Vox AC4TV

Nothing fancy, obviously, but everything you need for a great raw tone. Volume control has an enormous effect on the sound, and the tone control allows for finer tuning. Attenuator is great for people living in apartments or just wanting to save their ear drums.

I prefer to keep it simple and avoid clutter, and as such have held off on buying pedals, so I would've gladly payed 50 more dollars for a reverb tank in this baby.

This amp, coupled with my '72 Mustang, sound truely incredible. Crunches in a beautiful way. Clean tones are preactically impossible to dial in. If you're looking for clean, check out the small tube offerings from fender and epiphone. I've heard they overdrive much less quickly.

I've tried a good number of amps, tube and SS; only the AC30 can top the AC4, and I think that's fair. However, you can can gold tones out of the AC4 without ruining your hearing or pissing anybody off.

The amp sounds good with my friend's DOT knowck-off (humbuckers), and you can get wild sounds out of an acoustic electric, but is really meant to be coupled with some hot single coils.

With my single coil Mustang, the tone is bright, but not harsh, warm, but not muddy. Top-notch beatlesque sound.

Practically unbeatable. This little fella sounds awfully big, and is perfect for studio recordings.

Tricky Question! I had a curious experience here, and can't fairly say who or what is to blame, so I'll tell you what happened and skip the rating.

Bought a "DEMO" model with full warantee from Sweetwater for $30 off, which crapped out after 1 week. While I wouldn't really know, the way it crapped out (slowly and crunchily) leads me to believe it was nothing but a tube going, rather than the failure of some integral component. Probably got driven mad hard and moved around all the time on the showroom floor. It was replaced with a brand new amp which has given me zero trouble for a month a half.

Couldn't tell you.

Superb amp. If you use single coils, and you like crunchy, bluesy, beatley tone, you'll be very happy with this amp. Forget about getting clean tones.

It doesn't matter this amp has no features - it does one thing and that one thing it does as good as I've ever heard it in my 30 years of playing guitar - but for those of you looking for lots of amp models and so on, buy something else

I have several guitars - I originally tried the amp with an american strat I was trying out in a shop and decided I liked the amp more than the guitar, so I bought it on the spot. I have a custom built guitar by a guy called John Paulmann which has EMG SA SA 85 configuration and a tone booster circuit which was also custom wound - it sounds terrific with that. I tried it with my Gretch - two standard humbuckers, you really get the sound out of the guitar using this amp, also with my tele which has setmour duncans - quacks beautifully. In the past I have spend thousands trying to get this sound and her it is for ??180 ... what can I say

Only had it a day

Never had a problem with Vox stuff - I have a VT amo and Tonelab LE, all going well

I have been playing for 30 years this year - I am a studio session guitarist. I would buy this amp again without a second thought. The sound is a one off - it is what it is, a straight tube punch which guitarists all over the world spend forever trying to simulate with other kit - one sound only but perfect on that sound. I had no need to compare, I have this sound in my head as I've spend many hours in studios tinkering around for this very sound using very very very expensive gear, and not getting it most of the time. Wish it had onboard reverb, but who cares - just put a reverb on the input.

Above all, don;t buy this amp if you are after a one amp fits all solution - you will be disappointed. I have thousands of ?? of outboard gear and a couple more amps to get my sounds, so I'm only looking for this sound straight out of the amp

4 watt tube amp. 1x10 cabinet. External speaker jack (16 ohms) disables internal speaker when connected. Volume and tone knobs. What else would one need besides some reverb?

Using an Gibson SG Gothic, standard tuning, to play mostly rock and blues.

Not as warm a sound as I would like. The tone knob is only effective at high volumes. The attenuated settings (1 watt and 0.25 watt) sound very muddy and the breakup does not sound as good as the 4 watt setting. The 4 watt mode is the only way to use this amp with this guitar to get a quality sound. The breakup on the amp is not smooth enough for blues, I do not think I could get a blues sound out of this amp for the life of me with this guitar, but it does sound good for some 60's pop music.

The sound is terribly muddy on the neck pickup and does not have enough midrange to provide warmth or clarity. The bridge pickup sounds worlds better and provides many useful sounds.

Overall, I think this amp has uses for pop music and some very light rock tones and for $250 it may be the best deal out there, but it sounds muddy with humbuckers and it is not the best for blues. I think a 10 is reserved for amps with near perfect tone, Plexis, 5e3s come to mind, and I would call a 5 to be good. This amp is closer to a 6 in my ratings, but it does sound good. I think I may try single coils soon to brighten up the tone.

Too cheap too care.

Too cheap to care.

Been playing for about seven years and I have a very discriminating ear so most amps sound like junk to me. If you like Carvin nomad, then you have no clue about tone.

This amp is the best bang for the buck out there, but the sound isn't warm or smooth enough to be anything more than good.

This amp has very few features per se, but the power attenuator is a critical feature for me not present on far more expensive amps. It allows me to get an overdriven sound at low volumes, perfect for recording or playing in a city dwelling.

Other than the wattage setting, it has tone and volume. Rolling some tone off does have a major impact on sound as well.

Excellent for an amplifier at this price range. Before settling on this amp, I tried a Fender Blues Junior which I also liked quite a bit. I finally settled on this amp due to its ability to overdrive more easily. I upgraded the tubes to JJ's and have been very happy with the sound quality.

My greatest surprise has been just how loud this amp gets. While I bought it for home practice and for recording, I found it to be quite loud. In fact, I've been bringing it to band rehearsals. I play it in a full band setting and have not had to crank the volume past the half way mark on the 4 watt setting. At that setting, I'm able to get natural overdriven tone when I play aggressively.

I also have a British-made Vox AC15 with a Blue speaker. While my small amp does not have the range of expression of its larger brother, its portability is wonderful and it is able to get great Vox tone in a small package.

Have had this amp for three months and have used it regularly. So far so good.

No experience with Vox support.

A wonderful amp at this price range.

It is perfect for home recording (remember that Jimmy Page used small wattage amps to record much of Zeppelin's early work - a trick he learned from his session days in London - small amps have big sound when mic'ed).

It is perfect for city dwellers with neighbors and noise sensitivity issues. The 1/4 watt setting gets great tone at low volume.

Surprisingly, it is also great for band settings if you're not in a volume war with other guitarists (it will be quickly outmatched if this is the case).

While I'll bring my AC15 to club gigs, it would probably be fine if mic'ed. I may bring this as well to round out a stereo sound.

You know by now - 10' speaker, attenuator, volume, tone knobs, tubes. Pretty bare bones, but for what it does, it doesn't need anything more. Play with these knobs and your guitar's pickups and tone knob, and you have a pretty versatile little amp. The beauty is in the simplicity.

So I give it a 10 considering the intended usage. It seems this amp is built for teles - you can get a real wide variety of clean to medium gain sounds with them. Once you get up there on the volume, it seems to get too muddy for practical usage, but that's okay, it's just not meant for high gain usage. Having said that, you can put your OD of choice in front of it and there you go - take it wherever you wanna go. Speaking of pedals, this amp takes them all on with nooooo problems. Maybe not so great with a big muff though. Other than that, you can throw any pedal at it - I've used delays, compressors, envelopes, and all kinds of overdrives with excellent results. Back to the tele - you know all those funk sounds you've heard on your fav 70's tunes? Well this amp plus a tele IS that sound. It has some honk, some beef, some grit, and lots of bite on tap, all depending on what you do with the knobs. As for humbuckers - the SG sounds fun through it, and the Les Paul needs to be used at lower volumes/higher wattages cuz the output just overwhelms the amp, but once dialed properly, it sounds great on the bridge pickup. I just can't believe how sweet this amp sounds. I don't have enough good words for it. It just inspires you to play more.

It's fairly new, so we'll see....seems well built.

Bought second hand (I can't believe someone decided not to keep this future classic), so I'll probably never get to this.

Now traditionally I would want any of my amps to be beefier/louder/gainier, but this amp made me think a bit differently about that. It's the amp I play though most now. It's just got that clean/dirty clean thing down perfect in my book (ie best at less than max volume). It's also perfect for getting inspiring tones at lower volumes, but it can still be a bit loud for apartment playing - oh well, my neighbours can deal! It may qualify as 'boxy' sounding, but that's part of the charm in my book. I would call it 'compact' sounding, really tight. I picked mine up for $200 Canadian. Deal of the century in my books.

Paid: Rs. 12,000 (Indian)
Purchased it new from Furtados, Pune

What's good:
This amp features real tube amplification and a 10" Celestion speaker.
Other features are available on the VOX website.
Its a small amp but packs a lot of power. Enough if your playing the blues, classic rock or jazzy stuff. (Not metal)
Pricing is awesome for such a brilliant sound.

What isn't:
A line out option to connect directly to a mixer for live stuff.

I use a squier with vintage Japanese strat pickups.
Its practically noiseless (hum) compared to my older amps even on high gain. it has this awesome, amazing clean sound until 5 on the volume, you can eve add or subtract tone to give a shimmering brightness to your leads.
Going over 5 on the volume it begins to distort like any real tube and is usable till 8 i would say. However it is crunchy and could be used for blues to rock.
I would rather use a pedal for the overdrives and distortion.

I have recently bought it so cant really comment on that.

1 yr warranty

I have been playing since '97. I own a Samick H-S-S guitar and other overdrive and effect foot pedals. Considering the cost and sound quality I'd definitely purchase it again. If my budget was more i'd go in for a Vox AC 15 instead.

Features as far as lots of eq, or reverb- nothing to speak of. 1 tone and one volume. However the built in attentuator is SO good to have. Geez, why didnt someone think of this before?

Sound quality is VERY GOOD. Its not an ac30, but it sure gets you close. Clean is better at the 4 watt setting (obviously) but it gets nice and dirty at the 1 and .25 setting. It is classic vox all the way. My strat sounded very good through it, as did my les paul (both better in the bridge positions), but when I plugged my gretsch 6120 into it it was pure sonic loveliness. 250 bucks? are your serious?!

I don't gig. My amps just come home from the store and then spend the rest of their lives sitting all cozy in my studio

never dealth vox before.

Professional songriter, producer and musican- playing guitar for 20 years. I am not a shredmaster- but I play failry well. I love small tube amps (they work best for recording)...and I have to say that the ac4 sounds as good as anything I own. I have a crate palmino, and a few blackface fenders, including a champ which would be the best amp to compare the ac4 to. The champ is better clean, but the ac4 smokes the fender when dialing in some grit. No pedals needed. There is nothing i hate about this amp and i am very happy to have it.

Vox hit a home run with this baby-

New AC4TV one channel 4-watt combo, newer version with the 10" speaker. Very few features, just knobs for tone, volume and wattage attenuator switch. Factory Russian Sovtek tubes, better than what you would normally see in a $250 "practice" amp. It has a 16-ohm speaker output on the reverse (veeery handy). It's a no-frills, low-cost tube amp. 4-tube watts is plenty of power for my (home, practice/occasional jam) needs. The upgrades mentioned below made a big difference.

I use Fender single-coil along with PRS and Gibson humbucker guitars, and I use this amp for light break-up cleans and mid-gain tones. It can do the more distorted stuff, but those sounds can get a little fuzzy for my tastes when it comes to small low-power amps. Now that the Celestion Gold 10" version is available, I'm mainly writing this review to share my experiences pre and post upgrades. The other reviews are correct, this amp sounds great bone-stock for the price, especially when using the speaker output to run a quality cab/speakers. I wasn't thrilled with the factory Celestion VX-10 speaker and I could really hear the amp's capabilities when using other extension cabs. The factory speaker is adequate, but it felt lightweight and "cheap" like other "custom" Celestions I see in lower-cost cabinets these days. I wanted to be realistic considering the price and small enclosure, but then I plugged it into my Celestion Gold-equipped Marshall 4x12...wow. The amp drives it very well and surprising Vox tones oozed out of that little, inexpensive 4-watt combo! I decided to look online for 10" replacement speakers and learned that Celestion just released the 10" Gold...seemed like karma, but I wasn't sure it would fit depth-wise based on the specs. It would be close. I took the chance and ordered the speaker for $199, and I also dug out a NOS Telefinkin EL84 that I had sitting around. The Gold was a perfect fit with not a mm to spare! The power tube/speaker upgrades took about 15 minutes and it now sounds like a different amp when using as a combo. MUCH clearer, less harsh, more touch sensitive and articulate. The cabinet has hidden port slots under the grill cloth on the front, and the speaker breathes nicely. It's still a tad boxy-sounding due to the single 10" speaker and small enclosure, but I can't imagine how it could sound sweeter considering what I have in it. And it will only get better as the speaker breaks in. 8 before upgrades, 10 after.

Only owned for a few months, no problems yet, can't say how it will hold up. Like most Vox amps, not much ventilation for the tubes to breathe, but it's only a single EL84 and pre-amp tube in there.

Never dealt with Vox customer service.

Been playing about 15 years, some stage but mostly weekend bands. I've owned many quality and boutique amps, including an AC15 and first-run AC30HW combos recently. Both required too much volume to sound good for my needs and because of that I didn't see the value in keeping them. I've owned some beautiful tube amps and sold most for that same reason. I'm probably not alone there. You can easily dial in a sweet spot on this amp at reasonable home, recording or small(er) gig volumes. If you want a surprisingly authentic Vox sound and tube feel at truly reasonable volumes and for low bucks, your ship has arrived. Obviously not everyone will be interested in spending $250 for upgrades on an amp that costs about that, but it sounds and performs like a boutique tube amp for about $450 when the upgrades are performed. The speaker can always be removed (and sold) later if needed. With or without the upgrades, it's hard to beat this one.

Made in 2009 in Asia.

The AC4TV is versatile in the Brit Pop/Rock genre. It's funny to read some reviews of folks that compare it to amps that are 10X the price. Come on, seriously? The AC4TV is great, it has that classic rock tone, and the tube saturation is perfect considering its a 10" speaker.

I can easily use the amp for anything from pop plugging in pedals to classic bare bones rock and roll. Think The Smiths, U2, and any other British rock/pop bank.

One channel is all you need. Three knobs: Volume, Tone, Attenuator.

I don't think that for the purposes of this amp you need more. If you want more you have to pay more or get a modeling amp. Just learn how to control your guitar and play with the tone to mold the sound. I get an incredible range of tone.

I only use this amp for practice at home but it could hold a small band including the drummer. However you won't get the clean tones at higher volumes unfortunately. The amp is ideal for home.

The sole fact that it has a real tube, and it is VOX with the classic tone make it perfect.

Mainly play with a Fender Stat MIM single coils and a Gibson Les Paul Plus. The Fender Strat gets the most versatile tone; the Les Paul has a sweet tone in this AC4TV.

I love the tone since I play mostly British rock and pop songs.

The amp is clean all around, even when you get to the 9 or 10 mark, you have a controlled distortion from the tube saturation. The 8" saturates too early and at 10 it is useless! Do not get the 8"... save up for the 10".

The tubes start saturating at a little before 5/10, 5-7 it has the perfect tone, 8-10 you're rocking! Tone control is perfect. Much better than my old Crate V58 (new model is Crate V5).

Distortion like I said before is controlled and perfect. Not too much, not too little, just perfect. Play with your controls and you will get your tone.

Only had the amp for a couple of weeks. It looks sturdy, strong construction. I would not be afraid if it was dropped.

Never had to deal with Customer Support other than registering it which was a breeze.

Warranty is only 90 days... not enough but it would be asking too much to get something extended. You can buy warranties at large instrument stores for 10% of the price.. totally worth it.

I've been playing music for 17 years and professionally for 12 years.

I would definitely buy this amp again if it was lost or stolen.

I love the attenuator capabilities, going from .25 to 1 to 4W is great. I live in an apartment and I have not heard any complaints. I play in the 1W until 10pm.

Compared this to the Crate V5, Fender Champ, and some solid states. This one blew all of them out of the water based on the real tubes.

Very simple amp. Volume, tone, attenuator.

I first purchased the 8" speaker version of this from GC, which I returned to get the 10" speaker version. The smaller speaker didn't allow much clean headroom, and had almost no bass. The 10" version is exactly what I'm looking for. I set the volume on about 8 and roll back my gtr volume, just like the old days. I'm finding myself using less of my pedals and more of my gtr/amp. Comments on the amp were "very organic" and "warmer than your other amp" (AC15/Cel Blue).
Plus, it weighs under 20# and is plenty loud enough for my uses. I'm selling my AC15 and getting another AC4TV for home.

I haven't cracked the case to look inside yet, but others report good build quality. With only 2 tubes and low power, I would hope for good reliability.

I hope it doesn't break.

Awesome amp at a great price point. Perfect for church, recording, small venues. If it only had reverb...