Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Now that they've been out for a while, anyone out there using one? Especially with a 12 string Rickenbacker. How is the clean sound? Does it break up quickly, or is there a bit of headroom on the clean setting? Reliability issues? Any pearls of wisdom?

I played one briefly at Guitar Center, and it was in the same room as an AC30 as far as sound, but this particular amp was a dog and had some problems with it. I've heard of some reliability issues with the chinese made Voxes.

I A/B'd the AC15CC with two of the new AC30s a few days ago. Ric 1997SPC/VB plugged straight in (via a George L cable) yielded a nice, chimey clean sound with plenty of warmth. There was a definite vibe with the amp -UNTIL I began turning the gain up. Actually I stood back and let my bandmate slowly crank it for me. When the gain is increased, a weird 'banjo-y' sound seems to take hold. I experienced the same thing with a Korg AC15 a long time ago too! Though it shares some of the clean tones of its 30W sibling, the 15 didn't do it for me.

I will say this: I was the only guy playing in the shop at the time. After about 3 minutes the store owner (Willcutt) emerged from the back room to see where the great tones were coming from. He said, "I should have know. Ric and Vox!"

Well I went ahead and bought one anyway, just because....well, I wanted one. I'm absolutely blown away. Rickenbacker 330 12, Janglebox, Vox AC-15. I'm in love. VERY pleasantly surprised at the quality of the clean sound this amp can deliver with sufficient headroom (at least for my needs), which was a concern. I'm so glad I went this route, as I would have always wondered...

Jere - When you get the chance, I'd love to hear your comments on how the AC-15 does at gig/jam volumes in terms of headroom, cutting through the mix, etc.

I want a Vox amp of some sort (preferrably tubes) but I can't decide. I don't play out very often, but when I do it tends to be in loud environments. I know the AC-30 would be perfect except for the size/weight issues, so I'd probably go with the head and cab version - easier to make 2 trips than lugging 70+ lbs. up/down to my 3rd floor apartment.

Also considering the AD-50 combo but all that modeling stuff is too complicated for me.

So I'm wondering if the AC-15 would do it for me. One other question - do you think that two 10" speakers would fit in the AC-15?

Steve; Vox used to make the ac15 with 2-10's so they should fit, I'd like to put 2-10's in my kids blues deluxe..I think it would sound killer...R

Used the AC-15 this evening at Church (large Church, full band, orchestra pit). Headroom is no problem at all. This amp is LOUD. There is so much left in the tank I'm never going to get to. I started by putting the master at about 12 o'clock with the gain zero'd. I gradually brought up gain, but only got it to around 8 o'clock. No breakup at that level. It IS rather directional. Standing right in front of the amp it will draw blood, but it sounds wonderful. I just love it more every day.

Jere - Thanks for the report! I'm back to thinking the AC-15 might be cool enough for my purposes, but I'm still on the fence. I know 15 watts can get pretty loud, but this will be going up against various Dr. Z's, Fenders of all types, Marshalls, Rivera's, etc.

Right now, my "big" amp is a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe (with THD Yellowjackets installed) and it can definitely hang in there until things get really loud - so that's why I'm still leaning towards an AC-30. Maybe should say I'm teetering on a lot of thoughts right now. Just glad I'm not in a hurry. Too much.

In retrospect, I think I should amend my previous post. The gain added by the Janglebox seems to be what puts the AC 15 over the top, with serious clean volume. Janglebox gain is not like an overdrive, I have not found that it causes the signal to break up at all, but then I've yet to be bold enough to max out the gain.

Steve, in your situation the AC 15 might not have enough headroom. I can't imagine, but I'm not playing stadiums and arenas, just a carpeted orchestra pit in a large Church, with drums, bass, keys, piano, acoustic and electric guitars. We have an Aviom monitor system where each musician gets his own mix, and a choice of in-ears or floor wedge. The "pit" volume is probably nowhere near as loud as your band.

The AC30 with the Celestion Blue speakers can keep up with a 50 watt Marshall volume-wise...they're loud. With some other speaker, they're a lot quieter and don't sound as good either. The new chinese-made AC30's with a Master volume would give you a lot more versatility than the older vintage ones and the Korg ones. I just wondr myself about the quality of construction of the Chinese-made ones.

AC15CC-Communist China?

I've owned 2 of AC30 CC's one with Blues and one with Celestion Greenbacks. I didn't have any breakdowns at all with either. The Blues have the tone with Ricks but the Wharfdales that come stock in the non Blue equipped AC 30 sound pretty good. I liked the Celestions with Teles. I'm not sure about the AC 15 but the AC 30 with the blues is hanging in there with no problems.

Great to hear your CC AC30 is holding up Kevin. I think they had problems with the early ones, but it looks like they have some of those problems sorted. My '93 Korg AC30 has never given me a problem, aside from a blown GZ34 and a blown fuse, and ghost notes from the Celestion Blues. I put in a NOS Amperex GZ34 and a fuse, and got the Celestions lightly doped from Ted Weber, and it sounds and works great again.

I have a '96 korg AC15 with a reconed Vox alnico speaker and I play my 360/12v64 through it. I couldn't be happier with the tones I get, and if cranked it's way too loud for me and my band. I get compliments on tone at every show. The other guitarist in my band uses one too with his ES-335 and we have them set pretty much polar opposite (his master is dimed with gain at about 9:00, I use higher gain and lower master). They're both great sounding and very loud as I said, with lots of headroom. They sound really fine at low volumes too.

My only issue was a blown power transformer, which I replaced for about $70. My bandmate's never had an issue other than the reverb doesn't work very well (a common issue with the Korgs).

I've played a couple of the newer AC15s and I wasn't blown away: they sounded thin and brittle in comparison, and although the reverb was longer, they just didn't have the same vibe. I looked in the back and found only 4 tubes compared to my 7: I'm thinking solid state rectifier and reverb/tremolo generation.

So my advice would be find a used Korg, and hold out for the alnico (blue) speaker-- just check the reverb if that's important to you. I've played through MANY amps (including boutique) and I've never heard a finer one that's relatively affordable (and flexible) for the Rick 12.

Oops, I meant to say 5 tubes in the CC version: 2 EL84s & 3 12AX7s. No rectifier. I'd love to know how the reverb & vibrato operate: tube or solid state? Anyone???