Vox AC30CC2 212 Combo

It's got a killer Tremolo....beats f.ex Fender Twin Reverb. Reverb was lousy so I changed to Accutronics unit. Not the most awesome reverb still. The lack of more tone-control is a bugger. Been using a Boss Equalizer to get what I want in sound. But it feels like an overkill to hustle with that. The footswtich is rugged and nice. Not like the one that comes with a Fender TRRI - that's a joke. The Insert loop on mine had a bug where when it was activated lost power and some bottom. But I changed a cap inside of it. Realised later that running straight in serial into amp and skip the loop didn't change anything.

Well it's british. It can get scrary screaming loud and with a tendency to be a chainsaw in your ear unless you keep her tamed on the top tones or change some capacitors. I swapped the Wharfies into Celestion Blue and found them to somewhat more pleasing to listen to.Theres no noise from it like those Fender amps that has a got deal more hiss to them. The 15w Alnico Blues lost some headroom though. Consider the Celestion Gold if you swap them.

If you look on the internet you'll find a bunch of owners that really dig into improvements to this amp. Changing a lot of components and chasing that vintage 60'ies sound. I just got me a Fender Twin Reverb also - and hey..that amp is just something you turn on and then go play. Seems like the AC30 has this chinese production trauma where some components where just not ok to use. And I can agree on that. Too much Wall-mart different places in it. Had some issues f.ex with those plastic jack inputs.

I've had it for some years. Been hunting that countryish midtone from it. I've managed to get close after hard struggle. And I'll be damn if I didn't one day try out a Twin Reverb and INSTANTLY realized that I had been a fool trying to make a Brit Amp into a cowboy. So IF you consider getting an AC30, - PLEASE check it out in comparison a f.ex TRRI and assure yourself whether you maybe should fly a P-51 and drive a Mustang instead ;-)

This amp was made in 2008.

I got this amp, mostly to get the Stone Temple Pilots sound and it does a great job at getting that vibe. It also allowed me to discover a whole new tonal palette and range. What a pleasant surprise this amp has been in terms of tone.

This is a 2 channel amp with 2 separate inputs and lots of neat features like power filtering modes, effects loop, reverb, tremolo, blend-able channels, hot/warm bias settings, eq modes.

I use the amp mainly for blues, funk and some hard rock. It is a LOUD amplifier, even in the 22watt mode. No trouble being heard over a loud drummer with this amp.

HEAVY. At Almost 80lbs, you'll need someone to help out at gigs. I wish the amp came with a cover.

This amp is a total revelation to me in terms of tone. The only thing I'm having trouble with is getting an overdrive pedal to sound good with the amp, mostly when using the Top Boost channel (C12 mod or not). I have the preamp set pretty much at 3/4 of the way up on the TB channel. This gives a nice warm overdriven sound, perfectly suited for blues and rock and it only sounds better as the master volume is turned up.

It sounds decent at bedroom levels for practicing but this is no practice amp. Better to get an AC4, AC15 or Night Train.

I'd love to get an overdrive to sound good with this amp for soloing where more sustain is needed - I've tried a bunch of different pedals but nothing I tried really works well with it. The only thing that sounds good so far is a clean boost, setup to drive the input of the amp harder. Everyone seems to say that the Crowther hotcake is the way to go. I'll have to get one when I get some cash. I use the TB channel with the EQ set to the custom mode. This seems to give me a more vintage, greasy, thick sound. I don't like the mid cut you get with the normal mode.

The normal channel is used when I want a cleaner sound. Very warm and bright at the same time. The mids have a lot of girth to them.

regardless of the channel I'm using, I get a lot of compliments on my tone with this amp, especially when used in combination with a Marshall.

When played loud, the amp has a definite vintage vibe to it, especially with the sag that is caused by the use of the valve rectifier.

It is a noisy amp. I tried different tube in the preamp section and that helped somewhat and the tone was a little better (tigher bass with the re-issue Tung Sols and RCA 7025 in V1 combination). The valve rectifier is holding up well. I don't mind the stock EH EL-84 tubes so I'll leave 'em in there until they are done. I do have a set of backup JJ EL-84s and rectifier tube, just in case.

I'm very impressed at the quality of the cabinetry, electronics, assembly, expect for the tolex. The tolex is very fragile and the glue used to put this on must have been very weak.

Every time I plug into the amp, I just love the sound. It does need to be warm to sound good. Eventually, I'll probably get a Mercury Magnetics output transformer upgrade to get the most out of this amp. This one is definitely a keeper. Too bad it took me 25 years to discover the Vox AC30 sound.

Sometimes, I wish the bass was tighter but I guess that if it was tighter, it wouldn't be the Vox sound. The stock Wharfdale speakers are OK. They get better as they get broken in. They were really harsh at first and after a couple of loud gigs and rehearsals, they are breaking in nicely. I'm happy with them now but I might experiment with some Celestion Blues one day, when I can find $600.00 to blow of a pair of speakers.

A lot of people say that these amps can be modified ever so slightly to fall into the same tonal spectrum as the old AC30s. I believe them. This is a sweet amp. I've done the C12 mod and plan on getting the effect loop modded for more transparency. Simple and cheap procedures.

Even though the reliability rating is low, I haven't had any problems with the amp.

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I'd definitely get another AC30 if I lost this one.

I got my AC-30cc2 way back in 2005 (which, as far as this incarnation of the AC-30 is about as far back as you can go). I have the wharfdales in mine. I'm sure most people know the features by now, but to recap you get two channels, the normal channel with a volume control and a brightness switch, and then the top boost channel with volume, bass, and treble controls. Reverb, tremolo, and the master tone "cut" knob round out the features. You can also run it tighter at approximately 33 watts for more clean headroom and a tighter overall response, or run it cooler at 22 watts for earlier breakeup and a looser, warmer tone.

This thing is plenty loud. It's held it's own against JCM 800 half stacks, fender twins, etc. I will say, however, that you can't keep a perfectly clean tone at loud volumes without compensating by reducing the output of your guitar. But if you're into loud clean tones, you're probably playing a Twin, anyway.

I play a '62 Tele > Boss TU-2 > Barber LTD > Barber Direct Drive > Visual Sounds H20 Chorus and Echo > EH Small Stone Phaser > Line 6 DL4. I also occasionally play my Epi Les Paul through it plus I've used it in the studio with a number of different guitars from Les Pauls to an ES-335 and a Rickenbacker 360. Having had it for four years, I think I've got a pretty good sense of what it can and can't do. For the most part, I run the two channels blended (the top boost channel by itself is a little too bright for my single coiled tele so blending it with the darker Normal channel rolls just enough off the high end) so that I get a very light breakup when I strum hard. This is, in my eyes, the tone nirvana of this amp. The breakup is sweet and clear with just the right amount of natural compression. Chords are clear, single note lines are smooth. It's just built for this sound. This amp is a bigtime midrange pusher, too, so it does a nice job cutting through a loud live mix, where scooped or overly bassy sounds are lost. It's also extremely responsive to dynamics at this level and you can move between clean and lite crunch with a small twist of the volume knob or more force from the pick.

It also takes pedals reasonably well. Because I play with single coils, I did have to experiment with my overdrive pedals before I settled on the Barbers. My old OCD was a little too bright. The Barbers ended up working a bit better. When I play with humbuckers, though, I do open up the tone on both the LTD and the DD to bring back some of the brightness and clarity of the amp. The amp WILL NOT handle bass heavy overdrives/distortion boxes, though. At least that's been my experience. The amp is built to charm you with it's midrange bark, not shake you to your core with bass. You can achieve some very heavy tones with this amp, but they're going to be in the British vein of the 70's. Pedals will give you a little more saturation, but the overall tone is still going to be very British (but hey, we're talking a Vox with EL-84's so you shouldn't expect any more). Personally, I love this sound, but you have to be a fan of it to want this amp, otherwise you're going to be disappointed.

I agree with others that the Warfdales do seem to lose some of their clarity if you start diming the master and playing at really high volumes. I've never had to do this live as the amp is always plenty loud and rarely does the master exceed 1/2 volume, but in the studio when I've wanted to get a lot of power tube saturation I've noticed a little loss of clarity. That being said, the amp sounds great on any setting as long as the master is above 1/4. Below that, the amp is simply not being worked hard enough to be as responsive as it it is made to be. One day I may upgrade to the alnicos, but I really like the sound I have from it now and am in no hurry to do so.

My two complaints are with the trem and the reverb. The trem speed simply does not get fast enough. The reverb simply does not saturate the sound enough on the highest settings. Both sound pretty solid, but they are limited by a lack of control. I don't usually use reverb, but when I do, I use it more as an ambient effect rather than something to compliment the sound. Compared to virtually all other amps with reverb that I've played, the vox reverb simply isn't versatile enough. Same with the tremolo. Sounds great, but sometimes it would be nice to have a faster setting. Now, I didn't buy a vox for the reverb, but I did expect a little more out of the trem. For that, I'd like to give the amp a sound rating of 8.5 with 8.5 meaning it's totally worth it but it could easily be higher if more time were put into the reverb and the trem. I guess I'll round up.

I have a Vox Tonelab I cart around to use as a backup plus the other guys in my band have a backup amps that we cart around just in case because you can never be too cautious. That being said, this amp has been pretty solid. No problems for me until halfway through the amp's third year when the rectifier tube went out. That's a little early for a rectifier tube, but it's alright as the amp hasn't given me any other problems save for right before the tube went out and it starting making all kinds of noise. Of course, I figured it was a tube issue so I don't really blame the amp. My amp tech says that these amps do seem to eat tubes faster than most and is always a threat to blow a tube at any given moment (as are all tube amps, I guess). I play mine pretty regularly and gig it regularly, even a few traveling shows, so I expect that it will need tubes every 2-3 years or so. Because of this, I definitely wouldn't play without a backup close by. However, I the sound is worth it so I wouldn't switch amps, either.

I've been playing for 10+ years and now make it my living. When I bought it, it was the most amp I could afford and I'm glad I spent all my money on it. It has a great sound, is a great foundation for pedals, looks great, records well, and cuts through the mix on stage. If it were lost or stolen, I'd definitely consider it, but I also would take a hard look at the cc2x with the blues as well as the boutique amps like Dr. Z, Matchless, etc as I love this amp, but don't think it's as good as it gets. I've played through a few Dr Z's and similar amps and have definitely loved them, but never gotten a chance to play them side by side with my Vox. In the end, however, this amp is great if you already know you like the Vox sound and want a lot of amp for your money.

This is a review of a 2007 Vox AC30CC2 212 Combo without the Celestion speakers.
The features are very simple and well explained in other reviews - two channels that have different tonal voicings - not a clean and a dirty channel - reverb, tremolo and a master volume.
You wouldn't buy a Vox for its features, just its lovely tone.
30 watts, plenty, though not heaps of clean headroom if you want that sort of thing.

I use this with a Casino into a treble booster into an analogue delay into the vox.
The sound is amazing. Very harmonically rich and complex. I like to to drive the amp to a natural breakup and use the treble booster for some very musical feedback style lead guitar. I also play a lot of slide guitar with this setup and it all sounds great.

The AC30 is quite noise - 60 cycle hum - particularly using the tremolo with the P90s in the Casino. But, the tone is worth it.

When I first got the amp, I was pleased but not overwhelmed. In the short time I've had it, it has aged really well and the harmonic continue to become more complex.

The reverb was initially disappointing, but it has lost its 'boingyness' and sounds better than current Fender spring reverbs - there's just much more depth to the reverb.

I use the amp for Australian swamp rock and roll - think Scientists, Birthday Party, The Drones. With the reverb and the tremolo, it sounds perfect.

Forget ultra clean and shredding, this amp is for rock and roll. It sounds best when slightly distorted, but to scoop its mids would be a travesty.

Thus far no worries - quite an achievement considering it is occasionally transferred in the back of a wood truck with wood dust floating around everywhere

Perhaps if anything could be improved it would be a footswitch to boost the top boost channel - that would beat an overdrive pedal anyday.

Compared to AC30s of old, its features are pretty good - two channels that you can blend, reverb and tremolo. However, I find the tone controls a bit limiting (more on that below), and it is very odd that Vox didn't produce a footswitch to go between each channel/blend. I understand it is possible to get a switch to do that though. It has an effects loop, switches for different kinds of smoothing, and hot or warm running.

OK - so I bought this AC30 CC2 relatively cheaply with the intention of upgrading the speakers. The Wharfedales were fine on the lower volumes and in the relatively clean terrain - in fact really lovely sounding. But I did find things getting a bit harsh and mushy as the knobs were turned up - hence the '8' for sound quality. I put in some Celestion Alnico Blues and replaced the tubes with JJs, and the sound quality was much improved - better break up and more open sounding. I would still give it 9.5 rather than 10 though after the upgrade, because I do find the amp to be a) a bit too bright with single coils. This can be modified with a bright cap mod, which I may do at some point and b) the tone controls are not responsive enough to remedy this brightness. The tone cut for example, only has quite a subtle effect if your treble is already below half.

Reverb takes a bit of getting used to, but is basically quite nice - I like the fact that it is subtle (yet pretty flexible), since too much 'verb can mush out your sound.

However, the basic signature sound here is very very nice indeed. It really brings out the character of the guitar you are using and works great with all kinds of pickups... albeit a little bright with single coils.

Had not reliability issues so far.

Not had to deal with them yet.

Overall I know this is the amp for me, which is why I have invested heavily in it. I still wish certain things on it were better designed - changing the tubes was a bit of a hassle and the tone controls could be more responsive. However, compared to most other amps I have tried, the signature tone of this amp is definitely one of the best out there.

I bought this AC30 CC2 because I heard a friend play his in studio and loved the tones he was getting. It has plenty of features, from the spring reverb tank to the deep tremolo feature. I've never had any problems with any of the features and the different tone options make it easy to play the sounds you hear in your head.

I have a 70's silverface twin reverb, an early 80's super twin reverb, and an early 90's 410 Deville. I honestly think the AC30 is one of my favorites, the tone and verstility is excellent for its class. I mainly play ambient U2/Coldplay type leads but i've also played live country, blues and rock. If you are looking for a 80's rock lead sound you will need a good overdrive pedal which is not hard to get. It does have the drive option if you play with the master volume but like others have said its hard to use in a live setting without manually rolling the knobs back and forth. My live rig is a hot rod telecaster into a keeley two knob compressor into a ibanez TS808, into a full tone fulldrive 2 mosfet into a DL4 delay. I usally have the amp set to a nice chimy clean tone and use the pedals to achieve the drive sounds.

Although if you are not playing live the natural drive in the amp sounds great to brittish chime or punky crunch.

I replace tubes about once a year in all my amps but it really just depends how much you are using it. If you use it mainly for band practice and bedroom practice 2-3 times a week the tubes will last for years if you use the stand-by function. I use mine daily and heavily on weekends so I go through tubes like candy. The best way to look at tubes is you take care of them, they will take care of you. That really goes for any tube amp.

Its really not fair to judge an amp by tubes going out. Fact of the matter is, if you do some reasearch and find the tubes you like it will sound amazing. If you are still using stock tubes and the amp is 5 years old you ARE going to have tone loss and issues. A basic set of JJ tubes from eurotubes.com is just under $100 bucks, really cheap for the thick and warm tones they will produce.

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Overall this amp is a great investment, it has a wide range of sounds and options that will treat you well if you take care of it. The same amp has the option of the Alnico Blue speakers wich if you can afford it is a nice addition. I personally prefer a warmer sound rather than an extreme chimy sound so I like the warfdale speakeres. If you have any questions or just want to talk about the amp my email is listed just give me a shout.

Can I just start off by saying that I bought this amp in efforts to get away from all of the switches, knobs and gadgets found on just about every amp now days. Ive played Mesa Rectifiers and just came from a Mesa Stiletto Deuce. I want a single channel, stripped down, crunchy rock machine that I dont have the option to fiddle with or manipulate; because I have come to the conclusion that an amp will really only ever sound one way and everything else you try to do to it is just coloring over that. I dont use the effects loop (never have understood the purpose of them). The Reverb and Tremolo are nice, but I really dont use them.

One think I will say is that this amp came with the Wharfdale Speakers. I went ahead and forked out the cash to upgrade them to the "Made in Ipswitch, England" Celestian Alnico Blues. Apparently, if you buy the amp from Vox with the Blues already in it, the speakers are made in China with the permission of Celesian Speaker Co. Ive never A/B'd the 2 but some have said the English versions are better. None-the-less, I have a completely different amp now. These speakers are worth the extra money. Soooo much more thump and mid-range crunch that doesnt get flabby when you push them. Ive never heard a speaker that breaks up as nicely as these do. They are bliss. Call Avatar for the best price Ive found on the Blue Speakers-about $75 less than everyone else out there.

I play heavy southern rock-type riffs to noise math music.

I absolutely LOVE the natural channel both tonaly and because of its pure simplicity. I prefer the bright switch off on this channel.

The top boost chanel is absolutely screaming crunch! I was sooo suprized to get so much gain out of an amp that is supposed to sound like "The Beatles". It does that too with every bit of british shimmer and jangle that I craved, but turn that gain to 10 and adjust the bass and treble to taste and youve got chunky crunch just from the amp itself (without a boost pedal).

I find that the custom switch ads a little more edge to your distorted tone-probably like putting the midrange control on 12 oclock if it had a midrange control, while the standard setting sounds to me like the mids are set about 10:30 or 11 oclock. Because I set the gain so high I typically set this to the custom setting with the bass lower(about 9:30). This amp is only 30 watts but I would think that it would have more than enough power to play pretty much any venue. Im half tempted to buy another to set ontop of it for a 60 watt 4 x 12 setup.

Ive only had it for a couple of months but I hear they are more relable than the older ones.

Neva dealt wit um.

Ive been playing about 10 years and I am happier with this amp (suprizingly enough) than I ever was with my '79 Mesa Mark IIb, Mesa Subway Rocket, Mesa Trem-oVerb, Mesa Triple Rectifier and Mesa Stiletto Deuce (lotta Mesas ;) ). I love the dynamics and toch sensitivity it has, while it is an all out screamer of a tone machine. Personally I feel like this has more "tonal balls" than any of the other amp ive owned. I play a '97 SG Special, a tricked out Epi SG and a Fender-Japan Lite Ash Tele. They all sound great through it.

This is a Vox AC30 CC2 with Wharfdale Speakers, from '06. It's got what you need, great spring reverb, great wharm lively tremolo.

2 channels; Top boost channel and clean. To get OD you crank the top boost and lower the master, to get clean, the opposite. You can do the same on the clean channel, where there also is a brilliance swith. That enables some of the higher ranges, and make it "brilliate more".

It would be great if the footswitch could switch between the channels, but all it does is switching reverb and tremolo on and off.

Nonethless, great tubeamp, loud and beautiful, though really heavy.

I am playing with a Gibson Les Paul Classic with original pickups from 2003, and it sounds awesome. It souts whatever I play, though if you wanna go the Black Label Society way, or the more heavy distorted, you should get an extra dist pedal to boost the top boost channel. It is not at all noisy, and sounds great on low volumes also. I play jazz, blues, rock n roll and heavy metal (Sabbath, T-Rex and the more oldschool-end). It does a warm and hot overdrive and a soft clean. It doesn't sound like a Marshall, nor like a Fender, but it isn't supposed to either. It is a Vox, and an amazing sounding Vox amp.

I haven't had any problems so far - at all.

I've been playing around 8 years, and I own this, my fav. guitar, Les Paul Classic '03,and I use a Shure SM57 to record.
If stolen or lost, I would buy a new one, or an amp that reminds of it - now pretending that I'll have the money for it. I chose this amp over a Marshall JCM900 because I like this sound more, and I felt like experimenting more. Most people just go: "Marshall + Gibson = everything I need", but to get your own sound you gotta think for yourself, and this amp sounded just perfect for me.

It has got some switches on the back where you can switch between (and this will affect the sound ofcrouse) vintage or modern, and hot or warm. You can add external speakers, and it has got a special effects loop for 1 pedal.

Bought the amp from a Long & McQuade in January 2006; it was a floor model. It's got the Wharfedales in it. It's got the normal and top boost channels with blending which I've toyed around with, but for my style I stick with the top boost channel exclusively. Each channel has it's own volume with a separate master. A tone control helps fine tune the sound as well, almost smoothing the sound out as you dial it in.

I play primarily experimental/progressive rock ranging from Mars Volta-ish stuff to psychadelic and TOOL-ish stuff. Would be great to have footswitching between the normal/top-boost. To switch channels you have to plug into a separate jack. That I'm not a fan of.

It's got an effect loop jack that you can disable with a switch in the back, but I feed my effects (delay, FM4 filter modeler, looper) in directly on the main input. I have tried it out and it worked fine.

The footswitchable effects: reverb and tremolo, are basic and functional. I toy with them on occasion but I'm sure you could find quality pedals that blow them out of the water.

I've used this amp consistently two nights a week (about 4 hours nearly straight each) since I got it.. cranked to earplugs-required volume and it gets louder. It can sufficiently deafen 600-700 square feet of people at about half volume.

It has a basic eq for the top boost channel (treble/bass) as well as some switches in rear for hot/warm and modern/classic modes. Each offers differences in sound for various types of playing I've found. There is also a brilliance switch with can add a little jangle to the normal channel. For my purposes, I roll with hot and modern with the top boost channel. Would love some midrange control though.

I play an Epiphone Les Paul Standard (circa 1999) with stock humbucker pickups through this thing. I love the sounds I get out of this thing. As mentioned above, playing progish rock in the vein of Mars Volta - TOOL. While the overdrive capabilities of this amp are suited to British invasion sounds and Indie genre rock, the sound is very raw and this amp has a lot of growl.

In a 15x15 foot room, turning it up to compete with a 5 piece drum kit can get some feedback going. In that same environment, I tried out an Ibanez Tubescreamer and had to return it because of the squealing feedback raping my ears. Now I don't know much about feedback so it could have just been the tiny room we were locked up in.. I've talked to other folks that use Tubescreamers with this amp and have no issue.

The overdrive can range from that growl I mentioned to a soft touch to augment a clean sound... particularly if you use the blending on the normal channel. Lots of options for integrating it into your sound. That being said, if you're rocking Metallica tunes this amp's overdrive isn't going to cut it alone in the distortion department.

The master volume is well implemented. You can turn up the master without having to distort your clean sound and open up the boost channel. If you're playing in your bedroom/apartment the master volume isn't going to close out all your tone, which is nice. You won't get all the depth of tone as opening it up on the master, but it's better than some amps I've heard turned down.

I pump some weird synth effects (Line 6 FM4) through this thing at times, and it works well for that as well.

This amp has never broken down on me. I haven't replaced the tubes or anything else on it for that matter in the two and a half years I've had it (although I bet a change of tubes would sound lovely). When I first got it, I was carrying it into the backseat of a car one to two times a week to jam with it in the dead of winter (-30ish). This thing has stood up to much manhandling.

I read the reviews here after purchasing it and cringed at some of the reliability issues with the models shipped before mine, as I didn't visit the store intending to get this amp. But I have been pleasantly surprised that nothing has gone wrong. I've left it on for pretty much an entire day at a time during weekend blitz rock sessions, coming to it for 2 hours at a time.

Never had to get this thing serviced or place a support call for any reason.

I've been playing since for about 10 years. The only other amp I've owned is the original Traynor 30W practice amp I had.

I didn't compare it to a lot of other amps. I would, of course, always recommend doing so. Also at the time, I wasn't sure what style and sound I was going for so this style and sound has grown around this amp. I tried out other tube amps in the price range, some Traynors, there was a Line 6 in there maybe.. the 112 AC30CC. This amp blew those out of the water.

This amp is a heavy mother. 75lbs is a lot to haul around if you're a scrawny guy like me, but it's worth it. But depending on your needs that might be a consideration.

I love this amp's growl and character. I've been thinking of buying another amp for the purpose of a heavier rock sound, but I wouldn't sell the AC30.

I hate that there is no footswitching available between channels. I would like some midrange control on the top boost channel.. but I also understand they were trying to use features available on the plethora of previous AC30s they were feeding off of for this reissue.

In my opinion this amp is great for what I use it for. If you like the sound for what you do, grab it.

Features are what you'd expect. The fact that you can combine the two inputs/channels is cool. Reverb abd tremolo are good

This amp sounds AWESOME! I have done lots of jamming and recording with it and always love the sound. It's especially good with single coil p/ups. My Les Paul Special (p90s) and G&L ASAT Classic both sound great through this amp!

Here's where my beef comes. This is the most unreliable amp I have EVER owned!! Tubes going, fuses blowing .... very frustrating. I have it in the shop again because it totally won't power up!! I am very gentle on my gear - so this has caused me great frustration!

They (Vox) get back to you pretty quick - which is great because the local dealer where I bought it is useless.

If it were only reliable this would be the Holy Grail for me. It sounds THAT good ... when it is working ....

I have played professionally for 30+ years and I know what I like.

Wow - if only this thing was reliable ... fortunately I have a sweet Orange AD30HTC as well - which never lets me down.

You know the features. Usable Reverb and Trem. Two chanels without foot switch (the two chanels are more like a single chanel with a boost option, I never use the normal chanel alone). Treble and Low EQ for top boost, brilliance swithc for normal chanel, master volume and GSH12-30 speakers.

I consider this amp to be more an studio amp than a gig amp (the foot swith thing is really an issue on stage)

I use it with a Gibson Les Paul Standard, Les Paul Menace and Fender Telecaster Baja Player. To get more a distorted sound I use a Tube Screamer (the perfect match).

First of all, this thing can get pretty LOUD... Is not a Line 6 practice amp (really it is not). It also do not has a brutal distortion or something like that. It is a kinda british style mid gain amp... THAT REALLY ROCKS!!!!

The richness of the sound is great, full of harmonics balanced sound. However, I think it needs more attack in the low range. You can get a really really nice distortion at reasonable volume level (but it sounds way better LOUD!!!). If you combine it with a high out put guitar and a tube screamer, the amp becames a monster.

Even with the lack of features and the GSH12-30 speakers, this has been my favorite amp for the las 10 months.

Ok, so here is where my experience is pretty different.

This amp has traveled more than 5,000 miles in 10 months. Airplanes, trucks, cars. It traveled once for 5 hours upside down. I have also used it ungrounded (ungrounded and with a single coil guitar... forget it, unusable), and in places where the electrical current varies ALOT.

It hasn't failed so far.

have never used it

10 months with it. If stolen I would buy another one for sure, but I wouldn't be the first amp I would buy.
I love the sound, I hate the foot switch thing (2 chanels without a foot switch??? ridiculous).

got this amp summer 2006, you buy it for the tone not the effects. but it does have a channel blender between the top boost and normal. it has spring reverb which is probably a more "tasteful" subtle reverb than what you would find on a fender, you also have a vib effect which i don't really use as i never can find a use for it. It of course is a valve amp. i play blues rock, rory gallagher style things and this sounds great, i use a schaller treble/bass booster to gain that extra crunch. it also has an external speaker output, effects bypass, and you can choose between "vintage" and "modern" sounds by playing around at the back of it. all very easy to use

i'm using a fender stratocaster and it sounds amazing, blues rock tones come freely and all you need to do to get classic tones is use your volume control on the guitar with the amp up loud. definately loud enough for drums. i use this linked up with a 59bassman reissue and the sound between them is absolutely formidably briliant!

mm reliability.. it went through a stage of not switching on just after i got it, and i sent it off it came back within 3 weeks and has been great ever since.

i had the 4 output valves changed recently in a service and there's no other complaints

absolutely great the 1st time i sent it off. korg are very friendly from my experience.

from memory the warranty is about 3 years? not sure though?

been playing a good few years now. as previously mentioned i use it with a 59bassman. the pedals i have are a dunlop wah, an ibanez tube screamer, schaller treble bass booster, dallas arbiter fuzz face. only "complaint" if at all would be the lack of a channel switcher, i guess the idea of it is to just turn it up loud and crank the over drive out of it yourself! i'm of the opinion that the wharfedale speakers are every bit as good as the alnico blues just without the huge speaker associated brand name.
if it was stolen i'd replace it without a doubt

I bought this amp some half a year ago and I have to say that this was a very good investment. I was inspired by Greenwood/Yorke tone. So I decided to buy this big and heavy beauty. The combo features 2 input channels, Normal and Top Boost. They are blendable and in this mode the amp produces very full sounding tone with a lot of bass thanks to normal channel and a nice shimmering treble boost thanks to well adjustable Bass-Treble controls on the second channel. The tremolo is a great vintage sounding but the maximum rate is a bit slow, I prefer to have it a little faster. Reverb is far behind the Fender quality but still very good sounding. Thanks to these features the amp is very versatile.

I have changed the ****** Tung-Sol preamp ECC83 valves and put in good and very old UK-made Mullards. This was a big step forward because with a little less gain the sound became more open and much cleaner with phenomenal dynamics. My stratocaster sings on this amp.

It is a bit sad to read that some of us who own this series VOX AC30 have a broken and not functioning parts in it. My never ever had a single problem. The quality of building electronics certainly went down almost everywhere and certainly in the tube amp technology too. I can not blame the chinese factory because mine works perfect.

With no problems with my amp I can not answer what quality is the customer support.

Really a great amp, I would recommend it to every musician. The VOX tone is a legend!

I am a repair tech and I have seen too many of these.
They are unrepairable.Full of custom plastic parts unavailable from
China or anywhere else.Two of them have had power transformer failures
and went up in smoke.They are 40% solid state.The hardware is so cheap
you can't all ways get them apart just to see what went wrong.the screws
just spin but don't come out.This amp can sound great(if you've never heard a real AC 30)but are going to be the greatest joke in the industry very fast.A true "Bic lighter".These days you have to use the 10% rule:
If dealer cost is $750.00,then it cost $75.00 for a twelve year old to make it in China.Sorry if you've been taken in.No offense or racism intended.

average.

poor.

none

see above.

The date on the amp is December 2006, twelve months before I bought it. Unfortunately I can't use a footswitch to switch channels. The amp has several switches on the back for things like vintage or modern, warm or hot, etc. The normal channel only has a volume control and brilliance switch, but it doesn't need much else. The top boost channel has volume, bass, treble and a custom/standard switch.

The sound is amazing. So warm, classic. This amp is incredibly versatile. It can play anything except heavy metal. Blues, jazz, classic rock, british invasion, grunge. I use a MIM fender strat with humbucker in bridge. The humbucker I believe has too much output for this and I will be replacing it with a single coil soon. Having said that, single coils are quite noisy through this amp. Alot of my music is like Jeff Buckley's style, and this amp is perfect for it.

I've only had it a week, no horror stories yet.

If this amp were stolen from me, I would cry. I also have a Marshall JCM 900 head w/ a Marshall 1960 212 and I think this Vox pwns the Marshall. This amp is fairly heavy but luckily I have a roadie. The one thing I really wish it had was footswitchable channels. But man, for this price its worth it.

This is a new 2007 amp. This is about the most versatile amp I have ever played. 2 channels which can be bridged but not switched separately. Its a bummer but I knew it going in and its not a deal breaker for me. The reverb is ok, not great but usable. The tremelo is sucks and should just be taken out of the amp. 30W driven by a quad of EL84's is actually a little too much for me because I like the sound of the amp cranked and soundmen get a little spooked. The warm hot/vintage-modern switches in back make a lot of crappy noise in my amp. If it weren't for this and the tremelo I would rate FEATURES a 10. Its a shame everything does not work.

The sound is amazing. I wont waste time trying to describe it but the top boost is everything from The Clash to The Who to The Stones to the Stooges. Normal channel works for everything from hard rock to traditional country. Seriously this thing is great at EVERYTHING! Super responsive to playing styles and different guitars. I am playing a Gibson LP JR with a Lollar p-90 and a custom made Tele with HD P-U's. Everything is great. Now the problem: Weird random whining and rattling noises in certain settings. The 22 power setting and the "warm" cap setting seem to be the worst. I just changed the preamp tubes to Harma 12AX7 Cryos (from the original mismatched Sovtek and Tung Sol Russian made tunes that were inside) and the problem persists. I will now contact Vox and see what happens. The sound is still great and even better with the Harma's and I would have rated it a 12 if it weren't for the *$%$#@# noises!!!

The noise started one week after I got it. This seems to be a chronic problem and they MUST address it! This is not acceptable for an otherwise wonderful piece of equipment. Korg are just committing commercial suicide! I only hope that A) I can solve the problem and B) this is all I will have to solve.

I will update later after I contact them.

I have been playing for 25 years and I am a working musician. I not only would replace it but I am spending good money just to get it to work in the first place. I still think it is worth it. I would like to update some things I have read on past reviews. You still need to remove the chassis to change tubes but its deadly easy. They have added some plugs for the speakers so you DO NOT have to unsolder them, bravo! The screws and other materials, while not extravagant, are adequate enough and don't seem to be a problem for me. The preamp tubes in my amp were NOT Chinese but rather Russian. The EL84s are still EH. I REALLY REALLY want to rate this amp a 10 but with the stupid issues I am dealing with I just can't. HEY VOX, I can see that you are trying and you have the best sounding amp around, but now just get the issues sorted out and VOX will remain the iconic status that it truly deserves. Please!!!!

This amp was made in (grumble) China. A haven of mass-produced factory items and under age workers, I was a bit hesitant when I found this out.. But I went ahead and got it. I was orginally into the Indie-Rock scene, but I have since realised great music and I'm now a blues player. Can't get enough of it. This amp is able to deliver a really lovely unique tone - although it would be nice if this amp DIDN'T have the Tremolo channel. Don't use it. I use this amp in my house mostly, but on occasions take it to halls for jams with my friends. Bloody hell when you crank this up it goes loud. For 30 watts it wipes the floor with a Marshall MG100DFX (some guy was trying to contend with me in the store)

It's currently running on 2 Vox "Wharfedale" custom speakers, and they're alright!

Oh the clean. Wonderful. Such a great clean tone. Pushing the break up a bit, it sounds fantastic and jangly with minimal break up, but it does begin to sound a bit buzzy and flappy when you drive it at lower volumes. Having said that, crank the master and you get seriously mintin' tones :).

The tremolo channel is awful, no-one ever uses that. In the instruction manual they even say that the tremolo channel isn't as good as the others!

Top boost channel is by far the best. Can't fault that.

I run an American Reissue Strat (1994) through a Toadworks American Overdrive boutique pedal (??80) and it has wonderful tone.

I've had it for a year now (gigged a few times) and it's still holdin' up, same as when I bought it! Just make sure you keep it clean otherwise you can tell the difference with lots of dust logged in places! The footswitch supplied is great too. SMELLS GREAT!

Meh. Nothin' yet.

Yeah I like it. Got what I need, when I need it. CUTS THROUGH THE MIX BRILLIANTLY. I'd probably go for a fender amp (57 twin amp) if I lost it, simply because I love trying out different things, and I'm not entirely sure I've found my desired tone yet. One thing I must say is, IT'S SO UNBELIEVABLY HEAVY. Two people struggle with this beast and one person is sure to get a hernia. Don't take it up stairs, it hurts :(

I loved the features in this amp. I question how long they will last after reading such awful reviews however. I especially like the ability to change the Ohms. I set mine to 8ohms and crank it. It sounds pretty good.

I was impressed with this sound from a combo. I didn't like the break up time when I pushed it hard though. I like it to just crakle when cranked.

I had it in the shop 2 months after I purchased it. The toggle switchs went bad. It costs an arm and a leg to get that thing worked on. The tubes (and everything else) get way to hot way to quick. Everything in this amp just plain gets to hot. I really think this is this amps biggest problem. Cheap solder coupled with little ventilation takes a toll on this amp. Let me tell you what I did to fix this problem. First of all, I took this amp apart (I know, it was scary for me too). Yes, the skrews are cheap (I replaced them), The speaker wires were soldered (I replaced them with slide ons). After removing the circutry (which just slides right out in one piece, I took the skill saw to it. I cut out a rectangle the length of the tubes. Oh yeah, I REPLACED THE CHEAP SOV-TEKS. I then, placed an EQ grill over the opening (I even installed a black light in the amp for effect). Now with the removal of 2 skrews I can get to the tubes with no problem. When I put the board back in, I used four 3 inch strong skrews. This way the skrew heads stick far enough down that I can removed the board easily. Finally I mounted a fan in the amp. Now air is constantly circulating the tubes and board. I have had NO more problems with this amp and I give it hell 3 days a week. Surely the reverb or somethig will give me problems in the future. As for now I keep a tricked out peavy classic 30 with me at every show just in case. Try this.

It's a good combo. It has its share of problems, but when it is working correctly it is great for the money.

These are the features as listed on the official Vox website (www.voxamps.co.uk):

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;
Valve/Tube Complement:
4 x EL84/6BQ5 --- 3 x 12AX7/ECC83 --- 1 x GZ34

I'm rating a 7 here only because the amp is not as versatile as others out there. You get a very specific sound straight from the amp. Effects do not color the amp; the amp is always in control. This is actually what I like about it though, because i love the way that it sounds. But my more objective side says that a 7 will suffice.

This is the set up:
Gibson SG standard or Fender Highway 1 Telecaster > Marshall ED 1 compressor > Boss RV 3 digital delay / reverb > Vox Cooltron dual overdrive > The best sounding amp on the planet

I'd like to rate this an 11 or 12. This amp sounds amazing. 30 watts is enough power for most applications. And if you find yourself in a situation where this thing can't hang, you better hope there's a good PA in the place! I guess this is true with many tube amps: it only sounds nicer the louder it gets. I bought mine used. Before i actually played through it, i was expecting that I would want to upgrade to the blue backs or red fangs, but the factory (Wharfdale) speakers sound great. The tremelo, while somewhat impractical, sounds nice and warm, and sometimes, I just have to switch it on. The reverb, however, is weak. I was told by a friend that Vox is "a classier company so that's why it's more subtle than a Fender or something". Ha. I just think it's weak and useless. I like a way more obvious reverb sound (Pink Floyd anybody?) I play mainly indie rock with soft compression and a nice edged overdrive. The sound seems to just roll off of it. I read in another review that this amp "makes you a better player just by plugging in" So True. i wonder how this baby would sound if I did upgrade the speakers and relplace the tubes. . .

Both guitars sounds so different that it's hard to say which is better suited for this amp. I guess it's a matter of taste and use. Both guitars sound beautiful through it though. I prefer the Fender for clean, as the humbuckers on the Gibson don't have that shimmer. Distortion rocks with either guitar, but that Gibson is liable to get the cops called on you (in a good way?). The amp adds an organic quality to playing- it just feels like a more natural connection with the notes you play. Seriously, WOW!

Hmm. . . As I said, I bought mine used from a dealer in town. I don't kow what this amp has seen in the past, but I'm sure it will withstand most things.

I trust it.

This is a great amp. I paid 725 bucks for mine, and I can't think of a better investment I've made recently. The sound of this amp is what fueled much of the British invasion as well as countless other artists throughout the history of the electric guitar. Like I mentioned earlier, it does have a very specific sound. But it sounds exactly the way I like it. The day I got it, i brought to a friend's house. He plays bass, and at one point, we stopped for a second. And with this enormous grin he said "This thing is even making my amp sound better!" It's official: I am a proud papa now.

The features are pretty good for a Vox. Mine has Wharfs. Will probably change them out sometime. Didn't see the point of cashing out for the Greens when you can buy better for cheaper and install yourself. Tubes are a pain in the arse to get to cos of the speaker wire needing to be desoldered/resoldered. Put removable terminal spades in the first time and you'll cut your next tube replacement times by 5. Reverb tank was garbage. Long, no definition, weak. Replace that. The tremolo, while nice I don't use. Some circuit must be running through this cos some noise comes with activating this. I use an Ultrem for tremolo. Analog tap tempo. Get the trem's straight on time. There's a input for a switch to activate reverb and tremolo but none for changing between the two channels. You need and AB to running to the two inputs if you want go clean to overdriven on the amp. Why Vox wouldn't have a input for channel switching on these new AC30's is beyond me. Otherwise the amp is amazing and still worth the price despite these quirks. Read the manual for all the good things. I'm just listing the bad.

It sounds awesome. Just awesome. Clean's are nice, the overdrive is to die for. if you want distortion, get a pedal or two cos this only does nice breaks and the awesome crunchiness Vox is known for. Trem and reverb are... whatever. If you want great reverb, get a Twin Reverb or something. If you want an amazing overdriven sound, this is what you want.

I gig and practice with it regularly. had it for about a year now. Haven't had any problems with it. When I switched out the reverb tank about, oh a day after i got it cos the reverb sounded awful i found that 2 of the three springs were broken. Which could be why it sounded crap. Still, i didn't like the long tail of the stock tank.
I replaced most the screws on it too cos they were crap. I never gig with a backup and have never had a problem. It's heavy as hell especially in an ATA case, so I'm not gonna throw my back out carrying multiple amps around everywhere. If it breaks down, borrow someone elses amp, right?

despite the quirks of the amp, i will probably never play a gig without an AC30 again. maybe I'll add some other amps to my live setup if it gets to that point, but how an AC30 breaks up is just part of my sound. and I'm somewhat of a Vox fanatic. and they just look cool. anyway, the main guitars i use through the AC30 are a Vox Phantom, a Gretsch Streamliner and a Jazzmaster. I really think the Vox likes the Gretsch, or hollowbodies the most. If you like nice sounding feedback, go hollowbody. Overdrive doesn't seem to like the Phantom or Jazzmaster as much for crunch. They still sound good, its just that they get more of a trebley, boosted type sound going. really cuts through. overall, great amp.

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...