Vox AC15 Custom Classic Combo
Backwww.proguitarshop.com, The AC15 is the amp that "started it all", as they say, for Vox. It was the JMI (Jennings Musical Instruments) company's first product and a masterpiece of guitar amplification by Dick Denney. Following the AC15's release in 1958, it was quickly became the guitar ( and bass ) amp du jour for Britain's early rock n' roll groups. The Shadows were the most prominent of the early endorsers of the Vox AC15. The Vox AC15 was instantly popular for a number of reasons. It easily produced the required volume to keep up with drum kits and brass, which have naturally high acoustic output. If one had to push the volume past the point of a clean guitar tone, it would not distort harshly, but would saturate progressively into even harmonic overtones, without generating nasty breakup. In fact, many early rockers found the characteristic ringing, chiming Vox overdrive to be genuinely pleasing. This unique sound was widely exploited a few years later, when English R&B groups of the mid 60's used AC15's to achieve a classic blues tone in recording studios. It's ability to produce a chiming, creamy overdrive at a moderate volume made the AC15 indispensable for recording purposes, and it remains so to this day. A legend was born. The Vox AC15 Custom Classic series is a throwback to the early AC15's. All the original creamy, chiming tonal qualities that made this amp legendary have been preserved. The AC15CC1X generates 15 Watts of EL84 tube power into the classic 16 Ohm, 12" Vox / Celestion Alnico Blue Speaker ( a rock legend in it's own right). Vox has also updated the amp with a few modern features, including Master volume, global reverb and tremolo controls, and a rear panel 8/16 Ohm impedance selector switch, allowing you to use a wide variety of extension cabinets . It looks particularly smashing with the Vox V212BNX cab, also sporting Alnico Blues. Trem and reverb are footswitchable via the included VF002 footswitch. By the end of January 1958, the 15 watt Denney twin channel amplifier had been developed to production standard. The styling and presentation were not much different than the classic Vox house style of later years, and it had the first model number allocated to a Vox amplifier, Amplifier Combination 15 watts. Otherwise known as the AC15. A substantial amount of work had gone into restructuring the unit. Denney had built the prototypes on a standard box type aluminum chassis. He realized that while these were fine for tryouts and equipment that would be used in fixed installations, they would not stand up to regular transportation of the kind dealt out in normal use by musicians. The usual way out of problems like these was to use a steel chassis. But Denney's amplifier has a high gain factor, and this presented problems when considering the single common space inside a typical box chassis. Hum and oscillation were commonplace results for such an approach. Steel is much worse in this context than aluminum, having a high earthing resistance and being susceptible to currents induced by the transformers needed in audio equipment. The necessity of a single chassis is peculiar to guitar amplifiers, where the number of interconnections must be kept to a minimum. Vibration is an enemy to plug and socket systems and the separate power amp/ pre amp structures commonly used in hi fi can be treacherous in close proximity to an energetically driven, high output loudspeaker unit. Denney's solutions was elegant, and was adopted throughout the Vox product range. This was to fix the transformers (heavy laminated iron blocks which cause most of the damage if the equipment is dropped or mishandled) at either end of a strong pressed steel chassis. This also carried supply and power output circuitry, which is relatively insensitive to hum disturbance. The high gain stages of the amp were built onto an inverted L section aluminum folded sheet structure, which was bolted onto the upright rear faces of the transformers. This provided perfect screening of the sensitive input stages from the hum inducing output transformer. The degree of mutual bracing between the two sections for the chassis resulted in a structure of great rigidity which had the strength of steel and the electrical qualities of aluminum in the right places. Interconnections were made only at the insensitive point in the circuit. All the circuitry susceptible to disturbance was in plain view when the rear cover of the amp was removed, making measurement of the components and checking of wiring and solder joints an easy matter, both for the manufacturer and the service engineer. The chassis was fixed down to a strong plywood carrier which could be slid in and out with the rear cover of the amp removed, and the valves could be readily wired up and tested outside the casing, and offered mechanical protection to the valves if it rolled over during inspection of the power section.
Channel: Music
Uploaded: January 8, 2008 at 7:06 pm
Author: ProGuitarShopDemos
Length: 0:05:23
Rating: 4.86
Views: 58,775
Tags: Vox AC15 Custom Classic Combo
Video Comments:
recordhead59 (Tuesday 20th of May 2008 12:04:12 PM)
I would not hesitate to recommend this amp to anyone needing a versatile gigging amp. This amp will probably not serve metal or shred players that well, but if you like a gutsy, hard-driving tone, even without pedals this is your amp. I use two for added punch at bigger gigs, and one for smaller clubs. And made in China? So what!! The quality is super high. You will love this amp!
erosar10 (Friday 2nd of May 2008 06:30:39 PM)
Does this amp have a line out?
themishaps123 (Wednesday 23rd of April 2008 12:46:15 PM)
Does anyone know if I can fit this on top of the vox v212bn cabinet without problems? Please respond...
andrewalderman (Thursday 1st of May 2008 10:21:29 AM)
It's smaller than an AC30, so if the extension cab is meant for the AC30, the AC15 will sit on there just fine. As far as volume, the internal speaker is not used when you connect to a cabinet, so you don't get three speakers going. The V212BN cab uses Wharfdale speakers, I believe. In my opinion, on Alnico Blue is better than the two Wharfdales. The cab may be a bit louder, though, if that's your main goal.
Priole2000 (Sunday 20th of April 2008 07:50:48 AM)
Love that you used Zeppelin to test this amp out. There's so much Jimmy Page in the AC15CC, it's amazing. I bought one a few months back and I love it. Run a Menatone King of the Britains pedal through it and you get very authentic Plexi tones as well...like having two the greatest amps ever made in one.
freeport5 (Monday 24th of March 2008 09:49:24 PM)
Got my brand new CC1X for $999, best thing ever happened in my life (so far). Warning: this is not a crunchy amp, it breaks up like glass at high gain(with pedal), but for anything below metal and maybe some hard rock, this amp brings the best definition for the price. Best of all when u crank it up u get the classic one of a kind old time rock'n roll sound no other amp can deliver properly.
Also this amp is a lil more Fender friendly than Gibson IMO.
Ubermensch18 (Sunday 23rd of March 2008 10:57:56 PM)
What guitar are you using, it is the Revolver sound.
R0gerJung (Saturday 22nd of March 2008 10:07:55 PM)
My AC15 sounds like shit. I got it brand new a few days ago and I get so much Hiss..... any one know how to fix it?
Musicislove123 (Monday 24th of March 2008 05:53:09 PM)
turn your treble down, and learn how to operate it correctly. And secondly, tube amps are naturally noisy too, it's almost impossible to eliminate noise completely from a tube amp like an AC15
T3hVid30Cr1tic (Wednesday 2nd of April 2008 12:50:46 PM)
It's probably a poorly grounded outlet that it's plugged into.
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