New guitar amp day! Vox AC4C1-12

I just bought via Craig's List a 'limited edition' Vox AC4C1-12 from a Berklee student who bought it at the Guitar Center on Black Friday, never used it, and then decided to sell it (??), so I got a deep discount.

The AC4C1-12 is a 4 watt Class A amp, with two 12X7s and an EL84 and a 12" speaker, and it really does sound like a small AC30 - but at manageable volume levels.

A few years ago I had the AC4TV, the version with the c.1959 "TV front" cosmetics and 8" speaker, but quickly sold it off; it sounded a bit too ratty/harsh, and had no bass weight. With this model, Vox has 'corrected' the concept, because it really does sound nice. Very chime-y when it needs to be, and I can also dial in some nice, smooth warmth as needed. It has a surprising amount of clean headroom for 4 watts too.

I plan to make a few mods down the road... I've already ordered a set of black chickenhead knobs, and plan to upgrade the tubes to JJ's and drop in a proper Celestion Blue alnico speaker, which will fit.

 

Congrats! A great amp is a wonderful tool. I know you are having fun!

 

I have the Hand Wired AC 4. I imagine yours is very similar. Does it have the top boost circuitry. They are great little amps. Vox flavor at reasonable volumes. Much nicer than the AC4 TV's.

 

Nice amplifier, I had an original AC30 many years ago, wished I still had it.

I might be tempted by one of these amps myself, should be ideal for a small room

 

Yes, it is voiced very much like an AC30's Top Boost channel.

 

Time to play some R.E.M. or Smiths covers .

 

Johnny Marr played a silver face Fender...Deluxe or Twin Reverb, I believe.

 

How does it do at low volumes? With pedals?

 

I've never plugged into a vintage one but I did build a clone of the original circuit once. I thought it was OK but everyone else who tried it out said "meh..." so I reworked it into a Champ circuit and that went over much better. Not that that really has much to do with this reissue...

 

This looks great just sitting next to your Rick.
Hey, even when I went to Berklee back in in 72-76 there were some stupid deals always going on. Things like 59 Les Paul's going for $350 - $400 bucks.
Just so I could get myself my first Jazz box Gibson L-5 CES I ended up selling 6 of my what would be considered very rare and vintage guitars for about $125 bucks each except for my then new Les Paul Custom Fretless wonder that I sold for $350 with the hardshell case.
That guitar I didn't lose any money on as it was exactly what I paid for it. However in Bostom at the time there's no way the music stores gave the same discounts on guitars like I could get in my home town in New York.
So the guy that bought that guitar he was from Braintree,MA and he was glad to pay the price I was asking for it at the time.

All in all college students will always be selling stuff after all that's what those bulletin boards were there for before the internet and Craig's List.

 

Gawd no.

 

I'm not much for using pedals (just some compression occasionally), but it sounds great at low volume, as long as the gain is dialed in properly.

 

I found Phillips and RCA 12AX7's and an unused(?) JJ EL-84 in my tube stash, so I went ahead and removed the lousy Chinese tubes. Much smoother and more responsive now. My 1984 Rickenbacker 330 sounds soooo nice with it.