My pedalboard looks empty

A heat gun works too, peels the paint off but leaves you sanding out any burns to the wood. I did suggest getting a random unfinished body that is back routed like a les Paul so you ain't got a pick gaurd covering half of it.

I just traded in the Ibanez art120 today. I have my eye on an amp for cheap. I now have enough money for it but gunna have to wait till after the bills incase I need the savings to carry us over a few days. If so ill get it next weekend. Pretty exciting. I'm going to retube though because its used. Is £250 a bad price for a vc30 112? Or is it too good to be true? I have no way of getting there to test it but there is a video of it being tested on youtube

I put my JB on ebay this morning and have had a few bids and also got 23 watchers so hoping for a good sale on that

I've only seen the heat gun and scraper work okay on a VERY THICK finish. I Still kick out some fumes though. Not a kid friendly project.

That's about 450USD... sounds okay to me.

I have been cleaning up divesting myself of spare junk on the 'bay and reverb too... I have too much stuff. I am streamlining. I think the net result here will be a functional live rig for a cover band or gig where I need to reproduce effects laden album sounds with an effects board that doubles as a headphone practice solution as well as a USB interface for quick demoing and maybe a new guitar too... and also a LOT more walk-in closet space!

I am ready for an all in one preset setup when I want effects. If I bond with the POD HD I will probably roll over into a Helix when they start turning up used. Or there's always the fractal stuff. But maybe I will be dead happy with the HD500X. I remember being knocked out by the direct recorded sounds in the original premiere guitar review. I am just not sure how 'real' she will sound interfaced with my massive amp rig. I am hoping to be blown away and spurred on to be creative with effects for a change. And to be able to preset album tones before going to audition for bands with very specific needs instead of expecting them to adapt to my very dry, vintage british sound. I think its great, but hey... I get it. I guess its kinda like nly eating traditional hot fudge sundays, vanilla with chocolate, whipped cream and a cherry is simple, classic and reliably great (and should meet everyone's icecream sunday needs in my opinion), but some folks will prefer a banana split or maybe a cone full of rocky road. Or if you are the edge you might want a table full of different sundays and flavors and want to dip your spoon in 2 to 4 before having a bite, and who could picture U2 without all those flavors? Its not me and its not needed, but it might help me find a band to play in for a weekly "sanity" day... I do not want to do any original music because guys get too serious trying to "make it." But I DO want to deal with people who are serious about being good live and getting paid to play shows... and that generally involves reproducing album sounds where I live.

I hope that if I invest some time into integrating this 1 floor unit and create some killer, subtle patches with all these FX I will be pretty ready for anything. I am really envisioning myself doing a monthly cover band gig in the future so I don't lose my mind (or better still, a wedding band! that's some easy money)... and cover bands can be so picky about album sounds in the states.

I'll go for it next week then. I'll have to grab a high gain distortion pedal some point after, preferably a HM-2. that digitech/dod boneshaker (I think that's its name) seems cool. The white one with 4 knobs on it. I like how those sound. Also the cheap DigiTech grunge pedal isn't too bad sounding at just over £20. I'm open to suggestions for distortion pedals though. I want something that can do pretty thick distortion but I don't want it to get muddy.

The multi effects approach makes sense for what you're going for. Cheaper and lighter than building a huge pedal board

for full bore, thick distortion I really have to say that my number 1 pedal pick is the MI audio tube zone (which contains no tubes) followed by the Catalinbread SCOD which goes from from light OD to a fat, saturated fuzzy distortion at 10... 2rdpick would be the Way Huge Red Llama which is very similar to the SCOD but is a little more American sounding and ODish but is still syrupy thck.... if you must have razorblade high on tap as well as gooey thick mids and lows I am not sure. Personally my favorite straight up distortion thru an ac30/15 type amp is the venerable proco rat (maybe you could use the extra gain of a turbo rat, but a rat and ac30 with a set of PAFs was Dave Grohl's secret recipe in the studio for MANY Foo albums) and guys also love the old Crowther Hot Cake to get an ac30 set for rock 'n roll cleans into alterna-rock/punk mean. The AC30 is a naturally thick amp once you get enough signal into the power tubes. It has full, round bass and THICK midrange even at 2 or 3. Almost any distortion will take on a lot of girth thru a ragin' EL84 amp. The Marshall 18 and 20 watt circuits have some thick, chewey mids too, though much more controlled bass and a tighter alla round sound than something in the vox camp. You get the idea though. You are already venturing into thick midrange territory. There is a saturated quality to even a dual EL84 CLEAN sound played at proper band volume. It is SO the opposite of fender clean.

I want tap tempo, so once you go for tap delay you are looking at digital unless you wanna spring for a Diamond Memory lane or the new tappable TRex tape echo. I might as well digitize all my effects and make the modulations tap tempo too plus get a million zillion other features, esoteric effects like synths and shimmer verb and dumb shit only the Edge would think of using PLUS preset capability and a built in expression pedal. Might as well be ALL OUT digital or completely old school.

If there is one thing in my "sound" it is mid range. I always on every amp I play put the mids on 10. Always, I just love having the mids there. So I guess a vox style amp like the vc30 just makes sense for me. I Also love the clean channel where it is quite chimey or whatever you want to call it. I might ditch the seventy80 for a greenback or V30. Totally different speakers but I love how they both sound.

I'll take a look at those pedals and hopefully try them at some point too. I have played a proco rat and loved it. I'll have to try the turbo rat. I like the HM-2. Its more versatile than its name suggests and it doesn't scoop the mids out either. I think the metal zone replaced it. The metal zone os a funny pedal, it gets really bad rep because of these kids scooping the mids, putting the highs at like 8 and the bass at like 6. And maxing out the gain and volume. Makes it sound crappy. If you set one up properly they cam sound pretty decent, still bot great but way better than the bad rep suggests

I don't like the edge or U2 that much. Don't know why, I just don't like them and find them pretty boring and over processed if that's the right word?

I have just found a vox ac50 head made in 1965 and all original parts, minus the handle which was replaced. He's wanting £650 for it, what do you think, if I can get the money should I go for it? Also isn't the AC50 voiced differently to the ac15 and ac30?

the AC50 is the ULTIMATE chimey vox clean. It is very low gain but chimes for days and still ha some magic vox mids going. Its very high headroom but gets marshally when pinned. I rather want one. I almost bought a broken one off a riend but chickened out at the last minute. The Beatles sound is from the 1 channel ac50 mk1 or the 2 channel mk2. Mk3 and later are a little less clean. These amps are super sparkly with fabulous mids. Top boost channels only though. Until the Mk4 they are stock with 12au7 low gain, hifi dual triodes in V1 which make them really spanky and dynamic but keep the gain really low. They are vox's best pedal platform. They do get VERY HOT because they use a weird cathode/fixed bias scheme on the EL34 tubes. You will want a robust set of power tubes like JJ teslas. Do not get anything Russian or Chinese even if it sounds better. The amp will devour anything less robust like the GT EL34M, new sensor/EHX stuff, and Svetlana winged Cs. A 1965 is either a Mk2 or Mk3, not sure though. They are a little different but both good in their own way. You may wanna have her modded to have a standby switch eventually. I'll explain more if you buy her....

Check youtube for an ac50 demo. There are a few done by stores that capture the real sound of the amp, though you can't experience the punchy feel without actually trying it for yourself.

The price on this AC50 is very good for an original, working example. In the USA mid 60s ac50s regularly trade for well over a grand. MAKE SURE IT HAS THE ORIGINAL OUTPUT TRANSFORMER, don't tke the dude's word for it. If you need me to get pics of the original trannies for you I will. They do not make transformers up to the snuff of the old british iron by radiospares, haddon, woden and partridge anymore unless you wanna pay top dollar (or pound). An ac50 puts out in excess of 60 watts RMS, so a puny modern 50 watt transformer like the drakes in 90s or later marshalls will not handle it. A 50 watt drake of that type was used in the 90s, Marshall built AC30/6TB reissues to handle the lower wattage of that model safely. Okay?

If everything is legit with this amp you should beg borrow and steal to get it before someone else does. If possible see it and try it in person. This is an investment piece that will not only serve your needs, but will ALSO continually rise in value as long as you take care of her. AC50s sound really good thru a quad of 25 watt G12M celestions or a weber 30 watt blue dog mixed with his 30 watt silver bell (both alnico) for a really vintage tone but with safe power handling (old AC50s regularly blew up their 2xG12 blue w/midax horn setup which is why original AC50 cabs are so rare these days)... do not pair the AC50 with a vintage 30, it willg et harsh. If you must go ceramic in a 2x12 try a G12H30 style speaker, preferably with the 55hz bass cone to smooth the vox chime out a smidge. These amps also love hemp cones in ceramic or alnico...

if you can beg around the family and pawn more gear you should go play this amp with cash in hand ASAP. Someone wills coop her up. They are very desireable. Not as much as a JMI 15 or 30, but more desireable than ANY OTHER VOX, even a JMI AC10 in good condition (except maybe the AC10 super-reverb-twin head, which is its own beast and truly awesome even though JMI reverb sucks a dick).

I guess I shall grab it as soon as the credit card gets accepted. Send me some pictures of the output transformers so I know what I am looking for. I'll swap out the v30s or get a 412 with greenbacks then. I guess if all is good I shall snap this up very quick. it is 15 or so miles away so will have to take it back on the train but trains are nice and quick. I'll make sure I use the JJ teslas in there too. Never knew these was so desirable

here's a mk1:

http://www.voxshowroom.com/ct/amp/uk/ac50sb/AC-50_chassis_dual_input_rear_12.jpg

mk2 (note that most mark 2 50 waters do NOT have a third octal tube for rectification and instead have diode bridge rectification like a mark 3, but the early mk2 amps are really 2 channel, production model mk1's... the mk1 was built to order, initial for the Beatles and later for other bands and anyone who ordered one, the mk2 was the first ac50 that was a catalog item as far as I know):

http://www.voxshowroom.com/ct/amp/uk/ac50bb/AC50TR_chassis_top_12.jpg

a mk3:

http://www.voxshowroom.com/ct/amp/uk/ac50bb/AC50DR_chassis_rear_12.jpg

notice the HUGENESS... they should be good and crusty like this, its rare to see them all clean at your pricepoint. There are guys like Victor Mason at Plexi Palace who do full, like-new restorations with cleanings on vintage Vox and Marshall amps, but the amps that guys like that work on go for top dollar (OR POUND).

Man... my two year old is all about the patch bay! He loves to patch cables! He cracks me up! I do have to look at all my setting on my gear before i power up though. He loves to flick the switches on and off. Thankfully he has not made his way to the power strips. But the funniest thing ever is when i let him push all the faders on this old Behringer console that I dont use. He loved the volume going up and down. I've got video somewhere.. I might have to post that.

mine too! Lucian is always taking cables in and out of my AC30s. I broke out the 1/4" patch bay from my disassembled home studios et up and now he plays with it all the time... he still finds XLRs to be frustrating because of the button but he'll get it. Then I'll have a junior studio assistant. Kids and pro music gear are so funny.

Thanks for those pictures man, sadly the amp has gone before I could gather the cash. I am keeping my eye out for one still though, If I can't find one soon I'm going to go for my second option of a vc30 because I like them a lot and need a new amp as mines up on ebay at the moment. I'm going to save up to get one eventually after getting some more furniture and a new bed because I'm a man child and jump on it and went through it and its now fucked

you are unlikely to see a JMI era ac50 at that price twice in one year, though I expect they are more common in the UK than the USA, they are still not readily available, there just weren't that many made.

I've seen one or two on ebay for not much more. They're probably worth a fair bit less over here. I'll have to try to grab one soon though. But I guess it weren't meant to be

They don't have the rabid following of the ac30 because they are very low gain and high headroom like a hiwatt. Loud amps that don&t want to break up at a reasonable level. It limits the market a bit. They are stillvaluable. They make great pedal amps. Also, the beatles worshippers seem to think the ac30 is the beatles sound when in reality every album between meet the beatles and help was recorded with ac50 mk1 or 2 rigs and by revolver they had vox hybrid amps, fender dual showmans and paul's amps, a blonde bassman (same model brian setzer uses) and a selmer 50 watter.

I see, not really what vox are known for when most are used to the ac15 and ac30. I bought the Laney today, will be here on Monday or Tuesday. I'm happy, I offered the guy £240 instead which he accepted. I just want a good distortion pedal that I actually like and will keep next. I'm going to give it a retube when I get it as it probably needs one