Vox AC15: Bye, bye

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Robus

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You might have read Broken_H's thread about his new Vox AC15 last month. Out of curiousity, I tried one out in Guitar Center and wound up walking out with it. Pretty nice sounding amp, especially for clean tones which is mostly what it's all about with me.

Well, I took it back today, and here's why. A brief clip in the mix, then the amp soloed:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzqJIqBR8uJeOEhIX1JoWmtNekk/view?usp=sharing

Totally useful tone, made unusable by that tube rattle. Combos can be noisy, but that's OTT. I suspect it came from the metal retaining clip on the power tubes, but whatever. Not something I'm willing to deal with on a brand new amp.

And the silver lining, or silver face--this came home in its place:
68%20RI%20Princeton.jpg


Yeah, I probably didn't need another Fender combo. Doesn't mean I don't want one... Clips to follow.
 
Cool, Robus, I hope you like it.
I didn't really notice the rattle for some reason. I never liked Vox amps they always sound thin to me. Silverfaces sound "spiky" to me, like a spiky/brittle attack and too much presence. I like Fender Brownface, then blackface, then tweed, then silverface in that order.
 
Thanks, I think I will like it. Really didn't notice the rattle from that Vox? I hear it, bad. Even in the mix clip.

Generally I agree with you about silverfaces, but this one isn't too pointy at all. Maybe the Celestion tames it, dunno. Being in a room with a spiky sounding Fender can be painful, but it's not really an issue for recording. Anyway, the cure is simple: Turn it up, get that natural compression and sag happening.
 
Hey, you can never go wrong with a Fender deluxe Reverb. Even a reissue.
:D
I predict you'll have that amp for years to come.
:thumbs up:
 
Thanks. I do have a Deluxe Reverb blackface reissue--my favorite amp of any I've owned. This is the Princeton silverface reissue.
 
Ah, that's what I get for looking at the teeny, tiny pic on a phone. :D
 
I'm fairly pleased with the Princeton silverface. It's not the traditional silverface. The Celestion gives it a midrangy and darker tone, not scooped like the Jensen. It's also set up to break up early, which is my least favorite thing about it. Input 2 with a six dB attenuation has sounded better with everything. On the positive side, it really does chime at lower volume. So far, the best tones I've found have been with the volume at 3-4. I'll mess with it to see how much it will clean up at higher level. I'm not really liking its overdriven sound. I may or may not trade it up for the blackface 65 Reissue. Still deciding.

Here's an example of what I bought it to do. It's a super useful kind of tone that fits in most of my songs. It's a clean tone that sits back in the mix like a glue, cutting through without being overpowering. It's a Strat, neck pickup. SM57 on axis, on the grill, at the dust cap edge. Volume 3.5, Treble 7, Bass 4, Reverb 4, tremolo off. The guitar part is doubled and panned wide. TC Flashback delay into the front end.

The guitar part solo, then the mix:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzqJIqBR8uJeeXpkVGVVYnBsT0E/view?usp=sharing
 
You can hear a kind of drum echo over the first part - sounds like its bleeding in from somewhere.
Then when the drums come in they sound kind of weird - your guitar playing is obviously on point but the drums seem to be a little bit off the beat.

Guitars sound cool though - really like the spacey sound. There's a very cool 7th/blue note right before the end too.
 
Thanks. Yeah, that was bleed through the mic. Recorded this late last night and not very loud, so I dispensed with the headphones and just angled the mic away from my monitors. Not perfect. I'm thinking maybe a halftime drum groove would work here. The composition is brand new, so we will see it if it becomes a song.
 
a friend just got some brand new princeton and it had noise first weekend, got it fixed for free and no issues yet. (was output tubes)
we have a local fendauthrorized so that helps.

Your sample is a clean and smooth Fender tone, sounds good.
Id prefer to hear it without all the delays and reverbs, but its ok as is and has the fender tube tone, strat and sm57.
How is rating up against your Super and others you own? Deluxe still #1 ?
 
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CoolCat said:
a friend just got some brand new princeton and it had noise first weekend, got it fixed for free and no issues yet. (was output tubes)
we have a local fendauthrorized so that helps.

Your sample is a clean and smooth Fender tone, sounds good.
Id prefer to hear it without all the delays and reverbs, but its ok as is and has the fender tube tone, strat and sm57.
How is rating up against your Super and others you own? Deluxe still #1 ?
Click to expand...

If you could ask your friend, I'd be curious to hear the noise described. Did he get the 65 Reissue or the 68 Classic Princeton (the one I have)?

The two other Fenders I have are a Hotrod Deluxe (not getting a lot of play) and the 65 Reissue Deluxe Reverb (my all-time favorite amp). I hear lots of differences between this Princeton and my Deluxe. The Deluxe has the classic scooped Fender tone. For pure clean tones, it's as nice as any and nicer than most, but where it really lives is from edge-of-breakup to full-on overdrive. It's got a very sweet overdriven tone. However, the bottom can get a out of control if you're not careful. Mine is an early production amp from the late 90s or early 2000s with the brown Eminence speaker instead of the Jensen they added later. Some say the Jensens are better, but this Eminence of mine is so broken in, sounds sweet to me, and I'm used to it.

This Princeton is just a different animal. It really wants to do pristine clean. That's its best sound, based on what I've found so far. It seems strange to run a 12 watt amp on volume settings of 3 and 4, but that's where it seems happiest. I would describe its clean tone as tight, midrangy, punchy. Not at all scooped. If you're listening to that clip, notice the last note in the opening phrase (E, a-string, 7th fret). Hear that tight, percussive quality? Very different from how the Deluxe would sound. I am not liking the overdriven sounds as well. There is a slight fizz. It might be possible to tame it, but I've got the Deluxe to cover overdriven.

I'm on the fence as to whether to keep it or trade it up for the 15 watt 65 Reissue Princeton. I could walk into GC, return it, and for another $100 walk out with the Reissue. I've got a couple more weeks to decide, so for the meanwhile I'm going to play with it. What I would get out of the 65 is a little more clean headroom and a later breakup, and a more traditional blackface sound. If this were my only amp, I would exchange it for sure. But I'm interested in a palette of sounds for recording, and I don't need a smaller version of the Deluxe. I want an amp that brings something distinct from what I already have, and this one does.

Yeah, the delay sounds a lot by itself. Most of the tones I post are takes from songs that I'm working on at the moment. I want to show how a given amp works in a specific song context. And I always track my guitar FX. So if the guitar part has delay in the song context, that's what you'll hear.
 
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Robus, I've just love the tone on that clip. The clean sound with delay is just beautiful. I tried a Super Sonic 22 for a bit and loved the clean, but had bought it for something different to my Peavey C30. Since the I play mostly on the gain channel I didn't feel.the SS22 gave me much more than my C30 to justify the cost so I returned it. If I ever decide to buy a combo I might have to look into the Deluxe Reverb.
 
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