New Vox AC15 & AC30!

thermionic

VERY limited quantities I believe, and probably extremely expensive. Undoubtedly the closest they've got the originals though, being specific to a particular year.

Made in the UK - by who, Marshall again?

Dodge

£3749 for the AC30, £2849 for the AC15!!!!

What a joke.

Cirrus

It does mean that the original vintage ones are now the "poor man's AC30". 

I wonder if the circuit is actually the same - for all the talk of the most recent fawn-tolex HW series being close to the originals, the power filtering was way off - in some cases with capacitors almost six times higher than the vintage value for that circuit position. And if you reverted to the original values, it totally flubbed out in the wrong way, which makes me wonder what else was different.

And I do think the sound in that video *sounds* tighter than most vintage ac30 tones I've heard. The silver speakers - are they identical to modern blue speakers just with a different colour? They've got the same cone by the looks of it.

On the other hand, the gut shots look beautiful and it'll likely be a great amp in its own right!

Pretty pricey though, but maybe that's just a reflection on how much it actually costs to make a limited run handwired amp in the UK? I mean, when they ceased UK production of the bog standard PCB UK AC30s in 2003 they were selling for £1500+, right? Just adjusting for inflation that's almost £2,200 in today's money!

Musicman20

Lovely but nope! They'll sell to collectors and well known guitarists no doubt. 

ICBM

And if you check what the original cost of an AC30 Top Boost was 1964 - £131 - would be at today's prices, it's only about £2,400.

http://www.voxshowroom.com/catalogs/64_jmi_pl2.html

It looks like they've used the wrong vinyl, handles and vents too.

It does sound nice - especially the Vib/Trem channel, which none of the other current versions have… but you can buy a genuine original for less than that. How many times do they need to reinvent their history?

riscado

Wow, I would certainly not buy these.

impmann

I don't get it... why is it so stupidly expensive? Some of that sounded great - the vibrato/trem channel sounds nice and the normal channel with the delay at the very end sounded exactly right... in fact made me start wanting an AC30 again...

HOWEVER.... the demo of the Brilliant channel was a lesson in how to make an AC30 sound generic and bad. "Lets crank it" - why? Nobody will ever be able to do that in a live or rehearsal context (unless you are Brian May - and then you won't use a Les Paul) as the sheer volume a good AC30 generates is too much for that. The Les Paul derived 'clean tones' weren't very nice either on the normal channel- it would have sounded much nicer with a Strat or Tele. Perhaps thats just my personal preference though.

I'm happy to see that Vox have *finally* made a proper reissue that is actually close to the original circuit. BUT, why make a reissue that is dearer to buy than a real one? And why can't they make *this* instead of those hot rodded things in the far east? I'm not fussed about accuracy of vents, handles, tolex or even the bloody speakers but the current AC30s made for mortals just don't sound like *that*.

jpfamps

I think the price reflects the cost of producing the amp in UK to be honest.

I think that these may appeal to people who wouldn't want to risk genuine AC30 on the road.

Dodge

Yep, as @ICBM says - wrong handles, wrong vents.  The chassis looks like it's mounted like the Korg UK reissues and not on the sliding shelf as the JMI originals were.  Nice to see the smooth tolex though.

Not really an accurate reissue at all.  For that money, I'd be looking to buy 2 or 3 JMI originals.

ICBM

impmann said:

I'm not fussed about accuracy of vents, handles, tolex or even the bloody speakers

Up to a point I agree - but if you're going to make a big deal about reissuing an exact model, and make it more expensive than a real one, then you need to get these things right - it's not even as if it would cost more to, it's just different stuff.

impmann

ICBM said:

impmann said:

I'm not fussed about accuracy of vents, handles, tolex or even the bloody speakers

Up to a point I agree - but if you're going to make a big deal about reissuing an exact model, and make it more expensive than a real one, then you need to get these things right - it's not even as if it would cost more to, it's just different stuff.

I agree on this one, completely.

However, the point I'm making is the standard "Vox AC30" that you can buy in a shop these days doesn't sound anything like a proper 1960s one. I'd prefer them to concentrate on getting the details right about the sound and the circuit than any of the other stuff that becomes an issue on "reissues" - then have that made in the far east at a price that is lower than the vintage stuff.

ICBM

impmann said:

However, the point I'm making is the standard "Vox AC30" that you can buy in a shop these days doesn't sound anything like a proper 1960s one. I'd prefer them to concentrate on getting the details right about the sound and the circuit than any of the other stuff that becomes an issue on "reissues" - then have that made in the far east at a price that is lower than the vintage stuff.

Yes, I agree with that too. In fact it would be easy, if they simply used roughly the same construction as the 90s AC30TBX, and just tweaked it a bit. They're not perfect, but they're much closer than any of the current models.

impmann

ICBM said:

impmann said:

However, the point I'm making is the standard "Vox AC30" that you can buy in a shop these days doesn't sound anything like a proper 1960s one. I'd prefer them to concentrate on getting the details right about the sound and the circuit than any of the other stuff that becomes an issue on "reissues" - then have that made in the far east at a price that is lower than the vintage stuff.

Yes, I agree with that too. In fact it would be easy, if they simply used roughly the same construction as the 90s AC30TBX, and just tweaked it a bit. They're not perfect, but they're much closer than any of the current models.

Indeed! If they then released it as a head, I'd be first in line to buy one.

SunDevil

Original down to the power valve bias? ..wont that produce a lot of red plates new power valves?

CloudNine

Re. originality. They are probably just leaving themselves somewhere to go for the future re-issues. i.e. next year's Super Duper True Historic version with correct plastics, and a lock of Brian May's perm included in the box candy etc.

thermionic

I was watching that on my iMac last night, and the volume of the amp in the clip sounds about the same level as that of the presenter's voice. You really have to take a step back and remind yourself how painfully loud a non-master volume AC30 would be to sound that distorted!

lustycourtier

They said all the same stuff about the 50th anniversary version and we all know they were far from great amps, and far from accurate. 

lustycourtier

Input jacks are wrong too

thermionic

Didn't they have top-panel voltage selectors as well in 1964?

ICBM

thermionic said:

Didn't they have top-panel voltage selectors as well in 1964?

Yes, but those are illegal now as well as dangerous, so if they fitted them they would have to be non-operational and it would be purely for show. Even I would draw the line at that .

riscado

Not trying to repeat myself, but for a great vox tone... magic amps. My favourite ac30 has always been my 1964 bass model (no top boost) ac30 with grey alnicos. I've also had "jmi" replicas, both an ac30 and a twin ac15. The magic amps X-brit makes me not miss the 64 ac30 anymore.