Vox AC30CC2 212 Combo

Mine is a 2005 AC30 CC2 with the cheapo wharfdale speakers, which i dont notice really as my rig is this:

Epi Dot with hot Alnico OR '72 Custom Telecaster reissue>> Boss TU2>>Boss Compressor, cant recall the model number off hand>> Boss SD2>> Digitech Bad Monkey>> Boss FL2 Flanger.

All of them running at once kinda negates the need for the ??400 extra speakers, plus, I cant even anywhere near afford it!

That all said, the tone is great when you are running a clean or slightly ovedriven channel, and a sustained sound will go on forever. Shame i dont really play classic rock, as this is one of its great features - the sustain and tone of sustained notes.
The effects loop dosnt really do as promised when they say you can retain the clean sound and re-loop the channel. I also find the break up is more satisfying when you run everything in sequence.

I find the best way to set up the sound you want is to set up for example, the crunch sound straight out the book, and as it heats up the sound can be tweaked. It will get warmer the longer you have it on and play it, so i tend to have it on standby for at least 30 mins before i start bashing anything out.

For me, the fact you cant footswitch really, really sucks, so thats why i have to run two overdrive pedals now, which isnt ideal, but still sounds good: very full and warm when you pelt it, but sharp and trebly when you want it to be.

Hmmm. Yes, they sound great and will do hard rock really well, the tube break up and overdrive right through to a crunchy/sligtly flangy sound are all great, but the faint buzz that develops slowly to a buzz/hum after 3 hours of so is really annoying, and does, as other people have said, ruin recording.

I actually prefer the tubey overdrive sound of a fender hotrod, and will be damned if i replicate anything close it on the Vox. That isnt really a critisism though, thats just a preference.

I must say it handles effects really well, especially if youhave load sof flanging going on. I think the fact i have to run a tube overdrive simulator to get the level of tube overdrive i want from the supposed king of tube amps says everything about the range of overdrive avaliable in the stock item.

Maybe if it had a built in OD channel like the Fender i wouldnt complain. Duh.

Overall I really like the sound, but it isnt the holy grail of amps like some people say it is. They tend to be the people who will play nothing exept a '62 Strat in red. I have no problem with those people, but they sometimes speak as though they have some valuable aural insight the rest of us cant hear. Sorry, but its rarely true; they just have the money to spend on 62 Strats. :o)

I have had no problems exept the humming, and it gets lugged about a LOT, so i guess it is quite relaible. I am only a hobbyist musician though, so if it were getting hauled here there and everywhere for months ion end, i dunno if it could physically take it. I have ha the back off, and i do agree with some users here the interior looks a little bit shabby. loads of sharp edges on the flimsy chassis, and soldering in the speakers is just dumb. The wierd thing is its seems like that would make their job MORE difficult in assembly.
Plus, and i speak as a design engineer here, things that are that heavy sound really have a strong enough bodywork to be put down under their own bodyweight. Mine creaks a bit, and I think it could do with some bracing inside.

No idea

As i said, i have

Epi Dot with hot Alnico OR '72 Custom Telecaster reissue>> Boss TU2>>Boss Compressor, cant recall the model number off hand>> Boss SD2>> Digitech Bad Monkey>> Boss FL2 Flanger.

and it works great in that set up. Good cables are a must of trust me it will buzz like hell, but especially on the humbuckers it sounds warm, snappy and has a great overdriven tone that is almost as good as i any i have ever achieved.

I think to be honest, like many buyers, i was buying into the heritage, but it has still done me proud. However, if you asked me if i would egt another one, i would say no: I would get a Hot Rod deluxe or twin reverb instead. I think the HRD is a great, versatile not to mention twin-channel amp, adn teh twin reverb beats the Vox hands down.

I have a Vox/Marshall/Korg 1994 reissue from 1963 made in England with Blue Celestion speakers.It has 6 channels and isloud as heck. Not something you want to open wide open in an apartment building.

Beautiful clean sound and you do not have to open it up wide open to enjoy it. Sounds best with Humbuckers but also really crtstal clear with a 57 reissue Strat/

Blew a fuse once. Makes a "Hiss" noise when you ramp it up however, it dissapears after about 1 hour for some reason.

Dont know.

Its not comparable to my 1968 Fender Black-face twin reverb. Other than that amp I have not heard anything relatively made in the last decade any better sounding as far as pure and clean than this 1994 Made in England Vox AC-30/TB6

features have been covered pretty well:
-normal channel w/brilliance switch
-top boost w/treble, bass and custom/standard switch for eq
-tremolo
-reverb w/tone/mix/drive settings
-tone cut
-master volume
-bias (vintage or modern)
-output (22 or 33 watts)

this amp is tremendously versitile. as a studio and live player i have to cover a wide range of styles. it doesn't do the extremes (twin clean or mesa distortion) but it gets a wide middle ground. once i set the options in the back i never touched 'em. i believe i have it set on "hot" and "modern" (i read this was the setting to get it closest to class A operation...which, by the way, this amp is not purely class A).

i don't use the fx loop. mainly because there isn't a footswitch for it...and because i don't want to run another set of cables out to my amp and back.

i use this amp live and in the studio. PLENTY OF POWER. i can think of no conceivable venue where it would be underpowered (except for an arena where the main PA went out; but then you're dealing with a few more problems, eh?).

i bought mine in july of 2006 so it's probably got the upgraded tubes (as i've had zero probs with it).

i upgraded the speakers recently to emminence red fangs. they are the reverse-engineered versions of the celestion blues. sound fantastic and are MUCH cheaper than the blues. they turned out to be 16 ohm speakers, but a simple rewire and a flick of a switch in the back of the VOX made it very easy to run them.

i keep the tboost and normal channels at a bit less than 9 o'clock. i just notice it breaking up a bit too early after that. to be honest, i'd like some more range of headroom on those channels. i do run them linked by the way.

i use a fender american standard tele, a '72 tele deluxe w/humbuckers and a gretsch electromatic hollowbody. they all sound extremely different, but i really like them all through the VOX. i can draw up a really broad pallate of tones with those three guitars.

i play mostly technical rock. ie radiohead, the album leaf, sigur ros. i need something with clarity and bite but to remain organic. the AC30 runs parallel to my Twin Reverb. between the two of those i'm covered for sounds.

i thought i was going crazy and that there was a grounding issue with my amp. turns out it was in my tele deluxe. after hearing all of the freak outs with problems i probably wouldn't gig without a backup. but since i run this and my twin at the same time i don't really have that problem. my "backup" is always going.

i've been playing professionally for 13 years. i own more gear than i'd like to share. if this amp were lost or stolen i'd get it again in a heartbeat. with my artist deal at GC it's really worth it. at full price? hmmm...still worth it i think.

i have a ton of pedals: fd2, blackbox cobalt, interstellar overdriver supreme, barge concepts bp-1, dl4, mm4, etc. they all sound great through this amp.

New update on an old classic. 2 channels (linkable,) high low tone, reverb, tremolo, fx loop, not much else to worry about. 30 watts, but plenty of volume for small to medium clubs. any larger venues would mic up any amp anyways, so it can be used for pretty much any venue.

Classic rock tone, with that high end Vox jangle that cant be replicated with any other amp or simulator. Doesn't do the scooped mids or metal type tones... if you want that sound, get something like a mesa dual rec... If you want that classic rock, very identifiable sound with great tone, get this amp.

no issues as of yet....

haven't dealt with them

been playing for 15 years, and this is by far the best amp I've ever owned, and one of the best I've ever played...

My Vox was made in 2006, it is the latest version w/ Vox custom speakers, not the Blues. I guess if you??re reading this, you already know all the features from the manufacturer??s website, but let me point out my favourite one - it has only a few knobs, so instead of tweaking around you can make music :-) One thing I hate - it is VERY heavy. I wish it had two roadies attached. But it??s the tax you must pay for the outstanding sound quality. Plus you can fry eggs on top of the metal panel :-))) Oh, and one more favourite : the LINK button. Via this you can run both channels at once - beautiful ballance between sweet and bright. Great looks, too, it looks like a luxurious travel case from the old days....

This is where this AC30CC2 really shines. I play mainly jazz and fusion, but sometimes it??s time to rock, or to do some reaggae stuff as well. So versatility is the key word for me. No amp ever came close to my expectations in terms of versatility and MUSICAL sound in one package. Vox is the first. This thing is not an amp, this is a natural part of your musical instrument. I think this is the reason why Vox is so popular.
Normal channel - this is the most natural sounding clean I have ever heard. I use a Yamaha SA 2200 semiacoustic (btw. excellent 335 type guitar - Gibson should learn how to build a great guitar for normal price, but it is another story... :-)) with .12 flatwounds for the jazz stuff through this channel, and it is simply beautifull. You feel like you play an accoustic instrument - no awfull highs or lacking mids, everything sounds so natural. I have studied classical clarinet, and let me tell you that there is not better feeling than when your instrument creates the final tone itself, only with the help of a good room. And Vox is the point - you nearly forget you play trough an amp, it is SO natural. Incredible. If you are afraid 30 Watts cannot provide enough clean headroom for playing jazz, don??t be. It is so loud that I??ve never had the master full up even with a very loud drummer. Another thing to die for is the breakup of this amp, no matter if it is on Normal or Top Boost channel. It is very gradual and sometimes when you play single note lines, you will not even recognize that your sound is already overdriven. It still retains that beautifull clean character, just with more balls. This is something that you simply cannot do with a Fender or Mesa stuff. Try to overdrive the clean channel on, let??s say, Fender HR DeLuxe - it is awfull, absolutelly unusable either for single lines or for chords. As you turn the volume knobs clockwise, you are entering into the blues teritorry, but again, don??t expect anything raw - the Vox just sings and when you play slightly driven chords, you can clearly hear each note even when you play some crazy altered stuff. All the knobs are very intuitive and naturally working just like you would expect, except you must get used that they are all upside down :-))))) For most styles you won??t need a pedal, but when it??s time to rock, I use a ProCo Rat and it seems to be a good partner for the Vox - again, singing like an accoustic instrument should sing. For the distorted stuff I use my 2000 GL Comanche, as well as for the funky/reaggae comping. This amp can handle it all in its own NATURAL way. I??ve never tried the Blue Alnico version, as it is outrageously expensive, and this amp has everything I was looking for - it stays MUSICAL in any situation. Great thing. Period.

Lots of people here are complaining about different problems, either with bad tubes or poor build quality. I agree that stock tubes are bad. They need to be replaced ASAP. But it should be no problem, every experienced tech will do this for you. Build quality is questionable. I think it is as good as e.g. Fender HR series, and when you are not going to drop it from the fourth stock everytime you make a mistake during practicing a diminished scale, it should last. I have it for five months, and so far no problem. This amp is running VERY hot (did I mention frying eggs :-))))), so you must be prepared it will eat the tubes in dozens.....again, this is the tax for the unique sound it produces.

Never dealt with them.

I have been playing for 16 years and now I am a full time pro. I??m recording and gigging a lot, lots of different music from jazz to rock. My babies are a blueburst 2000 GL Comanche (great sounding guitar for nearly everything except jazz), and a violin sunburst Yamaha SA2200 semiaccousic 335-type guitar (very versatile, but I use it primarilly for jazz, therefore the .12 flatwounds on it). The Vox can handle everything maybe except heavy metal (it has "only" 2 speakers and too much musical mids to sound like a chainsaw :-)). As I have said before - it??s more a musical instrument than just an amp, so if you are serious about tone, you should check it out...

Baught Tha amp just over a week ago so this is just a quick review, i'll do a more detailed review when im a little more used to the amp.

First impresions are that this amp is heavy... Damn heavy, moving this baby around is definately a 2 man job. 2nd impresion is just pure aww at the tone and warm sound this amp gives, ive been playing for about 7 years and experimented with many amps (marshal, line 6, orange just to name a few) and for the money id say this amp beats them all. The only real downside to the amp is the stupid chasis design which makes changing/ acsesing the tubes a nightmare (i plan to install some speaker cable clips) and the cheap tubes used on the preamp (i replaced these and this reduced hum from the amp).

I play in an indie rock band (a loud one) the amp cuts through on the high end solos and gives a clear (none muddy) bass, only used the amp once at practice but its plenty loud (had the amp set to just over a quater volume)
My main guitar is a fender USA strat (fitted with a seymour duncan humbucker (bridge) and fender noisless single coil in the neck and mid positions) i also use a few boss stomp boxes for distortion) it takes pedals realy well and gives a great vintage rock soud. The built in reverb is good, however the trem could be a little weak if you like it verry pronounced.

Seems solid as a rock to me, not had it long enough to say yet tho.

never dealt with them

I love this amp. kick ass tone, volume, looks... just too heavy!

Made in 2005, have had this amp for a year. You know what this amp is about.....

I love the tone of this amp, it's perfect for what I play. I play bluesy rock stuff with a variety of guitars, fender strat and tele, gibson les paul, es 335, gibson sg, es 135. This amp can give you a nice sparkly clean sound at low settings and is rich with tone and overdrive when cranked. Normal channel only has volume control and a mid cut if you like but with the right touch it sounds excellent. Top boost side has treble, bass, and volume and also the mid cut, still sounds great classic vox tone. If you don't know what that is don't buy this amp, have your parents get you one of those marshall amps with all the digital shit built in!

This is about as dependable as any other amp i've owned. This amp gets played about 15-35 hours a week, I have played out without a backup but that's because the backup was being worked on. I don't care what amp you have you always need a backup!! I had to replace the rectifier tube about 2 months ago, turned out one of the power tubes was bad as well, replaced all tubes while I was in there, if you're going to do it replace all 30 screws you'll be taking out and put quick disconnects on the speaker leads, believe me next time you wont need as many beers.

Only asked "vox" a question one time, they sent me to Korg USA so from now on that's who I'll talk to.

I've been playing for 9 years and have owned tube and solid state fender amps mostly, if I lost this amp I would shoot myself and if it were stolen I'd look for the guy with the back problems. I would probably buy another, I love the tone of this amp and the fact that it weighs nearly 80 pounds. The only thing I would change on this amp is where the tubes are mounted, biggest pain in the ass ever changing a tube on this amp, I wish it had 2 more inputs!!

Typical VOX AC30CC, made in 2005....numerous reviews on this in other reviews.

The sound on this thing is amazing. I fell in love with it from the start, I wish the quality wasn't so horrible.

CANNOT DEPEND ON IT! This is my 3rd AC30 in the past year, all from GC. The first one lasted a few weeks, the 2nd one a month or so and the 3rd one about 5 months. They all eventually started having tube problems. I do gig a lot and don't baby the amp but it is kept in a great "Rock Hard" roadcase and isn't thrown around. You can read in other reviews how difficult it is to change the tubes...not to mention you void the warranty.

Features are pretty good. You can blend the normal and top boost channels together or run seperate, you can choose a few different reverb settings, low or high dwell. There's tremolo that I think works great .Master volume and cut control. So there is more than the older AC30'S HAD to offer in this department .On the back of the amp there is more .Efect's loop(haven't used yet)also output bias hot and warm and a smoothing control, vintage and modern. So again lots more features than older ones.

I use Tele's or strats with this amp. With the channel about 1:00 and master at around 3 or 4 you get into the Brad Paisely country territory..crank the top boost channel higher and it does the Brian May thing pretty good.I am pretty happy over all with the sound, Classic Vox Chime..but never have played on an older one to compare .It can get loud as hell but you can cut the wattage back to about 22watts with the output bias feature .

Ok here we go !!Like alot of folks out there I grew up with the Beatles and dreamed of having one of those beautiful Vox amps for my own, I even cut out pictures from magazines and stuck them on my wall! But like a lot of other players just coudn't afford one.Then the Custom Classics came out a few years ago I was going to run out and get one but the reliability issues I kept hearing about made me want to wait a while till they were ironed out.Then recently I started reading some reviews saying the porblems had been addressed.Well I figured any company worth there salt would have delt with this in 2 years !...Here is what happened...I went down to Long &Mcquade here in Calgary and picked up my beautiful new still in the box AC30. I CAREFULLY Put it the back seat of my car and rushed home to try it out cause I had a gig 2 hours out of town that evening . Got home CAREFULLY took it out and plugged in..sounded great.Put the cover I bought for it on and CAREFULLY put it back in my car and left for the gig.Got there and CAREFULLY put it on stage,did not bump or bang it once while doing all this. It looked great up there a dream come true ,So I thought!..THEN THE NIGHMARE BEGAIN !..second song , first set the top boost channel paced it in.....I just thought DOHHHHHH! Geeeez it didn't even make it through 2 bloody songs and I just babied the thing !....Well I was able to get a usable sound out of the normal channel, then the tone controls didn't work , I flicked every switch,turned every knob tried every input nothing .Fortunatley the cut contol gave me a little bit of tone to work with and I was able to finnish the gig. But damn you think for $1100.00 an amp would last more than 2 songs !...Shame on you VOX for still not giving a rats ass about fixing the problems.

I brought it back and they were great about it Because I'm a long time customer and probably could have bought a house with the all the stuff I've purchased there. They tried it and sure enough all the above problems still remained .So they have given me another one and so far it works and sounds great but I've just played it at home so far.I'm almost afraid to gig with it.

I have been Gigging for more than 40 years at most levels of the biz ecept the super star one !I have played through just about every make of amp there is at one time or another and this has never happened before even with some fender, Peavy and Mesa boogie amps that were 20 or more years old..Just tube issues occasionally .Again I can't believe a company would let this go on even if it ment flying out to Shanghi or where ever these are made and seeing what the heck is going on, kicking somebodys butt if nacesary.But it does sound good to ears anyway..So I guess what I have to do now is bring one of my other amps with me and set it up beside the Vox with an AB switch to kick in if it dies again in mid song .Again for the money I should be able to trust it and keep the back-up in the trunk !...Is there anyone out there who does use one of these with confidence on a regular basis ?I will feel pretty nervous using this on the next gig and it is a pain to carry and set up 2 heavy amps....I'm old !!..Please e-mail if some of these actually work...for more than 2 songs !! I'm giving it a 6 only cause it does sound great.

I won't list all the features as you can look them up on the Vox website or previous reviews.

Mine is the AC30CC2 with Wharfdale speakers.

Basically, this is a vintage style amp will all the modern trimmings. Effect loop is nice, variable output (22W and 33W) is very useful, 2 different channels, bright switch. Really a full featured amp!

I suppose a channel switching feature on the footswitch would have been nice, but I am not complaining. In 22W the power amp breaks up nicely at non-insane volumes, and the 33W mode gives plenty more headroom. This amp is certainly loud enough to compete with the rest of the band (provided it isn't a metal band).

Ok, I am going to give a 9/10 here, but I am going to be critical where needed.

My rig is a Gibson SG or Fender Telecaster > Crybaby Wah > Guyatone Compressor > Digitech Bad Monkey > Proco Rat > Boss CH-1 > AC30

Clean this amp is very nice, as you would expect. The Top Boost channel is bright and chimey, and the normal channel voiced darker. I usually link the channels and keep the bright switch off. The sound is delicate and complex.

Turning up the volume, you get great grinding overdrive. Still sweet and chimey, but dirty.

Overall, I think this amp is great, but unfortunately it only gives you one kind of overdrive sound, and frankly it is fairly low gain. You are never going to be able to do punk, grunge, hard rock with this amp by itself. Luckily, this amp likes pedals, and you can flavour your distortion that way. BTW, do yourself a favour and try the Digitech Bad Monkey OD - I swear you'd think that pedal was made for this amp. Tubescreamers will not work well with this amp, however, because thep excentuate the mids, which are already quite strong.

Also, note that dialing in "your tone" is quite a bitch. The controls on this amp are VERY responsive, which is good in a way, but also makes the amp very tempermental to any changes is settings. It took me 5 days to get it where I like it exactly.

Reliability is a known issue with this amp. I have only had this amp for 8 days, so I cannot comment with total certainty, but so far so good. It looks to be built fairly solid and has handles jolts and shakes thus far.

My understanding is that known issues (bad tubes, short speaker cables, shoddy contruction) have been dealt by Vox, and any new AC30CC should be 'less likely' to be a lemon.

I guess I would advise you to buy one from a dependable dealer who will stand by their sale, and help you if it craps out on you after a month.

1 Year warranty is actually kind of lame. Is that how it goes for all tube amps?

I have not dealt with Vox, but I hear that they are responsive to communications.

Marks off for weak warranty.

I have been playing for 6 years now. I traded up from a Marshall AVT100 amp.

If it were stolen I might buy it again, but to be honest I might also shop around more.

Overall a great deal on a great amp. Awesome for Blues, British Invasion Rock, Pop, Rock, etc. With some pedals it can do anything except Uber Metal.

I give it an 8 overall. I like the amp and the price was right, but I wasn't completely blown away and the reliability news scares me a bit.