Oh, For the Love of an AC15
Wow. Yesterday, I had a chance to play a session through a new Vox AC15C1. Really dynamic and responsive to play. Great character and presence, and a really nice break up when you dig in.
My usual session amp, a late-eighties solid-state Fender Stage 185, is increasingly unsatisfying to play- seems I can never find the right level of brightness in a band setting. Cranking up the presence, or tweaking the treble tends to make it harsh before it becomes pleasant. The clean channel is pretty nice, but the drive/boost channel tends to feel a bit fizzy.
Vox has just released a new hand-wired series, including the AC15HW1, pictured left. After my experience with the AC15C1, I’m anxious to hear whether the use of top-shelf components, hand wiring, tube rectifier, birch cabinet, ruby tubes, can make the already great sounding AC15 even better.
I also really like the ability to kick in extra gain with the new hot/cool foot switch, and the the OP mode switch to drop to 7.5W for nighttime playing.
The only things missing from the hand-wired series are the tremolo and reverb. One tune in yesterday’s session, Glen Phillips’ excellent laid back version of I Want A New Drug, calls for a bit of tremolo- but every time I tried kicking in the AC15C1’s trem, I just found it distracting and reached back to flick down the knob- perhaps I was just overdoing it, but I think I can probably live without it :) And while the AC15C1’s reverb is very warm, smooth and pleasant- I rarely use reverb. And I must say, if you turn the verb knob up over about 10%, it just sounds huuuuge, like you’re playing inside a water tower.
Warning- explicit photos follow:
Full disclosure- I work for Korg R&D, which owns Vox. So perhaps I’m a little biased towards Vox, over other alternatives (employee discount, woo-hoo!)
UPDATE 3/22/2011: I did eventually buy that AC15HW1, and it is a thing of beauty. I borrowed Chuck’s AC15C1 again and made a video comparing the two.
October 22, 2010 @ 3:08 am
The new AC15 is a bargain. I’ve put it head to head with an older British made AC!5 I’ve got with a Celestion Blue and it runs neck and neck with it on tone.
However, that handwired amp definitely LOOKS better and might even sound better. Thanks for the tip; I”m going to keep an eye out for this one.
October 24, 2010 @ 9:23 am
Hey Steve,
Does your new AC15 have the greenback or blue?
I’ve never found a controlled direct A/B comparison of the green vs blue (in same amp/cabinet, same settings, etc).
I just ordered the new handwired AC15HW1 (greenback), and will be doing a side-by-side comparison with the AC15C1 (greenback).
There are many differences between the two amps (in particular the silicon vs tube rectifier). So it’ll be interesting to hear the differences.
Then perhaps I’ll get an alnico blue speaker and do the A/B comparison in the AC15HW1….
Stay tuned 🙂
-John
October 24, 2010 @ 6:59 pm
It’s the base model greenback. But it is right in there with the British one I’ve got that has a British celestion blue in it. The new AC15’s are very nice, IMO. It will be interesting to see what the HW brings to the table.