Vox AC30c2 | Review | Guitar Interactive
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- Опубликовано: 10 сен 2024
- Vox AC30c2 | Review | Guitar Interactive
Jamies Humphries Reviews for Guitar Interactive Issue 40
Guitar Interactive Magazine | Issue 40 | Brian May
Get your free copy here www.iguitarmag.com
Welcome to GI 40, a very special issue that we've been hoping to bring you... well, since we first planned the magazine!
Brian May is a unique figure in Rock guitar and he has been interviewed on many occasions in many different publications, so when we were finally able to arrange an interview with him, we decided to take a different route. Instead of sending a mere journalist to interview him and his highly regarded tech expert, Pete Malandrone, we sent Jamie Humphries, who as our features explain has a unique inside approach to the Brian May team. We like to think we've produced the definitive Brian May special as a result.
Also on board is Zakk Wylde, making a welcome return to GI, telling us why he's going into the guitars and amps business!
Don't forget the usual abundance of reviews, columns and this issue's stonking competition opportunity to win a complete set of Moog's Minifooger pedals - in our estimation some of the finest effects pedals money can buy!
www.iguitarmag.com
brian may guitars | super | KVox AC30c2 | Guitar | brain may sound
I showed up as a guest to play on a song at a studio earlier this year. They said for me to just bring my guitar. I plugged my Gretsch Duo Jet into one of these. It's the first time I've ever played through one and I've been playing for 40 years. I did power pop records in the early 90s and toured all over the US with a Fender Twin. I was NOT prepared for what I heard from this amp! I immediately fell in love with the amp. Picked one up a month ago and I'm never looking back.
I recently got this exact amp. And I've just been trying to learn it little by little. Not much of a guitar tech guy, just a rocker at heart. This video is just what I'm looking for. Had to look hard for this model. Thanks!
Damn, imagine if the Vox was really turned up!
Vox amps all have "channel bleed." Meaning, the channel that you are NOT plugged into will affect your tone unless you roll its volume all the way off.
Been realizing that myself
Very good video. Top bloke is Jamies. The AC30 is truly an interesting amplifier considering the range of tone its been accredited with over the years: Hank Marvin, Rory Galagher and the like followed by heavy rock men Ritchie Blackmore and Brian May before the Edge of U2 came and brought it back for more shimmering clean stuff. This is the very amp used for the legendary Deep Purple album "In Rock" as well as their concert for group and orchestra. Theres a video of a young Ritchie Blackmore shredding the hell out of his Gibson Es335 through the AC30 - thats a must watch video. An interesting bit of tid-but, When Blackmore went to Marshall, he wanted them to replicate the AC30 tone in the Marshalls which they couldnt do, so they actually put AC30s into Marshall cabs and thats what were used on tours - Blackmore fact. Cheers
Interesting that you missed out the band that made the vox ac series famous more than any other artist - The Beatles. Search for a video titled "History of the Beatles amplifiers". It's really interesting and shows just how instrumental (no pun intended) they were in the development of Vox amps.
one of the best amps I have played,,,,and everyone will have an opinion positive and/or negative, but to each his/her own! Killer tone!
Greatest amp of all time
Goat
Vox ac30 and Peavey 5150 block letter are the only two amps you would ever need
Amp is an overpriced piece of trash
@@TheMagickShowif you make an ac30 sounds bad, then it’s probably not the amp that’s the problem 😅
@@marcospintor1333 i said it was an overpriced piece of garbage, but i most certainly make it sound prettier than you ever could. Fuck off ya noodle.
This was the most informative review in terms of the control variations , and almost endless possibilities for actual use that I have ever seen . Loved the nod to Hank Marvin , so often forgotten in the superlative tributes ! Thank you sir , off to get my one Monday thanks to this review .
Excellent review of the Vox AC302. Just bought an AC302x. Jamie's video answered a lot of questions I had about using the normal and top boost channel, low and high input and also where to place, how to use your pedal effects with the AC30. I bought the AC30 with the Celestion Alnico Blues. The amp has some great tone, saturation is really loud for 30 watts!
I’m about to pull the trigger on same AC302x. I use a more distorted tone and was wondering if you’re happy with it. Also, does it take pedals well? I’m not able to see if it’s made in China or not. Video after video keeps pointing me in this direction. It’s about $1650 in the states.
Great vid, too bad you couldn't turn up the master volume, it would've changed the sound from night to day, much fuller and solid, and closer to Brian's of course
Your voice is very clear and pleasant. A pleasure to listen to.
I really wish Vox would put out an AC30 where the two channels were actually useable to switch between. What I mean by that is that the top boost and normal channel should both have their own master volume and gain controls and ditch the two inputs for a much more practical channel switch that is foot-switchable. Make that change and keep the FX loop to drag Vox into the 21st century finally. I say this as a die-hard fanboy that uses Vox despite their obnoxious idiosyncracies. Also, it would be really cool if they took they attenuator feature that they have on the AC30 heads and added that to the combo.
I have just bought an AC30, how do you overcome this? I thought I'd be able to switch on the boost with the foot pedal but it switches reverb on and off..
@@jordanelias187 Unfortunately, the channels are not footswitchable. Closest you can get to that is to use an ABY switcher and plug that into both inputs. Another option if you want to stick in the Vox family, briefly in 2007-2009 they made a footswitchable AC50 (ac50cp2).
Found one of these C2's a while back in a pawn shop for $500, mint shape. Sweet tone but heavy!
how heavy we talking?
@@nelsonwatches5393 70 fucking pounds
You need to turn the master up to really saturate the power valves and get the 'real deal' tone. I would say after 12. That is why it sounds a bit thin on this demo. I am using an attenuator (cheap jettattenuator) so I loose a bit of treble but you will get a richer tone overall.
9:15 I cant resist either every time. wish i had someone to control the speed knob for me
15:04 It really starts to sound better and better from this point on. Nice demo.
Sounds like shit for $1300 amp
Hiya, just realized that Brian is an avatar on stage and it's you doing all the playing really 😂👍🎸🤟
Hey really nice video! Does the Volume change at all in when playing in the low input channels when reducing the volume on the guitar whilst still being on a high volume on the amp, as if you were playing like a clean section.
Excellent review, but the amp sounds like an early 70's transistor fuzz box to me.
It’s cuz the master volume is so low
Great video ..just got one of these amps. Helped a lot ...
real cool you mentioned the rory thing with the sound !! great stuff !!
Very nice tones, especially the lower gain ones. May have to get another couple of voxes haha
is my new AC30C2 broken or why does it sound like a thunderstorm instead of the cool "crunchy" sound (as you call it), i have a telecaster.
I am not an expert but I own an AC30 C2 too and have the same problem. I guess there are three reasons:
1. The Guitar - He is using a special guitar with single coils and he mainly uses only the bridge pickup position, so the guitar as the signal source is already more sharp in sound.
2. Mic placement - If you look at the microphone you can see that it is placed pretty close the centre of the speaker. Because of that the microphone particularly "hears" the high frequency range of the speaker. If the mic would be placed a little more out of centre, the tone would be less sharp and the mic would catch more of the low mids and lows.
3. The same effect like the one with the mic placement occurs with your ears. When your speaker doesn't point straight at your face you will hear the tone less sharp and more indirect. Now that you don't hear the high mids and highs in the first place the low mids and lows become more audible even though they were always there. This is because the lower tone is no longer drown out by the higher tone.
To have a more sharp and less muddy tone you should put your speaker on a stand, table or so. At leas you should buy or build something to angle it so it does point direktly to your ears.
If you have the same problem with your miced amp try put your microphone a little more in front of the centre of the speaker (~2 inches away from the centre).
If that doesn't help compare your amp with a new one of the same model from the store to find out if something is wrong. Hope this helps.
Did you solve it??
Now i'm heree !!
Thanks. Great info
Hi! I have a vox Ac 30 c2 what class is it?
Silly question, but can you play with two guitars plugged? This is definitely a great amp, looking to buying one soon
Javier Fernandez yes
Very good overview
great amp! great test!
I prefer using vox ac30 high normal channel with treble booster
high gain tones ?
Awesome review
Are the channels switchable?! I thought the footswitch was only for enabling the tremolo and the reverb...
Not switchable on the go without an A/B pedal. One input into each channel with an A/B would do what I think you want to do. Personally I say put a clean boost in the low gain input of the normal, and crank the master. This gives you a wonderfully clean chimey tone with plenty of headroom. I have mine set on the brink of break up. And then I use overdrive and distortions pedals for massive sounds. If stacking overdrive pedals on the top boost channel it's just gain on gain. A hat on a hat. No headroom. Normal is where it is.
@@ricopaulson1 Use an AC30 as a platform for pedals? You'll be missing its main feature which is exactly the absence of negative feedback so you can navigate smoothly from a low-gain driven sound up to a distorted one. Mind you, no discrete transistor and etc can ever get that sweet tube sound. I wouldn't mind walking to the amp to adjust the channel volume... the things is unplugging the cable and plugging it again wouldn't be nice on the stage imo. To go from that drive to that heavy distorted it seems to me I'd have to change channels eventually, correct me if I'm wrong.
It's great rock and roll machine
Is the Greenbacks in these made in China?
The tubes defenetely are
Greenbacks been made in China since 2000.
top guitarist
Does it have a little hum when on and the volume rolled off?
Very tiny hum. Barley audible. It’s very quiet for a tube amp
is it stereo?
GO jamie humphries go!!!
What’s the best setting for Brian’s tone
I'm pretty sure Brian turns the AC30 volume all the way up, whiles keeping the treble and bass all the way down. Oh yeah, and a treble booster of course.
normal channel all the way up, and a treble booster on top of that
what channel and settings does Brian May use?
Normal channel
still possible to jump the channels?
Yep ypu can still jump the channels
i love mine
At lower volumes it just sounds so brittle
If yer gonna review an ac30 do it right and get a vox master aka brian may and his guitar to demo it....well jaimies pretty damn close.... good job gi
So no foot switching for channels then... how strange.
I haven't ever heard one demo of a modern vox that comes close to those classic recordings of vox amplifiers. They all sound like a fuzzy mess to me.
Who can tell mi the name of this guitar xdxdxd
Se llama Red Special
Isn't the new hand wired made in China also?
Or Vietnam, though I believe that some special editions are made in the UK.
Mdf cab though
6:57 apache
Sounds REALLY thin.
Why waste watts creating bass frequencies? You just end up fighting with the bassist for sonic space. The high mids and tops from Vox amps can't be created by anything else, and if you play through a black panel Fender Deluxe Reverb together with a Vox, they are a perfect sonic marriage!
@@kosmicwizard yeah well I’d still say it has way to little body to it. Add some body to the base sound and then cut it when mixing.
Ben Roethlisberger is that you?
Oh, what a skinny shrill tone. Nothing for my ears.
Sorry but you don't have the sound.
WRONG ---- CHANNELS ARE NOT FOOT SWITCHABLE!!!!!
Good review, awful tones
Made in China. Not hand wired. Who knows what is under the hood. Would like to see some photos of the inside of the amp.
I own one of these with a separate head and 2x12 cabinet. It DOES NOT sound like the amp here. That sounds like dog shit.
It sounds bad
+morabeza1 it doesn't; )
He’s got the master way down
Is it guitar or the amp? I don't care for it.
It’s the fact that the master is way down. If it was able to breathe.. look out. Greatest amp ever when it’s cranked. Unfortunately that’s blisteringly loud
@@calebbohrer3757 Yeah the master was way too low.
Doesn't sound very good.
I was considering buying this until I heard "Chinese built".
Why the change of heart? Chinese built amps (AC30s at least) are incredibly reliable (far more so than their english counterparts) and sound great when you can turn them up!
Best amp I've ever owned, It has been made by a father of 2 kids in China instead of a father of 2 kids in England...
Was trying a Made in USA Strat in a store the other day, one of the tone knob fell down... It used to be a big deal, it's not anymore.
...Bought an Orange AD30TC Combo, but after having problems, I got the VOX AC30C2X instead. Can't figure out how to get the overdrive sound...
Turn up the volume
Fecking gun it mate, trust me that'll do it. Failing that, slam a booster in the front
I prefer Marshalls....
I have zero interest in copying Brian May's sound.
Keep informing us
I am sure Brian is devastated.
It's great rock and roll machine