I'm thinking of picking one of these up in the new year, with the intention of replacing my beloved Express 5:25. I don't have any particular reasons for doing so, except that I'm pretty much a one-channel user, and it feels foolish to try and emulate a vox via the Express, even if it does get me very close to the tone I like.... such is GAS!
Does anyone have experience with them? I'll be using it as a home amp with a small pedalboard made up of mostly drives and delay. I notice a lot of my favourite players have switched from vintage Vox amps, to this handwired series now, I'm hoping that's for the right reasons, and not just because of a cheque?!
Comments
I've got a handwired (at least that's what they claimed) Anniversay AC15... the one with the solid mahogany cabinet. Great amp - sounds really nice. Have gigged it unmiced in small-ish pubs. A pro-muso friend that has owned a fair few vintage ACs was pretty impressed with it - so I guess my ears can't be too bad! Not sure how that model compares with the latest versions.
Good luck with your amp change.
"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
"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
But that's horribly idealist and unrealistic.
Guess I won't know till I try one.
I had the chance to try both an AC15HW and an AC30HW a few years back (both had Alnico Blues). Both were very, very nice sounding amps.
Compared to a stock AC15 I found the tone smoother and richer, but it was also a bit darker...although not in a muddy way. It was pretty loud and I think louder than the stock version, and was very responsive to volume roll off. It did sound and feel quite different to the stock AC15 and I can definitely understand the attraction. As I recall there was a bright switch on the normal channel and there was a 'hot' switch on the top-boost channel, which really racked up the amount of gain you could get. Its hard to describe but the gain was more aggressive than in the stock AC15 but at the same time it was more 'lush'. And its Master volume meant you could get 'cranked' tones at more sensible volumes, especially if you used it in 7w mode which makes it more 'home friendly'.
I would mention that the HW's are 'stripped down' in that there's no reverb, tremolo or FX loop (for a purer signal path), so if you use time based effects such as delay and/or modulations these would have to go in front of the amp.
I do seem to recall that there was some 'debate' by 'purists' on the Vox forum as to the use of the 'Hand Wired' description on the AC15HW and AC30HW who felt these HW's were not technically completely Hand Wired. I can't recall the tech details (and the vox forum was shut down due to excessive spam, so I can't go back in to read the comments) but I'm sure others here will have greater knowledge on this than I do. But this aside, lovely amps!
If so, I had one of those, and will comment on it. I thought it sounded excellent
PCBs with handwiring (I think onto posts on it) looked more repairable than normal through-hole soldered PCBs
Very good sounds, similar to a DC30. Hence me selling it when I got a DC30
the Celestion blue in it is made in China, and sounds slightly different to the UK made one.
When I tried the combo through a UK one, it did not sound as nice, so the amp has been voiced to match the supplied driver
@ToneControl - Nope, just the more recent HW series - standard AC cosmetics, but in fawn tolex. I think there's a Greenback version and a Blue one.
"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
So yeah, great amp. But for home use the AC4HW might be a better choice?
Noise, randomness, ballistic uncertainty.
"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