. I couldn't see the preamp tubes from the vents or the front--yes the grill on the front is partially open to let air get around those tubes! Yay!! Build quality seems very solid--its heavy for a head. North coast music has pictures of the chassis and internal pc boards:
(http://www.voxshowroom.com/northcoast/vox/new_amps/insidestory.html)
Footswitch for reverb/tremolo is a little on the lite side but I'm not real hard on most of my gear. Normal channel with "brilliance" switch uses no eq, only the global "cut" control. Topboost channel with input link to use the normal and topboost channels simultaneously. Topboost channel uses bass and treble and the eq standard/custom switch. Reverb with tone, dwell and a hi/lo drive switch. Tremolo with fully variable rate and depth. Global "cut" and master which I've heard was a Post phase inverter which means that when its all the way up its out of the circuit--very nice. For an amp thats based off of an incredibly simple circuit it has a lot of useful features.

I'm using a fender tele thinline with the wide range humbuckers, a fender standard tele with vintage noiseless pickups and a gibson les paul standard with some sort of PAF in the bridge. I have never owned a vox before this and had never even played this particular model before I bought it. I knew I liked the sound of the AC30 and decided I'd put vox to the test since they have said that this is basically every ac30 ever made and more. I use pedals (keeley modded ts7, boss blues driver, superoverdrive and rat) and wanted to get an amp with a great clean tone to really make my pedals shine. I am running this head through a marshall 4x12 w/vintage 30's and a mesa 3/4 back 1x12 with the stock celestion 90. Through the 4x12 this amp just rocks. The clean tones are perfect for effects or just perfect all by themselves. I was playing for awile with my pedals untill I remembered that this thing has a master. Down went the master and up went the channel volumes. Wow--this thing does a great ac/dc type drive all by itself. Just rips, really snarly with lots of attitude. Something I noticed is that when you're really pushing a clean setting hard, it starts to break up but in the best way I've heard and I think it has to do with the absence of negative feedback. Fenders and Mesa's are clean, Clean, CLEAN and then all the sudden distorted where as the vox will distort if you strum hard but then set back down once your attack wears off a bit and it blends well with other distortion effects going into it. Amazing. I'm not used to amps that can do this. Usually I've looked for amps with a loud clean channel that can stay clean up untill a high volume but then once its to the point where it distorts its no longer usable for pedals. This amp can stay clean at pretty high volumes but once it starts to break up it just gets better. Really cool. The lo-power setting sounds good as does the modern voiceing setting--makes it a little tighter for when you're using the amps preamp distortion. The difference between the standard and custom eq options is subtle but it is there. It makes the controls much less interactive and more independant. Through my 1x12 cab it can get a great glassy blues tone and more airy clean sounds--real sweet. The reverb is not as deep as a fender but who needs that much? Sounds very musical. The tremolo sounds nice. Doesn't get insanely fast but I think I can find a use for it. Vox really didn't waste any features or controls--they all do something cool and useful.

Well, like I said I just got it. I have heard the vox horror stories but I also know somethings about where those problems came from--either bad rectifier tubes or overheated pc boards. Well, the powertube sockets are mounted to the chassis this time around and the stock rectifier is not too shabby. I will probably replace with a jj rectifier in the future though. Well, I'm gonna gig with it tommorow night so we'll see how things go eh...

Never dealt with them... Warranty is 1 year I believe.

I think its a great amp and certainly a great value. This amp gives alot of chowder for the clams. I can't think of anything that should be different.

2005 Custom Classic Vox tube head made in China with more features then you can shake a stick at. I play power pop and alternative rock music. I have been using this amp at home, at rehearsal and on tape for the last week and a half. It has pretty much all the features that I wished an ac30 would have as listed below. Plenty of power and switchable form 33 to 22 watts at the flip of a knob, as well as a useful master volume.

I will list the features as stated on their website: http://www.voxamps.co.uk/products/ac30/ac_30cc.htm.
With twin inputs (high and Low) and a Master Volume circuit, these amps offer highly interactive Bass and Treble tone controls, as well as the VOX Tone Cut control (which varies the presence in the power amp section) for even greater tonal variety. Included is Classic Tremolo with variable Depth control and a tube-driven Accutronics reverb with Level and Tone controls as well as a Dwell switch.Not only does the AC30 Custom Classic include two channels, it also offers the ability to blend those channels together (a first for the AC30!). The Top Boost Channel serves up that classic AC30 tone, while our new expanded Normal Channel now offers two modes, Normal and Bright, which allow you to achieve the sounds of an assortment of vintage AC30s. Use the channels individually or blend them together for increased tonal flexibility to create a unique sound and feel that's all your own.The AC30 Custom Classic is fully equipped with well thought out and easy to use controls. With a Custom/Normal EQ switch, Tone control and Dwell switch for the spring reverb, Master Volume, fully variable Tremolo on all channels and a true bypass Effects Loop! It has a switchable cathode resistor that lowers power output and increases tube life. The Custom Classic comes with standard controls like Treble, Bass, Tone, Volume, Standby and more.

AC30 Custom Classic Specifications:

* Front panel controls: Inputs x 2 (Top Boost & Normal);
* Input Link Switch for blending channels;
* Normal Volume;
* Brilliance Switch;
* Top Boost Volume;
* Treble;
* EQ Standard/Custom Switch;
* Bass; Reverb Controls (Tone, Mix, Dwell Switch);
* Tremolo Speed & Depth;
* Tone Cut;
* Master Volume;
* Standby Switch;
* Power Switch

Rear panel controls:

* Loudspeaker output jack x 2 (Extension & External);
* Output (O/P) Impedance Select (8 or 16 Ohm);
* Output Bias (82 "Warm" or 50 "Hot");
* Smoothing (22uF "Vintage" or 44uF "Modern");
* FX Loop (Send, Return and Bypass Switch);
* Footswitch Jack (Tremolo and Reverb);
* HT Fuse;
* Mains Input;
* Mains Fuse;

I use mainly ASATS, and other single coil guitars (rickys and a dearmond as well as LP copy).The amp suits my style perfectly, I have found that the classic vox tone is what suits my style best. The amp is very quiet for a cathode biased amp. It does all the classic vox sounds you wished you could get from an ac30. It has a normal channel for those darker tones and with the flip of a switch you get the brilliant channel of a non tb ac30. Plug into the tb channel ans you have an awesome sounding Vox tob boost amp. With the flip of the link switch you can use the top boost vox at the same time as the normal channel and for the first time you can listen to a brilliant non tb vox with a tb vox sound. The tones are awesome - if you like Byrds, here you have it. Enjoy early Beatle tones - this is your amp. Do you have a craving for Tom Petty or REM jangle - this is your amp. Do you want classic rock crunch like Zep - crank up the volume and turn down the MV and you're there. Use a Rangemaster and now you're into Brian May territory. This amp covers all the ac30 grounds and does so brilliantly. I have now A/B'd this amp with the HW Vox series, and a host of "boutique" amps. The CC hangs in there and in most cases I preferred its sounds to the boutiques. It has all the chime of any Vox I've heard with the ability to turn the volume down to bedroom levels. This amp nails and in some cases surpasses the sound of any Vox I have ever owned including the HW, the Korg UK ones, Rose Morris era, Vox product era and JMI. Through a set of old bulldogs you are right there in JMI territory. The reverb is the 2nd best I have heard in a Vox with the best having been in an HW series. The trem is nice but not capable of the same depth and speed of the HW series, though it is variable so that puts it above most previous incarnations of the AC30. This amp is amongst best sounding Voxes I have heard and easily competes with the other higher end offerings I have owned or own and that list includes Matchless, Bad Cat, Top Hat, Valvetech, Dr. Z etc. It is a real winner.

I would never gig without a back up but with all the simulator boxes out there (tonelab, pod) it is easy to have a portable back up these days. It is too early to comment on reliability, time will tell as with any new product. It is PCB construction with several PCB boards connected by ribbon cables a very common modern amp construction technique. The inputs are soldered onto a seperate and small PCB board as are the knobs. It hasn't misbehaved on me yet and I've put in about 40 hours already - knock on wood. All the speculation in the world will not reveal how this will pan out so I cannot give a rating here.

Customer support on these new products is in early days. All I know is that anyone who has ever contacted Vox personally, especially the higher ups, has received stellar service. I have never had to be one of those people yet so I cannot fairly rate this yet. If I ever have to I will be sure to come on this site again and enter a rating. I will say this, the designer of the amp Mr. Steve Grindrod as well as Mitch Colby are unafraid to haunt and post on the various vox boards out there and are always helpful and forthcoming on any matters. If their support is as good as this, it bodes well for Vox customers.

Here we go, the list of things that HC wants you to write at this stage of the review: been playing for 20 years, and I currently have a Vox HW head, a Valvetech Hayseed 30, a Top Hat King Royale, and the CC. The CC sounds as good or better than any of these. I have previously had Matchless DC30's, Bad Cats, Alessandros, etc etc etc you get it - I have heard the best constructed amps on the planet as have many of us. The CC sounds as good as any of them. Many would prefer these boutiques over any Vox, but if you are looking for a Vox tone that sounds as good as any of the best Voxes recorded in rock history look no further because the CC is for you. I love everything about the CC except for the trem which I like - for the price you cannot do better and for triple the price you will not get a better sounding Vox type of tone - you may get a Vox inspired tone you prefer, like some may prefer a DC30 - but it has way more midrange and aggression than most Voxes I have heard - it is filtered so differently than a Vox - if you like that sound then get a Matchless, but the CC out Voxes a Matchless or Badcat or "insert boutique Vox inspired amp here". If a great sounding Vox AC30 is what you seek, the CC is for you - and for the price this is a no brainer. It is the first Vox that makes fabulous tone available to the masses. Vox lovers rejoice!!