Hi all,
I have a AC15hw combo, the fawn coloured Vietnamese made handwired version. The tone is amazing! It's not like other Vox AC15s. Apparently the circuit is closer to a Fender tweed, but with EL84s. It doesn't excel at chimey cleans, but crunch and dirty sounds are just awesome. A bit saggy, plenty of bite, very dynamic. It goes loud as hell but sounds great at bedroom(ish) levels.Every amp tech I've taken it to says the build quality is ace.
I'm amazed these amps aren't more sort after.
I'd like a similar amp in head format for practical reasons. Are there similar amps around? I've not played anything quite like it. The standard AC 15 & 30 sound very different. It plays nothing like a Marshall. I don't normally like fender amps, but I haven't tried that many.
Failing that, I may get a head cabinet built to make my combo a mini-stack.
Let me know it there is something more portable out there that gets close tonally.
Cheers!
Comments
http://www.voxshowroom.com/uk/amp/ac15h1tv.html
I’ve had that and the AC30 version and I can’t really think of anything that sounds quite the same and has a head version. There is a head version of that amp but waiting to find one would be a real lottery. Splitting into a head and cab might be the best option, if not the most fiscally wise.
I thought the chimey cleans were exceptionally good, especially on the proper EF86 channel
I recall other HW series came later that did not include the EF86
The VOX AC15 Hand-Wired guitar amplifier - Vox Amps
it has no EF86 preamp - so more of the ecc83 sounds
AFAIK Vox HW versions are all close to the original Vox ac15/30 circuit, I can't see how they could market something that was a Fender tweed design in Vox AC15 clothing
Fender tweeds sound very different in my experience, the preamp tonestack is very different,
you might get more sag than on most solid state rectifier amps, but there is more to tweed sounds than that
https://www.gak.co.uk/en/vox-ac-15-heritage-handwired-collection-head/7347
They’re rare, but you should be able to find one if you’re patient.
No. They’re based on early Vox circuits. They don’t sound particularly ‘Voxy’ if you’re used to the classic AC30TB/6 sound, but they have nothing to do with Fender at all.
Despite the name they are also not really hand wired - they’re a combination PCB/turret construction with *some* hand wiring - that doesn’t mean they’re bad, but it is very dodgy marketing and may be one reason they weren’t very successful.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
I thought they sounded quite comparable to Matchless DC30, and I went on to buy a DC30, so hopefully that is a reliable opinion from my ears.
As you say, it was turret-based, not old-school, but you can see their point, they should be more reliable than PCB-only.
I can remember that TV version being Chinese-made, with Chinese-made Celestion blues.
Interestingly, it sounded ropey through a UK Celestion Blue in an external cab. My theory was that they tweaked the amp to match the Chinese speaker, which did sound lovely in the combo.
I think OP means this one, which came out a few years later, and did not have an EF86:
The VOX AC15 Hand-Wired guitar amplifier - Vox Amps
mine was s/n 166
Pure PCB with high-quality double-sided boards is actually the most reliable, contrary to what musicians seem to think. That's why all really safety-critical systems are now built like that, not hand-wired.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
PCBs are certainly more reliable, but they are harder to fix when things go wrong.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
It's a little cracker. And it's 8kg!