I just HAD to buy a Vox AC4TV! (pics)

[Orphin]

Last monday I tried the AC4TV. Also tried the Marshall Class 5. I'm usually a Marshall guy, but the AC4 was the winner by far. The Marshall had annoying highs that didn't sound good to my ears.
The AC4 however really sounds like a good amp, and I instantly loved the switching feature. For you guys who haven't heard, it can be switch from 4 watts to 1 watt and to 1/4 watt. I have tried many amps that has the ability to switch down the power but I have never liked it. Usually it kills the tone. Just try a Mesa 5:50 and you'll know what I mean. But on the AC4 it really works. Probably because it's actually a built in attenuator and not triode operation etc.
The tone knob on the amp I tried in the store was a joke. You could hardly hear any difference at all when turning it, but it works a little better on mine. Still it's more like a treble/precence knob than a tone knob.
Haven't tried it through an external cab yet, but I'm looking forward to it. Did that with the Marshall C5 but it still sounded cr@p IMO.
Here's some porn:




First thing an amp nerd like me does is to check the insides..


..and swap tubes. It came with Sovtek tubes.


Put in a JJ ECC83 and an RCA EL84.




My updated practice room. The AC4, ZVex Nano and the Roland Micro Cube (Great for late night playing).

[xenious]

Is this the new one that just came out? I'm dying to hear what it sounds like!! post please!


edit: duh I was thinking of the new AC4 mini, but lets hear the full size one too...

[Nork]

that's sweet. it sound better with the RCA?

[bclaire]

Cool! Makes me want to go try one...

[Y0UNGBL00D]

Surprisingly ugly on the inside but I bet it sounds good !

[Orphin]

that's sweet. it sound better with the RCA?

Well. I'm not one of those people (that it seems to be so many of on this forum ) that thinks that different tubes makes day and night difference.
But I think it probably made it a little better. I feel it sounded bolder, kinda bigger. Maybe the RCA can push the output another quarter (or less) of a watt or something?

I can say to anyone who's interested in how powerful it is that if you live in an apartment you can crank it in 1/4 watt mode if you have friendly neighbors that doesn't mind hearing you play, 'cause it will be heard to all your closest neighbors. That said, I'm not able to crank it in the 1/4 mode at home.

I think the speaker might need some hours to loosen up. It sounds stiffer at the moment than the one in the shop.

I also bought a cheap delay pedal to have at home of the brand Artec. Have anyone heard about these before?
It was the cheapest delay (and it was analogue) after Behringer but it looked like better quality, so I bought it blindly.
I'm amazed how good it sounds. It doesn't have extreme settings like my Memory man but it's really easy to find the tones you need.
I also found a cool feature with it. The more your battery dies, the more "band sway" you get out of it. Say if you would have the ability to simulate a dying battery with your pedal power unit you could lower the voltage to get that chorus effect. Pretty neat.

[Neiloler]

I've got one of those Artec delay pedals, and I dig it. It never got a space on my board because I always felt like the delay level could stand to come up just a hair, but it's got some fun settings (but not enough wild ones, so again, never made my board). A great friend gave it to me!

[Nork]

i'm not a dude that thinks tubes can make a night or day diff either, but they definitely change stuff - my new TAD's are totally different from the JJ's. it's not night or day, but there's definitely a difference. i feel like the single ended amps would show tube differences a little more, if that makes any sense at all?

[Ale]

congrats for the amp!can you tell us a little more about the sound of the(amp/clean,crunch..etc..)?

[Orphin]

i feel like the single ended amps would show tube differences a little more, if that makes any sense at all?

No, that shouldn't matter. Only that with only 1 power tube you know that your power tubes are 100% matched.
I think the output transformer controls too much of the tone to make any greater differences between tubes, unless they are shot. That's something I want to point out; switching from dead tubes or other problematic tubes to healthy ones, that will make a big difference in tone IMO.

congrats for the amp!can you tell us a little more about the sound of the(amp/clean,crunch..etc..)?

Thanks. I really shouldn't this early on. Just played it for about 15 minutes yesterday and the speaker needs some breaking in. But the big picture is a typical Vox tone. It's bright with a woody vintage tone. To my ears this little bugger has a quality tone complexity that can be compared to my bigger, much more expensive amps. I didn't at all feel this with the Marshall C5 btw.
Being 4 watts in a 10" combo there won't be that much bass response, but I haven't tried it in with an external cab yet.
I hate to say this on an Orange forum, but in the store, I also had the chance to compare it to the Orange AD5. The AD5 sounded cardboard boxy and hollow compared to the AC4 and it was double the price too.
To be perfectly honest, I'm really not in the need for another amp. I didn't buy it because I truly needed it. I bought it because it was the best <5 watt combo I've played and because it's dirt cheap.

[nguideau]

I've been very tempted to buy one of these. The price is great and the tone really is fantastic.

I was kind of worried about a couple things, and was hoping for a second revision from Vox that might address them. But perhaps you can share whether or not you think my concerns are legitimate, David.

My first concern is that it is closed. There's very little ventilation for the tubes in this amp. And being low-wattage, I don't know about you guys, but for me the purpose would be to push it HARD, and play it A LOT.

My second concern is the construction. I've got no problem with PCB, the cabinet seems solid and the hardware and knobs seem just fine. But, the way the amp is assembled, the chassis looks very flimsy, like it could be easy to bend when taking it apart to swap tubes, or worse, that it or a tube pin or socket would easily bend when swapping tubes.

[Orphin]

My first concern is that it is closed. There's very little ventilation for the tubes in this amp. And being low-wattage, I don't know about you guys, but for me the purpose would be to push it HARD, and play it A LOT.

I don't think it's a problem. First of all I believe that when after building amps for 50 years, Vox should be well aware of how much ventilation is needed. Second, the single EL84 produces 4 watts, and that isn't punishing for the tube. My Marshall 2061X pushes 10 watts out of each EL84 tube (although in A/B operation).

My second concern is the construction. I've got no problem with PCB, the cabinet seems solid and the hardware and knobs seem just fine. But, the way the amp is assembled, the chassis looks very flimsy, like it could be easy to bend when taking it apart to swap tubes, or worse, that it or a tube pin or socket would easily bend when swapping tubes.

I didn't get that impression when swapping the tubes. The chassis is screwed down to the backside of the cab as well as the top of the cab. The PCB board is so small that it's quite stiff. I didn't feel I had to be too carefull when swapping the tubes. The only thing that bothered me little is that the speaker cable inside the amp was so short that I could hardly get in there without removing the cable form the lugs on the speaker. I didn't want to bother with that. You can see in the pictures that I have opened the amp up as much as possible without removing the speaker cable.

All in all I think it's an amazing value for the money.

[Neiloler]

I REALLY dislike the MDF cab material. Otherwise this one would go on the wist list. Maybe I can find a broken one and put it in a nicer cab.

[PopnFresh]

They make a head version of that as well dont they?

[nguideau]

Thanks David. You're just making my GAS for this amp worse by dispelling my concerns, but I appreciate it nonetheless.