The UNOFFICIAL "I GOT MY BARGAIN AC4" thread

this is the unofficial "I GOT MY AC4" Thread...


So mine arrived, only took two days from JR Music...in a kool box that reads "made in Vietnam"... very nice little amp, three knobs closed back with an extension speaker plug.

Turned it on..YEAHHH!!! It actually powered up and sound came out...

Played the Tele in the 4 watt mode, so far so good, kinda clean up to maybe half way with some EQ on the tone knob..it does indeed change the tone... turn it up some more, it's not much more volume but more like overdrive..fun....and it is pretty loud I would say.

the 1 watt mode, same deal, then the 1/4 watt mode...I find this to be quite effective for nice low volume practice settings..clean or overdrive.....

I can see me practicing with this amp and using it for tracks now and then.

Nice cabinet, quality build, no complaints here , overall I'm pretty amazed with the $129 purchase... My wife told me to buy another..I asked why and she thought about it and said.." I'll have to get get back to you with that "

t

Had mine a few days now. I got my speaker broke in via turning it up and playing my P-Bass through it. I like it. I switched back to my pro Jr for a bit, said meh and plugged right back in to the AC4. Its growing on me the more I play through it.

I have been considering getting one. I have Pathfinder 15R that I do most of my playing on, and my eye on an AC15C1....but played Teles and Strats thru that little AC4 and was pleasantly surprised. It sounds WAY better than the little Fender Champ......

sounds like a great deal that i would have jumped right on !!! i would love to know what the production cost per unit is ... we are now starting to see small PTP wired amps out of China (VHT) !!! i have a MIC Crate V50-112 that i got NIB shipped free for $200 ... it is a great bedroom amp (if you have a 1500 square foot bedroom ;<)

$129 is a killer price for that little rig. If you have any handy, try a few different 12AX7s in there and report back.

sounds like a great deal that i would have jumped right on !!! i would love to know what the production cost per unit is ... we are now starting to see small PTP wired amps out of China (VHT) !!! i have a MIC Crate V50-112 that i got NIB shipped free for $200 ... it is a great bedroom amp (if you have a 1500 square foot bedroom ;<)

Not that its a big deal since it is really a cool amp, but I don't think it's PTP.

well I got to tinkering as usual...here's what it looks like inside..certainly not PTP.. AC4TV8...

I ordered one for $129 the other day . . . couldn't pass it up. Will be here next week.

well I'm just gonna add..I'm a believer I love the thing, I have been playing it on and off all day in the 1/4 watt mode, kinda clean up to half knob then grit after that, plenty of practice power..then when you switch it to 4 watts it's like a Super Beatle !


well I guess that's quite an exaggeration but almost !

cool amp and a great deal. thanks for showing the inside pics. i'm thinking castpolymer got a heck of a deal on his head and cabinet 12" version. I might have to keep my eyes open to buy one...but really I have to many small 'practice' amps (who am I kidding) I need to get my 40 watt head on straight. Saving up for a Pro Reverb I think.

Got mine yesterday via UPS. Had a gig to get to and couldn't open the box until today. But once I did, I couldn't believe how great an amp this is for the price. ($129 shipped) What a deal!

4 watt mode with volume at around 25-30% and you have a nice mellow voxy tone anywhere you put the tone knob. I'm hearing Marshall the further clockwise the knob goes, but that's just me.

1 watt mode is about the same as 4 with a volume cut. Great for practicing in the office, or anywhere you don't want the neighbors to hear.

1/4 watt mode, crank the volume and tone to about 75% and who needs a dirt box! Really cool distorted tones in this mode when cranked. This mode would work well for practice too, but there isn't much headroom. There isn't supposed to be.

All in all, I don't regret the purchase at all. Something should be said for the customer service at JR Music. They shipped quickly, maintained great communication, and they back their product. I hadn't heard of them before this purchase, but they're in my "favorites" now.

I jumped on the bandwagon and just ordered one from J&R, can't beat the price.....am now debating a Vibro Champ versus a Super Champ...had been considering a Deluxe or Princeton Reissue but between the price and that I think they'll be too loud for my needs right now I'll try a couple "little" amps instead . Not sure what I'll do with the Blues Junior....

Yeah... if there is a bargain to be had I am right there... Got it a few days ago and it is getting played in nicely. I like it a lot. I find it sounds great on the 1 watt mode... I think it is going to be the official living room amp.

$109.99 after entering geico10 in the promo code! I found an old silvertone hi-fi in the trash a couple of months ago, had some nice 12AX7's labeled made in great britain along w/ a japanese el84.

Thanks for showing the inside!

Mine should be here monday. I cant wait!

Again, thanks for showing the internals, T Prior. I expect mine on Tuesday.:grin:

I plan on changing the tubes almost immediately. I have a 1960s GE EL84 and a few green-label Sylvania 12AX7s just lying around. Good to know that it's relatively easy to get into the cabinet (I hope . . . :?:).

I've always hated how the tubes in Vox amps are situated inside right underneath the vent. I had a Vox AC30 RI in the 90s that practically melted due to the excessive heat. I figure the two small tubes in the AC4TV8 won't get that hot.

Already have the 10 inch and I have the 8 inch on the way for my daughter....couldn't pass up that price.....
got a bunch of tubes I can try in it from the electronics the neighbor just put on the curb.....

I've always hated how the tubes in Vox amps are situated inside right underneath the vent.


You have to REMOVE ALL the screws from the rear panel, some mount the panel, others mount the chassis to the panel. Also two screws on the top of the cabinet mount the chassis as well. We get a lot of screws for the money:rolleyes:


Uhhh...the tubes are not actually directly under the vent , they are kinda more inside the chassis and the vent is on the top over the speaker, probably to vent the hot tones from the amp ! Shouldn't be an issue, there is lots of air space inside...

Uhmmmm $109....will we hear $99 soon ?

+1 on JR music

This breaks my heart in a way. I bought one for $250 a year or so ago with the hope of eventually selling it and recuping at least a good share of my money spent....i guess that's out the window.....

I'm wondering where $109 came from.... The original price was $139 and the geico10 code took $10 off. Unless it changed... Hmmmm.

I'm wondering where $109 came from.... The original price was $139 and the geico10 code took $10 off. Unless it changed... Hmmmm.

They've dropped the price to $119 before the promo code!

How does this amp stack up against a blackface Champ?

How does this amp stack up against a blackface Champ?

The Vox has very little clean headroom.

By 12 o'clock it's pretty gnarly. But in a good way.

Since I like to play in the dirt most of the time, it works for me. Those who prefer clean tones are likely to be disappointed, IMHO.

The tone control on the Vox is pretty limited as well.

The Vox has the 4, 1 and 1/4 watt switch.

Cheers,
Geoff

Just ordered one, with the geico10 and got it for $109.
Thanks folks!!!

Alright, so I just plugged my Tremolux 210 xt cabinet into the AC4. I know the impedances aren't right, but I had to try it out for a few minutes with real speakers... :grin:

WOW.

What the stock 8" Celestion lacks in bottom end, the 210 closed back picked right up. In 4w mode at around 12 o clock, I'm hearing a subdued AC15. Obviously not as loud, but similar tone. Unlike a couple of posters on here, I'm finding that the tone knob is pretty useful. I'm playing a 1991 '52 RI w/ Adders straight into the amp. I find that I prefer what's coming out the amp with the tone anywhere b/w 1/2 and wide open. Seems more open and less like a blanket has been thrown over it.

W/ the xt cab still plugged, switch it to 1w mode and crank volume and tone to 75% and you've got some good classic CCR or Beatles tones. Seriously! First thing I started playing was the intro to "Up Around The Bend" by CCR. It just felt right.

Anyway, I'll quit posting now, but I have to say I'm much more satisfied with this purchase than I suspected. This could definitely be a keeper for practice, recording, and maybe some small coffee shop type gigs....okay, probably not any gigs! We'll see....:rolleyes:

Officially I am part of the unofficial "I GOT MY AC4" Thread now, I've had mine for better then a week now. For the money its real nice, have played it alot and its seems to be less harsh (maybe speaker is breaking in or my ears are getting used to it (I choose to believe the speaker is breaking in). I have also tried it into a Marshall 1922 cabinet. Sure is a fun little amp. The 4 watt setting sounds good. as others have found Vol above half and sounds gets more distorted. but sweet spots can be found making it real enjoyable.

Got mine in the other day. Really enjoying it so far.

My "GOT MY BARGAIN AC4" came as a used AC4TVH head off craigslist. I love it. I took the amp out of the cheesy stock cab (no offense to the fans out there) and put it in a homemade cabinet. It's plugged into the big 12 incher in my Classic 30, which makes the amp sound much better than either the stock 8 or 10. To round it all out, I bought a EH Reverb and I built a SHO booster/overdrive to put in front of the amp. The Reverb gives it all some dimension and the SHO turns the weak Tele neck pickup into a growling monster. It's the perfect home setup.

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd63/Stoneflycutt/Gibson30.jpg

Mines on the way.

Got my AC4TV8 in today and spent several hours with it already and here are my initial impressions.

I was worried that the tone knob would not provide a sufficient amount of EQ for me. I’ve owned other Vox amps in the past that were a little on the dark side of things . . . and those amps had separate treble and bass controls. I’m happy to say that the AC4 is pretty bright. And I don’t even have to turn the tone knob all the way up. The bad news is that the amp doesn’t have a lot of bass. I have heard other amps with 8" speakers put out way more bass that this. Of course, the speaker isn’t broken in yet but I doubt I’ll get much more bass over time. I have yet to plug it into another cab.

I swapped out the stock Sovtek tubes for a Sylvania 12AX7 and GE EL84. Definitely a smoother sound. The amp starts getting distorted pretty fast. Like 10 or 11 o’clock on the dial. That’s fine by me but some might want an overall cleaner sound.

The amp is also smaller than expected. Overall, I would feel a bit cheated at the normal price of $199. But for $110, this amp isn’t bad. I’m looking forward to living with a while and seeing how it develops.

BTW, J&R (http://www.jr.com/vox/pe/VX_AC4TV8/?JRSource=linkshare&SiteID=RvEiSnI7NyY-fYgpG/eKlWj6Y4AaH2yd7w) has put the price back up to $139.99.:confused:

BTW, J&R has put the price back up to $139.99

They went back to $119 (:confused:) and $10 off with the coupon code. There's a few other online stores selling them at $119. They must be blowing that model out for whatever reason? I could not resist... $109 shipped for a Champ? Thanks for the tip. :mrgreen:

I had already ordered mine for $129 (with the geico10 code) . . . it's due to arrive today . . . but after seeing this thread, I called them up and they gave me back the extra $20.

$109 is cheaper than I was once planning to spend to buy a used one . . . now glad that deal never happened.

I didn't need another amp but for $109 including shipping, I couldn't resist. I play clean most of the time but a little dirt is good too.. I've got amps that can do dirty quite well but not at family friendly volume. I played it for an hour last night on the 1 1/10 watt setting and loved it. I had the volume at about 3/4 and found the tone control very useful, every guitar I have sounded good. No complaints about the noise either.

Mine arrived the other day . . . fantastic. For only $109, cant think of many things more worth the price.

Mine arrived the other day . . . fantastic. For only $109, cant think of many things more worth the price.

^^^This^^^ Nuff said. Love mine too.....I want another one.:oops:

whew! im glad i didnt buy one when i had the chance because a certain store wanted to sell me one for 360 bux....they told me that was the going price...maybe that was the list price idk..i may have if it were as cheap as this thread describes....anyway i opted out and bought a weber kit...:)

I bought the 10 inch version as soon as they came out... and I use mine live in church every week! I mic the amp, so the 1 watt setting is plenty to get a nice tone at a low volume. I plugged it into a Fender Deluxe 112 and the bottom end just explodes! Like someone said above... it really turns it into a nice AC15 or AC30 sound... but at less volume. Love the tone and versatility of this amp! My sound guys also love it because it gives them so much more freedom can control over the overall mix.

I tried the 8 inch version at a local GC, and didn't like it nearly as much... but plugged into a 112 or 212 cab, its the same amp... for about $100 cheaper... nice deal

we may need another AC4 thread..

" the $109 with free shipping AC4 bargain thread "

as opposed to

" Oh geeze, I had to pay $129 for mine" :sad:

Dang, I picked up a ac4tv10 for $160 on craigslist a few weeks and thought I got a bargain. What a great sounding amp though!

..."i would love to know what the production cost per unit is ... we are now starting to see small PTP wired amps out of China (VHT) !!! ..."

We don't want to know.

Does this amp play well with delays or should I just go with a solid state amp such as a Pathfinder 15R? I'm asking because I need a practice amp, but I know I'll be using my rack effects fairly often, along with pedals. Thanks!

Weber has a Alnico Blue Pup 8 inch 16ohm for $45.00 & they are having a 10% off back to school sale! Specs say that it is 3 7/8 inches deep, Has anyone tried this yet? I also have a old Epiphone 2 x 10 empty cab, would you throw a couple of Sig 10S's into it or upgrade the 8 inch in the AC4TV8?

Got home from work. Daughter had it in the front room. I've played with it for an hour and a half. I LIKE it. Just now wondering what it sounds like with a larger speaker... :grin:

Weber has a Alnico Blue Pup 8 inch 16ohm for $45.00 & they are having a 10% off back to school sale! Specs say that it is 3 7/8 inches deep, Has anyone tried this yet? I also have a old Epiphone 2 x 10 empty cab, would you throw a couple of Sig 10S's into it or upgrade the 8 inch in the AC4TV8?

Someone on another forum said the Weber alnico Pup was a bit too large to fit without modification, but the ceramic Pup was a direct swap. He said it was a big improvement over the stock Celestion.

Someone on another forum said the Weber alnico Pup was a bit too large to fit without modification, but the ceramic Pup was a direct swap. He said it was a big improvement over the stock Celestion.

I wonder why, the ceramic magnet is larger than an alnico. DO you have a line to that thread by chance? I am planning on doing this with my AC4

Does this model have basically the same electronics of the stand alone head? I was thinking of making a new cabinet for the electronics and using it with another speaker.

I wonder why, the ceramic magnet is larger than an alnico. DO you have a line to that thread by chance? I am planning on doing this with my AC4

Sometimes you see wide Alnico speaker field case but generally Alnico's have more depth to their dimensions due to the magnet and field case than compared to a ceramic of the same wattage. This is not the rule but pretty much the norm. The opposite is the ceramic generally being wider but more shallow depth compared to an Alnico of the same wattage. Again this not the rule but generally the norm.

So if you have a shallow cab like a small Champ or the AC4TV for instance you're going to want to find a speaker that is going to make it in there depth wise, of course width is also a consideration if you have transformers getting in the way. :wink:

Btw, the Jensen C8R fits perfectly and sounds great in the AC4TV8 :mrgreen:


Does this model have basically the same electronics of the stand alone head? I was thinking of making a new cabinet for the electronics and using it with another speaker.

Exactly the same with one exception, in the attenuator network the TV10, TVH have a 5.6 ohm 2W resistor in R14 and the TV8's a 3.3 ohm 2W in its place in order to get the 1/10W setting.

Hold off on doing that. I'm posting a thread on that very subject in a moment here. :cool:

duplicate post removed

Man, I can't find this amp locally anywhere to try out. All I can find locally is the 10" version. Any huge difference between the 8 and 10 besides the obvious?

I compared my new Vox AC4TV8 to a friend’s Fender Champion 600 this afternoon. Both of us thought the Vox was much brighter and had a lot more bite. I also felt like the Vox had a slightly fuller midrange and more of a classic rock sound. Strangely, I thought the little Fender had better bass response. I found that confusing because the Champion 600 only has a 6” speaker while the Vox has an 8” speaker.

Both of us thought that the Vox was considerably louder than the Fender at full volume. This is also a bit weird because the Fender is rated at 5-watts and the Vox is only 4-watts. BTW, both amps were stocked with vintage tubes.

My friend thought that the Vox was an incredible steal for $110 at J&R.com.

Later on, I took the Vox and my Esquire over to a drummer friend of mine for an impromptu jam session. The Vox had no problem being heard over the drums with the volume knob around 1 o’clock. He was also impressed – even though he has a ridiculously expensive (and loud) 150-watt Mesa/Boogie triple rectifier half-stack in his jam room.

All in all, this little Vox amp impresses me more by the day. Having said that, I still wish it had a little more bass response (or at least separate bass and treble controls).

I got one today. Had a $30 off Guitar Center coupon and traded in some old gear, so it cost me under $170 out of pocket.

I haven't had much time with it, obviously, but the longer I played through it the more I like this little amp. Tonight I was using a Squier Standard Strat, and it wasn't hard to get some really lovely early Dire Straits / Mark Knopfler sounds as well as some more distorted blues/rock tones out of the AC4TV on the 1/4 W setting, or some very chimey cleans on the 1 W and 4 W settings.

Not many months ago I spent nearly three times as much on the online purchase of a @!*&!* Line Six Spider Jam that came highly recommended by a friend but which turned out to be the most disappointing music-related purchase I've ever made. Thinking of the weeks I spent trying (and failing) to get even one single decent tone out of the Line 6 is enough to make me gnash my teeth. By comparison a few minutes of noodling around with the Vox AC4TV and already my guitar is sounding gorgeous.

And all this is with no effects, and very little experience with the amp. I bet it'll sound even better with a touch of reverb. Time to look for a budget reverb pedal.

Mr Esquire - a $30 Danelectro Fish n Chips 7-band graphic equalizer pedal is a very inexpensive and versatile way to add refined tone controls to the Vox (or any other) guitar amp. You can also use it as a clean boost for more drive.

-Gnobuddy

Man, I can't find this amp locally anywhere to try out. All I can find locally is the 10" version. Any huge difference between the 8 and 10 besides the obvious?
In addition to the smaller speaker, the 8" has a 1/10 watt lowest power output setting, the 10" has a 1/4 watt setting in its place.

I haven't read much love for the 1/10 watt setting, but haven't heard it myself. I'm happy enough with the 1/4 watt setting on my 10" version of the AC4TV, but I actually wouldn't mind an even lower power setting for late-night practice without disturbing the neighbors.

Almost certainly the 8" version sounds "boxier" than the 10" version. The 10" version itself definitely sounds "boxier" than the head and 12" cab. And *that* sounds boxier than the head or combo plugged into a big external 4x12 cab.

This is just the nature of the beast. Loudspeakers in small boxes tend to sound boxy. Question is, how boxy a sound is acceptable to you? IMO I wouldn't go smaller than the 10" version.

-Gnobuddy

I have two questions:

Here is a $279 amp for $129..

are we thinking:

1) can this be my steady gig amp

2) would we stop debating over the purchase if it was $59 ?

T. Prior - :lol:

I bought my AC4TV for bedroom/ living room use. Funny thing is, I'm having the opposite issue - instead of being concerned that the amp is too quiet for gigs, I'm concerned that it's too darn loud for the living room! Seriously, even on the 1/4" setting it is loud enough that I don't feel comfortable playing it after dark or with the windows open or if my wife is around the house.

I could go in and modify the attenuator to get the AC4TV8's 1/10 watt instead of the 1/4 watt of the 10" version I have. But I would surely void the warranty, and I'm starting to have second thoughts about the AC4TV altogether. I'm not convinced it really does anything better than my other small amp, a Fender Super Champ XD.

-Gnobuddy

I could go in and modify the attenuator to get the AC4TV8's 1/10 watt instead of the 1/4 watt of the 10" version I have.

The 1/10 watt setting on the TV8 is about as loud as playing your guitar unplugged. Seriously...

The 1/10 watt setting on the TV8 is about as loud as playing your guitar unplugged. Seriously...
Well, there is weirdness afoot, then!

In theory, going from 1/4 W to 1/10 W should only drop the loudness by 4 dB. That's certainly audible, but 4 dB won't produce the very dramatic volume drop you describe. I wonder if the attenuator numbers are not quite correct (i.e. the 1/4 W setting actually puts out more than 1/4 W, or the 1/10 W actually puts out less than 1/10 W)?

Anyhow, I'm finding that the 1/4 W setting is really too loud to use indoors in a small room if there's anyone else living within 100 yards (make that 200 yards if it's at night). It's also too loud to play along with a CD or DVD on my home music system unless I turn that too up ridiculously loud. Make-the-neighbors-call-the-cops loud!

-Gnobuddy

It's been an interesting two hours since my last post. :smile:

After I wrote that post I remembered that I had a Variac lying around the house. I've been using it to quiet down a noisy HEPA air filtration unit in the bedroom. So I thought, why not use the Variac to drop the AC line voltage into the AC4TV, and see what that does to bring down the amps loudness, fully cranked? Many solid state amps would have a fit if you tried that, but I've seen the schematics of the AC4TV, and I didn't see anything that could be hurt by trying it.

Guess what, it worked extremely well. I started out with the Variac set to 120 V (no reduction in AC voltage compared to a regular wall outlet), and the amp on the 1/4 W setting. Too loud, but I already knew that. So I started to dial back the Variac. As the amp volume dropped, I switched first to the 1 W setting, then the 4 W setting. No more wasted heat in the output attenuator, no more tone loss there either.

At somewhere around 50V - 60 V AC into the AC4TV, I got the fully-cranked distorted tones I had been looking for at a nice home-friendly volume level. If I dialed back the guitar volume until the tone cleaned up, it was almost inaudible - barely louder than the unplugged electric guitar, as SnorkelMonkey put it. Nowhere near enough power for clean sounds. But fully cranked, it was the right level for me - I could play along with the stereo at a level that wouldn't upset the neighbors, or damage my hearing.

I should mention that the AC4TV lost some gain as the voltage went down, so at 50 V supply voltage there wasn't much sustain even fully cranked. I plugged in a Danelectro 7-band graphic eq pedal between the guitar and AC4TV and used that as a clean boost - with it dialed up, I could get fairly well sustained, fully saturated lead lines.

So the "too loud to use" issue is pretty much sorted, as long as I'm willing to use the Variac with the amp. Unfortunately, the other issue - the rather boxy sound of the AC4TV 10" combo - didn't get any better. In fact, at lower volume levels, it only became more noticeable, as my ears were not being blasted with too much volume to hear clearly. With the 10" combo, if you play the full-barre six string 1st-fret Fmaj chord shape and slide it up to the 8th fret, so it's now a Cmaj, you'll hear the boxy nature of the AC4TV10 very clearly. It really ruins the tone of a decent electric guitar. :sad:

I don't think there's an easy fix for this. Returning the AC4TV combo and getting a head/cab version might do the trick, but it's much more expensive - and I'm still not sure it will do anything my Super Champ XD won't.

-Gnobuddy

The 1/10 watt setting on the TV8 is about as loud as playing your guitar unplugged. Seriously...


yeah but you can't get any overdrive playing unplugged.! Personally I think the low 1/10 setting, whatever it is, is a nice level for a quiet , more than no amp at all, setting.

I love the little amp...

yeah but you can't get any overdrive playing unplugged.! Personally I think the low 1/10 setting, whatever it is, is a nice level for a quiet , more than no amp at all, setting.

What you describe is pretty much what I was wanting when I bought mine (though I got the 10" version with the 1/4 W setting). Unfortunately, to my ears, my Super Champ XD on voice 7,8, or 9 ("British") produces a much more attractive overdrive sound, even when dialed down to lower volumes than the Vox on the 1/4 W setting. And the SCXD also has much less of the "boxy" sound of the AC4TV10 (perhaps because of the open back?).

Not quite an apples-to-apples comparison for those of you who paid $129 for the Vox though - I paid $275 for the SCXD. At half the price, I'd probably be more forgiving of the Vox's boxy tone. But I paid $220 for my Vox after using a $30 Guitar Center discount coupon. I traded in some old gear so my out-of-pocket expense was under $170, but essentially I gave up $220 of my money - and at that price, I don't think the Vox cuts it compared to the SCXD.

I'll add that the AC4TV's "boxy" sound is much less noticeable "in the mix", where it's somewhat covered up by the drums and bass and rhythm guitar. It's also not very noticeable when playing single-note lead lines, only when playing full chords. So it won't be an issue in some situations and for some playing styles.

-Gnobuddy

I don't think the Vox cuts it compared to the SCXD.

-Gnobuddy well ok then :!:

we're talking about an amp at a DEAL OF THE CENTURY price, it's not supposed to be compared to anything other than the price tag !

Some here got it for $119 ! I over paid, I paid $129 !

Some here got it for $119 ! I over paid, I paid $129 !
At that price, it's a steal however you look at it. :smile:

-Gnobuddy