Vox AC30 - what have I been missing!

Dodge

IvisonGuitars

@Dodge Very nice indeed! Which sounds best??

Moltisanti

maybe a daft question - but why are they so heavy if they are 30 watts (suggesting a small transformer) and el84 powered which i associate with lunchbox heads ?

Dodge

miserneil said:

@Dodge Very nice indeed! Which sounds best??

They both have their charm. The later one is a little tighter and feels a bit more dynamic, the earlier one is smoother and more rounded. Still close though and make a fine stereo pair.

The earlier one obviously has more mileage on the clock which could explain it. Different transformers too (still original though). 

ICBM

Moltisanti said:

maybe a daft question - but why are they so heavy if they are 30 watts (suggesting a small transformer) and el84 powered which i associate with lunchbox heads ?

Other way round... very big transformers for a 30W amp - which is one of the reasons they sound so full and powerful for the power rating - plus an unusually large choke, two heavy speakers and a pretty heavy cabinet.

rsvmark

@dodge - I assume those are attenuators on the top?

Dodge

rsvmark said:

@dodge - I assume those are attenuators on the top?

Yeah, they're Jettenuators. They work pretty well with AC30's to a point. Anything less than halfway is unsurprisingly pretty naff.

Voxman

miserneil said:

@Dodge Very nice indeed! Which sounds best??

The AC30!  

Voxman

ICBM said:

Moltisanti said:

maybe a daft question - but why are they so heavy if they are 30 watts (suggesting a small transformer) and el84 powered which i associate with lunchbox heads ?

Other way round... very big transformers for a 30W amp - which is one of the reasons they sound so full and powerful for the power rating - plus an unusually large choke, two heavy speakers and a pretty heavy cabinet.

But isn't the power rating a complete misnomer because its only relevant up to the point of break-up - whereas in reality it's more like double that? 

siraxeman

A good AC30 is worth the weight....easily.

IvisonGuitars

Voxman said:

miserneil said:

@Dodge Very nice indeed! Which sounds best??

The AC30!  

DulcetJones

I just watched this doc recently, "Dick Denny and the Vox AC30" on youtube, quite interesting,     

I've never played through one but now I want to.

ICBM

Voxman said:

But isn't the power rating a complete misnomer because its only relevant up to the point of break-up - whereas in reality it's more like double that? 

No, an AC30 puts out 30W clean (roughly - I think 33W 'RMS' in fact) like any other properly-rated 30W amp, and more than that overdriven also like any other proper 30W amp. In fact due to the heavy compression when a Class AB cathode-biased amp is overdriven, the AC30 puts out *less* maximum distorted power than something fixed-bias like a JTM45.

The difference in transformer size has a bearing on the bandwidth when the amp is pushed hard though - bigger transformers don't narrow the tone into the midrange as much, so the result is a bigger, fuller sound when overdriven which both sounds louder and can actually produce more power. (A JTM45 also has big transformers.)

rsvmark

DulcetJones said:

I just watched this doc recently, "Dick Denny and the Vox AC30" on youtube, quite interesting,     

I've never played through one but now I want to.

@DulcetJones - I hadn't either. It's highly recommended particularly if you can crank it up