Vox AC30H2

[Ric-O-Buc]

Well, I done it..... I dropped the hammer and ordered one of these:



I just found a deal that was too sweet to pass up - I HAD to do it!

So now....the waiting, and anticipating......

I'm about to join the club.

[8mileshigher]

Congrats !
Was that from that Musician's Friend "clearance" of discontinued Heritage Handwired models .... or is this the new generation, from the "new" factory, that they just introduced at NAMM ??

[Ric-O-Buc]

Its the discontinued model from a music store in Minneapolis that only had 3 left. They have an ebay store. Foxtone music.

[paologregorio]

I love the sound of mine; it's my go to AC30 these days.

There's a rumor that Vox might introduce a hand wired version of the new Custom Classic C2. The C2 was redesigned for this year's NAMM; the internal components were flipped upside down and towrds the rear panel for easy access, the way Fenders are on the Twin, Super, et cetera. This is an excellent improvement wrt tube replacement, maintenance. The only thing I'm not crazy about is that the new Vox AC30 C2 has a solid state rectifier.

[Ric-O-Buc]

The Weber Copper Cap is a great replacement rectifier which emulates a tube but does not require filament voltage.

http://www.webervst.com/ccap.html

[paologregorio]

The Weber Copper Cap is a great replacement rectifier which emulates a tube but does not require filament voltage.

http://www.webervst.com/ccap.html

+1! Mike Snow endorsed, and on my shopping list!

[8mileshigher]

The C2 was redesigned for this year's NAMM; the internal components were flipped upside down and towrds the rear panel for easy access, the way Fenders are on the Twin, Super, et cetera. This is an excellent improvement wrt tube replacement, maintenance. The only thing I'm not crazy about is that the new Vox AC30 C2 has a solid state rectifier.

Agree the new re-design for easy access and tube replacement is a big plus ---- but the new ones, from the new factory, also have particle board cabintery instead of the solid Baltic Birch with joinery, used in the Custom Classic series. So this sounds like a cost-cutting measure.

[paologregorio]

The C2 was redesigned for this year's NAMM; the internal components were flipped upside down and towrds the rear panel for easy access, the way Fenders are on the Twin, Super, et cetera. This is an excellent improvement wrt tube replacement, maintenance. The only thing I'm not crazy about is that the new Vox AC30 C2 has a solid state rectifier.

Agree the new re-design for easy access and tube replacement is a big plus ---- but the new ones, from the new factory, also have particle board cabintery instead of the solid Baltic Birch with joinery, used in the Custom Classic series. So this sounds like a cost-cutting measure.

Bummer! Back to the future, in reverse; my `73 AC30 originally came with a solid state rectifier, and was encased in a particle board cabinet, before I had it rewired to 60s TB specs with a tube rectifier, and had a replacement birch ply cab built for it.

[Ric-O-Buc]

I'm a bit concerned knowing that the AC30H2 I just bought has the old style chassis layout. How big a pain the a** is it to get at the tubes to change them? I'm pretty sure that's the first thing I'll do as soon as I uncrate it. Any thoughts on what tubes you're using in yours? I'll probably spring for the JJ's

[paologregorio]

I'm a bit concerned knowing that the AC30H2 I just bought has the old style chassis layout. How big a pain the a** is it to get at the tubes to change them? I'm pretty sure that's the first thing I'll do as soon as I uncrate it. Any thoughts on what tubes you're using in yours? I'll probably spring for the JJ's

The H2 is easy to deal with. You should have no problems. I wouldn't even bother changing the tubes; my H2 sounded fantastic out of the box. That's all personal choice though. The tube upgrade definitely improved the already good sound of Rich's CC2; "more chimey" said Rich!

Here's my topic thread: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=389808

For compariason, here's Rich Ferguson's thread topic on a CC2 "tuneup" we did at my place, with a comparison to my H2 and my `73, as well as a discussion of tubes, and a handy speaker jack mod we were able to complete thanks to info from Mike Snow: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=393423

Steve "Buddy Dog" Forsgren changed most of the tubes on his AC15 Heritage recently, but left the EF86 tube in place: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=394477

The chassis is easy to slide out:
The speakers unplug via a jack and plug; they're not "hard wired."
1) Unplug the speakers from the jack
2) Remove the four lage screws on the sides of the amp (two per side; they anchor the chassis to the cabinet
3) Remove the back panel screws.
4) Slide out Chassis.

A nice thing about the H2s is that Vox moved the preamp tubs to the rear of the amp, so they're accessible as soon as the rear panel has been removed. The power tubes and rectifier are on the front side.

[Ric-O-Buc]

Thanks for the reply, good to know its not too tough. I think a full JJ re-tube will definitely be an improvement over whatever Chinese and Russian tubes come stock with the amp. I'll keep those for spares.

[8mileshigher]

Ooops -- while I was drafting up this lengthy reply, looks like Paulie made a similar post !!

I'm a bit concerned knowing that the AC30H2 I just bought has the old style chassis layout. How big a pain the a** is it to get at the tubes to change them?

Paulie can confirm for sure, but some of the Heritage Handwireds may have the "plug" for easily disconencting the speakers, thence sliding out the chassis for tube replacement. It's the Custom Classic models, that Vox's factory skin-flinted with very short speaker wires, necessitating unsoldering the speakers to get the chassis out ... Or, mod it as we did, with a plug connection .... check out the earlier thread we posted here in January on "Vox AC-30 CC2 Tune Up" viewtopic.php?f=19&t=393423

There are also pictures posted on that thread that I took of the "works" of Paulie's Heritage Handwired and his 70's rebuild Top Boost model, as well as his Custom Classic 2x (Alnicos) and my Custom Classic 2 with the Wharfies. And a picture of the new NAMM models with the easier sliding out access to tubes.

I'm pretty sure that's the first thing I'll do as soon as I uncrate it. Any thoughts on what tubes you're using in yours? I'll probably spring for the JJ's

I ordered a full replacement Vox AC30cc set at: http://thetubestore.com/sba-vox-ac30heritage.html
[To clarify, I ordered the kit for the Custom Classic 2 series and this posted link is a link directly for the tube "package" for the Heritage Handwired series..... not sure exactly what manufacturer's brands they supply for your model compared to what brands (JJs and Tung Sols) they supplied for my model.]

Some folks are happy with the standard Vox supplied Sovtek power tubes -- but there are not so many favorable reviews on their unnamed factory pre-amp tubes, coming from China. I changed my power and rectifier tubes to JJs with that "kit" ordered above, which same kit included Russian Tung Sols for the 12AX7 preamp tubes.

There's tons of good reading on which and what tubes for your Vox amps over on the plexi-palace Vintage Amps forum -- whole section just for Vox-aholics..... http://vintageamps.com/plexiboard/viewf ... 3c1ba59264

I wish you the best of luck with your new Vox -- you will love it !!

[Ric-O-Buc]

Thanks very much for the reply and all the good info. Looking forward to being in the "club".

[paologregorio]

I should add that in `07 I changed the preamp tubes in my AC30 CC2X from the failing, noisy, distorting Chinese tubes to some Groove Tube Mullard replicas, which were an excellent improvement. The power tubes we Sovteks, and the rectifier tube wasn't Chinese (Can't remember, think it was a JJ or a Ruby, maybe a Sovtek, but I remember it as being a Czech tube, IIRC).

Rich and I are going to get together and buy a pile of stainless steel machine screws to replace the ones on our CC amps, not sure if I'm going to replace the screws on the H2.

Oh, btw; my complaint about the H2; the "leather" handles are actually "pleather," which I discovered, much to my dismay, after one of the handle edges was scraped in tranist. If they couldn't do the real thing, I wonder why they even bothered?! I'm probably going to replace them with regular Vox amp handles, as the latter are tougher, IMO.

[8mileshigher]

Steve, I might add that "The Tube Store" also has some excellent write-ups posted, to review certain tubes in certain specific amp applications -- http://thetubestore.com/accessories.html