Best clean amp for a Ric 330/6

[dcflash]

My Ricks sound pretty good threw my Fender Blues Junior.And the price isn't that bad.

[RicukStu]

With your budget you could maybe have a look at the ACTV4H head and cab for around the £300 mark, it's my current practice amp at home and it looks and sounds great.

[david/wales/u.k]

I've just bought the VoxAc30vr and my first impressions are good.( it's a lot bigger than I remember but looks terrific ).I played it with the volume at halfway and it was too loud really (especially for the neighbours I would think)...Haven't tried it with the janglebox yet..I found it hard to make up my mind but the good reviews swung it for me. I was leaning towards Fender but there wasn't anything I particulary liked in this price range as I didn't want a modelling amp.
The sound is clean and I haven't had chance to play it loud enough to start to break up and I'm not sure if I want to as a crisp clean sound is what I've been looking for...
I need to play it and experiment now though.

[hallewa]

Mid to late 70s Music Man 210 HD 130 is my favorite. Hard to find and usually about $500 when available.

[Hotzenplotz]

Hi David,

congrats to Your purchase! I found out that the speakers of the VR (like every new amp speakers) need about 30-40 hours of playing until they are over the run in period. The amp will be a bit louder and more brilliant after that time.

If the speakers are a bit muddy or "quiet" to Your taste I warmly recommend the Celestion Vintage 30.
I wrote a little review about the mod in another thread:

As promised, after three joyful hours of today's rehearsal a first result: GREAT, GREAT and GREAT!!!

The tone is absolutely clear, warm, full and ringing. No harsh at all, it just vibes! And such a nice punch! I am sure a twelve-string will fit perfectly, too. Already with a six-string the opening chord of "A Hard Day's Night" sounds very close to the original.

I had to reduce the output 30% in the end (the others did not change their settings)! Now the AC30VR offers more headroom than I need. Do not forget the speakers are still in the run in period (I read it needs about 40 hours for that). The first ten minutes the sound was some kind of stiff, panic! - but then I had to reduce the volume song by song and the speakers started to behave smoother and smoother. My bandmates did not want to believe it is the same amp they knew before.

For all who are looking for a pricey, full and ringing Rickenbacker sound, british-coloured in the typical AC30 style: Buy the VOX AC30VR, upgrade to the Celestion Vintage 30 and be just happy! The original speakers can be sold to reduce the price for this upgrade to a ridiculous minimum, too.
I personally think this combination is some kind of insider's tip, suitable for making the marketing department of VOX a bit nervous when they think of selling the all tube AC30!

Yummy!

Comparisons between the VR and the all tube AC30 are often a bit "unfair", IMHO, for the reason the VR is the pricey entry in the AC world. The all tube ones use other speakers. For 500 bucks nobody can expect an amp with two greenbacks, bulldogs, etc. - but with the V30... For home use definitely too loud!

Even without a swap the VRs are really great. Last week I saw a gig where a Les Paul was played through an AC15VR. No extra effects - stunning and clearly loud enough for a pub gig! And it was not full throttle...
The sound was so characterful! And the AC30VR offers double output and a few dials more...


Stop reading, play it, You'll love it!

Enjoy!

[david/wales/u.k]

Hi Hotz,
Tim at sound affects told me that you had changed the speakers. I can't do that as I haven't got the money to do anything at the moment...I think you're right about the amp needing to be run in. When it arrived today, I switched it on and for 5 minutes nothing happened!!...........There wasn't any sound at all. I really started to panic...Then the sound was quiet and gradually got louder thank goodness...I'm looking forward to playing the Ric through this.

[Hotzenplotz]

Tim is right.

I play the 7,4k toasters and TI flats. In this case some more power and clarity is not bad. I was playing nearly one year through the stock speakers. The amp is definitively ready to use, no half way solution. I was saving some money, too, and later I transformed it to my personal perfect AC30.
It is like with cars. Even when You drive already 200hp You could also imagine 50hp more. Whether You need it, is up to You. What I want to say is You can make a beast of it. - I love beasts!
You said it is for home use. Mine is for the rehearsal room and stage. So You already have a lot of power to make Your neighbours very angry!

Yes, this run in period is a bit strange with them (five minutes of nothing sounds a bit too much to me, but if it works now, fine!). The first minutes I was some kind of disappointed, although it was a demonstration model, what means it had already some minutes of run in. With the V30s it was the same: I thought: "Oh no! - So much money for a such lousy tone!" But then the amp started to "breath" deeper and deeper - in both cases.

Enjoy Your amp, the more You play it, the more You will love it! I am sure. Especially when You found out how to use the dials for "Your" sound. It needs some experiments. And maybe it already offers all You were looking for. If not, well, then maybe my interjections could be some inspiration...

Please keep us informed how do You like it.


PS: TIm is great, isn't he?!

[Tommy]

Now that I have a 330, I can add my two cents to this topic.



Christmas morning I unpacked my new 330 and plugged her into my twenty year old Fender Princeton Chorus. I knew it would be great and it was. Bright, shiny, cleans. Each string and note perfectly defined. No matter what guitar I plug into this amp I get heavenly sounds. The Ric 330 was no exception. Just perfect.

A week or two later I finally got around to plugging in my 330 into my VOX AC30. That amp is very finicky and some guitars (my Gretsches, my Casinos) just sound blah in it. My 360/12 sounds fine, but much better in my Fender amp, so I was worried about how the 330 would sound. Well, my AC30 was fantastic with my 330. I definitely linked the channels, Top Boost alone was too bright, and cranked it up pretty loud. When loud it all sounded very Rickenbacker...exactly the sound that one buys a Rickenbacker for. The crunch (when using the neck pickup) got a bit muddy and needed tweaking, but the cleans sure were the classic Ric tone.

I happily found that you can't go wrong with Fender or a VOX amp when you plug a Ric six string into it.

[Folkie]

Tommy,

My Princeton Chorus is 15 years old and sounds killer with both my 12'ers, not to mention my Strat, PRS, and Guild archtop. I never got around to buying that Vox amp we talked about, as I've been modding my Rics instead: new toasters on the 330/12 and a string-spacing adjustment on the 360/12. Haven't got the latter back from the shop yet. I'll let you know how she plays and sounds when I do.

Robert

[david/wales/u.k]

String spacing adjustment on the 360/12.........That sounds interesting....Perhaps you can post some before and after pics when you get her back.

[Folkie]

I''ll try to do that, David!