Vox Ac30: Opinions on three versions that i'm interested in.

B

Boogie808

Member
Hey all,

I've always been interested in the Ac30 and most of my favorite albums involve it (Beatles, Nirvana, Rory Gallagher, Radiohead, Foo Fighters just to name a few). It wasn't until diving down the rabbit hole of the internet that I learned of the many times the company was sold and has switched owner ship, which led to the many different versions of the iconic Ac30.

For this post, I've settled on three different versions of the Ac30 that I am interested in (and I believe they are all from three different eras as well!) Here they are:
1) Ac30 TBX
2) Ac30 Rose Morris
3) Ac30 HW (I believe they are made in the Vietnam factory with the exception of some that were made in the UK)

My question is: How similar are these models in terms of that iconic Ac30 sound we all know and love? I've seen a variety of different prices for each amp on the internet. If anyone has experience with the models that I mentioned above, I'd appreciate any insights!
 
Wish I could help but I will add this:

The Trainwreck Rocket is essentially a simplified AC30 Top Boost. I think Ceriatone makes one.

The Matchless DC30 is essentially a tweaked AC30 Top Boost. I think Ceriatone makes one of these too.

FWIW, I built a Rocket many years ago but over the years I have slowly transitioned it to DC30. Both were great tho.

There is also the Dr Z ZWreck. That is a tweaked AC30 too.

EDIT: Don’t forget Dean DeLeo. He mixes Demeter preamps with AC30s and gets great tones.
 
I have an Asian AC30 HW, I replaced the greenbacks with first run 90s reissue Celestion Vox blues, it gets me where I want to be.
 
I had the Vox AC30 and AC15 Heritage / 50th Anniversary editions with Chinese Blues.

I think the handwired versions made after the Heritage would be my first choice. The others are getting old (TBX, RM) and the quality was always a question.

If I was in the market for a Vox AC30, I'd just get the current production model, nothing fancy or vintage.


I'd like to find someone making new clones of the later AC100 MkII with fixed bias; with some modern improvements (grounded power, standard speaker outs).
 
rsm said:
I had the Vox AC30 and AC15 Heritage / 50th Anniversary editions with Chinese Blues.

I think the handwired versions made after the Heritage would be my first choice. The others are getting old (TBX, RM) and the quality was always a question.

If I was in the market for a Vox AC30, I'd just get the current production model, nothing fancy or vintage.


I'd like to find someone making new clones of the later AC100 MkII with fixed bias; with some modern improvements (grounded power, standard speaker outs).
Click to expand...
Are the Hand Wired versions the closest to the TBX models? I've seen a few HW versions on craigslist for a reasonable price.
 
Boogie808 said:
Are the Hand Wired versions the closest to the TBX models? I've seen a few HW versions on craigslist for a reasonable price.
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Not sure, but IIRC when the hand wired series were released most everyone thought they were better than the Heritage series. I also noticed some people confuse them, I've seen sales for the Heritage listed as handwired and vice-versa so be sure you're buying what you think you're buying.

The Heritage had a cream tolex vs the HW which had fawn tolex.

Maybe see if anyone has direct comparison of the TBX vs HW? I think the quality of Vox is much better today thanks to Korg ownership, never had a TBX because I didn't want something I'd have to fix frequently.
 
paulyc said:
Yes, that’s a big part of the sound, although I think Rory had greenbacks in his so there’s that…
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for awhile Vox offered a choice of blues or greenbacks, both work;

during the Heritage period the blues were Chinese not UK, and I recall a few speaker comparisons that showed the differences; and there was a very heated discussion on the old official Vox forum where Vox denied any difference. Some replaced their Chinese Blues with UK Blues...not sure if the differences were resolved by the Hand Wired series, but I recall the differences were noticeable if you heard a direct comparison.

Also, the Heritage had an EF86 channel in place of the Normal channel; and was known to go microphonic - I never had the problem though
 
rsm said:
I'd like to find someone making new clones of the later AC100 MkII with fixed bias; with some modern improvements (grounded power, standard speaker outs).
Click to expand...
Dr Z just recently released a video of his AC80 “improved” clone. “Improved” in that it doesn’t catch on fire like the originals. But it’s cathode-biased.


I think the Greenbacks vs Blues is more application specific. If you want distortion from cranking it, GBs are more likely to be the choice; if you want edge of breakup, Brad Paisley-ish tones then probably Blues.

But having the Cut control can help take the raspy edge off the Blues so they can work for distortion too.
 
SpiderWars said:
Dr Z just recently released a video of his AC80 “improved” clone. “Improved” in that it doesn’t catch on fire like the originals. But it’s cathode-biased.


I think the Greenbacks vs Blues is more application specific. If you want distortion from cranking it, GBs are more likely to be the choice; if you want edge of breakup, Brad Paisley-ish tones then probably Blues.

But having the Cut control can help take the raspy edge off the Blues so they can work for distortion too.
Click to expand...


Interesting find; and interesting that Z chose the 80-100 model to clone.

The Vox 80-100 wasn't very successful which is why it's rare; it was followed by the Vox AC-100 that actually delivered 100 Watts, and it was cathode bias; the later model, MkII was fixed bias, more reliable and less prone to overheating and catching on fire.

For the price Z wants for this, it's close to vintage AC-100 prices.
 
SpiderWars said:
Dr Z just recently released a video of his AC80 “improved” clone. “Improved” in that it doesn’t catch on fire like the originals. But it’s cathode-biased.


I think the Greenbacks vs Blues is more application specific. If you want distortion from cranking it, GBs are more likely to be the choice; if you want edge of breakup, Brad Paisley-ish tones then probably Blues.

But having the Cut control can help take the raspy edge off the Blues so they can work for distortion too.
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Idk, Brian May uses blues and his tone is pretty distorted. Of course he has the series/parallel capability in the red special, and he has the treble booster.
 
paulyc said:
Idk, Brian May uses blues and his tone is pretty distorted. Of course he has the series/parallel capability in the red special, and he has the treble booster.
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Yeah but the cut control can really darken the top and it’s in the power section. Being late in the chain makes it a really powerful control.
 
rsm said:
Not sure, but IIRC when the hand wired series were released most everyone thought they were better than the Heritage series. I also noticed some people confuse them, I've seen sales for the Heritage listed as handwired and vice-versa so be sure you're buying what you think you're buying.

The Heritage had a cream tolex vs the HW which had fawn tolex.

Maybe see if anyone has direct comparison of the TBX vs HW? I think the quality of Vox is much better today thanks to Korg ownership, never had a TBX because I didn't want something I'd have to fix frequently.
Click to expand...
Didnt realize there was a difference between the cream and fawn tolex. Thanks for the tip!
 
rsm said:
Not sure, but IIRC when the hand wired series were released most everyone thought they were better than the Heritage series. I also noticed some people confuse them, I've seen sales for the Heritage listed as handwired and vice-versa so be sure you're buying what you think you're buying.

The Heritage had a cream tolex vs the HW which had fawn tolex.

Maybe see if anyone has direct comparison of the TBX vs HW? I think the quality of Vox is much better today thanks to Korg ownership, never had a TBX because I didn't want something I'd have to fix frequently.
Click to expand...
Was the HW under the korg ownership?
 
paulyc said:
Yes, that’s a big part of the sound, although I think Rory had greenbacks in his so there’s that…
Click to expand...
Got it. I guess that's where the subjective part of sound comes in to play. On a side note: I found out about Rory from a friend a few months ago and I was amazed by his playing and the tones he was able to create.
 
Does anyone have experience with the Rose Morris TB6 Fawn Ac30? I believe they were made in the early 90s. If so, how do they compare to the korg TB6 Ac30?
 
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