Two Vox amps.....which one?

Guitarse

Just wondering if anyone can enlighten me. I'm very interested in the Vox AC30 cc2 and AC30 cc2x. The ccx has the Blue alnico speakers and the (dodgy?) rectifier and the cc2 has the Celestion Greenbacks, but is the newer one without the dodgy rectifier. Can't decide which one to go for. Any thoughts? 

Heartfeltdawn

CC2X - if it's got the Chinese built Blue speakers, they sound very different to the UK made ones. 

Personally I'd go C2. 

Guitarse

The cc2x is an older version with the birch ply cabinet, so possibly UK made speakers.

ICBM

Get the CC2X. Better speakers, better cabinet, better features.

If you're worried about the rectifier, just get a solid-state plug-in for it.

GIJoe

Yeah solid state rectifier solves all problems!  @ICBM that fixed it for me!

Guitarse

OK, thanks for the input. Meeting the guy with the cc2x tomorrow. It does have the UK blue alnicos too. £575 not a bad price.

ICBM

Guitarse said:

It does have the UK blue alnicos too. £575 not a bad price.

Those speakers are worth about half that alone. They're £200 each new now.

Guitarse

Bloody 'eck

Heartfeltdawn

If it's UK blues, then it's a decent price. The Chinese ones are shitehouse. 

Cacofonix

I was looking at the CC2x for features on my vox hunt.

IIRC somebody on this or the forum which cannot be named but is an anagram of RadarMusic said they were also built better, although the rectifier issue is news to me.

I assume it's because of the standby switch issue, but isn't that sort-able quite cheaply?  I'd want a valve rec, to be honest, so it's off to the modders if ever I suddenly become powerful enough to lug a 2x12 vox about again, or I become so flushed with wealth that roadies are at my whim and command.

Dave_Mc

Cacofonix said:

the forum which cannot be named but is an anagram of RadarMusic

)

thermionic

The CC2 were the first generation Chinese ones with all the little toggle switches, am I right?

Also wasn't there an issue with the earliest Chinese Blue Alnicos, that they used the wrong cone or something?

Cirrus

They used a different cone, it was a bit brighter apparently. Op, I think you've made the right choice!

ICBM

Cacofonix said:

I was looking at the CC2x for features on my vox hunt.

IIRC somebody on this or the forum which cannot be named but is an anagram of RadarMusic said they were also built better, although the rectifier issue is news to me.

I assume it's because of the standby switch issue, but isn't that sort-able quite cheaply?  I'd want a valve rec, to be honest

It is because of the standby switch issue, but it's not easily fixable because the layout of the PCB doesn't allow you to simply move wires to get the standby switch into the right place. You'd have to cut traces and bodge it.

A valve-emulating solid-state rectifier (eg Weber Copper Cap) is going to be so close to the sound of the valve in this amp - cathode-biased, near-Class A means that the cathode bias has far more of an effect on the tone and dynamics than the relatively small effect of the valve rectifier - that it really wont make much difference, if any at all. It will solve the problem without modifying the amp.

If you're after a Brian May-type sound you actually want a *non*-valve-emulating solid-state rectifier too - his old AC30s were all modded like that, I think originally because the rectifiers were never that reliable even back then.

Guitarse

Well, picked it up the other day. Very nice amp. Not gigged or rehearsed with it yet. Dead pleased with it. Be a refreshing change to do away with the separate amp/cab combination. Fed up with arriving at venues where we've been told not to bring any amps cos they will provide them, only to find some cheap piece of shit to play through, or that they haven't 'sorted anything out yet'. Very heavy beast though!

ICBM

Guitarse said:

Fed up with arriving at venues where we've been told not to bring any amps cos they will provide them, only to find some cheap piece of shit to play through, or that they haven't 'sorted anything out yet'.

The classic is when you speak to the manager/promoter/other band beforehand and are assured that something decent (which they even name, and sounds OK) is available, then when you get there you discover it's either something completely different, or something which could be interpreted as what they said by the letter of the law but is not at all what you were expecting…

"Fender Deluxe" - assume Deluxe Reverb or Hotrod - turns out to be a red-knob Deluxe 85. (One of the only amps I could not get a decent sound out of.)

"Big valve Marshall" - assume 50 or 100W, valve, and probably at least two speakers - turns out to be an AVT150 1x12" combo. (Surprisingly, makes it through the gig.)

"Full 100W Marshall stack" - technically yes it is, but it's a MG100DFX and two shit cabinets.

"Fender Twin" - turns out to be a Princeton Chorus - but actually sounded really good! (With a Mesa V-1 in front.)

"150W bass amp" - turns out to be an ancient 60W Carlsbro 1x12" combo, 150W is the power *draw*, written on the back. (Realise that playing bass fuzz through it will result in smoke, but remember that I know someone who has a 200W Trace Elliot two streets away… make phone call and owe favour.)

I'm sure there have been others, but I forget...

Guitarse

Hahaha, not experienced all of those yet (don't intend to now I shall always take the Vox). There was one venue, the 12 Bar club in London, where we were told not to bring any amps, and I was confronted by a very small Laney amp, half buried in (what was) the fire place, and it looked battered to hell, but actually sounded really good. A great sound engineer too!

Cacofonix

ICBM said:

Cacofonix said:

I was looking at the CC2x for features on my vox hunt.

IIRC somebody on this or the forum which cannot be named but is an anagram of RadarMusic said they were also built better, although the rectifier issue is news to me.

I assume it's because of the standby switch issue, but isn't that sort-able quite cheaply?  I'd want a valve rec, to be honest

It is because of the standby switch issue, but it's not easily fixable because the layout of the PCB doesn't allow you to simply move wires to get the standby switch into the right place. You'd have to cut traces and bodge it.

A valve-emulating solid-state rectifier (eg Weber Copper Cap) is going to be so close to the sound of the valve in this amp - cathode-biased, near-Class A means that the cathode bias has far more of an effect on the tone and dynamics than the relatively small effect of the valve rectifier - that it really wont make much difference, if any at all. It will solve the problem without modifying the amp.

If you're after a Brian May-type sound you actually want a *non*-valve-emulating solid-state rectifier too - his old AC30s were all modded like that, I think originally because the rectifiers were never that reliable even back then.

I was never really after the May-sound.  It was more along the Rolling Stones/Vox -on-the-edge-of-meltdown sound I was after.  Brian's amps tend to self-immolate anyway, on occasion, I understand.

Cirrus

Didn't he take out the unused 12ax7s in his voxes? Combine that with a solid state rectifier and I wonder if the ht voltage was a little on the high side.

ICBM

Cacofonix said:

I was never really after the May-sound.  It was more along the Rolling Stones/Vox -on-the-edge-of-meltdown sound I was after.  Brian's amps tend to self-immolate anyway, on occasion, I understand.

You definitely want the Copper Cap then.

Cirrus said:

Didn't he take out the unused 12ax7s in his voxes? Combine that with a solid state rectifier and I wonder if the ht voltage was a little on the high side.

Yes!