![]() A hunch, not confirmed, is that the more solid back & choice of a 10" speaker addressed some of the rigidity issues that other companies can't seem to figure out (you listening Fender?). Speaking of the back there is an extension speaker jack and most of the back of the cabinet is closed. These amps are cathode-biased, so pop the back & swap the power tubes and drive on. I'll have to take a walk upstairs to his personal collection and see if it got "shang-hai'd" and is now hanging out with all the Showmans, Bandmasters, Supers, Bassman's, Deluxes & Princetons, tanks & lap steels, and tone ring cabs. I note that my (former) example of an April 1965 Champ didn't pop back up on Dave's website. Still honeymooning but I'm liking it alot and think it will serve my 2nd amp needs for some time. A mini pedal board with an FRV-1, Demeter Tremulator and MXR's EP boost pedal and the whole thing is Mazda friendly. Even when the pre-amp is starting to growl, notes are articulate and full finishing chords don't lose their crystalline quality. It takes anything on my pedal board and also blends VERY nicely when run alongside my Vibrolux with some echo and/or trem. Of course, if you keep cranking the gain your gonna get full-on pre-amp distortion which is something I don't care for & don't do. No twiddling the volume knob, just back off your pick's enthusiasm, or jump on it. In fact, played with the Vibrolux matching overall volume there is almost the sound of just a hardworking amp if you vary your attack to go after it. Plenty of bass as well, no boxiness as is often complained of in small packages of this size. Just for grins I did turn down the MV and put the gain up around 10:00 (in a home environment this means barely cracking the MV (did I mention it was loud?). After a couple days my preferred MV is at 3/4 open which enables turning up the signal to the pre-amp enough to get its full characteristics. I typically run a little master-volume style amp wide open (or near there) in a traditional fashion and use whatever gain knob there is as the volume control - same thing with this amp and it yields a nice chimey (but not ice-picky) tone, very full-bodied. There is the typical interactive and effective Vox tone stack and plenty of bass & highs for anything I want to do. Soundwise, I'd already had the chance in the shop to A/B it against the AC15 with the Blue and knew that I would not miss the Tone Cut piece of the circuit. It works very well within its intent I have a tank after all & use echo & analog delay as well. The on-board reverb is nothing close to a spring pan, but is simply a very well-done digital on-amp reverb that would lend some ambience if playing otherwise sterile. For the AC10, 2/3 the size and at 27 lbs.On the street, a bit over half the cost of the AC15 with the Alnico Blue.For those who haven't seen one, like Fender's old Presence control, it dials some highs back into the output stage (except on a Vox the knob works the opposite, CCW puts the highs in). Top-Boost circuit, but without the Tone Cut (aka 'Presence') control in the bigger amps.tube in the bigger amp the AC10 is a 2x 12AX7 & 2x EL84/6BQ5 configuration. Half the weight, more power than an AC4, less than an AC15. Then my amp tech showed me something they were stocking very recently, an AC10c1 having trouble even keeping them in stock. ![]() However, truly, I didn't want another 50-pound amp antithesis of my search. the Alnico Blue (congrats again Jake!) first and, to my ear, the Blues were the only way to go. ![]() Really liking the sound of a Fender when combined with EL-84's I went looking to see what Vox's were at Dave's Guitar Shop. Part of some small amp's afflictions are simply where they tried to put 5 pounds in a 3 pound sack with the small MDF cabinet & a 12" speaker. ![]() I'd even stiffened the enclosure with a piece of aluminum bar stock routed into one side of the baffle. Not having much money in it to begin with I'd done some mods and actually got it "almost" Vox-y, but it wasn't there. I'd also owned a Blues Jr awhile back & really like an EL-84 output section. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I got to own that superb 50-yr old little guy. I wanted something more in a small package that my '65 Champ wasn't giving me, and one of those things was the smoothness that simply comes from a push-pull 2-tube power stage. You will require Adobe Acrobat PDF reader to view these schematics.First a bit of back story. All of these PDF files are available for free download. Clearance - Bargains - Scratch and DentÄo you have a Vox guitar or bass tube amp that needs repair or modifications? Here you will find our collection of Vox schematics.
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