Vox AC30VR
He used Vox AC30s as his dirty sound from 2005 onward for both AVA and Blink This is a picture from the studio where AVA was recording Th... more
Reviews
Trusted musician and artist reviews for Vox AC30VR
Based on 8 Reviews
The Affordable AC 30
Top Boost Channel is the only channel, no tremolo, lighter cabinet casing, full VOX tone, I say this is good enough to tide one over before upgrading to the real thing.
I tried one of these for shits and giggles (I am a long time vintage ac30 owner) and was surprised at how passable its ac30 impersonation is when you are careful with the settings considering how cheap it is. The gainy mode is a fucking joke though.
Want One of These
I think they come with Celestion Greenback speakers now; just incredible tones outa this thing. I live in that range between clean and distorted, keeping my neck pickup volume low, so it sounds clean, and then the bridge all the way up so it's nice and crunchy.
Classic sound- good for everything!
I started out with a Vox VT15 modeling amp in the 6th grade and eventually upgraded to one of these babies. It's an amp ready to hit the stage and can get very loud very fast. It's a Tube Amp infused with a pre-amp mp so it's a definite hybrid. The controls are divided into 3 sections: Master, Overdrive, and Normal. The Master section has three knobs that control the overall volume, amount of reverb, and tone cut. The Overdrive section has a full treble, middle, and bass EQ along with Gain and Volume. When activated, the Overdrive function offers a gritty and almost metal distortion sound. You can adjust as you please and get many sounds out of the pre-amp overdrive. Finally, there is a "normal" section that controls treble, bass, and volume. This amp has classic/boutique features and is known to be associated with the Beatles. However, this can deliver some high quality modern rock sounds. In fact, Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters) uses this exact amp! These now sell for $550 online but I'm sure you can find some used once for cheap. Hope this helps!
Great So Far
I just got this and haven't played it to much. I love the amp so far though.
KICK ASS!!
Built in distortion kicks the need to buy a DS-1 pedal. Pretty tone in itself. It's a good inbetween amp. In fact, a great first gigging amp. It can get pretty fucking loud and it doesnt clip (unless you hit it at 10 with two fuzz pedals and a delay pedal, like my dumbass does). The installed reverb and tone cut on it are big helpers in shaping my tone. 350 bucks for this aint a bad investment.
Brilliant
this amp goes amazingly with an Epiphone Casino
Great tone
You can't go wrong with this amplifier. I use it daily for the past 7 years and it sounds great everyday.
I was curious about this ac30 styled hybrid amp when I saw it at Atomic Music in Baltimore last year so I tried it... not a bad sounding amp especially for being like a mini, 1watt tube guitar amp driving a class D, high efficiency solid state power amp... but neither channel sounds like an ac30. I think vox coulda gotten a lot closer by sticking to the ac30s preamp topology instead of trying to add features. I would like to see someone market a hybrid amp at pros and voice it for grown-ups who are used to playing vintage and boutique tube amps... maybe I should do it myself! More info added to this review please.
Looking for a better one
This is okay, but the tubes wore out pretty quick, and it's not worth changing them before I get another high-end tube amp, probably another vox.
ac30hw, worth every penny.... great mix of vintage voxiness and modern conveniences with no extra BS cluttering the circuit... build quality is at least as good as my vintage 30, though some of the compnents are maybe not quite as nice, but they just don't make electronics to the standard they used to (even if the tolerances are a lot tighter now)....
ac30HW, man... best thing vox has put on the market since..... I dunno when!