My new AC4 baby
Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 2:12 am
Just wanted to share with you all (ie show off) some pics of the Vox AC4 chassis (with mods) that Terry at D-Lab amps built for me to fit into my old radio cabinet.
I can't say enough about how fantastic this amp sounds! And the little mods he did make it so flexible, I'm having a great time experimenting with different tones...
Here's a shot of the front (click for full size):
Not sure who made the original table radio, but all the guts are in a box in the garage (not working). The only identifying mark is the S on the dial plate. Input jack, Volume, Gain & Tone are on the front. Grill cloth is from a '50s Hi-Fi someone gave me that's out in the garage (working OK, but cosmetically destroyed). Footswitch & handle are new Fender.
Here's the back:
Tremolo controls & power switch are back here. You can see the short jumper I put in from the jack I installed on the front to the input on the top of the chassis. That's a Weber 8" alnico Blue Pup speaker, which sounds very much like the vintage 12" Vox alnico speaker in my AC15. Another great value!
The chassis out of the box:
Tubes are 12AX7 preamp (though I have a 12AT7 in now, and will try a 5751 soon), 12AX7 for tremolo, 6X4 rectifier and EL84 power tube. Trannies are NOS USA made. 4 & 8 Ohm speaker jacks, line out jack & footswitch jack are on the back.
Here's the guts under the hood:
Look Ma, no circuit boards. Nice layout!
And here's a closeup of the controls:
The knobs are pirated from my B&K tube tester.
The gain knob (center) is VERY interactive with the volume knob (left). I can use them to control how much I feed each tube to get as much saturation as I need exactly where I need it: If I want warm preamp distortion I can crank the gain & cut the volume, or I can dial the gain knob to where it's clean and then crank the volume knob for that famous Vox crunch, or I can dime them both for a sound that dwarfs a Big Muff. Of course clean tones are chimey & beautiful too!
The tone control is a simple but effective high cut similar to a tone knob on a guitar. Perfect.
I know I sound a little like an ad here, but I'm just one very satisfied customer! And while I'm at it, here's Terry's website so you can check out more if you want: http://www.d-labamps.com/
Terry's a great guy who knows his stuff and his prices are unreal!
I hope to have some sound samples soon, which I'll post links to here.
I can't say enough about how fantastic this amp sounds! And the little mods he did make it so flexible, I'm having a great time experimenting with different tones...
Here's a shot of the front (click for full size):
Here's the back:
The chassis out of the box:
Tubes are 12AX7 preamp (though I have a 12AT7 in now, and will try a 5751 soon), 12AX7 for tremolo, 6X4 rectifier and EL84 power tube. Trannies are NOS USA made. 4 & 8 Ohm speaker jacks, line out jack & footswitch jack are on the back.
Here's the guts under the hood:
Look Ma, no circuit boards. Nice layout!
And here's a closeup of the controls:
The knobs are pirated from my B&K tube tester.
The gain knob (center) is VERY interactive with the volume knob (left). I can use them to control how much I feed each tube to get as much saturation as I need exactly where I need it: If I want warm preamp distortion I can crank the gain & cut the volume, or I can dial the gain knob to where it's clean and then crank the volume knob for that famous Vox crunch, or I can dime them both for a sound that dwarfs a Big Muff. Of course clean tones are chimey & beautiful too!
The tone control is a simple but effective high cut similar to a tone knob on a guitar. Perfect.
I know I sound a little like an ad here, but I'm just one very satisfied customer! And while I'm at it, here's Terry's website so you can check out more if you want: http://www.d-labamps.com/
Terry's a great guy who knows his stuff and his prices are unreal!
I hope to have some sound samples soon, which I'll post links to here.
(He ought to have used some slip-on insulation for some of those resistor leads though -- from the pictures, it looks like they could contact other components if jostled enough.)