vox ac30 question

S

Sal Paradise

New member
hey there,

i'm having a problem with my Vox AC30, i hope you can help me out. thanks a lot.

first up, since quite a while the amp makes weird relatively loud noises when i adjust the "brilliance" volume. not all of the time though. its annoying, but oh well, i lived with it. then two or three months ago in the middle of playing, the fuse died.

i researched a bit and read somewhere on the net that it can happen quite a lot with that amp, cause the amount of current can get too high when turning the amp on. hm. they recommened a stronger fuse, but i got the same one again that was in there. well, changed the fuse, finished the last few recordings, didnt do anything until now.

well, i moved and was generally busy, never having the time to really try it out, and now for the first in a while i just turned on the amp again. tried to come up with a halfway decent sound, as it was sounding kinda thin sounding. as always, between fumbling around with various adjustments i turned off the "standby" switch, to not get the loud sound again. still, no luck with the sound, until i decided to just turn up the volume a bit. so yeah, i switched on the amp, and the fuse died again.

well, do i really need to buy a stronger one like recommened on the page i found? change the valves?

thanks so much for your help in advance,
sp.
 
as far as the adjustments with the brilliance and so on. take the chassis out of the cab and clean all the controls with contact cleaner. These are not sealed pots so they oxidize and must be cleaned every few months or so. with the power up problem. And fuse problem. did you replace the fuse with a slow blow fuse first off. And how long has it been scince you changed the power tubes?
 
I would strongly advise *against* getting the bigger fuse. Getting the bigger fuse doesn't solve the problem, it only covers it up. Those things are notoriously unreliable amps. Go get it serviced by a tech, but in the meantime, you can start by switching the valves. Start with buying a 12ax7. Then replace each existing tube with the new tube and see if that solves the problem, then move to the power tubes. EL84s are cheap, go get a good set of the EI tubes from a reputable dealer, and see if that solves the problem. If not, you know it isn't your tubes and you aren't out any money because you will eventually need the tubes you just purchased.

Hope that helps...
 
I've, in the last two months, witnessed two people playing ac30's at two different shops. Both died in a similar manner. They would just stop working and you could smell a real bad electrical burning smell. Before they died they did sound pretty good though.
 
. Before they died they did sound pretty good though.
Click to expand...

No question. Nothing sounds like a good AC30 cranked to the edge of meltdown. It is a totally unique sound that is specific to the class A EL84 design. Super sweet, with a shimmering top end that can rip your face off if you don't know how to control it. LOL!!
 
edgarallanpoe said:
I would strongly advise *against* getting the bigger fuse. Getting the bigger fuse doesn't solve the problem, it only covers it up. Those things are notoriously unreliable amps. Go get it serviced by a tech, but in the meantime, you can start by switching the valves. Start with buying a 12ax7. Then replace each existing tube with the new tube and see if that solves the problem, then move to the power tubes. EL84s are cheap, go get a good set of the EI tubes from a reputable dealer, and see if that solves the problem. If not, you know it isn't your tubes and you aren't out any money because you will eventually need the tubes you just purchased.

Hope that helps...
Click to expand...



Let me prhase that a little differently.


Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, EVER replace the fuse in any electrical device with anything other than the one it was designed for. Anyone who suggests otherwise is fucking idiot. Fuses are there for a damn good reason, which is to be a cheap part which blows before anything else does. Because if they DON'T, then something else will, most commonly one of the transformers. Transformers are bloody expensive, and the modern versions sound different from the old ones. Oh, you can get replacements which are built to the old specs, but they are even MORE bloody expensive.

If the fuse is blowing, it is doing so for a reason. Get your amp to a shop and have it serviced. And if it is an old amp, you probably need to get a cap job done, as well as cleaning everything out, and you probably need new output tubes (at least, if you like to turn up your amp you do).

And remember, amps carry leathal amounts of current even long after they have been unpluged and turned off. Unless you want to spend a LOT of time studying first, leave it to a pro. These things are dangerous.



Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
Light said:
Let me prhase that a little differently.


Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, EVER replace the fuse in any electrical device with anything other than the one it was designed for. Anyone who suggests otherwise is fucking idiot. Fuses are there for a damn good reason, which is to be a cheap part which blows before anything else does. Because if they DON'T, then something else will, most commonly one of the transformers. Transformers are bloody expensive, and the modern versions sound different from the old ones. Oh, you can get replacements which are built to the old specs, but they are even MORE bloody expensive.

If the fuse is blowing, it is doing so for a reason. Get your amp to a shop and have it serviced. And if it is an old amp, you probably need to get a cap job done, as well as cleaning everything out, and you probably need new output tubes (at least, if you like to turn up your amp you do).

And remember, amps carry leathal amounts of current even long after they have been unpluged and turned off. Unless you want to spend a LOT of time studying first, leave it to a pro. These things are dangerous.



Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
Click to expand...

And there you have it.
 
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