Vox AC15 Guitar Combo Amp

I love how its actually an AC30 in the picture

doesn't the current production ac15cc come in a 2x12 now? and back in the day the ac15 was ALWAYS available as an ac15 twin in an identical cab to the 30, I really want a JMI coppertop example to go with my '62 ac30

@jimmarchi1 nah they're still 1x12s. They did make an AC15 twin but I don't think it has the two side handles like the AC30 does.

The Beatles barely used the ac30, mostly used the ac50 and ac100 and then fender bassmans and showmans. Those bigger amps are nothing like the 15 and 30...though the custom classics are voiced cleaner and brighter to sound moe AC50ish to please beatle fans. Real JMI 15s and 30s are very midrangey, particularly the 15 since in the vintage era it was NOT top boosted, had 1 master tone for both channels and super-high-gain (by vintage standards) pentode inputs instead of triodes like the ac30 top boost. Yours is really a half power ac30 though, well, a half power ac30 custom classic, which is not precisey an ac30 in the 60s sense, but with blues it'll get the job done. There was a lot of variation at vox just within the original JMI era and the definitive ac30 sound is mostly in our heads. For me its my '62, but my 62 is bass voiced model with a factory top-boost ubrade and a really hot cathode bias setup even by ac30 standards, not typical beyond its year, but to my ear it defines AC30 tone. But I have ahd it for 15 years now....

why am I sharing this stuff, nobody cares

@jimmarchi1 Dude you know the AC50 and AC100 are just louder versions of the ac30...

they are not

1) 50 and 100 are fixed bias (a weird take on fixed bias, but fixed bias all the same), the 30, 15 and 10 are cathode biased

2) the 50 and 100 utilize a modified top boost preamp with less gain and a brighter voicing up until the mk iv version. You get a super bright top boost and a mildly bright top boost with independent stone stacks for each channel. No normal channel, no trem channel, no EF86 channel.

there are a lot of little voicing tweaks in the larger amps meant to please the Beatles back when they asked Vox for more power, they really, really are not the same thing as the smaller vox models. They are awesome. The examples I played sounded really great, kinda between a marshall plexi and a hiwatt. They don't transition into distortion as subtley as a 30 or 15 and the distortion is much edgier. They are a lot tighter sounding and less midrangey as well. The bright channel is also CRAZY bright like a Hiwatt or 70s JMP.

The main thing that makes them voxy is the lack of negative feedback.

Awesome amps (though prone to overheating), but a louder ac30 is 2or 3 ac30s daisy chained, not a 50 or 100. The big voxes are their own things in person and on paper.

Well, it's not loud enough to gig with a drummer - although an extension speaker may help with more volume. And surely there are all sorts of 50W Marshalls, even quiet ones.

Believe me, I was surprised at how loud it is! Among other things I play guitar in a 4 piece outfit, very late 60s/early 70s/Led Zeppelin inspired, where the drummer has a 26" bass drum, and even at festivals I've never had a problem even when I didn't plug it into an extension cab, neither to hear myself nor to be heard. Also, the Marshall in question was a Modern/Vintage 50W combo, which I eventually got rid of in favour of, and pound for pound/watt for watt the Vox always matched it. I've played through a lot of stuff, Fender, Orange, Mesa Boogie, Marshall, the usual suspects, but honestly, this is the amp that has surprised me the most!