Vox Amplifiers: China Versus England Built

admin · Post by **admin** » Fri Nov 04, 2005 2:52 am

I have cherished the VOX sound since the early 1960s but did not get my 1996 Korg AC30 until nearly 40 years later.

It has performed exceedingly well to date, and I say that knowing that anything electronic can bring surprises at any time.

My only problem has been a failed rectifier tube just this year and a couple of fuses until I figured out what was going on.

The performance and sound of this amplifier with Celestion Blues has exceeded my expectations.

kevin · Post by **kevin** » Fri Nov 04, 2005 5:01 pm

Peter,

The rectifier and its interaction with the standby switch is one of the issues that was addressed with the new CC design. Once again, I'll try to dig up some info...

porge · Post by **porge** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 11:22 am

Hi to all,

Just to add my two cents to the discussion, I wanted to share my experience with the AC30CC. I will also acknowledge that when thinking of AC30's, most of us have a particular sound in our heads of how if should sound, and in my case, the experience of the "penny dropping" as to what vox tone is all about (for me, trying to decode Edge's "Joshua Tree" tone as a 19 year old, as well as the famous "Paperback Writer", "Got to get you into my life" tones). I demoed one recently, but did so with a distinct advantage to some others - access to a '96 Korg RI with bulldogs, and past experience of three vintage AC-30 top boosts (one a candy panel) that I've had, as well as having recently owned an AC15TBX. The Korg in question I was working on for a friend (vibrato channel down on performance, re-valve & pot clean). I also took along the korg owner, and a dog-eared friend.

In my opinion, and the opinion of the others in the room, the AC30CC2 (wharfedales) outperformed the korg. It was more quiet in terms of noise (than any AC30 I've played, but not of any real concern of mine), and had all the tone and tonal complexity/richness of the Korg (and then some) - so much so that I was convinced this example was just "good" one. Running through the external speaker output through the bulldogsa, even more so (particularly on speaker efficiency and chime). I agree with John's comment on "less bells & whistles, higher quality components" - I'd ditch the vibrato, reverb, effects loop for a component quality upgrade - particularly the pots - they just feel like trouble waiting to happen. That said, I was still happy to hand over a wad of notes for the AC30CC2, and have "sold" two others to friends with an AC30 bug. In fact, the owner of my old grey panel '66 bought one after demoing one. We came to the same conclusion - that the CC had more of the tone of the old 'grey' than the korg. IMHO, I heard more of the vintage, sweet treble chime sound that i heard in my head in the CC than any newer non-vintage Vox I've played (particularly the AC15TBX - not wanting to start a flame war, but that thing sucked).

As with all things, YMMV and this is just MHO

soundmasterg · Post by **soundmasterg** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 8:43 pm

I've played a couple new CC amps, and I like the sound also. I didn't have my Korg with me so I couldn't compare directly. I was never worried about the sound of them, and I've heard they have better transformers than my Korg, so they probably do sound better. I was always more worried about the construction of it, and if it will last without problems, and if it does have problems, will it be easy to repair? I still haven't had one apart, so I can't answer that part yet. But I will agree that they do sound good.

porge · Post by **porge** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 12:32 am

Hey Greg

I have to agree on the construction - the korg's feel really well built, nice big pots, sturdy switches, jacks, etc. The CC's are a tad cheesy in that department! The cabinet seems well made on the CC, and the tolex/grill are well done. Vents are plastic and don't inspire faith. Incidentally, the three I've "bought" (I have two in my music room at the moment) have sounded identical - I don't have access to a Neil Young "whizzer", but they sound identical in the same settings. I'd guess that maybe Vox have tightened up their QC on the amps, or responded to the market places' criticism over some issues. Ahh...the joys of vertical manufacturing!!

The point of my original post was not to bag the korg amps - they are great amps, and will surely hold/rise in value, and are closer in appearance to the "real deal" - but that the money, the CC's are great amps. The store I bought mine from had them for RRP $1899, and right next to it was a Laney VC-30 for $1499. I'm guessin' they won't sell too many VC-30's (noticed a rise in the amount of these amps for sale???). I guess I paid about $1K less than I could realistically pickup a mint Korg greenback RI for, and about $1500-2000 less than people will ask for bulldog ones (the Korg owner picked his up today, and I've told him to hold out for $3500 if he thinks of selling his mint example).

I've no doubt that true to it's vox badge, It'll have me to the repair shop a few times! I'm guessing a full signal-path re-cap may occur after warranty expires as well.

soundmasterg · Post by **soundmasterg** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 10:55 am

My Korg is a 1993, and there was a factory grounding mod recommended for these. My understanding is they fixed the issue in production amps by late '94. Other than a ghost note problem with my speakers, I haven't had a lick of trouble with my amp. I sent the speakers to Ted Weber to get lightly doped and the ghost notes are mostly gone now. I've been meaning to change allteh caps and resistors int he amp but haven't gotten around to it yet. I use EI preamp and power amp tubes in it, although if I could find some, I'd use GE power tubes.

rickinroma · Post by **rickinroma** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 1:20 am

I find quite incredible Vox does not manufacture a decent Bass amp... 100/200/300 watts, tube or solid state no matter but at least a powerful one you can use on stage..quite absurd considering the name of Vox... they're just interested in making thousands of different AC30 versions...

admin · Post by **admin** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 4:42 am

While we are on the subject of comparing the English versus Chinese made Vox AC-30s, I am wondering what new features might be of benefit to the Korg Reissues. What about the hot versus warm switch (82 versus 50 Ohms) on the rear panel of the new AC-30s. Would this feature be desirable in the older AC30s?

soundmasterg · Post by **soundmasterg** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 4:28 pm

I'm sure a lot of the features would be desireable, but personally, I wouldn't want to cut up my AC30 to add them in. I'd just as soon build a new amp with the features I want...but then not everyone can do that. Despite the performance boost that such added features would bring, I would think it would lower the value of the amp since its not original anymore.

Vox used to make high power bass amps in the 60's, and the Beatles and others used them. They do currently make some solid state bass amps, although they aren't all that high in power from what I remember. Nobody I know uses one either.

rickinroma · Post by **rickinroma** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 9:42 pm

Vox has discontinued the production of bass amps...there's nothing available for bass at the moment in their webpage
http://www.voxamps.co.uk/products/productMenu.htm
maybe somebody might endorse vox bass amps if they produced any

soundmasterg · Post by **soundmasterg** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 9:47 pm

Well last I looked they still made some bass amps, but I guess they did discontinue the ones they did make. Probably because no one bought them.

rickfan63 · Post by **rickfan63** » Wed Mar 08, 2006 1:29 am

I tried a T60 amp a few years ago when I was on the road. I thought they were quite good sounding.

rickinroma · Post by **rickinroma** » Wed Mar 08, 2006 1:57 am

So do I, Randy
I have a T25 and sounds great... a T100/200/300 would be cool

doombuggy · Post by **doombuggy** » Tue May 23, 2006 12:47 pm

http://www.voxshowroom.com/northcoast/vox/new_amps/basssuperb.html

rickenmetal · Post by **rickenmetal** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 10:01 am

At the prices they go for, I cannot agree that you have to go to China to mass-produce quality tube amps. They are hardly less expensive than Laney and Engl amps (built in the U.K. and Germany, resp.).

Their hand-wired amps are not even cheaper than some U.S.-built boutique amps.

So basically you are paying for the Vox name, it seems.

Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Vox Amplifiers: China Versus England Built

Re: Vox Amplifiers: China Versus England Built