Cracked vox ac30 layout

To view this site, you must enable javascript or upgrade to a javascriptcapable browser. This is a much more solid, with a fairly well designed circuit board and a layout that is much more service engineer friendly. In the summer of 2012 bnwitt started a discussion at hoffmans amp forum. All we know of the history is it was blown up, partly fixed and blown up again in 1979. The vox ac30 combo amp has been an icon for decades, known as the sound that powered the 1960s british invasion.

It was available with either greenback speakers c2 or alnico blue speakers c2x, and was also available as the. The heater wire has to be twisted tightly to reduce hum. The guide has new schematics, layout drawings, photographs and parts lists for the vox ac30,vox ac15,vox ac10,and the vox ac4. I have 2 channels which i switch back and forth between using a select box footpedal. Tweed 4x10, vox ac30, boutique od, vox ac30tb, brit 800, brit or mkii. The vox ac30c2 custom 30w 2x12 combo carries the spirit of the original alltube ac30. Since the vox ac30 runs power tubes extremely hot, we were only able to test el84s that consistently have a lower idle current draw. How dartfort powered the british beat boom at the infopool site. The ac30 normal channel has a very clean low distortion preamp section and requires a 12ax7ecc83 that is not a high gain type, but above all has low microphonic characteristics. Normal which is my clean channel, and top boost which is my dirty overdrive channel. The clean channel has that slightly scooped vox ac flavour that can sound. He proposed to build a 1960 vox ac15 for his studio. Jamvox has been the ultimate performance studio for the guitarist, providing a large selection of soughtafter guitar amps and effects, plus the gxt function that.

Vox amp schematics to assist you with your amplifier repairs and modifications. Sortingout the worst vox ac30 in the world two pictures of the ac30, as received. Jamvox by vox amplification distortion vst plugin, audio. By bridging the inputs to all 3 channels together internally, you can use all channels at once. Actually, the best ac30 control layout ive seen is brian may edition. I check out my first build, from a while back, and see what i did wrong. My laney lionheart 20 mh started making a continuous cracking noise which.

All structured data from the file and property namespaces is available under the creative commons cc0 license. At the 2010 winter namm expo vox introduced the custom series. This 1964 vox ac30 valve amplifier came to us in a very sorry state. Includes 247 tech support setup, connectivity issues, troubleshooting and much more. Our website and phones are open, but shipping may take a few extra days, for the safety of our team. We also added a permanent link to the bbc one documentary vox pop. View all results for vox ac30 at sweetwater the worlds leading music technology and instrument retailer. Guitar tone is a balancing act, so all the various components that make up an electricguitar rig should be considered carefully. Ok, still on a printed circuit board but what an improvement. The 1964 ac306 treble amp shown at left and above is a mint condition example of this model from the north coast music collection. The rings on the shielded wire between the master pot and the power tubes are the ground connections of the wire shield. I have the vox ac30 cc2x, it has the blue speakers, made in china. Here is a quick look at the different models and my recommendation on the two best versions to buy. Well, what can i say, ive seen many bad amps in my time but i think this vox has to hold the title of the worst amp in the world well certainly as far as vox amps go anyway.

I have a uk ac15tb and i can get real close to an ac30 with a separate 212 open back speaker cab. Vox ac30hw2x 30watt 2x12 handwired tube combo amp with alnico blue speakers. Vox brian may ac30 2006 conversion procedure to the dave peterson ac30 specification danger this document is for use by qualified and experienced amplifier technicians. The voltages in a vox ac30 can kill even after the power has been switched off. The cones on the blue alenco celestion speakers had come away from their chassis. They made history when they released the original ac15 and ac30 around 1960 and whether youre an ac15 owner looking for some extra power, or a new convert to the world of vox amps, any of these vox ac30 amplifiers is a fantastic choice for achieving that vintageauthentic chime and warm tube tone. The vox ac30 has a 4k pp ot, and if you look in the rca receiving tube manual you will see that 8k is recommended for the platetoplate load in class ab at 300v for two tubes, so the optimum class ab loadline would be 4k for four tubes as it is in the ac30. This ac306 super twin was the first amp head produced by vox. Bill wyman to auction amp that got him gig with rolling stones. A a plugging a treble booster like the 65amps colour boost into the darksounding normal channel of a vox ac15 or ac30 can create a wonderful tonal balance. Drops, spills and cracked screens covered from day one. Weber sells an ac30 like kit called the 6v30 which is moderately close to a 60s 3channel ac30, but you get only parts and a layout and schematic, and youd want to upgrade some of the parts and the transformers if youre going for accuracy. A link to the attenuator schematicdiagram is below.

Ive heard it quite often the new vox ac30s are pure shite. I have bought the transformers i used from a ebay store, which exists no longer, but there are a lot of replacement transformers for ac30 available. Features include a twin channel design with both normal and top boost tones, separate gain and master volume, tremelo, spring reverb and treble and bass controls. So im curious, if you were going to recommend an ac30 to someone, what are the good years youd recommend, and which are the bad youd recommend avoiding. The vox ac30cc2 2x12 combo amp is the culmination of over 45 years of high quality, guitar amplifier design and fabrication. Im getting a distortion pedal and my amp is a vox ac30 cc1 all valve. It is the old top boost circuit and sounds phenomenal. I would like to replace some of the tubes and need some advice. The circuitry of the ac30 6 replaced the troublesome ef86 with a more conventional ecc83 12ax7 tube. As a result, vox replaced the ac30 4 combo amp with the ac30 6 in late 1960.

A stone cold crazy guitar amp attenuator for the vox ac30. Vox introduced an ac306 six input head with a matching 2x12 speaker enclosure in the 1962 catalog. Not my favourite fender amp, the el84 valve bases can overheat and crack the. Vox brian may ac30 2006 conversion procedure to the. I have to say this unit wasnt that bad at all tone wise. A new customer glenn brought me his 3 vox ac 30 brian may signature. The layout is inspired by the vox ac30 hw from 2010. Vox ac30 amplifier the specifications of the vox ac306 tb are the result of painstaking research by our guitarists and engineers, who were not happy until they re created the amp that started it all. Highly recommended for bedroom setups and mids scooped fender and vox amps in particular. Just change the tubes from time to time, other than that its a real work horse. Ac30guide your source for infos, articles and modding. Files are available under licenses specified on their description page. Question whats the difference between a vox ac30 and a. The guide was originally intended for the use of service engineers, however it has also proved to be very popular with vox ac30 owners and enthusiasts.

The older ac15tb built in the uk does have a tube rectifier and sounds much more like a classic tube vox ac. It is one of the classic most recognisable british amps to this day. Since its introduction in 1958 the vox ac30 has become one of the most iconic amplifiers in rock. It sounds absolutely gorgeous and i bitterly regret over and over again selling my 1960s one. Now were looking at 1990 30th anniversary limited edition beige model. Check out seymour duncans tone chart and see if they got something. Regiss bohemian rhapsodyne guitar amp attenuator for the vox. Im not sure how many watts are delivered, but this thing can really crank. Bands such as the beatles, the rolling stones, the yardbirds and the kinks were all users of the brand, who manufactured the nowclassic and still in production ac15 and ac30 models. The color of the leads of the output transformer depict the colors of my ot. Based on the classic ac30 design, the allnew custom series ac30c2 offer numerous uptodate enhancements, delivering the most versatile ac30 design in. The cabinet was in pretty poor shape and the baffle and both rear panels had been replaced at some point with particle board ones.

The power transformer should have the following specs on the secondary side. We updated the ac30 infopool with information about the recent ac30 c2 limited editions which is british racing green and blue limited. Ive had two ac4c112s, ac15c1 and ac30c2x, now only one ac4 and ac30. What are your absolute favourite vox ac30ac15 profile third. I was big on u2 at the time and wanted to get the amp that the edge was using. And having a 6l6 fender along, the 60s sound palette is quite complete. Several of their seventies solidstate models including the ac30ss are pretty good, and this tradition carried on all the way to the 90s, with the popular vox cambridge in particular, which is still highlyregarded on the secondhand market. In early 1963, the ac306 super twin, along with all other amps in the vox line, transitioned away from fawn to a pebbled black vinyl. I like the sound of overdriven power tubes though, so i built this attenuator to get it without cracking the walls.

Taf had another crack at the vox in taf10 btw using new mic. I posted a thread once asking what music people think of, and the. His idea was to develop a layout for a single chassis, marshall style amp. For brian mays 1998 world tour, we stuck with the standard. Thats not very far what youll get out of the ac30vr. Bill wyman plans to auction the vox ac30 amplifier that landed him the gig with the. I had been considering picking up a vox ac30 guitar amplifier for a while. In terms of tone control, it is split into three sections volume, tone, and vibrato. The squeal of a failing ef86 tube would often accompany the sound of the guitar playing through an ac30 4 amp. Vox has a great tradition of making excellent solidstate amps. Given our current inventory, your two choices would be sovtek and jj el84s, as we are not able to consistently provide vox amps with other brands of. Restoration of an ac30 integral top boost 1964 an integral top boost ac30 from around 1964 that was in need of some restoration.

But it barely cracked the hot 100 their lowestever showing for a first. The drive channel is surprisingly smooth and takes the amp closer to a vintage ac30. Other breakdowns covered after the manufacturers warranty expires. Vox guitar amps were at the forefront of the sixties british invasion. Amplifier repairs nottingham, chesterfield, derbyshire. Vox diagrams, schematics and service manuals download for free. An old vox ac30 sounds great as it is and doesnt need a whole lot of modding in the tone department, but, a few enhancements will add greater versatility and help reduce noise. Big help if you wanna take a crack at this i would love it. The vox showroom vox ac304 four input guitar amplifier.