UB49: VOX AC15CH Amplifier Head Unbox & Review – Is It How I Remember? Are They As Good?
VOX AC15 CH 15 Watt Valve Amplifier Head. A Classic British Amp First Introduced in 1958 and The Name Behind Many of The World’s Best Known Rock and Pop Groups from the 60s
The Vox AC 15 Amplifier head comes with EL84 tubes giving the best of both worlds in regard to clean and driven tones. This recent 2016 release which although still designed in the UK is now made in China and continues to be produced keeping it close to its origins.
Weighing it at just over 15kg it’s fairly hefty but certainly much easier to handle than the combination model. Covered in the typical textured black vinyl and sporting that classic diamond braded speaker cloth and the chunky gold coloured VOX logo.
In this video I take a Fender Telecaster with Blackguard pick-ups and a Gibson ES 339 with Classic humbuckers to give a flavour of the tones available. The clean channel is tight and punchy and the excellent reverb compliments that. The Top Boost channel gives a wide range of tones starting with slight edge-of-break-up all the way through to heavy overdrive.
The in-built reactive attenuator goes from 15 Watts, 1.5 Watts and a 1/6 of a Watt. For my own tastes my preference is to stay on the full 15 watts and control the volume by using an Isolation Cabinet such as the Grossman Fatbox which I reviewed – ( https://youtu.be/PlBo-EESqkE ). However, the 1.5 Watt setting which really does reduce the volume, is very useable after re-setting the EQ. The 1/6 setting would not be something I would use for recording but for those needing to keep the volume down to bedroom levels but still want maximum overdrive then this works very well.
Note: There are those who get caught-out in regard to the attenuator use as for this feature to work you need a 16 ohm speaker. While there is an option switch to use 8 ohm speakers, the attenuator will not operate with those.
I hope you find the video helpful and in due course I hope to show how I use this and other amplifiers in my recording work… Enjoy!
My other playlists –
– Custom Guitar Build
– Q&As Answering topical questions
– Stu’s Guitar Recording Journey
– Unboxing Music Equipment Videos
– Product Reviews
– Stu’s Guitar Journey! (12 part Video Series)
– Guitar Backing Tracks – Blues, Ballads and Cinematic
– Stu’s Guitar Channel short Trailer
In UB 50 Video (Unboxing Video 50) In this video I take a look at the Celestion Redback 150 Watt 8 ohm 12″ Speaker hooked up to 4 amplifiers and tested with 3 guitars – https://youtu.be/QMF6jrGTBe0
If you benefit from what you see and hear, do think about subscribing, hit the bell for notifications and give a thumbs up, it all helps the channels algorithms. Much appreciated.
*Brought to you by Stu’s Guitar Channel – Enjoy Playing Guitar.
Backing tracks for Guitar. Free to download but copyright protected.*
#UB49 #VOX #AC15CH #Amplifier #Unbox #Review #Remember #Good
Originally posted by UCIzLPebyg0H23oOP9qrDEoQ at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCXMgayMmyI
Hello Stu- I liked this Vox but as you said the weight is a problem. I have a Boss Pedal called Combo Drive that my Bass Player calls a Vox in a Box which sounds great through my Fender 15 Watt Pro Junior. Cheers mate.
For a total novice to amps, cabs and speakers this is a great introduction. Alongside your others to build an aural understanding of what the factors are to decide what the difference is in wattage vs ohms plus distortion etc.
I love the little headphone vox, but this will guide my choices going forward.
Great video.
Thanks Stu.
Have a great weekend
Another interesting video. I can't believe that even (what I consider to be) the expensive Vox amplifiers are now made in China. I've just finished building an acoustic combo. I tried to source everything from Europe: German amp kit, French wood, Italian hardware and a nice British Celestion F12M Tri Cone speaker, made in… China! Doh! Didn't realise until I saw it on the box.
It's a great amp, I almost got one for my Vox sound but opted instead for a Maz 18 because that gives me a great voxy sound but also works as a stand-in for Marshall if/when the plexi is at the doctor. One thing I will note is that alnico speakers can be a factor if you want vox chime. I'm running through a pair of Eminence Red Fang alnico 10s, and for chime they're mustard. I was using the Mojo BV25m through it but moved that to the plexi and might actually swap back, I love chime but that mojo greenback clone is something else.
Have you looked at the Synergy amps? They are very interesting.
That built-in attenuator is great. AC style amps all around sound amazing, but this is the original. One of the funny things is I personally don't love the sound of vintage AC amps but love the modern ones. I have the exact opposite opinion of Fender amps.