Vox AC50CPH in the house!

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blackba

blackba

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I have a Vox AC50CP head on order, should be in this week. I have 30 days to try it out, so I figure I can always send it back if it sucks.

I really like the Vox AC15TBx I used to have and I am digging the AC30CC1 I have, so I figure the risk is low.

I am probably going to use it my classic rock band. I will evaluate how it does metal though. I am mostly into classic Metal, so keep that in mind.
 
Got the Vox AC50CP head into today. :thumbsup:

I fired her up for about an hour. Here are my initial impressions.
I tried the amp 1st through a marshall 1922 with 2 G12H30's. I typically use this with my Vox AC30CC1. Cab design isn' t the best.
I then tried it through a marshall 1936 with 2 classic lead 80's. This is a cab that sounds good with most amps. Vox 212 will be here next week.

Channel 1: Clean
Very nice channel, reminds me very much of my Vox AC30CC1. Very open sounding. With the gain below about 1 o'clock or so its pretty clean. If you crank the gain you get a nice overdrive sound. The max gain on this is about an overdrive pedal maxed out.
Very nice chime and typical vox Clean. I played some Train and older Clapton on this channel and it worked great.

Rating 9 out 10 into G12H30 cab, 8 out of 10 into Classic lead 80's


Channel 2: Crunch
This channel was surprising in that without the FAT switch engaged it didn't have much gain. With the Fat switch engaged it could get a little muddy. Without the fat switch engaged it just had a bit more gain than Channel 1. You could set this up to be a nice crunch channel and leave Channel 1 as clean, plenty of over lap here.

With the FAT switch engaged you got into higher gain territory. I was able to get some Twisted Sister and Judas Priest tones. I tried some Metallica, but it really lacked the chunk and gain for that. This channel could have used a touch more gain. Overall I would say it has a more gain than a peavey classic 50, but less than my marshall silver jubilee and a bit less than my orange rockerverb.

For a good hard rock sound, channel 2 does the trick, its no marshall though, but that amp is hard to beat for gain sound. This channel did get better as I learn how to dial it in.

Rating: 6 out of 10 through G12H30's, 8 out of 10 through Classic Lead 80's
 
I tried one today. I personally didn't get along with it, but I didn't get to turn it up very loud or try it with anything but its own cab.

I noticed something odd. Did you try turning the channel volumes up all the way? On the one I played, once you got them past about 12:00 or so, it really didn't make it louder, but it basically acted like another gain control. I thought it was a master volume at first, but it didn't really seem to be at all. It was sort of like once it was up all the way, it extended the range of the distortion I could get with the gain control.

At first I thought it didn't have much gain, but once I did that, it was like a different amp. I still didn't like it, but oh well.

That fat switch annoyed me. Even with the bass all the way down, I thought it was a bit muddy with it on, but I don't recall finding channel 2 terribly interesting without it on. Also, there was this high frequency fizz on that channel that drove me nuts. I couldn't dial it out at all if I was using any more gain than I got from the first channel with the level and gain all the way up, which made no sense, because that wasn't necessarily really high gain territory at all, and it sounded like something from a SUPER high gain amp.
 
I didn't turn the channel volumes all the way up. I will give that a shot.

I noticed channel 2 was a bit muddy with the fat switch engaged, but that was the only way to get the gain up to a decent level.

I didn't notice the fizz at all. I tried to leave the master at 12 oclock or so at least. This is where my AC30CC1 sounds its best, you have to keep the master up.....
 
That's good to hear. The characteristics I didn't like about it definitely seemed like something that could go away at a higher volume. I unfortunately just couldn't turn it up that loud at the store. I think I'm going to go back tomorrow and try the 50 and 100 watt version and see if there is any difference.
 
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OneArmedScissor":3f238 said:
That's good to hear. The characteristics I didn't like about it definitely seemed like something that could go away at a higher volume. I unfortunately just couldn't turn it up that loud at the store. I think I'm going to go back tomorrow and try the 50 and 100 watt version and see if there is any difference.

What did you think of the clean channel?

I think the clean channel is the amps strength. It will be interesting to see what I think of channel 2 as I play it more.
 
I was reading the manual and saw for the effects loop that Vox Doesn't recommend stomp boxes in the loop cause they will limit the headroom of the amp. Yet they put a switch for +4dBV (stomp box level) and -10dBV (processor level). Just seems strange for their recommendation....
 
Here are some gut shots....

Stock tubes are Ruby EL34's and Tung sol Reissue 12AX7's....

VoxAC50CP_07.jpg


VoxAC50CP_01.jpg


VoxAC50CP_02.jpg


VoxAC50CP_07.jpg


VoxAC50CP_05.jpg
 
I just got the AC100CPH on a whim knowing I could return it, but I am keeping it...actually used it today at band rehearsal, and it did great. Build quality is great, you can get a lot of tones, and it is capable of pretty high gain, and is very quiet in terms of hiss and feedback. Awesome amp, I think they will do well with these.
voxac100cph.jpg
 
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blackba":ff1c0 said:
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What did you think of the clean channel?

I think the clean channel is the amps strength. It will be interesting to see what I think of channel 2 as I play it more.

I think it's good, but I'm not entirely convinced it's up to par with the AC CCs.

Also, after trying one again, I determined that the fizz and muddiness was caused by the fat switch. That thing is retarded.

And I don't think that running the channel volumes all the way up actually adds more gain, but it makes it more compressed and it sounds different.
 
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BrokenRomeo":d7212 said:
I just got the AC100CPH on a whim knowing I could return it, but I am keeping it...actually used it today at band rehearsal, and it did great. Build quality is great, you can get a lot of tones, and it is capable of pretty high gain, and is very quiet in terms of hiss and feedback. Awesome amp, I think they will do well with these.

Are you using the fat switch at all on channel 2 or leaving it out?

I think the build quality is pretty good too, even though there was a huge blowup over this amp at the plexi palace.
 
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SgtThump":c5e30 said:
Got any pics of the amp (not the guts?) I haven't read anything about that amp at all. Sounds interesting, though.

Is it a keeper?

you must have posted this right before I put up the gut shots.

I am liking the amp more and more, I think its a keeper. I sold the orange rockerverb 50, which I was using in my band, I am probably going to use this one :thumbsup:
 
I am using the fat switch engaged for my high gain tone...but I do back down the bass quite a bit and boost the presence and treble to get the sound I like...
 
I used my Maxon OD-9 to boost the AC50CPH tonight, sounded great. It worked great with both channels, I like it alot better than having to use the fat switch on channel 2. It likes the Maxon, which is cool.
I was playing some Dream Theater (attempting anyway) from their first album. I thought I was on Channel 2, but I looked up and I had the gain on at about 2 o'clock and had my overdrive on.

The SED EL34's made a difference too. I think I may try a few tubes in V1 to see what suits me best.
 
Thanks for all of the info and pics man, I'm dying to try one of these out, they seem like alot of amp for the money. I just read through the thread over at the Plexi Palace, man that Voxplayer guy is a total nozzle, I doubt that he's ever even changed his own strings, if he owns a soldering iron it needs to be removed from his posterior. I think the amp looks pretty well built for what it is, I own 2 ptp amps and yes they're rather easy to work on but they're no more reliable than a good pcb amp. That guy needs his eyelids glued open and forced to look at the guts of say a silverface Fender next to an SLO.
 
That amp sounds great! I really like the build quality as well.
 
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Nigel Tufnel":1456c said:
Thanks for all of the info and pics man, I'm dying to try one of these out, they seem like alot of amp for the money. I just read through the thread over at the Plexi Palace, man that Voxplayer guy is a total nozzle, I doubt that he's ever even changed his own strings, if he owns a soldering iron it needs to be removed from his posterior. I think the amp looks pretty well built for what it is, I own 2 ptp amps and yes they're rather easy to work on but they're no more reliable than a good pcb amp. That guy needs his eyelids glued open and forced to look at the guts of say a silverface Fender next to an SLO.

Voxplayer is a woman. A pain in the neck troll if you ask me....
 
I tried the master and channel all the way up and adjusted the volume for the gain. Glad I had my ear plugs in, the amp does become more dynamic. However I still prefer to run it with master halfway at 12 and channel volume at 9-1 o'clock. Gain is then to taste, between 10-11 o'clock is the sweet spot for nice clean. Overall the amp is a bit bassy through my closed back cab, hopefully the open back vox 212 and a bright V1 tube will help that.

I have pretty much decided that I am never going to use the fat switch on channel 2, just makes it too muddy. I really like a boost into channel 2. The Maxon OD-9 is working nicely, can't wait to try the Mi Audio Blues Boy Pro Overdrive.
 
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