NAD: Vox AC15

Billy3000 · Post by **Billy3000** » Sat Sep 01, 2012 3:58 pm

So I sold my SG yesterday because after a while of it sitting in it's case I decided that I favored my other guitars better, and I wanted a new amp. I put it up on craigslist to find a trade offer, and a lot of people were low balling me and over-valuing their amps. One person wanted to trade me some terrible line 6 amp plus $100 cash even. And also something I've only found in Atlanta, lots of people trying to trade Guns for music gear... weird. Anyway, I gave up on the trade idea, and found a guy that wanted to pay cash for it. I had decided on a Vox AC15, and wanted to sell the SG so I could get one. I met up with him yesterday at Guitar Center made the sale, and immediately went and bought this on sale! I love it so much! I tested it out with the new Squier Jazzmaster (had faulty wiring so I didn't get a good test of it) and the Squier Jaguar in surf green which I fell in love with! I almost ended up buying both together, but they couldn't come down enough on the combined price to make it within my budget so unfortunately I had to pass on the jag, even though I was about to get it for only $250!

I brought it home and played it all afternoon yesterday and I love it! It really nails that classic vox tone, and with the tube screamer I'm borrowing from the guitar player in my band it sounds great! I'm looking into getting a new OD pedal to go with it, most likely the fulltone OCD but I'm going to test a bunch this week. From what I've heard about the stock tubes it comes with the chinese tubes in it, which I'm not sure about the power tubes, but I'm not a fan of the sound of chinese 12ax7's at higher volumes. I might try out some JJ's or Tung Sol's in there, anyone have any recommendations as far as tubes that they've tried in there? I love the sound of the amp right now, but I'm sure I'll love it even more getting rid of those chinese preamp tubes! Anyway, here's some pics.

AaronGuitarDude · Post by **AaronGuitarDude** » Sat Sep 01, 2012 4:14 pm

hm.. Chines tubes are ok, but they are prone to "damage" due to the quality. meh, i'll change the tube while it can be used. XD

benecol · Post by **benecol** » Sat Sep 01, 2012 4:19 pm

Great amp - love mine to bits. The bright cap mod is really easy to do, and makes it much more pedal-friendly.

Ankhanu · Post by **Ankhanu** » Sat Sep 01, 2012 6:27 pm

Sweet.

I've been considering a new amp, something with some overdrive to it, as I've been playing a Twin Reverb for about 7-8 years; an AC30 was my first thought, but an ACq5 might just do the trick too.
How's the clean headroom on the AC15? Enough to play a small-moderate venue without micing and competing with drums, etc.? I'm sure the crunch on tap would probably be loud enough, but I want some clean flexibility too!

benecol · Post by **benecol** » Sat Sep 01, 2012 10:35 pm

Be borderline for clean, I reckon - I love the cleans, but not sure they'd do a mid-sized venue un-micced.

serfx · Post by **serfx** » Sat Sep 01, 2012 11:22 pm

great little amps, since selling the ac100 i've been meaning `t pick up an ac15 or 30 to use for working caste gigs.. or at least recording.

Ankhanu · Post by **Ankhanu** » Sun Sep 02, 2012 2:20 am

benecol wrote:Be borderline for clean, I reckon - I love the cleans, but not sure they'd do a mid-sized venue un-micced.

Guess I should go 30 rather than 15 then. Thanks.

Now to make my own thread!

Billy3000 · Post by **Billy3000** » Sun Sep 02, 2012 5:55 am

Ankhanu wrote:Sweet.

I've been considering a new amp, something with some overdrive to it, as I've been playing a Twin Reverb for about 7-8 years; an AC30 was my first thought, but an ACq5 might just do the trick too.
How's the clean headroom on the AC15? Enough to play a small-moderate venue without micing and competing with drums, etc.? I'm sure the crunch on tap would probably be loud enough, but I want some clean flexibility too!

I've had a twin for about 6 years too and know exactly what you mean in your other thread. My twin just doesn't break up at all... I love it but it really just doesn't break up. I wanted the vox cause I like the chiminess of it's clean sound and it's amazing overdrive! I love how responsive it is to how you play too, if you dig in a bit you can get some sweet clean breakup! As far as the clean headroom I haven't been able to get the volume up too high besides at the store, I would have to check it out at band practice to see how well the clean headroom holds up over my drummer, before I could make any comment on whether or not it could handle staying clean at small venue volumes without being mic'd. I have heard that certain tubes can help increase the clean headroom on it though. I will say it gets LOUD! I didn't have to have it turned up too much to be worried that I was going to piss off my neighbors when I played it yesterday.

Billy3000 · Post by **Billy3000** » Sun Sep 02, 2012 6:05 am

AaronGuitarDude wrote:hm.. Chines tubes are ok, but they are prone to "damage" due to the quality. meh, i'll change the tube while it can be used. XD

I know some people don't mind chinese tubes, some even love them. But I've had them in other amps, and been displeased with the harsh drive tone of them, and changed them out just to experiment and instantly been more satisfied. I've done that in multiple amps too and I'm always more impressed with the sound after replacing them. I love the sound of the AC15 stock right now, but I do hear that harsh sound that I associate with the chinese 12ax7's when I dial in the overdrive. If I love it this much right now, I can't help but think that I'll love it even more with a good set of JJ or Tung-sol 12ax7's in there.

Ankhanu · Post by **Ankhanu** » Sun Sep 02, 2012 6:58 am

Lookin' forward to your impressions, especially since you know exactly where I'm comin' from!

awfurby · Post by **awfurby** » Mon Sep 03, 2012 12:02 pm

I've got one Tung Sol and one ElectroHarmonix valve in my AC15. Seems fine to me - I generally run the amp
12 o'clock in practice (we're a
Loud band) and then open it up all the way for gigs. I hate the weight of it, but the responsiveness and crunch is fantastic.

lank81 · Post by **lank81** » Fri Sep 07, 2012 6:33 pm

Running JJ and Tung-Sols in mine and I dig it. I've always wanted to change out the Greenback to a Blue just to see if it really is the be all end all but never wanted to shell out the money. Anyone else change their C1 speaker and find a "better" match?

honeyiscool · Post by **honeyiscool** » Fri Sep 07, 2012 8:02 pm

I have one myself. I changed the reverb tank to a full sized one and that really brought out the right tone for me. Otherwise it's stock. What can I say? I love reverb.

NickS · Post by **NickS** » Sat Sep 08, 2012 4:02 pm

benecol wrote:Be borderline for clean, I reckon - I love the cleans, but not sure they'd do a mid-sized venue un-micced.

Ever seen the Vox documentary? The designer almost got fired because Jennings said 15W was loud enough and the guy still tried to order bits to build the AC30 because the bands were asking for more.

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_ ... w+dartford