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...

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.

Features as stock, has some nice tones I play in a pro gigging band and play everything from classic soul through to new wave and even a bit of Rock 'n' Roll. I bought the Vox as a backup to my trusty ageing Marshall TSl 100 head and 4x12 and as a lighter option to practise with, although it weighs a ton!!
Main complaint with the controls is why no channel switching, I ended up buying a ABY switcher.

This amp has some nice tones. Having played through both the blues and the Wharfs I would say the blues sound better but wheither there ?300's worth better is up for discussion. To my ears it has the classic AC30 sound but I'm no expert on Vox so I'll leave that to the experts. The amp is good for your classic new wave/blues sounds but it don't do metal.

This is where it all goes 'tits up'. I spent ages making my buying decision, read the reviews some good and some bad. I thought they would have ironed out the reliability problems by now and I would be safe. How wrong can you be!

First one (AC30CC) played up after 3 weeks with horrible tube rattle, took it back to Sound Control, Brum and they were as good as gold changed it. The second one I decided to upgrade to the CCX paid the extra ?300 bought it home and within a week the reverb stopped working. As mentioned above I thought the blues were OK but not worth the extra ?300 smackers so I took it back (third round trip of 80 miles) and went for another AC30 CC(wharfs) this one sounded great. I checked the serial number and noticed it was a lot more recent, longer speaker leads etc. Three weeks later and the normal channel packed in. I lost patience and took it back to SC and changed it for a Marshall DSL50.

A great pity as I liked the AC30. It felt solid, it weighed a ton but its obviously built like Sh*te!!

No comment on Vox UK service although I believe the warranty is 12 months. Interestingly its 3 years with Marshall.

I've been playing for 30 years and have owned and blown up a many boogies, marshalls and fenders. I wouldnt rule out buying an AC30 in the future, however it wont be a chinese made one.

This one has the Wharfdale speakers, the standard features the top boost channel, the normal channel, the blend (which is what I always use so far everytime), reverb, tremelo (both of which I almost never use anyways) the master volume in addition to the two individual volumes for both the normal and top boost channel (in my opinion one of the best features of this amp), and the treble and bass eq on the top boost channel and the cut (sort of a contour controller) on the master volume section. The effects loop in the back looks great, but I don't use much effects so I really cant comment on it. If your looking into this amp, I recommend going up to GC or anywhere that carries it when its dead and you can get some good playing time on it. Bring several guitars and try different combinations. After about an hour I had dialed in the tone that I use 90 percent of the time. After all is said and done it's simple to use once your familar and it achieves everything and more than I though it would.

Awesome. Just beautiful. I was looking for a second amp with that clean but slightly dirty sound and thats all I was expecting to get from this. I run it ab'd with a Mesa Boogie Duel Rec solo head and 4X12 cab and the two amps together sound wild. But, I was hugely impressed with the heavy sound that this amp can get as well as that Petty/Beatles type thing. What I usualy do live is to role off the volumes a bit to get a cleaner sound if I need it for a particular song, but 90% of the time I keep the volumes set at 60% for both top boost and normal channel blend with the master bout a quarter of the way up and it gets a nice articulate but dirty sound which is just awesome. It's unmatchable. I do like to have the boogie going with it because I'm a tone nut, so when I have both amps going at the same time the boogie covers a little more of the low end, but if it's a small gig and I'm bringing just one amp I'd op for the vox because I just enjoy playing it more and it is super versatile.

I plan on caring for this really really well. I have had my boogie for about 4 years now. No road case, banging it around. Thank God it's ok. With this Vox I just got a nice road case from North Coast Music for pretty cheap, bout 250.00. Nice foam inside etc. I've read reviews and just from my observation of how the viynl rips easy, this amp would not be a good choice for me to beat up without a case and just not care for. This amp seems like it would like to be babied a bit. At 1000 bucks I recommend spending an extra 250 to get a road case from northcoast if you plan on touring alot which I'm regularly away from 2-6 weeks at a time. The construction seems fine though, but it doesn't look like it will take a beating like a Marshall 4x12 or my boogie cab. I bring it gigs often as my only amp for the smaller shows, and I dont worry at all about it.

Havent dealt but the warrenty seems standard and I also bought the GC warrenty.

I've been playing for 13 years. I am a full-time touring musician and part-time private instructor (whenever I'm not playing). I own a 68 reissue strat which I swapped out the bridge pickup with a jb junior and an american standard tele. Mesa Boogie duel rec solo head and 4X12 and this vox as well as various pedals etc. I compared this product with Hot Rod series Fender amps which I always liked trying to get that slightly dirty clean sound, but I liked the Vox far more. If I was made of money I'd definitly have a small Fender, prob a Blues Junior, I love those little things. Just to pump up in my house. But, nothing compared to the vox for price and sound for that driven hot articulate sound that the company is known for. It's just really fantastic and I look forward to every rehearsal and gig specifically to play this amp. I was so impressed I almost sold my boogie to get another to run as my main driven amp with a rat mod in front of it or something, but I do like the Mesa blended with the vox, creates a really sonically full sound. If it was stolen I'd be pissed. Really really pissed because all I do is show off this amp all proud and silly so I'd be angry and have to suck it up and buy another eventually. Time will tell how long the construction lasts, but I think with regular maitenance and keeping it in the road case it'l handle touring fine.

Ya'll know 'em. Just make 'em footswitchable and I'd give it a ten. Why is everyone scared of footswitching? If you don't want to switch channels, leave the footswitch at home. I probably would leave it at home myself, but I'm just annoyed that the option isn't there.

I've had this amp for about 9 months now (ordered it from Northcoatmusic.com). I've used it quite a bit (three days out of the week, sometimes more) in a variety of bands. I spent some time building a pedal board around the sound of the vox and have a set-up that I'm completely satisfied with: '62 RI CIJ Tele into TU2, Barber LTD, Barber Direct Drive, Visual Sound H20, EH Small Stone Phaser all into the front end of the amp. I also throw in an epi Les Paul when humbuckers are called for, but I think my Tele is far superior. This set-up shows off what I've found the Vox to be really good at . . . Rocking out with an articulate and sophisticated yet straightforward sound that is somewhere between the sound I associate with Vox and the sound I associate with older marshalls. The clean(ish) sounds are great. I love the slight breakup/compression that the class A circuit can provide. Top Boost is awesome, but when the channels are blended it's old school marshall territory blended with a little vox, which is a great sound, really. Not tradition, but it rocks. It also cuts through the mix beautifully. The mids are accentuated like you'd expect. I play in a band where the other guitarist uses a JCM 800 and I find that the 2x12 combo version of the vox might not have the low end of the JCM 800, but it still cuts better and is overall a sweeter sounding amp. Plus, 30 watts is plenty to hang with the 50 watt marshall beast. Now, I use the adjective "sweeter" to mean that the harmonics are richer and the overall sound is a little more rounded. I also play in a band where the other guitarist uses the usual mesa stuff and i much prefer the vox overdrive to the boogie overdrive. And, the vox hangs with the boogie when I blast the front in with my direct drive. In fact, the boogie is definitely more american with that scooped sound, but the vox compliments it wonderfully with the brit mids commanding attention. When I recorded an album with the same band, we had access to many different amps. While I occaisionally opted for a JCM 800 or a mesa formula/simulcast 90 rig for some parts, I almost always found the tone I wanted with the vox. I ALWAYS used the vox for lead lines because it was so much smoother, sweeter, and distinctive. It sat perfectly in the mix and, even with the channel blend cranked, never got lost in the chaos of the wall-of-distortion rhythm parts recorded with the mesa stuff. Overall, it's just a great, versatile amp that looks good, sounds better, and is just a joy to play. I love it. No tens, though, as I'm sure there are actually better amps out there. But I have very limited funds, I saved up for a long time for this amp, my guitar, and my pedal board and I couldn't be happier with the results. So, unless you can find me a better amp for less than a grand, I'll contend that the cc2 is the single best amp in its price range.

Great so far. Nine month of regular use and going strong. northcoastmusic makes sure you don't get lemons, though. They also switch out the pre-amp valves, which helps. It's about time to get rid of the EH tubes and throw in some new JJ's . . . I like to change tubes once a year so I don't have to worry. I can't afford a quality back-up amp so I really hope it doesn't fail me, but its a tube amp so ya never know. Plus, it gets hot as hell (I use it on the modern setting and the 33 watt mode because I feel like the amp has more cut. In the studio I'll switch settings around, but this setting works really well for live use). If it dies, it's my sans amp tri ac pedal straight into the board (shiver), which just doesn't compare with having my ac30 cranked. Hopefully that will never happen.

No clue how vox is. Northcoast is the bomb.

It looks great, sounds great . . . wait, I already said that. This is a really good amp. If you try it and like it, buy it. The only real complaint I have is that it doesn't take to some overdrive pedals very well, even good od's. I personally don't like the way ts-808's sounded on it because they push too many mids. The Fulltone Fulldrive is a great pedal, but it's already supposed to be voiced similarly to a vox and when you have the fulldrive compression plus the slight mid boost in front of an amp that does the exact same thing, it gets a little too sweet and you don't get a very aggressive sound. On the other end of the spectrum, my old RAT was way too harsh for the amp. Just be aware that if you buy this amp, you may need to rethink your pedal board. The barber stuff worked for me because I found the direct drive to be marshall-esque enough to compliment the cc2's marshall leanings without over-accentuating the voxlike characteristics . . . but to each his own.

I bought this amp new in April 06, from what I've read here, it must be fairly new, it has plugs and jacks for the speaker connections making it easy (er) to remove the chasis from the cab. In a month's time, I've played three seven-nighters and an outdoor gig. No problems so far. The two channel set-up is only used by me as tone tweaking. I'll explain further in the "sounds" box. The Classic and Modern switching and the power switch modes are great, but once I found the sound, they've remained stationary. This is a very simple layout with so many sounds available to the player, it's hard to comprehend!

Guitars I have used in battle: Fender Tele Am. Std., Fender Strat 50th Anniv., and Les Paul Deluxe, mini hums. I have read many of the reviews located at this site, so I had to get my licks in on the broad palette of sounds available. First, I've never run it all the way up...it's just too damn loud! I have Marshalls, and a B 52 to destroy hearing adults! I laughed at the store when I saw a treble and bass control, "cut" knob, and a brilliant switch! That's All this amp needs with the correct blending of the two channels. I'm learning new tricks everyday! I thought the Fenders were a little to "bitey" with this amp until I found that I run the normal channel up and blend in the top boost, with the cut at 1/2 or less, run the pre-amp hotter and the master down-FAT. Just the oposite with the humbuckers or mini hums, start with the top boost, then blend in the norm to fatten. All of these controls radically change the sound. It's like having Linux instead of Windows. You have to "write" your own programs instead of having a factory-rat decide what you can and cannot have. This is a treat for a guy who's first amp was a Fender Super Reverb, when it first came out. It's like the old days, tone-wise. Play with these controls and you will find a rainbow of sounds in this amp...it's just not with tone controls. For you guys keeping score, I played drums for the first six years, so the Super was just for practice and I think that was '64.

I never gig without two backups. That's how I make my living, so I'm prepared at all times. In a month of use (almost constant) I've had no problems. Still, it's tubes,circuit boards, and today's economy that dictate-so I'm sure it will fail much sooner than the old ones did. It's already lasted longer than three Fender Mexican solid states lasted!!!I have a Fender solid state graveyard in my garage!
BOTTOM LINE: The sound is worth whatever trouble I might have and considering today's "throw-away" standards...I would probably just buy another.

If I couldn't repair it myself, I would buy a new one, once out of warranty. I don't have a large selection of PC boards in my toolbox!
I used to repair Hammond organs and Wurlitzer pianos, but you could do it with a tube-checker, a soldering gun, and a schematic. I figure it's paid for itself in less than a month...and it's tax deductable if I buy a new one.

Playing pro for 45 years. I own Marshalls, Fenders, Peaveys, Behringers, Galien Kruger, B 52, Tube Works, and whatever guitars I've saved up in that time. (I do regret selling the '59 Tele and the '64 Strat but I had to pay the taxman somehow)
I love the sounds that I can acheive, I HATE the 70 lbs. I wish it had an affordable roadie attached, but then my grocery bill would shoot up. I think that this amp has the "sound" I've been looking for, for 30 yrs. I never owned one of the originals, but I had an Ampeg VT 22 that served me well until tubes went away in the '70's. (7027A's)I've owned several Twins over the years but never got the ballsy sound I was looking for..it was a great sound, but not what I wanted.
I was skeptical with no midrange control, but this amp doesn't need one, just run the treb and bass further down and mids increase like the old Bandmaster, then throw varying degrees of normal channel in and voila...it's in there, you just have to find it.

Made in 3/06. Versatile in terms of having reverb and tremolo circuits in addition to the much loved Top Boost channel. No remote channel switching or headphone jack, but you don't need either of them on a remake of a vintage classic amp. I do wish, however, that it had less features. For example: no effects loop (I never needed one), no master volume, power level or filter cap flush-mount selection switches (just more stuff and circuit complexity that can go bad some day), just one control pot for reverb (same reason- needless complexity with diminishing returns) Amp is used mostly at home in my basement, but sometimes at a friend's house/3-car garage or backyard patio for parties and poolside fun. 30 Watts of output power is plenty for my uses. A note about channel switching: I use my Fulltone Fulldrive 2, OCD, or Analogman KOT as a "second channel". With 100s of excellent high quality fuzz/distortion/OD pedals with true bypass or sonic armagedon at the tap of a foot available today, I don't need no stinking multi channel amp.

I use either my Fender Custom Shop '69 Strat or my black-n-gold beauty Heritage H-550 hollowbody custom built with Bigsby tremolo and TV Jones pickups. (Gretch-eat your heart out.) I play mostly a personal mixture of Spanish classical/middle eastern/Indian/blues style that I dig, but I am also a great fan of Jimi, SRV, EJ, Radiohead, Stanley Jordan, and Sonic Youth. I can't play as well as these artists, but I don't let that stop me from ever trying. I also love a lot of piano works from Beethoven, Chopin, and Eric Satie... the relatively simple stuff that can be played by ear on any instrument. The amp is a little noisy at "bedroom levels". The noise is mostly 60Hz type hum that I attribute to poor wire routing and circuit grounding practices. But I just turn it up a little and play louder until my ears don't care anymore. As for tone and overall sound - I love it! What a great tone you get from cathode biased EL84s. The amp reacts (compresses, swells, and blooms) very well to sharp pick attacks and soft Jazz type thumb strumming in the style of Wes Montgomery. The amp does favor the TV Jones loaded H-550s better than the single coils in the Strat however. As for amp overdrive and distortion: this has to be tested at max volumes on both guitar and amp. I don't play that loudly. Wish I could. So I rely on my pedals and low amp/guitar volume for OD/fuzz/dist tone. Tremolo is great and as good as my Fender blackface '65 Super Reverb amp. THE ONE BAD FEATURE IS REVERB!!! Whoa, what a shitty sound!!! Why did VOX use a 3-spring tank??? You get a shallow reverb even at maximum setting with the switch on "Hard Drive" but this horrible long trailing decay that is totally useless in any playing style. Just crap... I'm really hoping the new Accutronics tank (4EB3C1B) I ordered will fix the reverb problem. Otherwise I might just return the amp. NEW MAN LAW: Every amp with reverb must sound as good as a Fender blackface if not deeper and richer.

No tube issues (came with Tung-Sol 12AX7s and Electro Harmonics EL84s)or circuit issues so far. We'll see about the long run.

N/A

My amp has the Celestion Blues in it. The speakers are fantastic! Tolex, cabinet, circuit design, layout, and build quality are very good. It is very apparent that a lot of love was put into the design and construction of this amp. The AC30 is a hallmark of amp design and VOX knew it had to do it right. It shows. They only thing they fucked up was the reverb. Oh well. Hope VOX reads this and fixes the reverb on future AC30s some day.

This is actually a pretty cool amp. It has a lot of features that would make it a reall awesome amp. Have two individual channels or you can combine the two. You can change the bias and impedence and other things like that. So, all in all, the features would make it a cool amp that's worth owning.

I have tried every type of guitar through this amp. Strats and teles, Les Pauls, Paul Reed Smiths, Gretsch, Rickenbacker. They all sound great. You can get some pretty good clean tones, but it will break up a little bit because the tubes run really hot. Class A amps aren't really known for their amazing clean sounds. Anyhow, once you start to crank the volume on the normal or Top Boost channels, you can get some really nice dirty tones. Not the best, but it will definitely sound like a Vox. When you combine the two channels, you can get it to break up beautifully. It seriously sounded good with just about every guitar I played through it.

If I was just going by the way these things sound, I would buy one in a heartbeat, but there are some other problems that I think everyone should be aware of.

This is where the problems arise. Like I said, if I were just going by the features, I would buy one right now. But, I used to sell these things. Every one that I sold, I had to replace. There was always something that woulnd go wrong. I had more than a few come back because the reverb did not work at all. And every single amp that we had in the store had the grille cloth falling off. Within days of coming out of the box, the grille will start to fall off. It was not because we had a lot of people playing on them, either. They would go untouched for the first few days and it would come off just sitting there.

These amps have a lot of problems that need to be fixed and Korg will do nothing to fix them. I talked to my sales reps, my district managers, the guitar buyers, and no one wanted to do anything about them. I probably sold more of those amps than anyone while I worked there, and I replaced all but one. And that would probably be about one out of fifteen. The only amp in this Custom Classic series that didn't fall apart was the AC15. I really liked the AC15 because it had a nice tone, but it didn't fall apart at all.

I just think that if you are going to pay a thousand dollars (or 1600 for the model with Celestions) you should be able to get an amp that won't fall apart within days of opening it. You should be able to have an amp you can trust on stage that you would never hesitate to take to a gig. Be warned.

Like I said, they don't want to even try fixing this problem.

These amps were a great idea. They have a great tone that anyone could fall in love with. The tone is good for just about any kind of music you want to play. They don't break up enough to do any kind of hard rock, but with a good pedal in front of it, they sound sweet. A TS9 will do the trick. But, I would not buy one, and have not bought one, because of all these design flaws. I was seriously considering buying one until I found all the problems. In fact, one of the amps damn near blew up within an hour of me opening it. It had this terrible squeal and hiss and I turned it off before anything else happened.

So consider yourselves warned.

Purchased from Musicians Friend 6-1-05. Mine has the blue spkrs.Iplay ES-335,Strat and Tele.I play Blues/ rock. I immediately had trouble with Chinese tubes(especially thw 5ar4). Replaced all tubes with Sovteks and Tung-sols, lengthened spkr wires and installed spade connectors on spkr connections.Still have problems with tube rattle. Have tried adjusting retaining springs.No luck. This doesn't bother me in live situations, but will not cut it in the studio.I love the tone and the responsiveness. My other guitarist runs a Mesa and a Les Paul. He has a whole rack full of stomp boxes. I run a Tube Screamer and thats it! I run the Vox at half power and crank it up.Still have to drag my Blues Jr. around just in case I fry a rectifier tube, but if you want the Vox sound, you have to put up with some hassles. I would buy one again, but will be purchasing a Cornell next.

Not very at first, but with mods, seems to be OK

I purchased Ac30 cc2x with blue speakers.Features well covered in previous posts.Reverb is totally useless.I Love the sound of the AC30.I needed a working amp to take on the road,instead of my Jmi Head and Cab mid sixties Ac30,which although sounds amazing,wasn t reliable.

Personnally i like the sound .I use both tele and strat,although it can tend to be a little too bright.i never use top boost channel alone.It comes fairly close (but not quite)to my JMI

Is a bit noisy even compared to vintage ac30amp and fender twin re-issue

Terrible.Had faulty El84s two weeks after purchase.Reverb ,although useless,clapped out after 6 weeks.9 months later power supply to rectifier valve packed in during a show.Disaster.I am a professional player and this amp let me down badly.although amp is still under warranty,having bought it thro Thomann it was too much hassle to return product to germany.Vox.co.uk was a waste of time.

I had repair work carried out by Local repair man .

Replace all valves immediately.I changed pre amp tubes to jj s.Difference was very obvious.

Other posts cover poor construction issues.

Cant gig without back up.

Non existence for those of us on the western edge of Europe.

Been Playing 20 years and am professional session player.Would love to recommend this amp, but cant.If you must, get a more recent one and demand replacement valves and speaker cable extension before you purchase.

2005 model, made early before longer speaker with disconnects used.
2 channels: top boost and normal.
Reverb and Tremolo are global.

Just enough control, especially reverb controls, but not Starship Enterprise.

Settings that aren't used ferquently are located on back of amp.

I am playing a strat and tele in the top boost channel, tone controls are active dosen't take long to find the sweet spot for either guitar.
I am playing acoustic Fender DG10CE with pickup in the normal channel, with very little feedback problems only at high volume levels.

With the strat in top boost channel, running pre-volume wide open with master volume turned down gives usable distortion, but not super mega deth style. More blusey than hard rock, but with a tubescreamer it zings OK.

Sounds like what a Vox AC30 should sound like. (they all sound a bit different)

Plywood case seems strong enough for pretty rough use. Two types of screws are used on back panel - don't mix them up, some are threaded some are wood screw type. All of these screws will strip at the head with too big or too small screwdriver is used, also they are made from alum alloy, so be very careful.

Chassis and pcb feature pretty standard modern methods of construction, not hand wired like first JMI but better than 70's and 80's pcb experiments.

If you find no-name china 12ax7's in the preamp replace them immediately with your favorite brand (I used Groove Tubes, but JJ and Mesa seen fine.

Mine came from North Coast, Gary is very helpful. They go the extra mile.

Haven't had to deal with Korg.

I've had mine about 8 mounths and pushed it pretty hard with no problems.
I don't expect any more problems with the Vox tube amp than other simular tube amps. Changing tubes is a little more difficult on the AC30 than many Fender amps, but it's always been this way. Don't wait until a tube dies to figure out how to remove chassis - practice at least once.

I own Vox and Fender Amps, and like both. They are different in a good way.

If my AC30CC was stolen, I would order a replacement immediately!

This is a follow-up to a previous post.

1: As the Wharfdales began breaking in I began to notice a really unpleasant upper range 'buzz' in the tone - thought it was just the rooms until a show was recorded and it was worse on tape than live. Horrible, horrible...couldn't dial it out. Simply bad speaker design.

Pulled the stock Wharfdales, dropped in several different pairs of Celestions & Webers and settled on a V30/G12H30 combo.

I know the stock Wharfdales are a similar design to the Celestion G12H30, but they really went south tonally after a month or so.

2: The stock tubes were horrible. Pulled them immediately and the tone improved dramatically (until the stock speakers started to break in).

3: The long trail of the stock reverb tank makes the reverb unusable. Haven't a clue why KORG went with that really poor reverb tray or the long trail design. Accutronics has a direct replacement medium trail/decay (think typical Fender reverb) available:

Part#: 9EB2C1B

Won't increase the 'gain' of the reverb but will definately allow you to use the nice tone shaping features of the amp and put a little verb in your mix.

_____________________________________________________________________
To find the real potential of the amp, you will probably need to yank and replace the 2 main tone factors - stock tubes and stock speakers.

Post tweaks, it's a truely wonderful sounding amp (lots of comments from other players, FOH guys, studio folks). It's a keeper unless issues develop w/the circuit board components/design. Prefer point-to-point amps for reliability and ease of repair.

Initially, horrible...tubes failed, speakers failed, screws stripped, switches were bad.

Post tweaks (new tubes, new speakers, new reverb tank, replaced the power and standby switches with better/heavier duty components, redid the speaker leads and replaced all the chassis/cabinet screws w/steel screws) it's doing really well.

Amp is really overpriced for the build quality and stock components shipped. Should have a retail of around $700 stock. Expect poor resale value unless modified or KORG upgrades the components.

Buy used and spend the difference on component upgrades (you'll need to do them even if you buy one new).

Great amp once the budget-cut components and poor mfg issues are resolved.

Overall Rating:
Stock: Rates 1
Mod'd: Rates 8-9

this is a follow up to another review please see sound quality

with regards to some complaining about under tones, i have 3 other ac30's all with blues, my CC has wharfedales. all of my ac30's have slight undertones when playing over driven especially high up, they are not loud but are there, i was concerned my CC was worse than my other Ac's until i switched the output filter cap setting to 44. this (on my CC) cut the level of under tones to the same as my other re-issue ac's. if some people cannot get rid of the problem i agree that there is a fault. however there is not an ac30 i have tried that does not have undertones when running them full up especially with a brian may style treble booster

This ac30 was made in 2006, it has two channels, top boost and normal. Both channels have Vib/Trem available and a spring reverb. the Vib/trem and reverb are footswitchable. for me, thjis ac30 is very versatile. i play queen mainly and i run this new ac30 in stereo with my older ac30 using my chorus pedal and splitter to get rid of Earth Hum. when used with a brian may treble booster and cranked fully up it really brings the house down.all the tone is there. i will never use the effects loop as i dont use effects too much at all, if i did use it it would probably be for my wahwah.
I use it at home and at gigs. due to where i live i am able to run this amp at full volume without anybody complaining.
The valves, although i am told thye are cheapo chinese valves, the take some hammering when used with the treble booster full up and none of them have broken yet

this new ac30 sounds almost exactly like my older reissue ac30 with blues in it. it suits my music style great, for the queen stuff and for other music like pearl jam aswel. for that sort of stuff i dont use any effetcs at all, just the guitar right into the top boost full up.
when cranked the class A circuitry causes the vlaves to break into the nicest sounding over drive just like the classic ac30 sound we all look for.
I cannot fault the sound

Never had any issues yet, but it is new still, im expecting the valves to break especially the rectifier, however the way i run these amps its fairly normal for me to pop a GZ34 anyway.
build quality is good i dont know what people moan about really,

never needed it yet

this amp is amazing and for those searching for the vox sound, get one! the combination of old and new technology makes this amp a must have.

30w all valve class A. This is the 2x12 with the wharfdales, not the "blues". The rest has already been said. I only gave this amp a 7 because I was very used to having footswitchable channels and was disappointed when it didn't. This meant a rocky start to mine an the amps relationship, but thats all settled now. Couldn't be easier to use.

I use a rickenbacker 360-6, let me get this out now, this amp was made for this guitar. I play everything from blue to quite heavy rock, and the AC30 suits me perfect. (For a fatter humbucker sound, I use an epiphone SG custom with Gibson 490 and 498's) As I said, this amp caters my needs fine. The TB channel has a great overdriven sound. You can really crank up the gain and it still holds together tho, you get great articulation. I use the "blended" channels, and turning up the normal channel volume gives u a great bluesy undertone to the TB channel and puts alot of force behind your playing. Blows away my other guitarists amp even on a quarter volume. If I need a littel more gain, I use a BOSS OD-3 and it comes out with a silky fluid overdrive. (works especially well with the SG) I also have a VOX Bulldog Distortion, but this has taken a back seat now, though the second channel on it sounds excellent through this amp. To get a clean channel, I just role of the guitar volume with a volume pedal. I set it so the lowest volume is just about where the amp starts to break-up. When I strum chords clean, I get a great quite bluesy sound, and singularly softly picked notes are clear and sparkling thanks to the "brilliance switch".
Be warned though, this amp does get quite abit of hum, I find especially with my rickenbacker, thought alot of other reviewers have said that replllacing the stock pre-amp tubes does help, however the hum is nothing that affects my review, just my being picky.

Have only had it three months, however, no problems yet! Would take it to a gig without a back-up. Only given an 8 because I cant really tell yet.

I've wanted a Vox AC30 for a long time, to me they're very much an iconic amp, and when I saw they were releasing the Custom classics to follow up the HW series in a price range more my style, I knew I had to get one. I would definitely buy it again, love the sound. Its exactly the sound I've had in my head all this time. I did compare this amp to the Laney VC30212, which is basically a rip-off version of the AC but with a footswitchable channel. It was wasted. There was nothin on the OD channel, I honestly thought it was on the clean when I first heard it, there was no comparison. I do wish it had footswitchable channels, but thats just me I s'pose

Pretty Well Covered Already. Won't make you read through another list. But I am downgrading this category quite a bit because the the main board of the amp is an printed IC board and there is absolutely no reason that there should not be a channel selector switch on this amp. It wouldn't add $20 to the manufacturing process. Otherwise all good.

The sound quality is the strongest part of this amp. The tone is really and I mean REALLY strong. It is widely variable and is very sensitive to picking dynamics all throught volume and tonal spectrum. Mine has the Wharfedales, but I have A/B'd the amp extensively with the CC2x with Blues. I am completely impressed with those speakers. Yes, there is a difference, yes the Blues sound more like an old AC30, but... here's the deal.... to get an AC30 to sound like a REAL AC30 you have to crank it up soooo loud that it really is not feasible in a band with a modern PA, especially if your vocals have anything to do with your band's signature sound. Even in a larger venue. The band I play in is totally into the idea of overall tone quality and as such we run lower stage volumes. The point is that, in the real world of today's modern and incredible PA's which are so amazingly accurate, you can't really crank up the AC30 up that much anyway. So why not save the dough and get the Wharfedales, run mostly the boost channel and call it done. One man's opinion, but that works for me. Bottom line: The Wharfs are truly decent sounding and enhance the whole deal for me by making it happen for under a grand.

Too new to tell how it will behave in the long run, but so far so good. Purchased it from North Coast Music and Gary up there does a really fantastic job of burning in these amps to ferret out the bad ones. He tells me that the build quality though is really consistent for an Asian amp. He's impressed. He also adds paddles to the speaker leads ends for quick disconnect for tube replacement. Whole chassis comes out on a single shelf. 2 minute deal. Pretty slick, but not as easy as a Fender. My guess is that the Asian preamp tubes won't go very far, so we'll pull them pretty soon. Amplifier section tubes are Sovtek so they're OK. I probably would have tossed the Chinese pre tubes already but, despite their origin - I have to say that they sound pretty darn good. Real tight. Going forward I would speculate that due to the apparent overall quality of the build I would look for this amp to be better than average for a tube amp. BTW, no I would never do a show without a backup. Good way to never play that venue again. Silly question.

Called Korg once on my AD120VTX, they were OK. Got right on my question and got my answer to me same day. Had a gig that night and needed results. They delivered. I have no complaints here.

I give this amp a top rating in tone and build quality. But, it's important that you get a "good one" of anything you get from Asia. As such, I would only consider buying the amp from Gary at North Coast Music, simply because of Gary's attention to detail. Plus, my local GC sells the amp for $999 (just like Gary does), but then you pay GC tax and have to mess with unsoldering the wires to get to the main chasis. Gary ships for free, doesn't charge tax, includes the speaker wire upgrade, does the burn in and changes tubes that show up as microphonic BEFORE you ever see the amp. Then he double boxes it so tight it could be airdropped from a cargo plane in your yard. So, my suggestion, have Gary at North Coast select a good one have it dropped in your living room for less money that you'd pay if you physically fetched it yourself. BTW, I have no affiliation with North Coast. He's just the real deal and I want you to know. FYI, I am pulling 1 point overall here, because I do think the amp should include remote channel switching. I work around it with a powered Whirlwind A/B/Y switch running one lead from my guitar to my effects platform into the A/B/Y, then a pair of lead to the amp, one into the boost channel and one into the boost channel, but that stinks to have to hassle with that. One more thing to mess with before a show. Yes, I would buy one again and would replace it if it was ripped. 40+ years old, play in an active and locally well-known British Invasion type cover band. I serve as the main guitarist for the band and do so with an array from Gretsch, Ric, Gib LP and Fenders. I use several amps. My large venue rig for the past year has been a mid-70's Fender Vibrolux Reverb, but because that amp is semi-collectable, I'll likely use the AC30 for large venues now and take the Vibrolux out for very, very special shows. I did use it at the largest show we've ever played this past New Year's Eve, 40+k people there. No complaints. I use a AD120VTX (stereo amp)for smaller venues and have an AD60VTX standing by at all times as backup. Vox has truly done a remarkable job producing a high-quality, vintage sounding and looking amp at an affordable price point. Very good job overall. Highly recommended from a guy whose owned lots of amps, Pevey's, Fenders, Marshalls, Vox's (currently own 3 other Vox amps, 2 Fenders, 1 Roland and a Peavey) etc. over the past 3 decades.

It's all been covered before by others. Classic features plus boutique ones. Good stuff!

Classic AC30 tones here! Perfect tone for those of us who have always lusted after this elusive sound!

OK, THIS IS IMPORTANT! The man responsible for the design of this amp has stated recently that in mid 2005 they changed several aspects of this amp. First, they stopped using the problematic chinese tubes in the pre-amp section, which effectively takes care of all the "strange harmony" and "popping" problems that so many here have complained about. They also have lengthened the leads to the speakers, making it easier to get access to the chassis. They have also installed a metal plate to better distribute airflow and heat, increasing the reliability of the unit. He also went into great detail about how each PC board was designed and why. It's very reassuring that a large corporation is listening to its customers and improving their product. It would be a shame if some early problems tarnished an otherwise great amp. The unit I have was made late last year, and I believe I can depend on it.

It effectively nails the tone I've lusted after for all these years, and throws in some great new features to boot! All of this at an unbelievable price for a fully tube driven amp. I'm a happy camper!

For those who have posted concern (or dismay) about the lack of channel switching on the AC30CC, I purchased a simple A/B footswitch - you can get the $100 Whirlwind model, or the $20 Behringer model, or anything in between. Just run 2 lines from your amp to the A/B pedal and PRESTO you've got a channel switching amp. Get an A/B/Y box and the channel blend feature becomes switchable as well! It's an easy upgrade for a classic, non channel-switching amp design. Enjoy!

The new Vox AC30CC valve combo that was purchased back in March 2005 has two blendable channels (Normal and Top-Boost). There is a master volume, two types of reverb (lo-dwell and hi-dwell), variable tremolo, and two instrument inputs. Since I am a first-time user of a Vox AC30 and this is my first time using a valve combo amp, I am quite impressed with its ease of use, versatility, and its rugged design (despite certain idiosychrosies such as difficult chassis installation/deinstalltion--like if you ever one day have to repair the amp for any reason; eg valves, capacitors, resistors, diodes, etc).

First and most important is the type of instrumentation and equipment one is using. Don't ever let anyone persuade you into thinking that there may just problems or issues with the amplifier only. Your sound will also be affected by what kind of guitar you are playing, what type of pickups, strings/hardware, type of wood of your guitar, and effects. Now, as with regards to what set-up configuration I use:

Fender Telecaster (Standard) modded with Texas Custom Shop hi-output pickups->Demarco Tone Bender(clone)--> AC30CC. I sometimes also use the provided footswitch to turn on the tremolo or spring reverb. (One day I hope to get a tape echo unit)

I mainly use the Top-boost channel for a more sparkly, jangly, chimey sound (even with distortion); but I will sometimes use the Normal channel with Brilliance to get a more bluesy Fender-like sound. Other than the guitar and effects I use, the speakers of the amp are also important. I find that the custom-made Wharfdales are very good speakers, and I think they just about rival the tone and ring of the expensive Clestion Blueback speakers. It's true that the Celestion Blues may have a more unique tone, but I can't really justify paying more than $300 for each one. Maybe in the future when I have the money I will slowly upgrade my speakers to Celestion Blues (one by one), but for now I am happy and content with the tone, breakage, power and clarity of the Wharfdales. There is one user-review I read at ZZounds.com that claims that Vox should have never offered the cheaper AC30CCs with Wharfdales and that they sound like crap, I have a few words for him, 'some of us do not have the extra money to spend on a stupid piece of metal with a magnet and paper cone', after all it is just a speaker--and yes speakers are important, but some of us would like to slowly upgrade ourselves to better speakers over time. Overall I am quite impressed and happy with the Vox AC30 CC. They should've labeled the amp Custom Combo instead of Custom Classic. Nice sound, good versatility. It has that classic chimey, jangly, sparkly sound, especially when used with single-coil guitars like a Stratocaster, Telecaster, and others. I am not at all dissapointed with its sound, but each person is different, some people may prefer a more bluesy-clean-cutting Fender sound, or perhaps a hi-gain tube saturated sound of a Marshall or Hiwatt. The Vox AC30CC is a very unique amp in its own special way, so don't overlook or underestimate its sound, clarity, power, and versatility. If you really want to know what the AC30CC sounds like, you really need to go to a local music store and try it out and see for yourself why they say "Vox, it's what's happening". See for yourself! You might be surprised!!! :-)

Although I don't use my amp that much; but when I do, the Vox AC30CC has not let me down yet, and I've been using my amp since March of 2005. I have heard other reviews where the users have had issues with there VoxAC30CC giving out because of cheap preamp tubes and other preamp/speaker circuitry issues. And yes, I do belive that most amp manufacturers, to include others like Fender, Marshall, and such, have there own iussues as well. Don't expect any reknowned amp company to make every last bit of electronic component to be top-knotch. They will have to cut-corners in some areas. So if you really want to keep the amp running good and keep it reliable, spend the extra money to have a technician reinstall your preamp esection or other parts of the amp with better-quality components...may cost more, but its worth it, and your amp will probably more reliable than ever before. And yes I will have to agree with most of you who hate spending large amounts of money for something that is "kind-of-good", but what can you do. If you like a certain brand of amp and their sound, stick to it with your heart and try to make things work, no matter what it takes. As with me, I haven't had any serious issues yet, such as "microphonic" preamp valves. But when these issues should arise, and I have the money, I will invest it wisely into having a tech to replace the ECC83s with good ones. Others have also been disgusted with Vox/Korg because they have now relocated their operations overseas to China. Yes it may sound daunting at first, but how does any other place gain experience and become good? Besides Vox is only trying to do the right thing and are trying to make there amps more afordable, yet trying to retain quality and reliablity. Eventaully, a lot of other large amp manufacturers will start making even their "flagship" amps overseas, so what's the difference, change is inevetible, it sucks, but what can you do? So the only thing I can say is that as long as the quality, craftsmanship, and reliablity of Vox products such as their AC30CC remains consistent or even improves for the better, the more faithful I will be in buying and using their products, regardless of where it is made. So please everyone, don't be decieved by others about their stories or even mine. See for yourself!

I have not yet dealt with Vox/Korg, but I heard from many that they can be of good advise and assitance, but some others say that Vox/Korg is denial about some issues, so it's really hard for me to say how Vox customer support is. However, if I should ever have any issues with Vox for any reason, I will at least have a good shop tech overlook my amp and have him/her determine what neds to be fixed/replaced/etc to make it perform better. You have to overcome obstacles one way or the other. Don't be stupid, think, you are in today's world...this isn't the good-old-days(50s, 60s, 70s) where quality is a big deal. Yes quality is very important. But if you want quality, and no one is willing to help you, do what you have to do to make "things work", especially in today's world.

I've been playing guitar for a little more than 5 years, and I'm still learning and practicing. I have two electrics (Tele and Les Paul), and one acoustic (Yamaha F210). In general I play British rock, blues, some forms of jazz, avante-garde, and sometimes adult alternative acoustic stuff (John Jackson, Beth Orton, etc), and sometimes classic rock (early FLoyd, Hendrix, Cream, Yardbirds). On occasion I will play classical and folk on my acoustic. As far as what amp I was going to choose, I was upgrading from a solid-state digital modeling amp, Line6 Spider 112 (purchased in 2001). It was OK, did the job, but I wanted more tone and variety. I wanted real vintage sound, not a fake modeled mask. I found the AC30CC to be a very worthy upgrade. I was consiering of getting an Ampeg Reverberocket 212 or a Laney VC212, but I heard that Laney has weak customer support (and that the VC 212 had overheating issues), and I wasn't sure if Ampeg's tone was British enough for me. Sorry I'm more into the British tube sound rather than the American tube sound, although I still admire and greatly respect the American sound. I figured if Vox dropped there prices down to $999 (STANDARD AMP version with Whardales) I could justify paying $200 more for the Vox than the $799 Ampeg Reverberocket. After all I've always wanted a Vox amp, esp an AC30. It's warm, ringing, sparkly, incisive tone has brought me closer to this amp, and that is why I am much allured to it. I am hooked! It's versatile rugged, and sounds great! Love it!

Vox AC30CC2X 212 Combo Amplifier 2004

Capable of many styles from hard rock to country and everything in between... very versatile amp.

Specs:
30 watt tube amp
Channel One (Normal)
Channel Two (Top Boost)
Link Switch blending Channels 1 and 2
2 Celestian Blue Alnico's
Reverb and Tremelo

You cannot channel switch from normal to top boost via foot switch. (bummer). Not convenient for shows to move from clean to dirty without physically turning the gain nob!

I use this amp for practice at the studio, recording and live shows.
The amp responds great in both settings. You don't need to blast the volume to get great tone at home and just enough power to cut through small venues.

Each channel is unique and flexible providing a wide palette for tonal variation. The link switch combines both channels into one furthering your tonal possibilities.

I test drove both the AC30CC2 (Wharfdale speakers) and the AC30CC2X (Celestion Alnicos).
The difference between the two amps are the speakers.

The Alnicos seemed to add more body and dimension while the Wharfdales seemed muddy and lacked definition.

I paid extra for the Alnicos because past experience told me I would not be satisfied.

The guitar I use with this amp is a Fender Bronco (set up for slide) with a 60's Guild Starfire humbucker in the neck position and a Seymour Duncan Jeff Beck in the bridge position. The other guitar is a Gibson Custom Les Paul.

The Vox AC30 seems to bring out the characteristics of the pickups and guitars. I did not notice the amp driving the guitar. However the amp seemed to preserve the integrity and trueness of the instruments sound while adding shimmer and sweetness like icing on a cake. Not a flat or dull sound.

(Fender Bronco)The Starfire pickup is deep and bright but not crystally.
The amp captures this.
While the Jeff Beck is hotter and drives the amp to breakup sooner.
You'll also become more aware of how heavy or light you attack the strings with your pick. It is almost percusive.

(Gibson Custom Les Paul)20 lbs of mother tone mohagany. Need I say more?

The Top boost channel has 3 knobs.(Volune, Treble and Bass)
The volume acts like gain in that you can control the amount of distortion.
Treble and bass are multi-functional and do a fine job of rounding out your tone.
Turn them up get more treble or bass.
Turn them down get less treble or bass but an INCREASE IN MIDS!
This channel is flexible and helps you to find your sound and discover new ones.

I am able to achieve a range of sounds
clean >> smooth - break up >> throaty growl >> silky overdrive

Your master volume plays the conductor role on the overall presence and power and punch. The Alnicos speakers beg to played at higher volumes. Increase the volume - get that mid range punch.

The Normal channel is the "Clean to Slightly Overdriven" section.
My guitars sound full and wide throught this channel.

Input link switch allows you to combine both these channels take you to the next level.
Simply awesome!

My amp is quite as a mouse even at higher volume. No hum or crackling.
Quality cables are a must have.

The amp is not meant for Metal such as a Rectifier. But you don't see Rolls Royces at the Indy 500 either.

Is the distortion brutal? The amp growls at me.

Sound rating is 15.

I have some reservations about the quality because of all the complaints I seen on the posts in this page.

I also understand and work with contract manufacturing in Semiconductor/ Harddrive Industry from concept to prototype, first article, post production and out sourcing to Asia. There are growing pains but hopefully Vox has continuous improvement initiatives within thier manufacturing organization that help the quality of their products. All munufacturing is headed that way. Better get used to it.

Afer registering my product I got a response within 2 days.
I asked about the type of tubes list in the BOM.

Warranty is 3 months to a year depending on the component.

I have been playing for 22 years. I own 2 guitars, one amp, one bass amp and a dozen effects pedals (all Boss except for the MXR compressor)

I have hours of researching (harmony central), counseling from others, and "hands on" with dozens of amps.
I confused myself with sales literature.

When I went into GC, my intent was Mesa or VHT. (I used to own a Solo Rectifier)

After sampling all these amps, going home and second geussing what I heard, sampling again, I walked out with a Vox.

I am in love with my amp. If this amp was stolen, I'd buy the same amp.

I would like to see foot pedal channel switching.

This is a follow up to an earlier review I did. I felt my findings were important enough to post that I am taking the time to pick up from where I left off.

As mentioned in previous posts this product is not a carbon copy of original AC30's (in fact they sound even different from the 90's reissues) but the tone they produce are good.

Upon further review of the Vox AC30CC 2x12 AND 1x12 models it is safe to say that the product suffers from what I call a "critical design flaw". In an earlier review I stated that everytime I played single note scales on the neck I would hear an undertone (by a 5th) track my playing. Higher tones seemed to exacerbate the problem, regardless of what channel or bias setting the amp was on. This behavior is not normal for a tube amp, on the contrary, it is an indication of a problem. For recording purposes this would render the amp useless because overcompressing the amp (typical in rock music) would bring the undertone out very clearly.

To be sure that this problem was not an isolated incident I tried several amps in several different stores here in L.A. In each store I was able to exhibit the problem to the sales staff in less than 1 minute, and in each store the sales staff was not aware of the problem but agreed it WAS a problem. Unfortunately, this disclosure did not prompt the dealer to yank the product. They just agreed the amp "had issues" and left it at that.

Once I was aware of the problem I contacted KORG and notified them of the issue, asking for direction on how to fix it. Apparently no one there was aware of it either, however once I got them to test the amp on their own they verified the problem exists and that they indeed heard it. Since they couldn't say exactly what component was causing the problem they said it was a "characteristic" of the amp, and essentially something an owner would be stuck with whether they liked it or not. As of this writing they have stated it is not in their plans to fix the problem because the amp is on the market and it is too late to deal with "design issues". Furthermore they also believed swapping tubes out would not solve the problem, apparently they are under the impression this problem goes deep.

After doing more research and listening to the original amps (and 90's reissues) versus the Custom Classic I can also verify that those earlier amps _do not_ exhibit this behavior. This is an inherrent design flaw in the Custom Classic and will be an issue you will need to contend with if you buy it. My recommendation to all current CC owners is to contact KORG and demand they develop a fix for the problem, the amp is still worth owning if they get it right. For anyone in the market for one, I would wait until KORG deems it neccesarry to step in and fix the amp due to poor sales and returns.

I believe this is your chance as consumers to vote with your dollars, and despite the great tone it is an amp one should avoid until it _is_ fixed properly.

First year run (obviously). Has all the numerous whistles and bells noted on the vox website and in the previous reviews. Allows a user to make fine-tuned tweaks to fit their playing style and instruments. Some don't seem to be very well thought out.

Use Tele and Strat style guitars. Tele's sound magnificent, strat's can get a little thin/brittle.

Very quiet amp! Run the amp where it's clean with a touch of 'hair' and use a variety of pedals to add the different gain colors. Amp itself gets dirty pretty quick - if that's your thing, the master and channel volume will need to be up (which is pretty loud). Speaker leads make using an attenuator impossible without some modification.

Hired gun for studio and live work. Americana, COuntry, Pop, Rock, some blues and occassional R&B/Jazz/Funk. Have enjoyed the versatility of the amp - responds wonderfully to pedals and playing styles.

Amp literally died after 45 minutes in it's first rehearsal...really bad tubes. Put in a 'nice' set of new tubes and it's been singing ever since.

Chassis is thin and twists - probably bend easy if bound and pulled on hard during removal from the cabinet. Lots of unfinished metal edges that are pretty good at cutting skin.

Chassis design is really beyond thoughtless...must remove the back pannels, 6 cheap (i.e. they strip EASILY) screws, unsolder the speaker leads and slide the chassis out of the cabinet. Not designed for working musicians - if a tube fails at a show you'd better have a backup amp...you're not going to be swapping tubes during a break or inbetween songs.

PCB boards aren't as thick as they could be - especially with the tube sockets mounted directly to the board...will be a point of failure after a few tube changes.

Toggles on top and slider switches on the back are really, REALLY cheap. Either replace them with heavier stock or don't use.

Screws used throughout (mounting and chassis) are very soft, cheap and strip like butter. Either replace them with heavier stock or don't take the amp apart.

Speaker lead design is...stupid?. Short leads that are SOLDERED to the speaker? What about clips and 1/4" jack next to the extention speaker jack? Must be redone for chassis removal and makes the use of an attenuator impossible without modifying the lead setup.

Responded to email regarding tube failure. Didn't offer new tubes, but did offer a suggestion as to what tube(s) may have failed (and were wrong).

Really great tone.
Really bad chassis design.
Really cheap parts all around.

Jury's still out. Price was right so I thought I'd give one a whirl. Probably sell it and get a Hayseed 30 or another clone...or a new kit and just build one myself...Hayseed is just a bit more and the kits are less. Major issue limiting the 'hang on to it' factor is the moronic chassis design. Just not user friendly...great if you're an at-home player or the amp's destined to be a studio queen, but it's definately not designed with the 'player' in mind.