Rabea found the tone I want...

darthed1981

I love the tones they got in this video here, loads of room for so much music I love in what they do...

So do I just go buy an AC15 and be done with it....?

Dan_Halen

I do love a Vox but found it difficult to use as a main amp. They sound so good when you've got them running in the sweet spot but found it always needed to be run at that level. Get it to the point where it sounds great and it's too loud for maybe rehearsals or a tiny stage but not enough headroom for maybe an open stage at a small festival. Decent monitoring obviously always able to fix that but not always an option at some venues.

uncledick

Dan_Halen said:

I do love a Vox but found it difficult to use as a main amp. They sound so good when you've got them running in the sweet spot but found it always needed to be run at that level. Get it to the point where it sounds great and it's too loud for maybe rehearsals or a tiny stage but not enough headroom for maybe an open stage at a small festival. Decent monitoring obviously always able to fix that but not always an option at some venues.

This pretty much echoes my findings with an AC15C1X.  Can do small pub gigs brilliantly though - and very much the thing for an indie covers type band.  The sound output is quite 'beamy' so if I were to to back to one for gigging I'd probably put a bit through the PA to fill the room.

Quite a lot of amp for the money though.  I picked up mine from here (without the blue speaker) for £300 and it was like new -complete with tags.  Even the hard-wired versions don't seem to sell very quickly.

Definitely easy to dial in and very likeable overall for not much more than people are paying for a Katana.

darthed1981

Thanks chaps, as mostly a home player, sadly I already own the best amp for the job (Katana 50) but I really would like something authentically valvey...

DanR

If you can afford it and you want it buy it.

darthed1981

DanR said:

If you can afford it and you want it buy it.

Unfortunately it would be...

Fight the battle for space for it to live, space to put a pedal board in front of it.

Fight battle for time to play it

Fight battle for playing at a decent volume

Trust me money and desire are not the issues!

Snags

Buy it, take it to regular jam sessions, sorted!

MagicPigDetective

Another option - Thorpyfx Peacekeeper. I'm playing it into a Katana. It does indie tones nicely. Crank up the presence for more vox like spank.

munckee

darthed1981 said:

DanR said:

If you can afford it and you want it buy it.

Unfortunately it would be...

Fight the battle for space for it to live, space to put a pedal board in front of it.

Fight battle for time to play it

Fight battle for playing at a decent volume

Trust me money and desire are not the issues!

AC4? or, and I'm only saying this cause we are mates, you could have her killed : )

breakstuff

darthed1981 said:

Thanks chaps, as mostly a home player, sadly I already own the best amp for the job (Katana 50) but I really would like something authentically valvey...

Cough!!!   

http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/155942/vox-actv4h-and-cabinet#latest

DanR

darthed1981 said:

DanR said:

If you can afford it and you want it buy it.

Unfortunately it would be...

Fight the battle for space for it to live, space to put a pedal board in front of it.

Fight battle for time to play it

Fight battle for playing at a decent volume

Trust me money and desire are not the issues!

I’ve been there with space and tried smaller stuff that makes more sense be it helix or small amps and I’ve just never played as much as when I have stuff that I really want.

I have a novo 32 pedal board that was too bulky and did hinder playing so that got changed to two metro pedal boards that are easier to store and as it’s one for loop and front as easy to set up but takes up less room.

TTBZ

I'd just get whichever modeller does the best Vox tones tbh! I have the same "fights" you list above and for a happy home life modelling + decent headphones is the way forwards imo. Amps are for playing loud, not stifling to wife and neighbour friendly volume.

thermionic

Vox modellers make the best Vox tones in my experience (which is a Tonelab and a DA-5). The AC10s seem to be highly regarded as well.

gringopig

.

dindude

Buy an AC10C1 a fair bit cheaper and very usable at home volumes and has more bottom and roundness, it’s a cracking amp for that Vox sound at low volumes.