First announced in January, it looks like 2024 will see a fresh hand wired line up from Vox, inc. a HW AC10, which from the few photos I've seen, may have a different cab/chassis and a 12" speaker instead of 10". Anyone seen these ? looks like tube amps are still at the top of the tree at Vox
New Vox hand wired amps for 2024
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RockyRules
Tele-Meister
Just more Vox re-issues is all - they've already got several alleged hand-wired models out
The only unique/special thing about Vox has been the chime/jangle tones the AC 15 and 30 will deliver with an alnico speaker.
If the amp don't have an alnico speaker and tubes it won't produce that either.
And then there's nothing great or special about Vox amps imo
There's a thread for this
Thread 'New Vox Handwired series coming in June' https://www.tdpri.com/threads/new-vox-handwired-series-coming-in-june.1149021/
Just more Vox re-issues is all - they've already got several alleged hand-wired models out
The only unique/special thing about Vox has been the chime/jangle tones the AC 15 and 30 will deliver with an alnico speaker.
If the amp don't have an alnico speaker and tubes it won't produce that either.
And then there's nothing great or special about Vox amps imo
Actually these include an update on all the models.
Direct bypass effects loop and spring reverb on AC4 and AC10 although it's not clear/likely tube driven. Reverb on a Vox I don't care. As long as they're Topboost with a cut control.
Lighter/smaller cabinets can only be a good thing. There's no reason for an AC15 to.weigh 51lbs.
I'd seriously look at the AC10 - I have a Blue I could swap in. It'd definitely be giggable, seeing as I can't use above 3-4 on the master of an AC15 with Blue.
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The AC10 HW model now has no gain knob-unlike the C1. That link does not show the back. Hopefully they have changed the chassis shape so the tubes don't hang in front of the speaker. Not sure either if it has the top boost circuit like the C1 from 2015. The speaker is now 12". The weight you mention is down to the use of MDF in many amps rather than proper wood for the cab
JohnnyThul
Tele-Afflicted
+1, without tubes, definitely no Vox sound.
The HW AC10 won't be much like the AC10C1 in construction, plus it won't have a chip driving the Topboost stage. A gain pot - is a volume pot. You mean it's got no MV. It's by no means certain theyve got the right pics against the right amp.
In the writeups the NAMM release stated that they've used one thickness for the cabinets across the line of previous handwired amps which are 19mm ply, not MDF. They found the old ones had thinner cabinets, which they consider contributes to their sound.
Vox's documents aren't clear. If you click on either the AC4 or AC10 it downloads the AC15/30 combos and head/cabinet manuals. That plus the fact both the AC4 and AC10 show two 12AX7s either the details are wrong or the AC10 isn't going to support tube Reverb which makes no sense. O wouldn't mind betting the AC4 and AC10 will both use the same preamp, with a cathodyne PI.
The AC15/30 preamps use 4 12AX7s and 1 12AT7, about the minimum you'd need for tube trem and reverb.
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Just more Vox re-issues is all - they've already got several alleged hand-wired models out
The only unique/special thing about Vox has been the chime/jangle tones the AC 15 and 30 will deliver with an alnico speaker.
If the amp don't have an alnico speaker and tubes it won't produce that either.
And then there's nothing great or special about Vox amps imo
Some details are still a bit vague, but what I saw with the 10 model is 2 inputs-high & low , master volume, reverb-not clear if it's tube driven (most likely digital) no tone cut as on the larger models, there is no gain control as on the AC C1 so it's basically a clean sound, but it has FX loop so overdrive through that, the cab is square and the speaker is now 12" not 10"
JohnnyThul
Tele-Afflicted
Oh I see. having the two inputs is good if you have humbuckers. It wont be any less loud by the look of things. The other thing is retail price, I'm guessing a good $800 for the 10 model. Wont be out till May/June..
RockyRules
Tele-Meister
OK well this AC10 might actually sound a bit like a Vox AC cos it has a 12" Celestion Greenback.
It won't produce Vox chime/jangle though with no Cut Control dial.
I really don't see the point of owning Vox amps if they won't do chime/jangle tones both clean and overdriven
HW - higher wholesale.
You know that that means
You know that that means
My AC4HW1 was $800 retail back in 2014/15.
OK well this AC10 might actually sound a bit like a Vox AC cos it has a 12" Celestion Greenback.
It won't produce Vox chime/jangle though with no Cut Control dial.
I really don't see the point of owning Vox amps if they won't do chime/jangle tones both clean and overdriven
Vox isn't going to use digital reverb . Thar would kill it stone dead in the boutique handwired market.The AC10 will be more like $US1400 if it's €1299 in Europe.
There's something extremely screwy going on here. The amp/s may still be under final development and they may have no cosmetically ready final states for pictures.
It may be the AC10 is a reissue of the 1961-1963 AC10 except with just a normal channel. They'd get away with two preamp tubes with single tube reverb and cathodyne PI.
The original TV front AC10 was an angry chimey little bugger, Topboost or no. Prices for the single or twin speaker vintage versions are ballistic
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JohnnyThul
Tele-Afflicted
Hm, I had two AC30HW, one with greenbacks, one with blue Alnicos. Both did the jangle thing, the Alnico one better.OK well this AC10 might actually sound a bit like a Vox AC cos it has a 12" Celestion Greenback.
It won't produce Vox chime/jangle though with no Cut Control dial.
I really don't see the point of owning Vox amps if they won't do chime/jangle tones both clean and overdriven
I also had an Ac10 and that is a phenomenal amp and it jangles as well. Actually, I liked the Ac10 better than the AC30HW, because it already had the front end driven internally, so, no need for pedals and the built in reverb made it a very good package. It may be the only ampnin Vox history, where I was okay with the Top Boost sound. Therefore I am very excited about this new handwired version.
I also have amps, that are cathode biased, but more in a Marshall camp. When I run them through my 2x12 with AlNiCo Ruby's, I can make them all jangle even with no cut control. It's a question of the mid setting then more, than any thing else.
On the other hand, I also owned a Victory VC35 Deluxe Combo, which has a cut control and also a kind of EF86 frontend (EF184 iirc) and that amp couldn't jangle. Cut control and AlNiCo Gold on board, still no jangle.
I believe the hand wired units are still made in China. As for the original AC10's, as detailed in the Vox Showroom they were more like 12 watts in output and had no reverb tank, but a Vibrato channel. The last one I saw advertised on Reverb was in the UK and they wanted £4,500. this was some 5 years ago. I doubt they sounded any better than the new ones - just a bit different
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chillybilly
Tele-Meister
One supreme irony (for me) is that I was somewhat cool to the fawn Tolex look of the HW line because I was accustomed to the classic Vox cosmetics but at least fawn was (usually) an at-a-glance signifier of HW.
I had a bandmate with a fawn HW (AC15 I believe) and it sounded fantastic. I was young and dumb (OK not all that young but still dumb) and thought amps that didn't have onboard reverb were inferior in some way ie I didn't believe my own ears.
Some years later I owned two of the AC30CC2X models (!?). Long boring story of purchase/ownership omitted except to say they were a maintenance nightmare and I managed to have two at the same time. But they had the look.
THEN I ended up buying a 65Amps SoHo which was and is a fantastic amp and, of course, lacks reverb but by then that was a selling point for me. So much for principles, opinions and 'knowledge.'
But I still had that Vox HW GAS and the fawn Tolex suddenly began to appeal to me, in part because I'd been using a friend's blonde '62 Showman on occasion.
Now it seems things may have come full circle where the HW line will have the black Tolex.
As of this writing I have an AC15 that I retrofitted with an alnico blue. It doesn't get played as often as it should but then neither does the 65Amps. GAS being an unpredictable beast, I would at least like to hear the new HW and might sniff around some of the old (fawn) HW market to see how prices are affected (probably not at all, I predict, but....).
I had a bandmate with a fawn HW (AC15 I believe) and it sounded fantastic. I was young and dumb (OK not all that young but still dumb) and thought amps that didn't have onboard reverb were inferior in some way ie I didn't believe my own ears.
Some years later I owned two of the AC30CC2X models (!?). Long boring story of purchase/ownership omitted except to say they were a maintenance nightmare and I managed to have two at the same time. But they had the look.
THEN I ended up buying a 65Amps SoHo which was and is a fantastic amp and, of course, lacks reverb but by then that was a selling point for me. So much for principles, opinions and 'knowledge.'
But I still had that Vox HW GAS and the fawn Tolex suddenly began to appeal to me, in part because I'd been using a friend's blonde '62 Showman on occasion.
Now it seems things may have come full circle where the HW line will have the black Tolex.
As of this writing I have an AC15 that I retrofitted with an alnico blue. It doesn't get played as often as it should but then neither does the 65Amps. GAS being an unpredictable beast, I would at least like to hear the new HW and might sniff around some of the old (fawn) HW market to see how prices are affected (probably not at all, I predict, but....).
JohnnyThul
Tele-Afflicted
The handwired ones are still being made in Vietnam , not China.
Digital Reverb is not an issue imho, the Vibro Champ has it as well, and sells like hotcakes, even though they are not handwired and do not have such a nice speaker.
The AC10 is a great package, and all of the issues of the standard AC10 ( which is a great amp already, not only for the price) have been addressed. It's the perfect living room Vox , that can also handle the occasional small gig.
Digital Reverb is not an issue imho, the Vibro Champ has it as well, and sells like hotcakes, even though they are not handwired and do not have such a nice speaker.
The AC10 is a great package, and all of the issues of the standard AC10 ( which is a great amp already, not only for the price) have been addressed. It's the perfect living room Vox , that can also handle the occasional small gig.
Both the fawn HW2 from 2010+ and previous two tone or wood HW1 from the noughties were made in Vietnam. The hyper expensive 60th anniversary amps from 2017 were handwired in Brittain. They had duxnuts accurate Silver alnicos and the cast egg trem switch.
They were US$4299 msrp. By all accounts it's a beautiful amp and beautifully made. But it's four grand.
Given they've advertised spring reverb they ain't using digital. They'd have to be using analogue chips to drive/ recover as per the AC15C and AC30C. Even that is an intermediate $700 Hotrod/Blues PCB amp solution. Not $1700 handwired.
Digital reverb is an issue for the target market. The 68 VibroChamp or Vox AC10C1 is the entry tube market - great for the price point and limited real estate. Solid state analogue chips - not so bad. But not it in high end amps.
How exactly can you handwire a surface mount digital chip to a turret board?
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Michael Smith
Tele-Afflicted
You would have to have much better eyesight than mine.
JohnnyThul
Tele-Afflicted
I thought, we are talking about recent handwired amps from Vox. If we talk about all in Vox history, then there is at least the Heritage series, which was handwired and made in China and had the nice EF86 channel.
Besides of course the vintage amps.
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