bruce egnater":1m1gmaw8 said:
Many attribute the "magic" of the Vox tone to the EF86. An EF86 is a different type of preamp tube called a pentode but is really only a small contribution to the overall unique sound of a Vox amp.
And, as I understand it, Vox switched from EF86 to 12AX7 around 1960 for the AC30 (though I think the AC15 kept the EF86 until near the end of the 60s), so I suspect that a lot of Voxes that people think of as having the classic chimey vox sound didn't even use EF86s. I also suspect that the EL84s and Alnico Blues were just as much of the Vox tone (and I assume the EQ circuits, etc.). I pair my VX-loaded M4 with an EL84 power amp and an open-back 1x12 with a Celestion Alnico for mid-gain tones, and it sounds so voxey already that I can't imagine it would sound more so with an EF86!
As for 65 Amps generally, although the click/EF86 channel of the London 18 was modeled after the AC15 and definitely gets an amazing vox-inspired harmonic-rich chimey tone (which I prefer to any Vox or Vox clone I've ever played through), and I think the amp in the youtube clip referenced above is supposed to be based on an old Ampeg circuit, I find that all of their amps have something in common tone-wise - even their 6v6 model maintains a chime that to my ears is almost more Vox-like than Fender-like, and the 12AX7 channel of the London 18 doesn't to my ears differ from the EF86 channel as much as an AC15 differs from a Marshall 18-watter (which the 12AX7 channel is based on). In find that Matchless are like that too - they have lots of different models with specs that we associate with particular classic amps (e.g., AC30, Marshall Plexi . . . ) but they all sound like a Matchless.
So many great amps, so little time and money . . .
